Pi.BerkeleyLUG: Virtual meeting tomorrow, Sunday 11.15.20

[tom r lopes]

Sorry about the late notice.  

So same thing as last time:  

Meeting Details: 

11 am to ? 

tom is inviting you to a meeting.

Join the meeting:
https://meet.jit.si/Pi.BerkeleyLUG

To join by phone instead, tap this: +1.512.647.1431,,3314091209#

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See meeting dial-in numbers: https://meet.jit.si/static/dialInInfo.html?room=Pi.BerkeleyLUG


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Pi news:  

The Pi foundation has released the Pi 400 which is a pi 4 built into the official pi keyboard.  

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/?resellerType=home 

I have looked at a teardown video and it is not an actual Pi 4 but a different board.  My 

first thought was it would be the compute module.

The Pi foundation has released the Pi 4 compute module

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/compute-module-4/?variant=raspberry-pi-cm4001000&resellerType=home

Compute modules are Pi versions in a form that can be added to a custom design.  You 

could create a carrier board with a different port layout, for example.  This way the Pi 

can be customized for your project.  The new compute module does away with the edge connector.  Also USB 3 is removed in favor of exposing PCIe.  In fact the official carrier board has a 1x pcie slot. 

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/compute-module-4-io-board/?resellerType=home

Also both the PI 400 and PI 4 compute module feature a new stepping of the Broadcom cpu 

which is faster and cooler.  I have seen reports of the Pi 400 overclocking to 2.2 Ghz on stock 

cooling.  

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2020/raspberry-pi-400-can-be-overclocked-22-ghz

I will be there tomorrow as long as I can but with Covid in these times I have been very busy 

with work.  

I went by the Blue Door Cafe a week or two ago and it seems to be permanently closed.  From the window you can see they are packing up.  I'll try to go by this weekend and get some pics.  

Thomas

[tom r lopes]

Blue Door Cafe:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/sFXs25AKWp2ViNg16 

Looks like they haven't survived, started packing up.  

 

Au Coquelet: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gfLGfP7h4iNnM4QMA 

Locked up and notice about demolition and construction of new mega building.  

Starbucks on Center and Oxford: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9hzigou2KR8oVTer7 

This is on the end of the street from Bart to the campus.  They seemed to be doing business 

just a couple weeks ago.  

Overpriced car wash/gas station/convenience store: https://photos.app.goo.gl/seYHF3cwa32dRtD97

Another mega building.  Not sorry to see this close.  But a bunch of workers have lost their jobs.  

I find the confidence of the builder/developers strange.  Are universities going to be relevant in the future? 

I think the pandemic has pointed out some problems with how we go to work and go to school.  Is the 

higher education system going to survive in the same form as it was?  

Thomas

[Rick Moen]

Quoting tom r lopes (tomr...@gmail.com):

> Blue Door Cafe: https://photos.app.goo.gl/sFXs25AKWp2ViNg16
> Looks like they haven't survived, started packing up.
>
> Au Coquelet: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gfLGfP7h4iNnM4QMA
> Locked up and notice about demolition and construction of new mega
> building.

Both will be sadly missed.

> I find the confidence of the builder/developers strange. Are universities
> going to be relevant in the future?
> I think the pandemic has pointed out some problems with how we go to work
> and go to school. Is the
> higher education system going to survive in the same form as it was?

This medium-term speculation by property barons about the end-state at
the end of the pandemic is interesting, isn't it? Somewhere behind
closed doors, I'm sure there's been high-priced seminars prognosticating
about what will win and what will lose, in the new order to come.

Beyond that, I'm not even going to try to speculate. It's become
apparent to me that the financial structure of the commercial real
estate market must have been strange, even before the pandemic: For one
thing, over the last few decades, I've seen storefronts and entire
business buildings sitting tenant-less, even at prime locations, for
years on end, and it mystifies me how leaving an expensive asset
unproductive for long periods of time could make economic sense, but
evidently it does. Maybe there are some really perverse tax incentives.
I really don't know the answer.

--
Cheers, "The plural of regex is regrets."
Rick Moen -- old coder gag, seen on Reddit
ri...@linuxmafia.com
McQ! (4x80)

[goossbears]

On Sunday, November 15, 2020 at 1:20:32 PM UTC-8 trl wrote:

Blue Door Cafe:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/sFXs25AKWp2ViNg16 

Looks like they haven't survived, started packing up.  

 

Au Coquelet: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gfLGfP7h4iNnM4QMA 

Locked up and notice about demolition and construction of new mega building.  

