All-day 'Virtual' Acorn session #1, Saturday 11th April 2020, 9am - 5pm

[oss003]

Hi guys,

This is the link to the BBC version of MPAGD which I showed yesterday. It also includes some tutorials ... viewtopic.php?f=57&t=17991&p=249790

Greetings
Kees

[TimoHartong]

Thank you for the great meeting it was a pleasure to be here. Good idea to open it to Acorn enthusiasts so we can make some marketing in the Netherlands for it as well.

[1024MAK]

Any possibility to record these sessions and maybe have a channel on YouTube or something like that to host these recordings?

Yes it is possible to record the meeting. However, everyone present would have to agree to this. We did discuss this yesterday near the end of the meeting. One point of view that was put forward was that recording the meeting may put some people off. The most support (from what I recall, but am happy to be corrected) was that we don’t intend to record all the meeting. If someone wants their bit to be recorded (for example in one of the ‘breakout rooms’), then this will be considered. We also thought that if we have a guest speaker, that this section should be recorded (assuming the guest is happy for this to be done).

We do have to keep in mind the requirements of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679) laws as these meetings are open to anyone interested in Acorn or BBC computers. Especially as people can join a meeting at any time.

We welcome other people’s thoughts.

Mark

[gidandridge]

Oh I completely missed this and was actually as home (obviously!) in my loft room enjoying some quality retro time.

Just didn't think to check the forum. Would have loved to have joined.

[BigEd]

Had a great time, yesterday.

Me too! That big board you showed off, with the VLC86C020 chip - that turns out to be a 20MHz ARM chip with 4k cache on chip. Didn't catch the IDT part number.

[IanS]

Had a great time, yesterday.

Me too! That big board you showed off, with the VLC86C020 chip - that turns out to be a 20MHz ARM chip with 4k cache on chip. Didn't catch the IDT part number.

Isn't that just an ARM 3? e.g. https://www.retro-kit.co.uk/page.cfm/co ... U-upgrade/

[BigEd]

Well well - I didn't realise that! And 25MHz too.

[sydney]

I thoroughly enjoyed Saturdays meeting and have to agree with the 'radio' comparison. I didn't use it that way myself but probably will in future. I'll be moving to my wife's home office for the next meeting as it was freezing in the garage and the wifi is awful too.

We should definitely have another one on 16 May (when we would otherwise have been at the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge.

I'm very much in favour of this.

Subject to interest, we could have another one on 25 April or 2 May. Would there be interest for another one that soon?

Either date is good for me.

We should drop the reference to 'ABUG' or 'Stardot' in the title as we have seen a couple of comments from people thinking you need to be a member to participate.

I'd be against dropping the reference ABug but in favour of ...

For the same reason, any listing should make it clear that the events are open to anyone with an interest in Acorn computers.

...this. While I don't think the ABug reference is important it does provide a 'focal point' which people can identify which will hopefully increase the number of people getting involved in future ABugs, both virtual and physical. I'm OK with the reference to ABug being dropped if many people feel that way though.

We should also make mention of these events on the Acorn Facebook group, albeit, perhaps, just directing people to the relevant page on Stardot.

I wanted to keep the first attempt stardot only as I knew most of the people would already know each other so we'd be able to concentrate on other more technical issues that may arise. I would definitely agree that including the Facebook group is a good idea. I'd certainly be willing to pass on the meeting details to those who are not on stardot.

We should offer the opportunity of a practice session to anyone who is unfamiliar with the Zoom platform.

I am wondering if either a shorter, more regular (weekly?) midweek 'social' meeting would be of interest or if an area of the forum could be set aside as a notice board for ad-hoc meetings.

It would be nice if the event on 16 May could be used, in some way, to raise some desperately needed funds for the Centre for Computing History.

I agree with this but feel that making a donation compulsory should be avoided as this might deter those adversely affected financially by the current situation. At the very least a low minimum should be set.