nullPointerException - it's not what you think

I am a few days away from my practical exhibition for my Masters in Digital Art. The show is titled nullPointerException. Why am I posting this on my ubuntu blog? Because it was made in ubuntu using opensource software such as openframeworks and boodler. Because each work runs from a custom live USB disk running ubuntu. Because the concept is software related. The sensing devices are XBox Kinect and I am using the OpenNI and PrimeSense drivers to do the tracking I need.
 

Doing an technical installation in a gallery space poses some reliability problems. The pieces need to autoboot. If there is a power outage they need to startup again without intervention as the PCs are often hidden and out of reach. They need to run continuously for 3 weeks without intervention incase there isn't a power outage. In my case my budget didn't allow for 4 new pcs so I had to borrow what I could. This means boot from USB and don't touch the hard-drive. Initially I made lubuntu install disks but for the final set I customised a ubuntu oneiric desktop install image with UCK. Stripped out what I didn't need and installed kinect drivers and the artworks. It has the added advantage that I can give someone a flash disk and say "plug it into a pc, plug in the kinect, reboot and press F12, choose to boot from flash disk" and it works mostly depending on the pc the person chooses.

Oneiric Ocelot Release Party Cape Town.

We are at Panzerotti's in Canal Walk.

Yes! we have a Oneiric Release Party

Hmm, due to time constraints, multi-tasking and even a bit of attention thrashing, our organisational skills for this round were a bit oneiric but I am happy to say we have a release party for this cycle in the Western Cape.

The long and the short, we meet at Panarotti's in Canal Walk on Saturday 15 October at 15:30. More detail on the LoCo directory. Thanks to the guys at UCT who sorted this out for us.

May our next release party be precise.

2011 Software Freedom Day in Midrand, South Africa

The people in Midrand have been busy, they made this poster and there is a Software Freedom day coming up. More news on the other Software Freedom day activities else where in the country to follow shortly.

Oneiric Global Jam in Cape Town

Our small yet persistent group of bug fixers who sacrificed a Saturday to make Oneiric Ocelot better for everybody. Thanks to everybody who pitched in and helped.

ubuntu-za Regional Contacts get Natty CDs soon

After some email to and fro and delays hoping for lifts for the CDs and waiting for addresses I finally sent the CDs. The parcels are in the mail and the post office said it would take 3 days. We have 12 regional contact people on the list, 2 are local so I hand delivered the CDs, one in Durban I got a lift some weeks ago already. 2 didn't send me an address and the remaining 7 will receive CDs in the next few days. So now I think there are 7 people all over the country that owe me a Cappucino and a muffin :) (that's roughly the price of the envelope and the postage) Also I am hoping I'll get some photos of people sharing the CDs.

June irc meeting and SULUG beer evening combo

We didn't have many agenda items, it was a record meeting that lasted all of 15 minutes for official items but we spent some time discussing afterwards. What made this meeting especially fun was it was a combo IRC-realLife meeting because we had the SULUG beer evening at the same time at the Brazen head. Some people were logged in on their phones and some on laptops. Efficient Maaz tried to deciphers the commands I flung at her while mixing martini's and making coffee and keeping minutes. The details of the meeting can be found on the loco.ubuntu.com website.