The Barometer ran an article today about Google’s donation to OSU. This is indeed news worthy… and I am happy for google and Oregon.

However, in the final paragraph they quote me, “We don’t really have education for open source software here on campus,” he said. “I can go to my computer science classes and learn nothing about this software.” This is not true. For example, I have a class that focuses on the Linux operating system.

The intent was for it to read more like:

“We don’t really have education for open source software here on campus,” he said. “I can go to my computer science classes and learn nothing about this process.”

So yeah:

s/software/process/

EECS is being very receptive, and progress is being made. We are already leaders and it seems like we are leveraging that.

Today the Governor announced that Google has donated $350,000 to OSU, PSU, and the OSL. I am so happy to see a company stick its money where its mouth is by supporting open source in education.

If this money is spent well, I have a hunch that it will be the first of many such donations.

Read the press release: http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/press_102505.shtml

Go beavs!

Everyone busted out the paper, but I got out the laptop and said, “I am blogging this.”

Where do you see yourself working in 5 years? In 10?

I seem to get this question a lot. The general response is, “I do not even know what I will be doing next week!”. Now, that may sound like I do not have a grand plan or a vision, but this is not the case. I simply trust that opportunities will come up and I will make a good decision which to pursue.

Hopefully where ever I am in 5 or 10 years, I will not be working, I will be playing. I will be able to accomplish this only if my job is so fun it seems like it is not work at all. I used to think that this was an impossible situation, but as I gain more experience in industry I realize that it is a distinct trait of the people that are most successful.

What sorts of technical writing do you see yourself doing? (Be specific) Reports? What kinds?

Ideally I will have some technical knowledge to share with others, in which case I will be writing about that. Maybe I will find the need to write an RFC or help explain the kernel scheduling model. Both of which I have no knowledge about at the moment, but it could happen.

Whoops, times up.

Today was the Linux Picnic… and it was a riot. Took a few photos, this one is my favorite:

Josh: the model

The funniest event happened while waiting for a raffle. The raffle was for a small 1U server, and you had to write a short essay in order to win. I wrote an essay talking about the OSLUG, and how we can always use more power while promoting open source software. However, while waiting, a man walked by us with what appeared to be a 1U server. Thinking we had missed the raffle, I called him on it. He said that he had taken it off of the “free table” and the winner of the essay contest did not want it. Confused, but tired of waiting, we got up and left. On the way out, just to double check, I asked one of the picnic staff if the drawing had taken place… and they said in an irritated voice, “no no, we are about to, just wait.” Then I said, “But where is the server?” “Right over… uhhh…. uhhh… ” then I responded “A man just told me that the server was put on the free table, so he took it.” At that point the volunteer picked up her loud speaker and shouted, “PLEASE RETURN THE SERVER!!” The guy was just confused, but it still made for an entertaining time watching the staff hunt the guy down in the park.

Alas, the LUG did not win the server. However, the guy who originally donated the 1U took my email address and said he would probably be able to help. LUG BOX!! He also noted that he uses the OSL slackware mirror!

Then Josh and I visited Stanford, because we can.

O!!!

S!!!

U!!!

Fight fight fight!

OSU news gave Brandon and I some props today. Thanks OSU news!

Bigger thanks to the OSL.

Mozilla too :)

INTERNSHIPS MAY AID COMPUTER USERS, CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

06-06-05

By David Stauth, 541-737-0787
SOURCES: Alex Polvi, polvi@osuosl.org
Brandon Philips, brandon@osuosl.org

CORVALLIS - Two undergraduate engineering students at Oregon State University who gained valuable computer software programming experience with the university’s Open Source Laboratory are anxious to begin what they call “the perfect summer internships.”

One project may help millions of computer users gain access to a popular Internet web browser, and the other will create new robotics technology to help children with disabilities.

But neither would have been possible, the students say, without the experience they gained in OSU’s expanding work on “open source” software, or systems which are available freely to anyone.

“These opportunities would never have happened if OSU didn’t have such a great open source computer organization,” said Alex Polvi, a sophomore in computer science from Amity, Ore. “Not only has it given us invaluable experience, it has also made us very attractive to industry.”

OSU is one of the universities leading the nation in the development of this evolving concept of software, which creates programs that are free, open for inspection and can be adapted by companies or individuals for their specific needs. Among other things, the university is very active with Firefox, a highly popular software program used in browsing the Internet.

At the same time, these systems are saving the university substantial amounts of money on sophisticated software programs needed in university operation, while also helping people and communities address their computer needs.

The work with Firefox will form the basis of Polvi’s internship - he will work with the Mozilla Foundation, the lead developers of this software, to help increase its availability to many more users. Polvi will spend the summer working in Mountain View, Calif., and then return to his studies at OSU.

“We’re trying to scale up the use of Firefox to hundreds of millions of users,” Polvi said. “I’ll be working in system administration, managing all the servers that are required to run things like mozilla.org websites, build machines, and perform other services.”

The other internship is equally complex, but with a very compassionate goal.

“I’m going to be working with NASA experts on a robot called CosmoBot, which is designed to help educators and therapists give better care to children with special needs,” said Brandon Philips, a sophomore in computer science from Sherwood, Ore. “It will be my job, along with two or three other students, to figure out how to integrate image processing, voice recognition and wireless sensors into the product.”

