Past Meetings

Sharan Kalwani, president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.

When: Sunday, Feb 9, 2020, at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075.

The university is essentially at the northwest corner of 10 Mile Road and Northwestern Highway https://goo.gl/maps/5Et615QaRCP2. The meeting is in room M213 of the Wayne H. Buell Management Building. For details on entry to the campus, where to park and how to get to the meeting room go to https://www.wordpress.semco.org/?page_id=1638

SIG-Computing Topic:  “General Magic” a documentary movie

Presented by Sharan Kalwani

It is a movie about the company that designed the first smartphone.

The ideas that dominate the tech industry and our day to day lives were born at a secretive Silicon Valley start-up called ‘General Magic’, which was spun out of Apple in 1990 to create the first handheld personal communicator (or “smartphone”). The film combines rare archival footage with powerful honesty from the “Magicians” today, reflecting on the most influential Silicon Valley Company no one has ever heard of. Featuring legendary members of the original Macintosh team, along with the creators of the iPod, iPhone, Android, and eBay.

Rated: TV-PG, it runs for 1h 33min and was originally released on 12 July 2019 (USA). We will try to bring some soda pop & popcorn.

Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.

When: Sunday, Feb 9, 2020 at 1:30 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

SIG-Linux Topic: Included in topic above

Presented by Sharan Kalwani

When: Sunday, Feb 9, 2020 at 3:00 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

Free Wi-Fi available. Our thanks to Lawrence Technological University, for providing our meeting space!

Sharan Kalwani, president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.

Note: Elections will be held in January for Officers and Members-at-Large of the Board of Directors. Members are encouraged to bring in their ballots filled in.

When: Sunday, Jan 12, 2020, at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075.

The university is essentially at the northwest corner of 10 Mile Road and Northwestern Highway https://goo.gl/maps/5Et615QaRCP2. The meeting is in room M213 of the Wayne H. Buell Management Building. For details on entry to the campus, where to park and how to get to the meeting room go to https://www.wordpress.semco.org/?page_id=1638

SIG-Computing Topic:  Free programs for the Raspberry Pi

Presented by Jeff Pynnonen

Many free programs that are available for PCs and Macs will also run on Raspberry Pi Computers. Using a Raspberry Pi 4, Jeff will demonstrate and talk about as many as possible.

These include LibreOffice ( Microsoft Office), Chromium Web Browser (Google  Chrome), GIMP (Photoshop), Inkscape (Adobe Illustrator), PDF Viewer (Adobe Acrobat Reader).

The Raspberry Pi 4 is available as a kit or by itself www.raspberrypi.org . But you can start using these programs with your existing computer.

Jeff is an Embedded Software Engineer who has been programming for 50 years. He has a BSEE from U of M and has been working developing software for automotive embedded systems.

Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.

When: Sunday, Jan 12, 2020 at 1:30 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

SIG-Linux Topic: Introduction to TCP/IP

Presented by Sharan Kalwani

The basic internet runs on TCP/IP, but do you really know how it works underneath the covers? This little tutorial will run thru the basics of routing and explain how packets/datagrams and segments actually move around.

Useful info for doing practical first principles troubleshooting. After all the basics of TCP/IP were robustly developed on various *nix platforms and extended before getting ported to various OS platforms.

We will also have nominations for SIG Linux chairman

Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.

When: Sunday, Jan 12, 2020, at 3:00 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

Free Wi-Fi available. Our thanks to Lawrence Technological University, for providing our meeting space!

Richard Jackson, vice president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.

When: Sunday, Nov 10, 2019 at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075.

The university is essentially at the northwest corner of 10 Mile Road and Northwestern Highway https://goo.gl/maps/5Et615QaRCP2. The meeting is in room M213 of the Wayne H. Buell Management Building. For details on entry to the campus, where to park and how to get to the meeting room go to https://www.wordpress.semco.org/?page_id=1638

SIG-Computing Topic: What’s Hot for the Holidays!

Presented by Richard Tapaninen

Richard Tapaninen of the Micro Center computer store will review the hottest current technology offerings and explain how they work.

Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.

When: Sunday, Nov 10, 2019 at 1:30 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

SIG-Linux Topic: No Linux topic this month

The time will be devoted for additional discussions of the SIG Computing topic above.

When: Sunday, November 10, 2019 at 3:00 P.M.
Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

Free Wi-Fi available. Our thanks to Lawrence Technological University , for providing our meeting space!

Sharan Kalwani, president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.

When: Sunday, Oct 13, 2019 at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075.

The university is essentially at the northwest corner of 10 Mile Road and Northwestern Highway https://goo.gl/maps/5Et615QaRCP2. The meeting is in room M213 of the Wayne H. Buell Management Building. For details on entry to the campus, where to park and how to get to the meeting room go to https://www.wordpress.semco.org/?page_id=1638

SIG-Computing Topic:  Build a Low Cost Computer using the Raspberry Pi  4

Presented by Jeff Pynnonen

The Raspberry Pi 4 is a credit-card size computer that runs Linux and price starts at $35. The latest version, the Raspberry Pi 4 model B, comes with 3 different memory configurations, 1GB, 2GB and 4 GB of RAM. It supports two 4K HDMI monitors, has two USB 2 ports and two USB 3 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, and more. His talk will be about setting up a Raspberry Pi 4 system as a desktop system and the free software that comes with it. Learn more at raspberrypi.org. It is a great computer for anyone from 8-80 years old, and at any computer skill level from beginning to expert.

