Wellington Meeting for May, 2008

Those who attended the Hutt meeting in April when Jim Oliver discussed BartPE will no doubt be pleased to know that Jim is going to talk about the same subject at the Wellington meeting on 21 May.

It was, by all accounts, a fascinating evening at Moera.

For those who don’t know what BartPE is all about, I suggest you read the article in the April MegaByte on pages 8 and 9 then come along to St Giles and hear Jim talk about it. It could even be the answer to some of your Windows problems.

Hutt Meeting for 10th December, 2007

For the final meeting of the year, David Edwards is once again the presenter, although the topic for the evening is far removed from the Microsoft XBox discussion of last month. This time, David will talk about "Windows Unattended": the creation of a CD that will do everything associated with the maintenance of Windows XP automatically for you.

If you are interested in this, make sure you attend the meeting. As an additional incentive, there will be Christmas cake and grapejuice available.

Meeting for Wednesday, 21st November

If you came along to the meeting last month and saw Part I of "Triumph of the Nerds" you will know that Part II (showing tomorrow night) and Part III (at the December meeting) are not to be missed.

See how the modern computer industry developed, how one company changed it forever and how the industry fares today.

This will be followed by a Brains Trust, so have your questions ready for the experts.

Hutt Meeting for 12 November, 2007

On Monday at Moera, David Edwards has offered to demonstrate a modified XBox he bought for his son. This should be a fascinating evening, offering something a little different from the usual, so come along and join in the fun.

Change to the 19th September meeting at St Giles

I have been informed that Ian Heppleston has another engagement this coming Wednesday so John Hand has agreed to talk about Brother’s Keeper in Ian’s absence.

During the evening, John Little will still visit the Genes Reunited website.

Meeting at St Giles on 19 September, 2007

Another evening devoted to genealogy, where John Little will again visit Genes Reunited and Ian Heppleston will talk about Brother’s Keeper, a genealogy program he regularly uses.

For all keen genealogists, this should be an meeting full of interest.

Hutt Meeting on Monday, 10th September 2007

John Hand and John Little will discuss aspects of genealogy as it applies to computers at Moera on Monday. John Hand will discuss some of the software written for family tree record keeping, such as the popular Personal Ancestral File and Brother's Keeper, while John Little will visit the Genes Reunited website and show how helpful such a site can be in broadening one's awareness of more distant relatives.

If you are interested in your ancestry, this should prove to be a stimulating evening.

Wellington Meeting for Wednesday, 15 August, 2007

This meeting is a surprise package so come along and find out what it's all about.

Hutt meeting for 13th August, 2007

Unfortunately, nothing official has been planned for this month (we did have a speaker in mind but did not provide him with sufficient notice), so I thought we would continue from where we left off last month. I will bring along the club’s laptop and Woosh modem etc so bring along any video clips or DVDs you think might be interesting. Alternatively, you might have found some websites interesting and would like to share the experience with others.

Wellington and Hutt meetings for 18th and 9th July, 2007

Yes, it’s that time again – the AGM! You don’t have to worry about being elected to the committee, as all the current members are standing again. Of course, if you would like to assist, feel free to put your hand up!

The remainder of the evening is going to be a little different from the usual demonstrations. Bring along your DVDs, video clips or whatever to display and let others join in. If you want to lend any discs to other members, that’s up to you. Make sure you keep a record of what’s been borrowed and by whom. If you want to make copies of discs for people, you do it without the approval of the NZPCA, particularly if it is copyright material. Again it’s up to you as, technically, you could be breaking the law.

Regardless of that, the evening should be a lot of fun so do make sure you’re there.

The Hutt meeting will be very similar to the meeting at St Giles (after the AGM business has been completed there, that is). Bring along your DVDs, video clips etc to demonstrate what you find informative or amusing.

Meetings for Monday 11 June and Wednesday 20 June.

Those of you who are keen on programming will enjoy these two meetings. Arthur Harris has been studying Python for some time now and will speak about the language at both Moera on the 11th and St Giles on the 20th.
One of the really nice things about Python is that it is free!
Both these evenings promise to titillate your programming tastebuds, so don’t miss them! Even if you've never contemplated programming before, you might be pleasantly surprised at just how easy it can be.

Mind map showing meeting topics

The mindmap shown below is an experimental "proof of concept" to see how well this kind of embedded feature works. Feedback appreciated.

The original mindmap is at http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/show_public/730107

Update! Wellington Meeting for 18th April, 2007

The topic for the April NZPCA meeting at St Giles will be different from previously notified.

Brent Wood has very generously agreed to come along and share his experience.

Brent works for NIWA, and uses Open Source software extensively. The presentation will cover GIS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIS) and data presentation with discussion about how Open Source software enables activities that would be impractical using expensive commercial software; there may also be some discussion of other Open Source software, Linux and OpenOffice as time permits. If you are interested in hardware, Brent will be bringing a Shuttle PC along, this is your chance to see one running and put to practical use.

Brent may have some LiveCDs of the software he uses for the demonstration to give away for those interested in persuing these topics further. The presentation will not be technical and will be quite informal so you will be able to ask questions.

It is important that members show support for guest speakers by attending. Brent is a very interesting speaker and you should not miss this meeting.

Wellington Meeting for 18th April, 2007

The meeting at St Giles for this month is centred around another brainstrust evening, so bring along all your computer problems and have them solved on the night by Roger and his team.

Hutt Meeting for 16 April, 2007

Debbie Noon, from IBM, is going to give a Powerpoint presentation on "Web Adaptive Technology" at Moera next Monday. There will be a short video on the subject as well. If you are not sure what it is all about, come along and find out.