The project will be at a NASA laboratory in College Park, Maryland, and include visits to artificial intelligence laboratories at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other research centers. Philips said he is looking forward to “working for some very talented people and making a difference in people’s lives.”

Robotic systems such as these, experts say, can combine wearable sensors with voice-activation to control electronic devices by gestures or body movements. Such systems can be used by people with disabilities and their therapists to integrate therapy, learning and play - and they will be tested in actual clinical and educational settings throughout the development process.

This particular project is one part of NASA’s Robotics Internship Program, providing an avenue for students to participate in challenging projects on the frontiers of robotics research. Some of the projects have space applications, and others address societal needs.

The OSU Open Source Laboratory was the first such facility of its type at any public university in the nation. Its work provides international leadership in this computer concept and valuable educational experiences to OSU students.

And for two OSU students, the knowledge gained in the lab has opened the door to a couple of great summer jobs.

-30-

Alright, here it is, finals week:

Today (estimated stress level (esl): 2/10)

• botany
• clean up math
• finish up eecs-graduation seating order (done)
• fill at least one box

Tuesday (esl: 2/10)

• botany final
• Build out some mozilla machines
• Look over physics

Wednesday (esl: 4/10)

• math math math
• eye appointment
• physics

Thursday (esl: 7/10)

• math math math math math
• physics
• pack

Friday (esl: 14/10)

• physics physics physics physics
• eecs graduation practice
• move out of weatherford
• say good-bye to katrina
• pack pack pack
• drive to parents

Saturday (esl: 6/10)

• pack pack pack
• head back to corvallis for eecs graduation
• pack pack pack

Sunday (esl: 0/10)

• leave for a week of camping

Rest of next week (esl: 0/10)

• camp camp camp

Two weeks from today (esl: 2/10)

• Move in somewhere in mountain view
• Start new job at Mozilla

Thats as far as I can see……

Hopefully the end of this week is not too difficult.

What a day. 0800: running to work for a staff meeting…. 0930: a trip to Albany to do some last minute shopping for Lar’s BBQ this weekend. As soon as I got back from that I went to work on Mozilla stuff, trying to finish up the developer wiki before finals hit (1100 - 1350). At 1400 I had a physics recitation, followed up by a PAC178 final at 1500. By 1530 I was running over to the library to participate in the Fall 06 TRF grant proposal process. It is a fun committee to be on. I have more things to say about the meeting… hopefully I will find some time to write about them. At 2130 (yes, that was a 6 hour long meeting) I immediately walked over to the computer lab to finish up a math project. And now, at 0130, I am done. What a day.

Last day of classes in the morning! Wooooooooo…..

Now that the school year is almost over it is time to look back on all the open source in COE heckling. In brief, it worked. Of course, I do not think the job is done with… but there has definitely been change.

Case 1: CS 312. “Linux Systems Administration” is going to be taught in the Fall by Scott Kveton. While this was mostly just a renaming of a current course, it still is progress.

Case 2: CS 411. Rumor has it that this course is going to use the Linux Kernel instead of Nachos next year. Finally!

Case 3: Open Unix Computing Labs. Next year COE plans of having at least one Linux lab (out of three total labs) in the new Kelley Engineering Center. This too is all tentative, but I would bet it will happen.

Case 4: I was contacted by Don Heer to discuss a platform for learning for EECS. He seemed pretty fired up about the idea, and wanted me to collect more information. He asked me to research three different things, the responses are here(many people helped compile this) . Good things will come of this.

Case 5: While members of the OVP were interested in helping start an internship program for open source projects, they now insist on not responding to email. Too bad. This is still a great idea and needs to be presented to the professor who runs senior capstone projects.

Here is the progress from the beginning of the year to the end:

• Open Source and COE — part one
• Open Source and COE — part 2, The meeting
• Open Source and COE — part 3
• Open Source in COE — part 4
• Open Source in COE — part 5, The big meeting
• Open Source in COE — phase 2

This is progress.

Some quick thoughts. These are things I am thinking about when you see me muttering and shouting to myself as I walk across campus.

1) Complete central authentication. It would be neat if there was a central host that acted as a proxy to any authentication systems. System Admins could “sign-up” their entire directory to the service and then allow any parties that use the central service to auth through them. Sure, this opens up a wide array of security and privacy concerns…. but it sure would be neat to have a single sign on globally across the web. Then I would have good reason to change my password every other day and not have to worry about forgetting it.

2) Open services. What if a project like ebay open sourced its code under a license that only allowed people to contribute back to the project? So instead of allowing everyone to deploy their own ebay, people interested in helping would improve the single large project. If someone had a user interface annoyance, for example, they could write up a patch and send it in.

3) Load balancing. While doing my laundry tonight I realized I had three washers, two color and one white, that I seemingly filled randomly. This was load balancing at its finest. The whole situation really brought out how difficult and slow the process can be.

4) Feed Gravity wins the hearts of the young and fearless.

5) Staff lists. Are staff lists really important? In particular, the ACM staff list on campus is pretty active while the member one is completely dead. As Brandon put it, why not make the members part of the organization effort? I think it would just stir up more potential leaders.

A common procedure in botany lab is to cut off a sample of something, look at it under the microscope, and draw it. Today we had 1 microscope and 4 people who each needed to draw 5 slides… normally this would take a very long time. Not today!