Sydney PC User Group Incorporated Helping Members for 30 Years Visitors are always welcome
WEEKLY SIG MEETING UPDATE 8 - 13 DECEMBER 2014
1st Floor Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts 280 Pitt Street, Sydney http://www.sydneypc.com Sydney PCUG's Blog MEETINGS during the week 15 - 20 December 2014 Tuesday Forum Family History SIG Firefox 34 Read a review PaintShop Pro X7 Review Read the review here. *Lunch on Friday* Members of the Friday Forum and Communications SIG will join together for lunch at 12 noon at the Star Bar in George Street on Friday. All members are welcome to join them in this short end-of-year luncheon.	Hello and Welcome, Details of the four meetings being held next week are below: *Tuesday 9 December - Programming - N Hoffman - 5:30pm - 8:30pm* At the November meeting Martin discussed pdf2gerb, a Perl script that converts specially-formatted PDF files to Gerber and NC Drill formats. He also showed us a transmitter/receiver he built using the Nordic Semiconductor nRF 24201 chips, useful for short distance remote control. Alex showed a video of how he repaired a cordless drill. He used an iPhone camera to make the video, and showed how to embed a video in a webpage. David showed the final upgrade of his Raspberry Pi prototyping board, with a double solderless breadboard embedded in a PCB. He showed how to use Windows Device Manager to find Com ports, and used the prototyper to test two Serial Bus Interfaces working in parallel. Martin mentioned a forthcoming meeting of Solidifier at 66 Oxford St Darlinghurst. Solidifier is a group of enthusiasts who build Internet connected things using Open Source hardware and software on various platforms, such as Arduino, RaspberryPi, Beaglebone, Open WRT, Teensy, Android. More details of this group can be seen at ozberrypi.org. Summaries of previous meetings can be read at the following site: http://www.sesame.com.au/picclub Members of the group will demonstrate some new microprocessor applications and programming examples at Tuesday's meeting. - Neville Hoffman *Friday 12 December - Friday Forum - 9:30am - 12:30pm* Do the current versions of the operating systems provided by Microsoft, Apple and Google serve the average computer user as well at the ones that were available in the past? This is a question that Roger Foulds will explore at this meeting. No doubt you have a view on this question, so come along and join in the discussion. There will be a question and answer session during the meeting and the group will adjourn for their end of year lunch at the conclusion of the meeting. *Friday 12 December - Communications - J Lucke - 12:30pm - 3:30pm* Viruses that hijack computers or redirect browsers to sites that are not wanted are rampant at the moment. John Lucke's computer was badly infected with problems of this kind recently and he found it were very difficult to remove the viruses. At this meeting John will discuss some of the precautions that can be taken to guard against these infections as well as the remedial action that can be taken remove the viruses from a computer that is infected. There will be a question and answer session and general discussion at the meeting and if time allows John will reflect on some of this year's interesting communication topics. Members who intend to attend this meeting are invited to attend the combined SIGs end of year lunch at the Star Bar 12 noon and 1pm. *Saturday 13 December - Web Design - S South - 1:30pm - 4:30pm* A bushfire near his house prevented Steve South from attending last month's meeting and he has thanked Christopher Murman for chairing and conducting the meeting in his absence. At this month's meeting Steve will discuss the program, WebMatrix, which is something he intended to do last month. WebMatrix is Microsoft’s web building software designed to give complete access to all the different elements that go into making a web site. It is designed to integrate the HTML and CSS components of a web page with the programming and database creation. It is a “one stop shop” or maybe a “one place program” which can be used to build a web page, style it, and then add some functionality such as writing a script to add a membership database or show when a page was last updated. Steve also intends to continue to discuss what the group would like to achieve next year. Perhaps you would like the group to help you build a web site? If so, please let Steve know. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John Mathews
Information for Members and Visitors: All Meetings, unless specifically stated above, are held on the 1st Floor, Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney. Sydney PC User Group's FREE newsletter: Subscribe Un-subscribe Go to Sydney PC User Group's: Website Events Calendar Changing your e-mail address? Please e-mail your new address to newsletter@sydneypc.com 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.

