MawsonLakes.Org

Box for Huxley Reprap

2012-01-31T23:37:00.001+10:30

I have been building a couple of Huxley Repraps, one for myself and assisting in building one for the Adelaide HackerSpace.

In order to be able to design things to print I am going to have to get my head around using CAD. FreeCAD looks like it will do most of the things that I need a CAD program to do, so I have spent a some time learning how to use it by drawing up a box that could be used to store, carry and display the finished Husleys.

It is a 32cm cube, to be made out of 9mm MDF, with rebated joints (glue and screw).

The Huxley will be bolted to the base with the box fitting over the top, similar to a sewing machine case. A method for keeping the base attached to the box has yet to be sorted out, although a sash-clamp/tie-down appears to be the easiest solution.

The inside dimensions are 302x302x302 where the Huxley (according to my measurements) is 295mm high. (So everything should fit... but I need to measure the other dimensions and adjust accordingly... 320mm was a nice initial number to work with.)

I haven't figured out a way to make the circular cuts with the CAD program, so the handle slots are all square.

Powering the OLPC XO-1

2010-10-29T20:38:00.001+10:30

Another device that I thought would be worth trying out with the generator is the laptop from the One Person Per Laptop project, the XO-1.

I have been fortunate and have acquired two of these XO-1's (sparky and sparks). Both of them were pre-release versions and have been superseded in various ways, but they still attach attention when brought out on display. Kid's just love them.

Both XO's were able to be run via the inverter from their charge packs. (One of them has an issue with it's battery taking a charge, which is why it is off in the photo.)

When I get some more Anderson connectors I'll look at how they go when connected directly to the 12v-14v supply.

First Power Generation Application

2010-10-26T23:38:00.002+10:30

I didn't have any luck finding my 240V inverter, but I was able to borrow one from a friend (in exchange for fitting it with an Anderson Powerpole connector.)

So, you have a peddle powered generator.. what's the first application or device that can be tested with his new power source? Being Australian and and an Amateur Radio operator, the first device had to be a radio. (For overseas readers, Australia has a proud history of peddle powered radios, which together with the Flying Doctor service, brought emergency healthcare to the centre of Australia.)

The second application was therefor a peddle powered television.

The small television did not have a rating listed on it anywhere, but after peddling for 30 minues or so, while catching up on the evening news, I would say that it is about 25 or 30W. It is uncertain what the efficiency of the inverter is at this stage.

I see this setup quickly becoming a core part of my exercise program.

Anderson Powerpole Connectors

2010-10-26T23:23:00.001+10:30

With my increasing number of 12V appliances, thoughts quickly turned to what would be an appropriate standard power connector. In the past, these appliances have had a huge range of different sized cylindrical or barrel plugs with different polarities, typically powered by a 240V plug pack.

One DC power connector which has gained some prominence is the 'Powerpole' or 'Anderson' connectors. These connectors have been chosen as the standard DC power connector for Amateur Radio operations, particularly where emergency and disaster relief operations are in mind. (eg. by WICEN)

These connectors have a couple of unique features. The most obvious is their shape.The 'plug' and 'socket' ends are identical (and symmetric) and can be used as either end of a connection. The blade contacts themselves are self cleaning, in that the motion of connection and disconnection allows the terminals to scrape any foreign material from the electrical connection area.

For those mathematically astute people, the connectors are symmetric under a rotation group. (Look out for further discussion of this in another blog post.)

The connectors come in several different ratings, but for the most common sizes for which I'm interested (15amp, 30amp and 45amp), they share the same plug enclosure, but take different sizes/gauge of wire.

There was some research required to relate the US wire specification (maximum current and gauge) with the Australian ratings (maximum current and cable cross section.) Bunnings sells cable for outdoor lighting, which had a cross section of 3.3mm^2, which corresponds to 12 gauge wire, the size that is rated for 30amps. This cable is twin core and all black, not the pretty red and black 'zip cord' that is available from the Anderson Connector distributor, but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

For more information on Anderson Connections see the Powerworx website (a distributor).

Pedal-Power Update

2010-10-22T13:51:00.001+10:30

A very useful site is for Bosch, which produces after market replacement parts. The PDF downloads from this page have all the technical specifications for each vehicle engine type.

The budget

Someone has asked about what the budget was... I have spent maybe $250 up to this point, but now knowing what I need it would be a little less. Some things could be purchased on e-Bay etc.

Bicycle trainer $115 on ebay (mine was new) (eg. http://shop.ebay.com.au/?_nkw=bicycle+trainer) Remove and throw away resistance roller.
Alternator $55. From City Dismantlers, Gepps Cross (Toyota Section) Connecting plug - free - worth asking for it when you get the alternator, as mine was stripped from the wiring of a wreck.
Old wooden shelving $??. It's what I had lying around.
Assorted Hardware: screws, bolts, toggle maybe $60. I used stainless steel toggle for tensioning, and Stainless U-bolts to clamp the trainer to the board. (Not the cheapest solution, but reusable parts.)
Aluminum L section (cut and drilled to suit) $6 Purchased from Bunnings in 1.6m lendth.
12V Battery (required) $28 from Jaycar 12V 6AH Sealed Lead Acid. No reason for this specification other than this is what I had around.
Switches with 'missle cover' $12. Always wanted on of these I want to install add a couple more.. a second one to switch the 'load' on... alternator has some trouble starting to generate if another load is pulling from the battery, and on to isolate the battery.
Spade and Blade Crimp connectors $2.75 (per pack of 8) Various sizes. Still need to find proper size for battery terminal connection to alternator.
Cables $?? Scavenged from various bits and pieces. Plan to use regular extension cable (from Bunnings) to extend 'Ignition' and 'Load' switch so that they are accessible from the handlebars while on the bike. (I might have to rethink this as these are rated for 10A AC, and some of the applications that I am looking at use 30A rated wire.
Anderson Connectors $5 pair from Jaycar. I would like to replace the spade and banana plug connectors that are currently being used, with Anderson 30A connectors where ever possible. (This will be the subject of another blog post with links.)

I have also bought a couple of boxes from Jaycar to mount these swithes, as well as two LED's (and resistor) that replaces the usual 'charge lamp'.

Other considerations/thoughts/things to try..

I have tried making a radio call from the bike, powering my Handheld radio. There was sufficient noise on the supply to be heard on the output, while both receiving and (as reported) transmitting. Some work needs to be done to remove this (Large Capacitor + something else.. got some Amateur Radio friends on the case).

I have a small 240V inverter around somewhere. If I find it, I'll see if it is possible to run a small TV directly while peddling.

