Sydney PC User Group Incorporated Helping Members for 32 Years Visitors are always welcome
Meetings During the Week 8 - 13 February 2016
1st Floor Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts 280 Pitt Street, Sydney http://www.sydneypc.com Sydney PCUG's Blog 15 - 20 February 2016 Tuesday Forum Family History SIG Web Design SIG The Sydney PC User Group Have you seen the Sydney PC User Group's new webpages? They can be seen here. The Annual General Meeting of the Sydney PC User Group This year's Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 23 February at 6pm before the Main Meeting. Ransomware How can you tackle extortion attacks in 2016? Read one suggestion here.	Hello and Welcome, Details of next week's meetings are below: *Tuesday 9 February - Programming - N Hoffman - 5:30pm - 8:30pm* At the January meeting the group discussed the difficulties the home PCB builder has in soldering surface mount boards, as their pads are so small and some can't even be reached with a soldering iron. One option is to use a toaster oven, but this requires microcontroller control of the temperature gradients, due to the risk of the overhead infrared heating elements melting the components. An alternative is to use an electric frying pan with a Pyrex lid. Here the problem is avoided as the heat comes from below. You add solder paste to the pads using a toothpick, place the components, put the board on the hot pan and close the lid. After a minute or so you see the solder paste melt and disperse. A short time later the tin in the solder dissolves into the surfaces of the pads and leads, you see it shrink and you remove the lid. The inrush of cold air solidifies the solder and the board can be removed. Alex showed the upgrade he made to his computer load monitor he showed us last month. He improved the display by replacing the voltmeter with an ammeter and a comparator, and replaced the backing with a percentage scale he made. Les showed us some board games he has written. Shane showed us a webpage on Hackaday about a CNC assisted hand held router. Motors in the tool adjust the position of the cutter to improve accuracy. Summaries of many of the previous meetings can be seen at: http://www.sesame.com.au/picclub The members will have some new microprocessor applications and programming examples at Tuesday's meeting. Neville Hoffman *Friday 12 February - Friday Forum - 9:30am - 12:30pm* The New Year has started and it is time for the members of the group to consider what they would like to discuss and share with one another during the year. Some members may use their computers for unusual or creative tasks and hobbies and they may be prepared to share these with other members at a future meeting. Others may be contemplating purchasing a new device or computer and would like to seek the advice of other members about the products they are considering. The way in which meetings are currently conducted will also be discussed to see if the manner in which information is shared among the members can be improved. These and many other things will be discussed at what promises to be an interesting and lively meeting. The usual question and answer session will also be held. *Friday 12 February - Communications - J Lucke - 12:30pm - 3:30pm* John Lucke will discuss the "Homegroup" file and printer sharing features in Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 at this meeting. John has decided that he would like three computers in his home to co-operate with one another and he has started working on this task. He will tell the group how he has gone about setting up a Homegroup for the computers and discuss the problems he has encountered along the way. This "Homegroup" discussion will be a lead-in to the art of setting up a Local Area Network (LAN) at a later meeting. There will be a question and answer session and a general discussion of computer issues at the meeting. *Saturday 13 February - Penrith Group - F Bowman - 2:00pm - 4:30pm* Frank Bowman normally starts the meeting with a question and answer session around the table to enable members to share problems, advice and tips. The topics that will be discussed this month are: (a) Trends at the recent Consumer Electronic Show; (b) The Windows 10 operating system. While some commentators suggest that this is Microsoft's best operating system yet, it still has some annoying features. The group look at some of these and see what solutions are suggested by technology writers; and (c) An Ashampoo freeware program which the group will test to create a SlideShow with transitions. If you intend to go to this meeting, please email Frank at fbowman@ozemail.com.au for the location of the meeting place. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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.

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

At the January meeting the group discussed the difficulties the home PCB builder has in soldering surface mount boards, as their pads are so small and some can't even be reached with a soldering iron. One option is to use a toaster oven, but this requires microcontroller control of the temperature gradients, due to the risk of the overhead infrared heating elements melting the components. An alternative is to use an electric frying pan with a Pyrex lid. Here the problem is avoided as the heat comes from below. You add solder paste to the pads using a toothpick, place the components, put the board on the hot pan and close the lid. After a minute or so you see the solder paste melt and disperse.

A short time later the tin in the solder dissolves into the surfaces of the pads and leads, you see it shrink and you remove the lid. The inrush of cold air solidifies the solder and the board can be removed.

Alex showed the upgrade he made to his computer load monitor he showed us last month. He improved the display by replacing the voltmeter with an ammeter and a comparator, and replaced the backing with a percentage scale he made.

Les showed us some board games he has written.

Shane showed us a webpage on Hackaday about a CNC assisted hand held router. Motors in the tool adjust the position of the cutter to improve accuracy.

Summaries of many of the previous meetings can be seen at: http://www.sesame.com.au/picclub

The members will have some new microprocessor applications and programming examples at Tuesday's meeting. Neville Hoffman

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

The New Year has started and it is time for the members of the group to consider what they would like to discuss and share with one another during the year.

Some members may use their computers for unusual or creative tasks and hobbies and they may be prepared to share these with other members at a future meeting. Others may be contemplating purchasing a new device or computer and would like to seek the advice of other members about the products they are considering.

The way in which meetings are currently conducted will also be discussed to see if the manner in which information is shared among the members can be improved.

These and many other things will be discussed at what promises to be an interesting and lively meeting.

The usual question and answer session will also be held.

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

John Lucke will discuss the "Homegroup" file and printer sharing features in Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 at this meeting.

John has decided that he would like three computers in his home to co-operate with one another and he has started working on this task.

He will tell the group how he has gone about setting up a Homegroup for the computers and discuss the problems he has encountered along the way.

This "Homegroup" discussion will be a lead-in to the art of setting up a Local Area Network (LAN) at a later meeting.

There will be a question and answer session and a general discussion of computer issues at the meeting.

Saturday 13 February - Penrith Group - F Bowman - 2:00pm - 4:30pm

Frank Bowman normally starts the meeting with a question and answer session around the table to enable members to share problems, advice and tips.

The topics that will be discussed this month are:

(a) Trends at the recent Consumer Electronic Show;

(b) The Windows 10 operating system. While some commentators suggest that this is Microsoft's best operating system yet, it still has some annoying features. The group look at some of these and see what solutions are suggested by technology writers; and

If you intend to go to this meeting, please email Frank at fbowman@ozemail.com.au for the location of the meeting place.

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

John Mathews