hello world
genzaichi
can link to relevant stuff...
***
Hi, I'm Nikki, trained as a Materials Engineer and then as an Artist
and now sort of falling down the cracks between the two. www.npugh.co.uk
Cardboard's great http://www.vimeo.com/1299129
http://www.npugh.co.uk/blog/manifesto_for_mediascapes/ and I'm up for
a spot of soldering too.
Welding facilities would be awesome, though I'm not sure how often I'd
use them in practice - that would definitely be a marketable resource
though, cos there's nothing like that in Brum and the artists are
crying out for the facilities. I also need things like access to
pillar drills and stuff like that from time to time.
I'm OK with HTML and CSS, perhaps a dash of PHP, but will be needing
to get up to speed with C# in the near future too. I've just ordered
some tikitags (http://www.tikitag.com/ 75% off with this code TLOYCODE
before 13th Feb) and hope to be the proud owner of an arduino
http://www.arduino.cc/ before too long - so that adds Processing to
the to-do list too. http://www.processing.org/ . Currently working
with mscape and will be going to this http://www.pmstudio.co.uk/events/tue-03032009-200pm
if anyone wants to share transport.
Oh, and I want to hack a lab-coat too. Not sure in what way yet.
lledrith
along to help where possible. I'm just a curious little newbie.
The work I do with computers is a little more specific than
programming as a whole, so it might not be all that useful. I used to
build/mess around with MUDs on the SMAUG codebase, it's only very
slightly similar to C, but not enough to declare myself able to use
it. Working in digital arts and within digital spaces is interesting
to me though, but like I said I'm happy to sit back as Igor if need be
- just curious to see what everyone else will be getting up to.
hellocatfood
group up.
I did multimedia graphics at uni, which involved web design (css and
php), digital illustration (using adobe suite) and interface design
though I now focus on the digital art side of things, using mostly
free software. I've yet to do any sort of soldering or circuitry work
so I hope to learn from you all! I set this group up because I've
always wanted to have a space where we can all share our technological
knowledge freely outside of educational establishments or work.
I really like how this group has already evolved so quickly!
pindec
in the late 90s (content & hacking horrible Dreamweaver code), some
beeb stuff, then an MSc in Computer Science (after a Wholly Unrelated
To Anything first degree) which mostly involved Java. By day i do tech
project management stuff, currently researching location and context-
aware wireless information delivery (http://www.lucidproject.org) and
tinker by night ... i recently bought myself an arduino board - though
i don't own a soldering iron. *yet*. i like processing, want some
serious time with mscape, and with nikki am seeing if there's enough
interest round these parts for some pervasive games (http://
bargbarg.ning.com).
Ciaran Mooney
I am a final year Chemistry student, interested in free software,
python, and online collaborative projects (Project Proofreaders,
Librivox and OpenStreetMap etc).
I don't have many practical skills, and would love a place where I can
go to do some handy work with resources to help me with any project I
come up with. I'd also like a place where people can meet and discuss,
and hopefully empower themselves, even if they have no interest in
technology.
> I'm pindec and i seem to be a serial dabbler - did the usual web stuff
> in the late 90s (content & hacking horrible Dreamweaver code), some
> i recently bought myself an arduino board - though
> i don't own a soldering iron. *yet*.
I want to get an arduino board too, but also wouldnt know which end of
a soldering iron to point at the electronic bits!
> I'm Antonio Roberts (hellocatfood) and I'm the one who set this whole
> group up.
Thank you very much for setting the group up!
Any one else going to say "hello world"?
Ciarán
Stormy
My name's Chris but pretty much everyone outside of work knows me as
Stormy. I'm a web developer & online marketer by trade, primarily for
http://www.mayflex.com/ (yes I know it's a .NET site, sue me :P
welcome to the unfortunate world of corporate whorage)
As a result of working 'on the inside', business classically being the
mainstay of proprietary software, I've managed to get a few changes
made such as using NVU for email design, and FreeMind for project
planning, collaborative brainstorming and the like. I've also
administered Joomla! sites and have a budding interest in Magento.
