 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group PC (President's Comments) George Skarbek gskarbek@melbpc.org.au |
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Bonus Time
The Internet team is constantly doing its best to improve our Internet
service without increasing prices; in fact we have reduced the prices by absorbing the GST. The latest trial
initiative is to allow users to stay connected even when all of their time has been used up, provided there
are free lines available.
The way this new system will work is that when your allocated time is used up, the timer program will
interrogate the banks of modems and determine how many free lines exist. If more than 25% of the lines arc
free then you will not be disconnected and can remain online until you either hang up or the modems start to
fill.
Please note that the bonus time applies to the specific call when you exceed allocated normal time
and at least 25% of modems in the modern bank are free. After your allocated tune for a 24-hour period
has been exceeded, you will be disconnected on attempting to log in again until the start of a new log in
day. You call of course log in again and be eligible for bonus extension time if your allocated time has not
been exceeded.
This bonus means that you may be able to stay connected for many hours during periods of low modern usage and
the main bonus will be during the weekend. Generally there are few spare modems during the weekday evening
peak from 6.00 pill to about 1.00 am but many more arc free during weekends. To view the pattern of modern
usage from the Message Of The Day page,
http://hww.melbpc.org.au/motd/ click on Useful Links, System Statistics and then select
Melbpc Dial-Up Server Statistics. The vertical axis shows the number of modems in use and the horizontal
axis is the time on a 24-hour clock reading from left to right. The line at the extreme right-hand side is
the number of modems in use at the minute of your viewing. From the MOTD page you will be shown not only the
time that you have used but also the number of free lines that represents the bonus limit.
This bonus time is due to the programming effort of one of our Internet team members. However, I would remind
all of our users that all these additional benefits are on a trial basis as if we lose our fixed price
wholesale Internet feed then we will have to pay for all the bytes that come down the line and we will have
to revert to our written agreement of providing a maximum of two hours per day irrespective of the time of
day.
Finally a reminder that even after you have used up all your time and there is no bonus time left, you can
still receive and send and read the newsgroups by dialling into the Intranet line on 9690 5644.
Training
With GST upon us, some users have still not updated their accounting software. Melb PC has purchased ten
copies of the very popular accounting program MYOB and will be running training sessions in MYOB. Anyone who
is contemplating using this program or is using it and wishes to learn more should watch for courses
advertised in the training calendar. The MYOB software used will be Accountinq Plus Version 9, Premier
Accounting version 3 and Asset Manaqer Version 1.5.
New Monthly Meeting Format
The committee has decided to try a new format for our monthly meetings at Parkville. In the past we have had
two speakers from industry, usually showing off their products. As over the years attendance has fallen off
slightly, or at best remained constant, it was decided to make a trial change.
The new format will be one industry representative having 45 minutes and then two speakers, probably Melb PC
members, giving a 20 minute (including questions) presentation. At the APCUG (Association of Personal
Computer User Groups) conference many user groups have reported that their SIG members give a presentation at
the main meeting and this is very often regarded as an improvement on the industry representatives who
sometimes give a PowerPoint presentation with a marketing focus.
The June speakers with the new format will be IXLA our very own multinational graphics company. They have
brought out a range of cameras and photo editing programs. We'll get to see their newest camera. Then there
will be two presentations by Melb PC members, Word Tips & Tricks by myself and Music production software
by Keith Beresford.
I hope to see all of you there for the new format meetings. The details of the venue arc on the inside back
cover and I welcome any feedback after the meeting, either in person or by e-mail to gskarbek@melbpc.org.au or to the committee, commitee@melbpc.org.au.
Reprinted from the June 2000 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
