Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

What Might Have Been: The Census PC

The 2010 U.S. census was supposed to have been conducted by enumerators (census takers) who were carrying handheld computers. The high-tech equipment got scrubbed, as described in my earlier "'A Lack of Effective Communication Adds $3 Billion to U.S. Census Cost” article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/04/2010-us-census.html.

All such equipment requires type approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The manufacturer of the handheld computers recently submitted a prototype for approval, even though the project has been scrubbed. I am guessing that the manufacturer still seeks approval so that similar computers can be sold for other projects.

The Care and Feeding of Flash Drives

It's official: the floppy drive is dead. Dell and a plethora of other PC manufacturers have simply stopped including floppy disk drives, thanks in no small part to the smaller, lighter, and faster USB flash drive that can carry over 1,000 times the standard 3.5" floppy.

In a recent conversation with a newsletter subscriber, I casually mentioned flash drives. These devices are also known as jump drives, thumb drives, USB drives, and probably a few other names as well. The subscriber mentioned that she had purchased a flash drive but didn't know how to use it. This article is for her and probably for a lot of other people who also have not yet used one of these great devices. I am also including information about programs and advanced uses that may be news even for experienced flash drive users.

First of all, flash drives/jump drives/thumb drives are not drives at all. So much for accuracy in naming! These pocket-sized devices contain a tiny circuit board, some amount of flash memory, and some supporting electronics. Flash memory is noted for its storage capabilities; when you turn the power off, the stored data does not disappear. It has been saved in the flash memory. You later can re-apply power and all the data will still be available, identical to what it was when the power was turned off.

The Mac Died

I’ve written often about the need to make frequent backups. This week I had a chance to “practice what I preach.”

I use several computers, including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux systems. I use a Macintosh desktop system most of the time, but I also use other systems when performing specific tasks, such as reviewing Windows genealogy software.

I went on a business trip this week and visited a number of newsletter readers in their homes. One lady I visited described how a recent hard drive crash had destroyed all her genealogy data as well as scanned photographs and everything else stored on the computer. She had never made a backup copy of anything on her system. She had hard copies of most of the data but was missing many source citations. Those were gone forever. She had her original photographs but now needed to re-scan all of them. Her multimedia scrapbooks and much or her work had disappeared in the hard drive crash. I shook my head in sympathy as I listened to her story.

ST Genie Converts Microfilm to Scanned Computer Images

The ST Genie is advertised as a low cost ($1,075) device that is used to convert microfilm to computer images. It should appeal to genealogists, historians, local studies specialists, and archivists, as well as dedicated amateurs and professional researchers. Indeed, the price is lower than other microfilm scanners I have seen. I can envision a lot of genealogy societies, historical societies, museums, and others purchasing the ST Genie to digitize microfilms for use on the World Wide Web or for conversion to CD-ROM.

Most microfilm scanners are automated. The user inserts a reel of microfilm and pushes a button. An hour or two later, the process is complete: electric motors automatically advance the microfilm one image at a time, and the conversion to scanned images takes place with little or no human interaction. Several of the major genealogy and history web sites use such automated devices for their image conversion needs. Automation costs money: many of these automated scanners cost $10,000 to $100,000 or even more.

The ST Genie is non-automated: a human must sit at the device and manually advance the microfilm, frame by frame, by turning a crank on the film carrier (the microfilm reels). Each image is produced when the same human operator pushes a button, similar to a desktop scanner. The human then must wait for the scanning process to complete on each image and then examine the result on the attached computer's screen before moving on to the next image. While tedious, the constant human interaction should result in high-quality images as each image is examined before moving on to the next scan. If the image isn't very good, the human operator can always make adjustments and rescan. 

Your Ink-jet Photos May Disappear

Many genealogists scan old photographs, touch them up in a photo editing program, and then print them on high quality ink-jet printers. There is but one problem: those printed pictures may disappear within a few years.

In testing, pictures printed on Epson's Stylus Photo 870 and 1270 dye-based printers were expected to last ten years. When the products went to market, users found that the colors in prints were changing drastically in as little as two months.

The Hewlett-Packard Photosmart 475, a dye printer that produces snapshot-size photos, will produce photographs that are estimated to last 82 years. No ink-jet printer will create "permanent" pictures.

A Computer Keyboard Just Like Granddad's

Well, maybe that is a stretch. However, one enthusiastic fan of retro equipment has created a keyboard for his PC that looks like it was manufactured about a century ago. It is gorgeous. If your home is decorated in the retro style of a century ago, this would be the perfect addition to your computer room.

You can see pictures and even a video of how to make your own retro keyboard at http://steampunkworkshop.com/keyboard.shtml.

NOTE: Machinists' skills and access to machinery is required to duplicate this effort.

Sony Reader

Futurists have long predicted the death of paper books. The "conventional wisdom" has been that books are too expensive to print and distribute. Reading from a handheld device is the obvious answer. Predictions have existed for years that "the world will switch to electronic books real soon now." There has been only one problem: consumers have paid no attention to the forecasts!

In fact, the year 2006 saw more printed books published than in any previous year in history. Paper is still firmly entrenched as the most popular publishing medium. However, this week I saw a device that may change all that. I now believe that e-books have a chance of succeeding.

C-Pen Handheld Scanner

Wouldn't it be nice to scan text from genealogy books or papers directly into your computer? The next time you visit a library, a courthouse, or a genealogy society, you might want to scan your new findings directly instead of making photocopies or manually transcribing everything. In the case of handwritten documents, a scanned image of the original document could help to create the best source citation of all.

It may not be practical to carry a standard flatbed computer scanner on your next trip. The scanners that you purchase at local computer stores also may not be suitable for scanning information found in bound volumes, especially those oversized ledger books that we deal with so often in genealogy research. The C-Pen may be the solution you are looking for.

How to Choose CD/DVD Archival Media

Almost all computer users need to preserve data occasionally, and probably the most common method is to write the information onto CD or DVD data disks. For most computer users, preserving data for a year or two is sufficient. In fact, many people are only concerned with preserving data until next year's tax season. However, genealogists, historians, archivists, and a few others  are concerned with much longer preservation. We often think in terms of decades or even centuries.

Patrick McFarland has written an in-depth article that describes CD and DVD recordable media, explaining the various formats and their strengths and weaknesses. He points out that most of today's "record-at-home" CD and DVD disks will only last a few years. However, certain brands are expected to be useable for at least 70 years, and one manufacturer's products may last for up to 100 years.

(+) The Best of Both Worlds: Use Macintosh and Windows Simultaneously on One Computer

The two leading operating systems of today are both excellent products. In some regards, the Macintosh operating system is better than Windows; for example, Macs are known for their reliability and graphics handling capability. In some other respects, Windows is better than Macintosh; for instance, Windows users have many more software choices. Luckily, thanks to a program released just a few weeks ago, it is now possible to have the best of both worlds all the time.