Perth and Linux Conf II

[tcpip]

Days three, four, and five of Linux Conf AU were the "official" conference, although it seems in recent years the distinction between the earlier miniconference streams and the conference proper are really just a difference between an definite stream of a topic in a specific room versus indefinite topics. Jon Oxer, whom I once worked for, gave the keynote on the final day, describing his very cool project of using opensource hardware and software to help build small satellites for high school education - nice science class. By the last session of the last day however I couldn't quite shake the feeling that my head was quite full. At the end of the conference took an opportunity to visit the University Computer Club (UCC), which included the few remains of Murphy, a 1978 Alpha Micro system; I have promised to update their lore on said system as it is somewhat different to my own recollection. The final session also made the announcement that next year's conference will be in Auckland followed by Geelong.

Hosted two more gatherings in an attempt to catch up with at least a proportion of my close friends my Perth days. A second dinner, at the same Nepalese restaurent, and a lunch at a decidely French cafe in South Perth preceded my departure. The latter was particularly notable for being the day that Perth reached an epic 44 degrees C. Special mentions for during the visit go to Bruce T., whom I spent quite a bit of time with, darklion (ditto), and strangedave, who organised the Electronic Frontiers Australia drinks and took me to the airport. Overall, I suspect would have needed at least another fortnight to catch up with all the people I would have liked. It is interesting how many of my friends exist in the intersection that includes computer technology, tabletop RPGs, and left-libertarian politics; it is almost as if there is some weird mimetic relationship between the three.

Comments

[iris]

I would feel quite full in the brain, too! That seems like a lot to take in.

[ratfan.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I didn't get to the lunch, but wimpage won. Stayed home and watched the temperature climb! Same again today.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Melbourne will get the same hot front in a couple of day's time. I get to experience it twice!

[damien-wise.livejournal.com]

I watched Jon Oxer's talk as a live video stream (kudos for the LCA organisers who made it work seamlessly), and was very impressed. Surprisingly, I already knew much of what he from reading his blog, watching last year's talk, talking with him in person, and handling the prototype hardware in a local hackerspace (CCHS), but the way he put-together the LCA2014 talk and presented it made for an incredibly effective package. I'm also glad he gave plenty of time at the end for Q&A, since many people had questions. Clever of him to have some FAQ-style slides prepared, too. he's an excellent spokesperson for the project, a great guy in general, and I hope the ArduSat programme changes the world by helping to educated hundreds of thousands of people about astronomy and OSS/OSH, and giving us interesting scientific discoveries.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

clever of him to have some FAQ-style slides prepared, too.

Yes, that in particular was a work of genius, and it will be good to see more of this in the future.

It really looks like that this is going to be an enormously successful project; the big stopper at the moment is jumping the (understandable) bureaucratic hurdles.

[damien-wise.livejournal.com]

It really looks like that this is going to be an enormously successful project; the big stopper at the moment is jumping the (understandable) bureaucratic hurdles.

I think the next practical/technological hurdle will be using alternative launch systems since, as they said in the Q&A, the current methods don't scale well. As you said, there's a number of regulatory bureaucratic hurdles. Jon glossed-over those matters in his talk, though he'll discus some of those problems you in person if you're fortunate enough to meet him (I recommend this v.highly). Some of it relates to import/export controls on components that could be used in weapons, and some of it relates to functions of components for similar reasons -- essentially, the powers that be are going: "Why would any normal person want a widget that can do that? Ah, they must be making a weapon!", and you have to demonstrate that it's for a good/safe purposes and you'll take sufficient care to prevent this potentially weaponisable tech from falling into the wrong hands.
For example, most people would recall that GPS was originally developed for military purposes, and even though President Clinton had Selective Availability switched-off (thus giving civilians ~1 metre accuracy), some other deliberately designed-in malfeatures remain, which have the side-effect of making regular GPS units impractical for use in satellites (and it'll brick itself permanently if you try). Purchase of GPS with a good spec for satellites is tightly controlled, and once you have your hands on the physical hardware, there are obligations about handling, security, and even proof that it's decommissioned/destroyed.
Same story with batteries certified (which adds a whopping premium to the cost) as 'safe' for transport/use in the ISS, and on it goes...
Navigating all these bureaucratic hurdles is non-trivial, but doable, and I'm confident that Jon Oxer and co will get things to scale nicely in time. Then they can get back to fun technical problems, such as mesh-networking nanosatellites orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I like the thinking involved. Next time I see Jon I'll ask him in greater detail about the bureaucratic hurdles and the mesh networking. I might see if he's interested in giving a LUV talk on the topic.