Ryte
Bytes is the
monthly newsletter of the Commodore Users Group of Kansas City (CUGKC).
This newsletter will not appear on CUGKC's website before that month's scheduled CUGKC meeting. This is in deference
to dues-paying CUGKC members. The Webmaster will strive to publish it no
later than 10 days after that month's scheduled CUGKC meeting.
If you would like to join CUGKC, we would love
to have you!
by Jack Kincaid / jkinca1@cugkc.cjb.net
Well, wonder of wonders! At the October meeting we gained a new member: Mr. Mike Needham! Glad to have you join our little group. Maybe we can put some of your energy to good use.
Five of the regulars were there with Helen and Les on their “Party!” tour. One of the new LoadStar disks was demoed and discussion with Mike about the Club and the Commodore.
MAKE NOTE: Next meeting will be on November 9th at the Plaza Library at 6:30 pm in the Small Meeting Room.
Oh my gosh! Will you look at this? I STILL have 64s, 128s, 1541s, 1571s, monitors, and printers just sitting in my basement doing zip! For a minimal fee they can be in YOUR home (and not in MY basement) doing something! Give me a jingle or powwow with me at the next meeting. My landline number is 816-761-4777 and I am home most days after 4:00 pm.
Financial Report
Balance Sep. 2006 ................... $291.42
Income: Oct. 2006
New membership (1) ................ $ 15.00
Total Income: Oct. 2006 ............. $ 15.00 *
Expenses: Oct. 2006
Newsletter ........................-$ 20.85
Total Expenses: Oct. 2006 ...........-$ 20.85
Closing Balance Oct. 2006............ $285.57
* Will be deposited in November
by Jack Kincaid / jkinca1@cugkc.cjb.net
From the Kansas City’s Star “Weird News” section: “Nice work if you can get it. U.S. Representative Bob Ney of Ohio agreed to plead guilty in September to corruption charges stemming from investigation of the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Even though Ney faces as much as 27 months in prison, he will still be eligible for a congressional pension when he gets out.” What a crock!
by Lenard Roach / lroach1@cugkc.cjb.net
I was totally surprised to read in Jack’s column about the joining of a new member. Mr. Needham, I welcome you to the ranks of the Commodore Users Group of Kansas City. I hope to meet you at the December meeting and discuss what it is you do with your machine and how you have employed it in the past.
Jack was groovy enough to send me a current roster of CUGKC members, their addresses, inception dates, when they paid their dues last, and when the next dues are due. I also know who is behind on dues. I am tempted to razz them in my writings, but that would be below me for the moment. I will wait when I am booked beyond measure with writing projects, and the newsletter is due again. Judging by how hard the publishers are knocking down my door, that will never happen.
Celebrating his 11th year with the CUGKC is our own secretary, Scott Heider. Scott joined our merry gang of retro users back in November of 1995. Happy CUGKC anniversary, Scott!
I got an email from Robert Bernardo of the Fresno Commodore Users Group. He informed me that CommVex V3 is slated for July 27-29, 2007 in Las Vegas. I have been asked to come, and this invitation is extended to all Commodore users. Please check your calendars and plan to attend this exposition. I am already trying to put together monies, materials, and projects to display and lecture on at the event. This will be my first lecture (outside of speaking at the CUGKC, of course) since 1987. I will reveal more information as it becomes available to me. I’m sure Mr. Bernardo will be putting something together for his club’s newsletter, “The Interface”, so you can watch his publication for data also. The CUGKC and FCUG exchange newsletters so this shouldn’t be too hard.
I emailed a fellow Commodore user and told him that I will be putting off most of my Commodore programming and other Commodore related activity (newsletter work excluded) until after the holidays. I would like to get a fresh start on 2007 once all this turkey eating and jolly old Saint Nick stuff is behind me.
One of my intended projects is to prepare all the articles written in 2006 and have them converted into Microsoft Word so that Scott can upload them to our website. The friend I mentioned has the uncanny ability to change GeoWrite text into MS Word text. I will employ his computer talents to hopefully get this job done if he is not too busy playing M.U.L.E. or some other awesome Commodore game.
