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
actual 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
To be PC (politically correct), I must make this statement: “No CUGKC treasury money was used in the preparation or execution of the CUGKC annual Christmas party.” Now with that out of the way, we can get down to business!
The CUGKC Christmas party was a great success! There were 12 at the party. We had that room almost full. Lenard, Alana, and Gabe brought a couple of meat and cheese platters and a bottle of cola; Scott brought popcorn. I brought cookies and two bottles of cola, ice, and cups. Helen had her special cookies (mmm good). To those that brought other things – thanks! I especially enjoyed Tracy Needham and Alana Roach talk of the times that their husbands tried to keep Christmas presents secreted from them, and how Tracy dealt with her late wedding photos. And thanks to Ken Clayton for the disk of Christmas music.
I wish everyone a Happy Holidays and a great New Year! I hope the New Year will be an energizing year for the CUGKC.
Next meeting will be on Thursday, January 11, 2007 at the Plaza Library, 6:30 pm, in the Small Meeting Room.
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 number is 816.761.4777 and I am home most days after 4 PM.
Financial Report
Balance Nov. 2006 ................... $320.57
Income: Dec. 2006 ................... $ 0.00
Expenses: Dec. 2006 .................-$ 0.00
Closing Balance Dec. 2006 ........... $320.57
by Lenard Roach / lroach1@cugkc.cjb.net
Once again, technology has proven to be the downfall of man.
As I was opening the email from Jack that had his article for this month’s Ryte Bytes, somehow in the Internet’s wonderful way of functioning, it decided NOT to send the attachment containing Jack’s Treasury report. I have sent numerous emails back to Jack, but again the system must have decided that these emails were of no consequence, and my best guess is that Jack never re-sent the attachment. Therefore, due to this grievous error, there will be no Treasury report in this month’s printed issue. Please accept my apologies to all of Jack’s admiring fans throughout the Commodore universe. Hopefully next month I can present both Jack’s January and February reports and commentaries.
With my hat in my hand, I will try to present as best as I can on my own, a newsletter worthy of the name Ryte Bytes. So, here I go.
The December Christmas Chow Down went off without a hitch. I got to meet our new member, Mike Needham, and listen to some of the ideas he has for the Commodore. Mike is a great addition to our group, and from what conversation we had, he has great ideas for our adored single board. I got to demonstrate Gabriel’s invention of a battery pack that supports several platforms of computers and game consoles, including the Commodore SX64. I am only sorry that the drive in my personal SX64 was shot, and therefore no programs could be loaded into the machine. The big test for a battery for the SX64 is being able to hold up to the stress of accessing the disk drive.
Jack and Ken both made Christmas disks for the club. Jack used a disk from the 1987 CUGKC Christmas meeting, and Ken put the wonderful music and effects program Swinth on to disk. Both are great disks which shall be accessed for years to come by Yours Truly.
The snacks for the Christmas party consisted of cookies, soda, fudge, and the meat & cheese tray. We in the Roach household didn’t get to eat before we came to the meeting, so we waded into all of the food upon arrival. When it was clean-up time, there was little to be picked up since most everything was eaten during the meeting. We left full and satisfied.
The question now before us as a group is: What are the goals for 2007? I am looking toward the 2007 CommVEx in Las Vegas and meeting the members of FCUG, and also hearing of some of the inventions and software developed for Commodore over the past 12 months. If anyone else is interested in coming to this meeting, then please check out http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex or FCUG’s newsletter publication, The Interface, for more information.
Yet, what else? Busy folk like the CUGKC membership have little time for other ventures, and getting on the Internet for information is becoming (at least for me) more muddlesome with constant deletion of information, as in Jack’s January article disappearance. Also, finding time to go to such events as CommVEx is hard to plan for. I think last year alone there were about five different Commodore events in the United States and Canada, and one can’t make them all. I would like to suggest that we each select a Commodore exposition and report on what takes place. I know that most everyone won’t be taking the physical trip to such events, but if we can dig up what information we can on each one via websites, emails, and newsletter publications, then maybe we can create a “you were there” type of experience for the rest of the group. Since FCUG reports for The Interface come mostly through me, I will keep up on the CommVEx event. I’m sure that websites like Homestead should have a listing on what is slated for the 2007 Commodore season.
Now back to the local scene. The CUGKC is in its 28th season as a Commodore group. There was a discussion in the last issue of The Interface regarding which club is the oldest existing club that still meets on a regular basis. The Toronto PET Users Group came in first at 29 years, but with the CUGKC at 28, I think that might put us at a quick second.
I gazed upon the handy list of members Jack sent me, and I noticed that I, your great newsletter editor and former club vice-president, have been a member for 12 years now. I also noticed that I owe my dues for the 2007 season, so I will be putting a $10 check in the mail for the treasury sometime before month’s end.
The play written and distributed in GeoWrite 128 for the Glad Tidings Fine Arts Group went off without a hitch. As usual, I have troubles communicating exactly what I want done in print to be translated to the stage, so there were some glitches in the production that didn’t make much sense. I am, however, going to have to break down and get all the necessary hardware and software to convert GeoWrite text into MS Word text since no publisher (save LoadStar) can seem to read the print from a Commodore compatible NLQ printer. Such is the life of a writer working on a Commodore.
What else is there to say about this month in Commodore? Not much, I’m afraid. I would like to make another plea for all members to try to submit something for the Ryte Bytes newsletter. I know most of you have quit sending material due to email problems on my end, but I still ask that you keep trying. “If the lines are busy, please hang up and try again” is how the telethon plea goes. New members and their families are welcome to send material to me at any time. All articles are due by the 25th of each month with distribution day usually on the Saturday before the Thursday meeting. Any articles received after the end of the month are usually carried over to the next month. However, with February being a short month, I am going to ask that any submissions be sent to me by February 20th.
Sending addresses: For email submissions, send your article to either lenardroach@yahoo.com or lenardroach@hotmail.com. Please put “Newsletter Article” in the subject line so I will know what it is.
If you want to spend 39 cents and send your submission through the US Postal Service (and keep our Librarian Vance Kellinger gainfully employed), then mail your article, typewritten or on a 5 ¼ or 3 ½ disk (Speedscript or GeoWrite preferred) to:
Lenard Roach
6025 Corona Avenue
Kansas City, Kansas 66102-1339
Gosh, talk about speaking a lot and saying little! I’d better let you get back to Commodoring. I look forward to our next chat in my column. See you next month!
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://ballz.ababa.net/cugkc. Our snail-mail address is:
CUGKC
6025 Corona Avenue
Kansas City, Kansas 66102