8/29/96


Good Day Everyone,

We are considering establishing some sort of dial in connection between

my SEM lab and a 4th grade classroom. The teacher wishes to send samples

home with my daughter semi-interactively send images back to the

classroom. They have a phone in the classroom and several MACs which

are linked together with a very slow AppleTalk network.

I think we'd like to put a 28.8 modem on one of the MAC's to dial in to.

The software issue is the main concern. Could anyone please make

reccomendations as to some sort of simple networking software that would

allow us to at least transfer the image files?

Thanks for your thoughts on this.

Regards,

John W. Best ELMDAS Co. Email: jbest@vicon.net

P.O. Box 355, Alexandria, PA, USA 16611

Voice: 814-669-4474

WWW: http://www.vicon.net/~jbest

jbest@vicon.net


Dear Phil and All,

Phil wrote:

Please post responses to this question to the list, or copy your replies

to me, I am interested in this problem myself. Phil

I did receive (not via the microscopy listserver) this response which I'm

assuming Peter Guthrie wouldn't mind my forwarding. Thanks Peter.

>From Peter:

Try Timbuktu (from Farallon Software). We actually use it to control

a remote Macintosh-based image acquisition system. Timbuktu puts a

mirror of the remote Macintosh desktop on your computer, so images

brought up on the remote computer are seen on the local computer.

Peter Guthrie

Also, Lou Ross suggested a shareware program called "Fetch". Could

anyone comment on this? Is it something like "PC anywhere"? Thanks Lou.

To everyone else who could help with this problem, please post your

replies to the listserver, as the problem seems to have applicability to

a number of us.

Have a good day everyone. Regards, John.

--

John W. Best ELMDAS Co. Email: jbest@vicon.net

P.O. Box 355, Alexandria, PA, USA 16611

Voice: 814-669-4474

WWW: http://www.vicon.net/~jbest

jbest@vicon.ne


Well after getting a dose of Telepresence Microscopy at the MSA meeting, I

have been bitten by the bug. There was much reference to Timbuktu Pro there

for remote control and/or observation. It piqued my interest enough to check

out such programs and to try the demos when available. (Timbuktu has a

30-day free trial version available through their web site

http://www.farallon.com)

Trying it out, I see it allows for file transfers back and forth between

MACs and PCs as well as the control and observe options. It also has a

message capability which can drag along files with it. I have been duly

impressed, and the $49 on-line price for the PC version doesn't hurt too

much. It was $70 per copy through PC Connection. I have been using it over

the ethernet (in IP mode), but it also works over dial-up with the right

supporting software.

In fairness, there are at least two similar products: PC Anywhere from

Symantec and Carbon Copy from MicroCom. The capabilities all look good.

however, the demos were not quite as functional, and I don't think they

supported MAC to PC communications. Prices were comparable.

BTW, can anyone tell me if there are certain window or screen displays that

are not supported by such products? Some of our live acquition Windows don't

come across well or at all.

Warren Straszheim

wes@ameslab.gov


Hi John

There's a wide range of possible methods to do this. A lot depends on what

software you and the school have allready. I've listed some possibilities

Has the school access to e-mail? If so why not simply mail the images as

attachments. Choose an appropriate file format for the software the school

has. (if they do not have appropriate software for imaging - download NIH

IMAGE - http://rsb.info.nih.gov/nih-image/ - it's public domain and there

are a range of versions for the mac - if the school has older macs use one

of the older versions).

Likewise if the school has access to the WEB why not create some pages at

your end with the images on them. Convert the images to GIF format and

reduce their size as much as possible to retain reasonable images. (Adobe

photoshop is a great program for playing around with digital images

versions are available for Mac, Windows and UNIX - it is reasonably priced

and I for one have found it extremely useful).

I hope this is of some help - without more information it is hard to be

more specific - why not try speaking to the computing support at your end.

Good luck

Pete Ainsworth

ainswort@geology.gla.ac.uk


John,

Part or all of your solution may be found in a shareware product called

CU-SeeMe, from Cornell University. There is also a commercial version

available from White Pine Software in Nashua, NH. White Pine has a lot

of experience in multiple platform communication.

I have no financial interest in White Pine, blah, blah blah...

The WWW page below is a wealth of information about the product. There

are many links to K-12 schools that have done just what you are trying

to do. I haven't used the software, but it looks pretty cool.

http://cu-seeme.cornell.edu/~WCW/

-------------------------------------------------

Harold J. Crossman

OSRAM SYLVANIA INC.

Lighting Research Center

71 Cherry Hill Dr.

Beverly, MA 01915

Phone: (508) 750-1717

E-mail: crossman@rd.sylvania.com

Our web sites: www.sylvania.com

www.osram.de

www.siemens.com


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