FriendlyNET Gini™ and Gini II ® Universal Memory Reader/Writer for USB 1 and 2.
Asanté Technologies, Inc. 821 Fox Lane San Jose, CA 95131 USA FriendlyNET Gini and Gini II Universal Memory Reader/Writer for USB 1 and 2.0 Resource Guide SALES 800-662-9686 Home/Office Solutions 800-303-9121 Enterprise Solutions 408-435-8388 TECHNICAL SUPPORT www.asante.com/support COVER: Asanté FriendlyNET Gini (left, in silver) and Gini II (right, in black) Copyright © 2003 Asanté Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................................4 Chapter 2. Top 8 Reasons for Choosing the Asanté Gini ..................................................................................................................5 Chapter 3. Working with Memory Cards ...............................................................................................
Chapter 1. Introduction The Asanté FriendlyNET Gini and Gini II allow you to easily transfer digital files from your memory cards to your Macintosh or Windows computers.
Chapter 2. Top 8 Reasons for Choosing the Asanté Gini Aside from Gini’s sleek design and cool looks, there are several practical reasons for using a universal memory reader/writer. Digital device refers to anything that uses a memory card, including digital camera, digital camcorder, personal digital assistant (PDA), voice recorder and music (MP3) player. 1. Faster. Gini is much faster than traditional RS-232 serial links (12 Mbps vs. 0.0192 Mbps). When used with a USB 2.
3. Removable Data Storage. You’ve seen those cute little key chain-sized devices that hold 8–128 MB of flash memory? They’re handy for transferring files when a 1.44 MB diskette just isn’t capacious enough (like those Photoshop projects or PowerPoint presentations). If your laptop doesn’t have a diskette drive or a CD/DVD burner, then these removable storage devices can be invaluable.
4. Transfer between memory card formats. With Gini’s four slots, you can easily transfer data between different memory cards. Need to load a picture into your PDA (organizer)? Just copy your digital camera’s memory card to the PDA’s memory card. Tip: If you ever need to consolidate photos from many digital cameras into one computer, Gini is the perfect solution. First, copy all the pictures from each memory card into your computer. Second, verify that all the pictures were transferred successfully.
7. Cable-free data transfer. If you work on a tidy, organized desk, then you’ll appreciate how Gini’s compact size fits neatly in the corner. It’s certainly more convenient than pulling out cables to your digital camera/camcorder from behind the desk every time you want to transfer images. Even if your workspace isn’t all that neat, Gini can save you from one potential catastrophic disaster: accidentally knocking your camera/camcorder off your desk. 8. Designed for the future.
Chapter 3. Working with Memory Cards Asanté’s Gini is the perfect complement to your digital world. With digital memory cards becoming more and more popular, Gini is a wonderful way of handling the six most popular memory card formats. This chapter provides specific suggestions for handling your memory cards. Installation See the instructions for driver installation (if necessary) inside your Gini packaging.
To locate your files, select the appropriate removable disk. On Mac OS 8.6/9 and Windows 98SE/2000, the disk icon will show your media type. On Windows XP, they appear as four sequential drive letters. (See the figure to the right.) Disk 1 • Smart Media Disk 2 • CompactFlash, Type 1 and Type 2 • Microdrive Disk 3 • MultiMedia Card • Secure Digital Disk 4 • Memory Stick You will need to change to the appropriate folder (or directory) to find your files.
For most consumer digital devices, the FAT (or FAT16) data and file systems are compatible with Macintosh and Windows computers. If it uses a different data format that is proprietary or incompatible with your computer, you will not be able to read or write to that memory card. Certain devices, including digital voice recorders and telephony equipment, may physically use one Gini’s supported memory cards, but not if it has been encoded in a non-standard format.
Chapter 4. Bonus Applications and Utilities To help you get started, Asanté has thoughtfully included a selection of third-party programs that work with your Gini II; these are included in the Bonus folder (directory) of the CD-ROM that ships with Gini II. Since Asanté did not develop these applications, you will need to contact the original developer for support and updates. Mac OS X Version 10 Due to the large file sizes, Apple strongly recommends a minimum of 256 MB of RAM.
Movie Maker lets you compile photos, video and graphics into a basic movie. Version 2 offers a new user interface with numerous new video and transition effects. You can save your completed movie to a file (in WMV or AVI formats), CD or even a digital camcorder. Tip: To animate still photos with zooms and pans, try the Photo Story feature of Microsoft’s Plus! Digital Media Edition.
Media Player 9 is Microsoft’s latest utility for playing images, audio and video clips.
IrfanView originated as a comprehensive graphics utility. This version can open dozens of graphical formats, including the standard three (JPEG, GIF and TIFF) file formats plus Canon Raw (CRW), Flash/Shockwave and Kodak Photo CD (PCD). It can also save to JPEG2000 (JP2) and Portable Network Graphics (PNG). Command line and batch mode (with image processing) operations make this a very powerful and versatile program. IrfanView’s slideshow mode, File | Slideshow, is very handy.
DCEnhance, is a “digital camera enhancer” that provides nice “1-button touch-ups” for digital images. Simply load your image and click Apply. In many cases, the default positions will provide good results. If you’d like to tweak the settings, you can adjust the brightness/darkness and remove noise and blemishes.
Photo-Sampler Demo is a high-quality photo noise reduction utility that uses multiple identical photos to eliminate digital noise. Since the images must be identical (not just “copies”), photos of still images are strongly recommended. Although the included version can only process up to 3 images at a time, the benefit is immediately apparent when working with digital camera images shot in low light or high ISO (sensitivity). The Lite and Pro versions add additional control features.
Appendix A. Asanté Technical Support Asanté offers a comprehensive support plan to help you get the most from your FriendlyNET products. On-line Support These resources are available 24/7 via www.asante.
Asanté’s new Support Forums are very popular. The first time you access www.asante.com/forums, click on the Register Here! link to become a member of the Asanté forum. There’s no charge for becoming a member…and we only ask for three pieces of basic information: • • • User name Password Email address Personalized Support • • If you have a question about the use or configuration of an Asanté product, complete the contact form at www.asante.
Appendix B. Memory Card Formats The FriendlyNET Gini and Gini II handle the six most popular memory card formats. However, numerous new standards are being introduced. Here’s a quick summary of the most popular formats are on the market. CompactFlash (CF) One of the oldest and most mature memory card formats.
Secure Digital (SD) SD memory cards are growing in popularity. For non-Sony consumer digital camcorders, SD is becoming a standard. Newer PDAs from HP/Compaq/Dell/Palm have also standardized on this format. For information on SD memory cards, see http://www.sdcard.org/ Memory Stick (MS) Originally developed by Sony, these chewing gum–sized (21 x 50 x 2.8mm) modules weigh about 4 grams and have a rated write endurance of 100,000 cycles.
Appendix C. Multimedia File Formats Here’s a list of popular audio, video and still image formats.
