Coronavirus Impact Covid-19.
Although we are no longer in lockdown there are still uncertainties. So for the present we are continuing to hold our meetings online.
I hope you are all keeping safe and well and will be able to join us online.
Contact Gareth ( or to iceni@woolridge.org.uk ) if you don't think you are on our meeting list of participants for online meetings if you are interested in joining in; since he is sending out the links prior to each meeting. Just follow the link and follow on-screen instructions.
There is nothing to download or install. We still meet on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. via Jitsi.org Video conferencing. If using a Mac IOS the Safari Browser works correctly for screen sharing your own screen, but this doesn't work for Firefox.
This will be a meeting about all sorts of Apps on different platforms. I don't think we have ever discussed this before so it could be quite interesting to find other folk's favourite Apps.
Gareth described the Ubiquity UniFi Mesh system which he has used for demonstrations for Canonical for some years.
He described his own network which uses the Dream Machine UDM. It has diagnostics for up and down speeds and usage. The control software is very well designed with a very comprehensive graphical interface. You can have room floor plans. It also logged the power usage of each device in the network and also Mac addresses and IP addresses. It shows all the access points in use too. You can add your own names for devices and ports. You can distinguish between wired and wireless links. There is also a client view and he has quite a lot. The only drawback is that the data is totalled and not dynamic so it doesn't say what a current data rate is, say, for a download or total data downloaded for a period of time like a week or month.
You can see all the local WiFi Network access points with devices and showing their security implementations, BSSIDs and bandwidths also and which channel is being used. System cost for UDM about £200. You can also support guest users and threat management is available too.
But to improve his parents' home network which had been very poorly served by a a standard WiFi router and caused a lot of problems especially when they wanted to use ZOOM in different parts of the house Gareth decided to use an Amplifi system which is a bit more plug and play than the UiniFi system. They had a Virgin network. ( Low latency Gaming version $380). The BT disc system seems to generate two separate networks which is not very convenient and not a real MESH system.
The system will just replace the WiFi side of the BTHub for example by plugging it into the wired port and turning off the WiFi ports on the BTHub. Then two or more relay units are positioned in different rooms in the home to give good cover. With these systems the relays can hop to each other before reaching the base station if necessary so making these systems more resilient.
You can use wired hubs to distribute phones over IP as well.
Side topics discussed included useful 3D printing of cable brackets, faulty extrusion feeding, amateur radio and old communication receivers amongst others. Thanks Gareth for an interesting and informative presentation.
Peter
The meeting was mainly to discuss the future programme which is shown below. Michael's Treasurer's Report will show a balance of £99.36 after a some debts and liabilities are cleared. Since the club has no regular outgoings there has been little change to the account balance. A decision on when or whether to request subscriptions will be determined at the next AGM.
We have now had a Committee meeting and updated our future programme. However we can be flexible and rearrange topics if the need arises, so if anyone would like to present a talk or suggest a topic to be covered please let us know. We are hoping the Covid restrictions will now allow us to have Social Evenings. If anyone has a favourite restaurant suitable for our Social Evening please let us know. We like to hold these in the area between Ipswich and Colchester so that friends from Essex can join us.
Also once the restrictions allow in-person meetings it has been suggested that we alternate our meetings between online and in-person meetings, although online meetings have been quite convenient for several of us to avoid going out and also saving travelling time. Since now the cost of fuel has rocketed it may also be more prudent to stay online only. Gareth suggests this may need a decision at the AGM.
Peter
| ICENI Future programme 2022/2023 | ||
| 2022 | ||
| March 16th | Home Networking and Network Storage | All |
| April 20th | Apps and App Stores | All |
| May 18th | AGM + "Easter Eggs" - undocumented features. | All |
| June 15th | 3D printing and Design software Octoprint, FreeSCAD ( FreeCAD?) and Google Tools. |
All |
| July 20th | Ubuntu 22.04 LTS release and flavours like Mint Windows 11 update and MacOS 12. |
All |
| August 17th | Summer Social Event - Venue TBA. Suggestions welcome Area between Ipswich/Colchester. |
All |
| September 21st | DigiKam and AI software. Auto face detection. | All |
| October 19th | Networks and NAS updates. | All |
| November 16th | Stills and Video Evening | All |
| December 21st | Gadgets and Party Evening | All |
| 2023 | ||
| January 18th | Winter Social Evening - Venue TBA or this may be a Jitsi meeting. |
All |
| February 15th | Audio Processing. | All |
| March 15th | Raspberry Pi and Arduino, SBC - single board computers and RISC OS. |
All |
| April 19th | Computer Surgery / Firewalls and Computer Security. | All |
| May 17th | AGM + Extras | All |
MEETINGS WILL NOW BE HELD ONLINE BUT STILL ON THE THIRD WEDNESDAY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. FURTHER DETAILS TO FOLLOW.
Our meetings are held at the Bourne Vale Social Club, Halifax Road,
Ipswich IP2 8RE ,
for a map and other details please see the website. http://icenicomputerclub.org.uk
Membership fee currently £15, visitors free.
"ICENI does not have any Insurance cover for computers or other equipment so please be advised that you bring machines to the club at your own risk."
However many household insurance policies will include cover away from home often with no increase in premium. (Ed.)
Our website URL is
http://icenicomputerclub.org.uk
Email to: iceni@woolridge.org.uk
I am open to suggestions on what people would like to have included in the website.