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Topics - rsutter

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106
Hello All,
APCUG speaker Bill James presented an in-depth exploration of Modems, Routers, and Wi-Fi on 05/07/2022.  I have attached the two handouts from that presentation as well as a link to the Zoom video of the event.

Video Link Modems, Routers, and Wi-Fi Saturday Workshop:  https://youtu.be/FbRNI4z3OY0

Ralph Sutter

107
Hello All,
Here are my notes from the SLO Bytes Photo Group meeting of 05/15/2022

TOPIC: New Skills, New Thrills Again

Ralph Sutter began the meeting demonstrating focus stacking with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021. This required purchasing the after market add-on, Elements+; https://elementsplus.net/. Sutter then showed a video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdrkURWyRsQ of the flight, crash and recovery of his DJI drone in conjunction with the autonomous flight software, Dronelink; https://www.dronelink.com/

Kaye Raul shared images taken with her new Sony A7 IV full frame camera; https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1667800-REG/sony_ilce_7m4_b_alpha_a7_iv_mirrorless.html. Her subjects included shots of Guadalupe, Main Street Beach and local strawberry fields.

Alan Raul showed images of Shell Beach including the construction project of a new seawall, staircase and sidewalk along the oceanfront. Later in the day (when it was cooler) using his Sony A7iv with a 35mm F2.8 lens; https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=sony%2035mm%20f%202.8&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma he ventured into the dunes near the Pismo Beach Creek to capture images of the creek and dunes area.

Stanford Brown used his Vikeri Trail Cam; https://vikeri.tech/ to capture images of 4 footed nighttime visitors around his house. He then reminded the group of the capabilities of the free Microsoft Photos app; https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/microsoft-photos/9WZDNCRFJBH4?hl=en-us&gl=US. It allows image and video viewing, slideshows and simple video editing. program,

John Waller introduced log exposure photography in conjunction with density filters. The filters allowed him to take much longer exposures and capture details of dark scenes that otherwise wouldn't be visible.

Bob Styerwalt shared several closeups of roses growing in his back yard.

Our next meeting will take place on 06/12/2022 beginning at 2:00 pm.  The topic is once again New Skills, New Thrills; Learn and share that knowledge

Here is the meeting schedule for the remainder of 2022
   July 10
   August 14
   September 11
   October 09
   November 13
   December 11
See the Links page for tutorials and other resources

Ralph Sutter

108
General Discussion / May 2022 APCUG Free Workshops
« on: May 16, 2022, 08:32:58 AM »
Hello All,
This is a re-post of an announcement sent by SLO Bytes parent organization, APCUG
Ralph Sutter

MAY 2022
WEDNESDAY WORKSHOPS
9am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET
 
5/18/22 -- Learning Linux: Headless Raspberry Pi
 
Register for this workshop here -- https://forms.gle/mmerpNPj2ArUmKM76
Registration closes at 6:00 pm PT on 05/17/2022

If you want to learn to drive a car, you have to get behind the wheel. Similarly, if you're going to learn Linux, you have to run a Linux computer. Curt will give us a tour, from 10,000 feet, of a Raspberry Pi (an inexpensive, single-board computer, SBC). Then he'll show a viable way to set up a Raspberry Pi without a lot of equipment (e.g., keyboard, monitor, cables, etc.) and space beyond the computer we now use every day. He'll only be using a Raspberry Pi (almost any model would work) and one (for power), maybe two (if a wired network connection is needed), cables. If time allows, he may even install Pi-hole to block many/most pesky ads for all the devices on our home network.
 
