Club Projects and Special Events

Hardware SIG

On Thursday, February 5th NOPC President, Ray Paternostro Jr. conducted a well attended Hardware SIG. Attendees have given some feedback:

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The NOPCC Hardware SIG conducted by Ray Paternostro was a tremendous success. All of the participants enjoyed the very informative presentation. Ray disassembled a PC, piece-by-piece, explaining the various components in terms of capabilities and function. There were numerous questions and Ray exhibited a vast amount of knowledge on the inner workings of the PC. The information was a presented in a descriptive manner that was understood by the most novice users, yet informative enough even for technicians. The ISA and PCI interfaces and corresponding components were displayed, motherboard architectures and functions were explained, and the nature of the mysterious processor chip was discussed. Ray offered a variety of troubleshooting tips as the PC pieces lay in a convoluted pile of metal and wire on the table. Hard drives, floppies, and optical drives were also exhibited and handled by the members, some for the very first time. Much to the surprise of many of us, Ray quickly and efficiently reassembled the machine, and then presented an informative slide presentation on the history and evolution of the PC. This was certainly an interesting and educational night for all in attendance.

Clarke Kissell
Level: Advanced

» SpeciaI Power Point Presentation!

By Ray Paternostro, Jr. - 25th Anniversary of the IBM PC
In celebration on the 25th anniversary of the IBM Personal Computer, Ray has put together an interesting view of the evolution of the PC, peripherals and the Windows operating system.

At General Membership Meetings for the New Orleans Personal Computer Club (NOPCC), our club will have a "Grab Bag" table available for members that want to help the club by passing on any computer related items they no longer want or need that they feel may benefit other members of the club.

The "Grab Bag" table guidelines are as follows:

1. Any items placed on the table, for others to purchase, becomes a donation to the NOPCC and is the sole property of the NOPCC to sell or dispose of as deemed necessary.
2. Only computer related items shell be placed on this table.
3. All proceeds from any items placed on this table are for the NOPCC.
4. Any items consisting of more than one part must be placed in some type of container to keep all of the parts together (such as a plastic bag, small box, carryall, etc.)
5. Any person attending the General Membership Meeting may purchase any of the items on the table for any amount they feel they are willing to pay in whole dollar increments. (Minimum amount of purchase is one $1.00)
6. All purchase payments will be made to either the sellers of refreshments (Ms. Virginia and Mr. Owen Kieran) or the Secret Guide to Computers (M. Tom Ford).
7. For those needing to break large bills you can see either the sellers of refreshments (Ms. Virginia and Mr. Owen Kieran) or the Secret Guide to Computers (M. Tom Ford) for change.

Please note: This "Grab Bag" table should not preclude any members from bringing any items to the meeting that they would like auction off to those members. Any auction items will differ from any "Grab Bag" items due to the item's greater value. Club members can only purchase items placed for auction, and the sale's amount, minus a small 10% commission for the club, is payable to the member offering the item.

Recycling Drive for Printer Consumables

The New Orleans Personal Computer Club will be collecting spent ink jet cartridges, spent laser printer cartridges, and obsolete cell phones. This has the benefit of keeping them out of the trash/landfills and will help to bring in funds to the club to help defray the operating expenses. The supplies used to collect the cartridges have been ordered and are expected to be in place for the July meeting. There will be separate collection boxes for the inks, the lasers, and the phones. For the inks, there will also be plastic tear-off bags from a dispenser. All of the collection materials are prepaid; there is no additional money required to send them to the collection vendor. Here are the "rules of the road", so to speak:

• All ink jet and printer laser toner cartridges can be recycled through this. It does not matter if the cartridge is a manufacturer's virgin or a recycled one nor what the color is.
• For the inks, you have the choice of bringing the cartridge to the meeting or taking a bag and mailing it in later. There is no difference in the amount of money that is forwarded to the club.
• For the lasers, original packaging is not necessary. The chances of being able to recycle it are improved when the toners are brought in the plastic bags that they are supplied with.
• The recycling vendor cannot accept fax or copier cartridges. If this changes in the future, you will be notified.
• Any cell phone can be brought in.
• Due to the amount of labor involved, the club cannot offer any incentives for bringing in multiple consumables for recycling. All funds generated by this will be deposited back to the club's operating account.
• Please do not bring in a leaking ink or toner cartridge. If you have one in this condition, try to empty it or seal it up before turning it in.

The vendor chosen for this is Recycle First, located at www.recyclefirst.com on the Internet. They were chosen mainly because of the wide variety of consumables that they can accept for recycling and also for the variety shipping materials they are able to provide free of charge to the club.

If anyone has any further questions that are not covered by this or the vendor's web site, please contact Ray Paternostro

NOPCC
P.O. Box 8364
Metairie, Louisiana 70011
Club Hotline: (504) 887-5746