Your Computer User Group of the Air!

Joining the NEW (as of 2025) Lounge!

And remember - the Lounge is open from 9 PM to 10 PM Eastern every Sunday night - join us!

With the sale of Mastermind Lounge , we have to find a new place to play. Google Meet limits us to exactly one hour (and we so often run over) unless we pay; Zoom restricts us to 40 minutes (seriously?) unless we pay. So... what do we do?

Enter Matrix.org and their plethora of clients.

At first, I was opposed to the idea of asking people to install a client. But five things were in its favor:

It's all open source
It's all free
Matrix seems to have no time limits
There are clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS (so far)
We used to install clients for Second Life, so this isn't all that unusual

BREAKING NEWS! Now there's a Web client, too! (but I haven't had time to play with that one) So you Chromebook and game console folk can join, too! If you're using the Web interface, skip to step 3).

Here's how to play along at home:

Stuff You Need to Do Only Once

1) Go get the Element client:

Or, if you prefer, there are other clients. None of us has tested them, however.

2) Once you've installed Element, open it.

========== Start here if you're using the Web client ==========.

3) The first thing you'll have to do is create an account:

BE AWARE: This is your permanent name on the entire system. Choose wisely. You can change your displayed name, but not your account name. Your account name has to be in all lowercase. No, I don't know why. You'll be asked to verify your account, so enter a real email address.

4) Once you're past the create-and-verify dance, you'll come to the Welcome/Home screen.
In the upper right corner, you'll see Search:

5) Click on it, and you'll see the search window:

6) Click on Public rooms - not Public spaces:

7) In the search area, type #SoundBytes:matrix.org just as you see it there:

8) Click Join #SoundBytes:matrix.org as you see it in the gray area above. And you're in the party!

9) Once Nick starts the video chat, you'll see a button in the upper left corner to join:

10) The first time, your system may ask you to verify that you want to let Element access your camera and microphone.

And that's it! Once you're in, you're in!

As always, you DO NOT have to turn on your camera or microphone. You're welcome to just type in the chat area, or just hang out and listen.

Stuff You Need to Do Every Week

Just one thing - start Element. It remembers you, your settings, and the rooms you've joined. You'll automatically be dropped into the last room you used, which for most of you will be the Sound Bytes room, so you don't even have to worry about that. Your camera will only be available when Nick starts the video chat, so be patient.

If you're using the Web client, you may have to sign in. You did save your password, didn't you?

Again, as always, you DO NOT have to turn on your camera or microphone. You're welcome to just type in the chat area, or just hang out and listen.

Also, please note that this may not be our final solution. But it looks like a good one.

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