September 2020 - Roundtable

How does on get the date function to work in Libre Office spreadsheet?
by eh＠eduardhiebert.com 08 May '23

08 May '23

Hi, I've formatted the cells as date mm/dd/yy and entered the values as is. Also tried by preceeding with equal sign in case deemed to be a formula but neither works. I assume a difference between two days yields the difference in days, correct? Or are the formula different than plain math? Eduard the Osborne guy at last meeting

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Advice on finally buying my first laptop
by Bradford C. Vokey 29 Sep '20

29 Sep '20

Hi all! I want to purchase my very first laptop in the next few days. :) I've purchased several for the wife and kids over the years but I've always stayed "desktop forever" for my daily tasks, mostly due to the cost/performance of desktops vs laptops. However, I am now spending so much more time outside remote connecting to my various desktops on mobile devices that maybe it is time to finally just get a decent laptop. I've always hated the small screen real estate available when using laptops when compared to a multi-monitor desktop that I am really drawn to a dual screen laptop like the ROG Zephyrus Duo (https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Laptops/ROG-Zephyrus-Duo-15/) However, I don't want to invest so much $$$ ($4K+!) into my very first laptop. So I have given in (for now) and narrowed it down to a much more affordable Ryzen 7 laptop from HP (I know, lots of bloatware coming my way from HP): https://www.costco.ca/.product.100673520.html Looks like the HP Omen 15 line has lots of future upgrade ability (at least for a laptop) with 2 internal NVMe M.2 connectors, and up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 memory max. Plus it is fairly portable vs beefier "gaming" laptops and I can easily get it at Costco so I will have a no hassle return if needed (at least for the first 90 days). Looking over reviews on the web, the Ryzen 7 "H" series seems to give 1.5 - 2.0 x the battery life vs a similar speed Intel i7 / i9 "H" variant. Of course I will have to give up getting Thunderbolt with any of the current generation Ryzen laptops and will usually be stuck with low to mid-end discrete graphics with the current Intel vs AMD laptop politics. For you laptop users out there, is Thunderbolt worth the Intel tax and the Intel battery draining premium? During the summer, I want to be able to play AAA games by the pool and on the docks with this laptop so at least an entry level or better discrete graphics card *and* a matte or > 300 nit display will be mandatory. Thoughts and comments on your favorite laptop(s) are welcome! For the MUUG Roundtable topic police: I intend to install WSL2 so :P. -- Bradford C. Vokey Treasurer Manitoba Unix User Group

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*** WARNING *** Automatic Thunderbird upgrade to version 78.x has started
by Bradford C. Vokey 17 Sep '20

17 Sep '20

*** WARNING *** Anyone running Thunderbird 68.x.x , please be aware, automatics upgrades to 78.2.2 have now started. This is highly likely a mistake by the development team, as the release notes for the latest version 78.2.2 state: > *Thunderbird version 78.2.2 is only offered as direct download > fromthunderbird.net <https://www.thunderbird.net/>and not as an > upgrade from Thunderbird version 68 or earlier.*A future release will > provide updates from earlier versions. Automatic updates are available > for users already running version 78.0 or higher. > > Add-on support: As of version 78.0, Thunderbird only supports > MailExtensions. Your favorite add-ons may not have been updated for > compatibility. > *** TURN OFF AUTOMATIC UPDATES TO THUNDERBIRD 68.x.x if you still want to keep your existing extensions working. *** Further reading: https://www.ghacks.net/2020/09/15/automatic-thunderbird-upgrade-to-version-… -- Bradford C. Vokey Treasurer Manitoba Unix User Group ===

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Nvidia buys ARM Holdings from SoftBank for $40 billion
by Alberto Abrao 14 Sep '20

14 Sep '20

This...can't be good. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/09/nvidia-reportedly-to-acquire-arm-ho… Kind regards, Alberto Abrao

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Reminder: MUUG Online Meeting, Tonight, Sept 8, 7:30pm -- AWS Quickstart, RTFM: fd(1)
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

A reminder that the MUUG online meeting will be on Jitsi this evening... The Manitoba UNIX User Group (MUUG) will be holding its next monthly meeting online, on Tuesday, September 8th, at 7:30pm: AWS Quickstart For the new user, the multitude of AWS services and configurations can be daunting. Wyatt Zacharias will show how to start an AWS account from scratch, including how to properly set up your user credentials, and how to get a VM up and running for the first time. RTFM: fd(1) - a simple, fast, user-friendly alternative to find(1) Most Linux users are all too familiar with the find command and its frustrating syntax. This month, Brad Vokey will show us an alternative to the find command, called fd. Some of the features of fd: convenient syntax: fd PATTERN instead of find -iname '*PATTERN*', colourized terminal output, it's fast!, uses smart case by default, ignores hidden directories and files by default, ignores patterns from your .gitignore by default, uses proper PCRE, and the command name is 50% shorter than find. :-) Door Prizes On top of the usual assortment of e-books on offer this month, we'll have a hard copy of the O'Reilly book "Unicode Explained" as a door prize. The book will be available for pick-up, drop-off, or snail-mailing. Join the meeting: https://jitsi.merlin.mb.ca/muug.2020.09 The group holds its meetings at 7:30pm on the second Tuesday of every month from September to June. (There are no meetings in July and August.) Meetings are open to the general public; you don't have to be a MUUG member to attend. For more information about MUUG, and its monthly meetings, check out their web server: https://muug.ca/ Help us promote this month's meeting, by putting this poster up on your workplace bulletin board or other suitable public message board, or linking to it on social media: https://muug.ca/meetings/MUUGmeeting.pdf -- Manitoba UNIX User Group E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.ca> c/o Gilbert E. Detillieux Web: http://muug.ca/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609

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MUUG Online Meeting, Tuesday, Sept 8, 7:30pm -- AWS Quickstart, RTFM: fd(1)
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 01 Sep '20

01 Sep '20

The Manitoba UNIX User Group (MUUG) will be holding its next monthly meeting online, on Tuesday, September 8th, at 7:30pm: AWS Quickstart For the new user, the multitude of AWS services and configurations can be daunting. Wyatt Zacharias will show how to start an AWS account from scratch, including how to properly set up your user credentials, and how to get a VM up and running for the first time. RTFM: fd(1) - a simple, fast, user-friendly alternative to find(1) Most Linux users are all too familiar with the find command and its frustrating syntax. This month, Brad Vokey will show us an alternative to the find command, called fd. Some of the features of fd: convenient syntax: fd PATTERN instead of find -iname '*PATTERN*', colourized terminal output, it's fast!, uses smart case by default, ignores hidden directories and files by default, ignores patterns from your .gitignore by default, uses proper PCRE, and the command name is 50% shorter than find. :-) Door Prizes On top of the usual assortment of e-books on offer this month, we'll have a hard copy of the O'Reilly book "Unicode Explained" as a door prize. The book will be available for pick-up, drop-off, or snail-mailing. Join the meeting: https://jitsi.merlin.mb.ca/muug.2020.09 The group holds its meetings at 7:30pm on the second Tuesday of every month from September to June. (There are no meetings in July and August.) Meetings are open to the general public; you don't have to be a MUUG member to attend. For more information about MUUG, and its monthly meetings, check out their web server: https://muug.ca/ Help us promote this month's meeting, by putting this poster up on your workplace bulletin board or other suitable public message board, or linking to it on social media: https://muug.ca/meetings/MUUGmeeting.pdf -- Manitoba UNIX User Group E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.ca> c/o Gilbert E. Detillieux Web: http://muug.ca/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609

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