FPCUG Notes for May 2021 Editor: Frank Fota (fotafm@.com)

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (7:00 PM - Falmouth Firehouse, Butler Road): The Board of Directors met via the Zoom video teleconference app on April 13th, 2021. In-person meetings/Workshops will soon resume; subject to State and CDC guidelines.

-- Thurs, May 6: All About Your Computer (Robert Monroe) – Zoom Virtual Meeting. Send your computer questions in advance to Robert at [email protected]. A link for the Zoom Workshop will be sent by email to FPCUG members.

-- Tues, May 11: FPCUG Board of Directors Meeting (Zoom Virtual Meeting).

-- Thurs, May 13: General Meeting (Zoom Virtual Meeting). Judy Taylour, President, Editor, and Webmaster of the Santa Clarita Valley Computer Club; Member, APCUG Speakers Bureau, will present, “Ergonomics: You, Your Computer, Tablet, and Smartphone.” Sit straight! Shoulders rounded! Arms relaxed! Feet on the floor! Wrists/hands floating! Cumulative trauma! Repetitive stress syndrome! We have all been using technology for many years; are we still practicing good ergonomics? Or, are we stressing our bodies every day without realizing it by extending our wrists, slouching, sitting without foot support, and bending our head to look at poorly placed monitors? Along the way, we started using tablets and smartphones which have a different set of ergonomic issues. This presentation will take us down memory lane on computer ergonomics and give us ideas on the proper use of our tablets and smartphones. A bit more about Judy Taylour… Judy is a 33-year member of the Santa Clarita Valley Computer Club. She was co-facilitator for the Southern California Regional User Group Summit (SCRUGS), a group of computer clubs in Southern California that met together quarterly for over 20 years to share ideas and presenter information, solve problems, etc. She spent 23 years involved with the Southwest Technology Conference held in San Diego for 20 years and three additional years at Cal Pomona, serving as co-chair and chair. Judy taught adult education tech classes for 22 years through her local high school district and is a member of the Pierce College Computer Applications and Office Technologies Advisory Committee that meets annually to suggest courses and hardware for the next school year. Judy is a firm believer in life-long learning.

APRIL GENERAL MEETING RECAP Donna Creasy presented to the FPCUG via the Zoom video teleconference app. She briefly explained how neurofeedback works and why it is an effective intervention for a wide variety of problems including mood & anxiety disorders, attachment disorders & childhood trauma (including PTSD), autism, developmental disorders, and ADHD. Donna presented many examples of patients who were effectively treated for these disorders using neurofeedback. Neurofeedback is especially effective in the treatment of developmental trauma, PTSD, and racialized trauma. Donna explained that the National Institute of Health’s BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) is likely to increase public knowledge of neurofeedback and other neuro-therapies.

1 REMINDER – FPCUG MEMBERSHIP DUES ARE OVERDUE ! Dues were due April 1, 2021, and cover the period from April 1 through March 31, 2022. Due to COVID-19 concerns, we ask that you make your $25 check out to the FPCUG and mail it to our treasurer, Rick Neil at:

FPCUG, P.O. Box 276, Fredericksburg, VA 22404.

CHROMEBOOK FUNCTION KEYS? Have you purchased a ? provide a lot of performance and versatility for your dollar. However, using them to their full potential requires diligence and an understanding of the Chrome special keys and hidden function keys on the keyboard. The top row of keys on a Chromebook are symbols that are not labeled F1, F2, F3, etc.

Images above and at right were obtained from the Dell Inspiron 3181 Users Guide (2018 Dell Inc.) A secondary function key purpose is enabled when the search/launcher key is held while pressing a special key.

Writing for How-To Geek, Joe Fedewa says, “One important thing to note is that this won’t work if you have changed the function of the Search/Launcher key. It needs to be in its default state.” A useful option built into the Chrome Operating System is the reassignment of key functions. If you want to assign the special keys to act as function keys permanently, Mr. Fedewa provides instructions in the How-To Geek article linked above.

