Utah Open Source Podcast

PLUG: May 2009 - The Open Source Data Center

During the last 10 years of system administration I have been involved in a number of data center migrations and build-outs. As these projects came and went I began to see patterns emerge in the set of services and software required to run a successful operations infrastructure. This presentation will describe these patterns, and provide an overview of the Open Source software available to implement them. About Dan: Dan Hanks has been involved with Linux System administration since 1998, when he worked for EagleNet Online, a small ISP in Provo, which, in a sense, was the birthplace of PLUG. After EagleNet he worked as a systems and database administrator for Nothsky/About.com/Primedia/United Online and is currently a system administrator for Omniture. He has varied interests, ranging from computers and technology to astronomy, geology, music, art, and family history research. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from BYU, and is the father of 4 adventuresome children. He (occasionally) blogs at http://brainshed.com, and tweets as @danhanks.

File download (Ogg Vorbis | 122MB | 84:01min)

Provo Linux User Group
Utah Open Source Foundation
Center 7: Providing streaming/podcast bandwidth
Presentation Slides

datacenter | 2009 | plug
May 13, 2009

PLUG: April 2009 - Control 4

Ryan Erickson works for Control4 (http://www.control4.com), and has worked and played with Home Automation for over 10 years. He will present an introduction to Home Automation, and discuss Control4's Home Automation products. Ryan will cover: # What is Home Automation? # How does it work? # Open Source Home Automation projects # DIY vs. 'Professional' # Control4's approach to Home Automation

File download (Ogg Vorbis | 96MB | 80:34min)

Provo Linux User Group
Utah Open Source Foundation
Center 7: Providing streaming/podcast bandwidth
Control 4

automation | 2009 | audio | plug
Apr 10, 2009

PLUG - March 2009: Parrot

Parrot is a virtual machine designed to efficiently compile and execute bytecode for dynamic languages. Parrot currently hosts a variety of language implementations in various stages of completion, including Tcl, Javascript, Ruby, Lua, Scheme, PHP, Python, Perl 6, APL, and a .NET bytecode translator. Parrot is not about parrots, though we are rather fond of them for obvious reasons. Guru at Guru Labs for 1.5 years. I teach, work on courseware, and assorted Perl programming. In my spare time I work on Parrot and recently a roguelike. I've been working on Parrot for about a year, in which time I've written a LOLCODE and Ruby compiler and done a lot of work on Exceptions and some work implementing features in Perl 6. I'd like to talk about Parrot and/or Perl 6! That's about as specific as I get. If nobody has any more-specific requests, I'd like to run through implementing a simple language and the parts of a Parrot compiler. Maybe scheme? I haven't decided yet.

File download (Ogg Vorbis | 99MB | 80:42min)

Provo Linux User Group
Utah Open Source Foundation
Guru Labs: Presentation Sponsor
Center 7: Podcast / Streaming Hosting
Video of this podcast

parrot | perl | plug
Mar 15, 2009

PLUG - February 2009: Git by Barry Roberts

I've been a programmer and sometimes sysadmin for Xactware Solutions for over 13 years. I program in Java, groovy, Python, Perl, bash and C#. Shockingly, the division I work for has become an island of Linux in a sea of Windows servers. I've been researching replacing CVS for over 5 years now. Last April, I helped all our developers and testers switch to Git. I've been the internal support person for Linux and Windows git clients since then. In this presentation I hope to use concrete examples and experience to convince every programmer that not using git is shortening your life, frightening your children, and contributing to the current economic malaise. We will also look at some cool git-related tools including a cross-platform gui I've done some minor hacking on to keep Windows users happy.

File download (Ogg Vorbis | 76MB | 71:05min)

Provo Linux User Group
Utah Open Source Foundation
Center 7: Providing streaming/podcast bandwidth

plug | git | 2009
Mar 15, 2009

PLUG - December 2008: SELinux by Stuart Jansen

The traditional Unix security model is simple and beautiful. For decades it has been good enough for most people. However, it is starting to show its age. In the highest security settings, a more fine grained control system is needed. In the past, this meant using expensive, complicated, special purpose versions of Unix: trusted systems. (Trusted Solaris, Trusted AIX, Trusted HP-UX) SELinux, created by the NSA, is the most mature and complete response to the need for Trusted Linux systems. Unfortunately, because of the difficulty creating and maintaining trusted systems, their success has been limited. This is no longer acceptable. Today, even desktop systems and cell phones need high quality security. Imagine being able to sandbox your Web browser and e-mail client. The traditional Unix model makes this difficult and only partially possible. SELinux, on the other hand, makes fine grained security available to everyone. When it first appeared, SELinux was hard to learn and mysterious to troubleshoot. As a result, many people fear it. However, SELinux and the tools to manage it have come a long way. It's time to lay fear aside. Stuart will teach what SELinux is, why it is great, basic troubleshooting and maintenance.

File download (Ogg Vorbis | 62MB | 87:15min)