After the presentation has been completed, if you are someone that is similarly using a Raspberry Pi as Curt (headless, without extra hardware), please share with us (and the other attendees) what you are doing so we get other ideas of what can be done. And if there's time, we'll welcome other uses of a Raspberry Pi using the extra hardware.
=============================================
 
5/25/22 -- Adding NAS to your Router and The meaning and use of IP addresses and port numbers
 
Register for this workshop here -- https://forms.gle/13FtGLaXuC78v8FD9
Registration closes at 6:00 PM on 05/24/2022
 
This presentation introduces the concept and utility of Network Attached Storage (NAS) for home local area networks (LAN) by connecting any USB drive to the USB port on a home router. This can be any portable storage devices, such as a flash drive, USB solid State Device (SSD), portable hard drive, and storage that requires AC power. You might wonder how storage can be connected to a home LAN and shared instead of connecting to a computer. Just about any router, including a USB socket, can act as the LAN connection for storage. Not all routers include a USB socket, but many current routers do, and some routers even have a second socket for more storage or for connecting a USB printer to the network. This presentation will show an example of a router with a USB socket and the steps for preparing storage to be connected to a router. Also, the presentation shows how to find and use the router-connected NAS using Windows File Explorer, Apple's File app on iPhones and iPads, and the Samsung My Files app for Android devices.
 
After the presentation has been completed, if you are someone that is using a network-attached storage (NAS) device in a similar way as John, please share with us (and the other attendees) what you are doing so we get other ideas of what can be done.

After you register, you will see pop-up registration acknowledgments.

109
General Discussion / Update Zoom from the Ubuntu Terminal
« on: May 03, 2022, 02:03:19 PM »
Hello All,
This is how I update Zoom when running it from Ubuntu

To find out if you are running the latest version of Zoom, open that program and click on your face icon.  If you are told that an update is available, do not download it now.  At least for me, allowing Zoom to download the newest version and install it always fails.

Instead, I proceed as follows

First uninstall Zoom
From the Ubuntu Terminal, enter 
sudo apt remove zoom

Download Zoom from the Terminal typing
wget https://zoom.us/client/latest/zoom_amd64.deb
 
Go to the Downloads folder (or whatever folder to which you extracted Zoom) and enter the following command
sudo apt install ./zoom_amd64.deb
It may be necessary to restart the computer for Zoom to recognize the update
Check to see if you successfully updated as indicated at the beginning of this post

Ralph Sutter

110
Hello All,
Below, I have posted an announcement that I received from Judy Taylour, our APCUG Representative.  The event is free.
Ralph Sutter

Saturday Safaris
Exploring Technology In-Depth
 
May 7, 2022
9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET

Modems, Routers, and Wi-Fi with Bill James
 
Register Here https://forms.gle/AreDvWh2BurBzDR17
 
In the early days of networking, the term modem was used to describe a device that transformed speech into analog signals (and vice versa) to be transmitted over telephone lines. This presentation will discuss Modems, Routers, and Wi-Fi and how to set up your devices for the best performance since we all want fast, reliable, and secure Internet. Bill will give us information on the latest modems and router hardware developments and best practices for setup and deployment. Next, he will discuss Wi-Fi as the best option and how it fits into Home Automation, demystifying terms like WPA, Wi-Fi 6, 802.11, Ethernet, and DOCIS 3.1. He will also cover the pros and cons of using a professional tech service to solve technical difficulties. If one or more of these topics piques your interest, this 2-hour workshop is for you.
 
Bill's presentation will be followed by a discussion on whether to 'rent' or 'buy' your modem and router.

111
General Discussion / Windows 11 Speaker Configuration Troubleshooting
« on: April 26, 2022, 06:46:30 PM »
Hello All,
For a long time, my Dell 8930 computer has had issues with sound quality.  Out of the box, the sound quality was distorted.  Rather than solve the issue, I simply installed an external USB sound card.  That solved the issue but eventually the external USB sound card failed.

Since I wasn't after studio-quality sound, I bought an inexpensive Logitech USB powered speaker pair.  That gave acceptable sound.
I later added a Blue Yeti USB microphone and paired it with a OneOdio Pro 50 headset.
The Yeti/OneOdio pair worked well.  I connected it to a USB hub and switched between it and the Logitech speakers without incident... at least for a while.