2 Chromebook Update By Jeff Wilkinson, President, Sun City Summerlin Computer Club (https://www.scscc.club) pres.scscc (at) gmail.com

I have become more interested in Chromebooks as an alternative for our club members who need to replace an outdated desktop or laptop computer. Many, if not most, of these users don’t need the features of today’s typical laptops and since so many of the tasks are accomplished online without the need for local storage, a Chromebook becomes a very attractive option. With a Chromebook and a free account; email, web browsing, video streaming and a host of Android applications are available.

In addition to its comparatively low cost, a Chromebook offers a useful synergy with Android phones and applications along with light weight and long battery life. The complete Google Suite of Cloud applications is available free and offers a useful alternative to Office software suites.

Another attraction is the ability to repurpose outdated laptops with the installation of Google’s CloudReady software. The free Home version listed as being “useful for Tinkerers, Parents and Students, and Other Humans Ready for a better OS” was right up my alley. I successfully converted two old laptops that were not upgradable to the current Windows operating system. Both worked well although they had some limitations. With a new HP Chromebook I was able to make use of all the latest features of the Chromebook operating system including one of the latest updates for scanning. By simply logging into my with my Gmail address and password I had all my browsing bookmarks, photos and Gmail available to me.

So, when I saw a recent news report about the tracking of Chromebook users it raised some concern. As has been discussed before, an inquiry about a specific product or service, more often than not, results in the sudden appearance of ads for that product or service or similar products in many of your search results, popups on YouTube views, social media pages and emails. The gist of the new report I saw was the concern for the profiling of Chromebook users and the use of the collected information to target market to that user. The main way of collecting the metrics used to target market are cookies that are ostensibly used to “customize” your web experience. While a “do not track” setting is available in the Chrome and Edge browsers, be aware of this official Google statement “Most websites and web services, including Google’s, don’t change their behavior when they receive a Do Not Track request”. Chrome doesn’t provide details of which websites and web services respect Do Not Track requests and how websites interpret them. Do Not Track is not available on iPhones or iPads.

Does it work? Not very well … seems every time I search for anything, I get pop ups and ads for that or similar items for days. Of course, the data collection is true of virtually all the so-called free software in which your usage data is the real product. So be aware, while Chromebooks offer an attractive alternative to a Windows or IOS laptop they tightly integrate with Google in ways you may not realize.

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/tech/2018/09/25/-google-chrome-tracking-you/37935707/ https://clark.com/technology/google-chrome-do-not-track/ https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-get-google-to-quit-tracking-you https://www.wired.com/story/google-tracks-you-privacy/ https://9to5google.com/2020/02/06/google-chrome-x-client-data-tracking/ https://lifehacker.com/what-data-of-mine-does-chrome-send-to-google-5763452

3 CAN USB 3.2 GEN 2 PORTS BE ADDED TO AN OLDER PC? I have recently begun to use Type-C™ USB 3.2 Gen 2 devices with a new desktop and laptop computer (i.e., an external USB 3.2 Gen 2 solid-state drive). The 10 GBs has changed the backup time for these computers from hours to minutes. This led me to question whether you could add modern Type-C™ USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports to an older computer. Coincidentally, the same question was posed by a reader of the Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter that I subscribe to. Rick Rouse found a PCIe card for sale at Amazon.com that provides two Type-C™ USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports. The use of this card requires an open X4, X8, or X16 PCIe Express Slot (see the diagram below).

My search of the internet did not result in an available Type-C™ 3.2 Gen 2 adapter for a laptop computer. However, if your laptop has a 34mm/54mm ExpressCard slot, you can add USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports. The StarTech ExpressCard SuperSpeed USB 3.0 (USB 3.2 Gen 1) Card Adapter at left is only $29 at Amazon.com.

Note: 34 mm ExpressCards will fit into 54mm ExpressCard slots.

ExpressCard adapters for the new USB 3.2 Gen 2 and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 are likely to be manufactured to provide support for modern Type-C™ USB 3.2 devices soon. Be careful when shopping for USB devices online because USB nomenclature has recently changed (see the USB 3.2 Specifications at USB.org). USB 3.2 defines the transfer rate of a product. USB 3.2 devices can use USB Type-C™, USB Standard-A, or Micro-USB connectors. Check the supported speed of the device and the connector before you purchase. USB 3.2 Gen 1 supports SuperSpeed 5Gbps, USB 3.2 Gen 2 supports SuperSpeed 10Gbps, and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 supports SuperSpeed 20Gbps. Higher- speed devices are backward compatible but will operate at the lowest common speed.

