Internet Service Upgrade 

In order to give better value to Internet subscribers the committee has approved substantial improvements. These are:

• Three hours per day peak, or, six hours per day off-peak
• Free space for subscribers home pages
• More phone lines to ensure that busy lines are almost never encountered
• More bandwidth for better response

Furthermore, all Melbourne PC User Group members, excluding additional family members, will be entitled to an Internet e-mail account and access to all newsgroups including melbpc.general as part of their standard $55.00 Melb PC membership. The e-mail account will have an 8 MB mailbox. Connect time will be 20 minutes daily. Web browsing will not be included. 

We hope to introduce full details of this package over the next one or two months and updates will be posted on the MOTD (Message Of The Day) at http://hww.melbpc.org.au/motd/ as well in this column and in the local newsgroups. We cannot implement everything immediately because additional phone lines, modems, hard disks and new computers must be installed and configured, Internet agreement forms designed and printed, databases amended and support staff trained. 

Internet Help 

A major change in the way the Internet Help Team works has been introduced. The change is that the member, rather than e-mailing for help as is currently done, will be able to fill out a form online and that will be given a unique job ID. This will enable the iHelp team to respond quickly, will result in better management and help to ensure no calls are lost. 

You access iHelp from a hyperlink on the MOTD Web page named Internet Difficulties. This new database will also build up a knowledge base that will assist future iHelp members to provide quick and accurate replies. We also ask you to reply and inform the team if the solution has worked. This will be recorded and give greater confidence for those handling similar future problems. 

If you cannot access the Internet, ring the office and they will fill out the form for you. 

We May Be Moving 

The lease of our South Melbourne premises at Dorcas St will expire in approximately 12 months and we are contemplating a move. The reason is that parking is becoming very difficult and it will get worse. When we moved to Dorcas St over four years ago there was a large tram depot opposite and plenty of parking space. Now there are several large blocks of flats on the site and another block nearing completion. At night residents receive many visitors and during the day there are parking meters in surrounding streets inhibiting daytime SIGs. Also the current premises does not offer wheelchair access, and an additional SIG room would be an advantage, as would one very large room to better accommodate the more popular SIGs. 

Planning is in its early stages and we are considering a move to the Eastern or South Eastern suburbs as the majority of our members live in that area. There are many unanswered questions at this time, such as: Locality, How much parking space? Public transport, Proximity of fibre cabling for the Internet, How large? Purchase or rent? Should the monthly meeting move from Parkville to another location? We are not contemplating a location with a 400-seat auditorium. 

There is a subcommittee looking at this questions and more questionnaires may be required. If anyone has suggestions relating to the proposed move, please e-mail them at building@melbpc.org.au. 

Next Monthly Meeting 

• AMD representatives will present their latest processors and talk about CPU development in general. The raffle prize donated will be an AMD processor complete with a motherboard and 128 MB RAM and any member can be in the running to win this by purchasing a $1 ticket.
• The editor of PC User (the magazine that was inserted in the June issue of PC Update) will talk about trends in computer magazines.
• Stuart Bedford will give a presentation on DVDs.

[About Melbourne PC User Group]