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Thread: Announcement: Migration to Zoom and Treeleaf NOW 2.0 on Saturday October 19

  1. #1
    Treeleaf Priest / Engineer Sekishi's Avatar
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    Virginia, USA

    Exclamation Announcement: Migration to Zoom and Treeleaf NOW 2.0 on Saturday October 19

    Hello everyone,

    As you may know, Google is retiring "Hangouts" which we have used for all Treeleaf sittings and meetings for many years now. Deep bows to Hangouts for allow us to practice together and manifest Sangha throughout that time.

    For the past two months we have been working on transitioning away from Hangouts to software called "Zoom." Some of the daily sitting groups in both the Scheduled Sitting Room and Free Sitting Room have been testing Zoom and an updated Treeleaf NOW 2.0. And of course the Zazenkai has been on Zoom for over a month now.

    We will complete the transition to Zoom tomorrow Saturday October 19 at around 12:30pm EDT (basically after Shinshi's hosted Fukudenkai is complete).


    Treeleaf NOW 2.0

    On Saturday, the big change will be that the Treeleaf NOW feature (at treeleaf.org/now) will be updated to a new version we've been testing that integrates Zoom for all meetings. Once this new "NOW 2.0" is in place, I will go through and review and update the calendar to use new links and instructions as appropriate (which is to say -- do not trust the calendar on Saturday afternoon!).

    One nice thing about the switch to Zoom is that the Zazenkai no longer has different instructions or a special link. It will always take place in the new Scheduled Sitting Room. So joining will be the same as joining any scheduled daily sitting.

    If anyone would like a sneak peak at the new Treeleaf 2.0, is available here (for the next 24 hours anyway): https://www.treeleaf.org/now2/


    The New Rooms

    In addition to being able to access the new Zoom rooms at any time through the new Treeleaf NOW, the three rooms also have permanent "meeting IDs", so you can join them at any time from a Zoom client just by entering the appropriate meeting id:

    - Meeting Room (Oryoki, Tonglen, Fukudenkai, Ango Groups): 483 483 1200 -- Please note that this replaces both the old "Meeting Room" AND the old "Sewing Room".
    - Scheduled Sitting Room (daily scheduled sittings and weekly Zazenkai): 483 483 1244
    - Free Sitting Room (join any time to offer your sitting to others): 483 483 1253


    About Zoom

    Zoom is available on all of the major platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android) and is free use. If you want to host your own meetings (that are more than 40 minutes long, or stream them to Youtube) you would need a paid license, but for joining any Treeleaf hosted event, you can use Zoom for free. If you have not installed Zoom, you can either go directly to https://zoom.us/ or when you try to join one of the Treeleaf meetings you will be given instructions for how to download it.

    The Zazenkai will of course also continue to be streamed one-way on youtube (the video will typically be posted about 10 minutes prior to the Zazenkai).


    Zoom Tips and Tricks

    Here are a few notes and tips we have collected over the past weeks of testing Zoom:

    - When you first join, you'll need to choose an audio source (usually you can simply select "Join with Computer Audio" on desktop or "Call using Internet Audio" on mobile).
    - When you first join any Treeleaf meeting, you should be automatically muted.

    - Each participant can switch between the "speaker view" (the default view) and "gallery view" (a grid / Hollywood Squares / Brady Bunch style view) - whenever they would like
    -- On desktop, click the "gallery view" / "speaker view" toggle button on the top right
    -- On mobile, swipe right for "gallery views" -- only 4 participants are shown at a time on mobile, so keep swiping right to go through different groups, swipe left to go back to the "gallery view"

    - You can mute, unmute, etc. with the control bar on the bottom of the screen
    -- On desktop, hover the mouse over the window and the control bar should pop up
    -- On mobile, tap the screen and the control bar should pop up
    -- On mobile, so that your own picture does not take up one of the four slots you see, you can tap for the control bar, then tap "... menu" and select "Remove myself from gallery view"

    - The free version of Zoom will only allow you to HOST meetings up to 40 minutes long, but you can JOIN meetings of any length (the Zazenkai, etc.) with it.

    - If you are on a slow Internet connection and are experiencing drop-outs, try turning off video (you can always turn it on for a bit at the beginning and end to wave and bow to everyone)


    Gassho,
    Sekishi
    #sat
    Sekishi | 石志 | He/him | Better with a grain of salt, but best ignored entirely.

  2. #2
    Member Onka's Avatar
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    May 2019
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    Rural Queensland, so-called Australia
    Fancy!
    Seriously though I'm incredibly thankful to the tech ninja's because without you I'd have no Zendo to attend, no Teacher (s) and no Sangha to call home.
    Again, thank you.
    Gassho
    Anna
    st

    Sent from my Lenovo TB-8304F1 using Tapatalk
    穏 On (Calm)
    火 Ka (Fires)
    They/She.

  3. #3
    Thank you for this work and so much else that you do. _()_ _()_ _()_

    gassho
    Doyu sat/lah today
    Visiting unsui: use salt

  4. #4
    Great! Thanks for your work on this.