Many of you who came to the June 2005 meeting should remember the creation I brought in for demonstration – the GABE.U.PAK.64, which is a nickel metal hydride battery pack I built for use with the Commodore SX64. If you don’t remember or didn’t attend that day, then please go to our club’s website, navigate to Newsletters, and click on June 2005. The battery pack did the job, but it was complicated, bulky, and ugly. Well, you wouldn’t believe this, but my son Gabriel (for whom the battery pack was named) has built his own version of the GABE.U.PAK.64 and it is SO much better!
Gabe used some parts from the original GABE.U.PAK.64, mainly the power inverter and the car cigarette lighter, but the rest is totally his own idea. Taking a sealed lead acid battery with 12 volts and 7.2 amp hours in it, he attached the cigarette lighter to the top of the battery using Velcro pads. He then put spade clamps on the wires coming from the lighter and put those clamps on to the positive and negative terminals of the battery. He inserted the power inverter into the cigarette lighter and voila! One battery pack.
Gabe has designed the pack to easily come apart for changing out batteries or just to transport. Gabe has got it down to about 15 seconds to swap out batteries so he can resume playing on his PS One game system.
Probably one of the questions you might have is: Can this pack hold up to the original GABE.U.PAK.64? The answer is a resounding YES! Gabe’s new pack uses the same principles as the original pack, but he is using a completely different chemistry. The sealed lead chemistry works exactly the same as a regular car battery. Even the charger for the GABE.U.PAK.64 works better with Gabe’s new battery pack since it was originally designed to work with car batteries. No more do you have to watch the battery pack charge and hope you don’t blow it up. When fully charged, Gabe’s new pack will send a message to the charger to go into “float” mode, which is maintaining a charge of much less amperage. This is a significant improvement to the old packs.
As a side note, Gabe’s new pack is also lighter, smaller, and more powerful than the GABE.U.PAK.64, even with all the attachments installed. Another feature is you can put Gabe’s battery pack on its end or its side and it will continue to put out energy. The GABE.U.PAK.64 can only sit on its bottom due to its construction and fragile nature. I am hoping to bring a sample of his work to the December meeting.
So, what does Gabe use his battery pack for? Right now, he uses it for his Playstation portable game system. He can get up to 4 hours of game time from a single charge. I have yet to use it on the Commodore SX64, but since his pack has more amperage than the original GABE.U.PAK.64, I estimate that an SX64 user should get about 45 minutes to an hour of Commodore time from a single charge. The pack takes about 8 hours to recharge at 900 milliamp hours. I hope to have more data by the time the December meeting rolls around.
Gabe did a remarkable thing with this pack. It goes to show that when you put yourself to it, you can do amazing things.
On a final note, please remember that our December meeting will be our annual “Eats and Treats” meeting, so bring in your favorite holiday snack to share with the rest of the membership. This is usually our biggest turnout of the year. Also in December we will be voting on our officers to preside over our club for the coming year. The December meeting is vital and your presence is required to make this meeting a success.
Well, that’s all to be had from this end of the Commodore keyboard. I hope everyone can make it out to the November meeting, and I personally will see everyone at the December meeting. Remember, where there’s food, you’ll usually find me.
by Lenard Roach / lroach1@cugkc.cjb.net
The December meeting of the CUGKC will be held on Thursday, December 14th, 2006 at 6:30 pm at the Plaza Library. This will be our annual eats and treats, so bring your favorite holiday dish and come hungry! We also vote on our 2007 officers.
(WEBMASTER'S NOTE: To see what treats folks plan to bring to the meeting, and to share what you intend to bring, please join the discussion on our forum at http://cugkc.proboards55.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1163468376)
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 library of over 1000 public domain and shareware disks.
Dues are $15 the first year, $10 annually thereafter. Disks of the month and library disks cost $3 each for members.
Meetings are held on the second Thursday of every month at the Plaza branch of the Kansas City Public Library, located at 4801 Main Street in Kansas City, Missouri. 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
6025 Corona Avenue
Kansas City, Kansas 66102