PLEASE NOTE we are now commencing at 6:30pm, half an hour earlier than
our old starting time, as it will not be possible to enter the new venue
after 8pm. A sign with a phone number will be posted at the entrance of
200 Victoria St. to call and gain entrance to the building.
Start: Aug 4 2015 18:30
End: Aug 4 2015 20:30
Location: 200 Victoria St. Carlton VIC 3053
Link: http://luv.asn.au/meetings/map
Speakers:
• Jon Oxer, Open Machines Building Open Hardware
• Chris Samuel, VLSCI: Supercomputing for Life Sciences
Jon Oxer, Open Machines Building Open Hardware
The "Open" revolution has passed through a series of stages. First, Open
software was built on closed toolchains such as compilers and source
code management systems. Then the toolchains themselves opened up,
giving us a fully Open software stack and toolchain. Then Open Source
Hardware (OSH) began to give us accessible physical platforms on which
to run our code, but the hardware itself was still designed on closed
tools. Then the rise of FOSS CAD (Computer Aided Design) projects such
as KiCad and gEDA allowed us to design our OSH projects using Open
tools. But even OSH projects designed using FOSS tools are typically
manufactured using big, expensive, closed-source machines such as
pick-and-place robots.
Now even that barrier is being broken down by Open Source. The last 12
months has seen a rapid expansion of the Open revolution into the
electronics manufacturing space, with a combination of motion control
systems, machine chassis reference designs, and FOSS CAM (Computer Aided
Manufacturing) software projects maturing into credible competitors to
the entrenched proprietary CAM equipment suppliers. In this talk
Jonathan will demonstrate how he combined a variety of Open Source
projects to build his own pick-and-place machine for about $1000 over
just a few weeks of spare time, allowing him to assemble Open Hardware
projects using Open machines right from the bare PCB.
He'll also bring along his pick-and-place machine so you can see it in
action.
Jon Oxer is happiest when working right at the intersection of hardware,
software, mechatronics, and magic. He's past President of Linux
Australia, founder of web application development company IVT, founder
of open hardware manufacturer Freetronics, and author or co-author of a
number of books including "How To Build A Website And Stay Sane",
"Ubuntu Hacks", "Quickstart Guide to Google AdWords", and "Practical
Arduino". Follow his adventures at http://jon.oxer.com.au/ and
http://twitter.com/jonoxer
Chris Samuel, VLSCI: Supercomputing for Life Sciences
The Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative is a supercomputer
centre for life sciences hosted at the University of Melbourne and
serves a wide range of projects and researchers. Chris will cover the
various aspects of this site including the supercomputers (past, present
and future) and other hardware and the software that's used to run them
as well as some case studies into things that can go wrong.
Chris Samuel has been running computer systems since the early 1990's
and has been using Linux since 1993. He's run more different UNIX
variants than he could shake a rather large stick at and has been
working with supercomputers for the last decade. He is currently the
Senior Systems Administrator with the Victorian Life Sciences
Computation Initiative (VLSCI) based at the University of Melbourne.
Before and/or after each meeting those who are interested are welcome to
join other members for dinner. We are open to suggestions for a good
place to eat near our venue. Maria's on Peel Street in North Melbourne
is currently the most popular place to eat after meetings.
LUV would like to acknowledge Red Hat for their help in obtaining the
venue and VPAC for hosting.
Linux Users of Victoria Inc. is an incorporated association,
registration number A0040056C.
Start: Jul 18 2015 12:30
End: Jul 18 2015 16:30
Location: RMIT Building 91, 110 Victoria Street, Carlton South
Link: http://luv.asn.au/meetings/map
This month we'll be asking attendees for their pressing Linux and Open
Source issues, and our resident Linux experts will then attempt to
explain the topics to your satisfaction! If you've got something you
always wanted to know more about, or something you'd like to know how to
do, come along and ask.
There will also be the usual casual hands-on workshop, Linux
installation, configuration and assistance and advice. Bring your laptop
if you need help with a particular issue.
LUV would like to acknowledge Red Hat for their help in obtaining the
Trinity College venue and VPAC for hosting.
Linux Users of Victoria Inc., is an incorporated association,
registration number A0040056C.
PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF TIME. It will not be possible to enter the
building after 8pm.
Start: Jul 7 2015 18:30
End: Jul 7 2015 20:30
Location: Trinity College (former EPA building), 200 Victoria St.
Carlton VIC 3053
Link: http://luv.asn.au/meetings/map
Speakers:
• Andrew Pam, An introduction to Ansible
• Russell Coker, BTRFS update
• Lev Lafayette, Educating People to become Linux Users: Some Key
Insights from Adult Education
Andrew Pam, An introduction to Ansible
Quoting from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansible_%28software%29
Ansible is a free software platform for configuring and managing
computers. It combines multi-node software deployment, ad hoc task
execution, and configuration management. It manages nodes over SSH or
PowerShell and requires Python (2.4 or later) to be installed on them.
Modules work over JSON and standard output and can be written in any
programming language. The system uses YAML to express reusable
descriptions of systems.
Andrew Pam first discovered an interest in boolean logic when his mother
carried him in her arms at just the right height to reach light switches
as they passed through doorways. He was lucky enough to go to a school
with an obsolete PDP/8e: switches, lights, core memory, paper tape,
punched cards and all. He first started programming on a TRS-80 model 1
level I and the first computer he owned was a Commodore VIC-20.
Russell Coker, BTRFS update
Quoting from https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page
Btrfs is a new copy on write (CoW) filesystem for Linux aimed at
implementing advanced features while focusing on fault
tolerance, repair and easy administration. Jointly developed at
Oracle, Red Hat, Fujitsu, Intel, SUSE, STRATO and many others,
Btrfs is licensed under the GPL and open for contribution from
anyone.
Russell Coker has been working on SE Linux since 2001. He writes most of
the policy for Debian. He has done lots of other Linux development over
the years, mostly involved with Debian development.
Lev Lafayette, Educating People to become Linux Users: Some Key Insights
from Adult Education
We all want people to use Linux in favour of non-FOSS operating systems.
But how do we convince them to do so? Having done so, how do we convince
them to become good computer users who will use their systems in an
effective manner? "User education" is a much-lauded phrase in the IT
world, but in many cases technology specialists have expressed a great
deal of frustration in their attempts. However it doesn't have to be
this way. Key insights from adult education can be applied to Linux user
education successfully. In particular, educators will be successful if
they take a systemic approach to the subject using andragogical
techniques when evaluating the audience, the content, and the delivery.
The end result is users who are motivated, who know what they are
capable of, and have the motivation to find out more.
Lev Lafayette is a committee member and past president of Linux Users of
Victoria who collects postgraduate degrees when not being a political
trouble-maker. He has been involved in computer systems education and
training for quite a while, and in the past few years through his
employment at the Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing (VPAC)
has conducted such sessions for researchers at the University of
Melbourne, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, La Trobe
University, the Australian Synchrotron, the University of Sydney, the
Australian Institute of Marine Science, the Australian Institute for
Health Innovation at Macquarie University, the University of New South
Wales... and many other places.
Before and/or after each meeting those who are interested are welcome to
join other members for dinner. We are open to suggestions for a good
place to eat near our venue. Maria's on Peel Street in North Melbourne
is currently the most popular place to eat after meetings.
LUV would like to acknowledge Red Hat for their help in obtaining the
venue and VPAC for hosting.
Linux Users of Victoria Inc. is an incorporated association,
registration number A0040056C.