A summary, of sorts.

Nothing in this project has really been engineered so I would like at some stage to take a bunch of measurements and do some calculations on the systems efficency etc.

For example, I would love to get a 'current clamp' and get some measurements of the running generator under different loads.

The alternator has a build in voltage regulator, which works by modifying the current in the rotor windings. This means that the choice of peddling rate doesn't particularly matter (voltage remains the same) and the gearing is sufficient to spin up the alternator to fairly high RPM's if required (calculation required).

Thanks everyone for your interest.

Building a Pedel Powered Electric Generator

2010-10-04T12:31:00.006+10:30

Greetings.. over the last couple of months, thoughts and materials have been gathering in order to build a pedal powered electric power supply, which could be used, amongst other things to recharge batteries and to power an amateur radio transceiver.

I am pleased to announce that the first stage of construction, getting an vehicle alternator to reliable produce power, has been achieved.

Pedel Powered Alternator - Stage 1

From pedal-power

I've put some pictures up on the web here.. http://picasaweb.google.com/pschulz01/PedelPower

Stage 1 involved getting the alternator mounted properly and the generate a stable output voltage.. which it did at 14.7V. All that it is currently doing is recharging the battery.

What has been constructed?

Step 1 - The alternator and wiring harness.

An alternator from a local used car parts dealer was purchased. I picked up a Toyota alternator for $55 at Gepps Cross wreckers. I started to build up the wiring harness.. it wasn't really possible to test anything properly as (apparently) the alternator only starts to kick in at around 800-1000 RPM. Some quick calculations indicated that that the racing bike would be able to do provide this (with a direct friction drive with the wheel) at reasonably low speed (6km/h - simulated, it's on a trainer.) It may be necessary to even further reduce the ratio by fitting a larger wheel to the alternator. This would also help with the traction if it was something like a go-cart or small sack truck wheel.

When obtaining the alternator, it is definitely worth asking for the connecting plug at the same time. Mine was stripped from a wreck at the wreckers, and supplied for no cost, which was quite handy. (I did have to go back the day after to ask about getting it though.)

From pedal-power

The alternator was connected up like this...

From pedal-power

Step 2 - Mounting.

The mounting for the alternator was the biggest concern. It needed to be sturdy enough to hold the alternators weight and allow it to be held against the bikes tire and be rigid so that there weren't issues with vibrations as the alternator and the bike wheel were spun up.

A mount made out of welded steel would have been possible, but an old pine board was also handy and fitted the bill quite well. A length was cut to go under the rear struts of the bicycle trainer, and the couple strips of wood were added for feet. The trainer was bolted down to this with a couple of 50mm stainless steel u-bolts.

A stand for the alternator was built from couple of pieces of pine board, length ways. The alternator was mounted by drilling a hole through the boards for a bolt, which allowed the alternator to pivot against the rear wheel of the bike. These boards are held in place by two full length brackets made from aluminium L sections, cut and drilled to suit.

From pedal-power

The final piece of the mounting is an eye-bolt through the other mounting hole on the alternator and a toggle connected to the base of the bicycle trainer stand (where a suitable hole had already been placed), which held the alternator against the tire.

From pedal-power

Step 3 - Assembly and Testing

Everything was assembled and a couple of trial hand cranks were done to run the alternator up. Everything ran smoothly without the alternator energised to produce power.

With the ignition switch on, but with the alternator just resting against the bike tire, the surfaces would slip as the alternator started producing power. This was solved by adjusting the tension in the toggle bolt holding the alternator against the tire.

From pedal-power

While peddling, the alternator produces 14.7-14.8V, and can be used to charge the battery that is currently attached.

What next?

The next step is to see what the system is like generating power for various loads.. and then use it to produce power for real world applications.

I plan to have it on display at the upcoming "Wireless Institute of Australia" National Field Day (aka. national publicity day)on the 23rd of October outside of the Bunnings at Parafield airport.

Update: The local "WIA National Field Day" event ended up being held in the Salisbury Town Centre and the generator was successfully demonstrated to work well.

Part 3a: xlog - Preparing to hack, the aftermath.

2010-03-12T00:10:00.004+10:30

The previously published parts of this series can be found here:

Some build issues...

After completing a build, it would be nice if we could return the code the state we started from. This is actually more than a 'nice to have' as it is a useful indicator of completeness. For example, if a particular compiled file isn't removed in a 'make clean', then maybe the associated source code hasn't been added to the source repository. There is not necessarily any logic in this, except that something is wrong, needs to be looked at and fixed.

I think of this as being a zero'th order test for any software that I compile from source, and git makes this issue very easy to describe and characterise.

With regards to 'xlog', after a build and a 'make clean', the 'git status' command reveils the following (where I've reformatted the output just a little.)

Changed but not updated:
  deleted:    po/xlog.pot
and
  modified:   CVS/Entries
  modified:   data/doc/CVS/Entries
  modified:   po/CVS/Entries
  modified:   src/CVS/Entries
and
Untracked files:
  AUTHORS
  CVSROOT/
  ChangeLog
  Makefile.in
  autom4te.cache/
  configure
  data/Makefile.in
  data/desktop/Makefile.in
  data/doc/Makefile.in
  data/dxcc/Makefile.in
  data/glabels/Makefile.in
  data/man/Makefile.in
  data/maps/3D2/Makefile.in
  data/maps/3Y/Makefile.in
  data/maps/E5/Makefile.in
  data/maps/FK/Makefile.in
  data/maps/FO/Makefile.in
  data/maps/FR/Makefile.in
  data/maps/HK0/Makefile.in
  data/maps/JD/Makefile.in
  data/maps/KH8/Makefile.in
  data/maps/Makefile.in
  data/maps/SV/Makefile.in
  data/maps/VP6/Makefile.in
  data/maps/VP8/Makefile.in
  data/mime/Makefile.in
  data/pixmaps/Makefile.in
  data/remote/Makefile.in
  data/utils/Makefile.in
  src/Makefile.in
  src/logfile/Makefile.in

The first issue is with po/xlog.pot, which has mysteriously disappeared. It can be restored with the following.

$ git checkout -- po/xlog.pot

I have seen glib errors when trying to run the application and haven't got to the bottom of this yet. I don't see the error occur if I make sure that the above file is present, but I haven't been able to reliably replicate to problem.

The '''CVS/Entries''' files can be committed to the git repository, but looking at the actual differences shows that this is only due to timestamp changes from upstream. It would probably be safe enough to ignore these files, and git has a file that allows these this to be set. (An exercise for the reader. Have a look at the man page for git.)

