June 2023 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Next Meeting date will be April 20th 2023.
by Tim Keller 12 Sep '23

12 Sep '23

I'm moving the meeting to next week as I've got a family obligation on Thursday. Thanks for understanding. Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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Personal Continuing Education
by Kevin Stratton 04 Jul '23

04 Jul '23

I have been looking at the following for personal education to get better skills in general. ( I already have a Bachelors, but am very rusty) 1) udemy.com - the prices for the courses change on the drop of a hat. The subscription does not cover all courses. Opinions on the coverage? 2) https://www.oreilly.com/online-learning/ - There is a subscription for courses, books, etc... , but there is not enough information to determine if I want it or not. 3) https://brilliant.org/ - Looking for opinions I am focused on the following topics: 1) Electronics (Engineering level) 2) Math (College level, post algebra) 3) Programming (C, Python, BASH, whatever...) Any opinions or alternatives?

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HDTV Antennas
by David Glaser 25 Jun '23

25 Jun '23

Has anyone in the list had any experience using an external HDTV antenna in Worcester? Reason I ask is that we ditched the full spectrum tv channel lineup and went with a the abbreviated channel lineup. However, we are missing the local broadcast tv stations and I was wondering it I could pick up some of them using an external antenna. I searched the web for information but I do not have enough of a radio background to understand the meaning of the signal strength tables that I find. A while ago I purchased an interior antenna and did not have any luck so I figure that I might try an external antenna. Any help would be appreciated. -David -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com

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Keyboard recommendations
by Frank Sweetser 21 Jun '23

21 Jun '23

My primary mechanical keyboard that I've been using for a while is starting to go a little flakey on me, even after a few rounds of cleaning, so I'm looking to finally replace it. I'm looking for something: - With fully mechanical keys (replaceable switches would be a nice bonus) - Ergonomic layout, which these days seems to primarily mean a split design - Illuminated keycaps would be preferred Anyone have good recommendations they can share? -- - Frank

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Laser cut puzzles?
by John Stoffel 16 Jun '23

16 Jun '23

Guys, Anyone have a lead to where I could get a puzzle design cut out with a laser from either thick cardboard or thin plywood? But I also want to engrave a message on the puzzle pieces before they're cut out. I've been looking into inkscape pluggins for this and I think I've got one I can use, it's now finding someone/place with the right equipment. Any ideas? The message would just be text, maybe some simple graphics. Nothing crazy, but the entire idea is to make the message into a puzzle to be put together. John

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Wacom One with Pressure Sensitivity
by Dennis Payne 11 Jun '23

11 Jun '23

I bought a used Wacom One a while ago. It is a drawing tablet (not a standalone tablet as it needs to hook up to a computer). It has an display that you can use the stylus on. You can find some examples of my bad art on mastodon: https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/110/413… https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/110/469… Recently I finally determined how to turn on the pressure sensitivity in gimp. If you go to Edit->Input Devices, you can enable "xwayland- tablet stylus". (Obviously it probably has a different name if you aren't using wayland.) Once enabled the "Dynamics" setting in Tool Options takes effect. You can choose from a large variety of options. For example, "Basic Dynamics" makes pressure affect opacity and velocity affect size. I've been using "Pressure Size" which simply makes pressure affect the size of the pencil (or other tool). It probably hard to tell from this scaled down image but the lines for the eyebrows have a different thickness from the larger outer lines. I used to have to edit the tool settings to do that so this is nicer. I'm sure a trained artist could produce better output. https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/110/510… -- Dennis Payne dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@dulsi

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Reminder! WLUG meeting tonight! Topic: Flipper Zero / NixOS
by Tim Keller 08 Jun '23

08 Jun '23

Hey Gang! We've got a meeting tonight! Time: 7PM Date: June 8th, 2023 !!LOCATION CHANGE!! WE will be meeting in the Morgan student center. I think the best option is to meet on the quad side of Morgan until we can get let in. Cara has reserved a conference room. Virtual location: https://meet.jit.si/WlugMA Cara Salter is going to show off her flipper zero. If you don't know what the flipper zero is, you're in for a treat. You can check it out here: https://flipperzero.one/ As they call it, it's a multitool for geeks. As usual, I'll have snacks and refreshments and afterwards we'll head off for dinner. Thanks, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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WLUG Meeting this Thursday! Topic: Flipper Zero (maybe)
by Tim Keller 06 Jun '23

06 Jun '23

Hey Everybody, We've got a meeting this Thursday! Date: June 8th, 2023 Time: 7pm Location: WPI, still working out the room details Topic: Flipper Zero (hopefully), Otherwise, NixOS. At our last meeting, Cara spoke briefly about bring her Flipper Zero to show off. I managed to blow up my laptop with a failed Ubuntu upgrade and decided to experiment with NixOS. So I can show that off as well. Snacks and Refreshments will be provided and we'll do dinner afterwards. Thanks, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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