Greetings List Lurkers,
Well this email fixes a very long sanding inaccuracy in the BOSI Adult
Swim invitation and progress letter. No less than Dvorak Tom, a long
standing participant, and a bit of a non conformist (ever try to type on
a Dvorak mapped keyboard?), pointed out that for the last several years we
have been mentioning "Linux World" as being at the library. In fact, the
publication maintained at the Aldrich Library in Barre is "Linux Format",
which is the one with the handy-dandy CD. Just so you know that we can
correct long standing screwups...
Casa Flint is deep into the process of getting a new roof. This had the
same organizational effect as say exploding a bomb in my man cave...thus
we are even less organized and the roof is literally falling in...
meh, we will recover...
I continue to install 20 watt high powered Light Emitting Diode array
illumination all over the house and work area. This stuff is amazing.
The latest is to replace a fluorescent fixture in the hallway. As indirect
lighting these things are the bomb. Matt Fuego suggested an idea that I
am going to head back to the Generator to try with these bright beasts.
I What an excellent source of illumination. Expect to see some additional
pictures of this on the LEDroid.org site. In addition we are in
mid-production of a batch of 4X100 Watt "berserker beast" lights with
controllers. With the coming development of the Butter-flying Capacitor
this will really fulfill an idea hanging around my head for the last few
years. The good news is that the PChannel Power FETs from Newark made the
leap. As mentioned already, this Bright Idea now has a name, LEDroid, and
oddly enough, a web site:
http://ledroid.org/
I am currently working on test-ability for these little guys. The big
breakthrough this weekend is that you can check the operation of the Pulse
Width Modulation system using good old "xoscope". What a fine piece of
FOSS that stands the test of time. Anyone out there who has ideas about
Very Bright illumination, drop me a line, as it has been a very
illuminating experience for yours truly.
In addition to the roof, I believe I can see the finish of the shower
project at casa open source I really want this to end so I can take a
shower.
The Vermont Computing Cooperative of Randolph Vermont
(http://vermontcomputing.com/) is moving right along. be aware that Ian,
Matt, Bob, Dan et al. have taken Open Source by the horns and formed a
Worker owned computer cooperative. This remains the candidate for the
coolest thing of the year. What I am trying to figure out is what would
be a better model for Barre? Should we try to get a maker space going
like the Generator or is the Co-op route the better way. Only time (and
whoever wants to get involved) will tell.
I really think that the folks at VCC are onto something, actually three
things:
1. The Co-op
2. Pixels and Bricks
3. Vermont Cell Phone repair
Let me say that anyone with assignments or service opportunities should
contact Mr. Ian Stewart of VCC, Randoph. They stand behind their IT
product. These are good folks and this is a shameless plug. Keep the
faith VCC!
Anyway, we have the technology and we will have the pizza...
This is the official notice of the Barre Open Systems Institute (BOSI) Adult
Swim. For those coming in via the Google Plus and the Internet, The swim stars
at 5:00 PM EST, our continuing vanity being to include a goggle hangout, which
we will get going this time at https://www.google.com/calendar/render?pli=1
until 6:00 PM EST. Note that we really want to support TOX based video
conferencing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tox_%28software%29).
As I mentioned before, I may have puzzled out how to get our G+ meeting
running from a shell script.
We have cracked the code for bash2G+.sh. Stand by... Hopefully this will
allow us to get together with J. Hart who
continues to meet with us from western New York
on Google Plus. So this meeting we will start G+ at 17:00! I hope
that this works out to be a reliable way of getting a Google plus session going
at every meeting... We shall see!
Our ongoing major objective is to continue to try to figure out how to invest
the time and resources to turn the Barre Open Systems Institute into more than
just the Adult Swim technical clinic and more into a real learning facility.
One direction we have been working on is to begin thinking about classes. The
curriculum that I am most interested in is teaching documentation.
We continue to wonder about how to build the BOSI curriculum to this webpage:
http://bosivt.org/classes Take a look if you dare...
As I cannot say too damn often, the meeting today is at 40 Washington Street,
Barre, VT 05641 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM!
Remember, the BOSI Adult Swim is essentially about helping out fellow users of
open source products in a clinic environment. Despite my very best of
intentions, the Adult Swim is really almost a perpetual Linux install-fest, and
only secondarily a learning environment,
Once again, the goal of the meeting shall be as usual, to get organized
and try to get the various projects moving forward.
The ever growing list of projects (now on our web site :^) includes:
- http://ledroid.org - Ok, this is a real project eh?
- http://bzinga.net - What happens when you combine Bash and Zenity?
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/nodejs - ok, it is on the list.
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/snobot - jesum they love this robot
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/furmon - monitor that pellet furnace
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/arduino - moving in the arduino groove
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/javajive - to get better at Javascript
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/tsp - Temperature Sensors Project
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/robotsrules - The quest for Roberts Rules -
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/visual.bash - Yea, I am not kidding...
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/mrtg - remedial raw mrtg for the slow...
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/raspberry - all versions
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/strembot.org - maybe a very cool project.
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/organized - oh please let me be organized!
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/music - this may be the least organized
site ever!
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/bb - A big noble idea.
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/grantbot - A less noble idea to feed the
big idea...
Otherwise, Barre indeed remains a great venue for a Linux and Open Source
Software discussion and general system rejuvenation. Expect to be remotely
preached at on the various topics of Open Source and how I am confident it
shall cure all the evils and ills of this wicked world. In a perfect meeting,
people would come in, sit down, see the stuff we have been doing and hopefully
help us get the DIY stuff we are doing done, or maybe just fix a laptop.
So, do not forget that the Barre library stocks "Linux Format" (note the
revision! :^), and the latest issue is on the shelf, and it is good. The
DVD's are available to checkout and copy, we shall to continue provide
copies and isos of each and every one. I am continuing to duplicate abot a
years worth of Linux Format DVD's which is quite a task. Anyway, come and
do open source stuff. For more information about the BOSI Adult Swim
meeting time and location try this:
http://bosivt.org/directions
Show up at Hedding UMC if you have questions or are interested in Linux or the
concept of free and open systems. Again, we are in the basement of the Hedding
UMC facility which is actually working out pretty well.
If you wish to be included on the "Linux_adult_swim" mailing list, send a
response to this note.
After I finish the new group shower, and the roof we fully intend to get
organized. I mean it this time.
