BMUG is a membership-based non-profit organization dedicated to helping users of graphical interface computers. It represents the interests of over 12,000 Macintosh users in more than fifty countries.
BMUG offers something for everyone. Here are a few of the reasons that more than 12,000 people belong to BMUG:
The BMUG Newsletter -- Published twice a year, each Newsletter contains 300 pages of reviews, reference material, and commentary (and no advertising!).
Planet BMUG and BMUG Boston, the BMUG BBSes -- our FirstClass graphical interface electronic Bulletin Board Services. Use your modem to exchange messages with BMUG members around the world, send mail via the Internet, and download software from BMUG's vast software library. Now accessible via the Internet Italicize.
The Helpline -- Access to our technical Helpline is available to members during business hours by phone, fax, or in person. Clinics are held on Monday 5-9 pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 1-5 pm. Hardware assistance by appointment only.
The Software Library -- One of the largest and most up-to-date collections of Publicly Distributable software anywhere. It is sold on disks and CD-ROM or can be downloaded from the BBSes.
Publications and CD-ROMs -- BMUG publishes CD-ROMs of Shareware, and books on scripting, resource editing, software programs, and more.
The Meetings -- BMUG holds weekly Main Meetings in Berkeley, monthly general meetings in San Francisco and San Jose, and Special Interest Group meetings virtually every night of the week. See interesting product demos, meet other computer users, and hear the latest industry rumors.
Contacting BMUG
By Phone
Announcement Line (510)-549-2684 x8
Business Office (510-549-2684
Fax (510) 849-9026
Planet BMUG (BBS) (510)-849-2684
BMUG Boston (BBS) (617) 275-3062
BMUG--product orders only (800) 776-BMUG/(800) 776-2684
By Mail
BMUG Inc.
1442A Walnut Street, #62
Berkeley, CA USA 94709-1496
Our office location
BMUG Inc.
2055 Center Street, cross street Shattuck Ave.
in downtown Berkeley
The BMUG Philosophy
BMUG started as a small user group in 1984, shortly after the introduction of the Macintosh. As a non-profit corporation BMUG strives to give the plain, unbiased truths about product performance and the industry in general. We don't sell advertising in our newsletters and make it quite clear that we will not exchange good reviews for product donations. BMUG is neither affiliated with, nor receives monetary support from, Apple Computer or any other for-profit entity.
Our goal is clearly stated in our motto:
"We're in the business of giving away information."
BMUG Memberships
BMUG is member-supported. Membership privileges include semi-annual issues of the famous BMUG Newsletter, technical assistance, and access to Planet BMUG or BMUG Boston.
Join BMUG today and find out why MicroTimes lists BMUG among the 100 most important influences on the computer industry and said, "BMUG is what every user group dreams of becoming."
California Business magazine rates BMUG in the top 100 of California's Hottest Digital Information providers.
Select one of the following membership packages for individuals:
Six Month Membership - $28
* One issue of The BMUG Newsletter
* Access to The BMUG Helpline for one person for six months
* A six month account on a BMUG BBS (60 minutes/day)
Contributing Membership - $45
* Two issues of The BMUG Newsletter
* Access to The BMUG Helpline for one person
* An account on a BMUG BBS (60 minutes/day)
Full Membership - $65
* Two issues of The BMUG Newsletter
* Access to The BMUG Helpline for one person
* An account on a BMUG BBS (60 minutes/day)
Sustaining Membership - $75
* Two issues of The BMUG Newsletter
* Access to The BMUG Helpline for one person
* An account on a BMUG BBS (90 minutes/day)
* Access to online magazines when available (such as BoardWatch, NewsBytes, USA Today)
Hero Membership - $100
* First Class mailing of two issues of The BMUG Newsletter
* Access to The BMUG Helpline for one person
* An account on a BMUG BBS (90 minutes/day)
* Acknowledgement in The BMUG Newsletter
Small business - $150
* First Class mailing of two issues of The BMUG Newsletter
* Access to The BMUG Helpline for one person
* An account on a BMUG BBS (120 minutes/day)
* Access to online magazines when available (such as BoardWatch, NewsBytes, USA Today)
* Two of each BMUG product released during the year of your membership (except PD library floppy disks)
* Acknowledgement in The BMUG Newsletter
The BMUG Newsletter
BMUG Newsletters are published twice a year. Each is approximately 300 pages long, contains no advertising, and is written and edited by BMUG members, volunteers, and staff. We encourage you to contribute your efforts as well. Remember, the only way to receive the current Newsletter is to be a BMUG member!
The Newsletter includes software and hardware reviews, "how-to" guides, commentaries on the computer industry, and Choice Products -- BMUG's respected product recommendations.
Each Newsletter comes with a disk of the latest and greatest Shareware and Freeware, as well as a program to help you access our electronic Bulletin Board Service.