I'd be more than happy to help contribute to anything regarding web
technologies, or even designing a webby for the group (also just
noticed that unfortunately Birmingham Hack Space abbreviates as BHS!).
On Feb 2, 2:35 pm, Ciaran Mooney <general.moo...@googlemail.com>
wrote:
Richard Rothwell
I'm Richard, I've been a hacker since I can remember - dismantling
clockwork clocks, wiring up valve radios, sending away computer
programs in Fortran to be run on the local technical college and
waiting for the returned printouts of errors 3 days later...
Since then I've programmed in languages starting with at the best part
of half the letters in the alphabet, still have a soft spot for Snobol
4... I graduated in Mech Eng and made the interesting decision to
teach. I spent 20 years in secondary schools (of all types) trying to
do some computing teaching, with the curriculum getting in the way
half the time and the equipment the rest. I designed and installed a
Linux thin-client system for Handsworth Grammar, which last time I
checked it was still using. Three years ago I left education to
set-up a community interest company to encourage and support charities
and the third sector you adopt free software, and am surviving in that
role (and paying the bills!)
I try to advocate for Free Software and spend some time campaigning on
liberty and freedom in society. I attend Brum 2600 as often as I can.
Blogs at:
http;//www,cockspiracy.com/
and
http://www.richardrothwell.com/
rgds,
Richard
----
Richard Rothwell, rich...@m6-it.org
Education Consultant http://m6-it.org
Web services * Back-ups * Support * Training & Certification * E-Mail
M6-IT CIC ``Software Freedom for the Education and Voluntary Sector''
M6-IT is a Community Interest Company, limited by guarantee
Registered in England & Wales, Registration No: 6040154
11 St Marks Road, Stourbridge, West Midlands, DY9 7DT
Funkster
I'm Olly, heard about this group from a friend who had heard about the
London one. I've signed up because I really like the idea of a walk-in
workshop of like-minded techie people, be it in pub format or some
kind of industrial place where projects could actually be hacked
together.
I'm a thinly-spread engineer... mechanical, electronic, software, all
sorts really. Currently geeking in the professional audio industry for
a day job, and fettling steam cars and hot rods in my spare time.
Will keep my eye on the meet-up, hopefully make it along if it's
convenient!
Cheers,
--
Olly
Peter Lewis
I guess I should join in with the intro-thread goodness.
I'm Pete, I'm currently a PhD student at Birmingham Uni in the Computer Science department. Not being very good at mathematics or very interested in engineering methodologies, I play around with economics-inspired ways to allocate resources in big decentralised computer systems, using evolutionary algorithms to make the whole thing keep moving. It's quite good really, because I get a bit of money to tinker with things, and then when it works, I can call it "science" :-) I also teach Java to MSc students at the university part time.
So yeah, I'm mainly a software hacker / fiddler. I've dabbled in lots of free software projects, but made a lasting impact on none, I guess. I just prefer to try to tweak stuff to work the way I want it to. I'm a big believer in the philosophies of free software, and spend quite a bit of time trying to persuade other people to agree with me.
Aside from software hacking, I do pretend to be half-decent at DIY from time to time and enjoy gardening - I built a small greenhouse, have an allotment, am trying to put a whole in the wall for a cat-flap... that kind of thing. I'm also developing an interest in playing with old cameras. Take a look here for some of my efforts combining a 1930's box camera with my digital SLR (not my idea though): http://www.flickr.com/photos/prlewis/sets/72157594390283374/
Aside from hacker-type-stuff, I have some experience in various political spheres and tend to get involved in campaigns I agree with and the odd bit of volunteering. I'm also into outdoorsy stuff, such as camping, walking, skiing etc.
Oh, I have a website and blog, as I'm sure do we all. It's here: www.petesodyssey.org.
Will try to make it to a meet up when it happens. Look forward to meeting you all :-)
Pete.
