How long has SMUG been going?

69 views
Skip to first unread message

Gillian Snoxall

unread,
Mar 27, 2020, 9:06:23 AM3/27/20
to Sussex Mac Users Group
The Oxford MacUsers Group is 18 years old today. I wonder how that compares to SMUG. Jason Kitcat are you there?

Gilly


Jason Kitcat

unread,
Mar 27, 2020, 9:08:24 AM3/27/20
to itsagroup via Sussex Mac User Group
Hmmm, not sure. I revived it in around 2002/3 but it had existed before then under previous management.

All the best,
Jason

On 27 Mar 2020, at 13:06, Gillian Snoxall <gillian...@gmail.com> wrote:

The Oxford MacUsers Group is 18 years old today. I wonder how that compares to SMUG. Jason Kitcat are you there?

Gilly


--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to smug+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/smug/2A61B10A-9636-44B4-B55A-8DC1DAB13101%40gmail.com.

-- 
Jason Kitcat

07956 886 508





Stephen Watson

unread,
Mar 27, 2020, 9:41:45 AM3/27/20
to sm...@googlegroups.com
I think I was one of those that started it but Jason was there very early on I’m sure. I remember being gobsmacked when being shown Photoshop for the first time on a very early dark grey PowerBook in the back room of (or under!) a pub not far from the train station that was our regular meeting place at that time.

I can still recall seeing my first ever video playing on a Macintosh, which may have even been prior to SMUG, at the size of a large postage stamp, and wondering why anyone would ever want to watch video on a computer! Ha! This was the video - https://youtu.be/odk2MexTxHg

We’ve got history that’s for sure. 😃 

Stephen

You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it. ~ Carl Jung

On 27 Mar 2020, at 13:08, 'Jason Kitcat' via Sussex Mac User Group <sm...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Hmmm, not sure. I revived it in around 2002/3 but it had existed before then under previous management.

Jason Kitcat

unread,
Mar 27, 2020, 9:43:08 AM3/27/20
to 'Stephen Watson' via Sussex Mac User Group
You definitely pre-date me Stephen. When I sought to resurrect the group I got your name and a few others from Apple Developer Relations who used to support the groups back in the day!

J

mac98aop

unread,
Apr 4, 2020, 4:44:33 AM4/4/20
to Sussex Mac User Group
Really grateful for SMUG, however young or old!

When we lived in Oxford, I was part of that group, but really pleased to find SMUG was even better for the 4 years we were back in Sussex. We're now Londoners, and LMUG is different again, not bad, but SMUG has some tried and tested charm, the friendliest most helpful community, and yes... Sam!

Hope you're all safe and well.

AP



On Friday, March 27, 2020 at 1:43:08 PM UTC, Jason Kitcat wrote:
You definitely pre-date me Stephen. When I sought to resurrect the group I got your name and a few others from Apple Developer Relations who used to support the groups back in the day!

J

On 27 Mar 2020, at 13:41, 'Stephen Watson' via Sussex Mac User Group <sm...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I think I was one of those that started it but Jason was there very early on I’m sure. I remember being gobsmacked when being shown Photoshop for the first time on a very early dark grey PowerBook in the back room of (or under!) a pub not far from the train station that was our regular meeting place at that time.

I can still recall seeing my first ever video playing on a Macintosh, which may have even been prior to SMUG, at the size of a large postage stamp, and wondering why anyone would ever want to watch video on a computer! Ha! This was the video - https://youtu.be/odk2MexTxHg

We’ve got history that’s for sure. 😃 

Stephen

You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it. ~ Carl Jung

On 27 Mar 2020, at 13:08, 'Jason Kitcat' via Sussex Mac User Group <sm...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Hmmm, not sure. I revived it in around 2002/3 but it had existed before then under previous management.

All the best,
Jason

On 27 Mar 2020, at 13:06, Gillian Snoxall <gillian...@gmail.com> wrote:

The Oxford MacUsers Group is 18 years old today. I wonder how that compares to SMUG. Jason Kitcat are you there?

Gilly


--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sm...@googlegroups.com.

-- 
Jason Kitcat

07956 886 508






--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sm...@googlegroups.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sm...@googlegroups.com.

Gillian Snoxall

unread,
Apr 4, 2020, 5:43:24 AM4/4/20
to sm...@googlegroups.com
Yes, SMUG is unique. As you say, everyone is charming, friendly and extremely helpful –– and Sam is our secret weapon!