$ git diff CVS/Entries
diff --git a/CVS/Entries b/CVS/Entries
index 30be513..42e4863 100644
--- a/CVS/Entries
+++ b/CVS/Entries
@@ -36,4 +36,4 @@ D/xlog////
 /missing/1.3/Wed Jan 14 11:45:11 2009//
 /mkinstalldirs/1.3/Wed Jan 14 11:45:11 2009//
 /xlog-2.0.lsm/1.1/Tue Feb 10 09:33:11 2009//
-/aclocal.m4/1.8/Thu Mar 11 11:55:55 2010//
+/aclocal.m4/1.8/Thu Mar 11 12:54:52 2010//

Finally, other than '''AUTHORS''' and '''ChangeLog''' (which are symbolic links as specified in README.cvs) all of the other files have come into existence in the build process and should be able to be safely removed, as they didn't exist in the original source.

$ rm -rf autom4te.cache
$ rm configure
$ find . -name Makefile.in | xargs -n 1 rm

This leaves use with the following, which is where we want to be:

$ git status
# On branch master
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add ..." to include in what will be committed)
#
# AUTHORS
# ChangeLog
nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

A git repository with the code that I will be working on in the next blog posts has been setup here: http://git.mawsonlakes.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=paul/xlog.

Appendix: References (links etc.) for xlog hacking.

2010-03-08T23:38:00.001+10:30

Useful Webpages

xlog

Software Website - http://freshmeat.net/projects/xlog
CVS Download Page - http://savannah.nongnu.org/cvs/?group=xlog
Browse CVS Source- http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/xlog/xlog

git

git - The Fast Version Control System

Software website - http://git-scm.com
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_(software)

epkg

epkg is an encap package manager.

Software Website - http://www.encap.org/epkg

Software Repository

I'll be updating my code changes to xlog here.

Repository Browser - http://git.mawsonlakes.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=paul/xlog
GIT Clone URL - http://git.mawsonlakes.org/paul/xlog

Part 3: xlog - Preparing to hack

2010-03-08T22:20:00.037+10:30

The previously published parts of this series can be found here:

So, we've downloaded the source code for xlog from the CVS repoistory:

  cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.savannah.nongnu.org:/sources/xlog co xlog

Even before configuring, the first thing I do is put the whole thing into a Git repository. The main reason for doing this upfront is that it then becomes possible to see what files are created or altered during the software building process. When we get around to making changes we can then make use of branches and commits.

  cd xlog
  git init-db
  git add .
  git commit -m 'Initial commit'

Use 'git status' to see which files are different.

Lets now build the software, as per README.cvs.

  ln -s ...
  autoconf
  automake
  ./configure
  make
  make install

Now, 'make install' will fail unless you give yourself system (root) privileges as it will try to install the code into the system directories (eg. /usr/bin, /usr/lib etc.). For the developer, there are several methods to get around this requirement. I use a tool called 'epkg', which allows software to be installed

To update the repository from upstream:

  (commit any outstanding changes to another branch)
  git checkout master
  cvs update

These changes can then be pulled into a local working branch by using:

  git checkout (your-branch)
  git rebase master

Part 2: Hacking on xlog

2010-03-04T22:48:00.001+10:30

In the first part on "Hacking on xlog" I eluded to the fact that xlog was good, but that I wanted to made some changes to it. The following article discusses these changes. What changes do I want to make to xlog?

Be able to add additional rules for more contests - Currently xlog has some useful rules and checks (eg. duplicates) but they are either overly general (check for all the duplicates in a log file) or specific to a particular competition. It would be good able to support different contests rules by either an extension language or a plug-in or dynamic library architecture.
Make the User Interface (UI) layout configurable - It would be good to be able to modify the UI to suit the way that I setup and use my set radio. Gnome and Gtk+ applications can be written using libglade, where the UI is defined in an XML file along with the functions that they call. It is then possible to rearrange the interface via the XML code, without touching any of the underlying code. Currently, xlog has 'hardcoded' all of the widgets and their positions into the code of the application itself.
Add support for other forms of radio operation - Logging is necessary in on-air contests but there are other types of radio operation where a suitable logging application would also be very useful. Examples include: Running nets, Message Relaying and Emergency Operations.
Multiple Operator Support - Support for multi-user access and multiple user logs. This would be useful for multiple user stations and for collating logs for competition managers.

In order to make these changes and make any form of useful contribution, I'm going to have to download the code and spend some time poking around in it, just to understand how it works. More about this in my next post.

Logging Software for Amateur Radio contacts - xlog

2010-02-23T10:24:00.005+10:30

Introduction

Something that I have recently been looking into is Amateur Radio logging software available on Linux, in particular Ubuntu and Gnome. One of the things that Ham (Amateur) Radio operators like to do is make contacts with other Hams, exchange details and sometimes, even exchange physical 'QSL Cards', which are postcards giving details of the contact made (Frequency, Equipment used etc.). In general, the more and varied these contacts are the greater the enjoyment found in the hobby. In addition to the adhoc 'CQ' contacts, there are regular contests, where operators try to make contacts in a particular period of time, on particular radio bands. Logs of the contacts make are submitted to the contest manager and points are awarded based on the contest rules. Rules include such things as a point for every contact made, multipliers for contacts made in particular bands and bonus points given for particular types of contacts. The software that I have found and I am most happy with is called 'xlog', which does most of what I want. I would like to be able to get it to do more (see below) and there are a couple of things which if they were done just a little bit differently would make if even more useful and easy to customise. The software is licensed under the GPL v2, so in the words of Jeremy Clarkson - 'How hard can it be?' The plan is to put together a series of posts about my experience with working on this software. Future posts will follow something like the following outline..

What do I want to change?
Getting the source - and using git.
Setting up the development environment - using epkg
Making changes.
Getting these changes back into xlog.

Watch this space.

Expect Kakapo

2009-12-16T09:17:00.006+10:30

Its of to Linux.Conf.Au 2010 in Wellington, New Zealand. Work isn't paying for the trip this time around, so I'll be going as a hobbist. I'll miss out on the Professional Delegates Networking session, which would have been good, but there is usually plenty of left over swag to buy at the end of the week. For those that missed the reference in the title, a Kakapo is a flightless nocturnal native New Zealand parrot. Some of the things I want to get out of this conference:

Peoples experiences, both good and bad, with organising a Linux User Group. There is a group of Adelaide people looking to start up one in the New Year... any advice would be most welcome.
Thoughts, comments on how to get people talking about, using and experiencing Free and Open Source Software (see first point).
Meeting other Linux Users who are also Ham Operators (VK5FPAW listening).
Put together an Arduino board by hand - see the Arduino mini-conference.

