Greetings List Lurkers,
FN has this weekend given birth to a Dynamiel-based Differential Drive...
We are currently arguing about how to get hold of feedback information.
Ah, the joys of robotics in the summer...
The shower is complete! That said casa Flint continues 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...
The latest place for the 20 watt high powered Light Emitting Diode array
is something that came out of Matt Flego and the Generator... Stay tuned
for "The Skatebot" a safety feature maybe. These lights are amazing.
There are now additional pictures of the LEDroid here
(https://vimeo.com/132668052) and on the LEDroid.org site. another
implementation of the Dynamixel serveos. In addition we are in
mid-production of a batch of 4X100 Watt "berserker beast" lights with
controllers. The coming development of the Butter-flying Capacitor 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 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.
The Vermont Computing Cooperative of Randolph Vermont
(http://vermontcomputing.com/) is moving right along, and there may be
some additional positive developments in the coming weeks. 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.
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.
The new shower at casa Flint rocks!
Kindest Regards,
Paul Flint
(802) 479-2360
(802) 595-9365 Cell
/************************************
Based upon email reliability concerns,
please send an acknowledgment in response to this note.
Paul Flint
Barre Open Systems Institute
17 Averill Street
Barre, VT
05641
http://www.bosivt.org
http://family.flint.com/flint
skype: flintinfotech
Work: (202) 537-0480
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