It is not a requirement that you live in Sussex to belong. There are SMUGGERS all over the world. I know of at least one in California.

Keep safe and well, everyone. You are precious!

Gilly



On 4 Apr 2020, at 09:44, mac98aop <adamp...@gmail.com> wrote:


To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to smug+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/smug/c564e137-d2f0-4079-9e03-92a8f9b93151%40googlegroups.com.

Paul Russell

unread,
Apr 4, 2020, 7:02:38 AM4/4/20
to sm...@googlegroups.com
I can remember going to meetings - I think it was back in the early 90s. There was a guy there who was very involved with the Green Party, and there was an older guy who ran the print/photocopying franchise that used to be near the top of North St.

Paul

Stephen Watson

unread,
Apr 4, 2020, 7:15:23 AM4/4/20
to sm...@googlegroups.com
😊

That was probably me (probably) as I joined the Green Party in 1985 and was an active member in the early 90s.

Stephen

You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it. ~ Carl Jung

On 4 Apr 2020, at 12:02, Paul Russell <prus...@sonic.net> wrote:

I can remember going to meetings - I think it was back in the early 90s. There was a guy there who was very involved with the Green Party, and there was an older guy who ran the print/photocopying franchise that used to be near the top of North St.

Paul Russell

unread,
Apr 4, 2020, 8:51:05 AM4/4/20
to sm...@googlegroups.com
Could well be ! Glad to meet up with you again after all these years. Still an avid Mac user here of course, as I assume you must be too.

Regards,

Paul

Gillian Snoxall

unread,
Apr 4, 2020, 10:08:59 AM4/4/20
to Sussex Mac Users Group
Paul, do you remember, about the same time, reminiscing with me about Hong Kong? We discovered that we had a friend in common –– Allan Pyrke!

Gilly

31 Castle Street
Wallingford
OX10 8DL
01491 825178
07943 409403



Stephen Watson

unread,
Apr 4, 2020, 11:05:26 AM4/4/20
to sm...@googlegroups.com
I’m definitely still an avid Mac user, but slightly less avid that before. My partner and I bought a Macintosh from the Apple dealer near the fire station in Brighton in 1984 (Alan Harding?) with an ImageWriter - only £2500 I think! 😳 Up until just recently, my main computer has always been a Mac but that place is now moving in favour of the iPad Pro.

I bought a 256GB model when the 11” was released and I’ve moved all the files that I can from my Mac to the iPad. My main uses for the MacBook Pro now are running Xcode to create my apps and to run Curio ( https://www.zengobi.com/ ) which has no equivalent at all on the iPad, or anywhere else! Other than that pretty much all I do is on the iPad. I’m definitely on the Federico Viticci side of the fence, though as yet I don’t have it hooked up to an external monitor. ( https://www.macstories.net/stories/modular-computer/ )

There are still some big improvements Apple could make to iPadOS, especially in the Files app that would improve things a lot, but I think they’re on the case.

Your Mileage May Vary, as the phrase goes.

Stephen

You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it. ~ Carl Jung

On 4 Apr 2020, at 13:51, Paul Russell <prus...@sonic.net> wrote:

Could well be ! Glad to meet up with you again after all these years. Still an avid Mac user here of course, as I assume you must be too.

Paul R Owen

unread,
Apr 5, 2020, 4:29:42 AM4/5/20
to SMUG
Hi Gilly,

I’d forgotten at, thanks for reminding me.

I still got a Christmas card from Allan, but not last year.

Paul Owen

gillian...@gmail.com

unread,
Apr 5, 2020, 4:51:50 AM4/5/20
to sm...@googlegroups.com
Poor guy has cancer. He’s very cheerful, but Janet (his daughter) says his memory is a worry

31 Castle Street
Wallingford
OX10 8DL
01491 825178
07943 409403

From my iPhone

Michael Simpson

unread,
Apr 5, 2020, 12:17:01 PM4/5/20
to sm...@googlegroups.com
Although up in Scotland, couldn’t get much further from you guys I joined Sussex Mug in 2003. You were the only guys who gave useful answers not just pointing you to another piece of information as a newcomer to computers and Apple had no idea what I was reading. I remember Jason Kitcat discussing Wi-Fi, I was totally confused and asked what it was, he advised me in detail, this is what’s so good along with the witty chatter that pops up from time to time. 
Michael s