.. now what have I missed.

When will Microsoft stop the FUD?

2009-04-14T07:56:00.005+09:30

Looks like Microsoft are at it again.. apparently they now have 96% of the Netbook market, with four times the return rate from netbooks shipped with other operating systems. (The articles are here and here.) A rebuttal by Chris Kenyon of Canonical, along with it's coverage tries to put this into perspective, but the FUD is already out there. Australia has enough problems getting any form of choice into our markets. (You might say that we live in a country of monopolists.) Netbooks running Linux may well be available in other parts of the world, but the market that these machines were designed for, doesn't appear on the radar of the major retailers here. Not yet anyway.. and all the people that I know who have bought really cool netbooks, which run linux, have done so because they 1) travel and 2) bought it elsewhere. Microsoft can (and probably will) continue generating this sort of press. On the other hand, the Ubuntu community* and Canonical will continue to release an ever improving Operating System complete with application software every 6 months, like they have over the last 5 years and 10 releases. The Ubuntu release - 9.04 - is due 23rd April. * - includes all the contibuting Free and Open Source software developers around the world.

Expect squrrels...

2009-01-16T08:25:00.003+10:30

Well, it's nearly time to head off to Linux.Conf.Au again, and I've gotten around to contemplating what this year may hold for Linux, and what hints may come out of the conference... but it's usually pretty unwise to ask this sort of question. Nobody actually knows. Yes there are big companies behind Linux and the Free and Open Source Software community. Yes, they pay for a majority of the software development on core systems like the Linux kernel, the desktop environment, and server software, but there are also an awful number of people who contribute just because they can. ... and it's these people that the Linux.Conf.Au conference is actually for. The program comittee has done an excellent job again this year. It involves a huge amount of work to go through all the various submissions, but the quality of the speakers and presentations looks as high as it has ever been. I'm also really looking forward to the lightening talks. Unfortunately several miniconfs have put their lightening sessions on at the same time. This is maybe something for future Linux.Conf.Au organisers to look at. If it were possible, I would go and see them all. This is where the really interesting technical gems will be found, and where future conference speakers will get their initial experience. So what will be the 'next big thing'? Come to the conference, watch this space, have a look at the video's of the presentations and make up your own mind. With Free and Open Source Software it all possible. Personally, I expect squirrels.

Off to Linux.Conf.Au 2009

2008-11-20T15:47:00.003+10:30

I'm off to LCA 2009! This is a quick blog entry.. just to test the LCA 2009 blogging planet. It is going to be awesome (again).

Is the Federal Budget FOSS Friendly?

2008-05-15T19:53:00.003+09:30

Well... the first budget for the new Labor Federal Government and there have been some changes to the way that purchased computer software (or software licenses) are depreciated, with regards to tax right-offs. Australian IT News Article. The depreciation period on capital expenditure on business software has been increased from 2.5 to 4 years. This was projected to lead to $1.3 billion dollars of government savings up to 2012. This money is then going towards a National Secondary School Computer Fund (NSSC) of $1.2 billion which is to pay for computers and communication technology. So.. where is the incentive to make more use of Free and Open Source Software? Indirectly, I think that this is an excellent budget for FOSS. The proposal is for individual schools to be able to receive up to $1 million dollars as a grant. This is targeted spending, and the schools would need to justify the way that the grant gets spent. To work properly, this would require that the schools have freedom on how they spend their grant money. Schools could choose either to buy the 'latest and greatest' (typically this will be Apple), or they could extend their spending power by just buying hardware and installing Free and Open Source Software on top of this (eg. Ubuntu). The usual benefits would then also apply.. Schools would be able to offer all the software that they use to their students to take home; upgrades and security updates would be available free of charge; students can start to learn about the Free and Open Source Software community and participate and contribute the Free and Open Source. All good... So what about businesses? Businesses will carry an increased tax burden for an additional one and a half years, over the next 4 years. In a tightening economy, this maybe enough of an incentive to switch to Free and Open Source Software. If businesses do take up Free and Open Source Software en-mass, then the education fund could be significantly less than projected. This could, in turn, drive the adoption of FOSS in schools, as funds for computer grants become tighter. So, watch the space. The budget assumes a status quo which may not continue. If this changes, FOSS is an attractive proposition for those people that would then like to make use of it.

OLPC Laptop - How Awesome it that!

2008-01-31T07:24:00.000+10:30

Happier then a pig in mud. Yesterday, at Linux.Conf.Au 2008, I was given (another) XO laptop. This is a fantastic little gadget which some of you have seen me discuss before, and it great to see just how far this project has progressed. Let me just say from the outset that during the last year I have been the happy custodian of an early model XO laptop, received after last years Linux.Conf.Au, which has travelled around a bit. He even had his own blog (sparky's blog). Several other people from Adelaide, South Australia have also received XO's to do 'cool stuff' as well. I plan to keep in contact which these people.. and sparky will be as well. If you live in Adelaide or South Australia and would like to see an XO laptop first hand, play with it or even borrow it to try out some cool idea for the project, send me an email and we'll see what we can do. From the grapevine, there were 50 of these laptops bought by Linux Australia for distribution at the conference and the OLPC project pitched in with another 50. Footnote: This blog post was written on the XO. Unfortunately, it looks like blogspot relies on multiple windows for uploading images.. which is something that I haven't been able to figure out how to do yet but I do have some nice ones from the conference, taken with the XO's own built-in camera. Update: Found an answer to the image problem.. upload into Picassa first, and then copy/paste the link using the regular X server cut-n-paste function between browser windows.

Off to Linux.Conf.Au 2008

2008-01-20T07:34:00.001+10:30

It's January! ...and that means that it is again time for the Annual Linux.Conf.Au, this year being held in Melbourne from Monday, 28 January to Saturday, 2 February 2008. It's returning to the location where it all started in 1999, where the 'Conference for Australian Linux Users' (CALU) was held. I attended that one, missed the next two LCA's but have been to every one since. (There was no LCA in 2000.) If you are interested in this history, more details can be found on the Linux.Org.Au website. As always, LCA is going to be incredibly interesting. It is going to very tough choosing between speakers (http://linux.conf.au/programme/presentations) as the entire week is packed with lots of people talking about lots of technically interesting linux and Free and Open Software related stuff.. my current short list looks like: Hardware / Software Hacking: Joining Second Life to the Real World, The Kernel Report, OLPC, Peace, Love, and Rockets!, Kernel hacking: hacking on lguest Clustered Samba - not just a hack any more, Parrot: a VM for Dynamic Languages, The Replicators Are Coming!, Farsight 2: Video conferencing made easy, Create your own Open Source Dance Mat, The Australian Open Source Industry & Community Census 2007. Amongst all this, there are also the Mini-confs, Birds of a Feather (BoFs) sessions, the hacking in the hallways and the catching up with people not seen since the last LCA. The only down side (that I can see) is that the conference has limited places and that they have all sold out. This won't stop you getting to meet some of the fantastic people or technology. If you are in Melbourne on Saturday, 2 February, make you way down to Union House, Melbourne University for the Open Day. More details and the online registration are here.

