April 2008 Minutes

Tuesday 24^th April, 2008 at 483 Victoria Street, West Melbourne.Meeting opened at 6.15pm

Present

Chair: Kylie Davies

Present: Jan Smith, Allan Cooke, Tony Calenti, Rob Brittain, Julien Goodwin, Cloud.

Apologies: Peter Baker.

1. Welcomes by chair - Kylie Davies

2. Confirmation of previous minutes:

The previous March 2008 minutes were confirmed. Proposed by Rob Britain and seconded by Jan Smith. (CWD).

3. Matters arising

3.1 Database update. Progress to date (Jan S). Still progressing. Database report can be found here.

3.2 New Ubuntu distro. Progress report. Distro is ok so far no problems. However, using the user password in KDE to obtain root privileges can be confusing, example -- changing date and time. Could also see if can improve use of Open Office by installing the OO preloaaader provided it does not slow down boot time. Cloud will look at this. Another thing to try is an upgrade to U7.1 (current is U7.04).  Note that music CDs now play automatically and don't need to be started from the opening dialogue box as was the case with the previous distro.  The extra educational programs are appreciated. One minor annoyance is that if you want to switch the desktop to Gnome the KDE icons remain on the Gnome desktop.

3.3 Quality control for shop computers, progress report on how check-list is going (QCing of computers is still not crash hot). The items to be checked on the QC checklist have been rearranged to a more logical order. The checklist seems to be going well. Donated LCD monitors however, are causing many returns and present with a variety of problems. Because of these problems KD proposed the motion that the price of LCD monitors be reduced by $10.00 for each category (ie. 15", 17", 19"). Seconded by Allan Cooke. Also LCDs will be tested in training room and front desk before being sold. Commencement of the test date will be marked on the monitor so we can see how long they have been running for.

3.4 Painting of CVI premises. Progress report (JSm). Painting has started. JAn would like someone to volunteer to wash down the toilet walls and doors before she paints them. The committee passed the motion that CVI pay someone a $40.00 honorarium to do this job. Proposed by KD seconded JS.

3.5 Computer pricing, update (Barry was going to be asked to put price list on wiki). KD will look into this.

3.6 Has Intranet speed improved after updates (Also may be part of Internal Systems report). Yes Internet speed has improved. It had probably slowed down during the recent server maintenance, but is OK.

3.7 Naming of new distro. Leave till next meeting. For now its just the Computerbank distro.

4. Agenda

4.1 Ebay sales. KD. Clae has started and is making progress. In the first weeks the target of 8 items was not met but other associated tasks were achieved.  All is going well and having a target to aim for is a good thing.

4.2 19inch LCD monitors. What to do with them. This item ties in with item 4.3. The committe decided to sell the 19" LCD monitors with a complete computer system in the shop.

Tony Calenti proposed the motion that CVI sells the few 19" LCD monitors, now in stock, with a high end PC system in the shop and that further sales of LCD monitors will only occur at the time of purchasing a complete high end (at least P4 or better) PC system. Seconded by KD.

4.3 Policy change re selling LCD monitors to clients. See item 4.2

4.4 Hiring person to sort out laptops. Committee decided that this was not necessary at this time and this could be done inhouse by volunteers.

5. Reports

5.1 Coordinators report/WFD Report (KD). See website and email list.

5.2 Treasurers report (AC/KD). Allan presented his first report. VIP BAS has to be done.

5.3 Projects (RB).

5.4 User Support. Quiet at the moment.

5.5 Donations report (RB).

5.6 Websites report (JSm).

5.7 Internal systems report (JG). Backup is now configured with writeFileConfig. Raid is doing it's job. Will see if an ISP like Internode can give us abetter deal on ADSL.

5.8 Technical Coordinators report

5.9  Database Report (JSm)

6. Other Business

6.1 KD proposed the motion that Allan Cooke be made a signatory to the CVI WestPac bank account. Seconded by RB.

6.2 Donation of HP and Dell computers that don't have CDROMs or floppy disk drives. Most require laptop CDROMs to be installed.  Because of this they can't be used to set up systems for recipients (CVI has no laptop CDROMs to put in them and new laptop CDROMS would be prohibitively expensive).  In view of this CVI has decided to sell these boxes, configured as below, to non-concession card holders as well as concession card holders.

 HP Cel 2.4Ghz (no CDROM, no monitor, no Keyboard or mouse): Non-concessionals price $80.00 (256MB Ram, 6.4Gig HDD). Concessionals price $60.00 including 256MB ram and 40Gig HDD.

P4 1.8Ghz Dells(small form factor) (no CDROM, no monitor, no Keyboard, no mouse ): Non-concessionals price $60.00 (no Ram, but with 6.4Gig HDD). Concessionals price $50.00 including 256MB Ram and 20 Gig HDD.

P3 Dells Small form factor, take PC133 Ram (no CDROM, no monitor, no Keyboard, no mouse): Non-concessionals price $40.00 (no Ram but with 6.4Gig HDD). Concessionals price $30.00 including 256MB Ram and 20Gig HDD.

7. On Hold

7.1 Awareness documentation, Business cards and new CVI logo (all)

7.2 DGR and Updating the constitution. This needs to be done to fit in with the ATO guidelines for DGR status and other concessions. Jan has volunteered to review and restart (revisit) the DGR issue in collaboration with our advisor Simon Bowden.

7.3 Surplus Shop/Ebay seller Policy Documents (Kylie). Some tips - starting to happen.

7.4 Tony to develop grievances procedure policy.

Meeting closed at 7.35pm.