Hamfest in Ubuntu News; Local Community team ?

[David Hardy]

I'd like to help out with any of this if I could, as a former HossTraders
attendee at the Hopkinton, NH site.  Saw maddog there, but way too shy and
awe-struck to talk, even though a fellow former DEC slave.

Here's the deal:  I work and live in Montpeculiar, Vermont, but we have some
Linux shops and several budding localized businesses that emphasize open
sauce and serving local community needs.  I'm not a Linux guru by any
stretch, and have yet to get an official ham license, but a huge fan and
supporter of open sauce, amateur and shortwave radio and local sustainable
communities.

Is there some way there could once again be cooperation between the great
Granite State and the Green Mountain State, perhaps a mutually convenient
site for this sort of enterprise?

(We have VAGUE here, as many of you probably know, and potentially more
interested folks.)

You have my email:  my landline is 802-229-3012.



On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 9:43 PM, Bill Ricker <bill.n1vux at gmail.com> wrote:

> >   It was also reported that the NEAR-Fest organizers seemed to be less
> >  receptive to the computer stuff, wanting to focus more on traditional
> >  radio stuff.
>
>
> True.  Perception of recent Hoss Traders was there were more big
> layouts of small buckets of PCI cards and cables than of RF
> connectors, and aside from a couple commercial ham dealers selling NEW
> there were no radios, and all the good used ham gear was going to eBay
> because there weren't any RADIO buyers only junk computer buyers  -- a
> self fulfilling prophecy, once the radios (are perceived to) go to
> ebay, they buyers don't show. New Mgt announcing "more radios, less
> computers" was self-fulfilling also, and so radios *were* there to be
> bought, the buyers were there to buy, and deals were made.  But still
> some computers. I bought a 35mm film scanner.
>
> And GNU/Linux is recognized as having been Ham-friendly from early on,
> e.g. having an AX.25 driver in kernel, and the DIY ethic of
> GNU/Linux/FLOSS hackers and
> radio/electronics/robotics/kinetic-art/Make-magazine hackers is in the
> same direction.  GNHLUG giving out the Ham linux disk certainly helped
> on keeping that perception current..
>
> > But it's also been reported that they may be coming around on that score.
>
> Hams need computers too !  Just don't want to drive the radio
> resellers back to eBay again.
>
> >   Of course, if you someone wants to show up and spread the word
> >  anyway, that's perfectly fine.  Indeed, more power to you!  :)  There
> >  are prolly still a few attendees who would benefit; we just decided
> >  there weren't enough to be worth it anymore.
>
> Linux isn't a closely held open secret any more, that's true.
>
> >   One note: We discovered that if you advertise anything for "free" at
> >  hamfest, you will get cleaned out by people taking seven of everything
> >  just because it's "free".
>
> :-)
>
> >  They might not even own a computer; they
> >  don't care, they see it as a moral imperative to take free stuff.  If
> >  you try to limit to one per person, they'll come around seven times.
>
> If there's a limit, it's obviously good !
>
> >  We solved this problem by loudly advertising the $1 fee for the discs
> >  we were burning, and keeping the "free" status of the pre-made discs
> >  quiet.
>
> :-)
>
> If I can get a couple boxes of out-of-date Gutsy CDs, I was thinking
> of Johny Appleseeding, giving them to folks selling computers for them
> to give WITH the older systems as upgrades.
>
> --
> Bill
> n1vux at arrl.net bill.n1vux at gmail.com
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>
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