March 2005 Minutes 2

The next meeting is on April 12 at 6:00 PM. This is the first meeting on the new schedule. For those of you who haven't heard this, the new meeting schedule is 2nd Tuesdays and Thursdays--Tuesdays on even numbered months and Thursdays on odd numbered months. To make that work out with the next meeting, which is a Tuesday, January is considered month one, not zero.

The first Social will be at O'Neils at 6:00 on April 28. The date, time, and place of future Socials will be chosen at each meeting. Most likely, this will be randomly chosen, but always with at least a week's notice.

Specifications for the LED Load Meter project are as follows. It will consist of 3 alpha-numeric digits (w/ decimal points) and a single 10-segment bar graph display. Whatever unused I/O bits will be used for extra LEDs, which could be used to indicate what is being displayed--CPU temp, CPU load, etc. It will interface with the parallel port. The communication will use a synchronous serial protocol (via the parallel port) with a number of 74xx595 serial-input, parallel-output shift registers (w/ latch). A small transformer power supply will supply power to the logic and power the LEDs--anything rated for 5 VDC and at least 100 mA. There was agreement that 10$ was a good price.

A case/enclosure will be optional, but a mechanical drawing of the required aperture and mounting hole locations will be provided in advance for those who want to make their own enclosure.

Those interested in obtaining a kit should attend the April 12th meeting. The cost of the kit will be 10$. An additional fee for the (ABS plastic) enclosure will be 5$. Those who also need a wall transformer as specified above may order one for 5$. The kits will be delivered at the May 12 or June 14 meeting, depending on the number of kits that are ordered and volunteer turnout.

Kevin Neff will be doing the board-level design for the printed circuit board. Another electrical engineer with board-level design experience is needed to help conduct a design review in the next month or so. Also, someone with a drill press and other basic tools for machining ABS plastic may be needed, depending on the demand for enclosures. Send e-mail to NeffK@IEEE.Org to volunteer and for questions regarding these needs.

The Bootcamp was discussed a great deal. The target audience for this event will be computer literate people who are probably Windows users. The event will take place on a Saturday preceding a K-LUG meeting by a few weeks. For Bootcamp, the attendees will use Ubuntu as a live CD. The format will most likely be a number of 50 min sessions. So far, the topics for presentation are not chosen, but a few of the recent posts on the mailing list appear to be a good start. There was discussion about setting up a wiki for coordinating the event. However, for the time being, address all questions and comments to the klug@k-lug.org or to Steve Fox at drfickle@k-lug.org.