Soon after retiring and joining U3A I was asked to prepare something to show people how to use computers to research their family tree. Well, that really sparked an interest. I started researching my grandfather, George Henry Davies (Harry). He was a colliery farrier from Blaenllechau in the Rhondda Valley. I was two years old when he died. Sadly, I have no memories of him.
As a younger man, he joined the army in 1915. After a very short period in France, he was shipped to Salonika in Greece. These days, not many people remember that any fighting went on there. Harry stayed in Salonika until early 1918.
During 2020 the whole world changed beyond all measure as countries around the globe suffered the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic. For many, including myself, had to endure many months in lockdown with limited opportunity to go out and socialise. My music making with my recorder group, Morris dancers and folk sessions all came to a grinding halt. For many months I simply didn’t feel like playing any music at all. Then a friend introduced me to the idea of making Acapella videos .
Using this system it is possible to create little arrangements with myself playing all of the parts.
Around the same time I learned that the Imperial War Museum had a set of pantomimes from the First World War Salonika front. These pantomimes were performed by a party of traveling ambulance men, the 85th Field Ambulance. With the help of the Salonika Campaign Society, I’ve managed to get scanned images of the three pantomimes, Dick Whittington, Bluebeard, and Aladdin in Macedonia. They provide a strange and unique insight into the lives of soldiers posted to this long-forgotten battlefront.
At the moment, I’m trying to put together some of those Acapella videos, trying to breathe new life into those old tunes. I’m keying in each note of the tunes into Musescore software. This must be a bit like following a knitting pattern stitch by stitch with no idea what the finished item will ever look like. I’ve created some musical videos with the help of Apple iMovie and Acapella :- Pitch Perfect.
Initially, I thought I’d try to learn one or two of the tunes. I couldn’t be certain that my grandfather Harry had ever attended any of these pantomimes but after a short period of study, I feel that he probably did.
The Macedonia front was quite unlike the experience of the Western Front in France. During Summer, it was fiercely hot but Winter brought freezing conditions and snow. For most of the time, the battle lines were fairly static. There was little chance of any entertainment. Only lucky soldiers managed to visit the town of Salonika. Curiously, soldiers developed a strange form of entertainment:- Racing tortoises. Well, that was impossible during Winter as the tortoises would be in hibernation.
Also, it appears that these pantomimes were incredibly popular, frequently out-performing pantomime productions staged at Drury Lane.
Let’s imagine then that grandfather Harry did manage to get a ticket for the pantomime. Imagine him trudging through the snow to a small barn, nicknamed The Kopriva Palace Theatre. We’ll take a seat beside him and enjoy some of the tunes that he would have enjoyed all those years ago.
I’ve finished three videos of songs from Music of Macedonia. You can see them here.
I experienced a strange coincidence when I was looking through the music from Aladdin in Macedonia. Look at the name of the composer. Not my grandfather, G.H. Davies but a strange coincidence, another G.H. Davies.
Got my act together this time, and sitting down quickly to write up the notes of the meeting which saw three guests attend – Tony Baines (the Vice-Chairperson of Cardiff U3A), Matthew Lloyd (on his last day as South East Programme Manager for Digital Communities Wales) and Jenny Phillips (their Wales Volunteer Co-ordinator).
We started the meeting as normal by reviewing the Notes from the previous meeting and what had been on WhatsApp. I advised the group that there was now a link to the Thought grazing Flipboard “magazine” under the Computer Group tab on the website; I mentioned that I’d put some links to Which? articles on Black Friday on WhatsApp and would copy them into a Forum on the website asap; I’d written an article for the website on Purchasing a Laptop – copy’n’pasted from Which?; Paul had posted a screenshot of Google many years on, reflecting on how things had changed – Where is the Advanced Search these days???
John had sent me some links in an email re. Surge Pricing which was something I’d not heard of before linked to Smart Meters. I also said I’d check whether there was anything on Which? about this issue. There isn’t. However, it seems to be an issue that emerged in 2018 (mainly in right-wing press, it has to be said) and all has gone quiet since then. There’s an interesting (and perhaps useful) discussion on the Smart Meter roll-out in this article, which also explains what Surge Pricing might mean and involve, as well as discussing where we are with SMETS 1 and SMETS 2 meters.
I also reported in response to Anne’s query at the last meeting that I’d installed the Java Runtime Environment on my iMac and LibreOffic Base (their database) was then able to run.
We noted Phil’s letter in “Age Matters” and Don had been having difficulties in wiping a Hard disk clean. [This was resolved by Don taking the machine to Neil and “donating” it to him on the basis that he’d wipe the disk clean as this was an issue with the version of XP (Home Edition) which was on the machine which didn’t allow a Format.] I also reported that I’d posted articles on URL shortening and Taking Screenshots on the website.
