rancho mondo --newsletter

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© Rancho Mondo Productions 1999
blame Jim Fish for all errors in content and design
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when was your last backup?

Premier Issue

March 1999

    This is the first issue of a hopefully quarterly newsletter. We'll see how it goes. I need to work out the bugs with a Rancho Mondo newsletter before I unleash one for Rebreu (my soon-to-be, new website client).

    Anyway, I envision the Rancho Mondo newsletter as being an extension of the Rancho Mondo website. I come across a great many items related to the computing experience, and can't mention them all on the website. And yet, I want my friends to at least know about the ones that excite me.

    So, this way you can read the descriptions and decide for yourself. If you're interested, you can check out the link to the product, page, or whatever. I have personally installed each item I recommend, and it has performed well for me (this is a definite plus for you, as there is a significant amount of stuff I install that either doesn't work, or worse -- breaks my machine in lesser or larger amounts), but of course, your mileage may vary. Proceed with due caution.

    I will also mention any news on the topics at the website (art, compost, gourds, back care, etc.) And occasionally other areas of interest flare up here at Rancho Mondo. When they do, I'll tell you about 'em.

    Since this is pretty much still experimental for me, please let me know what you think about it. Do you think you would like to ever see another issue?

NeoPlanet 2.0
http://www.neoplanet.com/

    Take a look at this shell program for Internet Explorer. I discovered it in the February issue of Windows Magazine. (If you run Windows and only subscribe to one computer magazine, WinMag is the one to get!) NeoPlanet is good-looking and fun to use, but beyond that, comes with a set of built-in channels (with many useful categories, like: News, Money, Computing, etc.) that act as well-designed portals to the web.

    It is way customizable. You can change it's look, feel, and sound with 15 schemes. You won't get bored with this browser. There are many other features, and I highly recommend NeoPlanet if you are using Internet Explorer. (Sorry if you use Netscape. NeoPlanet uses Microsoft's browser components, which keeps the download size relatively small, at 1.7MB).

    One nice thing I like about using NeoPlanet is, you don't have to give up Internet Explorer to use it. I have both icons on my desktop. I still normally use IE (it's faster and more stable), but when I want the extra features of NeoPlanet, I launch it instead. Give it a try. I bet you'll like it, and did I mention, it's free!

QNX Demo Disk
http://www.qnx.com/iat/index.html

    You've got to see this to believe it! I don't know how they do it, but it's way cool. Follow the onsite instructions to make a demo disk. On one single, humble floppy, you will have a GUI operating system that will give you internet access if some really bad day, your Windows -- or even your hard disk -- crashes. I tried it out and damned if it doesn't do everything they say (and of course, it's free).

    It could be a real life-saver, if you need to retrieve some files from the internet to restore a broken Windows or such. This will work on even that old near-useless computer you have around that won't even run Win9x. Plus, I never mind having another boot disk around, especially one so innovative and useful. I first heard of QNX from Mike Elgan's newsletter.

Bookmarklets
http://www.bookmarklets.com/

    If you have Netscape Navigator 4.x or Internet Explorer 4.x (or greater), these "bookmarklets" will add immensely to your browser's capabilities. They're tiny JavaScript shortcuts that you save in your "bookmarks" or "favorites". They will perform various functions when you're on any web page.

    There are over a hundred of these wonders and I downloaded most of them, they are that useful. I especially appreciate those that change the way a page displays. For example, you can easily change the page color to white (or any color) on those web pages with too dim a background. You can also remove background images, annoying banners, change window size, and much more.

    I first took note of "bookmarklets" in the Lockergnome. If you only subscribe to one computer-related newsletter, it should be Chris Pirillo's Lockergnome. I look forward to each issue, and you'll have no trouble discerning my admiration for his efforts.

Rancho Mondo update

    The Rancho Mondo makeover is finally done (well ... in a relative sense), and has been uploaded. It still has some unfinished sections, but sports a new look (the logo and header of this newsletter are examples), and much better navigation. I apologize for the delay in getting those sections completed. My only excuse is that this venture is not self-supporting yet (I can't even see it from here ;-), so I sometimes have to descend into the real world. Plus, I had the work of my client sites to do. I'll do my best to make some progress.

     We finally have some photos of Therese's recent gourd painting efforts. They are included in the gourd section of the makeover site, so if you're interested take a look. A young musician admired the Rancho Mondo selection of midi's and asked if I'd like to give his compositions a listen. You'll find two of Jeff Smoot's midi's in the midi table on the miscellaneous page.

    Well, I hope you've found this newsletter informative. Thanks for giving it a look. If you have any suggestions, either for improvements or perhaps a computer-related item that you've discovered, please don't hesitate to tell me.

¤ Jim Fish ¤

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