Lately, if I tried to switch between Logitech and Yeti/OneOdio, the latter didn't work.  Fiddling with Sound via Control Panel and Device Manager, I usually got everything working again.  Sometimes, the only sound source that appeared was the audio that I disabled long ago.

After much frustration, I learned from a Google Search, that I could access various sound settings directly and troubleshoot them if I simply right clicked the speaker icon found on the Windows 11 Task Bar at the far right.  Running the troubleshooter from that location fixed the issue that hadn't been solved when I drilled down at Control Panel or the Device Manager. 

Simpler is better.  For repairing sound issues, start by right clicking the Task Bar Speaker icon

Ralph Sutter

112
General Discussion / Ubuntu 22.04 Install - Version Update
« on: April 24, 2022, 10:50:03 AM »
Hello All,
I have been running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on my Hp laptop.  It is dual booted with Windows 11 Professional.
Here are the details of the computer
   HP Pavilion Laptop 15-eg0xxx
   Windows 11 Pro
   2.80 gigahertz Intel 11th Gen Core i7-1165G7
   16Gb Ram

The machine is dual booted with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS running on a separate partition. 
I wanted to upgrade Ubuntu to 22.04 LTS that was released on 04/22/2022.

I downloaded the ISO file and attempted to create an installation disk on a
SANKESU USB C Flash Drive 64GB, 2 in 1 OTG USB 3.0 + Type C Memory Stick

I first tried creating an installation disk with Ventoy; https://www.ventoy.net/  That failed and bricked the flash drive.
I then switched to Balena Etcher; https://www.balena.io/etcher  … failed
Followed by Rufus; https://rufus.ie/en/  … also failed
I finally tried Universal USB Installer; https://universal-usb-installer.en.lo4d.com/windows .  That completed the process but indicated that a configuration file had not been copied.

Not to be discouraged, I inserted the flash drive in the laptop, pressed F9 so that it would allow me to boot from the flash drive and successfully began the installation.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS was created, running in memory.  I was satisfied that it would work so I clicked on the icon to install it.

A screen appeared asking me if I wanted to replace Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with 22.04 LTS.  I said yes.
At that point, the new setup began.  I was not asked any more questions about how I wanted to configure the various partitions. 
The setup finished in short order and instructed me to remove the flash drive before rebooting the laptop.

I complied and rebooted the machine.  It booted directly into Ubuntu 2204 LTS with no option to boot into Windows 11.
After setting up some features, I shut down the computer.  This time, at reboot, I was presented with the option to boot into Windows 11 or Ubuntu 22.04.  I managed to do both without incident.

My next task is to update the content of my home directory in Ubuntu 22.04 with data that I backed up from 20.04 LTS.
While I haven’t done much with the current version of Ubuntu yet, I have been very impressed by the simplicity of the version upgrade.

Ralph Sutter

113
Hi Stanford,
It seems that your post didn’t contain any actual .3gp files just icon thumbnails.
To test my ability to open a .3gp file, I downloaded a sample at https://filesamples.com/samples/video/3gp/sample_640x360.3gp  (no audio)
and https://filesamples.com/samples/video/3gp/sample_960x400_ocean_with_audio.3gp (contains audio and video)

I was able to open them with Irfanview, VLC, Movies and TV, Windows Movie Player and Adobe Premiere Elements 2021. 

I suggest that you either try opening these on-line sample files or find other .3gp files.  If you can open them but not the files you copied from your phone, the copied files are the problem.

How did you get the .3gp files from your phone to your computer?

At Alan’s suggestion, I use Wi-Fi Photo Transfer; https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wifi-photo-transfer/id380326191
However, it is only available for Apple products.

I found the following listing for Android equivalents; https://www.coolmuster.com/android/transfer-files-from-android-to-pc-wifi.html

Ralph Sutter

114
General Discussion / SLO Bytes Photo Group Notes 04/10/2022
« on: April 10, 2022, 05:54:16 PM »
Photo Group Report by Ralph Sutter
Notes from the Meeting of 04/10/22
TOPIC: New Skills, New Thrills

Ralph Sutter began the meeting with a single portrait.  Ralph then showed the effects of vignetting, exposure manipulation and selective erasure.  He then shared a video of the whistling top that he made;https://www.fullbean.com/woodworking/tops/whistling-top.mp4 , followed by aerial footage from his DJI Mini 2 drone; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5_G5PY1AZ4
His mission for the next session is to find a way to share videos effectively over a slow Internet connection.