David H thanked Phil in his absence for providing a second Linux USB stick and he’d tried to install it on an old laptop, but the keyboard had failed for some reason. They will return to visit the issue when they can meet in person. [Just a thought – it’s not something as obvious as US vs UK keyboards in the Linux setup???] However, they had received wonderful service from Curry’s who had delivered a new full-size iPad within a couple of days of ordering and he was most impressed at how easy it was to transfer everything from their old iPad Mini to the new machine. Renee confirmed it was a very straightforward and simple operation.
Mike told us that he had been in conversation with TalkTalk re. his poor internet reception and had managed an upgrade to Fibre65 and had reduced his monthly charge from £32 to £42, Threatening to leave is an unfortunate but essential tool in the armoury of the consumer.
Owen encouraged to read the reports and vote on the AGM motions on the Cardiff U3A website.
Jim was still in the process of deciding on a laptop and wanted to get a 15″ one with audio input/output, HDMI and USB. It was suggested that he perhaps looked at: a) a smaller (and cheaper) laptop and using an external screen; b) getting a small desktop – this is what Marilyn had done last year – instead of a laptop if it wasn’t going to be needed outside the home; or even c) get a MacMini and use it with a large TV screen or external monitor. [Guess who suggested the latter, fired-up by the new Apple M1 MacMini launch the previous week.]
Stella informed us that you needed to renew your iPlayer account every two years – I hadn’t realised that – and that she had experienced some fun and games in doing that before she managed to do it from her phone – Voila, she said!
Christine had decided to go for a laptop rather than a tablet, and this now enabled her and her husband to play online games, or quizes (??) separately; she also advised us about disabling Face Recognition in Facebook. [Note to self: I think we ought to have an annual session on Facebook settings as well as the Google account one I committed to last time.]
Don recounted his issues with scrubbing his hard disk (mentioned above); had been writing a report on church matters and had been playing online chess with his grandson.
Renee cheered me up by saying that she’d been reading the meeting notes and had downloaded bit.ly; taken screenshots and was now using Brave and LastPass – makes my ramblings so much more worthwhile when someone follows up on things. Thanks.
Paul had suffered from problems with his BT Home Hub Mesh setup and after not being able to fault resolve over the phone; the engineer (from the North East of England) had arranged the dispatch of replacement units – which were now working well. He also brought us up to speed with his look at Cardiff County Council’s website for Digital Inclusion (referenced in the last set of meeting notes.
This was a good introduction to Fred and Jenny bringing us to speed on what they’d done (mainly referenced in my late set of meeting notes from last time) and which then led into a general discussion on how we would handle our guests who joined the meeting at about 3:00pm. I admitted Tony Baines to the meeting first and he explained his role (mainly concerned with Cardiff U3A strategy) and he described how we could see things in either an out-facing (to non-Cardiff U3A members), or in-facing (exclusively to Cardiff U3A members) – this was a useful distinction to bear in mind as we admitted Matthew and Jenny to the meeting.
I gave a brief introduction about the Group, introduced Tony, and handed the meeting over to Matthew who presented through some slides. These are embedded below. He handed over to Jenny who described her role as helping, facilitating, training Digital Champions within communities and organisations. I believe that was the activity that she felt that DCW could offer to Cardiff U3A were we to identify some Digital Champions who would be working with Digital Companions who themselves would be alongside our members who felt they needed assistance to get online, etc.
In questions they asked us to think how best they might get their message out; we identified the issue of “digital poverty” – the removal of a bus service and the replacement with an app to summons a personal bus on paper seems a good idea, but not if you’re not digitally aware, or confident.
After they left the meeting we had a brief discussion on “what’s next” and asked Tony to consider whether in-facing digital awareness should be part of Cardiff U3A’s strategy for next year; I encouraged members of the Group to feed back to me their thoughts; and whether they could be digital champions, or digital companions. You can do that either through WhatsApp, or by email to me.
Five crucial questions you need to ask to find the perfect laptop.
With hundreds of models to choose from, you’ll want to a laptop that ticks the boxes and will last the test of time. One of the biggest decisions will be how much you want to spend – what many don’t realise is that if you’re after a good all-rounder for day-to-day tasks, it doesn’t have to be a lot.
We award Best Buys to our top-performing laptops, and our cheapest Best Buys costs less than £500. Plus if you’re willing to compromise you can find good models for as little as £150.
Top five questions to ask before buying a laptop
Before you start shopping for a laptop, it will help to know the answers to the following five key questions.
1. How much should I spend on a laptop?
Less than £200 – Intel Celeron or Atom processors, 2GB of Ram and 32GB of storage. Won’t be particularly fast, but fine for note taking and browsing the internet.
Less than £400 – Intel Pentium, Core i3, AMD Ryzen 3 and 4GB Ram. Fast enough for web browsing and research work. Aim for a Full HD screen and an SSD if you can.
