The Open Source Club at OSU

Mailing Lists:

[OpenSource] - General Discussion

[OpenSource-Announce] - Announcements Only

Newsgroup:

cis.opensource

Constitution:

Available Online

Club Officers:

Benevolent Dictator - Jim Dinan

Secretary - Andrew Lathrop

Treasurer - Alex Lingo

Technology Coordinator - Karen Manukyan

Meetings:

Meetings and Workshops for Spring quarter 2006 will be held on alternating Tuesdays/Thursdays at 7:00PM in Dreese Labs room 480 except for our meetings on 04/27 and 05/02 which will be held in room 280. Meetings generally last about one and a half hours and are always open to everyone including nonmembers and nonstudents.

For people arriving from off campus, pay parking is available in the Tuttle Park Place Parking Garage, located adjacent to Dreese Labs. Please refer the OSU map for directions: http://www.osu.edu/map/.

Fall Quarter 2005:

Winter Quarter 2006:

Spring Quarter 2006:

Thu. 03/30/06 -- Phani Kumar Arava: Drupal - OpenSource Web Content Management
Tue. 04/04/06 -- Workshop: OpenSource for Windows

The best software is free software! Open source applications are free, community-driven computer programs that are created by a worldwide community of computer enthusiasts. In this workshop, we will introduce some of the amazing open source applications for Windows that Microsoft doesn't want you to know about. Learn to write papers, surf the web, talk to friends, or even explore our own galaxy with free, open source applications for Windows.

Presented by Alex Lingo: 04/04/2006 7:00PM, DL480.
- Slides from the workshop presentation
- Download Open Source Programs from The Open CD project
- Stellarium - a free open source planetarium for your computer
Thu. 04/13/06 -- Karen Manukyan: Crossplatform C++ development with the Qt Library (slides)
Tue. 04/18/06 -- Workshop: Linux on the Desktop

Interested in running Linux on your desktop? Come to this meeting to discover the rich desktop experience and full-featured suite of applications that GNU/Linux users have come to take for granted. Ready to make the switch, but not sure how? We give you the tools you need for a smooth transition and walk you through the process of converting your computer into an open source sanctuary.

Presented by Michael Haig: 04/18/2006 7:00PM, DL480.
Thu. 04/27/06 -- (DL280) Open Mic
Tue. 05/02/06 -- (DL280) Workshop: Getting around in UNiX
- Slides from the workshop: Open Document PDF HTML

The Unix philosophy has revolutionized user interaction with computers by providing a comprehensive and standardized system view accompanied by a full complement of system utilities. This collection of standard programs provides powerful tools for efficiently searching, viewing, and manipulating a user's data. However, in spite of the utility and flexibility of these tools, getting acquainted with them can often be a confusing and frustrating experience for new users.

Through hands-on experience, attendees at this workshop will gain a solid understanding of how to navigate the Unix shell and discover why users are drawn to the command line despite the temptation of modern graphical interfaces.

Presented by William Triest: 05/02/2006 7:00PM, DL280.

Thu. 05/11/06 -- TBD ...
Tue. 05/16/06 -- Workshop: Programming the UNiX Shell

This workshop will build upon previous topics by discussing the art of writing scripts to simplify and automate mundane or repetitive tasks. We will introduce powerful tools such as 'grep' and 'sed' (among others) and discuss how to use them to rapidly manipulate files and extract data. Using these tools, we will demonstrate some of the cool things scripts can do to make life with Unix a little more interesting and a lot more fun.

Presented by Andrew Lathrop: 05/16/2006 7:00PM, DL480.
Thu. 05/25/06 -- TBD ...
Tue. 05/30/06 -- Workshop: OpenSource Software Development Tools

Developing software with open source tools is like carving a statue out of a giant log with a chain saw - it totally rocks. The FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) Community has at its disposal some of greatest software development tools of all time. Come and join us to learn about some the amazing tools that have forever changed how software is created. Expect to be wowed by KDevelop, mystified by the GNU compiler suite and build environment, and taken aback by code repositories and revision control.

Presented by Paul Betts: 05/30/2006 7:00PM, DL480.

Publicity:

Workshop Flyer: Design by Drew Yates and Alex Lingo (Spring 2006)

DES Talk Flyer: Design by Andrew Lathrop (02/2006)

Tear-Off Poster: Design by Lena Alidib (11/2005)

About Us

The Open Source Club at the Ohio State University is a registered student organization composed of members from all around campus and out into the community who share a common enthusiasm for open source software. Our focus is on building a strong community of open source users and developers in order to bring the benefits of open development, open standards, and free software to the university community.

Open Source is the notion that for any software project to be successful, how it works need not be a secret. In fact, open source advocates believe that users deserve free access to this information so that they can ensure that the software they are using does what they want and so that they can use it in any way they see fit. This means that users have the freedom to modify the software to suit their needs. Because of this, most open source projects are being worked on by teams of collaborators from all around the globe who share a common desire to provide their fellow earthlings with free and open software. Worldwide collaboration also means many languages, so it is not surprising that open source software also enjoys some of the best internationalization support ever seen! You may have heard of a couple of these projects: Firefox, Thunderbird, GAIM, Open Office, Linux ...

But open source doesn't stop here. The idea that information should be free is contagious and has given rise to projects like the Wikipedia which is a free, open-content encyclopedia. Wikipedia allows experts in anything and everything to contribute to the repository of public knowledge in pretty much every language! Wikibooks is a rapidly growing collection of free online books. Likewise, other sites have sprung up around the net which allow musicians to reach their fans directly, giving away free music. All of these things share one thing in common: freedom. People are discovering that giving away the freedom to interact with information how you, the consumer sees fit, is a liberating and empowering experience.

Believe it or not, Open Source has also made an appearance on the global political scene as well, addressing isses like: What format should digital public records be stored in? Should we allow these documents to be stored in a proprietary format that can only be viewed when people purchase a specific piece of software? Should the web pages for public offices provide information in a closed format that only a specific web browser or plugin can view? Or even, should the inner workings of electronic voting machines be a trade secret or should the design be subject to public scrutiny?

These are some hot topics in open source today. But the best part of open source is you! We welcome anyone and everyone to all of our meetings and on our mailing list. So come on and drop by some time - we look forward to hearing from you!