Jamie Bullock
Hi all,
It seems like there are some really interesting people on this
Birmingham hack space list, and it's exciting to see this springing
out of nowhere. Here's my introduction.
I'm Jamie, and I work as a Researcher in Interactive Technology at
Birmingham Conservatoire. I am currently involved in the Integra
project, which seeks to develop a new software environment for the
composition and performance of live electronic music (www.integralive.org
). I also compose and perform music with live electronics. Examples of
my work can be found on my website at www.jamiebullock.com.
I started dabbling with programming using BASIC on the BBC micro
(model B!) in the early '80's, and I really miss those days! I've
since used Perl, Bash, C, Python, XML etc. I'm completely self taught,
so my programming is probably a bit eccentric at times! I also use
what you might call domain-specific languages for digital arts: Max/
MSP, Pure Data, SuperCollider and CSound. I love Python, and I'm
interested in learning more about data visualisation.
In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my wife and son, and am a
big fan of mountain walking and hiking. I also love cooking, eating
and drinking!
Anyhow, I'm really looking forward to seeing how this project
progresses and meeting some of y'all in person.
best,
Jamie
DrF
from Brum2600, I tend to break most things, been breaking loads of
stuff for a long time not in the good way mostly :)
Hope this goes in the right place it displays kinda screwy in my
obsolete browser, but hey my A1200 gets going way sooner than Vista ;)
Christopher
BSc. Music Tech. Although my soldering skills aren't up to much, I'm
eternally curious.
I also love anything with a vaguely Heath Robinsonian element to them.
My current project is fiddling with RFID readers (tikitags)
desperately trying to get them to play nice with Max/MSP, with an aim
to integrating them into an interactive music system further down the
line. (anybody already an expert in this area?)
Aside from that, I'm just 'around'... Soaking up the knowledge!
aldous...@googlemail.com
hi all, i'm austin. i'm a second year student at bcu on the computer
networks and security course (based at the tic, u there as well
christopher?) in too all things computer related but with a strong
lean to security, urrently doing research into cryptography(which is
fscking hard if you arn't a maths whizz). not very good with
electronics as i'm not that good with physical things although i try.
my other intrest is mainly motorbikes, going to bike rallies (camping
with beer,bikes and bands :)P )and working on the things (i'll get me
hammer....) i'll be there on sat night but as i start work at 5am sat
morning i might need a poke in the ribs if i start dozing off :P
Ciaran Mooney
Great a mechanical person! Just what we (I) need! Would love to get a
small (probably old and broken) motorbike and fix it up.
Ciarán
Andrew Bradley
I work in IT currently in a management capacity. My background is in
software engineering in UNIX, DOS and Windows, specializing in
communications protocols and CRM. I am an Open Source Advocate and
obsessive gadget collector.
Also a multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer. Released five
albums of open source audio last year, where every track was written,
recorded and released within a two hour time limit. A very interesting
intellectual challenge.
When I was a child I used to like dismantling things and putting them
back together. Finest achievement was converting an old wooden-cabinet
valve radio into a guitar amplifier. I painted it purple.
Not sure what this is all about yet, or if I am able to contribute
anything.
Shane
Currently finishing up my first year of Computing, before switching to
second year Computer Science (long story) next year. Term time I'm
living in Leicester (De Montfort Uni), but I'll hopefully be tagging
along with you guys whenever I'm home.
I'm definitely a web dev guy at heart, natively speaking PHP. Strong
lover of open source projects like WordPress, MediaWiki and various
others. Just wish I was committed enough and had enough time to help
out more with their development. I can just never think of anything to
add myself that could help other people too... I'm easily trolled
whenever the topics of "Wikipedia is a stupid educational aid" or
"open source lacks security" come up, I never seem to catch on that
I'm being trolled though until I'm mid-rant though...
I really wish I had been more bothered about hardware stuff when I was
a kid. Maybe I could have gotten my dad to find me a start solder kit
or something. As it is, I've no idea where I'll start. I have tonnes
of ideas in my head for things to make though. Just before my
coursework built up, I started to program a voice activated system to
turn on devices and lights in my bedroom. I'm not sure how I'd build
hardware to do that though... Maybe you guys can teach me? :D
I found this group thanks to the Wired article on hacker spaces, wish
I'd known about it from conception!
