 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Editorial Carol Daniels cad@melbpc.org.au |
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There were a few surprises last month. July's issue arrived so early that some members complained about receiving it too soon! Oh well, one thing I've learnt (over and over again), you can't please everyone.
Imagine with me if you will...Neil taking the opportunity to sleep in, after rising late and enjoying a leisurely breakfast, maybe taking the time to indulge in a second, even a third cup of tea or coffee, before getting down to business. First up, attending to those things he'd always thought about doing. Signing up for golf lessons, or an around-the-world cruise.
Eventually he would have become suspicions, maybe at the lack of phone calls. Surely his retirement at such an early age would be newsworthy. The lack of media attention would tipped him off that I had screwed up, big time, in my July editorial. For the record, I'd managed to retire Neil some 35 or more years earlier than is the norm. Sorry Neil!
Of inquisitions, language and a bit of computing
Lately our Melb PC general newsgroup has been livelier than usual. Some blame it on the high jinks afoot at el Rancho Muirhead. There's been talk of the Spanish Inquisition and the history of computers, computing and language. Bob Thomas was inspired to establish a new prize for "Possum Stirrers and Pokers of Sleeping Dogs", Bob Small enlightened us with the fact that Neville Shute (yes that Neville Shute) was once employed as a "computer" on the R101. Although this glimpse of community life in melbpc.general may give you the impression that all the perpetrators er...make that participants... have been Bobs. That is not the case.
The bevy of Bobs has been joined by a serge of Stewarts, a pride of Peters a stare of Stans, clutch of Colins, an occasional Ian, and the odd Roy, Timothy, Ash, Gail, Donna, Barbara and our very own "Spice Style" personage in Mel B. PC!
The result? That sector of cyberspace known as melbpc.general now resembles a gathering around a campfire more than it resembles a sterile, no-nonsense newsgroup. There are, however, considerable differences between this digital campfire and the old-fashioned thermodynamic variety.
Where once the elders of the tribe regaled the youngsters with tales of hard times, in days long past, hunting the woolly mammoth and inventing fire, today's tribal elders outdo each other with the hardships they suffered at the dawning of the computer age.
No sooner has one member told of the torment of a too small hard drive, when another counters with a tale from the days, before hard drives, yet another chips in with the dramas associated with programming on audio tape. Before you know it we're being shown scars from the days of punch cards and coding sheets, sometimes all the way back to the days of rocks and molten lava.
These eclectic threads, with elements of history, culture, humour, puns, insight, pet's health and travel plans, all take place against a backdrop of technical questions and answers, about everything from batch files to Win 98, scanners, networks, digital cameras, browsers proxies, switches in DOS 6, 7 and 8(?), printers, font managers, motherboards, BIOS, ZIP drives, Y2K, Excel tips, the list goes on.
Although some find the banter distracting, I think it adds to the environment. Rounds it out. Makes it more human. I know it often reminds me of why I belong to Melb PC.
What I don't understand is why, so few, about 10 percent of the 4,000+ subscribers to Melb PC's Internet service, ever read our internal newsgroups. You won't find the answer to every question in them. In fact, you'll often find the answer is to look elsewhere, in an external, product-specific newsgroup, at a search site or even in one of those antiquated dead-tree compilations of information. But there is something special about this developing digital campfire, and you have to be there to experience it. Drop in the next time you're online and see what's going on.
Computers, hobbies and a good read
A few months ago I asked members to contribute articles about the things they do with their computers. Norman Cave answered that call to action. His letter describing his use of computers in his hobby was delightful, and its application is equally so. The TRAINSIM documentation on its own is captivating. It combines history, physics, computing, culture, and more. It's a treasure trove of interesting information. Although I admit to having a prior interest in trains myself. I received an electric train set for Christmas the year I turned seven. I handed it down to my brother Jim, who added to it and handed it down to my brother Andrew, who added to it and handed it down to our niece Brittany, who now shares it with her younger brothers, Randy and Jimmy. Even without any prior interest in trains, I defy members to read it and not find some thing new and/or fascinating in what Norman and his friend Geoffrey have created.
Reprinted from the August 1998 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
