Episode: 1210
Title: HPR1210: Northeast Linux Fest 2013 p3-3
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr1210/hpr1210.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-17 21:40:42

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Hi, this is Klaatu. I'm supposed to be interviewing Poki about the sign.
I have no idea.
It's about his experience.
Ken wants content, and this is what he's getting.
Poor guy.
Epic Candace, is this your first Linux conference?
Yes, it is. First time here.
How do you feel about the Linux conference?
More. I want more.
Okay, so where are you from?
You mean now?
Right now, I'm in the middle of Maine.
So how long of a drive was that?
About six hours.
Okay.
And it was worth it coming all the way down here for taking out around a bunch of geeks.
Oh yeah, definitely.
The cool people are here.
What have you seen? Have you seen any good talks or what have you been doing?
Well, well, he was just asking where the cool people are.
Well, I'm here, of course.
And then the HPR tables here.
So, you know, that's all that matters, really.
Have you seen any good talks?
Well, the two that I really wanted to go to, you're doing one of them.
And that's coming up next.
I got to learn to use Git.
And the other one, the guy didn't show up, but oh well.
Like, own cloud.
I wonder what, sitting on the old cloud.
Oh really? He didn't show up.
No, never did show up. I don't know what's going on.
So, own cloud. Where the heck are you?
I was going to interview him for my show, actually.
So, that's really weird that he's not here.
I want to be sure he's going to show up later.
Yeah, he might as well.
Oh, right.
I was going to interview him for my show.
But.
Okay, so what are you hoping to do?
Or what are you hoping to accomplish at this conference?
Just hang out with people and learn stuff?
Or did you have an idea?
Or did you just want to go to a conference?
Well, this way I can prove that the people on the other end of the microphones
and the podcast actually exist and they're not robotic voices.
I've learned that much. That's true.
But I figured it's nice to connect with people up here
and maybe get people to pest or meet or do more stuff.
I need to do that.
The truth is he needed a break from his new maniac neighbors.
Yeah, those moose and squirrels get really a rambunctious sometimes.
How long have you been using Linux?
Let's see. I started in 1995 part time, 1997 full time.
So it's been a while.
Okay, which district did you start with?
There's more than one to start with.
I started with Slackware.
That's start with.
Well, then you must still be on Slackware.
Oh, no, no. I've gone on to Gen 2 and then from there to Arch.
So now everything's Arch right now.
I'm sorry to hear that, but you'll get back to Slack eventually.
Okay, cool. Well, it was great talking to you, Epicanos.
You want to.
Epicanos, would you like to throw in a plug for your in?
You run a bed and breakfast, aren't you?
Up in Maine?
If anybody wants to see what real Maine looks like, you go to Portland.
Everybody goes to Portland.
That's just North Massachusetts.
Keep going north.
Go all the way up to Millinocket.
It's the ice fish in.
We're both nerds there that run it.
So come on up and.
You got free Wi-Fi in the room.
Yes, we do.
I'm working on wiring them too if you're worried about the privacy in this performance.
Cool. That sounds incredible.
So what is it?
It's just a bed and breakfast or something or what?
Yeah, little seven room bed and breakfast.
Up there on your backster, State Park.
So you can go out in the woods and play in the big room for a while.
You can ask for the Hacker Public Radio discount.
Is it something that you can do year round or should we avoid it in the winter?
Actually, there's a lot of stuff going on.
It goes on in the winter.
People do snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, ice fishing,
playing in the snow.
You'd probably like to avoid it during mud season,
but all the other seasons are pretty up there.
Yeah, basically November and between March and April,
which is why I can get down here.
The snow is thawing or hasn't frozen or whatever, so it's all muddy.
But before that, fall is beautiful up there.
Summer is great.
All the trees, critters, all the nature out there,
and then winter is fun for the snow and the ice, so.
Is that what you do for your day job then?
Manage the end?
Yep.
We actually live on site, so.
Cool.
Sounds amazing.
That's really cool.
Glad you mentioned that, Poke.
Thank you.
What kind of career did you escape from
to get into a business on your own?
Because it sounds like the dream life.
What did you flee from?
Well, let's see.
I started out as just a professional nerd,
and I did that for a while doing tech support,
and then I discovered tech sports at dead end job.
Especially if you're good at it,
because then you're never allowed to do anything else if you're good at it.
So I decided to go back to college,
and that's where the nickname comes in.
One of the things I thought about getting into is
I was thinking about becoming a canine veterinary behaviorist,
hence the dog philosopher pun in the online handle.
But I ended up going into biotech,
and then, you know, my 20-year-long four-year degree
finally ended in 2007.
