I have been mulling over a few ideas that could be interesting hobby
projects for people with a Linux and web-development bent of mind. I
have posted them at the links below, and would welcome inputs from
anyone who is interested in taking them up. I am intentionally posting
it to the LUG list though we have many members outside IITM, in the
hope that there could be contributions in terms of ideas from anyone.
Also, I request the WebOps coords to forward this to others on campus
who may not be on the LUG list.
These are not projects that can justify a BTech or MTech project
(maybe in some cases), so are targeted more as hobby/learning. They do
have direct applications in the IIT context though, and so I will be
happy to see what support can be obtained in terms of access to
network, servers etc. if someone can prove they have a decent chance
of making something work.
So, on with the ideas (
http://www.ee.iitm.ac.in/~nitin/misc/ideas/):
1.
http://www.ee.iitm.ac.in/~nitin/misc/ideas/wifi.html
Turns out that home WiFi routers of today have chipsets that would
have been considered fairly powerful a few years ago: can these be put
to good use by installing a real Linux based distribution on the
routers and making them centrally manageable access points?
2.
http://www.ee.iitm.ac.in/~nitin/misc/ideas/onlinejudge.html
Create an online mechanism where people can submit code for hardware
digital designs that will then be automatically run against a test
bench and any resulting errors will be reported.
3.
http://www.ee.iitm.ac.in/~nitin/misc/ideas/chipscope.html
FPGA boards can be programmed remotely over the network with support
from the hardware vendors. This usually requires dedicated access to
the boards. We would like to make a reservation mechanism that allows
users to access a board on-demand for evaluating their designs.
4.
http://www.ee.iitm.ac.in/~nitin/misc/ideas/discussion.html
Create a local discussion site that is something like SlashDot and
StackOverflow, but can encourage discussions relevant to the campus
community.
----
Feel free to open a discussion either through direct email to me, or
(preferably where relevant) on this list, so that others can pitch in
as well.
--
Nitin Chandrachoodan
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering
IIT Madras
http://www.ee.iitm.ac.in/~nitin/