4 NO MORE LG SMARTPHONES If you use an LG smartphone you likely know that the company will no longer make smartphones. Several promising smartphones (e.g., the LG V70 ThinQ, LG G10, LG Velvet 2, and the LG Rollable) were on LG’s drawing boards. The LG Rollable was announced at CES 2021 only a few months ago. In a TechRadar article about their decision, Matt Swider quotes LG as calling the move a, “…strategic decision to exit the incredibly competitive mobile phone sector.” LG intends to focus its technical expertise on market sectors where it believes it is in a better competitive position (e.g., electric vehicle components, Internet of Things devices, smart home devices, robotics, artificial intelligence, and business-to-business solutions).

WHAT’S INSIDE MY COMPUTER? You are likely familiar with system information tools that list the components that are installed in your computer. Some are better than others. Do you need a screwdriver and a flashlight to truly identify your components? The answer is no. Bob Rankin at AskBobRankin.com provides several good reasons for installing system information tools saying, “If you need to call tech support, you may be stuck when a rep asks for the make and model of your video card or the type of RAM that’s installed on your PC. If you want to buy a memory upgrade, you’ll need to know what sort of RAM memory is already in your PC to get the compatible kind.” Bob highlights five system information tools and the advantages of each [i.e., Speccy, Belarc Advisor, HWiNFO, HW Monitor, and SIW (System Information Monitor)]. I will add a sixth tool to his mix: CPU-Z. The FPCUG has recommended Speccy during past Workshops. It produces a simple report highlighting most of the components in your computer. I have found more detail about RAM in the HWiNFO and CPU-Z apps. The Belarc Advisor app also provides an inventory of the software installed on your computer. Many of the programs it identifies include the activation keys. Missing updates are also identified. The Belarc Advisor is especially useful if you are selling your computer or transferring the data and programs. Overall, I like the HWiNFO program best. However, I create Belarc Advisor profiles for all the computers in my home as well. The profiles are also useful for insurance purposes.

THE RUMORED APPLE M2 CHIP According to a report by NikkeiAsia staff writers Cheng Ting-Fang and Lauly Li, “The next generation of Mac processors designed by Apple entered mass production this month…”. The M2 is being manufactured under contract by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) using a 5-nanometer plus, or N5P production process. Apple computers with the new chips are expected to go on sale later this summer. The M2 will retain the same number of performance and efficiency cores (4 each) and double the number of GPU cores from 8 to 16. Like the M1, the M2 is an Advanced RISC Machines (ARM)-based processor similar to the processors used in Apple iPhones. RISC = Reduced Instruction Set Computer. The decision to use ARM-based processors was a blow to Intel who also provides processors for some MacBook Pro computers.

M1 on a Mac mini (model 9,1, 2020) logic board compared to the A13 System on a Chip (SoC) on an iPhone 11 CPU board.

5 Welcome to APCUG’s May 1, 2021 Virtual Technology Conference (VTC)

Click here to register-- https://forms.gle/4Mn1tz5pR8efWFYN6

Registration closes at 11:30 pm on Friday, April 30 PT

More information and bios: https://apcug2.org/apcug-2021-spring-vtc/

You do not need a Zoom account to attend the VTC. Please update to the latest version of Zoom before attending the conference. www.zoom.us/download

Unlike the Wednesday Workshops, you do not have access to the microphone. Please ask your questions in the Chatbox; the moderators (Bill James, Track 1 and John Kennedy, Track 2) will ask the questions. If there isn’t time for all of the questions to be answered, Judy will send them to the speaker and forward the answers to those who put their first and last name (only) into the Chatbox for each presentation they attend.

If there are any handouts for a presentation, those who have added their names to the Chatbox will receive them as well as the YouTube link to the presentation.