Alan Raul showed videos captured with his Garmin dash cam of one of our local CHP motorcycle officers cruising the 101 freeway.  He used ACDSee Luxea Video Editor 6 to stitch together different clips to create a short video.
ACDSee Luxea Video Editor 6
https://www.acdsee.com/en/products/luxea-video-editor/ 
ACDSee Luxea Video Editor 6 Features
https://www.acdsee.com/en/products/luxea-video-editor/features/   
ACDSee Luxea Video Editor 6 Competitor Comparison
https://www.acdsee.com/en/video-editor/competitor-comparison/ 
5 Best Screen Recording Tools for 2021
https://www.acdsee.com/en/5-best-screen-recording-tools-for-2021/

Connie Sutter focused on the shadows cast by trees and other plants.

Kaye Raul offered images of the landscaping project in progress at her house.  She tied this to last month’s discussion of focus peaking.

John Waller visited the Atascadero Zoo.  He experimented with controlling depth of field to mitigate the appearance of the fencing that separated him from the zoo animals.  When John returned home, he called on the Adobe Photoshop content aware tool to further improve his images.

Our next meeting will take place on May 15th, 2022 via Zoom beginning at 2:00 pm.  Once again, the topic will be open-ended.  Members are invited to share projects of their choice and how they created them. 
Note that this meeting takes place one week later than usual in recognition of Mothers’ Day.  An invitation will be sent to members shortly before that meeting.
Here is the meeting schedule for 2022
  June 12
  July 10
  August 14
  September 11
  October 09
  November 13
  December 11
See https://www.slobytes.org/digital/links.html for tutorials and other resources
Ralph Sutter

115
General Discussion / APCUG APRIL 2022 WEDNESDAY WORKSHOPS
« on: April 10, 2022, 08:21:18 AM »
Hello All,
This is a re-post of an announcement from SLO Bytes' parent organization, APCUG
Ralph Sutter

APRIL 2022
WEDNESDAY WORKSHOPS
9am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET
 
April 13, 2022
Cyberwarfare and cyber security in view of the war in Ukraine
and how we can protect our computers
Tom Sweet, North Texas PCUG
 
Windows 10/11 Security and Privacy
Bill James, Computer Club of Oklahoma City
 
Register for this workshop here -- https://forms.gle/RyF7RCbA65gaDd6v8
 
Cyberwarfare and cyber security in view of the war in Ukraine and how we can protect our computers. This presentation will seek to allay some fears, set the right size for some real risks, and reinforce past lessons to practice our good computing habits. Tom has followed the history of cyber aggressions through the Baltic and former CIS states beginning in the late 2000s, now primarily through the work of Cisco Talos. This period has seen the rise of strategic disinformation campaigns, criminal malware, and overt attack tools.
 
Windows 10/11 Security and Privacy. Windows 10 and 11 have many privacy, and security settings turned on by default. However, you can customize them to suit your specific needs. We will review these settings and show what Windows is doing by default, why you may not need anything other than Windows Defender, and the Privacy settings built into Windows 10 and 11.
 
April 20, 2022
Linux for Beginners – Everyday Activities, Part 2
John Kennedy, East-Central Ohio Technology Users Club
 
Register for this workshop here -- https://forms.gle/j3XBRwaa752ftLwHA
 
Last time, we looked at what kinds of Linux users' activities and programs are similar to what Windows users do. This time, join John as he goes down to the actual everyday tasks that users do on Linux computers and see if they aren't basically the same as what you do on Windows PCs, which makes for easy transitioning over to Linux. We'll spend time in the file management system, creating/saving/opening files, dealing with external drives, doing system checks, and other similar "everyday" tasks. In addition, there will be time during the open mic discussion to ask about any everyday tasks that might not have been covered. After having attended these two workshops, it's the goal that you'll feel confident that you can use the free and secure Linux operating system as your everyday operating system.
 
