I would like to schedule an Electronics / Robotics Committee meeting for next Thursday at 5pm. The meeting is open to all DMS members, we would like to encourage everyone who is interested in Electronics or Robotics to please attend.
If it is hard for you to make it in person we can try to setup a Google Hangout.
We have a couple of items of business to do but mostly we would like to share some news of things we have been working on. Here is the news brief.
** We need to propose a chair to submit to the Board of Directors. When the BOD is re-elected we have to reset as well. I would like to continue to serve but I’m certainly open to what the committee membership wants.
** Big donation by @ARBatteiger who is not a member of DMS but heard our call for a serious need of a good benchtop power supply. Alan donated three great bench supplies, some amazing robots and other items to boot! This was facilitated by @nick & @artg_dms who took time out and went to Plano to meet Alan and look over his generous offer. We can’t thank them all enough.
** As chair I have been working with Hakko, Rigol, Tektronix and Agilent to sweet talk them into free or discounted gear. It is quite possible we will have Hakko & Rigol take the tour next Thursday. I have also invited them for a personal visit if that is more convenient to them.
** At the last board meeting we were allocated $1,000 for supplies and small items to complete outfitting the workbenches. Plus an increase in our ongoing monthly budget from $20/month to $250/month.
** Also at the BOD meeting were were granted a request for a Desktop PC. I asked for $800, they gave us $1,200. Our DMS President @AndrewLeCody is selecting the parts and building us a super sweet computer. I think I saw a glint and sparkle in Andrews eye at the prospect of building another PC.
** We need to thank several members who have been holding classes and allocating the honorarium to electronics. At last count it looks like we had 9 classes related to electronics/robotics for the month. There are several scheduled for April already! If you have an idea for a class you may want to get on the schedule soon, it’s getting hard to get a room!
** The Adafruit order has been a great success! We have ordered over $2500 worth of stuff and saved members about $650. We are order #4 so if you want something visit this thread Adafruit Group Order - 30% Off on most items - #61 by cottjr Thanks to @Kluper who had the forethought to sign us up for a makerspace account. Next month we will try a SparkFun or other vendor. Let me know who you are interested in trying a group discount.
** Most of all thanks to everyone who has been doing a great job keeping the room clean. It’s not perfect but we are doing well.
SO MUCH FOR BEING BRIEF - 
