Sydney PC User Group Incorporated Members helping Members for over 24 Years Visitors are always welcome
WEEKLY SIG MEETING UPDATE 7 - 12 February 2011
1st Floor Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts 280 Pitt Street, Sydney http://www.sydneypc.com Sydney PCUG's Blog UPCOMING SIGs 14 - 19 February 2011 Stocks & Shares Tuesday's Senior SIG Genealogy SIG Web SIG . 7-Zip 9.20 download... A 32 bit and a 64 bit version is available on the same page.	Hello and Welcome, The Club's Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 22 March. At this time of the year, we ask you to consider if you would like to use your skills to make a greater contribution to the management of the club. Perhaps you know a talented member who can help. A little encouragement may be all that is needed to get him or her to join the committee or volunteer to help in some way. You can get a nomination form here or you can discuss what is involved with one of the committee members. Next week we have the Programming, Friday's Seniors and Communications SIGs available for members. Visitors are welcome at all of these groups. *Tuesday 8 February - Programming - N. Hoffman - 5:30pm - 8:30pm* At the January meeting, David discussed his car tachometer project and the group looked at ways of remotely recording the data. The group looked at RF Digital's site to see if their 2.4GHz wireless modules were suitable. Stuart showed his homemade prototype PCB made with surface mounted components, a USB to serial converter prototype. The group discussed using a Peltier device in reverse to generate electricity from heat. They also visited the Talking Electronics website and reviewed their method of programming PICs by copying selections from a library of assembler routines into a program template. They also looked at their surface-mount soldering technique and their notes on use of a transformer to solar charge a battery when the sunlight is weak. There will some new projects on display on Tuesday. *Friday 11 February - Seniors - 9:30am - 12:30pm* Peter Collard will lead this group again this month. After the usual question and answer session Peter will present a few audio/video utilities for people to use in capturing and converting multimedia files for making DVDs. The group might start with capturing some YouTube videos. The group will also look at the following programs: * Any Video Converter - an All-in-One video converting tool; * Audacity - A simple audio editor and recorder; * BonkEnc - extract, convert, and encode audio; * DVDStyler - DVD menu authoring tool; * VirtualDub - video processing and capture utility; and * VLC Media Player - An easy to use media player. This is a very full programme and it may be necessary to finish it in March. Peter will be visiting Thailand in April and probably May so the group will need another presenter for these months. *Friday 11 February - Communications - J. Lucke - 12:30pm - 3:30pm* Bob Backstrom will lead the Communications SIG this month. Bob proposes to look at the Podcasts that are accessible on the Internet. Sites such as the BBC make available a large number of podcasts on a wide range of topics. The group will explore what is available. The group will also discuss the merits of ordering computer parts online if time allows. Bob has found some good Sydney firms that trade on the Internet. Who are they? The group will use the Internet to locate them at the meeting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Keep cool, John Please remember if your e-mail address is changed for any reason at all, unless you tell me your new address you will not receive these weekly updates! Any change of address should be notified to changedetails@sydneypc.com
Information for Members and Visitors: Sydney PC User Group's FREE newsletter: Subscribe Send to Friend Un-subscribe Go to Sydney PC User Group's: Website Events Calendar Please note that all Meetings, except where specifically stated, are held on the 1st Floor, Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney. DISCLAIMER: This Newsletter is provided “As Is” without warranty of any kind. Each user or reader of this Newsletter assumes complete risk as to the accuracy and subsequent use of its contents.

Tuesday 8 February - Programming - N. Hoffman - 5:30pm - 8:30pm

At the January meeting, David discussed his car tachometer project and the group looked at ways of remotely recording the data. The group looked at

RF Digital's site to see if their 2.4GHz wireless modules were suitable.

Stuart showed his homemade prototype PCB made with surface mounted components, a USB to serial converter prototype.

The group discussed using a Peltier device in reverse to generate electricity from heat.

They also visited the Talking Electronics website and reviewed their method of programming PICs by copying selections from a library of assembler routines into a program template. They also looked at their surface-mount soldering technique and their notes on use of a transformer to solar charge a battery when the sunlight is weak.

There will some new projects on display on Tuesday.

Friday 11 February - Seniors - 9:30am - 12:30pm

Peter Collard will lead this group again this month.

After the usual question and answer session Peter will present a few audio/video utilities for people to use in capturing and converting multimedia files for making DVDs. The group might start with capturing some YouTube videos.

The group will also look at the following programs:
     * Any Video Converter - an All-in-One video converting tool;
     * Audacity - A simple audio editor and recorder;
     * BonkEnc - extract, convert, and encode audio;
     * DVDStyler - DVD menu authoring tool;
     * VirtualDub - video processing and capture utility; and
     * VLC Media Player - An easy to use media player.

This is a very full programme and it may be necessary to finish it in March.

Peter will be visiting Thailand in April and probably May so the group will need another presenter for these months.

Friday 11 February - Communications - J. Lucke - 12:30pm - 3:30pm

Bob Backstrom will lead the Communications SIG this month.

Bob proposes to look at the Podcasts that are accessible on the Internet. Sites such as the BBC make available a large number of podcasts on a wide range of topics. The group will explore what is available.

The group will also discuss the merits of ordering computer parts online if time allows. Bob has found some good Sydney firms that trade on the Internet. Who are they? The group will use the Internet to locate them at the meeting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keep cool,

John

Please remember if your e-mail address is changed for any reason at all, unless you tell me your new address you will not receive these weekly updates! Any change of address should be notified to changedetails@sydneypc.com

7-Zip 9.20