February 2009

GeekAustin tidbits: Cocoa, Refresh, Twestival, and the class is full

Submitted by Lynn Bender on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 1:00am

This Tuesday's RefreshAustin meeting features Jon Loyens on jQuery and Sara Summers on design process. This will be a good one. 7PM at Buffalo Billiards.

James Hillhouse just created a Cocoa Coders LinkedIn Group.

The GeekAustin MySQL Certification prep class is pretty much full.

GeekAustin Alumnus Michelle Greer will be hosting the Austin Twestival this Thursday at Ace's Lounge. Twestival benefits Charity:Water. Water is sort of like Bill Gibson's future. It's not so evenly distributed. We pee in it. Other people don't have any. You can buy tickets for Twestival here. And yes, I will be there.

I suspect that SXSW Interactive is going to be bigger than ever this year. Are there really 650+ speakers this year at SXSWi? You should start walking every day, so that you can get in shape.

Here's a question that folks have been asking me recently? "Is Austin a tech town?" If not, what are the tech towns? Other than..... "The Valley'.

-Lynn

GeekAustin free class - MySQL Associate Certification Prep

Submitted by Lynn Bender on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 1:00am
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Here's the scoop. The class begins on Wednesday February 11th, and will meet every Wednesday, 7:15PM, at Union Park downtown, for eight weeks. Sun charges $1995.00 for this same class. The GeekAustin class is free. We still have a few seats left.

There are three core MySQL certifications: 1)MySQL Associate, 2) MySQL DBA, and 3) MySQL Developer. The MySQL Associate certification is not tied to any particular version of MySQL, but focuses on details of using MySQL that are universal no matter what version of the software you are using.

It is our goal to prepare you to successfully pass the test by the time you complete the class.

Although the class is free, you will be required to have a copy of the MySQL 5.0 Certification Guide. You can purchase it online at Amazon, BookPool, or NerdBooks. You can also save money by reading it online at Safari. You will not be required to read the whole book -- only about a third of it.

You will also be required to have MySQL installed on a computer. For the Associate certification, it doesn't matter whether you use Linux or Windows. The test covers material common to all versions of MySQL.

This is what the exam covers:

  • Theory, Terminology and Concepts (10%)
    • Client/Server Concepts
    • Database and Database Objects
  • Data Definition using SQL (25%)
    • Databases
    • Data Types
    • Tables
    • Constraints and Indexes
    • Views
  • Basic Data Manipulation using SQL (25%)
    • Recurring SQL Constructs
    • Adding data
    • Modifying data
    • Removing data
    • Searching data
  • Advanced Data Manipulation using SQL (20%)
    • Expressions
    • Grouping and Aggregate Functions
    • Joining Tables
  • Transactions (10%)
    • Transaction Concepts
    • SQL for working with Transaction
  • Import/Export (10%)
    • Tools for Import/Export
    • SQL for Import/Export

We will cover all the above material in the class. We have keyed the course material to the book, so that you won't have to waste time covering material which may not be on the test.

We will only be teaching this class one time this year. The remaining seats are first come, first served. To sign up, send an email to linearb@gmail.com

-Lynn

@whurley, @giovanni and @dancrumb launch PreDevCamp

Submitted by Lynn Bender on Mon, 02/02/2009 - 1:00am

whurley (@whurley) has just thrown down another gauntlet, and with Giovanni Gallucci (@giovanni) and Dan Crumb (@dancrumb), has launched predevcamp 2009. The event will be held exactly one week after the U.S. release of the Palm Pre.

This weekend I asked for the scoop, and whurley replied: Computing is clearly going mobile, and he who owns the smart phone software market may own the next decade. Android, Symbian, and WebOS will be in a three-horse race for iPhone's crown, The smart phone with the best operating system will win, and the company that controls the smart phone OS market is going to control the market, period.

To find out which horse whurley is betting on, read the full story at whurley.com.

-Lynn

Linux Against Poverty: the mother of all install fests!

Submitted by Lynn Bender on Sun, 02/01/2009 - 1:00am
in

GeekAustin meets The HeliOS Project. The story of an event:

About a year ago, Michelle asked me how she could obtain computers for the Burmese refugees she was helping (story and story). She didn't have a lot of money to throw at it, and no ready sponsors, so the whole thing would have to be done on the cheap. Quite a few friends offered to donate computers. However, most of the machines ran older versions of Windows, and even though most of the machines probably wouldn't have the CPU and RAM to run the current version, buying Windows licenses to update 50 computers was out of the question. Besides, if you're going to give a free computer to a person, why not give them a free operating system as well -- especially if they have no money.

As a solution, I decided that we would hold a massive Linux install fest. I'd take advantage of the GeekAustin network, take donations for computers, take over a club for the day, get a room full of my Linux loving buddies, and install Linux on all the machines. No doubt we'd get enough machines for the refugees, and anything left over, we'd donate to folks who needed computers. Michelle came up with a catchy name for the event -- Linux Against Poverty.

Although we mentioned it to a few friends, both Michelle and I were already committed to other projects. Frankly, there were also a lot of operational details that would have to be worked out. This would be a little more complicated than a GeekAustin party. The project was put on the back burner.

Enter The HeliOS Project

A few months back, I heard the kerfuffle about the AISD school teacher who chastised a student for passing out Linux CDs (Omar's coverage). The CDs had come from a local fellow and Linux advocate -- Ken Starks. While discussing the story with him, I learned that Ken founded and leads an organization, The HeliOS Project, which takes old computers, installs Linux on them, and donates them to disadvantaged children in Central Texas. In 2007, they built and placed 228 computers, and in 2008, bumped that number up over 325. Ken also told me that, unfortunately, for every one computer they place, they have requests for three. (Omar's coverage)

This got me thinking about the install fest again. Austin has an abundance of Linux advocates who'd take a day of to install Linux on a stack of machines, and every company I visit seems to have a stack of older Dells, decommissioned and waiting to be hauled off. With a lot of folks pitching in, we could help Ken and the HeliOS Project get these machines to the kids who can use them.

Linux Against Poverty is on!

The event is Saturday, August 1st, so you won't have to take the day off. The event will be held at GeekAustin favorite downtown hangout, Union Park. Because the event is on a Sunday afternoon, there will be plenty of places to park; and because Union Park is absolutely huge, HeliOS can set up a regular assembly line.

Because they been setting up machines for several years now, and have it down to an art, The HeliOS Project will be managing the operational details of the install fest. Because we have the big Austin tech phonebook and megaphone, GeekAustin will be helping to get the word out and coordinating sponsors.

Every company and individual that donates computers, and every person who helps with the install fest, will get a mention on the Linux Against Poverty site as well as on GeekAustin. Better yet, you get the good feeling of knowing that you've helped your fellow Austinites in a big way.

This is one where everyone wins.

Linux Against Poverty
1PM, Saturday, August 1, 2009
Location and Further details forthcoming.

For sponsorship opportunities and press info:
Lynn Bender (lynnbender@geekaustin.org)

For computer donations and volunteer opportunities at Linux Against Poverty:
Ken Stark, The HeliOS Project (helios@fixedbylinux.com)