The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group The Seamist Experience Lyn Goodall |
Between Friday 29 November and Sunday 1 December, 2002, a group of members took the opportunity to spend
a relaxing weekend learning about their computers. Lyn Goodall tells the story...
What's it all About?
The Seamist experience started in 1990 when a group of Melb PC members decided to hold a computer workshop,
in a very peaceful venue known as Seamist; it's a Palamino Stud. Seamist itself is off Wensleydale Station
Road, Wensleydale, about 90 minutes drive from the Westgate Bridge. The number of participants varies, but
usually between 8 and 20 attend.
The weekend starts on a Friday evening and finishes Sunday afternoon around 4.30 pm. The whole weekend is
very relaxed and people can choose to arrive Friday and stay for the two nights, or arrive on Saturday
morning and stay one night. The welcome is very warm and the food is great! There are bunkhouses for
sleeping, a wonderful lounge and restaurant area, with constant hot running tea and coffee and yummy
snacks and meals. There is a separate "workshop" cabin that's used to set up computers and other gear
and participants can bring as many computers as they think they can handle over the weekend.
No two weekends are ever the same, but the group consists of members of all ages and experience and people
come by themselves, as couples or as families. They each have unique reasons for wanting to be there and
as the weekend unfolds, some of their original goals can change quite dramatically. Whatever you want to
do at Seamist, you will always find a supportive, relaxing atmosphere and a broad range of technical
expertise within the group. You can choose to be very active and get a lot done, or adopt a slow, steady
pace.
Getting Ready to Enjoy
Participants began to arrive from 4.00 pm on the Friday with their loads of computers and peripherals.
Tables were arranged according to how many members were coming and a Networking hub and access to a
modem were soon sorted out. Members were quick to unload their kit and take the outer cases off the
computers, at least a full two minutes after arrival, with screwdrivers, cables, disks, CD players
and various plugin cards at the ready!
The knowledge of the group is always broad and whilst some members are there to do complete makeovers,
others are there to tweak their systems, or even just to learn the basics.
Why Members Come
Reasons for coming vary greatly. Amongst other things, the group this year wanted to have fun (always
assured with Tom Coleman around), share and increase knowledge of games, new programs and freebies,
see how a computer is assembled and how to make it work better. Others wanted to check their HDD
performance or reformat drives and generally do some maintenance work and nearly all of us decided
to try our hand at Networking. One member's computer had recently broken down, just before her exams
and she had lost everything. This was an absolutely devastating experience that prompted her to want
to build another computer as a backup, and to use it to learn more about computers.
Some were there to upgrade their systems from 166mhz to 800mhz and from 800mhz to 2100mhz - and to
get both computers running smoothly. Another member wanted to sort out his e-mail systems. He operated
using Netscape, Outlook, Express, Webmail etc and wanted to be able to manage the systems better and to
ensure that e-mails were organised and address books etc were properly backed up.
Of course one of the other primary objectives for newbies, was to check out the Seamist experience, and
for those that had been there before, it was to meet old acquaintances and enjoy the experience once
again! This year's group was well disciplined and stayed up only until just after midnight, some wagging
off early at 11.00 pm on the first night. In past weekends it has been nothing to stay up untill 2.00 am
AND hit the ground again at 7.00 am!
Seamist
At Seamist whilst you're concentrating hard on your computers etc, its great to know that there's a
little band of people in the background making breakfast, mid morning teas, lunches, mid afternoon
snacks and dinners, not to mention late night snacks and endless teas and coffee on tap. It's a tough
life, but someone has to do it! Making sure the inner spirit (or at least the stomach) is happy, it
leaves you completely free to concentrate on the work at hand.
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What People Got Out Of It
Apart from being a great way to spend a weekend, focussing on what you like doing, with a group of people
that have at least some of the same interests you have, there were lots of other things achieved as well.
Members who had upgraded to XP etc reported that they'd been able to refresh their knowledge of Windows 98,
as most people were using this operating system and questions inevitably came up. Those who wanted to know
more about computers said they gained a lot more confidence and having lost their fear, could now install
software and so on. Others found out how to troubleshoot USB problems, how to use different cables and
they also picked up tips and tricks and a variety of knowledge about different types of software and what
it could do.
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One young member said that he had found some pictures of wildlife with which to tease his younger brothers
and sisters. They hadn't come along for the experience, although when they get older I guess they will.
It's a great place to bring families.
Overall Comments
Understanding DOS is something that helps you understand how a computer can be configured to work better.
The DOS King, Tom Coleman loves a challenge and if there's a file to configure or something that can be
taken to bits to see if it's working properly - he's your man! Tom's expert knowledge is there to be had
and it was tapped by all. This knowledge is invaluable when you're trying to install, reformat or scan
new or replacement disks before installing an operating system. Tom is a veritable mine of information
and he spends his time going from one user to another; he's a born
troubleshooter.
One of the highlights was a huge "paint tin" of Jelly Beans that Janice had brought along to share. We
certainly made a dent in that tin! One young member who had come along as part of a family group said he
would be bringing his dad next time and most people said that they had achieved their goals whilst enjoying
the relaxation.
Reasons To Go And Where To Get Information
I hope I've given you some reasons to try the experience for yourself. Remember that it's a good idea to
set goals for what you want to achieve. Time flies so its very important to keep expectations realistic,
but, its amazing what you can achieve when you've got that type of support around you. Problems that might
have taken days or even weeks under your own steam, can be fixed in a relatively short time. When you come
to a problem - someone's bound to have the answer and you can move on. To find out when next year's Seamist
is taking place, just watch this space!
Reprinted from the February 2003 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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