CEBUG began quite informally in 1982 shortly after the release of the Commodore 64® system. Five workers, at the then named New Departure plant located in Sandusky, Ohio, began getting together over lunch to discuss how they were using their machines. Their purpose was to share information with each other on how the machines worked, as well as to share tips and ideas on how to get the most use from them. This proved to be so successful they decided to meet outside of New Departure so others could attend. These early meetings were very informal, with Dick Hennesey coordinating much of the group's activity. Many of those early meetings were held at the old Diamond Savings & Loan building in downtown Sandusky.
By 1984, a decision was made amongst those present to organize the group in a more formal manner. Rudy Dudics became the first elected President, with meetings being held at Perkin's High School. The acronym for the organization, CEBUG, was chosen to stand for Commodore Erie Bay Users Group. In January 1985, Forrest Airhart was elected as President. By-laws governing the organization were drawn up and approved for the first time. A public domain lending-library of software was established using shareware. At the same time, a policy of not encouraging or condoning software piracy during meetings was established.
During 1985, the task of creating a newsletter for the organization was given to the Secretary, Irene Kraus, and Al Larkins. Members were to contribute most of the written material. Though page design software was not very sophisticated yet, the membership loved the idea of utilizing the tools available to accomplish such a task. Early versions of the newsletter were created using a combination of a word processor that gave control over margins, and a program called Print Shop ® to produce graphics. The process was quite primitive at the time, as the master for a page was passed repeatedly through the printer adding either text or graphics to the page on each pass. Berkeley Softworks™, later renamed to GeoWorks™, revolutionized this process in 1986 with the release of its popular GEOS ® 8-bit operating system and software products. For the first time, the newsletter page contents were assembled entirely within the software combining text and graphics in an editable format prior to printing. From its inception, the newsletter was intended to be reproduced on high-speed copier machines.
Moving into the 90’s, however, saw interest amongst the membership to split. Members of the organization joined one of two special interest groups (SIG). The first was called the Commodore SIG, and was oriented around users of those machines. A second group, called the PC SIG was established for members using those machines running some version of DOS and Microsoft™ Windows® when it came on the market. For a very short time, an Amiga SIG was created for members using that machine type; however it closed after only a year or two of operation. By 2000 interest and membership within the Commodore SIG dropped to nothing because most members were using PC's. For this reason, the need to split the membership into dedicated SIG's was dropped and they were closed.
At present, there are no formal SIG's within the organization. However, this fact may change in the future as CEBUG - as an organization - can certainly provide support and structure. According to CEBUG's by-laws, there is a need for an active member to assume a leadership role.
By 1990, Irene Kraus was elected to the offices of President and Newsletter Editor, with duties she performs to this date. In 1995, a website to provide information about the organization was established. Management of these duties was taken on by Irene Kraus, also, under the heading of Webmaster. Shortly after the start of the new millennium, the rising costs of newsletter reproduction and diminishing memberships forced the organization to stop producing a printed newsletter. For a time, Irene Kraus produced an electronic PDF version made available through CEBUG’s site. However, this eventually stopped also as her duties in the many officer positions she held consumed so much of her free time.
Public meeting locations changed frequently over the years, based on the needs of those attending and availability of meeting rooms. These include the basement of St. Peter's & Paul's Church in Huron, St. Mary's High School of Sandusky's Computer Lab, Sandusky High School, Erie County Senior Center’s computer lab, and its present location the Sandusky Boys and Girls Club’s computer lab. In addition, CEBUG has sponsored events with other organizations at Terra Tech College in Fremont and Firelands Computer Club of Norwalk. Throughout these years, the acronym for our group has not changed from CEBUG. Today, however, it stands for Computer Erie Bay Users Group to reflect the diversity of interest. The structure of CEBUG and mission to the community and members, however, was quite firmly early on through the hard work of countless volunteers over the years.
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