The ball is finding it hard to get started. It has reached a point
where I'm willing to give the site the commitment it takes to get it
going.
The following are my action items that require your response/comment.
It became quickly evident that this kind of thing should be done
online, perhaps with a browser or custom mail handler (or both!), with
a voting system, Debian style.
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Item: hardwarezone deal
Prerequisite: none
Target: Tuesday June 29 1999
Raymond and I had a nice chat with Jackie and
what's-that-other-guy's-name from hardwarezone. They seem quite
unlike what we hear about them, and are friendly folks.
They told us they're not getting paid for what they do (like us).
Unused funding is used to sponsor things like Computron '99, etc.
Hardware people. No historic knowledge.
I updated them with a (highly abridged!) brief history of hackerdom
(with excerpts from Steven Levy's "Hackers" and the OSS community's
"OpenSources") to explain our general philosophy and background.
The concept of Open Source Software is new to them but they do not
seem allergic to the idea (unlike some coporate types).
It seems we are quite agreeable and could very likely work together.
Their knowledge of UNIX is near-zero. This is why they need us to
administer their machine. I explained my reasons for being averse to
this: accountability for security incidences was my main reason. We
found their knowledge of security to be lacking.
Following this, we gave them a one-to-one (two-to-two?) UNIX,
Internetworking and security primer. That primer will be continued
during our next meeting as requested by Jackie.
They are worried about bandwidth utilization. What they really want
is some traffic shaping solution (but they don't know what traffic
shaping is yet). They also need a httpd that can prioritize HTTP
requests according to URL. (Can SQUID be used to implement this
feature?) Jackie said multiple machines is not a problem.
It quickly became clear that they need our technical knowledge and
they need our server space, and though it was not explicitly stated,
it seemed at the outset that we would be working as a symbiotic team.
The weather looks initially promising. It may be initially possible
to work without contract (i.e. based on trust). This is in keeping
with our spirit, and also with the fact that they need us. And also
since both groups are volunteer-based, no pay.
I do not know enough about Jackie et al to guestimate what would
happen a few years down the road if/when they have a
technically-gifted bunch of people working with them (i.e. "they"
don't need "us" anymore), or whether "them" and "us" will become
inseperably intertwined (the ideal?).
---
Item: slp domain
Prerequisite: none
Target: Wednesday June 30 1999
SLP deserves a domain of its own. It should get both a top-level and
an .sg-level domain.
I'm going to register linux-portal.org.sg and find out about the process
of registering linux-sg.org under my own name, unless somebody wants to
join me and split the bill.
Dateline is Wednesday June 30 1999, beyond which I will act.
---
Item: site connectivity options
Prerequisite: hardwarezone deal
Target: timeof(Prerequisite) + 3 days
If the deal with hardwarezone works out, that is well and good.
In case things don't work out, what are our internet connectivity
options?
Here's one:
We register a company/organization or both (and then also register
linux-sg.com and linux-portal.com.sg) and I will buy a UPS and house
the site at my home. (I've got space for developers in case you need
to stay over a few days from time to time :) )
If nobody wants to split the cost, :x
And then worry about funding later :|
---
Item: development infrastructure
Prerequisite: site connectivity options
Target: timeof(Prerequisite) + 7 days
mailing list + archives, CVS, etc. You know, the works.
Web hosting space is not enough. We need full control of a machine.
---
Item: site engineering
Prerequisite: development infrastructure
Target: evolutionary
Currently out of scope.
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