2007 Federal Election Commentary - Microsoft Laughing all the way to the Bank

2007-11-16T07:37:00.000+10:30

In the last days of the Federal Election Campaign of 2007, the Australian Labor Party pledged funding for a computer for every senior secondary student. This makes Microsoft very happy. When negotiating software licenses for schools in the past, Microsoft proposed a volume license for schools, typically though their collective organisations based on the total number of computers that a school had, regardless of their operating system, or how thy were being used. This was, of course, provided at a lower rate under and Educational Licencing schemes. Much of this is hearsay from people I know within the education sector, but it includes Universities as well, and it paints a picture of a situation where Microsoft are indeed collecting a tax from the Australia people and our government is allowing them to do it. Let me ask a couple of questions: - (Reward for effort) What additional effort does Microsoft have to make to receive this revenue? - (A fair go) What risk have they taken in the past that justifies then receiving this reward? - (Taking it to the bank) What is the guarantee on this revenue? This revenue can only be called a tax. It's not 'a fee for a service' or 'purchase price'. It is a compulsory payment that is being made by the Government, through the public schools, and Australians through private schools on our behalf to an oversees entitly. ... and the amount money is not insignificant. In summary: A vote for Rudd is a vote for Microsoft, and a vote for Howard is a vote for the Government that allowed this situation to happen, and also a vote for Microsoft.

Software Freedom Day at Mawson Lakes

2007-07-29T19:45:00.000+09:30

For Software Freedom Day last year, an event called "Software Freedom Showcase" was held at Mawson Lakes, organised by MawsonLakes.Org, with the help of many other people in the community. In the lead up to this years world wide event, Melissa Draper has published an article at Linux.com which discusses some of the fantastic things that came out of last years activities, and the event at Mawson Lakes get a really good mention. Thanks Melissa. The events planned for this year are really starting to heat up, with over 200 teams registered from around the world. This year, the event is being held on September 15. For more information, visit SoftwareFreedomDay.Org

Aussie Coder helping OLPC gets article

2007-07-29T19:27:00.000+09:30

There was a recent article about Joel Stanley in LinuxWorld.Com.au. Joel is a mate, and has been mentioned here before. The article is here http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;193757623;fp;16;fpid;0

Adventures in Paramatta

2007-07-23T16:39:00.000+09:30

This week I am in Paramatta, New South Wales at SAGE-AU (System Administrators Guild of Australia) annual conference. The conference is being held at The Sebal hotel in Paramatta, which is quite nice as far as hotels go.. not that I travel enough to judge properly. Today I had a tutorial on "Change Management". There were lots of common sense guidelines. ITIL was mention quite a bit.. this is a system that I haven't heard of before, but it is the sort of thing that could be useful, particularly is it helps me put system change requests into context and get more useful stuff done. After a day of being lectured at (as interesting as it was) it was time to go fo a walk and stretch the legs. The park across the road is particularly nice a and green. Looks like there is a production of "King Lear" currently on. I haven't ever seen this play. It would have been worth catching, but there are no tickets available for this week.

The Case of the Missing Dish

2007-07-15T23:37:00.000+09:30

What is missing from this picture?

For those not familiar with Mawson Lakes, this picture is of the SPRI (Signal Processing Research Institute) building at the Mawson Lakes campus of the University of South Australia.

Normally, there is a dish on the roof which is used for tracking the FEDSAT satellite.

It looks like it was removed from the roof for a brief period (possibly for repair?) and is now back on the roof, much to everyones surprise.

An Operation on an XO

2007-07-15T21:48:00.001+09:30

It works! Last week I finally got around to modify my OLPC B2-1 laptop with the mods which I mentioned earlier.. Never trust a software engineer with a soldering iron. With the help of a good friend, Stefan, and a bottle of Red we set about making the hardware changes. After following the 'dis-assembly' instructions from the OLPC wiki, we were able to get access to the motherboard and change the resistor and soldered the connecting wire in place. This image shows the change that was made to allow the keyboard to continue to operate while the processor is suspended. This as been successfully tested from the Open Firmware prompt, where the processor can be put into suspend mode (by typing 's'), keys can be typed, an then when the processor is brought out of suspend, by pressing the power key, the characters then appear on the screen. This is very cool. The second modification involved changing the position of another resistor and adding a short wire link. Unfortunately, in the process of removing the small surface mount resistor it was lost in amongst the solder waste. Luckily, Stefan has a spare 1k surface mount resistor from another project which he scavenged as a replacement. The modification can be seen if the photo to the left, on the top right of the Geode chip. The first mod can be seen coming in from the left below the chip. After reassembling the XO, I was able to test it (as mentioned above) and everything seems to be working correctly. Wahoo! For those that are interested.. also in the above photo is the 'ene' chip (bottom right). This is the system controller chip which controls (above other things) battery charging. This is what Joel Stanley is working on.

So ABC, where are the Open Codecs?

2007-07-15T20:13:00.000+09:30

The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) has started offering program videos for download from their website. While this is a great start, there are some things that would make it even better. The BBC is currently under flack from the free and open source advocates in the UK after it proposal to release a video player (iPlayer) which was only provided for the Microsoft Windows operating system using the Internet Explorer. Content which is distributed by the national broadcaster is ment to be unbiased[1], non-discriminatory[2], and freely accessible by all[3]. A deliberate failure to provide any of these would certainly cause a public outcry. The programs and content available from the ABC website are available in several formats but they all currently use restrictive formats, namely Flash and Windows Media player formats. There are a couple of arguments used to justify not using open codecs and protocols. None of them address the three areas mentioned above. Regardless of whether the codecs can be downloaded by the end user for free[4], non-free[5] codecs:

restrict access to only the supported computer platforms
reduce availability for community members
loss of options of assistance and contributions from the greater community
cause alienation from viewing public and new media opportunities

Why is this issue important? If you are part of the Australian public that uses restrictive licensed software and codecs you may well have avoided these issues by paying for a license. The downside is that these licenses will continue to have to be paid for. Ubuntu, the popular Linux software distribution, offers built in support for many free and open codecs, straight out of the box, no additional downloads or restrictive licenses required. Support free and open codecs where you can.. more information soon. Notes

Unbiased - as in field of conduct, pursuit or occupation.
Non-discriminatory - against sex, race or religion (etc.).
Assessable - publicly available to everyone.
Free - as in no cost.
Non-free - as in restrictive distribution terms.

