November Meeting - Build a PC

John brought it, Hugh built it, Dan filmed it. John more than brought it (all the parts); he also bought all the parts. Hugh more than built it (complete assembly in 45 minutes); he explained (in great detail) each step... with wherefores and whys.

And, it fired up on first boot!!

Mother Board: Asus M5A88 $110 (Canadian Dollars)
CPU: AMD Bulldozer 3100 $130
(3.6 ghz Quad Core)
RAM: 8 gig DDR3  $55
DVD-RW: LG $22
HD: Seagate 1 terabyte  $109
Case: CoolerMaster  $99
Card Reader: $8
Power supply: 500watt  $46 
Total with taxes & env. Fees: $527.56

October Meeting - Canada Computers

Victor (manager), and two cooworkers, explained the services and products offered at the recently opened Canada Computers Whitby Store. All stressed the quick turnaround for in-house repairs (first with an accurate estimate of cost). This store has an extensive inventory, with numerous items not normally found in the area.

September Meeting - Computer Forensics

Our September presenter, Peter Irish, Detective Constable in the Intelligence Division - Technological Crime, Toronto Police Service, opened our eyes to an increasingly complex and time consuming new frontier of police work.

He uses a number of free and open source apps that work just as well as, and sometimes better than, commercial products. For example, a free drive imager, FTK, includes full install, minimum portable, Linux and Mac versions. http://accessdata.com/support/adownloads

Peter also directed us to a web site containing 400 + Reviewed & Tested Free & Open Source Apps of every type & description: http://www.herouxapps.com/

HP Touchpad - August 2011 General Mtg

Rob Morris (Bowmanville Staples Manager) and Greg O'Donnell (HP Sales Manager GTA-east), not only demonstrated the new HP TouchPad (with Palm's WebOS), but also covered a wide range of other HP products and services. Both followed up on a wide range of questions, compliments and complaints from the audience. Greg gave each attendee a magnetic "TouchPad" white board, while Rob provided a $20 Staple credit as a draw prize.

WIKIS - July 2011 General Meeting

Three of our club members demonstrated Wikis - topics ranging from contributing to Wikipedia, to using a free/paid online wiki servic, to installing your own wiki on your own web site. Some of the slides used in the presentation are at: http://www.timetraces.ca/dpcuc/wikis.pdf

May Meeting - 25th Anniversary

Left to right approximately - many of the past and present executive members of the Durham Personal Computer Club at the celebration of their 25th year, May 12 - Ross McCoy, John Sylvestervich, Bob Bell, Farncomb LeGresley, Hugh Crawford, Anne Delong, Jim Robinsoon, Linda Netten, Allan Francis, Alex Morrison, Jason Mills, David Swain, Dan Delong
Also, presentations about downloading and installing apps on handhelds, the advantages of Blackberry over a home phone, and a retrospective of the past 25 years.

April Meeting - Evolution in Computerized Sewing

Creative sewing experts, Cheryl and Edith, showed how computers and computerized sewing machines have become integral to their work. Cheryl focused on ideas, techniques and online resources for crafters. Edith demonstrated a modern sewing machine - the Ellisimos by Baby Lock - able to pre-scan, re-size, and embroider complex designs, in addition to many other foolproof sewing tasks.
Cheryl Wray [ http://www.sewersforum.com/ ]
Edith Kauffeldt [ http://www.sewhavefun.ca/ ]

March Meeting - PC Video Gaming

Mark Stanisz, club member, game player/reviewer, presented a highly compressed (yet comprehensive), review of the history of gaming, the terminology of gaming, and his five categories of gaming. His handout provided hardware details for building an adequate gaming machine, along with over a dozen links to gaming websites. Mark was able to demonstrate three games, one of which now runs entirely in a browser. He not only publishes game reviews in the Canadian Press; he also built the website: PCGamingReport.com

February Meeting - eBooks & eReaders

Club members demonstrated a Kobo, an iPad, an enTourage, and a Sony Touch eReader. Prices for these devices ranged from $150 to $800. The enTourage is a hinged, dual screen device - one side being a battery sipping e-ink screen, and the other side a regular colour touch screen. Listeners were provided a wide spectrum of features and a lot of good advice from experienced users. A free program (Calibre) is available for downloading and organizing a library of books for transfer to and from an eReader or computer. Calibre also emulates an eReader should one wish to read books on a notebook computer.

January Meeting - Jeff Gunn - musician, on Social Media Networking

Jeff Gunn spoke about his success using Social Media for Networking - helping his musical career. We thank Jeff for not only delivering a most interesting talk, followed by Q&A, but for entertaining the club with a selection of his music - "Candle Lanterns" - a guitar piece he composed using harmonics reminiscent of South Asian culture. He is a busy man - teaching grade 8, pursuing a Phd., and promoting his musical career.