"That was a fun morning", said Valerie as she got back into my car for the trip home. "It sure was", I had to agree. Guess there were 30 or so at the meeting, and all very interesting, and a number of new members turned up. It was a great day weather wise as well. A notice first, the Melbourne Cup lunch will be held at Jim Hume's place after the VCC next Tuesday, contact Wolf, wlieske@pcug.org.au or Gloria, grobbins@pcug.org.au if you would like to come along. It is $6.00 and BYOG. PROBLEMS. Microsoft Invasion Peter Watney wanted to know how Microsoft accessed his W95 computer. It appears that on Saturday, 26 Oct 96, his clock was two minutes out. But on switching on Sunday, not only had his clock been adjusted for Daylight Saving, but the two minutes error had been corrected ! As a group, we try to help with each others problems, but this was a bit of a mystery, someone thought his computer may have had an in built sextant, but seriously, the only advice that Peter could offer was "BEWARE", MS is everywhere. As an aside someone wanted to know why "Time" was important. An explanation was given involving the BBS and internet, but other than that, most people could live without the time. And another aside from John Saxon, he received an e-mail from his daughter who runs a MAC, something had gone wrong, the date was set to 1954, but more importantly, the colour monitor had reverted to B&W, did the computer really know there was no colour in 1954 ? Dedicated Lines "What does a dedicated line mean" asked another. This led to quiet a discussion, in summary: A dedicated line is what it says, a line specially dedicated to your computer or whatever. The choice is fairly straight forward, either use your existing telephone line, and perhaps lose the convenience of the phone when communicating with the BBS or Internet, OR, have a dedicated line, pay the extra installation fee ($120?) and monthly rental, and have the convenience of your phone as well. Again, a case of what do you want and how much are you willing to pay. The REN (Ring Equivalent Number) was introduced, so if you have two phones, and answering machine, a FAX and a modem, you would have a REN of 5. The importance of this figure was not quite understood, but it does exist. And it was revealed that one of our high flyers had 7 telephones, an answering machine and a modem. And another revelation, Telstra will try and con you into a "Data" line for dedicated work. Apparently there is more money in data lines. Scanners Wolf wants to buy a scanner. The one he had in mind was the Ezy_Photo_Reader from Brashes at $299. What's more he had a couple of acceptable printouts from this scanner but wanted to know more. Again lots of talk, we really need an expert to give the group a talk on this subject, but a few things emerged, Drivers are most important, and make sure it is TWAIN compatible, which allows all sorts of other things, like OCR to be applied. Sorry story related by one member who purchased a LogiTech scanner and couldn't get it to work, despite the fact it worked in the shop. She paid the shop $65 to try and get it to work, but still no joy. In the end she got her money back, but not the $65 she paid them. Another interesting discussion ! CMOS Password Protection It then came to our attention that the firm that sold the "unworkable" scanner was into another trick. Apparently if you buy a computer from them the CMOS is password protected, so Joe Blow would have no hope of changing his BIOS (for extra memory in this case), and would have to take it back to the firm. Questionable ? Apparently you can run MSD and get all the BIOS settings, then short out the chip and thus get rid of the password, and reset BIOS to what you want, a step not too many people take, or for that matter want to take. STORIES Derrick Boyd is 83 years old, and one day, the was an awful noise inside his monitor and his picture disappeared. He took the cover off and switched the monitor on. Lo, there was arcing from the high tension lead to a section of the transformer. Switching off the monitor, Derrick got out his Swiss Army knife, and dug out the wax around the transformer, filled it with silastic, covered it with a piece of perspex. His monitor now works with no arcing. Dire warnings were issued about latent HT voltages, make sure you discharge every thing before you play around on the inside of a monitor. (Derrick used a 12" screw driver, he held the plastic end, put one end on the HT and then earthed the shaft some where.) GENERAL Gloria gave an update on helping in the wider community. She is part of a group of six or so and have started the process. First victims are to be selected from Mirranjani Village, so we wish you all well and hope there can be some benefit flowing from it. Kryn displayed a 40 CD Rom holder, bit like a jute box, turn the handle to what you want, open the box, and there is your CD. Real snazzy and while he got it as a freebie, they can be bought for about $20. You might be able to buy one at the Bring and Buy at Albert Hall 26 Nov 1996, that's a Tuesday, at 7.30 for the hoi poloi, if you are a trader, 5.30 is more appropriate. Wanniassa scouts will provide the sausage sizzle and I am sure it will be a fun evening. Peter Hodge advised if you have Eudora Pro 2.2, there is a free patch to Ver 3.0, which is real great and recommended. Do you have spare time and been involved in management?, if so the committee would like to hear from you to co-opt your services in turning information into a form suitable for the PCUG committee. Contact Emil, ejoseph@pcug.org.au if you think you can assist. Gordon Urquhart reports that prices a still tumbling, a P75(no fan) he got for $70 a fortnight ago was now going for $55 and with a fan. And lots of other things as well, but till next time, which will be the VCC on 5 Nov 96, or the real thing 12 Nov 96, take care and don't forget to discharge all that high tension before you play in the guts of a monitor. Owen Coffee & Chat Home Page http://www.pcug.org.au/~rcook/c&c.htm Virtual Coffee and Chat http://www.pcug.org.au/~ejoseph/vcc.htm
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