Tuesday July 12th, 2022 NCLUG Meeting

[Bob Proulx]

j dewitt wrote:
> What: Tuesday July 12th, 2022 NCLUG Meeting

We talked about Phil's garage door opener.  He can now open his garage
door from anywhere.  Stephen also has that from a project he did in a
previous year.  I need something like that.  I am falling behind!

Bob had some non-computer show-n-tell.  I added a DIY Maker bike
pannier to my bicycle.  It's a Tidy Cat plastic kitty litter bucket
that I have attached to my bike rack.  It holds my backpack nicely.  I
rode with it today for the first time and it is working well so far.
I think the way I have it tied to my rack rail needs a little more
something but seems good for a first pass.

    https://www.proulx.com/~bob/photo_album/2022-07-12-bike-pannier-tidycats/1.html

I also have my StarLabs MicroLite IV small form factor laptop at the
meeting for the first time.  Another show-n-tell.  It's a cool box.
But the lack of mouse buttons is driving me absolutely crazy.  The
biggest learning for me is that I absolutely must have mouse buttons.
I can't live with just the touchpad.  The price is right for this
machine at sub $500.  Battery life is good.  Life is a compromise.

    https://us.starlabs.systems/pages/starlite

To work without adding a mouse I learned that my USB Lenovo Thinkpad
island style keyboard will fit right on the laptop keyboard.  Looks a
little funky.  But works pretty well.  And the entire kit is 2.5
pounds.  Much better for travel than my previous kit.

Robert had a discussion question for the group.  Strategies to upgrade
and migrate from one OS to a different OS in place but safely.  I
suggested buying an extra SSD for the root volume.  Unplug the
original.  Plug in the new.  Install there.  If things don't work out
then swap back.  And there were other strategies too.  Some crazy
ideas that might work were thrown out.

A round table on solar installations in Fort Collins occurred.  There
is some good expertise in the group for house solar installation.  If
you have a desire for it ask the group!

Aaron is continuing to lead the pack in the weird and wonderful
direction.  He has discovered an HP 3000 emulator.  What?!  I guess
they have these things now.  That OS for that machine is MPE.  That's
a blast from the past.