April 27, 2022
Taking Better Pictures
Bob Bowser and Ray Martinez
Senior Computer Users Group of Greater Kansas
 
Register for this workshop here - https://forms.gle/spVmxcMYVJcRojTRA
 
Not a deep dive, but Ray and Bob will wade in with Settings and Basic Functions for picture taking on both Apple and Android devices (phones and tablets).
 
 

 
 



 



   



   










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116
General Discussion / Recommendations for Checkbook Software
« on: March 31, 2022, 11:00:09 AM »
Hello All,
I am posting this question for a fellow SLO Bytes member.  He says, "We have been using Quicken 2010. It is outdated.  So I need a recommendation for a simple checkbook program. Do not want a monthly fee or subscription."

If you have any software to suggest, please do so.  You won't be able to post your response here unless you are a registered SLO Bytes Bulletin Board user.  If you aren't but would like to be, ask me to sign you up. 

Alternatively, you can e-mail your ideas to me at ralph@rsutter.com and I will post them to the bulletin board on your behalf.

Ralph Sutter

117
General Discussion / SLO Bytes Photo Group Notes for 03/13/2022
« on: March 14, 2022, 07:38:22 PM »
Hello All,
Here are my Notes for the SLO Bytes Photography Group that took place on 03/13/2022
TOPIC: Controlling Depth of Field

Ralph Sutter illustrated how changing shutter speed and aperture control the depth of field.
Sutter shared images of flowers. The first image was shot with the aperture at maximum opening and the shutter speed adjusted for proper exposure. The second image in each pair stopped the lens down to f11 and increased the exposure speed for more light. In some images, he used a zoom lens at 140mm for shallowest depth of field.

Kaye Raul emphasized the advantage of using focus peaking for maximum sharpness in her shots of Sea Canyon and Avila. Kaye alternated between color and black and white to show the advantages of each format.

John Waller experimented with both a new Canon full frame camera and a new lens while lamenting the learning curve when switching. He hopes to use the pair for capturing sharp images in very low light.

Connie Sutter
concentrated on a single Poinsettia flower, varying the shutter speed and aperture and noting the effects

Alan Raul showed images of powder-coated steel structures located in Waller Park commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Santa Barbara.
He also showed images of the wooden walkway at the end of Grand Ave. and some shots around Pismo Beach.

Alan spoke about his new Sony A7 iv mirrorless camera purchased in January.
Using his previous purchased Sony (Zeiss optical design) lenses he noticed "substantial and noticeable" improvement in his shots.
The auto-focus is "extremely fast and accurate."

Sony A7 iv Mirrorless Camera
https://electronics.sony.com/imaging/interchangeable-lens-cameras/all-interchangeable-lens-cameras/p/ilce7m4-b
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1667800-REG/sony_ilce_7m4_b_alpha_a7_iv_mirrorless.html

His images can be viewed here:
http://www.365.acdsee.com/folders_public.php?profileid=1618852&folderid=2212013

Here is the meeting schedule for the remainder of 2022
   May 15 (due to Mothers' Day on May 8th)
   June 12
   July 10
   August 14
   September 11
   October 09
   November 13
   December 11
See the Links page; https://www.slobytes.org/digital/links.html  for tutorials and other resources

Ralph Sutter

118
General Discussion / Create a Slideshow with Microsoft PowerPoint
« on: March 06, 2022, 12:36:10 PM »
Hello All,
I have created a tutorial that shows how I used Microsoft PowerPoint to create a slideshow with images and video.
View it on YouTube at https://youtu.be/f8sjwKD4vVY
To see the actual slideshow that I created, go to YouTube at https://youtu.be/QMQ6Z6HM5P8
Ralph Sutter