I got my degree in microbiology,
and so I became an inkeeper.
I was wondering how you were going to get from one point to the next.
As you were.
I works, yeah.
Because after a stint at Texas A&M's biochemistry department
as a Linux systems administrator, so.
Okay, cool.
Great talking to you.
I think that's the interview.
Bye.
That's it.
That's all.
That's all.
That's all you want from me?
No, that's fine.
What did we ask you about?
Well, anybody listening wants to pester me to do more shows?
That's basically what I'm in it for,
is to have people pester me to do it.
Do more fricking shows.
Do more fricking shows.
Thank you.
Appreciate that.
Thank you very much.
There is the more often I do it, so.
Cool.
Nice.
Another one on the back.
I'm just saying.
You got to keep this close to your face.
You can't bring it away.
Start up a saying.
Hello, Hacker Public Radio.
My name's Jacob, and I'm here to tell you how to put together that.
Hacker Public Radio.
A table banner.
That's all we're really doing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'll put this down.
It's a great idea.
We're not going to let that die on the vine.
Are you kidding me?
Take the mic.
Take the mic.
Hold it in your face.
Can I go?
Go.
Everyone.
Is he going to record?
Hello, Hacker Public Radio.
This is Jacob.
I'm going to teach you how to put together a Hacker Public Radio sign.
So, I don't know where to start.
At the bottom.
That's where the gravity made us start.
Yeah, that's where the, yeah.
So, at the bottom, there are these two metal arches.
They have these loops at the bottom that you put.
The smaller pole things.
So, there are, I don't know, I'm basically confusing myself.
How about we start by putting the short poles in the top of the bottom of the sign?
Yeah.
So, there are basically two of the same poles.
They're a longer pole of the same pole.
And then shorter poles.
Shorter poles you put in these at the bottom sign.
Yeah, in the final sign.
And, yeah.
The long poles go into the H bracket.
Into the H bracket.
The H bracket goes on the back uprights.
Yeah, the H bracket goes on the back uprights.
And then on top of the long poles.
On top of the long poles, there are some more H brackets, right?
Yeah.
And then above those.
Above those, there are these like poles that look like cattle rods, I guess.
Yeah, with like a fork at the end.
Yeah, the fork.
And then you put the...
So, then once that whole back section is built, you're back uprights.
Then you do what?
You take the sign.
You take the sign.
And then you put smaller poles in the final sign.
And then you slip it in kind of these like loops that are like half-used.
You get to like hook the things that are at the front of the base.
Yeah.
And when the base is like a heavy steel.
Yeah, it's like pieces of heavy steel.
Yeah.
Cross of each other.
So you hook it under the hooks.
Yeah, you hook one of the hooks.
And then when you...
And then you put the top of the sign.
That these two little slits.
In the cattle prod pieces.
And you put them on the top of the cattle prod pieces.
And then you push them down until you hear a click.
Because there's these two little bumps on it.
So it holds it in place.
And when the sign is built, it should be tight and straight.
And the back of it should kind of be arched.
So yeah, that's kind of it.
Absolutely.
And if you listen to Jacob's HPR and work the booth,
you'll be able to put the sign together without doing it wrong four times
and having to call NY Bill over to help.
Yeah, that works like that.
Thanks for listening.
Have a great day.
Thanks for listening.
Gentlemen.
Hey there, hacker public radio.
This is Pokey and NY Bill.
And we're here at the Canoe Northeast Linux Fest with a Mr.
I prefer not to be interviewed.
We're the Mr.
I prefer not to be interviewed.
But he was talking with Murf.
Murf, how are you doing, Ro?
All right.
How are you?
I'm doing fantastic.
How are you enjoying the Fest so far?
It's excellent.
It's excellent.
A lot of good talks.
Right on.
This is third-fast, best so far.
Or does it live up to you?
Yeah, I think it does.
I think it does.
You know, new locations so they're shaking out some of the bugs.
But other than that, it's been really great.
Yeah, right on.
What's been your favorite part so far?
Oh.
Tough to say.
Mostly the talks.
You know, I've had some fun doing sort of the haul track here.
So, I don't know.
It's all good.
It's tough for me to pin down a single thing.
You're the first guy that we've interviewed who hasn't said HPR.
Oh, really?
No, not really.
I was just going to say, I don't believe you anyway.
That's okay.
That's quite all right.
Did you go to the after party last night?
Yes, I did.
And did you bring jungle speed?
You know, I didn't bring jungle speed.
That bar doesn't really lend itself well to it.
So I did not bring it home.
That's a damn shame.
There was so much.
I probably will after when we go hanging out after this,
because that was one of the highlights of last year's
Northeast Linux Fest for me.