Jeff Pynnonen is an Embedded Systems and Software Engineer, who has been programming for 50 years. He has a BSEE from UofM and has been working developing software for automotive embedded systems. His latest interests are the low-cost Linux Raspberry Pi computers and what you can do with them. He is currently working on using the Raspberry Pi as a Ceramic Kiln Controller using Python and a 7” touchscreen display.
Learn More: https://www.raspberrypi.org/

Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.

When: Sunday, Oct 13, 2019 at 1:30 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

SIG-Linux Topic: Learning Linux Online

Presented by Sharan Kalwani

In this month we will do a panoramic sweep of the vast set of online Linux learning resources. After doing several months of cherry picked SIG Linux topics, it is time to see what other resources are out there available to our SEMCO members.
Some are free and some are worth the price, of course we will point out the overrated ones as well.

When: Sunday, Oct 13, 2019 at 3:00 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

Free Wi-Fi available. Our thanks to Lawrence Technological University, for providing our meeting space!

Rick Fink, one of our members will continue discussing XLSX Writer a Python add-on that allows a Python program to create an Excel spread sheet.

All are welcome to attend.

Where: Richard Jackson’s home. Call Richard Jackson at 248-546-3694 for directions.

When: Saturday, January 18, 2020 at 2 PM.

Sharan Kalwani, president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.

When: Sunday, Sept 8, 2019 at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075.

The university is essentially at the northwest corner of 10 Mile Road and Northwestern Highway https://goo.gl/maps/5Et615QaRCP2. The meeting is in room M213 of the Wayne H. Buell Management Building. For details on entry to the campus, where to park and how to get to the meeting room go to https://www.wordpress.semco.org/?page_id=1638

SIG-Computing Topic:  The different laws of computing

Presented by Sharan Kalwani

No, this is not a talk about digital jurisprudence, rather it is a detailed set of seminal observations on the various trends we have experienced in the last 50 years of computing. Of course the most famous one of them all is the classic Moore’s Law, while not an actual law, has had an astounding effect on all of mankind since the invention of the microprocessor.

In this 90-minute talk I will point out the different advances in computing, be it networking, storage, connectivity, semiconductors, processing power, energy trends, etc. I will then proceed to list the eponymous persons associated with each specific law, relationship or trend and what implications they have for us all. To the best of the speakers knowledge, such a talk has not been conducted anywhere else before and so you will get to enjoy an original as well as a uniquely wholistic perspective on the vast phenomena we call computing.

A well seasoned scientific, technical and computing professional, Sharan has spent over 20+ years implementing many new and pioneering technologies from operating systems (*nix) , high performance computing (Cray, SGI, modern day clusters), engineering applications (CAE/CFD simulations), optimization, networking (TCP/IP, Infiniband), operations (ITIL, ITSM), scientific domain (BioInformatics), and project management.

A successful speaker and author, Sharan looks to increase the professional approach of every individual he interacts with. He enjoys teaching, contributing to STEM activities and publishing. He is a senior member of IEEE, ACM, Emeritus member of Michigan!/usr/group. He is currently the Chair of the IEEE SE Michigan Education Society Chapter since 2017.

Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.

When: Sunday, Sept 8, 2019 at 1:30 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

SIG-Linux Topic: Included in topic above

Presented by Sharan Kalwani

When: Sunday, Sept 8, 2019 at 3:00 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

Free Wi-Fi available. Our thanks to Lawrence Technological University, for providing our meeting space!

Topic: Python:

Rick Fink, one of our members will continue discussing XLSX Writer a Python add-on that allows a Python program to create an Excel spread sheet.

All are welcome to attend.

Where: Richard Jackson’s home. Call Richard Jackson at 248-546-3694 for directions.

When: Saturday,Aug 17, 2019 at 2:00 P.M.

Sharan Kalwani, president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.

When: Sunday, Aug 11, 2019 at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075.

The university is essentially at the northwest corner of 10 Mile Road and Northwestern Highway https://goo.gl/maps/5Et615QaRCP2. The meeting is in room M213 of the Wayne H. Buell Management Building. For details on entry to the campus, where to park and how to get to the meeting room go to https://www.wordpress.semco.org/?page_id=1638

SIG-Computing Topic:  Cord cutting and Cord Shaving 

Presented by Tom Allen

Tom is our SIG Computing Chairman and he will discuss:

How to eliminate or reduce your cable bill, and how to use the online streaming services.

Also, how to use over the air programming. Then he will cover the new standards for over the air TV .

Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.

