As we ring in the New Year, I’d like to ask if you remember what you were doing at 11:59pm on December 31st, 1999? Like thousands of others, were you watching the clock turn midnight in anticipation of the answer to the famous question “what will happen to my computer as we turn to the year 2000 also known as zero?” Thankfully, little happened that day and 10 years later it’s great to reflect back on what could have been. Our trainer, Casey D’Andrea has an amazing article below titled Using GREP in InDesign. Just think if Y2K really did happen...

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Using GREP in InDesign

by Casey D’Andrea (cdandrea@loop.ca), Application Specialist and Trainer

The idea of GREP is most likely a foreign concept to designers. An acronym for Globally searching for a Regular Expression, and then Printing the result. Traditionally used by hardcore UNIX programmers working in command line (think Terminal in Mac OS X or Command Prompt in Windows) the use of GREP has slowly migrated into more accessible applications like text editors. The reference to regular expression describes text, patterns, and strings using literal text and/or metacharacters.

Adobe decided to include GREP into InDesign starting with CS3. You can think of GREP as the jacked-up, super-powered,über-awesome sibling to the plain-jane find/replace function within InDesign. Once you understand the principles and start to experiment with the possibilities you’ll wonder how you ever managed to work without it.

Click here for an example of how you can format all your Internet addresses in one fell swoop. The included example GREP search can be copied from and saved into your own saved list of queries within the Find/Change dialog box.

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RAID

by Glen Craven (service@loop.ca), Business Systems Analyst

In the last issue of this newsletter I highlighted the importance of backing up your data and it’s a message that can’t be emphasized often enough. Data that has taken weeks, months or even years to compile can be lost in an instant if you don’t have appropriate redundancies in place. If you haven’t yet made a New Year’s resolution this year, be sure to commit to safeguarding your information.

A Redundant Array of Independent Disks, or RAID, is one approach to protecting your data that while effective; isn’t commonly understood. Essentially, a RAID provides increased storage in a single volume and/or redundancy in the event that another drive fails. The trade-off of course, is that some drive space must be allocated to accommodate for the redundancy.

There are various levels of RAID, each of which is suited to specific needs. Apple provides for both RAID 0 and RAID 1 to be utilized through software. With the optional RAID card for Mac Pro users, Apple offers the additional option of using RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 0+1.

RAID 0 provides for multiple drives to be used as one large storage volume. It is best suited to those who need speed rather than protection as the data is spread across multiple drives. If one drive fails therefore, all data will be lost. RAID 0 is suited for example, to the needs of video editors who are working with a copy of the original data and therefore simply need the extra speed.

RAID 1 provides two disks with the same data on each. If one drive fails all of the data is retained on the second drive. While this is a great choice to ensure you don't lose data if a drive fails, twice the amount of storage space is required: if you have 1TB of data you will need 2TB of storage space.

The next option is RAID 3, which requires 3 drives. In this case, the data is written across 2 of the 3 drives, with the third drive being a dedicated parity drive. This approach also ensures that if one of the drives fails you will still be able to access your data. RAID 4 is designed the same way.

The type of RAID familiar to most users is RAID 5. This combines three or more drives in which the data is striped across all of the drives. The three drives appear to the user as one large storage volume. Unlike RAID 3 or 4, the parity is spread across the three or more drives. It’s important to note that this safeguards against only one drive failure; lose more then one drive and you lose your data.
RAIDs are just one option for increasing your storage and/or backing up your information. To learn more about the solution that’s best for you, give Loop a call. We’ll be glad to help you explore all of your options.

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Solid Ink is here!

by Simon Strantzas (procurement@loop.ca), Product Specialist

Looking for a new printer? Why not give Solid Ink a chance? No doubt you're used to the laser printer you have now, and perhaps don't think too much about the amount of waste it generates. Empty toner cartridges, full waste cartridges ... all those things that end up in a landfill somewhere, or maybe, if you're lucky, recycled. Do you ever look at it all and think: "There has to be a better, cleaner way?" Well, there is. Solid Ink.

Solid Ink is a technology that Xerox has been perfecting since 1991. It's an award winning technology, and the results are astounding. The easiest way to explain the technology is to imagine a printer that uses large crayons instead of toner. You simply place the colored solid sticks into their specific chambers, and the printer does the job of melting what's required and applying it to the page. Because the medium is a solid object, there's no need for a cartridge to house it, and the printer will use it up 100%. No more paying for a toner cartridge that never completely empties. The ink is non-toxic, and non-mess, and you can load up to five sticks in at any time -- including halfway though the use of one. Got a big job coming up? No need to wait around any longer to replace cartridges when they empty -- just throw extra sticks in when convenient. And, again, no mess!

Solid ink provides many advantages compared to laser and ink jet technology:

• More consistent print quality
• Easier to use
• Less waste (no cartridges and less packaging)
• No paper curling or wrinkling
• Fewer parts
• Faster (than ink jet)
• No special paper required, unlike some ink jets
• A wider range of colors are printed than by most color laser

Speak to your Loop representative today about the advantages Solid Ink printing can bring to your business.