Track 1 – Presentation #1 9am PT – 10am MT – 11am CT – 12pm ET

Learn all about a VPN (Virtual Private Network) Don Arrowsmith, President Philadelphia Area Computer Society

What it is; Why you would want one; How you can get one; and How to use one. You can run your own for free if you have the right router, network file server, or even a Raspberry Pi. There will be detailed information about setting up a VPN on a router with that feature available.

Track 2 – Presentation #1 9am PT – 10am MT – 11am CT – 12pm ET

Sharan Kalwani, President SouthEastern Michigan Computer Organization

The Audio in Audacity! Audacity is a versatile program that can be used to record audio, edit sound , and convert them to various formats. Audacity is Open Source; it is free. It is readily available to the public for download. This tutorial is designed to introduce new users to the basic features of the program. Avidemux - open-source software for non-linear video editing Avidemux is a very simple basic video editing tool. Of course, it is free and fun to use. This tutorial on Avidemux will introduce beginners to use this to cut, join, split, rotate videos as well as add filters.

Both of these programs are free cross-platform apps: Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.

Track 1 – Presentation #2 10am PT – 11am MT – 12pm CT – 1pm ET

Using the Control Center on your iPad Brooke Thomas, President Central Kentucky Computer Society

Brooke will demonstrate where the iPad Control Center is, how to customize it, and an overview of the different controls available within the Control Center.

6 Track 2 – Presentation #2 10am PT – 11am MT – 12pm ET – 1pm ET

Your Online Privacy Joe Kissell, Author, and Publisher Take Control Books

Nowadays, it can be difficult to complete ordinary activities without placing our personal data online, but having our data online puts us at risk for theft, embarrassment, and all manner of trouble. Joe gives practical advice that we need to handle common online privacy problems and to develop a sensible online privacy strategy customized for our needs.

Track 1 – Presentation #3 11am PT – 12pm MT – 1pm CT – 2pm ET

Music in the Car Ray Baxter, President Payson Meetup Club

Remember when it was so "cool" to have a push-button AM radio in the car? This presentation will review how to utilize your existing Compact Disc collection, now that many new vehicles no longer have a CD player, by streaming from an online service, using Bluetooth, flash drives, smartphones, etc.

Track 2 – Presentation #3 11am PT – 12pm MT – 1pm CT – 2pm ET

Word Tips and Tricks Jerry Heaton, Member Central Kentucky Computer Society

During this presentation, you will be amazed at the available tools in the current version of Word. These handy tools will enhance your word processing experience. Speech recognition and editing assistance will also be covered.

7 Photos / Graphics Design of the Month

The Ubiquitous Red Bud

Photo by Frank Fota – 4/18/21, 3 XL ISO 49, 1/1565 sec. f/1.8 4.44mm

8 – Psychedelic Queen Bee –

Graphic Design (fractal) by Cliff Dalseide

Please feel free to submit photos or graphics designs for inclusion in our newsletter!

9 EVENTS IN COMPUTER HISTORY (paraphrase and additions to the Iceni Technology Blog by Iceni Technology Contributor Rebecca Coe and historical data from the websites http://www.computerhope.com/history/, http://www.historyorb.com/, and http://thisdayintechhistory.com)

-- May 1 -- The integrated circuit manufacturer AMD was founded by Jerry Sanders and seven former employees of Fairchild Semiconductor (1969). -- May 1 --

At approximately 4:00 am, May 1, 1964, John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz ran the first program written in BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), launching the Dartmouth Timesharing System (DTSS) at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire on a General Electric 225 mainframe computer.

-- May 2 -- Microsoft Introduced the 2-Button Mouse on May 2, 1983.

-- May 2 -- Microsoft released the Microsoft Word word processor for personal computers (1983). Price: $229

-- May 2 -- Perhaps the fastest moving and most widespread computer virus, “The Love Letter” infected 2.5 to 3 million of the approximately 55 million computers it encountered (2000). The virus was spread worldwide via electronic mail. Lost income from system downtime was estimated to have cost $8.7 billion.