Less than £600 – Intel Core i5, i7, AMD Ryzen 5, 7 and 8GB of Ram. Should be ideal for photo editing and some light video work. Look for a thin and light design, a Full HD screen and an SSD.
Less than £800 – As above, but in increasingly high-end designs. Look for great battery life on premium ultrabooks.
More than £800 – Some stunning designs, great screens and good speakers. High-end laptops will suit more intensive tasks, such as video editing or playing games. You can buy Apple MacBooks from £950 and above.
2. Operating system – what type of laptop do I need?
There are three major players when it comes to the software (operating system) your computer runs on. Windows, MacOS, and ChromeOS.
Buy a Windows 10 laptop if…
You prefer the familiarity of Windows
Have specialist software you can’t live without
Want a big variety of laptops to choose from
Buy a MacBook if…
You have a budget of at least £950
Value longevity and build quality
Use other Apple products, or are happy to learn a new operating system
Buy a Chromebook if…
You’re on a budget
Value simplicity
Don’t mind working in web-based applications
3. How powerful does my laptop need to be?
In short: If you need a laptop for light use and note taking, look for Intel Pentium or Intel Core i3 and at least 4GB of Ram for a great experience. Go for Intel Core i5 and i7 and AMD Ryzen 5 and 7 and at least 8GB of Ram if you’re a heavy user. Look for dedicated graphics from Nvidia and AMD if you want to game.
Processing power really matters if you’re planning on using a laptop for photo or video editing, or are otherwise a very heavy user, opening lots of programs and browser tabs.
When looking at laptop processors, you’ll see two main specifications beyond the product name: clock speed (measured in Gigahertz or GHz and number of cores) and Ram. Think of clock speed as the speed limit on a road and the number of cores as the number of lanes. As on a road, depending on traffic conditions – the tasks being done on your computer – a road might see a greater benefit from more lanes or a higher speed limit.
In the simplest way possible, more of both is better, and all of our reviews describe what sort of tasks a laptop is good for.
Think of Ram (Random Access Memory) like a desk and your hard drive like a filing cabinet. You pull files out of the cabinet and it takes a while, but once they’re on your desk, you can reach for them instantly. The same is true of Ram; once you have loaded a file from the hard drive, it’s now in the Ram and can be accessed almost instantaneously.
The bigger the desk you have, the more items you can access more quickly, and the same goes for Ram. Most mid-range laptops come with at least 4GB of Ram, and we’d tend to recommend 8GB for people who are heavy web users or usually have lots of documents and pictures open.
You can manage with less, but you’ll have to rein in your use. If you fill up your Ram, some of the things you’re working on will be moved back to the hard drive, making things feel a lot slower.
Some cheap computers come with 2GB – this is usually fine on a cheap Chromebook, but some Windows 10 laptops will struggle.
When you close a program or file, it is removed from the Ram and makes room for other things to be accessed immediately. This is part of the reason why closing programs you aren’t using can make your computer faster.
4. Screen – what size and resolution of laptop display do I need?
In short: Unless you have a very low budget, don’t settle for less than Full HD, no matter the size.
A laptop’s screen is one case where bigger isn’t always better. If you want a longer-lasting battery and a more portable device, you may want to go for an 11, 12 or 13-inch display; most of these will weigh between 1kg and 1.5kg.
The largest you’re likely to see is 15 or 17 inches, with weight increasing to around 2kg to 3kg.
Most machines on the shelves now have a Full-HD 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution display, and high-end models can have even sharper screens with even more pixels up to and beyond 4K Ultra HD. Generally, the higher the resolution, the sharper the picture.
Only cheaper laptops should have a lower screen resolution of 1,366×768. This is fine for most people, but if you like to have lots of items on screen at once you’ll prefer a higher-resolution display.
5. How much laptop storage do I really need?
In short: Go for an SSD unless you really, really need more storage at all times. Storage capacity, measured in the size of the hard disk drive (HDD) in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB, equal to 1,000GB), determines how many things your PC can hold.
Documents, photos, music, movies, programs – they all take up space. Bigger is usually better, although solid-state drives (SSDs) are often more expensive for considerably less space. This is because they load much quicker and are completely silent.
We’re also seeing a lot of cheaper laptops (including Chromebooks) carrying eMMC (embedded Multi-Media Controller) flash storage, which is slower than SSDs and gives you very little storage space.
If you cleared out all the stuff on your computer you don’t actually need, how much space do you think you’d have? How much do you have now? Check ‘My Computer’ if you’re using Windows to gauge how big your next laptop’s storage needs to be.
