Possible project ideas

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Nitin Chandrachoodan

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Aug 20, 2016, 1:09:18 AM8/20/16
to linuxus...@googlegroups.com, Institute WebOps, Madhu Sudhan
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/

Narendiran

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Aug 20, 2016, 2:06:01 AM8/20/16
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>
> 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.
>

The source code of reddit is openly available on github.

https://github.com/reddit/reddit

Instead of creating something from scratch, it'll be easier to set
this up and get it running.


--
A. Narendiran

Abhishek Shandilya

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Aug 20, 2016, 2:36:54 AM8/20/16
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Regarding the 4th idea of a insti-stackoverflow, I had installed Askbot on the CFI server one year back. Sadly, it was popular only for a few months.

Regards,
Abhishek Shandilya


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IIT Madras Linux Users' Group
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Karthik Nishanth

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Aug 20, 2016, 2:43:28 AM8/20/16
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There is also a r/iitmadras subreddit that has been inactive for a long time. Instead of hosting it ourselves, it would be simpler making this subreddit private just for insti students. The subreddit is up for grabs for anyone with >500 karma.

I am not sure about how many students use reddit. We can conduct a survey via smail to know. If a lot of students are using reddit, we can revamp the subreddit.

Karthikeya Viswanath

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Aug 20, 2016, 7:16:26 AM8/20/16
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Insti has a reasonable amount of Reddit regulars, and that will certainly pick up if the subreddit starts to take off. I'm actually in favor of trying to maybe get the student council to officially take this up and set up moderation. I'll try to take this up with the general secretary and see if something can be done about this.

It's also hilarious when I see people submit articles about IIT Madras in the r/iitm subreddit. ( Seems like it was made private a while ago, so I guess they got tired of it.)



Regards,
Abhishek Shandilya

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Karthikeya Viswanath

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Aug 20, 2016, 7:33:26 AM8/20/16
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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?


​This sounds interesting. I might try this out on my unused router sometime this month and see what I can make of it.​

Karthik Raman

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Aug 20, 2016, 11:34:22 AM8/20/16
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I thought DD-WRT must have something of that sort already? http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index

Best,
Karthik

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Nitin Chandrachoodan

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Aug 20, 2016, 3:11:15 PM8/20/16
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On Sat, Aug 20, 2016 at 11:35 AM, Narendiran <a.nare...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The source code of reddit is openly available on github.

By the way, a general note applicable to all the projects:

Absolutely - wherever possible, use existing systems or code, rather
than writing your own. Reinventing the wheel can be nice, but that
need not start from reinventing the axe used to cut the wood to make
the wheel.

Nitin
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