One Laptop Per Child

2007-06-11T08:46:00.000+09:30

I was fortunate enough to be sent an OLPC laptop, when they did their run of the B2 (the second build of the X0-1). This came about through my participation in the Linux.Conf.Au conference in Sydney, earlier in the year, and was one of the coolest things that has ever happened at any of the LCA conferences.. ever. (Even better than the dunk tank in at the Adelaide Conference - sorry Michael). I've named it sparky, and he's starting to become known as a bit of a celebrity. For more information about the OLPC project itself, see their website: laptop.org

Connecting Up 07

Sparky recently appeared at the Connecting Up 07 conference in Adelaide in the Linux Australia booth, along with two of his mates. Lisa Harvey, the Managing Director of Energetica in New South Wales borrowed Sparky as an example in her talk - 'Clever Cookies, Innovation in the Non-Government Organisation sector'. Hand delivered by Joel Stanly, the three laptops had just come back from a weekend in Melbourne where they had put in a guest appearance at a teachers conference. Here you see Joel attempting to cross North Terrace in Adelaide, which is currently subject to construction work as the new tram line is being put in. Other people also had a chance to have a look and play. All in all, the everyone who came to the booth got a chance to meet Sparky. There was also a funky piece of networking (if I do say so myself) that was done to get Sparky to be able to access the local wireless internet service.. it involved two other laptops, a crossover cable and a 802.11b network card with some dodgy firmware, but nothing that a periodic shell script couldn't fix. I'll let you join the dots.

Since Connecting Up..

Sparky has also spent two weeks with Dave the 'life kludger', who spend some time looking at accessibility. You can find the writeup, with some great pictures in Dave's blog.

What next?

Sparky needs an operation. In order to fix a couple of hardware issues, he needs someone with some surface mounted component soldering skills. The details are here: B2_Suspend_ECR Watch this space.

Joel Stanley off on Google Scholarship

2007-05-21T23:29:00.000+09:30

A good friend and fellow OLPC owner, Joel Stanley is off to the United States on a Google scholarship to work on the power and recharging system of the OLPC laptop. Details of his most excellent adventure can be found here: http://blogs.ubuntu.org.au/shenki

At ConnectingUp07

2007-05-15T12:27:00.000+09:30

It has been a while since I have added an entry to this blog, but given where I have been the last couple of days, I thought it was about time I added an entry. I have been at ConnectingUp07, which is a very exciting conference, being held in Adelaide, on using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Not-for-profit sector and community groups. Talks have ranged from business orientated talks (what services are available), how to produce effective web fund-raising campains, and some of the more interesting ICT projects done in the wider Australian community. I have been looking after the Linux Australia booth, and it has been really great to hear from the people in the sector making use of Free and Open Source software in their projects. There are some definite lessons that Linux Australia can learn from this event, both in the information that was presented ("How to develop effective online strategies."), and how we can present ourselves in a way that is relevent to this sector. Some notes:

Many of the talks were by businesses and organisations offering services to Not-for-profit sector. This included consulting services, bulk-buying (eg. computer hardware and telecommunications sevices) and software.
Free and Open Source software was often mentioned in project reports, where budgets were limited. It was shown that Free and Open Source software was able to solve real problems
Online services (myspace, youtube, flickr, blogspot, digg) were described as essential tools for building a community around a particular issue or organisation, as well regular targeted emails. Use of these systems need to be part of a complete online web strategy, and not individually seen as an end itself.

This article was written on one of three 'One Laptop Per Child' (OLPC) laptops which were being demonstrated in the Linux Australia booth.

Linux.Conf.Au 2007

2007-01-21T01:11:00.000+10:30

Well.. the annual Australian Linux Conference is over again for another year. As usual it was amazingly fantastic, with a broad range of talks and tutorials. Bloggers and Flickr'ers have been asked to tag their uploads with either 'lca2007' or 'linux.conf.au', so searching on these in Google should enable you to get a taste of what th event was like. One huge feature this year was that videos were taken of all of the talks.. some of these appeared on the website even before the conference itself actually finished. They can be found on the conference website here: http://lca2007.linux.org.au/Programme Check them out.

..and we're off to the Linux Conference

2007-01-12T09:25:00.000+10:30

It's almost better than Christmas. Linux.Conf.Au is almost upon us again, and this year looks to be better then every before. Already I'm struggling to decide what I am going to see and do as there is just so much happening. The biggest problem so far has been Thursday. I was hoping to be able to give a lightning talk on some of the Community building aspects of the MawsonLakes.Org activities, including the Ubuntu work, but it clashes with the keysigning session (important) and the Open Day (even more important). Either way, it is going to be a fantastic event.

2007: The Year of the Penguin

2006-12-27T13:06:00.000+10:30

Here in Australia we saw the film 'Happy Feet' open on Boxing day (26 December). It had been released in the United States on November 17-19, and in other places around the world on December 8. The promotion of this film has got me thinking about my other favourite penguin and what 2007 may hold. Almost every year, since 2000, has been declared as the year that Linux will make it on the desktop, and while inroads have been made in some key cases, Linux hasn't managed to capture the hearts of desktop users just yet. I predict that this will all change in 2007, and would like to take this moment to announce that 2007 is the International Year of the Penguin. Well.. I can at least pretend. According to Wikipedia it is the International Year of Planet Earth and with the current issue of global warming, the Penguin makes an ideal mascot. How we can care for our environment is also important, and I can't think of any better way for making use of older PC's than installing Linux on them and allowing them to continue to be useful.

Ubuntu mentioned in South Australian Parliament

2006-12-10T16:28:00.000+10:30

In a speech ("Matter of Interest") to the South Australian Legislative Assembly, Dennis Hood of the Family First Party spoke about Free and Open Source Software, and in particular about Ubuntu and it's founder. From the press release: FAMILY FIRST MLC, Dennis Hood, will make submissions in the South Australian Legislative Council today - calling for IT funding criteria to be opened up, so that our school children can benefit from the Free and Open Source Software 'revolution'. The Hon Dennis Hood will also call for a computer demonstration lab to be set up in S.A., so that schools, libraries, and other institutions can decide whether 'open source' is for them. "Open Source often has significant advantages over proprietary software. With developers all over the world freely and constantly improving the software, it is little wonder that many Open Source solutions are now outpacing Microsoft solutions", Mr Hood said. A copy of the speech can be found here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PaulSchulz/SouthAustralianParliament I would like to acknowledge Janet Hawtin as well as members of the Australian LoCo team for their assistance with the speech.