So, how was the drive up here?
Long was it?
Four and a half hours.
I came up quickly yesterday morning.
And how much do you enjoy driving in Boston traffic?
Oh, I don't mind driving.
It's fine.
I had no trouble with the traffic.
Really?
I hate the traffic here, but it's still worth braving,
because Nelf is so much fun.
Yeah, you know, the traffic doesn't bother me,
so the drive is all good.
Cool, cool, cool.
Anything you want to talk about while I got you on mic?
I know I've stuck this thing in your face before.
Oh, nothing offhand unless you have questions for me.
Anything else about the show?
How are you so damn pretty?
I, the question is so incongruous, I can't even answer it.
You do it for Dan, just in case you ever,
in case Dan with two ends.
That's an even better reason not to answer it.
Can I be an impartial judge about this pretty crap between you two?
I don't think you can be impartial.
You can judge.
All right, dude.
Well, it's great to see you again.
Thanks for talking.
Great talking to you.
And, you know, more of the HPR crowd should come out to this,
because it's a great little event.
We say hello to Ken Fallon, please.
I will say hello.
Hello, Ken. How are you?
Thanks for everything, Ken.
We love you.
I don't know what you're doing.
Can you go in and talk in that room?
Oh, I just started recording it.
I don't know.
Hello, this is NY Bill, and I'm at Northeast Linux Fest with Jonathan.
How's the fest going?
Everything's going well.
We're here on Sunday.
It's a lot slower pace today than it was yesterday.
That's for sure.
Yeah, it's just the diehards here after the party last night.
Yeah, seriously.
But it's a good fest.
It was a good fest again.
It's great to get over here.
It's growing every year.
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, every year, it's better and better.
I would have to say, overall, it was a great success.
But every event has its snap foods and snacks.
But we powered through and everything turned out fine.
You're not supposed to say that.
You're supposed to say that.
You're supposed to say that.
You're supposed to say that.
We got this stuff nailed down.
Yeah, exactly.
So what's going to happen again next year?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
I was 100% sure yesterday we were going to be having it here
by talking to Bruce.
Maybe he will be somewhere else in Boston.
We don't know.
But I thought we're going to be here, definitely.
But we're definitely having it next year around the same time
as always.
So I guess the venue will be, we'll find out later.
To be announced.
Yeah, exactly.
If you build it, they will come.
Exactly.
That was only two minutes.
Pokey's better at this than I am.
Great.
I think there's something else to say.
I'll cut that out.
Yeah, we had a great turnout.
Lots of great events.
Yeah.
I think there's something else to say.
I'll cut that out.
Yeah, we had a great turnout.
Lots of great events.
Yeah, we had a great turnout.
Lots of great talks.
Unfortunately, the only talks I saw was the one
that I gave at the start of the event.
And Mad Dogs, which ended the event.
Those are the only two I was able to see.
But we did record everything.
I'm not sure how they all turned out yet.
We'll have to find out, you know, Monday or Tuesday
when we start going through the files.
You're going to post them up.
Yeah, yeah.
We recorded everything in Mumble.
So basically what we did is we just hit record on the laptops
and walked away and just recorded one giant file.
So we just made it.
Who gets to edit 20 hours of them?
Not me.
I'm not talking.
I'll do it.
It'll just be 20 hours of raw audio.
Yeah, there you go.
We'll just put a...
I think when I did the Accessible Computing Foundation fundraiser,
the 12-hour show we recorded in Aug in Mumble.
And it was like 300 megs.
Oh, good.
So we'll just upload a couple 300 meg files
and let everyone parse through it.
It's your downloader's ready?
Yes.
And that's it.
I run out of things to say.
All right, cool.
So I hope to see you next year.
And, well, I will be here next year.
And I hope to see a lot more people.
All you people drive over.
Yeah.
N.Y. Bill has been to all three.
He is the NELF diehard.
So, and he brought about 10 guys here this time, right?
Yeah, more of a CD-LOG keeps coming every year.
And Mrs. N.Y. Bill came.
She came to the first one and the third one.
There you go.
She's been here.
She's been here.
She's been here.
She's been here.
She's been here.
She's been here.
She found a few talks.
She found enjoyable.
So she goes, hmm.
These aren't that bad.
That's it.
That's it.
High praise.
I took her to hope a couple, about three years ago.
And she goes, this is my last conference.
She couldn't get into the real hackers.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cool.
So, everybody get over to NELF next year.
And we'll see you there.
Yeah.
Visit northeastlinuxfast.org.
And you'll see what's going on there.
Okay.
Thanks, John.
All right.
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