Laptop battery life: manufacturer claims vs reality
In short: Manufacturer battery claims aren’t useful unless you’re only comparing models from the same brand. Use our reviews to get the full picture. Manufacturers often make heady claims about how long their laptops’ batteries last. Our tests ignore the manufacturer claims and involve multiple battery rundowns while simulating web browsing and watching videos.
If you’re buying a portable laptop that you intend to use when travelling or on your commute, make sure the battery life is at least six hours based on our reviews. We’ve tested some models that last for more than 10 hours before they need recharging.
But we’ve also found companies claiming 10 hours of battery life on average, while our own tests found 6.3 hours was closer to the mark.
Battery stamina on large, desktop-replacement models won’t be as crucial, as they’ll almost always be near a power socket, but we still mark them down if they run out of juice in under four hours.
It’s often useful to be able to send an image of your screen, or part of your screen to someone. In fact I use this facility all the time when creating these blog posts.
On the Mac, it’s very easy …
Press Cmd-Alt-3 to capture a complete screen
Press Cmd-Alt-4 to draw a window that you want captured
To be guided through the options you can
Press Cmd-Alt-5 and from the Options screen decider where you want to save your Screen shots [I save them to a Dropbox folder so they’re available between my two machines], and also choose the option for the type of screen capture you want, or even to Record a series of actions.
On the iPad/iPhone, it’s straightforward too. You can capture a screen by Pressing the Power Button and the Home Button together [It works best if you press the former just before you press the latter].
“It might be helpful for your notes if I run through my Windows 10 sequence. The relevant key on my laptop is labelled SYSRQ/PRTSC, so I have to press the ALT key at the same time to print the screen. This puts the image onto the clipboard, so I then have to save it somewhere. I usually go to Paint Shop Pro and paste it as a new image. One thing I am investigating is what happens if you have two pages at once on the screen. At the moment I can only print one of the pages, depending on which I click on.“
I’ve annoyed a few people over the years (well – one person at least) by pasting overlong URL’s in blogposts, and on WhatsApp. Ever since Google stopped supporting it’s own URL shortener I’d forgotten to go and look for an alternative to setup as an extension in my browsers (Safari, Chrome, Brave and Firefox) and more importantly to have as an app on my smartphone.
I’d used tiny.url for many years, but that generally meant you had to copy and paste the URL to a page you’d left open on the tiny.url page …
… and then once shortened you could copy the shortened URL to the email, WhatsApp, etc message.
But it would be much nicer if there was an extension which you could just click on from the page in question, and you’d get a shortened URL. That’s where bit.ly come in. It’s available both as an extension for Chrome, Brave and Firefox and as an app for iOS and Android.
To install bit.ly as an extension on Brave, go to Brave > Window > Extensions …
… click on Web Store …
… and type bitly, or bit.ly in the Search Box. Click on the bit.ly box and agree that you want to install it in Brave (or Chrome) …
… agree that you want to add the extension and then you will see it’s been added to your browser extensions …
It’s as straightforward as that. Now any time you want to shorten a URL, all you need to do is click on the bitly icon and (after creating a bit.ly account), the following dialogue box will come up …
… and you can then Copy the shortened URL that’s been created, wherever you want to.
So once again I’ve been a bit slow with the Notes. Apologies. I’ve been waiting for a couple of things which I’ve now received – thanks Paul, Jim and Fred and I’ve also needed to write a couple of short posts on URL shorteners and taking screenshots – now done. That being done, what else happened?
Margaret had received a book from her son who worked at the Met Office in Exeter and she read from it to illustrate just how much the computing power had increased there over the recent past.
Owen reminded us that the U3A AGM was coming up as a Zoom event.
John reported that he was still coming to terms with his new iPad Pro, and expressed some problems with sync’ing Apple email. I hope we sorted that out, but if not please raise th matter again.
Don was having problems with his Google settings, and I remarked that it would probably be a good subject to look at at a meeting. He also indicated he’d value some advice on a wildlife camera – I obliged with information after the meeting. It was felt that WiFi probably wasn’t the best way to transmit the images, and that if power to the camera was necessary that might restrict positioning.
Jim indicated he was still thinking about replacing his laptop. I gave some advice after the meeting, both to Jim and to the WhatsApp group.
Paul told us about his encounter with PayPal and Pre-approved or Automatic Payments. I attach his notes here …
I did not know these existed until I made a purchase from Google. My PayPal account automatically paid from one of my debit cards without any further selection from myself regarding my preferred funding source etc. So I investigated…
Not obvious you have them, or where they are Not easy to Find in PayPal Headings, as they are then called “Automatic Payments” Log in to your Pay Pal account Go to Settings (Gear Wheel type icon) Go to Payments Go to Manage Your Automatic Payments and then Select Click on Show Active & Show Inactive as nothing may be displayed ! Select item from the list to change or deactivate.
… and you should have removed the Pre-approved or Automatic Payment.
