On Sun, 19 Aug 2007 09:06:55 -0400 Ted Roche <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > > > Thanks, Ben. I was willing to help shoulder some of the load for > NEARfest should there have been any interest (I still may go and visit > the Flashlight Guy and see if there are bargains to be had) but I'm > interested in hearing some ideas on what to do. > Although basically MIA for too long and too late to comment on NEARfest, I have given some thought to it. While there is a huge number of what some call "appliance" operator hams, it seems two areas are of growing interest among hams: SDRs which are software defined radios in which much of the signal processing takes place in software and the radio is a simple "black box" and digital modes of operation. these are the high tech/cutting edges of the hobby it seems to me. In fact there is a kit for a SDR radio that only costs around $30 so any hobbyist can play around and develop software. There is a fair amount of open source and some Linux specific software used in both areas. These might be good topics for a demo or presentation. Could be combined with demos of other ham specific applications. I would, if other hams in GNHLUG helped, work on putting something of this nature together for future use. I agree the usefulness of a table where old hardware and distributions are given away is very limited now and serves essentially no useful purpose. I suspect as OSS and Linux are becoming well known and used, the traditional outreach activities of LUGs may need to be rethought to stay relevant. I think that is the case with the GNHLUG booth at NEARfest. -- Ed Lawson Ham Callsign: K1VP PGP Key ID: 1591EAD3 PGP Key Fingerprint: 79A1 CDC3 EF3D 7F93 1D28 2D42 58E4 2287 1591 EAD3 _______________________________________________ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
