When: Saturday, Aug 19, 2023,
Meeting has been cancelled for Aug.
Where: Richard Jackson’s home. Call Richard Jackson at 248-546-3694 for directions.
Past Meetings
The SEMCO meetings (except for SIG-Programming) since May 2020 have been recorded. To access the recordings, go to the bottom of each meeting notice and click on “Comment” and the links to the recordings will be displayed. Click on the links to download or play the recordings.
Aug 13, 2023 – SIG-Computing: Encryption Software; SIG-Linux: No topic this month
Richard Jackson, vice president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.
We will be using zoom for this meeting. This link will be active on day of meeting.
Click here to be connected to the meeting. Please join the meeting about 1:00 PM or later.
Members will also receive an e mail on the day of the meeting, with the link and any further details and instructions about how to log on to the meeting.
When: Sunday, Aug13, 2023, at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice.
Sig Computing Topic: Encryption Software
Presented by Mark Shulman
How can you prevent your private data leaks out into the world? Losing a flash drive, having your laptop stolen, or having someone spy on your email doesn’t have to mean that that bad guys see your private information. Learn how to use encryption software to protect your private data on PCs, laptops, external hard drives, USB flash drives, and even smartphones. The presentation demonstrates several free software apps that make encryption easy to use for anyone.
Mark Schulman has spent his career as a computer instructor, software designer, and small business owner. He has taught a wide-range of computer and programming courses for major corporations and worked on large software development projects. He currently works as the IT manager for a group of family practice physicians and for a small company that runs clinical drug trials. His major geek interest these days is the computer technology that made the moon landings possible in the 1960s. He lives near Orlando, Florida.
Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.
When: Sunday, Aug13, 2023 at 1:30 P.M.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice. Click on link shown above.
SIG-Linux Topic: No topic this month
Presented by Sharan Kalwani
No topic this month
Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice. Click on link shown above.
When: Sunday, Aug 13, 2023, at 3:00 P.M.
July 15, 2023 – SIG-Programming: Python
When: Saturday, July 15, 2023, Meeting has been cancelled for July.
See you in Aug.
July 9, 2023 – SIG-Computing: Recovering Data From a Hard Drive; SIG-Linux: Endless OS distro
Sharan Kalwani, president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.
We will be using zoom for this meeting. This link will be active on day of meeting.
Click here to be connected to the meeting. Please join the meeting about 1:00 PM or later.
Members will also receive an e mail on the day of the meeting, with the link and any further details and instructions about how to log on to the meeting.
When: Sunday, July 9, 2023, at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice.
SIG Computing Topic: Recovering Data from a Hard Drive
Presented by Francis Chao
When confronted with hard drive problems, you should perform low-risk, less invasive procedures first,
followed by increasingly aggressive, higher risk procedures.
As you perform these increasingly invasive procedures, you will either repair the hard drive and return it to service or at some point you might decide that it is beyond economical repair.
The various sub-topics for recovering data from hard drives are explained at
https://aztcs.apcug.org/meeting_notes/meeting_notes.htm
Francis Chao is a volunteer for the APCUG organization. He has been presenting for them for the past 13 years. He is currently a member of the Tucson Computer Society where he maintains an online presence via Zoom since he now lives in California. Francis is an avid user of Windows.., macOS, and Linux computers. His current list of presentations is available at http://aztcs.apcug.org/fc.pdf
Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.
When: Sunday, July 9, 2023 at 1:30 P.M.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice. Click on link shown above.
SIG-Linux Topic: Endless OS distro
Presented by Sharan Kalwani
We last spoke about the Linux kernel several months ago. During the last week of June 2023, a number of enhancements were released – which we will discuss and assess the impacts of those. Also, we have a brief experience on a new Linux distro to share – Endless OS. So what is special about this? Most of the tools are geared to be used in an offline mode, i.e not dependent on the internet to be around….I find that interesting, as I am often on the road w/o a decent connection.
Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice. Click on link shown above.
When: Sunday, July 9, 2023, at 3:00 P.M.
June 17, 2023 – SIG-Programming: Python
When: Saturday, June 17, 2023, at 2 PM.
Rick Fink will demonstrate a new card game program for baccarat. He plans to write and demonstrate a baccarat Monte Carlo simulation to figure out how often a player wins with a given score and the banker wins with a given score.
Where: Richard Jackson’s home. Call Richard Jackson at 248-546-3694 for directions.
Jun 11, 2023 – SIG-Computing: Cell Phone Basics; SIG-Linux: No topic this month
Sharan Kalwani, president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.
We will be using zoom for this meeting. This link will be active on day of meeting.
