On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 06:03:45AM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > is there any interest in a small group focused on linux kernel > programming that would want to meet on a regular or occasional basis > in downtown ottawa and hash out selected areas of interest in kernel > programming? I'll put my hand up as a *very* interested party! > while i make part of my living teaching kernel programming and basic > device drivers, there are many times when i'm looking at a new feature > (or an old feature i'd never seen before) and thought, "how the > &#$%@*^$% does *that* work?" and i can tediously puzzle through it, > or i can get together with like-minded individuals somewhere within > walking distance of where i live and rely on the fact that *someone* > will know how it works and can explain it. > > not to sound elitist, but it wouldn't be a beginners' group. there > are times when i'm struggling with some kernel programming topic, and > i'd really like to just get together with a few other kernel hackers > and have *someone* know how it works and explain it to everyone else. Andrew Hutton made a couple of attempts to bring together this type of group and even went so far as to organize a Dim Sum in the basement of the Yangtzee Chinese restaurant at the corner of Somerset and Cambridge (I lived 1/2 block away later!) and invited an out of town speaker (Zac Brown) in September 1999. The group was called the Ottawa Advanced Linux Users Group. http://tricolour.net/photos/oalug.html I've been talking to a few professionals in Ottawa trying to bring back such a group myself. > i suggest downtown since i don't want to make it a formal > get-together that would require planning and travel. as i understand > it, there is an android developers group that gets together regularly, > so this would be sort of along those lines. i've been to the code > factory, http://thecodefactory.ca/, and this seems like a reasonable > location. and short meetings over lunch might be ideal since, as i > said, the aim would be more informal discussion and explanation rather > than a regular monthly meeting (at least for now). I'd be interested in any variety of types of meetings, small classroom, pub, cafe, private home, community centre, etc... Each venue has its pros and cons. Some prefer coffee, tea, beer, food, free, dark, bright, no music, light music, hard seats, couches, intimate, public, multimedia, nice view... I would be willing to host such meetings myself at our house (or up on the balcony facing the river in nice weather). > are there others interested in something like this? that is, people > with a decent background in kernel programming who'd sacrifice a lunch > hour downtown on a regular basis to clarify the details of some > pre-selected kernel programming topic? I can think of probably a dozen people in the area who I'd like to see there who I suspect are no longer on this list. > and just to be clear, i'm not trying to compete with OCLUG. this > group would be far more informal and have a much stricter focus. so > ... who's in? if enough people are interested, i'll check out what it > would take to meet at the code factory. No, I agree this would complement or augment OCLUG. Ian would welcome such a group, I suspect. > rday slainte mhath, RGB -- Richard Guy Briggs -- ~\ -- ~\ <hpv.tricolour.net> <www.TriColour.net> -- \___ o \@ @ Ride yer bike! Ottawa, ON, CANADA -- Lo_>__M__\\/\%__\\/\% Vote! -- <greenparty.ca>_____GTVS6#790__(*)__(*)________(*)(*)_________________