119
General Discussion / Free APCUG Webinars for March 2022
« on: March 06, 2022, 08:01:32 AM »
Hello All,
This is a re-post of an e-mail sent by SLO Bytes' parent organization, APCG, announcing their free webinars offered in March 2022
Ralph Sutter

March 9, 2022
Gmail – Beginner to Pro
Rob Truman, Webmaster, Computer Booters
and
Cool, Fun, & Helpful Google Stuff
Judy Taylour, SCV Computer Club
 
Register for this workshop here -- https://forms.gle/87trrKQUpQ9jiftJ8
 
Gmail – Beginner to Pro. Get the most out of your Gmail account. When it comes to Email, Gmail is considered by many to be the standard and a must-have when it comes to electronic communications. This presentation will address the features and benefits, including how to: organize your messages, create, and apply labels and filters, set your preferences, including customizing the look of Gmail, and using Gmail offline. Plus, learn how to use the Gmail sidebar to access your Google Calendar, Keep, Tasks, and Contacts.
 
Cool, Fun, & Helpful Google Stuff. Shhh! Some of them are secrets.
 
March 16, 2022
Learning Linux #14
LET'S TALK SOFTware
Linux Evangelists
Orv Beach, Cal Esneault, John Kennedy
 
Register for this workshop here -- https://forms.gle/FVozGHGYzxAXFZhu8
 
For this workshop, we'll be having a Roundtable discussion where we'll get to learn about what Linux users are using for their everyday software. We'll take a category and start with the Learning Linux panel to find out what they use. Then we want others to share what they are using (and if you are using the same thing as someone else, we want to know). This way, we may learn what the most popular software is for a particular category, and we may learn some new software suggestions to give a try. This will be a win-win for everyone who attends.

Following are some of the categories we'll be sharing as our favorite software. We hope you will create a list you can share with us live or you can submit it in the Chat Box. This is not the complete list because someone will think of something we didn't: Browsers, File Managers, Word Processors, Document readers (PDF), Text editors, Note-taking, Office Suites, audio/video players, audio/video editors, Photo organizers, Graphic viewers/editors, Screen capture/recorder, Cloud storage, Remote access, Image/Data Anti-Virus/Malware/Spyware protection, Hard drive clean-up, E-mail, and System Monitoring tools. Plus, we will consider anything you think we missed.

We will cover backup apps at the March 30, World Backup Day Workshop.
 
March 30, 2022
Celebrating World Backup Day
Backups in a Busy World
Mark Schulman, Central Florida Computer Society
 
Register for this workshop here - https://forms.gle/hn1JVG8kn7jPvPuB6
 
It's World Backup Day on March 31 – Given enough time, every hard drive eventually fails, and most often, this means that all your photos, documents, and video -- everything! -- is lost. And recent evidence suggests that even under the best circumstances, hard drives don't last as long as previously thought. Backups are the only defense against serious data loss, yet most people don't bother. So instead, discover essential strategies to ensure your data is safe with the least amount of trouble.
 
After Mark's presentation, we will have a Roundtable where attendees will have the opportunity to tell or show us which backup app works for them. If you are one of the many people who don't backup, you might find one you would like to use. Please let Judy (jtaylour@apcug.org) know which program you would like to share with us.

120
General Discussion / APCUG PUSH Articles Just Uploaded
« on: March 01, 2022, 06:04:54 PM »
Hello All,

I have just uploaded to the SLO Bytes web site the First Quarter 2022 APCUG PUSH articles.  APCUG is our parent organization.  These articles are designed as supplemental information for club newsletters.  I do not insert them in SLO Bytes' newsletter, HardCopy.  Instead, I upload all of them to the SLO Bytes web site.

View them at the following locations
The current batch is available at www.slobytes.org/push/0322/
The PUSH Archives, with all past articles resides at www.slobytes.org/push/
For a calendar view/index of past PUSH articles, go to https://www.slobytes.org/push/push-condensed.html

Ralph Sutter

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