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Mad Ax

Workshop Social Chat - facetime?

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Just an idea that came to me on Sunday, I thought I'd spread it up here to see if anyone else has anything to add or wants to get involved.

TL;DR

Would anyone be interested in setting up a drop-in facetime / video conference session centred around RC build / workshop time?  I was thinking along the lines of an open chat session that anyone can drop in and out of rather than a one-to-one facetime, although either would be good.  I'm not an experience user of these sorts of things so I don't know what the right tool is for the job.

Long Version

So, to help find some routine while we're on lockdown, I've decided that Sunday will be Off Duty Day.  It's the one day of the week where (besides cooking and doing toddler bedtime) I have no duties.  I can do whatever I want.  That might be music or writing or gaming, but the workshop is there when the mood takes me.  This Sunday I spent pretty much the entire day wrenching on my TXT-1 rebuild.

It occurred to me that there might be a few others around the world wrenching on projects at the same time, and it might be nice to have a chat while doing so.

It then occurred to me that, with the right video conferencing service, we could have a live chat session that anyone could drop in and out of at will, as voice-only or with a webcam pointed at their workspace.

A friend of mine has been talking about Zoom for video calls.  I've never used it but will probably experiment with it later.

Obviously synchronising the entire global fanbase of TC across whatever time we manage to get spare isn't going to be easy, but if we had a central place that people could drop in and out of it might make it a bit easier to do some ad-hoc virtual socialising :)

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that is a top idea. I too, have no idea how it might work, but worth a try I think.

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Be careful with Zoom, it has been hacked quite a bit recently. An alternitive, is Microsift Team.

J

 

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Our club are using the, Discord app, on the mobiles. Not using it for video ,but for group chat whilst playing the VRC ,it's been great.

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Zoom would work. It has a bit of a spotty start, but it seems to get the job done. Alternative is Skype. 

I'm 100% game for this. I've got a few things lined up I'd love to take a crack at. 

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Unfortunately the free version of Zoom has a 40 minutes limit on group meetings for the free version. The paid for version doesn’t have this limitation, if anyone has a corporate account. Otherwise you might have to restart the meeting occasionally and publish the new url on the forum (unless it stays the same across new sessions, not sure - I know it is possible with the paid version)

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I've asked my employer if I'm allowed to use Google Meet for private purposes for this. I'll get back to you on this. 

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If they say 'no way José' we can still use Zoom. I just got out of a 3-way call with some friends of mine, and for some reason the 40 minute limit got lifted halfway in, so we might get lucky. It's good to have a plan B.

EDIT: I think Google Hangouts can also do this through a shared link, but we'll have to give it a try.

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I don't like inflicting my ugly mug on others, and being practically deaf in one ear I can't always keep up with group calls/face times (has made for some interesting work meetings in the past :P) That said however, I'd be interested in any kind of groups for chatting, messanger or discord etc. 

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Alright, I have a Skype-link HERE. The link will be up for 24 hours as far as I can tell, so have at it. If it doesn't work..ehh... good luck! I'm still testing as we speak.

EDIT: Well, I'll keep the link up for tonight, as I've got some minor wrenching planned. In theory it ought to stay open even without people in it, but your mileage may vary.

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Thanks for setting that up @GooneyBird, I actually had a whole day in the workshop yesterday but hadn't come on TC first to see your post.  Did anybody join?

I am planning one or two days off over the Easter break but not entirely sure how it will work out yet, will plan with the wife this week and maybe put a day in the calendar for the next chat session :) 

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Nobody joined! And I even had two projects lined up for some nice and easy wrenching.

I think we should make it a firm date, @Mad Ax, so people know when and where they can join. Makes it a little easier on the software-side of things too. There aren't many services out there providing an always-on chat/conference call-room, but a 24-hour link is easy through Skype. What say you?

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@GooneyBird that sounds like a plan.  I'll have to confirm when my next workshop day will be as Easter might possibly change things, but once I know I'll update here and we can set a firm date for anyone to join.

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Works for me. I've got most weekends to myself, save from this one with Easter and all. 

Tentative date; this coming Sunday? (April 19th) I'm in GMT+1, and I think most of the UK is GMT+2? If we do it in the evenings our American friends can probably join in as well. 

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Interesting prospect. These things are becoming easier over time.

Talking voice a number of years ago on PC gaming was a bit awkward.

Recent Zoom meetings have been easier.

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OK - April 19th should work for me.  Apologies for not getting involved earlier - I did get my Sunday in the workshop but was having a few other issues to sort out so not the best day to do workshop chat.

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April 19th, what timezone and whens it start? We're pretty good right now as UK is 11hours behind us i think, so could probably join. I have a Super Astute to start...

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I'm in for the 19th if the time is reasonable for me (Eastern Standard Time/GMT -1). Sounds like it will be a fun time. 

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OK, so the UK is currently on BST, which is UTC+1.  As far as I can tell, EST is UTC-5 and EDT is UTC-4, so if we arranged for something like 18:00 UTC that would be 19:00 in the UK and 13:00 EST.  NZST is UTC+12 so that would be 06:00 in NZ.  If my brain is working properly that would actually be Monday morning for NZ.  If we made it a little later it might be more sociable for NZ but not sure if Monday AM suits.  That said, evenings are trickier for me as I tend to do my workshop stuff during the day, I take over toddler duties after 5pm.

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I haven't got much exciting things to do this Sunday, so I can throw up a meet of sorts. I've found an alternative to Zoom called Jitsi Meet. My wife's work uses it now instead of Skype and Zoom, and it seems to work well without any limitations. I'll throw up a link this Sunday.

Monday in the AM doesn't work well for me because of work and such. Tell you what, I'll coordinate with @Mad Ax and start something by Sunday afternoon (GMT), Jitsi links work for 24 hours, so anyone can hop in and out as they please. Official starting time will be at 18:00 GMT, but I'll make sure that there's something up and running before that. Works for everyone?

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Yep sounds good. I'm one of the un/lucky ones still working so won't be able to take a few hours out on Monday morning to build a kit but will join in for a bit with my morning coffee

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Awesome, I will pull some strings and make sure I'm online for 18:00 GMT, I will probably have finished off my workshop stuff by then but I will hopefully have lots to show on the chat and will look forward to seeing what everybody else is up to :) 

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Will be 2am my time. Bit early/late for a Mon morning on a school day :lol:

 

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