Vol. 31 number 10 Dec 2014 The newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group Calendar OPCUG General Meeting National Museum of Science and Technology 1867 St. Laurent Blvd. Second (*first) Wednesday of each month, 7:30pm 2014: Sep 10, Oct 8, Nov 12, Dec 10 2015: Jan 14, Feb 11, Mar 11, Apr 8, May 13, Jun 10 Beginner SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. Linux SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. Beer BOF (Wing SIG East), after all the SIGs, at 10 p.m. Liam Maguire's, 1705 St. Laurent Blvd. at Innes Rd. Please note that unless otherwise noted, SIGs meet at 9:00 p.m. (immediately following the OPCUG General Meeting). ____________________________ Meetings Relocated! Due to the temporary closure of the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the October, November, and December meetings of the OPCUG will be held in the Bush Theatre at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (CASM), 11 Aviation Parkway. Parking in the evening is a flat $3.00. Park in the main lot and enter through the front entrance of the museum. There is no OC Transpo bus service to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in the evening. If you rely on OC Transpo to get to meetings, please see the front page of the October newsletter (http://opcug.ca/public/Articles/1410.pdf) Our thanks go out to the staff at both the Canada Science and Technology Museum and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum for their assistance in finding us this location for our meetings. Coming Up... Wednesday December 10th, 2014 Speaker and Topic: TBA (check the OPCUG website at http://opcug.ca) Reminder: Meetings have been relocated indefinitely to the Bush Theatre at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (CASM), 11 Aviation Parkway. Details at http://opcug.ca/public/regmtg.htm ____________________________ Silent Auction For our December meeting, the OPCUG will have a silent auction. All the items will be displayed with a bidding sheet so that you can write your name and your bid as often as you want, and at the end of the meeting, the highest bidder wins the item. All the proceeds will be donated to the Ottawa Food Bank. So, if you have some good stuff that you would like to donate, please send us an email. with a description of what you want to donate. All the items shall be brought at the December meeting, and if there is no bid, please take them back. We will also have a box to collect your non-perishable food donations for the food bank, and for those who prefer to give money, we'll collect it at the table. With its food industry partnerships and bulk purchasing power, the Ottawa Food Bank turns every $1 donated into $5 worth of food. The silent auction is Wednesday, December 10th, 2014 at around 9:00pm (the meeting starts at 7:30pm and is open to all for free), at the Bush Theatre of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, 11 Aviation Parkway. Note 1: Donations in cash and of items that generate a bid of $10 and over are tax deductible. Note 2: When multiples of the same item are offered, then the highest bidder gets to choose the number of items desired, each one at the highest bid price, followed by the next highest bidder for the next bid price, and so on until all the items are depleted. Email: mailto:SilentAuction@@OPCUG.ca. Info: http://ottawafoodbank.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Food-Bank-Fact-Sheet.pdf Webpage: http://opcug.ca/public/history/Auction/2014/SilentAuction.html ____________________________ December Raffle For the December raffle, we have a Microsoft Wireless 800 Desktop. Experience the freedom and convenience of wireless technology with this affordable keyboard and mouse set. Control a media computer while sitting on your couch, or conveniently stow the keyboard and mouse away without hassling with wires. You can roam up to 15 feet away with a strong signal. Or, you can take the mouse separately to use with a laptop while traveling—the tiny transceiver conveniently snaps into the bottom of the mouse when it’s time to pack up and go. Setting up the keyboard and mouse is simple: just insert the batteries, plug in the tiny transceiver, and start typing! Tickets are, as always, a good deal at $1 for one, a great deal at $2 for three or the unbelievable bargain of $5 for ten! ____________________________ November Prize Winners Lil Limoges and Bob Walker were each a lucky winner of a copy of the Minitool Partition Wizard software via our raffle at the November monthly meeting. ____________________________ Nominations for OPCUG Board for 2015 Once a year, the OPCUG holds elections for the 9-member Board of Directors. We are once again coming up to this annual event. We encourage all members to consider running for a board position or getting involved in some other manner in the operations of the OPCUG. If you want more information about what is involved, please talk to any current or past Board member. Names are listed near the bottom of this newsletter and on the web site. Nominations can be submitted to Bob Herres, Election Chair, in person at the October, November and December club meetings or by sending an email to nominations2015@@opcug.ca. Nominations must be received by midnight, December 31, 2014. Please get involved. Please help the OPCUG continue in its role of Users Helping Users! Bob Herres Election Chair 2015 ____________________________ OPCUG Photo Contest Our OPCUG's web site has been online since August 1997 and needed a little work to clean up the cruft that has accumulated over the years. Members of the BOD have been working on this process for the last few months. To highlight the upgrade, we thought it would be nice to replace the old graphic from the museum that is used on our home page with a photograph or an image created by one of our members. At our September meeting, Chris Taylor made a presentation on Basic Digital Photo Editing so, now, you have the skills to create a stunning photograph of the museum. Please send your pictures and images to PhotoContest@@OPCUG.CA. Multiple entries are allowed, and please include a short caption with each picture. We will accept photo submissions of any resolution. Modest resolutions of up to 2,000 pixels in either dimension may provide better quality for the judging portion of the contest. However please keep in mind that the winning image will be displayed at a resolution of only a few hundred pixels in either axis, so you may want to check that your image will display well at a low resolution in case you are the winner. Contest entries will be posted at http://opcug.ca/public/history/PhotoContest.html and voted on in November. There will be a prize for the winner - in addition to bragging rights! Good luck to all. ____________________________ Santa Goes Paperless Santa receives an inordinate amount of mail every year; the vast majority of which, not surprisingly, is work related. Ryan wants an eBike, Ethan wants a smartphone, Ava wants an electric guitar and, of course, they’ve all been on their best behaviour for the past year. Now you’d think that after reading countless letters and toiling long hours in the workshop that, at the end of the day, Santa might just want to kick back with a snifter of something warm and perhaps watch the Leafs on the tube or, at a minimum, turn on CBC radio to listen to Ideas. But nope, that’s not at all what he does. I have it on good authority that Santa is a closet technophile and though he does enjoy a snifter or two in the evening, more often than not, in the evening hours, you’ll find him perusing various technology periodicals, including the latest copy of the Ottawa PC News! A lesser known Santa fact, though it’s one that probably should be apparent given the fossil-fuel-free means of transportation he’s adopted, is that Santa is environmentally conscious. Wherever, and whenever afforded the opportunity, Santa goes paperless: it’s faster, it’s cheaper and its carbon footprint is much smaller. The OPCUG favours this green approach and thanks Santa and members alike for going paperless. In October 2013, roughly 65% of the membership was receiving a printed copy of the newsletter by Canada Post. One year later, in October 2014, that number has declined to about 46% who continue to receive the newsletter by regular mail. This positive trend is reflected by a slight reduction in mailing costs (notwithstanding a dramatic increase in postal rates) and is accompanied by an overall reduction in printing costs to about 67% (a 33% saving) from where we were just one year ago. The OPCUG will continue to provide hard copies of the newsletter via Canada Post to any member who wishes to continue receiving it in that manner. Members are, however, reminded that delivery of the electronic copy is faster, cheaper and more environmentally friendly and that hard copies are always available at the monthly meeting. Editor’s note: See the back page of the October issue for instructions on how to receive the newsletter by email. You can also view the newsletter online at the OPCUG website (http://opcug.ca) by