Apple, Linux Operating System, and others.

2006-12-08T10:22:00.000+10:30

Something occured to me the other day, and that was how long will it be before Apple switches it's operating system to Linux. I cannot claim to be 'in the know' about anything in the greater IT industry. I have put together the following arguments given what I do know about the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and my general knowledge of the consumer IT marketplace. I have been using Linux on my PowerPC based Mac Mini for almost two years now, and I could not have asked for better hardware for my open source operating system. There are numerious links and discussions on the net about running Linux on Apple hardware, from the old and new PowerPC models, through to the new Intel based PC's and Laptops. A quick search in Google throws up the following: * http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7012 * http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/editors/apple_linux_0503.html * http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/apple.html As these, and other articles indicate, Apple has been very canny in it's dealing with the Free and Open Source Software community. The Linux Kernel runs on their hardware very well. In the past, commercial grade Linux systems have been driven by vendors who have produced their own distribution to sell (RedHat with Enterpiose Linux, Novell with Suse) or else have used certified their sytems to run with these distributions. Apple has steered clear of this, rather they adopted the Open Source Mach kernel, changed the system to meet their needs, and released it as their proprietory operating system MaxOS X. Why should they change? The world is maturing in it's use of Free and Open Software. There are now many examples of communities of software developers which support Free and Open Source software projects, and this community of communities has always learnt from each other, exchanging ideas, and continuing to grow and advance. As if it needed proving, over the last two years the Ubuntu community and Canonical have show that with good leadership it is possible to build a highly successful and popular FOSS project based on an open community development model. Recent agreements between Microsoft and Novell, owner of the Suse distribution, have shown that commercially controlled distributions are open to abuse. The developer and user community that is built around these distribution then suffers accordingly. Whatever the agreements are between these two organisations, Novell must have made some concessions to Microsoft. How can there be a deal without them. These concessions, if they are an acknowledgment of technology which is solely owned and controlled by Microsoft (in the form of software patents) mean that Novel will have to restrict what it's developers can and can't do, regardless of how small, of what that may be. The Free and Open Source Software movement is similar to the internet in this regard. To use a quote - "The Internet interprets censorship as conjestion and routes around it." So what should Apple learn from this? Apple is a single vendor, doing unique things, and reaping the benefits. It has made use of the Free and Open Source Community to open the market for it's servers, particularly in the Higher Education market. The FOSS community, with IBM, has fought and thought that they had won the battle against the unsubstantiated claims brought against them by SCO. Microsoft, a backer of SCO, has now signed a deal with Novell, and is making more intellectual property claims against the FOSS community and Linux in particular. The fact that this has been done under the guise of 'consumer protection' for Novell's customers, a small fraction of our community, makes it even more of a travesty. Apple have shown that they are open to change. They were able to move their entire product line from PowerPC to Intel based processers, and they were able to do this because they had build their Operating System on a base which is designed to be portable. Linux is now (if you believe the web reports) the primary platform for networking research and development. It used to be netBSD. Apple can hold onto their current system, as good as it is, and re-implement all the improvements that will be emerging, or they can (if they haven't already done so) port their gloss and shine to run on top of Linux. In the process, they will be building on the best software development community in the world, strengthening the Free and Open Source movement and guarantee the ongoing existence of this fantastic world wide resource.

Notes from Ubuntu Open Week

2006-11-29T05:16:00.000+10:30

I have been listening in on the Ubuntu Open Week discussions on IRC (#ubuntu-classroom on the FreeNode network). Of particular interest was the forum with Mark Shuttleworth (sadfl), who was answering questions. One problem with the IRC forum is that is is difficult to respond in depth to the questions that are raised. The following are some of my thoughts based on the on-line discussion. From IRC Seveas: ToonArmy: QUESTION: What needs to be done to push FOSS software in UK schools today? I have come through schools that have used almost exclusively Microsoft software and other propriatery software solutions, for almost everything. It could save huge amounts of money o licensing etc. and the Vista upgrade looks a scary one for most education establishments. sabdfl: ToonArmy: we should not push the "save huge amounts of money" button sabdfl: instead, we should ask how the govt plans to provide for: sabdfl: - musician pupils sabdfl: - statistics pupils sabdfl: - physics pupils sabdfl: - language pupils sabdfl: - comp sci pupils sabdfl: ... This is also a problem in Australia, and I agree with the solution. We need to ask these questions of our educators and show that there are alternatives, provided by our community which are much, much better.

Why I Think Inkscape is the Best Software of all Time

2006-10-20T20:48:00.000+09:30

Ever since each of us was old enough to hold a stick, we have wanted to draw stuff, on stuff. To make our mark. To create squiggles that mean something, and convey meaning in both time and place with our fellow humans. With the invention of the computer, it was quickly discovered that there was only so much that could be done with keys and the written language. Words do convey meaning, but to create a picture is something so useful that is couldn't be ignored. The mouse was invented, and the drawing tablet, and drawing and computer aided design programs were written which allowed images and pictures and sketches and designs to be created, saved, copied and distributed. Inkscape is a 'really free' drawing package that uses the openly available Scalar Vector Graphics (SVG) format. Together, this means that anything you draw with inkscape today, will always be available to you. Graphics using SVG are starting to appear all over the desktop and the web, and there are some that think, myself included, that it will even challenge the FlashMedia formats, as the dominant image format on the internet. Inkscape is the most widely used SVG drawing tool, it exports to Postscript, PDF and a wide array of other formats, and has a very active development community behind it. I'm looking forward to the next 12 months.