Sydney PC User Group Incorporated

Helping Members for 30 Years

Visitors are always welcome

WEEKLY SIG MEETING UPDATE 8 - 13 DECEMBER 2014

1st Floor
Sydney Mechanics'
School of Arts
280 Pitt Street, Sydney
http://www.sydneypc.com

Sydney PCUG's Blog

MEETINGS

during the week

15 - 20 December 2014

Tuesday Forum
Family History SIG

Firefox 34

Read a review

PaintShop Pro X7 Review

Read the review here.

Lunch on Friday

Members of the Friday Forum and Communications SIG will join together for lunch at 12 noon at the Star Bar in George Street on Friday.

All members are welcome to join them in this short end-of-year luncheon.

Hello and Welcome,

Details of the four meetings being held next week are below:

Tuesday 9 December - Programming - N Hoffman - 5:30pm - 8:30pm

At the November meeting Martin discussed pdf2gerb, a Perl script that converts specially-formatted PDF files to Gerber and NC Drill formats. He also showed us a transmitter/receiver he built using the Nordic Semiconductor nRF 24201 chips, useful for short distance remote control.

Alex showed a video of how he repaired a cordless drill. He used an iPhone camera to make the video, and showed how to embed a video in a webpage.

David showed the final upgrade of his Raspberry Pi prototyping board, with a double solderless breadboard embedded in a PCB. He showed how to use Windows Device Manager to find Com ports, and used the prototyper to test two Serial Bus Interfaces working in parallel.

Martin mentioned a forthcoming meeting of Solidifier at 66 Oxford St Darlinghurst. Solidifier is a group of enthusiasts who build Internet connected things using Open Source hardware and software on various platforms, such as Arduino, RaspberryPi, Beaglebone, Open WRT, Teensy, Android. More details of this group can be seen at ozberrypi.org.

Summaries of previous meetings can be read at the following site:
http://www.sesame.com.au/picclub

Members of the group will demonstrate some new microprocessor applications and programming examples at Tuesday's meeting. - Neville Hoffman

Friday 12 December - Friday Forum - 9:30am - 12:30pm

Do the current versions of the operating systems provided by Microsoft, Apple and Google serve the average computer user as well at the ones that were available in the past?

This is a question that Roger Foulds will explore at this meeting. No doubt you have a view on this question, so come along and join in the discussion.

There will be a question and answer session during the meeting and the group will adjourn for their end of year lunch at the conclusion of the meeting.

Friday 12 December - Communications - J Lucke - 12:30pm - 3:30pm

Viruses that hijack computers or redirect browsers to sites that are not wanted are rampant at the moment.

John Lucke's computer was badly infected with problems of this kind recently and he found it were very difficult to remove the viruses.

At this meeting John will discuss some of the precautions that can be taken to guard against these infections as well as the remedial action that can be taken remove the viruses from a computer that is infected.

There will be a question and answer session and general discussion at the meeting and if time allows John will reflect on some of this year's interesting communication topics.

Members who intend to attend this meeting are invited to attend the combined SIGs end of year lunch at the Star Bar 12 noon and 1pm.

Saturday 13 December - Web Design - S South - 1:30pm - 4:30pm

A bushfire near his house prevented Steve South from attending last month's meeting and he has thanked Christopher Murman for chairing and conducting the meeting in his absence.

At this month's meeting Steve will discuss the program, WebMatrix, which is something he intended to do last month. WebMatrix is Microsoft’s web building software designed to give complete access to all the different elements that go into making a web site.

It is designed to integrate the HTML and CSS components of a web page with the programming and database creation. It is a “one stop shop” or maybe a “one place program” which can be used to build a web page, style it, and then add some functionality such as writing a script to add a membership database or show when a page was last updated.

Steve also intends to continue to discuss what the group would like to achieve next year. Perhaps you would like the group to help you build a web site? If so, please let Steve know.

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

John Mathews

Information for Members and Visitors:

All Meetings, unless specifically stated above, are held on the
1st Floor, Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney.

Sydney PC User Group's FREE newsletter: Subscribe Un-subscribe

Go to Sydney PC User Group's: Website Events Calendar

Changing your e-mail address? Please e-mail your new address to newsletter@sydneypc.com

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.