Hope to see you around soon. :)
sarra
I've been pointed over here by Michael (http://niij.org/) from the
London hackspace. He used to be involved with Vienna's Metalab
(http://metalab.at/wiki/English), so vicariously I've been up on the
concept of a hackspace for quite a while.
quote: "needs more technically aware women here". I'd agree with that
sobriquet - programming doesn't capture my capacity for persistence
but 'technically aware' is me to a fair point. I also have the urge
to make things - objects, processes, raptures, spectacle,
organisation, community.
I'll be in the background to help where I can.
ralu.
Let me introduce myself... I'm a very curious person and I'm eager to
learn and know more than I already did/know. Currently I'm familiar
with C, python, lisp and html. In future I would like to get familiar
with pearl also. I'm not very good at describing myself... so I hope
this is enough about me for now...
See you around.
Cypher
I work as an IT Support Engineer in Birmingham, spending my days
helping out with installs in a big datacenter and turning my hand to
just about any project that comes my way which has included Perl,
MySQL, C#, AwStats and General Linuxy things (atm CentOS).
Been away from hardcore hacking and geeking about with stuff for a
while as I have been nursing the focus of another big hobby of mine -
my Motorbike back into life after someone smashed into the thing thus
forcing myself on my way to being a Pro-am mechanic =). Definitely a
massive learning and knowledge building experience.
When I wasnt doing that I was playing about with basic soldering (Xbox
modification), experimenting with stuff in Gentoo and Linux in
general, playing with different Kernels, messing with self hosting,
asterisk, openvpn and such like.
Look forward to seeing you all at the next meeting.
nikki
Welcome along and hope to meet you all at hack-sessions in the near
future.
(NB there's no meeting tonight, but looks like there'll be one next
week instead.)
nikki
Cypher
Thats some confusion out of the way for me then! :)
See you next week.
Cheers,
Cyper
Phil Dawes
I'm interested in programming, machine intelligence, coffee, startups
and french horn playing. I've got a blog here: http://phildawes.net/
I'm hoping to come along on Wednesday 3rd, but my wife's on a book club
that runs the same first wed of every month and we've got two kids so
it'll depend on my negotiating skills.
Cheers,
Phil
Trev
Came across this group. I live in Birmingham and am an embedded
engineer by trade. My skills include:
Electronics design skills
PCB layout
Prototyping including equipment to build circuit boards
Embedded C coding skills
I enjoy embedded design and would like to input into projects and
would like to turn up at some meetings.
Hope to meet you all soon.
Trevor White
nikki
Ant, when is the next hack session? Is it the first one at The Edge on
the 1st of July, or are we squeezing another one in before that at
FOE?
n
hellocatfood
Ant
Michael
Found a link here from a news item and joined up, so I thought I
should say hi.
I live in Walsall and work on the outskirts of Wolverhampton.
I am a Systems Engineer for a company that makes Fruit and Pub quiz
machines. This basically means I programme the software that drives
the hardware and stuff.
I have always been interested in programming and hacking things. I
mainly work in C/C++ but, I will generally be happy picking up any
language though. I have dabbled in Assembly, Python, Ruby, PHP and
others I can't really think of right now. I have been interested in
Linux since I heard about it back in 1997 and have played with lots of
Linux based stuff (self hosting, kernel compilation) and even did a
tiny bit of packaging work for the last release of Ubuntu.
I am interested in getting more into electronics and Arduino seems to
be the perfect way.
Just having a quick read over the posts it seems that people might be
looking into build their own boards. I would be quite interested in
learning how the board itself works and so would be interested in
taking part.
Am I right in thinking the next meeting is a week Wednesday? I am
hoping I could make it along. Would I need to bring anything?