-- May 3 --

Garry Kasparov beat IBM’s Deep Blue in the first of six matches in what many consider the ultimate test of artificial intelligence. Kasparov eventually lost the match along with the $1.1 million purse to the IBM supercomputer, which he had previously claimed could never surpass a human’s ability to play chess. The RS/6000 SP parallel processing computer could analyze 200 million chess positions per second.

10 -- May 5 -- English electrical engineer G. W. A. Dummer, predicted the fabrication of all electronic components of a circuit or system in a single block of semiconductor material (May 5, 1952). Several special-function devices were developed at Bell Labs and RCA before Jack Kilby at TI demonstrated a general-purpose concept "integrated circuit" in 1958.

-- May 5 --

WordPerfect shipped WordPerfect 5.0 for the PC (1988). Price: $500

-- May 6 --

The EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) ran and completed its first calculation at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory, England on May 6, 1949. The EDSAC calculated a table of squares and a list of prime numbers.

-- May 7 -- Japanese multinational conglomerate Sony was founded by Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka, in bomb-damaged Tokyo (1946).

-- May 8 -- The New York Times announced on May 8, 1995, that it would join eight other newspaper publishers in the New Century Network, to link local online news services into a national network on the World Wide Web. The popularity of online news has grown along with the Web itself.

-- May 10 -- Gordon Teal of Texas Instruments, Inc. refined methods to cheaply produce a silicon-based junction transistor that would replace vacuum tubes in computers and other electronic devices.

11 -- May 11 -- Jay Forrester patented computer core memory (1951).

-- May 11 --

"VisiCalc" was demonstrated to the public (1979) by Harvard MBA candidate Daniel Bricklin and programmer Robert Frankston. The VisiCalc program transformed the Apple II into a business machine. VisiCalc (for visible calculator) automated the recalculation of spreadsheets. More than 100,000 copies were sold in the first year.

-- May 12 --

Konrad Zuse completed his Z3 computer on May 12, 1941. The Z3 was the first program-controlled electromechanical digital computer. It followed in the footsteps of the Z1 - the world’s first binary digital computer - which Zuse developed in 1938. Much of Zuse’s work was destroyed in World War II, although the Z4, his most sophisticated creation, survives.

-- May 13 -- Len Shustek and Harry Saal founded Network General Corporation on May 13, 1986. Network General Corp. was a major provider of management solutions for computer networks until its merger with McAfee Associates in 1997 to form Network Associates. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company's first product was "The Sniffer," a diagnostic tool for analyzing communications protocol problems in Local Area Networks.

-- May 14 -- Texas Instruments announced an advanced microprocessor that would compete with Intel's 486 chip (1992). Also called the 486, the chip was designed by the Texas company Cyrix Corp. Texas Instruments' move was not successful in weakening Intel's dominance of the microprocessor industry.

12 -- May 14 -- The second-ever web browser, LMB (Line Mode Browser), was released (1991). Developed by W3C/CERN, the LMB worked with several different operating systems and computer terminals. Also known as just the www browser, the LMB was limited to rendering text and numbers and had problems with elements such as collapsing whitespace, frames, and . -- May 17 --

Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovered the Antikythera mechanism (replica and link right), an ancient mechanical analog computer (1902).

-- May 18 -- The US Department of Justice and twenty US states filed suit against Microsoft Corp. (1998). Bundling Internet Explorer with the operating systems it sold gave Microsoft an unfair advantage over its competitors (e.g., Netscape Navigator and Opera).

-- May 21 -- IBM announced its first electronic computer, the Model 701 (1952). The announcement signaled that IBM was transitioning from a punch card supply and equipment company and entering the computer business.

-- May 22 -- The popular arcade game, Pac-Man, was released in Japan. As long as one life remained, Pac-Man could be played through level 255. The game has a bug with the subroutine that draws the fruit on the screen and corrupts at level 256. The enemies in Pac-Man have characters and nicknames: o Red enemy – Shadow/”Blinky” o Pink enemy – Speedy/”Pinky” o Blue enemy – Bashful/”Inky” o Orange enemy – Pokey/“Clyde”

13 -- May 22 -- The presentation program Microsoft PowerPoint was officially launched as part of the Microsoft Office suite on May 22, 1990.

