[sf-lug] SF-LUG meeting notes for July 5, 2020

[Bobbie Sellers]

Hi LUGers,

     Well I had tuned in early than every one to check the camera.
     It worked ok.
     But with Jitsi you need to use Firefox in the latest version or 
Chromium.
     I tried to use SeaMonkey but it is not compatible with Jitsi.
     Using is learning.

     One thing I think is very important is to do your updates before the
meeting as we got to see someone running their updates on the Jitsi
screen.   Also asap you should get a name and at least an initial up
on the Jitsi screen.

     On mine using Firefox 78.0.1 I set up in the Preferences that Jitsi was
allowed to use the camera and microphone but while at the meeting i had
  go to my system volume control and increase the response from the
microphone so that people could hear me.  After the first adjustment
I had to turn down the response as other people reported some extraneous
noise.

     Further in the lower lower right hand corner of the Jitsi connected 
screen
are three very small vertical dots. Clicking on these lets you add a 
name to the
screen you are seen on then if the bandwidth is low you can reduce the video
quality and you can put your background out of focus. Very handy for those
of use with less attractive backgrounds.

     We were graced with the mutual presence of John S.; myself of course:
     Al Waley who was trying to debug a problem;
     Akkana P. from further east.  She left early for outdoor activities;
     Thomas;
     Ken S. who had his own problems and left early;
     John ?
     Michael Paoli who seemed to be having camera problems and was sharing
a terminal screen with us;
     and Rick M.  who came late but was still there at 1 PM when I left.

     The main topic initially was the use of the equipment we have in 
front of
us.  That is how I learned about the 3 vertical dots and their utility.

     Then we talked about the fireworks which the unqualified were 
shooting off
yesterday evening.  I live in downtown San Francisco and we heard loud 
booming
and at hand either gunshots or firecrackers.  And I was up after 
midnight listening
to this and other noise including sirens in the night.  Rick was 
distressed because
rockets were being used which is very dangerous in this dry weather.

     Lots of other people had stories about their neighborhood and even 
Akkana
Peck in the Mid-West(Nebraska if I have that right) was shocked at the 
amount of
fireworks available there.  When I turned on the TV news at 6 AM they showed
the pall of smoke hiding Oakland and the haze of smoke obscuring details 
of the
East side of San Francisco.   In addition to this we have learned that 
the smoke
from firework is really bad pollution, unhealthy for living things and 
people.
I think that is a shame because I remember the smell of the fireworks from
early youth and now to learn it is poisonous.  Bye-bye nostalgic explosives.

     Next topic was what are we doing during our Shelter At Domicile or 
SAD days.
One of the attendees, Thomas, it may have been was happy to discuss 
exactly what
he does as a Computer Sciences teacher from Kindergarten thru 8th grade and
he has been trying to get computers refurbished to hand out to kids whose
families are suffering computer shortages at this SAD time.

     We indulged in some reminisces about how much we learned or did not
learn during our own school days.  I for example learned to do interpolation
on a slide rule though I never mastered the abacus.  Nor did I retain a good
hold on Calculus.

     I myself have been playing lots of Angband.  This is a dangerous habit
as I forget to eat and drink when playing which leads to gorging and
dehydration.  I am playing on MX Linux running in Virtual Box on my
PCLinux on the Dell E6540 from which issue all the redundant verbiage
you get to glance at from time to time.

     From there it went to discussion of various software, and a site 
that Rick
M. is trying to learn more about.

     I suggested because my sound was not clear, that Rick should post 
to the
LUG list and see what people with time on their hands can do. I am sorry
but I was not able to to determine exactly what Rick was interested in 
at that point.

     Anyone attending the meeting is free to correct my omissions or
incomprehension of the activities and asked to do so asap so that the
membership not in attendance will not be mis-informed any longer
than necessary.

     Next meeting should be on Sunday, August 2, 2020.

     Bobbie Sellers