 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Pres Said John Beck |
It is always difficult to become up to date with the state of affairs after returning from overseas. However the Vice President sent me a note on the happenings in December. After the Group passed the resolution to increase the number on Committee, at the December committee meeting appointments were made to have a back up for the administrative offices. Two subcommittees were established, one to review financial questions, and the other to review administrative procedures. This action can only improve our overall efficiency, and is in no way a reflection on the performance of previous incumbents. Peter Smith will be the interface between committee and the PC Update team. I had a talk with David Sloan who advised that the new Treasurer has thrown himself into his office with enthusiasm. That is the office of Treasurer and not David's piece of real estate.
Monthly Meetings
Last year there were some glitches in our monthly meeting
programme. This year I hope that with more people to share the workload, that a subcommittee can be established to organise speakers or
demonstrations of a higher standard than last year. To start the year there will be a presentation of a complete new release of DataFlex database by Automation One at the February meeting, and an address by Bob Wallace the author of PC-Write at the March meeting. There was an offer for Peter Norton to address a meeting, but he was only available on 25th January, and there was no time to organise a meeting and advise all members, so unfortunately we had to decline the offer. Whilst on Committee matters we express our deepest condolences to committee member Morris Tobias whose father passed away in January.
Bulletin Board
I have been advised that files are being uploaded to the BBS which are already there, or are so old that they cannot be considered new. Please be aware that there is no longer an upload/download ratio in operation. The advice that you have accessed the BBS a number of times an your activity recorded is just for reference. Maybe the Sysop may like to be advised whether users are interested in this data.
Otherwise it can be dispensed with on screen. Undoubtedly it is useful information to the Sysop because it gives him statistics on how the BBS is used. For instance the areas used most frequently etc. It would be good to see more messages on the board, and comments on
conferences, and which subjects which are of interest but not covered.
More Local Articles
Ash advises that there is a shortage of articles coming in for
PC Update. How about all members make a New Year resolution to submit at least one article in the current year. Members prefer to read articles by our own members than reprinted submissions from other magazines.
Articles need not be long to qualify for publication. Surely you have a favourite utility or something that you like doing on a PC. You may be able to overcome some difficulty someone else has. Remember there are a lot of members who are just starting out with computers.
Pakistan
Whilst overseas I spent some time in Pakistan, where computing is in its infancy. It is typical of the Brain virus, which originated there, that it affects floppy disks only. However, hard disks are now becoming more widespread now that import duty has been removed. Their prices are similar to those prevailing in Singapore, and in some cases lower.
The latest hardware is now available, as is software, although a dealer in Lahore suggested a copy of Basic version 6, which had just arrived and was a compiled version, would be a good buy. It turned out to be a mishmash of
Basica® version 3.2, Codeview® version 5, QuickBasic® linker version 4.0. There was nothing on the QuickBasic
compiler or editor, and disks were not available. At a price equivalent to $A80 it would not be a good buy. Several sales outlets advertised virus-free software which had been copied on a bit copier. These were pirate copies as there are no copyright laws, and if there were they would be ignored, and if there were and someone was caught they would bribe their way out of it. There were adverts in the newspaper for programmers in BASIC. I was invited to visit a user group in Hyderabad, which comprises mainly people from Australia, New
Zealand, U.K, U.S.A., and Canada, also some of the educational establishments. However this was frustrated because the locals were having a shooting war, and there were two curfews in force. One for eight days, the first three of which I missed being in Lahore before it started. However on arriving in Hyderabad at 7:30 pm, with the curfew lifted only between 6 am and 8 am, I had an army major as an escort to where I was staying, but that was only because I was white and foreign. There was a lifting of the curfew on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (probably because 25th December is the public Birthday of Jinnah the founder of Pakistan), Then the shooting started again, and the curfew was still in force seven days later when I left Hyderabad. Any ideas of communicating in this situation is frustrated by the built in wrong number syndrome, the line dropping out as soon as you speak, and crossed lines. The only telephone available did not have STD facility. The alternative was to go to the Post Office for STD, but there was a curfew and you are not allowed on the street. Very frustrating!!
Sunbury SIG
Brett Chapman the convenor of the Sunbury SIG advises that their meeting has a change of venue to Barkly Street Child Care Centre, 43 Barkly Street Sunbury and the night is Tuesday 13th February.
Reprinted from the Jan-Feb 1990 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