On 5 Apr 2020, at 9:51 am, "gillian...@gmail.com" <gillian...@gmail.com> wrote:

 Poor guy has cancer. He’s very cheerful, but Janet (his daughter) says his memory is a worry
Paul Owen

Paul

-- 

Jason Davies

unread,
Apr 7, 2020, 7:39:00 AM4/7/20
to Sussex Mac User Group
On 4 Apr 2020, at 9:44, mac98aop wrote:

>  SMUG has some tried and tested charm, the friendliest most helpful
> community,

Seconded: I joined SMUG about 20 years ago, after looking at quite a few
that were outside London, because London MUG was an absolute disaster of
a list (I wonder if it's any better now?)

I'm now in Buckinghamshire and am hoping no one minds...

Cheers,

Jason

mac98aop

unread,
Apr 7, 2020, 4:47:55 PM4/7/20
to Sussex Mac User Group
Nobody minds!

London MUG is just, well, a little more London - events, socials, membership... and I've never made it along.

And in current pandemic, won't be for a while. 

Speaking of the pandemic, I'm hoping to put some of the diary space to good use and wanted to get my head around the Shortcuts App. Any tips? I really find it rather complicated! Every workflow I create is basically already a Siri function. Anything more complicated seems incredibly non-intuitive. Any tips, pointers or reference sites? I've Googled it but wouldn't mind the SMUG filter!

And Stephen, fascinated to know you're 95% iPad only. I'm wondering the same and the new iPad with that 'floating effect keyboard' trackpad and Apple pencil looks a really good setup indeed.

Do hope you're all safe and well SMUGGERS

Adam

Paul R Owen

unread,
Apr 8, 2020, 5:09:34 AM4/8/20
to SMUG
Adam,

Take a look at this eBook.


Paul Owen

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to smug+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/smug/17becb6d-f96f-4424-bf00-64c249b9a66d%40googlegroups.com.

Jason Davies

unread,
Apr 8, 2020, 5:17:27 AM4/8/20
to Sussex Mac User Group

On 7 Apr 2020, at 21:47, mac98aop wrote:

London MUG is just, well, a little more London - events, socials, membership... and I've never made it along.

What used to happen on LMUG every three days was something like this.

  • Someone posts vague question ('eg my printer is not working, can anyone help?'
  • Someone else - let's call them 'helper' - (often me but not always) 'can you let us know what exactly isn't working, and the printer model?'

At this point these two would happily co-operate to find a solution. Meanwhile the helper would get private emails from other list members ('advisors') saying how rude the clarifying question was and how they should be more friendly when they were being helpful. If you replied with 'uh, well, we get a lot of these and it's hard to guess, and anyway the OP is happy, didn't you see the messages?' and they would just go on and on. What made it worse is that frequently, when you'd managed to get rid of the first 'advisor', a second one would appear saying it had been bothering them and they felt they had to say something.. Same. Then maybe a third. This happened every time I helped someone with a problem, and it wasn't just me, as I asked the list and all the other helpers said 'yes, please just stop doing this, people - I thought it was just me'

I swear I'm not exaggerating, it was surreal. One sent me a link to that Orwell essay about good style (at the time I had just been awarded my PhD) to help me write better responses to things like 'how do I transfer things from one computer to another?'.

I tried saying on the list that I wasn't going to deal with this any more but they kept coming. The day I realised I was still getting them a month after solving the original problem (and been thanked on the list), I quit.

You can imagine how grateful I am for SMUG. I tip my hat to you all (and of course, a longer tip to Sam).

Cheers,

Jason

Jason Davies

unread,
Apr 8, 2020, 5:25:16 AM4/8/20
to Sussex Mac User Group
On 7 Apr 2020, at 21:47, mac98aop wrote:

> Anything more complicated seems incredibly non-intuitive. Any tips,
> pointers or reference sites? I've Googled it but wouldn't mind the
> SMUG filter!

Have a look here https://ifttt.com. You can do all kinds of things (it's
not strictly Shortcuts but works with it - might give you ideas), like
'Get a notification when the International Space Station passes over
your house' or (more on topic) 'iOS Sample: Trigger a Siri Shortcut
(Workflow) using a Rich Notification'

I used to have a Shortuct that sent the last picture I'd taken to my
wife (but the changed iOS interface made that a lot easier).

Anything you do frequently that requires a number of steps - it's worth
considering a Shortcut.

