The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group PC (President's Comments) George Skarbek gskarbek@melbpc.org.au

Election Results

As there were no challenges to the existing executive, the current positions are unchanged. I have listed the elected committee and allocated portfolios on the opposite page. The primary objective of the entire committee is to look after the interests of all members.

Mornington Peninsula Special Interest Group

Three members have volunteered to start a new SIG in the region, coordinated by John Harris. The inaugural meeting of this group will be held on Monday 4 December at 7:30 pm at Mt Eliza Community Centre, Canadian Bay Rd, Mt Eliza. This will be your chance to decide where and when you wish to meet and the meeting format.
There will also a Random Access session, your chance to ask about any computer problems you have been experiencing as well as a presentation of online shopping. Although not necessary, it would be appreciated if you could let John Harris know you will be attending at penn-sig@melbpc.org.au

The existing group, ICE (Independent Computer Enthusiasts) is contemplating a cooperative venture with Melb PC. They meet at Cas McInnes Lecture Theatre at the Mornington Peninsula Hospital, Hastings Rd, Frankston. The next meeting will be on Thursday 23 November. The main objective of that meeting will be to discuss the future directions of ICE. However, there will also be a Question and Answer session so you can ask the experts about your computer problems.

Internet Update

Additional phone lines. The thirty additional phone lines that were on order in late June are finally operational. There will not be any new phone numbers, just more capacity on the existing number 96974000. This should reduce the chance of a busy signal during the evening peak.

Larger capacity link. In our quest to provide a better service for users of the group's Internet service we have ordered a 10 Mbit Ethernet connection from the Dorcas Street premises to 530 Collins St, where we are connected to the bulk data providers and the rest of the Internet . This new fibre connection will replace our existing 2 Mbit DDS link and it will be provided by Uecomm. It should be in place within about three months. The main delay is for Uecomm to obtain permission from Telstra to run their cable the short distance from St Kilda Rd. to 27 Dorcas Street.

This new cable will approximately double our existing capacity. Although simple arithmetic would indicate an increase of a factor of 5 (10 Mbit/2), Ethernet cannot be loaded to 100% of its capacity with 40-50% being regarded as full loaded. Any further increase in load would result in too many packet collisions and retransmissions. The DDS link can be loaded to the rated capacity and is bidirectional. However, as most of the data is inbound the bidirectional feature does not significantly affect our operation.

When the new cable is installed we will be able to purchase more bandwidth and further improve performance. The annual cost of the 10 Mbit Ethernet connection will be less than two thirds the cost of the existing Telstra 2 Mbit DDS link.

Next Monthly Meeting

On Wednesday 6 December at the Pharmacy College in Parkville there will be some of the most exciting computing happening in your hand. We have invited Palm Computers to tell us all about those nifty little wonders and how they can help your computing. VISIO has been a popular program for years and enhanced by Microsoft. The new edition is amazingly versatile - come along and see.

The Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG) has gathered some of the best freeware and share-ware around and bundled it onto one exciting CD-ROM. As a member you can buy it for just $10 but what's in it? Kelvin Cording will demonstrate some of the programs from that CD-ROM.

The meeting will also have the popular Random Access session (your chance to ask the experts), the usual giveaways and raffle, often with several thousand dollars of prizes being raffled, shareware library sales and more.

Hope to see you there.

Reprinted from the December 2000 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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