Opinion: 5 Reasons Why Vista Will Be Microsoft's Last General Purpose Operating System

2006-10-11T12:57:00.000+09:30

Microsoft Vista is on its way, the beta has been released, and prices have been announced. The last update from Microsoft also contained several fixes for it. Everything looks to be heading the the right direction. so why am I saying that this will be their last general purpose operating system? Here are my predictions for the Australian Operating System Market over the next 12 months, and into the future. 1. Microsoft's Do-not Operate System The release of Vista see Microsoft expanding on their policy on distributing different builds for different types of users. At last count seven different varieties have been listed - Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Small Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate. While this may be seem like clever marketing, where a user can buy a product that suits their needs, it will be the source of a lot of frustration. There will be features and applications which will be only supported on the more expensive versions. They have tried the software subscription model in the past, and it looks like that are trying it again. Users will realise that when they buy a computer with Vista installed, you won't be getting an Operating System, they'll be getting a Do-not Operate System (DOS). With the inclusion of more Digital Rights Management (Digital Restriction Management) and anti-piracy measures, there will be things that you used to do that will no longer be possible, because Vista and Microsoft won't let you... unless you pay more money. This is not that far fetched. Imagine a world where you will need to buy a licence for every movie that you want to watch, and only those from the specified list. In the above business model, this is not very far off. 2. Linux captures the desktop I don't necessarily like the battle field analogies, but here I am going to make an exception. I have witnessed one public skirmish, and I am pleased to say that for the members of the community that mattered, Linux was the last man standing. It has been predicted for a long time, but the deciding battle will be fought and won by Linux on the desktop in 2006-7. Why? By way of an example, in it's short two year existence, Ubuntu have created and released five(5) full versions of their Linux distribution, each one significantly better than the previous. Based on Debian, which has been around even longer, with backing from Canonical, Ubuntu have build up an incredible amount of experience and expertise around making, producing, and distributing quality software. This all-round, general purpose software is 'really free', and will enable anyone, anywhere, with commodity hardware, to participate in the commercial market place with a fraction of the related expenses that existing companies have. Why would a commercial organization spend money on something that was not going to directly lower expenses and increase profits. Their competitors weren't. News of local and international Free and Open Source projects are being heard, and organizations are starting to listen. Institutions, both Government and Not-for-profit, which supply services to the public are under increasing pressure to supply more for less. They will have to take a long hard look at Vista and try and figure out why they should be paying their money. It will be possible to make money by taking the older PC's, incapable of running Windows Vista, and converting them to workstations running Linux, which will have everything that an organisation needs. -- Watch for it. This will happen very rapidly -- 3. Professional Linux Support Services The increase of use within the corporate environment is being be spearheaded by the the large Linux supporting companies - IBM, Novell and Redhat. From the outsider, they have looked to be struggling to get customers using Linux on the desktop. This is all about to change. With this help, IT departments will find out how easy it is to install, run, and maintain an environment of Linux desktops. There may be an additional catalyst, like a large virus outbreak infecting Microsoft hosts, but this may not be necessary. Sites with web based applications will be able to be rollout/changed immediately, particularly in places like call-centres. Businesses with internal applications written in C# and Java will follow shortly after. As this migration starts, additional savings will become obvious. Ongoing cost of virus protection and software subscriptions will diminish, which in turn can be put back into the organisation as IT training, taken an profit, or feed back to the Free and Open Source software community as contributions or even donations. 4. Linux in the Community The Linux developer community in Australia has begun to engage the rest of the community in areas of mutual concern. Copyright Laws, Digital Rights Management (or Digital Restriction Management) and the Free Trade Agreement are all things which will directly effect every person whether they know about it or not. Software will again become known as something that can be freely and legally shared and developed. Free and Open Source Software will become part of the education of our children. 5. Linux and the Economy Reports will emerge regarding the importance of Free and Open Source Software and Linux to the Australian economy, and the numbers will not be small. There will no longer be any excuses for not supporting its adoption, and government and non-government organisations will be scrambling to maximise the benefits. I would also like to suggest that Free and Open Source software will be a Federal Government election issue in 2007. How each of the major parties approach it is something I can't predict, but they will ignore it to their peril. Free and Open Source software and Linux is not going away, and a government that ignores this is not doing their people any favours. ... so where does this leave Vista? The only market for Microsoft that makes sense to me is the one for embedded computers and appliances. The XBox, Windows OS on mobile phones, and Media Centre are the places where Microsoft are able to use their technology to its best potential, and where people will continue to be willing to pay for it. A buyer of one of these items, purchases them with a particular feature set and use in mind. The hardware and software are purchased together as a complete unit. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and retailers want to sell lots of identical widgets, which they can service or replace easily. The operating systems required to get these products through the market will need to become more specialised. The days when a general purpose operating system could be used in this case, even on higher performance hardware, has pretty much gone. So what about Vista? This leaves Microsoft, after Vista's release, with two options. Either continue with the with the old Windows model, which doesn't make a whole lot of business sense, or reinvent themselves and again start to make something useful.

Entry in Software Freedom Day Competition

2006-10-02T11:03:00.000+09:30

MawsonLakes.Org has been entered in the Software Freedom Day competition for a Power5 server kindly donated by IBM. The category is for Best plan for FOSS deployment project on new server for community benefit, and involves developing the contacts and resources that were on display at the Software Freedom Showcase event. The existing server that MawsonLakes.Org uses is in a desperate need of a upgrade as it is 10 years old, and while it may run for another 10 years, it has been faithfully serving this community 24x7 since 1999.

Future activities and projects - Bar Camps

2006-10-02T10:49:00.000+09:30

After the highly successful Software Freedom Showcase, held at the Mawson Centre, Mawson Lakes, MawsonLakes.Org is looking for more interesting projects to get involved in. While organising the above event, we became aware of the 'BarCamp's, which are un-conferences which are held in a very similar way to the way the Showcase was. More details can be found on their website, BarCamp.org. A group has already met, mostly from those involved in the Software Freedom Day activities to discuss whether a BarCampAdelaide is possible. There was also interest from people involved in the Adelaide multimedia and arts community. A tentative date has been set for March 2007. Watch the above links for more information.

Ubuntu-au LoCo team to mentor NZ LoCos.

2006-09-18T19:46:00.000+09:30

Hot news.. (it's still being discussed in the meeting) Ubuntu have approached the Australian Team about mentoring the New Zealand LoCo.. The topic was raised in the Australian Team meeting.. The IRC meeting on #ubuntu-au descended into chaos, as people try and figure out what to do next. Quite a few of the Aussies migrate to the #ubuntu-nz channel and waited for the New Zealanders to turn up. Watch this space for more details..

Blog transfered to new Blogger site.

2006-09-08T11:32:00.000+09:30

After a small delay, this blog has been transfered to the new blogging application available from Google. This blog may be merged with the existing news site at news.mawsonlakes.org at some stage, but this is a work in progress.

First Post

2006-02-28T11:29:00.000+10:30

Welcome the the MawsonLakes.Org Blog.. this blog is another addition to the news and information services provided by MawsonLakes.Org. At this stage, this will be a Blog for comments and discussion about MawsonLakes.Org itself.