Author Archives: charm

charm

About charm

Chief geek to hundreds of computer refurbishing volunteers.

Next Ubuntu hour location???

Ubuntu hour is almost upon us again (June 7th, 2013) and I’m still deliberating where to hold the next Ubuntu hour. Here is a summary of what we’ve tried in the past along with the pros and cons:

  1. Misty Mountain – 1st meeting place – pros: can just buy a coffee, tea, or soft drink. Close to downtown bus station. Has a private room with a big screen t.v. we can hook up to and a door that can be closed for noise. Has outlets for notebooks all over and free wifi. Cons – the room is a bit small if the group gets bigger than 8 and limited food, limited downtown parking, limited accessibility.
  2. Cafe Pyrus – 2nd meeting place – pros: variety of food, free wifi, centrally located for bus takers, can just order coffee. Cons – music tends to overpower discussions sometimes, sometimes has live entertainment, limited downtown parking.
  3. Egg Roll King – 3rd meeting place – pros: variety of food, on #8 bus line, generally very accommodating. Cons – generally more expensive than cafes, not as close to downtown, limited parking, no wifi, smaller space.
  4. Williams Cafe – 4th meeting place – pros: variety of food, can have only coffee, free wireless, ample parking. Cons – out of the way for Waterloo attendees, no outlets (well 1, but this is ridiculous), not really accommodating to groups larger than 4 to 6 people.

What I’ve been hoping for is a place that meets the following critera:

  • Is centrally located, preferably downtown Kitchener.
  • Has good food and coffee, but isn’t a spot where people have to buy more than a coffee or two.
  • Must have and be willing to let us use their power outlets.
  • Has enough space to accommodate a group of 6-12 (or more would be better).
  • Isn’t overly noisy.
  • Has free wireless Internet access.
  • Has enough parking.
  • Is open when we meet 7-8pm (or 9pm).

Can anyone else think of other places that might be more suitable in Kitchener? Do we need to go to Waterloo?

 

 

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Configuring a local network in Virtualbox

Virtualbox network setup

Virtualbox network setup

You’ve installed virtualbox, installed your host server OS, done updates on the server OS, installed any extra software, but found that the host adapter is not on your local network’s correct subnet.

By default the network adapter in VirtualBox is set to NAT, Network Address Translation. The simple way to fix this is to go into the Settings for your virtual machine instance and change the network settings to “Bridged Adapter.” Because VirtualBox also assigns a MAC address to this bridged adapter you can to go into your router and set a static IP for this virtual device based on the MAC address assigned in VirtualBox.

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Software Freedom Day 2012 – XBMC Presentation

Last year for Software Freedom Day I did a presentation on XBMC media centre. I don’t think I ever posted the slides, so here’s the XBMC presentation.

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Filed under Entertainment, Linux, Technology, XBMC