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.
We hope to be able to demonstrate some of these systems to show the capabilities of 3 D printers and design software. This should be breaking new ground for Iceni.
Gareth writes:-
I thought I would give an overview of my Creality Ender-3 V2 and what to expect from the more budget end of the market. Discuss initial assembly and prints, gotchas and issues I have run into etc. We should probably discuss the slicer tools and what they do (I use Cura so far) and some of the settings that can be changed there with infill, supports etc. If time allows we could look at things like OctoPrint, which allow printers like mine with no networking to be connected via say a Raspberry Pi to present a web interface.
Peter writes :- I am hoping to show a bit of FreeCAD use amongst other things.
The Formal write-up for the AGM is presented at next year's AGM however a shortened report is given here. The meeting was again held on Jitsi.org since most members are finding remote meetings are much easier to attend when no travelling is involved.
Following the Agenda format there was one apology for absence from Steve.
In matters arising Paul pointed out that we had agreed last year to issue all documents as PDF, which your Secretary had not been following since he had also been sending out HTML Newsletters. So this will have to change from now on. Peter would also like to encourage people to follow the other recommendations such as speakers providing a short write up of what they said in a meeting and information on web site links etc. given since the Chat can only be accessed during a meeting it doesn't get recorded.
The minutes of last year's AGM were approved.
The Chairman gave a very full account of the previous year's programme which he screenshared with us. This was then approved. Peter thought it was such a good summary of our activities that it could be added to the Website.
The Treasurer's Report was presented showing we are still in much the same position as last year with a balance of 122.84 with an outstanding bill for Bourne Vale of £15 for February 2020 and a payment to Gareth for the website registration from 2020 to 2022 the original cheque having been lost , however since the Registration is due for renewal from August 2022 Gareth has agreed that this can be paid at the same time as the August 2022 payment.
The Treasurer's report was also accepted.
Because we have a healthy balance and currently few outgoings the Treasurer has still not decided on whether to charge members a subscription. He did not want to build a large balance. Peter thought we could pay a nominal amount to show we were members. Topic still under review.
The election of Officers proceeded as usual with no extra nominations being received and everyone willing to stand again in the same posts and so were re-elected en bloc by General Consent.
Under Any Other Business we had a discussion about Social evenings and future in-person meetings although everyone is quite happy with the virtual meetings. It was thought we could certainly have a Social Evening in August and perhaps the Gadgets and Party Evening would be best served by an in-person meeting if any. Alternative Venues were discussed but with no clear winner.
The meeting ended at 8:14
Following the formal part of the evening we talked about "Easter Eggs" ; ones - undocumented features found in software.
Duncan showed that Google Maps has a historical versions feature which is hidden away and accessed by moving the pegman to a location on the map which opens a small window top left of the screen with the date under it with a timeline showing a spot for each date available. Clicking on the spot and then the small view screen will take you to the full screen view.
Duncan showed some dramatic change to the waterfront in Manningtree over th last few years where whole buildings had been demolished to open up the view (currently) which presumably will be built on again.
Peter said that some software has different features on iPhone by tilting from Portrait to Landscape e.g. the Calculator which changes from a simple 4four function calculator to a Scientific calculator.
Duncan showed a Scottish scene with a funeral in a churchyard in 2009.
Gareth then showed the HTML Blink tag and the Google Barrel Roll by typing into Google search which appear to come from Archive.org other fancy tricks
from kearnecreative.co.uk of Google Easter Eggs.
He also showed a screen from RPCEmu click on and click on the ARMinfo from Task Manager 4 times with the Menu key you will display a list of all the people who worked on RO5.
[It also works on my RPC for RO4. Ed.]
Michael said there were similar things on Android - About and Android version.
Android Authority lists all the different displays for each versions. some included whole games as well.
On Windows there were many Easter Eggs in Office apps and Cortana. Excel had a flight simulator.
God Mode allows opening up access to Control Panel functions and contains all sorts of useful settings on one long list.
Also on Google Maps you can navigate the canals in Venice by putting Pegman into a canal similar to the road version. Duncan also showed an art gallery in Romania you could walk around.
There were quite a more too numerous to mention. A very interesting evening.
Peter
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 | ||
| 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.