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.