The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
The Seamist Has Cleared
Lyn Goodall		  


Lyn Goodall tells the story of the Seamist Weekend. This year it was held on the weekend of 7 – 9 November and she says it was as fascinating as ever.

The workshop cabin was soon humming, with participants coming from all parts of Victoria, including a couple from Echuca. There were computers, cables, disks, printers, scanners and other peripherals, headphones, various plug-in cards, numerous spare parts, the famous LAN Network and tools of all kinds, all over the place.

Tom Coleman (the DOS King and resident expert) and Janice Wallis (computer programmer) had organised this year's Seamist experience and we were all ready to make use of our time in the most efficient manner. There seemed to be less emphasis on the Internet this year and much more on learning how to use our machines well. There were also more peripherals, including palms, laptops and cameras. Tom applies the 80/20 rule to the weekend. He says he gives about 20% information and the other 80% people learn by osmosis.

Participants this year came to build new computers (one participant had motherboard, CPU and HDD and cards at the ready), to increase general knowledge and learn the basics, make clean installations of operating systems - get rid of corrupt files, learn how to format drives, learn how to e-mail photos from CDs, find out about Newsgroups, set up a scanner and learn how to use it, upgrade a system from Win95 to Win98, learn about the BBS and to create a computer out of the box. The computer was going to be sent to Queensland and put together there (hence being out of the box).

All agreed that the weekend had been well worth the investment. Participants made new contacts, learned many new things, saved time and effort by having questions answered instantly (taking computers to vendors can be very expensive), and found the weekend real value for money. Members also were happy with the complete openness and sharing of information, relaxed back-to-nature atmosphere, not to mention the wonderful food and accommodation.

As usual there was individual help with those hardware and software problems, diagnostic troubleshooting and plenty of frustration, laughter and elation when something worked the way we wanted it to. Tom loves a challenge and if there was a system that hadn't had its case taken off - never fear - Tom was going to get into it at some stage!

Two important things learned were:
  1. The Belarc site (provides user with a complete system and software analysis online).
  2. New computer Tweak for XP, (gives tweaks for AMD and Intel, very precise clocks and creates system restore points).
To summarise, Tom said "If you are a Melb PC member and you don't get along to the training, interest groups or weekends like Seamist, you're robbing yourself blind!". There is so much information to be had, all you need to do is devote yourself to learning. There are lots of teachers out there and remember, an expert is someone who knows just that little bit more than you do.

Focussing on what you like doing, in a great setting such as Seamist, with a group of people that share at least some of your interests is one of the best ways to spend a weekend. This year's experience lived up to its now famous reputation.
 

Reprinted from the December 2003 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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