Mike
nikki
Our next hack session is scheduled for Wed 15th, 6-10pm at The Edge in
Digbeth, Birmingham (B12 0QH)
It's set off the road a bit at the back of a yard so not so easy to
spot first time around. If you're heading up the road away from the
city centre it's on your right hand side. If you get to the Fountain
pub you've gone too far!
The main thing to bring is whatever you want to work on. We didn't
manage to get wi-fi working last time around, so best not to rely too
heavily on an internet connection for now... There's a kitchen at The
Edge, but no shops nearby so bring whatever snackage is necessary.
Also a pound for the kitty please.
There're generally a few arduino boards around if you want to have a
look before ordering one yourself. If you're ready to start tinkering
with electronics, there'll probably be a couple of soldering irons
knocking around too.
If there's anything you'd like to try, bit don't have the kit for,
just send a message out on the list and see fi you can pool resources
with anyone else.
Just out of curiosity, could you share the link you followed to get
here - it's useful for us to know how people hear about fizzPOP.
Cheers,
nikki
Trevor White
Hope to see you at the next meeting. I do C myself and last week was at
a Python convention in town. Do still use Python much?
I put out the message to see if anyone wanted to make their own Arduino.
Nikki and Antonio seem keen at present. Had no feedback from anyone else
so far so not sure if this will happen at the moment.
Trev
Stuart Langridge
JavaScript; I work for Canonical on Ubuntu, and I'm a web hacker as
well), and I was involved in the Wolves Linux User Group and LugRadio,
if anyone's heard of that :) I'm interested in fizzpop for a few
reasons:
1. I'm shortly moving from Stourbridge into the centre of Birmingham
(anyone who wants to buy a 3 bedroom house in Stourbridge, let me
know), and I'm really interested in ensuring that there's a vibrant
tech scene in Brum, and fizzpop seems like a good part of that
2. I've got about a million ideas for gadgets and hardware and
technology that I'd like to own, but I know nothing, *nothing*, about
engineering. I'm a software guy. So, I'd like to learn. Hopefully I
might pick up some stuff by osmosis, but more of what I need, at least
initially, is to describe ideas that I've had and then see how hard
you all laugh at them to know whether they're possible or not. I'd
like to get into actually constructing these things, too (I will
happily fill the list with the last year's worth of
stuff-I'd-like-to-see-built), but just knowing some actual engineers
will help :-)
Getting to meetings is a bit awkward, what with being out in the
sticks a bit, but I'll do my best. (Not the one next week, though; I'm
on holiday.)
sil
--
New Year's Day --
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.
-- Kobayashi Issa
Michael
Thanks for the details. Will see what I can do.
What issues did you have with the Wi-Fi? I do have a spare Netgear
router if that's any use and have some experience with routers if I
can be of any help setting things up. The spare router has an ethernet
WAN port as apose to an ADSL modem WAN port though.
I think this was the article I originally saw that inspired me to
search around and discover fizzPOP: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8107803.stm
I do have a personal project I would like to have a go at, so will put
out a thread.
Mike
Michael Nicholls
I casually try to use python to write small scripts at work.
Unfortunately we are a Microsoft based platform, but I try to sneak
Open Source and Linux based solutions in where ever I can.
Yeah I am interested in the "build your own Arduino board" project. I
think I shall be ordering one this week so I can start playing, but
would love to understand and build my own regardless.
Have you had much experience with Arduino boards?
Cheers,
Mike
On Jul 6, 2:09 pm, Trevor White <trevor.white...@googlemail.com>
wrote:
Martin Meredith
Hey sil,
Not surprised at all to see you posting here!
Welcome to FizzPOP!
Getting to meetings might be a little less awkward when you're in Brum
Centre... :D
I'm thinking that "Stuff I'd like to see built" would be great for a wiki page.
Anton doesn't seem to have got the grasp of the Wiki yet, is there anyone out
there willing to run/spamclean the wiki?
--
Regards,
Martin "Mez" Meredith
Stuart Langridge
> Hey sil,
> Not surprised at all to see you posting here!