Fred reported back on his conversations with Digital Communities Wales and his minute of discussions is attached below
“ Fred D reported back on the minuted action aimed at establishing the need for support/contact arrangements for isolated/disabled households, amongst others, as highlighted in media /TV reports & whether there could be a role for group members individually or collectively
Following consultation with Jenny Sims the work of Digital Communities Wales was highlighted ;The organisation has received an £800K WAG grant to address Digital Exclusion & the Web-site gives a clear indication of wide ranging all Wales supported projects including involving those as above.
Following discussion it was decided to invite the SE Wales Programme Manger (Matthew Lloyd) to participate in the next (19/11) group Zoom meeting; It was also recognised that this activity could in, due course, be of interest to the main U3a branch & wider network”
In her absence, by email, Jenny reported My good news is that my digital working party’s recommendations have been approved and the National Pensioners Convention will launch a campaign on February 1st to help more older people get online and support those who cannot or do not wish to be online.
Subsequently Fred sent me this message from Cardiff County Council …
Further from my telephone conversation earlier I (Katie Rapell) wanted to clarify some of the initiatives and projects that we are currently running:
Tablet Gifting Scheme – Due to be launched formally in the coming days. Will seek to provide the most vulnerable in our community access to a FREE data enabled tablet which they can keep. Eligibility applies, applications are subject to assessment.
Digital Surgery (Digital Drop in sessions) – one to one digital advice available over the phone or via video call, current turn around response is 2-3 hours. This service is open to anyone and welcomes any digital query. This service used to be face – to -face in hubs, and also offered a repairs service but due to Covid -19 we have had to move online. Typical enquiries involve :
How to download apps or access information online
How to enrol in Adult Learning courses online or access council services
Online benefit or tax applications
Scam help service, to identify potential correspondence from fake or scam services and verification of email.
Installation of broadband advice and signposting
referral for training or activities
Basic digital skills courses (BT Skills for Tomorrow) – In partnership with BT, We offer a one day basic digital skills course that is delivered through the Learn My Way platform. The course is tailored to personal need and is accredited.
Progressive/ Industry aligned digital skills courses – In response to the growing digital sector, we have been collaborating with local industry to develop progressive digital courses that will complement the technology industry in Cardiff and globally.
Thank you so much Fred and Jenny. We look forward to meeting with Matthew and Jenny on Thursday. The Council is due to launch it’s initiative this week through Facebook, twitter and press releases.
Phil gave a live demonstration of how an Amazon Echo Show device could work, and he was confident that it could pass his “granny” test – if he had one!!
Ann raised an issue she was experiencing with Libre Office and databases. This arose from a WhatsApp conversation where she and Maragret had been very helpful in providing some guidance to a friend of Paul, who was trying to set up a database for slides. I undertook to investigate the problem and was able to confirm that the Java Runtime Environment needed to be installed. I’d done that successfully on my MacOS system.
There’s a direct inverse correlation (I used to teach statistics) between the amount of talking we do, and the amount of notes I take. Whether that translates into a direct positive correlation between the value of what we say, and the amount of notes – I leave you to judge. Anyway, somehow with a good attendance admittedly of 17 (thanks Jim for the screenshot above) we managed to talk for over 90 mins and I didn’t have time to present what I’d prepared on Open Source and Free Software, although an article I prepared on the subject is available here, and my “Top of the Pops” for free software is to be viewed here.
Hopefully I’ll have made you feel “right guilty”, and I can write up the few notes that I’ve got 🙂
I started off with a review of the Notes from the last meeting – I don’t think there was too much to add to them; Paul will hopefully add an image of the day-time capture from his CCTV to his notes from his presentation last time; he also reported that his Vodafone phone had returned from its enforced holiday and was now working fine and no worse fro its swim; Jenny reported that she’d setup her first Zoom meeting fine and that it had been a success; David was ploughing his way through the massive manual for his new Tesco phone; and I reported that problems with Virgin Media seemed to be occurring in other parts of Cardiff as well.
I then turned to News items which I’d loaded into Flipboard and quickly went through them. We spent a little while in looking at the changes to the PayPal Terms of Business which for once needed to be looked at as they’re introducing a charge of £12 if you don’t access your PayPal account in a 12 month period. I’d already deleted an inactive PayPal account, and you’re advised to just check you haven’t got one too. You don’t need to do a transaction using the account (thanks Christine for clarifying that) – you just need to access it.
We started the meeting with a rendition from our very own “tattyjacket” – Phillip who demonstrated that time has not been wasted during lockdown because not only has he managed to find, purchase and re-acquaint himself with a childhood love – an identical bassoon – but also he has learnt how to use a piece of software – Acapella [iOS Download] [Android download] – to create multi-instrument recordings. Here are a couple …
As Phil himself said to me (about the second one) … “I’m improving”. Most certainly he is. Thanks for sharing with us.