Cheers,

Jason

Jason Davies

unread,
Apr 8, 2020, 5:46:02 AM4/8/20
to 'Paul R Owen' via Sussex Mac User Group
Your answer made me realise I assumed iOS; is it it Mac? The answer will
vary dramatically according to which it is. (And please don't anyone go
all LMUG on me...!)

Cheers,
J

On 8 Apr 2020, at 10:09, 'Paul R Owen' via Sussex Mac User Group wrote:

> Take a look at this eBook.
>
>
>
> <<https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/automating/>>
>
>
>
> Paul Owen


Cheers,

Jason

Stephen Watson

unread,
Apr 10, 2020, 8:02:59 AM4/10/20
to sm...@googlegroups.com
Hello all,

I was going to send this directly to Adam but felt that it may be of use to all so ...

Bit of a long email, but hey, it’s a holiday weekend 😄🏖

Shortcuts is an amazing app and very flexible but it still requires some study and a certain mindset. However much companies like to dress things up these days, as in “You don’t need to be a programmer to use ...” well no you don’t, but you still need to be able to think a bit along those lines. This isn’t intended as a discouragement, far from it, as I think even a little bit of Shortcuts practice is well repaid with a whole load of new capabilities for you on iOS / iPadOS.

I have written one that on a single tap, checks me in and out at work, logging my times in Reminders so that I can update my timesheet later. I have one to set a sequence of Reminders for when I’m baking bread that asks if I’m making white/wholemeal, tells me when it will be ready then tells me when I need to fold, fold again, switch on the oven, etc. Also, you can bulk remove all your completed reminders, have it play the entire album containing the song you are listening to in Apple Music and a LOT more!

Federico Viticci at https://www.macstories.net/ is the main man for Shortcuts and a browse through that site will yield much discussion of and articles about Shortcuts. David Sparks has done an introduction too which I don’t have but is probably accessible and straightforward as he is that kind of guy - https://learn.macsparky.com/p/shortcuts13/

Rosemary Orchard also has a book on Shortcuts - https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/shortcuts/ She is full of enthusiasm and I always love listening to her on the MacSparky podcast.

Last but not least is Apple’s own documentation: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/shortcuts/welcome/3.2/ios/13.2

And really last!, are two great new Shortcuts-related apps that I’ve found via MacStories - LaunchCuts ( https://launchcuts.com/ ) which is a vast improvement to Apple’s interface for managing your Shortcuts. Another, is Toolbox Pro which adds a who load of enhancements to many, many areas of Shortcuts to allow you to write things that would not have been possible otherwise ( https://toolboxpro.app/ )

Then there’s the iPad itself.

I’ve been a Macintosh user continuously since 1984 and there’s nothing I’d rather use as a desktop/laptop computer. I still have my MacBook Pro and I realised that in addition to Xcode and Curio which I mentioned in my previous email, the third reason I still need it is because Apple still don’t allow ANY way in iPadOS to update the metadata in Photos. As someone who has just added 627 scanned slides taken over a 30 year period to Photos, the inability to geotag them, add keywords, titles or descriptions on iPadOS is a source of recurrent frustration. It’s easy to do on the Mac. So, it may be very clever and analyse my photos so that I can search for cats and/or dogs, but it can’t determine MY cats and dogs without the help of a Mac because I can’t enter their names anywhere at all.

I think Federico Viticci summed it up very well in his most recent article on the iPad where he wrote:

“The more I think about it, the more I come to this conclusion: the iPad, unlike other computers running a “traditional” desktop OS, possesses the unique quality of being multiple things at once. Hold an iPad in your hands, and you can use it as a classic tablet; pair it with a keyboard cover, and it takes on a laptop form; place it on a desk and connect it to a variety of external accessories, and you’ve got a desktop workstation revolving around a single slab of glass. This multiplicity of states isn’t an afterthought, nor is it the byproduct of happenstance: it was a deliberate design decision on Apple’s part based on the principle of modularity.”

Personally, I think that the 11” iPad Pro 4G is the most satisfying piece of technology that Apple have ever made/I’ve ever used. To have all that power, speed, flexibility, storage, lightness and elegance that I can slide into a narrow slot in my small shoulder bag is a joy.