    Is there a Zazenkai scheduled tonight? I saw it this morning and now it has vanished.

    Gassho
    Ishin
    Sat/lah
    Grateful for your practice

  5. #5
    Thank you!
    Gassho,
    Kotei sat/lah today.

    義道 冴庭 / Gidō Kotei.
    Being a novice priest doesn't mean my writing about the Dharma is more substantial than yours. Actually, it might well be the other way round.

  6. #6
    Treeleaf Priest / Engineer Sekishi's Avatar
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    Virginia, USA
    Quote Originally Posted by Ishin View Post
    Is there a Zazenkai scheduled tonight? I saw it this morning and now it has vanished.
    Its up. But I see you posted there already. So I guess all is well.

    Gassho,
    Sekishi
    #sat
    Sekishi | 石志 | He/him | Better with a grain of salt, but best ignored entirely.

  7. #7
    Treeleaf Priest / Engineer Sekishi's Avatar
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    Apr 2013
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    Virginia, USA
    Hi everyone,

    I believe everything is up to date and using the new system now.

    As I mentioned before, the calendar updates were a manual process, so I may have missed one here or there. If you host or regularly attend a sitting, let me know if you see any issues with the calendar:
    https://www.treeleaf.org/now/#calendar

    Host How-To

    If you host a sitting or meeting, the new system should more or less work the same as it did with Hangouts (except that it uses Zoom of course). That was the goal anyhow...

    1. Make sure you have Zoom installed on the device you are using.
    2. Go to Treeleaf NOW: https://www.treeleaf.org/now/
    3. On the top menu, go to "Rooms (Quicklinks)", and select the appropriate room. Click / tap the room name.
    4. This will take you to a page with information about the room, room etiquette, etc.
    5. To join, either:
    -- Click / tap the "Join this Meeting Room"
    -- OR take the meeting ID displayed in bold (e.g. 483 483 1253 or similar) and then in Zoom choose "Join Meeting" and enter the ID

    Have your meeting or sitting.

    6. When finished, exit the meeting with the button that says something like "leave this meeting open for others to join" (it is labelled differently depending on Zoom client version / platform).
    -- Unless you are logged in with one of the meeting moderator you should *NOT* be able to close the meeting for others no matter what you click, so do not worry too much about this step!

    Gassho,
    Sekishi
    #sat
    Sekishi | 石志 | He/him | Better with a grain of salt, but best ignored entirely.

  8. #8
    Thank you Sekishi. As far as I can tell Zoom has been a good replacement for Google Hangouts


    Tairin
    Sat today and lah
    泰林 - Tai Rin - Peaceful Woods

  9. #9
    Many thanks for setting all up and going through the technical details

    Gassho
    Souchi

    SatToday

  10. #10
    Thank you Sekishi, I'm downloading it right away.

    Gassho,
    Jack
    Sattoday/lah

  11. #11
    Treeleaf Priest / Engineer Sekishi's Avatar
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    Virginia, USA
    Just a note for folks - there was a hiccup with the calendar this morning where it would not adjust the event times if you changed timezones. This has been fixed.

    Gassho,
    Sekishi
    #sat #lah
    Sekishi | 石志 | He/him | Better with a grain of salt, but best ignored entirely.

  12. #12
    Member Seishin's Avatar
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    La Croix-Avranchin, Basse Normandie, France
    Thank you Sekishi, all working fine since updating the links to the new pages.

    One question is there a setting which allows the camera to be activated automatically. Can't see anything obvious, so turning the camera on may be the default. Was going to flag it up during beta testing but it was only a minor inconvenience, a bit like mic muting in HO.

    Sat / lah


    Seishin

    Sei - Meticulous
    Shin - Heart

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Seishin View Post
    Thank you Sekishi, all working fine since updating the links to the new pages.

    One question is there a setting which allows the camera to be activated automatically. Can't see anything obvious, so turning the camera on may be the default. Was going to flag it up during beta testing but it was only a minor inconvenience, a bit like mic muting in HO.

    Sat / lah
    Seishin,

    When I join on my phone (android) or Laptop (windows), I get a preview screen for video. Where I can choose to join with or without video; at the bottom of that dialog box there is a check box (or toogle) to selected "Always show video preview dialog when joining a video meeting", if you switch that to the "negative" or uncheck the box then you will automatically join with video.

    Gassho,

    Shoka
    sat/lah

  14. #14
    Treeleaf Priest / Engineer Sekishi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shoka View Post
    When I join on my phone (android) or Laptop (windows), I get a preview screen for video. Where I can choose to join with or without video; at the bottom of that dialog box there is a check box (or toogle) to selected "Always show video preview dialog when joining a video meeting", if you switch that to the "negative" or uncheck the box then you will automatically join with video.
    Thank you Shoka.

    I did look in the settings for the three "meeting rooms" and they all already have the default set to "start participants with video". I think Zoom wants to put at least a little speed-bump in place to allow people to decide not to broadcast video to the world.