Sianed had been having problems with her WiFi which were eventually resolved by a visit from an engineer who reset her router {I hope I’ve got that right}. We had a brief discussion about what you can do if your WiFi seems to be running really slow. The advisability of getting baseline figures of performance for both wired and wireless connections when your network is running well; and also the first port of call – switching your router off and leaving it for a few minutes before switching back on again. [Often the IP-addresses of your devices and the cache get muddled – a reset quite often sorts it out.] She also advised that there were some very acceptable “AirPods” earphones currently available in Lidl.
David told us that he was finding it as difficult to get an online booking to play a game of golf as I had to get a concert ticket from TicketMaster. Strange world! He also pointed us to Wales Online where the latest Covid-19 rules and regs were well explained.
Stella appears to have a rather strange problem with her Samsung TV in which she’s being asked to upgrade her Browser (Chrome ???) so that she can continue to watch YouTube videos. This is a bit of a problem with Smart TVs – they become increasingly non-Smart with age as software is not updated. A solution might be to look for a native YouTube app for the TV, rather than use the browser. Also updating the software on the TV might be possible. Alternatively you can see whether adding a dongle to enable streaming from the service might be possible. She also seemed to be having difficulty with the sound on her Mobile Broadband (from Three).
Christine reported that she was now having problems with household appliances and we all bemoaned the really long wait times that we were encountering during the lockdowns. The problem with her Beko dishwasher was causing the power circuit to drop out. Not a nice thing to happen – see Renee’s item below. I mentioned my problems with Dyson, and Renee reported similar problems with Anglian Windows.
Jim felt that he might need to research getting a new laptop because more problems seemed to be occurring, other than the colours of the screen which he’d previously reported.
Paul enthused about a Google Chromecast TV device – something like this, or a Firestick, or Roku, or … might be the solution for Stella??? He was not sure yet whether it was value for money but it looked a very professional piece of kit and it allowed him to “throw” what he was watching on his Android tablet onto his TV screen (a Sony Bravia I believe).
Renee raised the subject of surge protectors – a very good topic and one that I wholeheartedly support. I must have at least three multi-socket extension towers with surge protection built into them. They’re more expensive than a normal multi-socket extension but they’re really worth their weight in gold when there’s power problems around. She updated us on the “phishing saga” which without any intervention by herself went through the complete gamut of customer service steps! She resisted clicking on any links at each step.
Marilyn has a strange problem with her iMac not waking-up from sleep. I’ve sent her an email with some suggestions about what she should try, but it might be worth getting on to Apple Support as I believe the machine is still under warranty.
Margaret praised the information on the Cardiff U3A website – a BIG SHOUT-OUT here for Owen who’s improved the website immensely. Many thanks. She mentioned in particular the links to talks.
Ann taxed us with the problems a friend was having with McAfee software and Windows 7. We advised her that in all respects whether she liked Windows 10, or not, she really ought to take the machine to Neil and get him to do the upgrade and add any RAM that might be necessary to make the machine run well.
Don told us about unused Currency Cards being “absorbed” by the issuer and people losing funds. This may or may not be related to Britain leaving the EU – certainly Brits abroad will lose the capability of having British bank accounts. A possibility I’ve used is Revolut – a multi-currency debit card. You load it up over the internet from wherever you are, or before you go abroad, spend in the local currency, and then reclaim the remaining funds when you return to the UK. We used it on our trip to Norway and it worked very well.
John had a new iPad Pro and was loving it complete with it’s keyboard. He felt that it meant he wouldn’t need to have a laptop. We look forward for further updates as he gets to grips with it.
Fred and Jenny will get together through email to discuss the issues of online Covid access to those in care, or who are vulnerable at home. They may have something to report back on next time. Jenny also told us that it was Get Online Week – an initiative to attempt to get more older people using the internet.
Mike didn’t have anything he needed to add at this time.
We mentioned URL shorteners and I said I used bit.ly – I may try and write a short note on that; I also asked whether folk knew how to take screenshots – we’ll cover that next time, and I also thought it might be worthwhile re-visiting WiFi network problems in the loight of Sianed’s difficulties.
And that was that – unless, I’ve forgotten something, which If I have, please add in the Comment box below.
I was quite surprised to see when I reviewed the articles I’d posted over the years that I’d never written one specifically about Open Source software, and “free” software. Of course the topic has cropped-up quite a bit at Cardiff U3A Computer Group meetings, and I have referred to pieces of Open Source and “free” software on “Just thoughts …”, but I’d never put my ideas down about the reliability, philosophy, use and accessibility of Open Source and “free” software in general. Just as I write this – guess what popped-up on my screen …
… Java – an example of a programming language that has morphed into a software development environment whose component parts are all, or can be replaced by, open source modules. Java is an accepted piece of the architecture of a huge number of the systems we use everyday, as is Apache – the web-platform that powers most of the Internet’s servers. I mention these two as examples because it demonstrates how deeply elements of Open Source thinking is embedded into so many of the systems we use every day. Other ones would be Linux, and WordPress – a multi-platform operating system, and web-publishing software which the Cardiff U3A Group has looked at before. So, in a nutshell – open source is respectable!
