by Jack Kincaid / jkinca1@cugkc.cjb.net
The Year 2001-It was a lousy year!! From its very start to its very end. The downturn of the economy and then the dubious presidential election (who really did win?). Then still more layoffs (downsizing) and the terrorist acts of September 11th. The Nation in morning over those lost in the terrorist acts. The gearing up for war. Congress gives millions of dollars to the airlines (not a word from the CEOs about them giving any money to help their airlines). The start of the bombing of a foreign nation and last but not least the Anthrax through the mail releases. Are there any GOOD things this year? Sure! There are still more people with jobs than without. Gas prices have come down. The pride in America has increased after September 11th.
How about the CUGKC? Not a very good year either. Had a hard time finding a place to meet. For the moment that seems to be taken care of. No new members lately, I think Fuzzy Brooks was the last new member. Lost our PO Box. Our President had other things to do (job) as with the VP, so most of the year only three or four members were doing anything. The club did get incorporated, thanks to John Strenge. The club lost our FIDOnet connection so our BBS is isolated from the rest of the Net. This will probably be the end of our BBS because very few club members use it and without any outside connection it is a bill we cannot afford. That is one thing I have never figured out - why anyone in the club doesn't have and use a modem to connect to our BBS. You don't have to chat up a storm but it is a way to get and pass on information. So are there any good things for the Club? YES - We still have a Club though our membership is down we have a small group of Hardcore Commodore Lovers (of the computer!). Also, if Randall can keep his promise maybe some more up-to-date equipment for the Commodore. What I would like to see is an adapter that will let our Commodores be used with IBM VGA or SVGA monitors. Also IBM type printers and 3 ½" drives that can be used with our Commodore. Have GEOS updated and some of the better word processors.
I do wish each member of the Club would get more involved, DO SOMETHING - give the club a short report on your favorite game or application you use a lot. If you do use the Internet, look for Commodore news and tell us about it. - Enough of the Soapbox bit.
Very little to tell about our November meeting. Fuzzy Brooks was back after a summer of FUN? Scott Heider renewed his association with the Club for another year. Thanks Scott for your support. He also updated our Web Site, good job! Our web site is http://cugkc.cjb.net for those people that can get on the Internet. We decided to have people bring good things to eat for the December meeting, so don't miss it! It is on the 12th of December - Don't forget!
I still have 64s and 128s with 1541 and 1571 drives. I also have monitors and printers just sitting in my basement doing nothing. For a small price they can be in your home doing something! Call or see me at the next meeting. My phone # is 816-761-4777 and I am home most days after 4 PM.
Financial Report
Balance Oct. 2001.................... $140.08
Income: Nov. 2001
Renewals (1) ........................
$ 20.00
Expenses: Nov. 2001
BBS Phone Bill ......................-$ 43.56
Closing Balance Nov. 2001............ $116.52*
*does not include $20.00 income from Sept. 2001 -- will deposit in Dec.
by Scott Heider / sheide1@cugkc.cjb.net
The Group meeting for November was held on Wednesday, November 7th at the Antioch Library. The attendance was 6 members.
Lenard Roach snail-mailed the club a release form to allow him "to reprint any and all stories written by him for the Ryte Bytes newsletter, past and present, in any book or periodical of his choosing". Yours Truly signed this form at the meeting and snail-mailed it back to Lenard on November 8th.
Tom Moloney mentioned that the library will not be available on December 5th, so we will meet at the Antioch Library at 7:00 on Wednesday, December 12th. Also, on Nov. 26th, Tom posted the following news on the BBS:
The Antioch Library has decided to hold "book fairs" on Wed nights next year. We must decide if we want a new location, or meet on Thurs nights. Let's vote on it at the Dec 12 meeting.
Speaking of the December 12th meeting, we are scheduled to elect the officers for 2002 then. If you are interested in becoming an officer, then please attend the meeting to make your desire known. Or, if you are currently an officer and wish to relinquish your office for 2002, then please notify any officer ASAP.