> Welcome to FizzPOP!
Heh, and thanks :-)
> I'm thinking that "Stuff I'd like to see built" would be great for a wiki page.
> Anton doesn't seem to have got the grasp of the Wiki yet, is there anyone out
> there willing to run/spamclean the wiki?
I'm certainly happy to talk about these things in whatever way is most
acceptable; should I just send posts to the list and then transport
them to the wiki as and when it becomes available? (I'd like to
volunteer to run the wiki, but history shows that I end up being too
busy for periods of time and that's not good.)
Antonio Roberts
thing we'd like to build, though if people want to discuss their ideas
in more depth there is always the possibility of writing a blog post
about it, as the blog has proved to be quite popular.
If you'd like to volunteer to (help) run the wiki just drop me an e-mail.
Ant
2009/7/7 Stuart Langridge <s...@kryogenix.org>:
Chris Lovell
G Bulmer
I'm primarily a software engineer. I wrote my first program around
1979 at university. I dropped out of Physics and got a degree in
Computer Science. I taught Computer Science to under graduates and
post grads. in the 80's, and did consultancy. As well as teaching
'traditional' computer science, I was lucky enough to be part of the
team that developed the first European MA in Electronic Graphics. I
taught, and did, UNIX and PC development in C, Ada, and UNIX tools,
with much of my focus on computer graphics and animation (see
'Computer in the Art Room' by Catherine Mason for a view of that
time).
In the 90's I was a director and CTO of a start-up software services
company. We did high-end GUI-based client/server for a bunch of
companies including car companies, like Rover and Rolls Royce Bentley
Motor Cars (some of our work is stil in use today). At first we used
Mac clients, then UNIX workstations, then Windows PC's. We went on to
build early web applications for the likes of supermarkets. We were
among the early adopters of Java (before it appeared on Windows). I
collaborated on Enterprise Architecture blueprints for Sun
Microsystems, and we built systems for banks and insurance companies.
We got bought in 1999. I moved to the USA, and lived and worked there
for much of this decade as Chief Architect for two services companies
and, in between, a software products company called Aspentech. My
software is used to integrate plant systems and enterprise-wide
systems.
Nowadays I am interested in Erlang for distributed, highly-available
systems, and I'm working on integrating DTrace with Erlang. I've also
done a little work with NVIDIA CUDA. I am fascinated by sensor
networks.
My Arduino interest started last year, inspired by a friend, Mark, and
his grandson Ruben. I've been using it as a base to develop projects
for after-school technology clubs. Some teenagers at a local Coventry
school are kind and helpful enough to give their won time to help test
ideas, and suggest directions for or projects. Starting from nothing,
they have learned a little C, and some electronics. We've built a
simple autonomous robot (a tautology, I know, but some folks think a
robot is remote controlled). We've built some IR remote control
infrastructure, and we're working on an electro-mechanical display.
The overall goal is to have projects which volunteers could take into
schools.
Among my other 'hobby' projects is trying to develop a balloon
satellite system with the folks at the local school.
If you have seen the "Teddies in Space" pictures by the Cambridge
University Spaceflight club you'll understand why :-)
(see http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~cuspaceflight/)
I am competent at C, and I've a reasonable grasp of the internals of
the Atmega's, and processors in general (I can write assembler, but
why would I want to?-)
I'd be happy to try to help folks who'd like a bit of Arduino
assistance.
Work allowing, I'll see folks at the 16th July meeting.
GB-)
Antonio Roberts
thing involved with mediawiki. In which case the wiki is located here
http://wiki.fizzpop.org.uk/
Ant
2009/7/7 Chris Lovell <sto...@gmail.com>:
Bob Clough
pages while not signed in, and creating accounts, there are LOTS of
mediawiki spambots out there, and they've murdered a few wikis i've
used.
Recaptcha is a good one, and it helps digitise books!
Bob
Ciarán Mooney
Yeah, a CAPTCHA of somekind would be a good idea.
Thanks Ant!
Ciarán