It's often easier to organise a user group meeting featuring a product demonstration, than a practical tutorial session, particularly if the company selling the product bring everything required for the presentation (as Castle, RISCOS Ltd and MicroDigital tend to do these days).But, even where numbers are sufficient to arrange a visiting speaker every month, practical tutorials are still immensely important to user groups. If it's something that people really want to know more about - and that will help them with their own computing in a way that "just buying stuff" won't - then tutorials can also help to attract visitors who might not normally find time to visit a user group just for a product demonstration.
London (Borough High Street)
An evening on practical networking can be one of the most complicated to arrange (particularly if you plan to network half a dozen computers and demonstrate a similar number of ways of using the resulting network), but it's also one topic where there's no shortage of users keen to learn more.
ROUGOL's networking evening on the evening of Monday 20th October will be focusing on networking RISC OS systems to Windows XP systems; largely because that is what people have asked to see, but also because no-one has yet offered to bring along computers running Linux, MacOS, or anything else. So, if you are able to bring along your own computer, it would make an interesting addition.
Neil Spellings will be helping with the demonstration (which will be run by Andrew Davis), so this is also your chance to ask any additional questions about Cino for the Iyonix (or about Aemulor). We've also heard rumours there's a possibility that Adrian Lees from Aemulor might also make an appearance.
ROUGOL meets on the third Monday evening of each month, at The Blue-Eyed Maid, 173 Borough High Street, London SE1 1HR. For more information see the ROUGOL website (now regularly updated) at rougol.jellybaby.net or email info@rougol.jellybaby.net
Ipswich
The ICENI Computer Club also have a practical focus for their meeting on Wednesday 5th November; Frank Watkinson will be talking about and demonstrating vector graphics under RISC OS (presumably accompanied by the sound of fireworks).
The ICENI club meet on the first Wednesday evening of every month, at the Bourne Vale Social Club, Halifax Road, Ipswich IP2 8RE. The December meeting will be a bring and buy auction. More information can be obtained from iceni@woolridge.org.uk or by phoning Peter Dunn on 01473 728 881.
Wakefield
Also meeting on Bonfire Night are the Wakefield RISC OS Computer Club (WROCC). They will be covering anti-virus software, spam filtering and CD burning; quite a combination! More details can be found on their website at www.wrocc.org.uk
Manchester
Stuart Tyrrell will be visiting the RISC OS North West User Group (RONWUG) in Sale on the evening of Wednesday 19th November 2003. On the agenda will be the newly announced "A6", as well as USB products and established Advantage Six product lines such as Risc PC mouse adapters.
RONWUG meets on the third Wednesday evening of each month at the Trafford Metrovick Rugby & Cricket Club, Finnybank Road, Sale, Cheshire M33 6LR. Admittance and membership are free. RONWUG can be contacted as info@ronwug.org or by phone on 0161 969 9820.
Blackpool
Also in the north west of England, the Blackpool RISC OS user group will be meeting on Friday 31st October at the Victoria Hotel in Cleveleys. Their secretary, Maureen Lewtas, can be contacted as maureen@lewtas50.freeserve.co.uk
Kent (Petts Wood)
The North Kent Amateur Computer Club (NKACC) will be holding their AGM, open evening and quiz night on Thursday 13th November 2003 at the Petts Wood Memorial Hall, Woodlands Way, Petts Wood, Orpington, Kent. More information can be found on their website at www.nkacc.roundel.net
Surrey and Sussex
Increasingly a familiar face in the RISC OS user group scene, Joe Taylor will be visiting the Surrey and Sussex group (SASAUG) on the evening of Monday 10th November. Joe is best known for AppBasic, billed as the easiest way to write standard RISC OS applications for the desktop, and we're told the title for this meeting is "Desktop Publications". The group meets in Horsham, and more information can be found on their website at www.poppyfields.net/sasaug
Quiet - too quiet
A lot of user groups seem to have gone somewhat quiet over the last few weeks, so do remember to send us your user group news for next month's roundup. As always, the more detail the better - many groups' websites seem not to get updated very often, so up to date information is essential. If your group sends out monthly bulletins by email, I'm very happy to be added to the distribution list.
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