Febuary 2007 Issue

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The Usual Chat

I have written before of how prices have come down for computing equipment over the last few years. I gave over a thousand pounds for my Amstrad 1640 and twelve hundred pounds for a modest 386 laptop. Very much better specification products can now be obtained for not much more than a quarter of the price.

I had just finished transferring my large library of VHS video tapes to DVD when my neighbour told me that he also had a large library of films on VHS. Large quantity indeed - he has over 350! I am therefore starting all over again. I will not be transferring the whole collection but enough to keep me busy probably for the next year at least.

Since the last meeting I have upgraded the memory of my PC to 1024 MB. I know that several members are interested in transferring or recording films to DVD and I strongly recommend upgrading to 1024MB. Previously I was continually re-booting my computer to regain memory but the upgrade has made a big difference.

Another item that I have acquired since our last meeting is an external drive. I received a leaflet from Maplins listing special offers, one of which was for a Seagate 400GB external USB 2.0 hard drive. The drive was previously on sale for £219.99 but now available as the special offer of £89.99.

The drive comes complete with BounceBack Express which is a backup program. The drive is blazingly fast and just plugs into a USB2 port. There is space on the drive for 8,665 hours of digital audio or 128,000 photos or 400 hours of digital video.

And I wondered what I would do in my retirement!

Membership

Membership is down a little again but understandable, as we do not offer as much as we have in the past. We would like to get back to where we were a few years ago, giving talks and demonstrations but we found interest was waning. A lot of work goes into preparing a demonstration or a talk and it is very disappointing to find only a few turning up.

We do usually have the benefit of being able to use the internet at the club and there is always a member on hand to give help and advice when needed.

I know that some members have the same interest as me, that of recording to CD or DVD but we do not have the facilities to demonstrate this at the club. I am by myself these days and spend a lot of time on my computer so that if any member would like to visit me and see what I do they would be very welcome. Just let me know when you would like to come.

I had a nice letter from member Reg Featherstone. Reg is one of our members that we do not see at the club these days but although he is unable to come to the meetings, he still likes to keep in touch. Reg has been a member for many years and his support is very much appreciated. Thank you Reg.

I had a leaflet in the post from Sky who are offering special prices. I can get broadband, with free evening and weekend calls for about an extra £3 to what I am paying. Members will know that I am not particularly interested in the Internet but at this price it was worth considering. Checking my telephone account, I find that I would just about pay the same as I do now.