When: Sunday, Aug 11, 2019 at 1:30 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

SIG-Linux Topic: All about computing architecture: focus on how Linux handles memory

Presented by Sharan Kalwani

Sharan’s presentation this month will be all about one important aspect of computing architecture: namely memory.
Sometimes erroneously called storage (which actually deals with long term memory), he will instead focus on computer memory organization and all the various elements in it.
The second part of the talk will then deal exclusively with how Linux kernels treat and organizes memory.
It is indeed a bit different and sometimes can be viewed as an advantageous feature. Other times folks argue that it hurts performance rather than be a positive thing.
No prior knowledge of computing architecture is assumed or the Linux kernel. The talk will be fast paced and full of details.

When: Sunday, Aug 11, 2019 at 3:00 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

Free Wi-Fi available. Our thanks to Lawrence Technological University, for providing our meeting space!

Sharan Kalwani, president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.

When: Sunday, July 14, 2019 at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075.

The university is essentially at the northwest corner of 10 Mile Road and Northwestern Highway https://goo.gl/maps/5Et615QaRCP2. The meeting is in room M213 of the Wayne H. Buell Management Building. For details on entry to the campus, where to park and how to get to the meeting room go to https://www.wordpress.semco.org/?page_id=1638

SIG-Computing Topic: Developing Mobile Apps on the Android platform – An Introduction

Presented by Vijay Daita

Our newest and youngest SEMCO attendee – 13 year old Vijay Daita will be giving a presentation about Android apps. Vijay will talk about the resources that he used to get better at app development, walk you through getting started with Android Studio (which is a development tool by Google that uses Java), that helps you make a starter app.

He will also talk about how the basics can be pieced together to build a more complicated app, and finally, walk a little bit about Tensorflow for Android. 
Vijay will not be spending much time on the installation portion, so you may wish to pre – install Android Studio. You can find an online tutorial that suits you by searching “download android studio tutorial”.
Vijay Daita started developing Android apps since he was 8 years old. Since he started programming he has published several apps. Count Smart is a feature-rich counter app. Wave Driver (now removed), is an SMS-based tracker so that you can find your loved ones in places such as a store. Antifier is a ‘joke’ app intended to classify ants (done using TensorFlow but with a very small sample size – hence the ‘joke’).

He has completed courses over MOOC and also obtained a couple of certificates. He also completed Developing Android Apps course on Coursera and the Android Developer Nanodegree recently. 
The biggest resources that he used were Google, YouTube, and StackOverflow. Google currently run the Android operating system, so their network of websites has helpful resources. YouTube also has great video resources. StackOverflow is also a really good place to get your questions answered.  

Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.

When: Sunday, July 14, 2019 at 1:30 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

SIG-Linux Topic: Protonmail – a secure email service

Presented by Sharan Kalwani

Sharan’s presentation this month will be on Protonmail. (While not a Linux specific topic, it is open source based.) In this session we will talk about secure email services and will pick on Protonmail, which provides secure communications.

When: Sunday, July 14, 2019 at 3:00 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

Free Wi-Fi available. Our thanks to Lawrence Technological University, for providing our meeting space!

Sharan Kalwani, president of SEMCO, will start the meeting and make general announcements.

When: Sunday, June 9, 2019 at 1:15 P.M.
Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075.

The university is essentially at the northwest corner of 10 Mile Road and Northwestern Highway https://goo.gl/maps/5Et615QaRCP2. The meeting is in room M213 of the Wayne H. Buell Management Building. For details on entry to the campus, where to park and how to get to the meeting room go to https://www.wordpress.semco.org/?page_id=1638

SIG-Computing Topic: The Admiral’s Language of Choice (COBOL)

Presented by Ken Patton

Most of us know about Admiral Grace Hopper. She is rightly recognized as a pioneer in computer science and innovator of the compiler many of us depend on today, yet deriding one of her most-lasting impacts, COBOL, is fashionable.

Go on a journey starting with the landscape of computing that led to the creation of the first machine-independent programming language and see the language constructs that enable its most common platform, the mainframe, to process 2.5 billion transactions a day. Walk away having seen actual COBOL code and maybe an appreciation for why so much of it still runs our world every day.

With 20+ years experience working on projects for a couple of automotive manufacturers, public utilities, health insurers, and a government agency, Ken has spent the last ten years leading and mentoring teams specializing in the modernization of legacy mainframe systems. .

Also: Questions and Answers following the presentation.

When: Sunday, June 9, 2019 at 1:30 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

 

SIG-Linux Topic: Protonmail – a secure email service (postponed to July due to time constraints)

Presented by Sharan Kalwani

 Sharan’s presentation this month will be on Protonmail. (While not a Linux specific topic, it is open source based.) In this session we will talk about secure email services and will pick on Protonmail, which provides secure communications.

When: Sunday, June 9, 2019 at 3:00 P.M.

Where: Lawrence Technological University (Southfield Campus) 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (click on links above)

Free Wi-Fi available. Our thanks to Lawrence Technological University, for providing our meeting space!