clicking on the NEWSLETTERS button. ____________________________ OTTAWA PC NEWS Ottawa PC News is the newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group (OPCUG), and is published monthly except in July and August. The opinions expressed in this newsletter may not necessarily represent the views of the club or its members. Member participation is encouraged! If you would like to contribute an article to Ottawa PC News, please submit it to the newsletter editor (contact info below). Deadline for submissions is three Saturdays before the General Meeting. Group meetings OPCUG normally meets on the second Wednesday in the month, except in July and August, at the National Museum of Science and Technology, 1867 St. Laurent Blvd, Ottawa. Meetings are 7:30-9:00 p.m. and Special Interest Groups go until 10 p.m. Fees: OPCUG annual membership: $25 per year. Mailing address: 3 Thatcher St., Nepean, Ontario, K2G 1S6 Web address: http://opcug.ca/ Bulletin Board - PUB II (BBS): http://opcug.ca/default.htm Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/opcug President and System Administrator: Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 613 727-5453 Meeting Coordinator: (Mr.) Jocelyn Doire, Jocelyn.Doire@@opcug.ca Treasurer: Alan German, alan.german@@opcug.ca Secretary: Gail Eagen, gail.Eagen@@opcug.ca Membership Chairman: Mark Cayer, Mark.Cayer@@opcug.ca, 613 823-0354 Newsletter: Brigitte Lord, Brigittelord@@opcug.ca Email: (Mr.) Jocelyn Doire, Jocelyn.Doire@@opcug.ca Public Relations: Jeff Dubois, PR@@opcug.ca, 613-366-7936 Facilities: Bob Walker, 613 489-2084 Webmaster: Brigitte Lord, opcug-webmaster2@@opcug.ca Privacy Director: Wayne Houston, privacy2@@opcug.ca Special Events Coordinator: Bob Gowan, bob.gowan@@opcug.ca Beginners' SIG Coordinator: Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 613 727-5453 Linux / Open-Source software SIG: (vacant) Note: We added an extra "@@" to the emails to reduce spam. Parking: Ample parking is available for a flat fee of 3$ after 5pm, paid in advance. Payment methods includes coins, VISA, and MasterCard, and the proof of payment must be left in the car and be visible in the front windshield. We will refund the parking fee for our speakers. For those who don't mind a couple of minutes easy stroll, there is free parking just before the museum along Gladwin Crescent. (c) OPCUG 2014. Reprints permission is granted* to non-profit organizations, provided credits is given to the author and The Ottawa PC News. OPCUG request a copy of the newsletter in which reprints appear. *Permission is granted only for articles written by OPCUG members, and not copyrighted by the author. ____________________________ Newsletter by email: To receive the newsletter by e-mail, send a message to listserve@@opcug.ca with the plain text "subscribe NewsletterTXT" or "subscribe NewsletterPDF" (without quotes) in the body of the message. No subject line is required. To cancel e-mailing, send a message to listserve@@opcug.ca with the plain text "unsubscribe NewsletterTXT" or "unsubscribe NewsletterPDF" (without quotes). To change your e-mail address, cancel using the old e-mail address and re-subscribe using your new e-mail address. Cancelling the Paper Newsletter: You can help the environment and save us some costs by sending an email to Mark.Cayer@@opcug.ca asking to cancel the delivery of the paper version of the newsletter (or ask him in person - Mark is usually at the back of the auditorium at General Meetings). Announcements Mailing List: To subscribe to the Announcements List send an email to listserve@@opcug.ca, leave the subject blank and in the body of the message put "subscribe announcements" (without the quotes). Within a couple of minutes you will receive a confirmation message from the list server. OPCUG clock/calendar/calculator and mug: Check out the clock/calendar/calculator and thermal coffee mug sporting our club logo at the back of the auditorium at General Meetings! OPCUG insulated mugs are $15 and OPCUG clocks are $20. Reuse, recycle: Bring your old computer books, software, hardware, and paraphernalia you want to GIVE AWAY to the general meetings, and leave them at the table near the auditorium's entrance. Please limit your magazines to publication dates of less than two years old. If you don't bring something, you may want to TAKE AWAY something of interest, so look in on this area. Please note: If you bring anything for the recycle table, you are responsible to check on your way out and if the items you brought are still there, you must take them home with you.