The June meeting of the TI-Chips was opened by yours truly. Fred Ialacci was unable to attend. The minutes from the May meeting were read and accepted. Lin Shaw gave the Treasurer's report. Lin stated that we were able to recoup much of the debt we incurred hosting TIMUG'99. This was done through the food sales and Spang Mansion security deposit refunds. Lin also said we received $75 in donations from our guests at TIMUG'99. This included Harry Hoffman's donation of 50 percent of his TIMUG'99 sales to the Chips. Everybody said to extend our sincere thanks to the TIers who were so generous.
I reported that we received 15 orders for TIMUG'99 videos as of the meeting date and there were at least 3 more orders pending (waiting for receipt of check or money order). I requested Jack Koryta to process an initial 20 sets of the TIMUG'99 videos. Jack reported that he has already started working on the title screens.
John Parken reported that the TI-Chips membership is a solid 18 members. (I renewed my membership at the end of John's report.) John also reported that he had sold out raffle tickets for the Epson 640 Ink Jet printer, won by Jeane Matthews of the SW99ers, by 11:30 AM at the TIMUG'99.
Les Kee said there was no report on the status of the Chips' disk library at this time.
There was a lively discussion on what happened at TIMUG'99 and our general feelings. Harry said he could describe the event in one word, "Fantastic." Ada Markus said the pizza seemed to be cut in smaller pieces but the quantity, along with the salad she provided, was ample enough to serve everyone who stayed for the post-MUG pizza party. Ada also expressed that she was pleasantly surprised how everyone pitched in and cleaned up Spang Mansion. It was the general consensus that TIMUG'99 was a success. However, we agreed that it was the last MUG Conference that The TI-Chips would host.
At this point we discussed Jim Krych's suggestion for a combined Classic Games and Computer Conference tentatively set for the second Saturday of June, 2000. The general opinion was that we were interested in such an endeavor and that the TI-Chips would participate or, at the very least, attend. I explained that this conference would include classic computer groups such as TI-99'4A, Commodore, Atari, Coleco, Timex Sinclair, Radio Shack CoCo, Apple II to name a few. I also said the TIers would require at least 1000 square feet of floor space to accommodate our user groups and vendors. This type of conference, although not pure TI, would enable us to continue the face-to-face, personal contact we have enjoyed at MUGs and Faires around the country. I said I would advise Jim Krych that we were interested.
There was also a brief discussion on the creation of electronic magazines to replace MICROpendium. One such effort is the newly organized WW99 (World Wide 99ers) magazine. Access to this publication is still being worked out. (Although it will not be an exact replacement for MICROpendium, WW99 will definitely be better than nothing.)
I gave a scanned and cropped picture demo on my Compaq Presario 1235 notebook. I showed the TIMUG'99 pictures I had scanned and cropped for posting on Harry Hoffman's Web site. The Chips in attendance picked the pictures they wanted to appear on Harry's page. I explained scanning was an easy and very enjoyable process and that cropping the pictures, to show only the important scenes, saved a large amount of memory and minimized screen scrolling to view the picture.
Ron Markus won the 50:50 raffle drawing. Congratulations Ron.
(One final note. I will not be at the July meeting. I have asked Harry Hoffman to take notes for me. Please be kind to Harry. <GRIN>)