What makes software open source then? Technopedia defines open source thus …
“Open source is a philosophy that promotes the free access and distribution of an end product, usually software or a program, although it may extend to the implementation and design of other objects. The term open source gained traction with the growth of the Internet because of the need to rework massive amounts of program source code. When source code is opened to the public it allows for the creation of different communication paths and interactive technical communities; it also leads to a diverse array of new models.”
… thus the code is generally very safe, because it can be inspected by anyone, and any changes in the code can be easily traced. The definition goes on to explain the following …
“Open source revolves around the concept of freely sharing technological information so that it may be improved through multiple insights and viewpoints. Since the technology is open source, the amount of work that needs to be done is reduced because multiple contributions are added by many individuals. This concept existed way before the age of computers and even before the industrial age when people shared and improved recipes for food and medicine, for example.
In terms of open source software, the code is often freely downloadable and changeable as long as the user sticks to what is agreed upon in the software license agreement. Open-source software is usually under the General Public License (GNU), but there are other free licenses like the Intel Open Source License, FreeBSD License and the Mozilla Public License.”
That doesn’t make it necessarily FREE, because developers can charge for the software they develop on the base of open source, however generally if it’s made available under one of the above licences it’s often the Support and Implementation that’s chargeable, not the software itself. Look for the licences (as above) to determine whether the software is genuinely Open Source and thus you should expect it to be “respectable” and “safe”.
So any open source software must adhere to the following criteria:
Free redistribution of the software.
The source code should be publicly available.
The software can be modified and distributed in a different format from the original software.
The software should not discriminate against persons or groups.
The software should not restrict the usage of other software.
Then there’s Free Software. As I’ve explained most Open Source is distributed free of charge, and the intention behind it was freedom of code, and freedom from intellectual property rights. The subtle difference with Free Software is that in the latter the emphasis is on freedom for the user to do whatsoever they want to do with the code. It is truly FREE! As a term and as expressed by the Free Software Foundation it predates the Open Source initiative and was the driving force behind the licences mentioned above. Thus free software must adhere to the following four pillars of freedom (which are rights and not obligations):
The freedom to deploy the software for any use case without any restrictions. For example, saying that the license of a program expires after 30 days makes it non-free.
The freedom to study how the software works and modify it according to your needs and preferences.
The freedom to freely re-distribute the software to assist someone in need. The redistribution can be done at a cost or at no cost.
The freedom to enhance the performance of the software and release your enhancements for the community to benefit—both programmers and non-programmers. You can do this at a cost or at no cost.
Now it starts to get a little bit more cloudy. There’s Freeware which might also be described as freememium, or shareware. I quote …
“Typically, freeware refers to a software that you can use without incurring any costs. Unlike open source software and free software, freeware offers minimal freedom to the end user.
Whereas it can be used free of charge, often modification, redistribution, or other improvements cannot be done without getting permission from the author.
As such, freeware is often shared without including its source code, which is atypical to open source software or free software.
Two of the most common types of freeware are Skype and Adobe Acrobat Reader. While both programs are free to use, their source codes are unavailable to the public.
Most developers usually market freeware as freemium or shareware with the intention of encouraging users to buy a more capable version.
Freemium refers to a program that is offered at no cost, but money (premium) is paid for extra, more capable features.
Shareware refers to a program that is initially available without any costs attached, and users are encouraged to distribute copies. However, that cost-free period usually lasts for a certain period; thereafter, a user is required to pay for continued use.”
Finally, you may come across the term “Donationware“. This is software that is distributed for free, but the author invites the user to make a contribution to the ongoing development costs (or the programmers coffee). It might also be described as “conscienceware”, or even “thankyouware”!!!
So armed with that information, it’s time for me to provide a list of the free software that I treasure the most.
A good attendance to our meeting of 15 members, plus 1 guest – the convenor of Porthcawl U3A Computer Group, Martin Patten (a former work colleague of Paul).
We started by me doing a quick review of the last meeting with a couple of updates from the Meeting Notes, and also the Topics created on the Forums. I urged all members to make use of them. Then I did a run through of what I’d sent to the Thought grazing Flipboard magazine – news so-to-speak – accessible also from the Thought grazing “home” page. In particular I highlighted the NASA daily photographs, which are spectacular, and which you can now set to be your homescreen on an iOS device – something I’m definitely going to set up. I mentioned that Microsoft will be trying to persuade users of Windows 10 to move to the new Edge browser more – as it has “settled down”; and I referred to the article about the NHS App – which I will also link to from the post that I wrote after the last meeting.
