Number 204 - May 2000

UPDATE
Compact Data Disk Formats     Over the past few months, some members have been unable to read software provided on CDs by our librarian. This is believed to be due to the fact that the CDs were written by new CD drives which write in the "packet" format. Some older CD drives cannot read disks in this format. They require disks written in ISO 9660 format. Many modern CD Drive software packages, Adaptec's CD Creator (DirectCD) among them, are capable of reconfiguring a "packet-written" CD to the ISO 9660 format. However, DirectCD writes to ISO 9660 Level 3 interchange only, which may not be readable in DOS or Windows 3.x, but require Windows 95 or higher     Two articles on the subject are included in the Hardware section of this issue. While these articles may be of limited interest to beginners or those with new CD-ROM hardware and software, several of our long-time members, who own CD drives more than a couple of years old, may benefit from a better understanding the problem and know enough to ask for a CD in a format compatible with their CD drives. There may be other nuances, such as Track-at-once and Disk-at-once formats that require more specification, but that is beyond the scope of the articles and may need further research by those with the problem. It is probable, however, that when using newer drives to create CDs for distribution, simply selecting the option to write or convert a CD to an "older" format will be sufficient.     Those of you who attended the April 2000 Meeting saw a slide show presentation on this very subject covering most of the aspects discussed in the articles. But also explaining some of the developments along the way. For those of you who missed the slide show, it will be posted on the toggle.org website.	In case you were not aware of it, the formats of Compact Disks are independent of the operating system under which they are run such as Windows or Macintosh's HFS. This is also true of HTML files which are posted on Internet websites. May Is Election Month     Since our organizational year begins in June, May is our traditional month for selecting/electing candidates for the offices of President, Vicepresident/Program Chairman and Secretary/Treasurer. Librarian and Newsletter Editor are appointed/volunteer slots. In a small volunteer organization such as ours, we have had to combine a couple of the elected positions because we couldn't find enough willing candidates. We do elect those contested slots by a quorum of those present at the meeting, but realistically, anyone who steps forward for office is usually a shoo-in. If you wish to volunteer yourself or to nominate one of your fellow TOG members for a post, please get their agreement to stand, and then advise President Dave Rowe or any board member at or before the Monday, May 8th meeting. Phone numbers & e-mail addresses are on page 12. Present nominees are:     President - Ray Mills     Vice President - Milo Sarchet     Program Chairman - Dave Rowe     Sec'y/Treasurer - Bob Henkel Non-elected (volunteer) posts:     Librarian - Tom Stepanek     Newsletter Editor - Bob Thomson
Number 204 - May 2000