[sf-lug] (forw) Re: Meeting of November 7, 2021 and some updated iso files.

[Bobbie Sellers]

On 10/25/21 21:46, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Bobbie Sellers:
>
>> More than a few seconds of poking around were done but SF does not
>> help with these matters as you suggest.
> Well, now you know:  If a project's on SF.net, then you can always just
> start at the sf.net main page, search the project name, and navigate
> from the project page to Files and see everything they currently offer.
> You're welcome.
     Thank you, Rick Moen.
>
>> I am fully aware of the unreliability of files for which no checksums
>> are available.
> You're not addressing what I said, Bobbie.  You were saying that, for
> some "notable updates", that "the downloaded file does not match the
> given checksums".  A mismatch from the provided checksum is a red flag,
> something rather worse than a file "for which no checksum [is]
> available" -- which is an entirely diferent situation.
>
>> Only about 1.6 decades.
> That's decades.  ;->
>
>> My tools fit my level of capability to use them.
> If your tools produce apparent download corruption, then your tools are
> in need to some scrutiny and reconsidertaion.  Especially if other
> people might depend on your downloads.
>
>> Before Linux I used the Amiga and downloads were of a much smaller
>> size and I think it was ftp I used then via a 2400 baud modem then
>> eventually a 56 K modem.  It was not until I started using Linux
>> seriously about 2010 that I began to download iso files.  I had to
>> switch to a DSL line to do this efficiently.   That was quite a change
>> for me.  So were checksums as the Amiga had none that I knew of.
> Popular download protocols (zmodem and others) did inline checksumming
> of the file chunks as they went.  (I built/owned/ran a popular San
> Francisco BBS in those years.)
     I really preferred the BBS to the Internet and tried to avoid 
connecting
for a long time.   Eventually I gave in but it only pointed up the 
shortcomings
of the Amiga more clearly to try to run text processors and word processors
with a Web client.  I had gotten quite ill then and trying to figure out the
configuration instructions for the freely available Amiga version of the IP
stack was beyond my capability.   I had not learned that I needed to rest
a good deal before my brain could properly get into gear.
>> However frequently we are dealing with very low income folks who find
>> it difficult to allocate money for a backup drive and reasonable
>> amounts of ram.
> Once again, https://sfbay.craigslist.org/ .  Didn't we already have this
> conversation when you said you needed to buy a really terrible,
> very-expensive-to-run inkket printer, and I replied by posting at least a
> half-dozen or more good, used B&W laser printers offered at that very
> moment on https://sfbay.craigslist.org/ that cost _much_ less than what
> you spent on the bad inkjet?

You miss my point that I need a color printer with scanner that can 
handle monochrome
output as well.  And the inkjet printers are more compact as well. I 
looked at the
color laser printer and am trying to contract the rest of my storage and 
computer
footprint so that I could find room for one but so far i have failed to 
attain that
space.  It is very slow work because I must move slowly to avoid strains 
to the
weakened muscles of my legs and back.

     In the meantime I will look for a photo printer that can handle 4x6 
inch prints.
and at a reasonable prince.   The scanner on the HP Envy still works so 
I will have
a bit of what I need and continue to work on clearing space for Laser 
Printer.
I only have so much space and way too many paper files.
>
> I'll caution that adding RAM to an existing machine (to max it out)
> sometimes makes economic sense, sometimes not.
     Economic sense perhaps but there are other measures of values than 
dollars
and cents.
>> As always thank you for your input on these matters but it seems that
>> I will not be attending too many more meetings or doing much more in
>> this line of attempting to support what appears to be a moribund LUG.
> That's (i.e., what is and is not moribund is) difficult to judge before
> resumption of something like normality, I think.

     You may be right about that.  I really hope so.
>
> The far side of the pandemic will look different in many subtle ways, I
> don't doubt.  I'm deferring judgement about what's likely to continue
> and in what guise.
     Deferring judgement is probably best.
>
>> So what are your feeling about the possibility of in person meetings
>> of Linux Users Groups in the future.
> Well, for one thing, I've been holding them here every month in West
> Menlo Park (outdoors in my spacious back yard) since May 8th.
> http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2021-April/011579.html
> http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2021-May/011587.html
> http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2021-May/011595.html

     Well I cannot think off hand of any San Francisco back yards that 
would host
a LUG.  And at the Outside Lands Festival it looked rather chilly 
otherwise I might
mention a meeting in the GG Park.  Lots of cold hillsides in SF.
>
> The in-person _portion_ of those CABAL meetings (interacting with remote
> people on Jitsi Meet) has been open to all persons proving vaccination
> upon arrival.
>
> I am pondering whether CABAL may go temporarily back to Jitsi Meet-only
> during winter.  Relevant data will include the "nowcast" data trends
> at https://calcat.covid19.ca.gov/ -- which has remained very cheering --
> and use of the https://www.microcovid.org/ modelling tool.
>
> For indoor venues, the nature of the space is IMO also very relevant.
> E.g., if BALUG were meeting at Henry's Hunan Restaurant on Natoma
> Street, SOMA again, I'd be glad to attend with attendees showing proof
> of vaccination, as it's an airy, uncrowded place.
>
> (That Henry's location is currently open lunch hours only, FYI.
> The Henry's at 4753 Mission in Excelsior might do for a BALUG over
> dinner pending the Natoma one restarting dinner service, but I've not
> scouted out the location.)
>
> If the trend about infection continues, especially following FDA's
> expected Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for ages 5-11, widely
> expected the first week of November, then even breakthrough infection
> for us vaccinated people in crowded indoor venues will soon cease to be
> a significant threat -- in the Bay Area.  That EUA has strong potential
> to be a game-changer.  E.g., my county's vax rate for all ages is nearly
> stalled at 72.3%, which is good but not good enough to make the problem
> go away quickly.  However, the vax rate for _eligible_ residents (age
> 12+) is 90.4%.  If parents respond as I expect to that EUA, then within
> two months San Mateo County will have licked the problem.  (Stats for
> other Bay Area counties are similar.)
>
     Indeed but we must use all caution in returning to normality.  I 
have an online
friend with her first two vaccinations but before she could get the 
booster she had
an infection which is her current status.  She was not terribly 
inconvenienced the
last time we exchanged email but her health status is worse than my own 
to start
with.

     I am having a little problem with lining up my booster shot and it 
is due
as my last shot was at the end of March.

     So far all input has been to return to video for the next meeting.  
Unless some
staunch advocates for in person meetings show up soon to voice their 
opinions
we will be meeting on computer screens and by telephone.

     Bobbie Sellers - Happy Halloween/Serious Samhain/Joyful Day of the Dead
Typos no matter how funny were unintentional...