On Sunday 09 Sep 2012 10:22:16 Benjie Gillam wrote: > Apologies for the cross-post but I'm aware that there are a number of > people on this list who are into hacking/making/tinkering.
Just thought I would respond, as I sort of feel targeted by what the hackerspaces are trying to do. Those who know me will be aware that I am interested in Linux on servers and in HPC, but also for intrumentation and control purposes. They will also know that I mess about with boats (model and full-size) and aircraft (model only). So you would be right in thinking that I would be interested in meeting to discuss ideas; in fact, that's what I do at HantsLUG meetings, I'm just a bit selective about my subject matter to avoid boring the pants of everyone in the room. Now, the small problem I have is that in order to achieve most of the projects I undertake is the multi-disciplinary nature of the stuff I do. It tends to involve a lot of detail in both "soft" and "hard" engineering, and a massive investment of time. A model build taking a few months is not unusual. The problem, however, is only partly time (and cost of attendance). I think a lot of us can handle a once-a-month meeting, but more often just wouldn't be possible. The real problem comes in terms of the disperate nature of tasks that people would be interested in undertaking. Is it going to be focussed on robotics? UAVs? UUVs? Home automation? and what tooling do you need to achieve that? For my current project, I'm on basic electronics, composites and computer aided design! So, I would like to make a suggestion. When a request for talks is published, think whether you could give a talk on the project you're currently doing. There are a lot of people on the list who can advise on (and are interested in) disciplines other than Linux on servers. Personally, I would like to see LUG members bring more than just "soft" topics to talks. The hackerspace serves a different purpose to the LUG, but not everyone might wish (or need) to join a second group. The views expressed herein are purely my own, and may not be representative of others. Tim B. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --------------------------------------------------------------