At the moment I’m typing onto my Logitech K380 keyboard and my iPad is in a small stand that looks like the bottom of an iMac ( https://www.cultofmac.com/564543/abovetek-ipad-stand-review/  ). It’s like a desktop computer at the moment. It’s the flexibility I love about it. I’m really looking forward to the release of the Magic Keyboard especially having read about the excellent re-imagined trackpad support/interface in iPadOS 13.4.

The change that really allowed me to jump to the iPad was iPadOS as it finally supports local storage (fairly) properly. Prior to this version of the OS, the storage space on an iPad could only be used by apps. In iPadOS, the Files app finally allows me to create my own local folders in any arrangement I want and store my files there. I moved about 150GB of files from my MacBook Pro onto my iPad - now I have every photo I’ve ever taken since 1974, videos, Pages documents, sound recordings, choir rehearsal parts and scores and much more all on something I can slip in a shoulder bag. And it’s faster than my MacBook in terms of performance. The downside is still file handling though; applying and organising tags, which I use extensively, is dreadful on iPadOS. So is the fact that that it won’t tell me the total size of a folder and it’s contents! These are such weird omissions and I’m just hoping that iPadOS 14 will address them.

Apart from the uses mentioned above, I can do just about everything I need on here as nearly every Mac program I used has an iPad equivalent. I do still flip to Pages on the Mac sometimes to edit our parish magazine. Sometimes I slip back to the Mac simply because it’s there when I ought to push it a bit in Pages (for example) to see if I can do it all on my iPad! And of course, there is the Apple Pencil as well which is so elegant and useful in its V2 incarnation.

I think that’s enough enough for now. If you want to ask anything in particular I’ll try to answer/explain in case you’re thinking of moving to iPad. If you are, I’d strongly suggest you read Mr Viticci. In a video interview on MacStories there a video interview between him and Craig Federichi of Apple where Craig says “I don’t feel we’ve properly released iOS/iPadOS until I’ve read your iOS review”! Federico gets iPad in a way that resonates really strongly with me.

OK - I’m heading out to the sunshine now (out the back of the house, of course!)

Enjoy your weekend everyone and stay safe.

All the best lovely SMUGgers,

Stephen

You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it. ~ Carl Jung



You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it. ~ Carl Jung
On 7 Apr 2020, at 21:47, mac98aop <adamp...@gmail.com> wrote:


Nobody minds!

London MUG is just, well, a little more London - events, socials, membership... and I've never made it along.

And in current pandemic, won't be for a while. 

Speaking of the pandemic, I'm hoping to put some of the diary space to good use and wanted to get my head around the Shortcuts App. Any tips? I really find it rather complicated! Every workflow I create is basically already a Siri function. Anything more complicated seems incredibly non-intuitive. Any tips, pointers or reference sites? I've Googled it but wouldn't mind the SMUG filter!

And Stephen, fascinated to know you're 95% iPad only. I'm wondering the same and the new iPad with that 'floating effect keyboard' trackpad and Apple pencil looks a really good setup indeed.

Do hope you're all safe and well SMUGGERS

Adam


On Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 12:39:00 PM UTC+1, Jason Davies wrote:
On 4 Apr 2020, at 9:44, mac98aop wrote:

>  SMUG has some tried and tested charm, the friendliest most helpful
> community,

Seconded: I joined SMUG about 20 years ago, after looking at quite a few
that were outside London, because London MUG was an absolute disaster of
a list (I wonder if it's any better now?)

I'm now in Buckinghamshire and am hoping no one minds...

Cheers,

Jason

Paul R Owen

unread,
Apr 10, 2020, 10:54:55 AM4/10/20
to SMUG
Hi Stephen,

Interesting post.

If you’d like to see Rosemary Orchard, have a look at the ZOOM video tutorial available from ScreencastsOnline.com which has just been released. She appears about half way through. She looks as good as her voice sounds!  You can get a free trial of ScreencastsOnline.

Paul Owen

Tilly

unread,
May 5, 2020, 6:17:19 AM5/5/20
to Sussex Mac User Group
HI all,
I was an early member, coming over to Brighton from Worthing to meet up with Jason KitKat in the premises of his business (am I remembering that right?). It was more about the monthly f2f meetings then for me, and I loved listening to all the knowledgable Mac users and getting insight into the latest developments. I think the last meeting I attended was in the pub near the station. I was happy to be able to stay on the list when I moved to the Midlands, because of the amazing expertise (Sam!!) in the group.
Thanks for all the help over the years,
Tilly Harrison (nee Warren)
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages