The January meeting of the TI-Chips was called to order. The December meeting minutes were read and accepted. Lin Shaw gave the Treasurer's report. Lin reported that our balance was down a bit from the same time last year.
John Parken was unable to attend. Therefore, there was no membership report. Les Kee stated that there was no activity in the club's software library.
Everyone noticed that the library increased the size of the meeting room by about six feet. This made the room much more comfortable for us to meet in. (I guess we'll be changing our designation of this meeting room from the "small meeting room" to its official name, "Conference Room" from now on.)
Harry Hoffman reminded us that January was the first month of our electronic newsletter. Harry sent out a postcard survey to everyone who subscribes to our newsletter to determine whether the new all electronic format will serve the majority. All replies Harry received were positive. (Thanks for doing a great job, Harry.) Since a paper newsletter will no longer be mailed before every other meeting, I stated that I would put the date of our next meeting at the end of each month's minutes.
Harry reported that Nina Mae, his wife and our President, was responding to post-surgery therapy very well. Nina is able to stand on one foot and two feet with help. (We are all looking forward to the day when Nina will be able to walk into our meeting.)
Les Kee brought an interesting article he found in a recent publication of Maximum Linux magazine. The article was a review of a software system called Funnel Web Pro 3.7. This utility was reviewed to be able to take all logged in and encrypted files and display them as final reports. This must be a powerhouse because the suggested price was $1199. We wondered, even though the spelling was different from Tony and Will McGovern's Funnelweb operating system for the TI-99/4A, whether Tony and Will knew of the creation of another Funnel Web program? Coincidence made this an interesting item to discuss.
There was quite a bit of discussion about setting printer controls for optimum and special performance. Such as setting the paper quality for glossy. We also talked about the care and maintenance of ink jet cartridges. The copper contacts can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol while the cartridge ink jets should only be cleaned with water. (Alcohol will coagulate the ink and block the jets.)
A suggestion was make to soak the cartridge ink jets in warm water for a few minutes to clear dried ink particles from the jets and reactivate the cartridge. (I tried this technique on an old cartridge that was filled with ink but blocked with dried particles. I'm happy to report that I now have two working cartridges.)
I said I would bring the Jim Peterson Achievement Award ballot to the next meetings so that all who can attend will be able to cast their votes.
There was no monthly drawing in that Jack Koryta was unable to attend.
Everyone was advised that the next meeting of the TI-Chips will be on February 17, 2001 from 10:00 AM till noon in the North Royalton library Conference Room.