The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Editorial Ash Nallawalla ash@melbpc.org.au |
 |
In case you didn't know, Melb PC has its own discussion forums known as newsgroups. Our newsgroups all have the prefix "melbpc.", such as melbpc.general, which is like a virtual coffee shop; melbpc.computing.misc, where computing discussions take place, and so on. If you use the Internet, you have a newsreader on your PC, usually Outlook Express, or the more sophisticated Agent.
The quickest way to get there other than by invoking the newsreader, is to type news:melbpc.general or the name of some other newsgroup in the address bar of your browser. If you installed the Melb PC Internet Service subscriber CD kit and the Internet Explorer 6 that is on it, you will have the newsgroups waiting for your participation. You should also refresh the list of newsgroups from time to time.
A newsgroup article looks rather like an e-mail, but instead of addressing it to an individual, you address it to the newsgroup. Our Melb PC newsgroups are available only on our news server (news.melbpc.org.au), being an internal distribution, whereas there are over 35,000 newsgroups shared by thousands of ISPs around the world. We get most, but not all of them and they cover almost anything you can think of, particularly if it concerns computers.
melbpc.general is already our most requested newsgroup, ahead of the ones that carry naughty pictures or pirate software. melbpc.thinktank is a place where you can discuss ideas concerning our user group before they can be picked up by the Management Committee. There is a handful of other melbpc.* newsgroups, awaiting your discovery. Some of the participants would like to see more publicity about these newsgroups, so here you are.
Dial Helpers
If you are a "Dial Helper", you should think about giving (or not giving) permission to list your name and phone numbers on an internal Web page. The form is accessible from our Message of the Day page. Melb PC wants to ensure that your details are not placed online without your explicit permission.
Our members are always looking for help with computing so consider becoming a Dial Helper for any subject, whether it is covered already, or not. You don't have to be an expert to be listed, but I will warn you that some members abuse this generosity by calling outside the recommended hours or by treating helpers as some form of paid help. Some callers are no longer members of this group but have kept an old copy of the phone list.
If you are a Dial Helper, ask the caller for their name and phone number and make a note of it somewhere. If they won't reveal their details or they appear to be an unlicensed user, you don't need to help them. If you are a member calling a Dial Helper and they appear to be advertising their paid services, please alert the office and we will remove them from the list.
Elections Over
We had two candidates more than the number of vacancies for the Management Committee, so we had to hold an election on 6 November. It was one of our least exciting elections for many a year. Of the 360 votes cast, only 131 were cast at the meeting. There were 29 postal votes, 198 proxies and 2 invalid ones. I thank everyone who voted.
I was disappointed that former President Morris Tobias, who resigned with me back in 2000 when both of us went to work for a US company, was not on a proxy list, so he won't be on the new team. Without the proxies, he would have been the highest scoring candidate. Similarly, Lyn Mitchell would have been in third place without proxies.
All candidates took part in our recent planning session and offered to work with us, so I look forward to working with Lyn and Morris and thank them for their participation. I support our Returning Officer Doug Brooke, who recommends greater participation in our future elections and the exclusive use of postal ballots.
Netstumbling
During the planning session, I turned on my WiFi-enabled laptop computer and was surprised to find a weak-to-strong signal, which enabled me to surf the Web. Surely, Melb PC had not installed a wireless access point without my knowledge? I noted the IP address allocated to me and discovered that I could access the access point by typing its default user name and password. By this time I guessed that the device was probably in a nearby flat and that the owner had no clue how to secure it. I hope to write a little article about this subject next year - about securing an access point. In the meantime, if you have a portable computer and a WiFi card, check out http://www.netstumbler.com.
Google Computes
I have installed the Google Toolbar on my Web browser. I noticed a new button on it, which took me to Google Compute, which in turn told me how my PC could be used to solve complex scientific problems when I wasn't using it (but turned on). A few other members already do this and have discussed it in our melbpc.* newsgroups.
If you don't wish to install the Google Toolbar, you can still participate by going directly to http://folding.stanford.edu and reading more about this project. Over 100,000 PCs around the world are participating and you can join them in this worthy project.
Reprinted from the December 2002 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
 |