BMUG Online
Planet BMUG and BMUG Boston BBSes
Got a modem? That's about all you'll need to get online with BMUG on our electronic Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). Members can request a free account on either of our FirstClass, graphical user interface BBSes. We support baud rates from 300 to 28.800 on all 17 lines in Berkeley and all 11 lines in Boston. Nearly 6,000 members log on and discuss every subject under the sun and many of the conferences are directly gatewayed between the two BMUG BBSes. Much of the most current Shareware and Freeware is available on line. BMUG BBSes are now accessible via the Internet with TCP/IP connections.
BMUG is also on many of the commercial forums across the nation. You can reach BMUG at the following electronic addresses:
Internet: bmuginfo@bmug.org
America Online: BMUG or BMUG1
AppleLink: UG0001
The WELL: bmug
Meetings
All of BMUG meetings are open to the public. You do not have to be a member to attend. We welcome new and old Macintosh users alike. Call BMUG at (510) 549-2684 and press 8 for current meeting information and location.
Main Meetings
BMUG holds weekly Macintosh meetings on the UC Berkeley campus. Approximately 100 members and non-members gather to discuss the latest industry gossip, ask technical questions, and watch vendors demonstrate new and soon to be released software and hardware. The meetings are free of charge, open to the public, and there is a raffle at the end of every one.
BMUG West
Each month BMUG holds a Macintosh meeting at the Exploratorium's McBean Theater in San Francisco from 6:00pm to 9:00pm on the last Monday of the month. Though they have the same format as our main meetings, including the raffle, they are smaller and more intimate.
BMUG South
A monthly meeting in San Jose. Every third Monday at the Santa Clara County United Way office at 1922 The Alameda, unless otherwise noted. The meeting starts at 6:30pm.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
BMUG has meetings almost week night, and some on weekends as well, on specific fields of interest. All SIGs meet in our offices in Berkeley unless otherwise noted and are free of charge and open to the public. Call the BMUG Announcement line for dates and times.
Technical Assistance
The Helpline
BMUG’s Helpline for members is the only place where you can get technical help on virtually any subject pertaining to the Macintosh. If all lines are busy, leave a message, and we’ll attempt to return your call within two business days. If you haven’t heard from us within that time, please place your call once again. We also return calls on Saturdays from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, so please leave a weekend telephone number where you can be reached. BMUG also accepts your technical questions via fax and on Planet BMUG or BMUG Boston!
Emergency Data Recovery
Broken hard drive, crashed floppy?? If you’re a member we’ll do our best to recover your data, for free. All appointments are usually made on Monday, Wednesdays, Thursday from 1 pm to 5 pm and Saturdays from 1 pm to 5 pm.
Hardware assistance available by appointment ONLY.
BMUG Software Library
BMUG has one of the largest collections of Freeware and Shareware software in the world. The library contains over four hundred 800k disks organized into categories such as Utilities, Fonts, Games, Education, etc. Disks are available to both members and non-members at $3 each plus tax, to cover our costs. Specially priced disk packs are available. BMUG carefully and painstakingly checks everything we sell for viruses.
BMUG strongly encourages users to support Shareware authors and their efforts by sending in Shareware fees.
BMUG Publications
The Tao of AppleScript, BMUG's Guide to Macintosh Scripting, Second Edition
This book, new as of August 1994, on AppleScript takes you on a journey of discovering Apple's revolutionary, new scripting language AppleScript. With The Tao of AppleScript and the included software you can control your Mac like never before. The disk includes AppleScript, QuickTime, StuffIt Lite, and scripting utilities written specifically for the book!
QuickTime: The Official Guide for Macintosh Users
Learning about digital video from scratch can be harder than learning about your first computer. The authors of this book don't assume you are an expert in either, but by the time you read the last page, you will understand how computers and video can combine to make something very exciting happen.The book includes a CD-ROM including Apple's QuickTime 2.0, MoviePlayer QuickTime movies, and several commercial multimedia applications.
Zen and The Art of Resource Editing-Fourth Edition
A series of articles to help you navigate through the cryptic world of ResEdit. The newest edition is 240 pages long and includes System 7 tips. The book comes with a CD-ROM containing the current version of ResEdit, templates icons, resources and more.
If you've ever wondered how to create your own icons then ResEdit is the way to go. ResEdit was originally designed as a programmer's tool, but you can learn to use it to customize all these things and more.
ToonWare - A Humor Interface
This collection of the humorous and the absurd is a sure bet for any computer enthusiast. 96 pages of comic art, the perfect gift for anyone with a sense of humor and a Mac.
BMUG CD-ROMs
BMUG's TV-ROM™ Too with Update ROM
The sucessor of the original TV-ROM, this disc was created with the very latest QuickTime technology. With over 500 megs of QuickTime movies, 100 musical clips, and over 200 photographic color images, this CD-ROM has captured the imagination of Mac users around the globe. Copyright light, these clips can be used in any presentation without payment or paperwork! It comes with BMUG's TV-ROM Too Update ROM described below.