I ended this part of the meeting with a short video of a new Ring (Amazon-owned) security drone that flies around your house – which was by way of an introduction to Paul who took over the next part of the meeting to talk about CCTV and his experience of installing a system recently.
So then we turned to members issues, concerns and questions.
Phil had been on holiday in Builth Wells (having left pre-lockdown lucky couple – we were unable to go to Raglan, so had to cancel our short break). He reported on hospitality venues use of the Track’n’Trace QR code (or not) which was a bit hit and miss in Powys. He also reported use of a bread-maker, but I’m struggling to see the relevance. As this was the first mention of the NHS App, a lively discussion and debate ensued on the appropriate use of an Excel spreadsheet which was out of date – probably by a factor of 13years plus as the .xlsx format replaced .xls in 2013. More important was “why use a spreadsheet?” Phil has sent me this graphic which is lovely …
Sianed reported a recent HMRC scam she’d received – wanting to give her money back … as if!!! This prompted me to mention the scam I’d heard of recently which attempted to extort £900 from a person who’d crossed a “county line” – the first offence apparently would result in a £90 fine. However, this is disturbing in that it would indicate that someone must be watching CCTV cameras on the A470, and then doing a check back (somehow) on the DVLC database of car registrations and ownership. Watch-out, there’s a scam about! Sign up for the Which? Scam Alert service as well. Following the meeting I received this on my phone …
… which is totally believable isn’t it. Just type-in the URL above and if your browser is working properly you’ll get an alert.
Following this I noticed that this one had appeared in the Which? Scam Alert Service
John reported his gmail problem from the previous meeting had been resolved by the classic uninstall/reinstall procedure. One that we can all do well to remember.
Don told us about his experiments using a Logitec 300 camera as a wildlife camera. This seemed to be work OK, but he was having problems mailing the resulting file using Gmail. It seemed that Outlook was necessary to do this. I promised to look into this. He also mentioned that Flash was possibly involved, and I alerted users to the perils of Flash and the fact that Adobe had stopped supporting it as had most web browsers. He also had come across a Raspberry Pi online course from the University of South Wales, which reminded me that I’d not mentioned the large number of online courses available from FutureLearn and the Open University.
Owen reported on his experience of having to learn Python so that he could attempt to create a link to the Cardiff U3A website from the online calendar in Beacon. He’d also had to move from Access to SQL Server as a database platform. [If Cardiff U3A members know the difference between a database and a spreadsheet – why doesn’t Centrica, or whoever Track’n’Trace had been contracted out to!!!]
Paul had offered his Vodafone phone the chance to learn to swim, it had declined and was now on an unintended holiday with Vodafone for repair!
Fred and Jenny had a conversation about the issue that Fred had raised at the previous meeting. I’m afraid my notes were a bit sketchy and incomplete so I don’t want to attempt to re-produce them – on the subject of IT assistance to residents in care facilities during the pandemic. Jenny, felt that a considerable amount of money had been offered, £800K. Fred was unsure whether it was going to sheltered housing as well. Anyway, I agreed to send them, their email addresses so that they could correspond offline.
Jenny reported that she had a complete new suite of kit – laptop, iPhone and BT fibre but was now a bit daunted at setting-up a Zoom conference. Owen pointed her to the Cardiff U3A webpages which might be of help.
Jim updated us on the trials and tribulations of his Broadband problem, and offered the theory that perhaps performance was in some way affected by the school gate times. It might, as students leave school each afternoon. At other times the bandwidth is acceptable. He also mentioned he’d been using Audacity. Both of these items he’d added as a Comment after the last meeting. You’re all encouraged to do likewise!
David Hughes thanked us for the suggestion of going to Tesco to get a new phone – he now had two Samsung A21’s. He also told the group about his horror story of trying to get rid of malware and crashing his computer. Luckily a local repair person (in Penarth) had been able to restore the machine and he’d got a more recent copy of Microsoft Office in the process. [NB You better just check that it can be upgraded – ie, do you have a licence. Worth a phone call.] He also advised us that subscribing to online concerts from the Barbican (and perhaps elsewhere) can be a bit “iffy”; but he reported that he had been able to get his money back.
Renee reported that she was having trouble with her Virgin Media connection and that it was not just her in the neighbourhood. She also reported her experience of using the NHS app and wondered whether people had looked at the Settings to see what could be gleaned from the Notifications. Furthermore it would appear that if you got a notification from Google (ie from an Android phone) you should wait for the second notification before getting alarmed.
Here are the slides from the presentation. The links unfortunately don’t work from the slides, but they are added below the relevant slides in Orange type.