Click here to be connected to the meeting. Please join the meeting about 1:00 PM or later.
Members will also receive an e mail on the day of the meeting, with the link and any further details and instructions about how to log on to the meeting.
When: Sunday, Jun 11, 2023, at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice.
Sig Computing Topic: Cell Phone Basics
Presented by Francis Chao
Your iPhone or Android mobile phone is actually 6 separate radio
transmitter-receivers in a very compact device. If you get a working understanding of the details of these 6 transmitter-receivers, you can make better use of your mobile phone and save money:
o 6 transmitter-receivers in an iPhone or Android cell phone:
Cellular transceiver,
Wi-Fi transceiver, Global navigation
Satellite System (GNSS) receiver = GPS, etc.),
Bluetooth transceiver,
Near-field Communication (NFC)
and
FM radio receiver
o Not having a data plan so that Wi-Fi is the cell phone’s only Internet connection
o Having a data plan but using mainly Wi-Fi for the cell phone’s Internet access
o Various apps use different combinations of the 6 transmitter-receivers
o Use the “MyGPSCoordinates” and/or “GPS Status” apps to get your
latitude/longitude location from the GNSS receiver
o “Cellular 911”
o 3G shutdown
o Cell phone tracking
Francis Chao is a volunteer for the APCUG organization. He has been presenting for them for the past 13 years. He is currently a member of the Tucson Computer Society where he maintains an online presence via Zoom since he now lives in California. Francis is an avid user of Windows.., macOS, and Linux computers. His current list of presentations is available at http://aztcs.apcug.org/fc.pdf
Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.
When: Sunday, Jun 11, 2023 at 1:30 P.M.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice. Click on link shown above.
SIG-Linux Topic: No topic this month
Presented by Sharan Kalwani
No topic this month
Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice. Click on link shown above.
When: Sunday, Jun 11, 2023, at 3:00 P.M.
May 20, 2023 – SIG-Programming: Python
When: Saturday, May 20, 2023, Meeting has been cancelled for May.
See you in June
May 14, 2023 – SIG-Computing: The Origins of Silicon Valley: Why and How It Happened; SIG-Linux: Handbrake
Sharan Kalwani, president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.
We will be using zoom for this meeting. This link will be active on day of meeting.
Click here to be connected to the meeting. Please join the meeting about 1:00 PM or later.
Members will also receive an e mail on the day of the meeting, with the link and any further details and instructions about how to log on to the meeting.
When: Sunday, Mary 14, 2023, at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice.
SIG Computing Topic: The Origins of Silicon Valley: Why and How It Happened
Documentary Movie Presented by Sharan Kalwani
Why did Silicon Valley come into being? In this talk, Paul Wesling brings you back to early Stanford engineers, campus faculty kids around 1915, local Hams (amateur radio operators) trying to break RCA’s tube patents, the sinking of the Titanic, angel investments, Fred Terman and Stanford University, local invention of high-power tubes (gammatron, klystron), WWII and radar, new approaches to running companies, and the San Francisco Bay Area infrastructure. These factors led to the semiconductor and integrated circuit industries being located here, and earned it the designation as “Silicon Valley.” In this exciting history of device technology development and innovation from 1909 through 1960, you will “meet” some of the colorful characters—Cyril Elwell, Leonard Fuller, Lee DeForest, Bill Eitel, Charles Litton, Russell Varian, Fred Terman, David Packard, Bill Hewlett and others—who set leadership patterns for the worldwide electronics industries through their collaboration, inventions, process development, and allied management techniques. Here is where geeks now gather to start new companies that invent the future. This edited lecture was given in Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University, on April 19, 2017.
Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.
When: Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 1:30 P.M.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice. Click on link shown above.
SIG-Linux Topic: Handbrake
Presented by Sharan Kalwani
Handbrake is an open-source video media converter. In the past we have done video editors (such as OpenShot/ShotCut etc.) but did not touch upon the topic of media conversion.
There are currently two very popular media players and converters – the other being VLC. We will focus on handbrake, Basics will be covered such installing handbrake, selecting video source, destination target formats, etc.
Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.
Where: Meetings will be on line until further notice. Click on link shown above.
When: Sunday, May 14, 2023, at 3:00 P.M.
Apr 15, 2023 – SIG-Programming: Python
When: Saturday, Apr 15, 2023, at 2 PM.
Rick Fink plans on showing programs that generate rows of Pascal’s triangles. One program using loops and another using recursion.
If time permits, Rick may also show a prime number generator.
Where: Richard Jackson’s home. Call Richard Jackson at 248-546-3694 for directions.