[GTALUG] meeting tomorrow: topic?

[Clifford Ilkay]

On 12/08/2014 12:47 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> According to <http://gtalug.org/> :
>
> "GTALUG is currently looking for speakers for the 9th December, 2014 
> meeting. If you are interested in speaking please contact our talks 
> coordinator."
>
> Let's brainstorm on this.  Here's a poorly organized dump of some of my 
> thoughts.
>
> - I'd love to hear Lennart talk about what he's learned working on
>   routers.
>
> - I'd like to learn what each of you has learned using Linux (or
>   perhaps, not able to do using Linux) and what your current
>   Linux-related interests are.

DevOps - Vagrant, Docker, and Ansible in particular.

> - I'd like to hear how people have set up their internet gatways.
>   What's worth doing, what's easy, what's hard.
>   (It's time for me to revisit this after having a pretty static
>   setup for a decade.  I'd be willing to talk about what I've done
>   but it is pretty stale.)
>
> - I'm interested in setting up my in-house services like a cloud.
>   Perhaps <http://owncloud.org/>.  Motivation: I want to keep control
>   of my own data as much as possible.  Can anyone speak to this?
>
> - Subproblem of above: I run MediaWiki already.  Tips and tricks (eg.
>   from Drew) about care, feeding, and use would be welcome
> - I'd be willing to share 10 minutes worth of what I've learned about 
>   little Windows gadgets as Linux platforms.
>
> - I'd love to discuss whether this is interesting and useful
>   <http://www.banana-pi.com/eacp_view.asp?id=64>
>
>   This is a version of the Banana Pi with an added ethernet switch:
>   5 x 1G eithernet ports.
>
>   The Banana Pi is intended to mimic the Raspberry Pi in some ways but
>   with a stronger processor; my impression has been that this is goofy
>   and that the Cubieboard2 and Cubietruck <http://cubieboard.org/>
>   were more transparent uses of the Allwinner chips.
>
>   But gluing on a switch seems very attractive.


The only use I'd have for something like the Raspberry Pi is as a router
and with only one Ethernet port, that disqualifies it. The two devices
you mention above are interesting because they have multiple Ethernet
ports and would be viable replacements for my ancient and I presume
power-hungry P2/350 Compaq that has been running for the last 10 years
as my Internet gateway/firewall.


> - chatting about peoples' workflow always seems useful: it's not just
>   the tools, its how we use them, how we find them useful, and where
>   they don't quite meet expectations.
>   Examples: backup methodology, distro update methodology, favourite
>   editor (leave out tribalism), programming language, etc.
>
> - why Go is interesting <https://golang.org/>.
>   Why Rust is interesting <http://www.rust-lang.org/>.
>   Why Python 2.x still has a loyal following.

Python 2.x is still popular because many Python modules/projects haven't
been ported to Python 3.x. That's changing. Go and Rust aren't even on
my radar. Dart, maybe. Typescript seems like a safer bet. ECMAScript 6
looks very interesting. Within very few years, it will no longer be
feasible to do anything useful with a browser without Javascript
enabled. Javascript is what is enabling rich-client applications,
particularly for mobile devices.

> - what are you doing with your _____?  Example: Raspberry Pi.
>
> - How you make your mobile device work with your desktop?

I don't and that is something I'd like to rectify.

-- 
Regards,

Clifford Ilkay

+1 647-778-8696