Starbucks on Center and Oxford: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9hzigou2KR8oVTer7 

This is on the end of the street from Bart to the campus.  They seemed to be doing business 

just a couple weeks ago.  

Overpriced car wash/gas station/convenience store: https://photos.app.goo.gl/seYHF3cwa32dRtD97

Another mega building.  Not sorry to see this close.  But a bunch of workers have lost their jobs. 

Besides Au Coquelet and Blue Door Cafe, past live venues for BerkeleyLUG meetups were the pair of places at or near the South corners of Shattuck and University Aves in Downtown Berkeley; namely Bobby G's Pizzeria and 85C Cafe and Bakery.

As we can see from their revised website https://bobbygspizzeria.com/ , Bobby G's seems to be thriving as a takeout and delivery restaurant and probably could survive, IMHO, for a long while until it should possibly re-open for eat-in customers (2021? 2022?). 

85C Cafe and Bakery, of course, closed well over a year ago as posted at https://berkeleylug.com/2019/06/02/and-from-85c-bakery-cafe-to/

85C Cafe and Bakery's nextdoor neighbor Veggie Grill Restaurant has been and apparently still is closed down as reported at their Yelp webpage https://www.yelp.com/biz/veggie-grill-berkeley-2

Any speculation of what might happen to the spaces of the former 85C Bakery and Veggie Grill??

E.g., Campus housing?? Other food or beverage business(es)??  Other retail business(es)?? Office space??

I find the confidence of the builder/developers strange.

Same here :-\

-A

[Michael Paoli]

And I noticed this morning, another business and potential venue
gone. We'd never met there, but various among us had scouted
out many potential locations throughout Berkeley.
Anyway, Sacks Coffee House, 2701 College Ave.
I think as recently as about a month or so ago, it
appeared still very closed*, but otherwise untouched.
Was by there this morning, and the place has been totally
gutted and cleaned out. Looks like it's all set for a
new business tenant that might stand to make a profit - or
to be built/customized/furnished within to suit such a
tenant. About the only sign that it ever was Sacks Coffee House,
is ... literally sign - the big sign outside up relatively high
on the corner of the building is still there. As far as I could
easily tell, all other traces one might otherwise see there that
it had ever been Sacks Coffee House - totally gone and wiped clean.
So, Sacks sacked by Covid-19.

Well, we shall see. When things get sufficiently safe to generally
meet in person again (herd immunity + COVID-19 cases way way way
down, or totally gone) ... the landscape will be different.
However I think there will also be relatively pent-up demand for
cafes and restaurants and such. So, I think there will be many
well poised to (re)open such business at that right opportune
time ... and will do so. But unfortunately, I think we'll still
generally see a lot more such venue closings than openings until
about that time comes.

*not sure if Sacks ever even reopened at all. I think I might've seen
some evidence the may have done some trace of business after initial
shutdown ... but if so, never much, and never enough for the business to
be sustainable. Sometimes the business economic losses are lower to
close, than remain open, ... and sometimes to close permanently than
temporarily. Though, I think too, some may quite "close up shop"
and give up the location ... and when conditions are right, may
well reopen ... likely somewhere else, or possibly even in same
spots if their timing and the opportunity work out right.
But many won't come back - at all, ever, or anywhere.

[Michael Paoli]

And, not gone yet, but ... Al Lasher's Electronics.
Great electronics place that's been around in Berkeley since
like forever (a very long time).
They'll be closing permanently at the end of the year.
They're also not placing new orders - so they're limited to what
stock they have. They'll also be starting a sale in December.
They're closed for Thanksgiving week.
Their general current COVID-19 hours are W-F noon-5pm.

[Christian Peeples]

Michael:

That's sad. Al Lasher's was the place to go for quality (and strange) electronic equipment long before Fry's when the only alternative was Radio Schlock.

-- Chris Peeples --
(c) +1-510-851-0968

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[Rick Moen]

Quoting Michael Paoli (Michae...@cal.berkeley.edu):

> And, not gone yet, but ... Al Lasher's Electronics.
> Great electronics place that's been around in Berkeley since
> like forever (a very long time).
> They'll be closing permanently at the end of the year.

Ouch, this is another one that really hurts. They're one of the last of
the breed.

--
Cheers, "2020 is pulling out more plot devices than
Rick Moen a TV series on the brink of being canceled."
ri...@linuxmafia.com (Seen on Reddit, Oct. 2, 2020.)
McQ! (4x80)