-- May 22 -- Microsoft released the first successful version of Windows, Windows 3.0 (1990). The OS couldn’t run in full color on 8086 machines as the EGA and VGA color drivers required a 286 card, something the 8086s didn’t have. Windows 3.0 had 3 different memory modes: Real Mode, Standard Mode, and 386 Enhanced Mode.

-- May 22 -- Robert Metcalfe, a researcher at the Xerox Palo Alto, CA Research Center, proposed an "Ethernet," a means of connecting computers together (1973). Metcalfe described the document, typed out on an IBM Selectric typewriter, as follows: "Ether Acquisition" ... heavy with handwritten annotations -- one of which was "ETHER!" -- and with hand-drawn diagrams -- one of which showed `boosters' interconnecting branched cable, telephone, and radio ethers in what we now call an internet... If Ethernet was invented in any one memo, by any one person, or on any one day, this was it."

-- May 24 -- Wes Clark began work on a biomedical research Laboratory Instrument Computer (LINC), at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory (1961). His goal was to create a computer that was: easy to program/maintain, could be communicated with while it operated, and could process biotechnical signals directly. Building on previous experience (e.g., the Whirlwind, TX-0, etc.), Clark created one of the earliest examples of a "user- friendly" machine -- setting the standard for personal computer design.

-- May 25-27 --

The first-ever World Wide Web Conference (WWW1) was held in Geneva, Switzerland (1994). 380 participants discussed standardization and the impact of the internet on present-day technologies, modern society, and culture.

14 -- May 27 -- Wang Laboratories introduced the Wang Professional Computer, featuring Intel 16-bit processors (1982). Prices: $2700-9000.

-- May 27 – Microsoft released Windows 2.1x, the first version that required a hard disk drive (1988). Windows 2.1x was released less than a year after Windows 2.0 to take advantage of new features of both Intel 80286 and 80386 processors). The two versions were initially marketed as Windows/286 and Windows/386. Windows/386 protected mode kernel provided system access to enhanced features (e.g., virtual memory and paging).

-- May 28 -- A committee formed to develop COBOL, or the Common Business Oriented Language (1959). The group of researchers, drawn from several computer manufacturers and the Pentagon, designed a program for business use to be readable and compatible with as many machines as possible. Programmer Howard Bromberg feared the language had no future. However, COBOL is still in use in business today.

-- May 29 --

The Eastman Kodak Co. introduced an electronic publishing system called Ektaprint Electronic Publishing System on May 29, 1985. Ektaprint was designed to edit, print, and update text and graphics for publications. The $50,000 system included parts designed by Sun Microsystems Inc., Canon Inc., and Interleaf Inc.

-- May 30 -- AT&T held a meeting to announce a video phone system that allowed personal computers to make and receive video phone calls over standard telephone lines (1996). In years of efforts by AT&T and others to find success in the technology, the AT&T system utilized Intel's Pentium processors and compression software to allow both video and audio information to share a phone line rather than a high-capacity ISDN, T-1, or T-3 line.

15 Who's Who in the FPCUG

Officers Office Name * Email Address President Patrice Davis [email protected] Vice President Bill Farr [email protected] Secretary Frank Fota [email protected] Treasurer Rick Neil [email protected]

Directors and Trustees Office Name * Email Address Directors Josh Cockey [email protected] Ed Alexander Robert Monroe Trustees Jon Beckett [email protected] Ed Spooner Johnny Creech “Agent of Record”

Chairmen & Representatives Office Name * Email Address APCUG Representative Frank Fota [email protected] Newsletter Editor Frank Fota [email protected] Webmaster Josh Cockey [email protected] Publicity Representative Carolyn Fota

Special Interest Workshop Leaders Office Name * Email Address Technology Josh Cockey [email protected] Windows All Jim Hopkins [email protected] Experimax Various Experimax Employee's Request Info. All About Your Computer Robert Monroe [email protected]

* NOTE: The server errors on the site that hosts our website have been repaired and email links to FPCUG officers work. However, if you do not receive a response to an email message sent to one of the FPCUG officers (or group of officers) above, feel free to contact me at [email protected] and I will forward the email as appropriate.

FPCUG Facebook Page

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