The May meeting of the TI-Chips was opened by yours truly. The minutes from the April meeting were read and approved. Les Kee inquired about the uses for Paper Port format. It was explained that Rich Polivka used Paper Port format for his scans to CDs because it took less memory and provided a much higher resolution image. It was further explained that the Images were just that ~ Pictures. Therefore the imbedded text portions were not editable because they were pictures of text, not the text it self. (I hope I haven't "muddied up" the reporting of this discussion too much.)
Lin Shaw reported there were no financial transactions to report in the April period. (Little did Lin know this was just about to change. I submitted postage receipts for reimbursement for mailing the Jim Peterson Achievement Award certificates.) At this time, Lin said that he still only uses TI-99/4A Console Writer to create the monthly Treasurer's report. (Talk about durability!)
John Parken reported that our membership was still standing at 16 members. John also presented an updated membership list.
At about this time, Norb Sitter, formerly a member of the North Coast 99ers and from Erie, PA, dropped in for a visit. After welcoming Norb to the meeting, our active discussions about membership continued. (Of course we extended our invitation to Norb to join the Chips.) At this point both Lin Shaw and Jack Koryta renewed their membership for 2000. Norb Sitter then quietly handed over his $10 membership dues to John Parken and joined the TI-Chips. Welcome to the TI-Chips, Norb! Norb's E-mail address is: norbsit@juno.com
Les Kee said there was no activity in the lending library to report. However, Les asked if it would be possible to transfer the entire TI-Chips' floppy software/file library onto CDs. This way every Chips member could have their own personal copy of our library. This concept and possible methods of transfer were discussed with the consensus that it was a worthwhile project. It was decided that we would contact Rich Polivka for his consultation.
We discussed the loss of not having Fred Ialacci as President. It was recommended that the masthead of the next issue of our newsletter reflect this change. (Harry and Nina Hoffman couldn't attend the meeting because they were visiting family in Florida and soaking up the Florida sunshine and humidity.) The TI-Chips are hoping we will be able to find a replacement for Fred, but it was said there really is no great emergency in this situation in that the Chips is able to function without formal leadership in place. As one of the remaining elected officers of the TI-Chips, I then cosigned the remaining checks in the club's checkbook.
I was proud to report that the TI-Chips took second place behind the tie vote for Charles Good and Tom Wills in the 2000 Jim Peterson Achievement Award for TI-99/4A Community Service. The TI-Chips thanks all who voted for us. It was an honor to be nominated for this prestigious award.
Those in attendance voted to have the June meeting of the TI-Chips as scheduled at the library along with attending the Classic Computer and Gaming faire in Lorain, Ohio after the Chips' meeting. However we decided to have the Chips' meeting scheduled to last only one (1) hour, from 10:00 am - 11:00 am, instead of the normal two. This way those who want to go to the CCAG, can take the hour drive to Lorain after the Chips' meeting. (Awkwardly worded again, but I think you understand what I attempting to report.)
We discussed several items including the .VBS "I LOVE YOU" virus worms, the OLUG discussion of "Anadisk" for reading TI floppy files on a PC and system crashes from on line web sites. (I reported that the Ohio Savings Bank-by-Net web site crashes both AOL and WIN98 on my Compaq Presario. It got so bad that I had to save my AOL operation files, uninstall AOL and reload AOL 5.0.)
Jack Koryta won the 50:50 raffle. Congratulations Jack!
Remember, the next meeting of the TI-Chips will be on June 17, from 10:00 to 11:00 am, at the North Royalton library as scheduled.