BMUG's TV-ROM™ Too Update ROM
In August 1994, BMUG released the TV-ROM Too Update, an update-ROM for owners of BMUG's TV-ROM Too and/or those curious about the new features of QuickTime 2.0. The $20 disc contains the brand new version of QuickTime and a sampling of movies—favorites re-digitized from BMUG's TV-ROM Too, and enhanced additions and new renditions that take advantage of QuickTime's newest tricks.
A BMUG-developed HyperCard stack serves as a guide to viewing, learning, and experimenting with the movies on the ROM. Simple and familiar navigational tools allow the user to be a mouse potato or truly have an interactive learning experience. Each movie's card contains vital information such as frame rates, file size and duration, as well as the ability to play the movie in a variety of ways. This hands-on experience will give any user a better understanding of some of the new capabilities of QuickTime.
The BMUG PD-ROM™ Fall 96
In addition to our entire library of Shareware and Freeware, the PD-ROM contains stuff available only from BMUG (such as Newsletters back issues). With over 600 megs of utilities and other programs, it's the best source of Publicly Distributable software and all System 7.5 compatible and 32-bit clean.
The BMUG ResEdit Collection, CD-ROM Second Edition
From the authors of Zen and the Art of Resource Editing, comes a collection of cool and exciting things! Includes the latest version of ResEdit, new editors, thousands of icons, patterns, resources, utilities, QuickTime, and Frontier Runtime.
The BMUG Font Collection and Desktop Publishing Toolkit
This font collectlion and desktop publisher's toolkit has one of the largest selections of fonts on any CD-ROM. There are more than 1,700 distinct TrueType and Postscript fonts. It is also one of the easiest to use. A Hypercard-based font viewer allows you to see each font before you copy it for use.
It is also packed with utilities and other programs every desktop publisher needs: the latest Adobe Acrobat reader, which includes ATM, Adobe's collection of Bitmap fonts; HypercardPlayer and other Apple software. Demo programs are also included to help with buying decisions.
The BMUG Game ROM, version 3
Mastered new as of December 1995. The BMUG Game ROM contains over a gigabyte of Publicly Distributable Freeware and Shareware games. These discs are a superset of the games found on the popular BMUG PD-ROM. It also includes lots of new stuff.
All files come with online documentation to explain their use, and any applicable Shareware fees. You can read them in Saint Edit format, TeachText, or any application capable of reading text files. The BMUG Games ROM is completely Finder accesible and organized by type, such as card games, Star Trek games, etc.
Roadside Resources 3.0 - The BMUG Internet Collection
Beginning your journey on the Internet!
Roadside Resources 3.0 provides you with all the information you'll need to get up and running on the Internet. This ROM includes a licensed copy of MacTCP (a $60 value); six complete Internet books for your reading pleasure, plus excerpts from a dozen more; Anarchie™, Eudora™, MacWeb™, HTML Editors; WWW bookmarks, licensed Microsoft® Internet Explorer, and a complete collection of Macintosh Shareware and Freeware Internet utilities.
Cyberdog and OpenDoc
Cyberdog requires a Power Macintosh with at least 8 megabytes of memory with Virtual Memory on, although 16 megabytes of RAM is recommended. System 7.5 or later and OpenDoc version 1.0.4 are required before you install Cyberdog. MacTCP 2.04
or later, or OpenTransport 1.1 or later with TCP/IP must also be installed.
This CD-ROM contains some of the most foward-looking software technology to come out of Apple in many years. OpenDoc and, by extension, Cyberdog (which uses OpenDoc architecture) will allow you to use your computer in exciting new ways, especially on the Internet.
OpenDoc is a new plug-in software architecutre that simplifies the way that people can develop and use sofware. Since OpenDoc is a cross-platform technology, documents created with OpenDoc can work across different computer platforms, including Macintosh computers, Windows, UNIX, and OS/2.
With OpenDoc, solutions are created using software components, instead of large applications. Using these components, you can combine features from many different applications, and across many different platforms to create customized software solutions.
Other BMUG Products
The BMUG Tie-Dyed T-Shirt
This t-shirt has become legendary. The fashion statement of BMUG. The front has BMUG in large letters, the back "The BMUG T-shirt. Tie-Dyed in Berkeley by Deadheads."
Tote Bag
Our 100% cotton all purpose tote bag. Tested across the globe by BMUG staff and volunteers with great results. New black and purple design
The Official BMUG Mug
Finally, a B-MUG! We’ve been talking about it for years, but somehow never got to it. Well, it’s finally here! With our infamous tie-dye design, this ceramic beauty is just the thing to make a BMUG statement everyday!