    Gassho,
    Sekishi
    #sat
    Sekishi | 石志 | He/him | Better with a grain of salt, but best ignored entirely.

  15. #15
    Member Seishin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sekishi View Post
    Thank you Shoka.

    I did look in the settings for the three "meeting rooms" and they all already have the default set to "start participants with video". I think Zoom wants to put at least a little speed-bump in place to allow people to decide not to broadcast video to the world.

    Gassho,
    Sekishi
    #sat
    Thank you both for clarifying, been a bit distracted by UK politics and not ignoring you.
    I had Always Show Video Preview and Always Turn Off My Video both enabled in Meetings Settings. I've disabled both of these but when joining the FSR the Camera icon is still red lined and inactive. So I'll just live with it. But thanks all the same.

    Sat


    Seishin

    Sei - Meticulous
    Shin - Heart

  16. #16
    Thank you so much for this Sekishi.
    Gassho
    Meitou
    Sattoday
    命 Mei - life
    島 Tou - island

  17. #17
    FWIW, sometimes when I am alone in 1253, I switch from sideways zazen to "mirror zen" à la the Kamakura nuns: https://www.tlayt.org/mirror-zen-koans-30/ for awhile. Transiency can hit hard when I'm doing that:

    As stars, a fault of vision, as a lamp,
    A mock show, dew drops, or a bubble,
    A dream, a lightning flash, or cloud,
    So should one view what is conditioned. -- Conze tr.
    Screen Shot 2019-12-05 at 9.17.19 AM.jpg

    gassho
    doyu sat today
    Last edited by Shōnin Risa Bear; 12-05-2019 at 05:35 PM. Reason: typo
    Visiting unsui: use salt

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Doyū View Post
    FWIW, sometimes when I am alone in 1253, I switch from sideways zazen to "mirror zen" à la the Kamakura nuns: https://www.tlayt.org/mirror-zen-koans-30/ for awhile. Transiency can hit hard when I'm doing that:



    Screen Shot 2019-12-05 at 9.17.19 AM.jpg

    gassho
    doyu sat today
    Thank you for sharing this Doyu, I love the idea, the story, and the poems and responses.
    Gassho
    Meitou
    sattodaylah
    命 Mei - life
    島 Tou - island

  19. #19
    Treeleaf Priest / Engineer Sekishi's Avatar
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    Virginia, USA
    Sekishi | 石志 | He/him | Better with a grain of salt, but best ignored entirely.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Doyū View Post
    FWIW, sometimes when I am alone in 1253, I switch from sideways zazen to "mirror zen" à la the Kamakura nuns: https://www.tlayt.org/mirror-zen-koans-30/ for awhile. Transiency can hit hard when I'm doing that:



    Screen Shot 2019-12-05 at 9.17.19 AM.jpg

    gassho
    doyu sat today
    Lovely! I will try that sometime. Great link too.

    Gassho,
    Jakuden
    SatToday/LAH

  21. #21
    FWIW, sometimes when I am alone in 1253, I switch from sideways zazen to "mirror zen" à la the Kamakura nuns: https://www.tlayt.org/mirror-zen-koans-30/ for awhile. Transiency can hit hard when I'm doing that:

    As stars, a fault of vision, as a lamp,
    A mock show, dew drops, or a bubble,
    A dream, a lightning flash, or cloud,
    So should one view what is conditioned. -- Conze tr.
    Screen Shot 2019-12-05 at 9.17.19 AM.jpg

    gassho
    doyu sat today
    Thank you Doyu This looks nice indeed.

    Gassho
    Washin
    sat today
    Kaidō (皆道) Every Way
    Washin (和信) Harmony Trust
    ----
    I am a novice priest-in-training. Anything that I say must not be considered as teaching
    and should be taken with a 'grain of salt'.

  22. #22
    Hello

    I wanted to join the FSR with my Zoom Phone App and I typed in the Meeting ID as 483 483 1253 but the app asks me for a Meeting Passcode and I'm not sure what to type.
    Please pardon my ignorance.

    Gassho,
    Hoko

    SatToday and LAH
    法 Dharma
    口 Mouth

  23. #23
    Hi Hoko

    I think the password is on the forums but will message you with it just to be safe.

    Gassho
    Kokuu
    -sattoday-

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Kokuu View Post
    Hi Hoko

    I think the password is on the forums but will message you with it just to be safe.

    Gassho
    Kokuu
    -sattoday-
    I got it!
    Thank you!

    Gashho,
    Hoko

    SatToday and LAH
    法 Dharma
    口 Mouth

  25. #25
    Thank you for all of the work on this.

    Sat Today
    Adam

  26. #26
    Member Yokai's Avatar
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    Havelock North, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
    Deep bows Sekishi and anyone else who keeps the tech humming, we wouldn't be here without you!

    Gassho, Yokai (Chris) sat/lah
    Last edited by Yokai; 02-05-2021 at 04:52 AM.

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