08/04/2009 Summary

[Bill Zimmerly]

Just like last month, we had seven people attending the meeting:
"regulars" including Phil, John, Jerry, Gary, and myself AND two
newcomers, Eric and Sean. We gathered around one (extended) table and
shared an outlet with a power strip that the always-prepared Phil
brought. ;)

As usual, the food and drinks were exceptional at Wired Coffee, and we
all had a good time discussing those Linux and open-source related
things that we like to discuss. Included in the discussion was the
Western Digital MyBook external hard disk series - especially the
"World" edition ( http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=586
) - which is a file server by itself! Plugged into the Internet via
its RG45 port, and access to the disk's contents or simply
establishing a secure shell connection to the disk's firmware is a
snap from anywhere in the world that you have access to the Internet.
And what powers this tool? Why LINUX of course! :) Where can they be
purchased? Amazon, New Egg, and many other outlets (
http://www.google.com/products?q=Western+Digital+World+edition+of+the+MyBook&oe=utf-8&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=tnJ_Sr3mJJP-NdalmeIC&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4
) as well.

Next month, I plan on bringing in a DV Dongle ( http://www.dvdongle.com/
) and demonstrate a digital bridge through the Internet that HAM radio
operators use to establish digital voice communications with other
HAMs around the world.