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.

Our Next Meeting ICENI Computer Club AGM
followed by "Easter Eggs"

Our Last Meeting: Wednesday 20th April 2022
Apps and AppStores

We have never discussed this before which is odd in a way since Apps seem to be the most common phone and table applications. None of us has ever written any Apps except Paul who said he had written one along time ago to try out the ADE. Michael said there was plenty of software to assist you in writing Apps. Paul said some of this ways based on Scratch and involved moving blocks around in a graphical environment. Peter said that the AudioHacks software made use of this although he never got it to work properly as it require another program called Soundflower which he could not get to install properly. This was when he was trying to see how to set up a speech to text system to work from an audio file as opposed to a live sound input. [ There are many online bureau who will do this however then they charge and also there are privacy issues.]

We then started talking about our phone or tablets mainly running on IOS or Android. Although Microsoft ventured into compatibility between Desktops and Tablets with Windows 8 but have given up on this now.

Duncan mentioned a GPS App which only did the GPS functions without the Navigation like early Garmin devices. Paul had an App on his Psion5 from Palmtop NL which later became TomTom. He lost track of them after that!

TomTom apparently used Unix internally but they would not allow Unix upgrades for TomTom Home.

There was some off topic discussion on the new driving laws and handling mobile phones.

Duncan mentioned a GPS stick which used a system called CamWay which is a GPS logger. He shared screen with us showing a map function and the time and so photographs recorded at a particular time can now be located on the map. Needed as his camera does not have its own GPS.

It logs stops and average pace etc. He thought it would work with RISC OSM.

Peter went through his phone looking at his Apps. Particular one's were Lyrics, Shazam which always amazes him with its speed.

he uses Enpass as his password manager. Rain Alarm gives rain radar warnings unfortunately it does have adverts. He has the KASA automation apps. A friend has given him a Nouie camera which not having a smart meter he has now set up to photograph his electricity meter in the garage to save having to read it directly. The photo is sent to his iPhone with the time stamp. The KASA app allows him to only turn on for a short period.

He then plugs the data into his spreadsheet to calculate his bill and frightens himself!

Duncan then showed his download of GPS Data from Camway on RISC OSM (Open Street Map) showing his logged track clearly. Very Neat. He showed various walks around East Anglia and the Lake District.

It will run Risc OSM on the ARM6. There is a MAP option on DigiKam which will take location data. What Three Words /// does work very well for arbitrary locations based on 3x3 metre squares all over the world. Good for geo-location.

There are also Apps like Ringo, and Paul showed the Train App for London called "TfL Service Status" showing which tube lines were busy etc. The City Mapper covers a similar view of buses.

Peter noted also UK Post codes, Michael mentioned Vehicle Smart covering when tax and MOT are due and service history for a Vehicle Reg. There is an App to check how your MP voted (from !store). Paul complained to GWR that he took a train from Penzance to Paddington for 5.5 hours without a buffet car and got a reply from the Office of Road and Rail.

People use the PlayStore for Android apps and Appstore for Apple. One can install other software on Apple by resetting the security system temporarily.

Other topics were that you can download videos from odysee.com for Mazon Fire TV without adverts since YouTube were trying to destroy themselves by putting adverts in after sometimes as little as 15 seconds so everyone is moving to Odysee.com. Google are also taking all the profits.

Another case of the richest companies getting greedy.

Another useful app was OpenTrainTime.com and Peter liked Flightradar24 for tracking aircraft around the world. Peter had also noticed an American aircraft flying over the Black Sea in a pattern at 50000 feet called FORTE1 and based in Sicily. [However he has since learnt from Flightradar24 that it is a drone.]

Quite a varied evening.

Peter

ICENI Future programme

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.

Special Notice - Insurance

"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 and Email

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.