Finally, the December 12th meeting will be our annual holiday meeting. Treats will be provided, and you are welcome to share your favorite treats too. Hope to see you there!
by Scott Heider / sheide1@cugkc.cjb.net
As Jack Kincaid mentioned in his article above, approximately one year ago the club's BBS lost its Fidonet connection, so the BBS is now isolated from the rest of the Net. I agree with his prediction that this will probably be the end of our BBS, because very few club members use it and without any outside connection to Fidonet it is a phone bill that we cannot afford.
That said, I have just discovered a free BBS named FidoTel on the Internet that provides access to all of your favorite Fidonet echos (message areas), especially the three Commodore echos (Commodore Computer, Commodore 128, and Commodore Geos).
Here are some of the features of the FidoTel BBS:
If you would like to get a list of all the Fidonet conferences that FidoTel hosts, and the actual conference number that the system uses for each echo (very handy list for using Fidonet mail at FidoTel), then simply send an empty Email to fidonet@fidotel.com. FidoTel will automatically mail you the complete list with corresponding conference numbers.
by Scott Heider / sheide1@cugkc.cjb.net
As good as Fidonet is/was at enabling Commodore users to keep in touch, the sad truth is that very few people worldwide use Fidonet nowadays, including Commodore users! That's not to say that Commodore users aren't still communicating with each other -- on the contrary, the movers and shakers in the Commodore community are very active. Where/how do they congregate, you ask? The answer is... via an email list named Homestead, which is moderated by Gaelyne Gasson.
The Homestead email list was created out of a need to have an "everything including the kitchen sink" type list for Commodore conversations. By subscribing to the list, you will receive one email every day containing the list mail batched into a daily digest. As I mentioned earlier, this list is now where the "action" is; for example, Maurice Randall posts here regularly.
To sign up for Homestead, go to this page on the WWW: http://cbm.videocam.net.au/mailman/listinfo/homestead.
by Maurice Randall / maurice@ia4u.net
Thu, 8 Nov 2001 21:54:01 -0500
Things are beginning to move much better now. For the first 3 months after taking over the Commodore portion of CMD's business, I filled some orders but also spent a great deal of time studying the products, the design, the construction, and anything else that I could get familiar with. The time I spent in Massachusetts was time well spent, but still was not enough to know everything there is to know about these products. Anyway, orders are now being filled at a much better rate.
The first HD's rolled out of the shop this week. Plus I shipped some more SuperCPU's as well. By Monday, the first RamLinks will hit the road. Also, I built the first HD-Zip drive this week and also the first HD-Jaz drive. The HD-Jaz is still sitting in the shop... it's not spoken for yet. That's one cool drive. It's for sale for $349 to anyone that wants it. I'll probably build another one in about a week or so.
The new HD-DOS is still being worked on almost every night when I get home from work. Everyone who is getting a new CMD-HD from me will also get a free HD-DOS upgrade when it's ready. It will automatically be mailed out to the HD owners.
-Maurice
(Editor's note: This information provided courtesy of the Homestead email list. To subscribe, visit http://cbm.videocam.net.au/mailman/listinfo/homestead.)
The Commodore Users Group of Kansas City is a not-for-profit educational support group for persons using Commodore computers.
Membership benefits include a monthly newsletter as well as access to CUGKC's Bulletin Board System (BBS) open 23.5 hours every day, with upload and download privileges, plus electronic mail, and access to over 500 doors of the FidoNet (part of a world-wide network). Also, members receive access to a library of over 1000 public domain and shareware disks.
Dues are $25 the first year, $20 annually thereafter. Disks of the month and library disks cost $3 each for members.
Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of every month at the Antioch branch of the Johnson County Public Library, 8700 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Merriam, Kansas. Visitors are welcome to attend any meeting. For more information, contact any officer:
Email us at cugkc@cugkc.cjb.net
or visit our web site at http://cugkc.cjb.net.
Our snail-mail address is:
CUGKC
1307 Golfview Drive
Grain Valley, Missouri 64029