Bryan Lunduke's Blog, page 20

Lunduke interviews Stewart Cheifet

In this episode of the Lunduke Hour, I get to talk with Stewart Cheifet, creator and host of the Computer Chronicles — the legendary computer nerd show that started in the 1980s. We talk about his work on the show, his co-host (the great Gary Kildall), Steve Jobs, privacy, and a whole lot of other awesome things.

== This episode sponsored by ==

Pogo Linux: http://www.pogolinux.com/

System76: https://system76.com

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Lunduke Hour – 20k+ subscribers, 1 million minutes watched

Holy-friggin-moly.

This has been a heck of a week for my new show, “The Lunduke Hour”.  Not even a month old, and just hit the following milestones:

Over 20,000 subscribers to the channel.
The show has been actively watched for over 1,072,000 minutes.  Yeah.  A million minutes.  That works out to 17,866 hours.  Which is roughly 744 days… or just a bit over 2 years.

And the trend is increasing.  Almost every day now.  All of which has me pretty psyched.

My goal now?  To keep doing this and try super-duper-hard not to screw up.  Seems like a solid goal.

If you’ve missed any of the show so far, I’ve created a YouTube playlist with all of the episodes in order.  And the episodes are now all being posted (starting about a week back) to the Audio-only RSS podcast feed that I made available as a thank-you to my supporters on Patreon (who really make the show possible).

Convincing a Linux guy to use FreeBSD

In today’s episode of the Lunduke Hour I talk to George Neville-Neil — author and FreeBSD advocate. He tries to convince me, a Linux user, that FreeBSD is better.

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First week of “Lunduke Hour” complete!

Phew!  First week of my new show, “The Lunduke Hour” is complete!

There were a few technical issues here and there — the software I’m using to record (and, soon, live-stream) the show crashed right in the middle of two episodes.  Not ideal.  Luckily it seems that the crash has been fixed in the most latest version.  So fingers crossed that next week is crash-less.

On Wednesday I interviewed the core organizer of LinuxFest Northwest (one of my favorite conferences).  Talking about how they have managed to build a community focused technology festival up to the point where they get over 1,800 attendees.

Then, on Thursday, I got the chance to talk to the creator of the FreeDOS project — a completely Free and Open Source MS-DOS compatible operating system.  The conversation was all over the map, including… why someone would continue to actively develop “DOS” in 2017.  

Lunduke Hour: Jan-17-2017, Dell Linux Hardware w/Barton George

When I retired from Bad Voltage — a truly excellent podcast by some truly excellent dudes — I alluded to a few new things for me on the horizon.

This is the first of those things.

A new show.  I call it, simply, “The Lunduke Hour”.

A daily show (Monday through Thursday) tackling a single topic (or guest) in each episode.  Focusing on important things, like:

The intersection of technology and politics.
The tech topics that the major media outlets get wrong.
Security and Privacy.
Free and Open Source Software (including Linux).
Other nerdy stuff that isn’t getting the attention it deserves.

This is the first episode.  I’ll be making a few tweaks — really fine tuning the show — as we go.  Which should happen pretty quickly.  What with me doing a new episode 4 days in a row, each week.  I’ll be adding non-YouTube viewing/listening options, bit by bit.  For now, YouTube is the way to go.  Subscribe to my channel, follow me on Twitter, or be one of my patron’s over on Patreon to get notified when new episodes go live.

Oh, and yes.  I will be making this into a live show soon, as well.

 

20 node, retro gaming BBS is alive!

Ever have the urge to play some of the best BBS games of the 1980’s and 1990’s?

Games like Trade Wars 2002, Legend of the Red Dragon (LORD), Barren Realms Elite, The Pit, and others defined multiplayer gaming (via dial-up modem) for over a decade.

Now they’re online (accessible via telnet) and free to play for everyone.

Here’s how to access the BBS:

Grab a telnet client (I recommend SyncTERM or Qodem).
Connect via telnet (on port 23) to bbs.lunduke.com.

When creating a new account you’ll be asked for your address and phone number.  Clearly I don’t need (or want) that information.  But I left it in there as this is typically how it was in “ye olden times” (gotta keep the user experience the same).

Just fill those fields in with junk information (though it might be worth while to add your email address in the address section just in case you lose your password and need to verify your identity).

The House of Lunduke BBS is a sort of homage to the classics of BBS gaming.  A little mini, playable museum for the multiplayer BBS games that were a big part of our lives in the 80s/90s.

The BBS is run on a dedicated server and is capable of supporting up to 20 people playing at the same time (20 “nodes” — what would have taken 20 dedicated modems connected to 20 phone lines, back in the day).

Weekly Lunduke Update: Nov 14 – Nov 20

Behold!  The Weekly Lunduke Update for last week : November 14th through November 20th!

[I release my works under a Creative Commons license — supported by individual contributors to my Patreon page as well as here on Lunduke.com — and update all of you here about my progress on various projects each week.]

Words Written (Not including articles.)

Your Favorite Software Development Methodology is Stupid (book) : 820 words

Audio / Video Produced

Recorded a new episode of Bad Voltage.

My audio/video editing box is no more.  I am currently running a small fundraiser (nothing huge) to pull together a new editing system and, at the same time, make a few upgrades to the studio.  Better audio.  Better video.  That sort of thing.

Once the editing box is replaced, I’ll be back up and producing more videos.  If you’d like to see that happen faster… consider dropping a few bucks toward the cause — or help spread the word.  Big thanks to everyone who has pitched in.  At the current rate we should be there in just a few weeks.

Other Stuff

Had two guest spots on the radio last week:

On Monday I was on Fade To Black — you can listen to the entire episode online.
On Friday I was the guest on Coast to Coast AM — which you can listen to online as well.

Weekly Lunduke Update: Nov 7 – Nov 13

Shazam!  The Weekly Lunduke Update for last week : November 7th through November 13!

[I release my works under a Creative Commons license — supported by individual contributors to my Patreon page as well as here on Lunduke.com — and update all of you here about my progress on various projects each week.]

Words Written

I’m tracking the words written for various projects (not including articles for publications like Network World).

Your Favorite Software Development Methodology is Stupid (book) : 1,477 words

Audio / Video Produced

My audio/video editing box is no more.  I am currently running a small fundraiser (nothing huge) to pull together a new editing system and, at the same time, make a few upgrades to the studio.  Better audio.  Better video.  That sort of thing.

Once the editing box is replaced, I’ll be back up and producing more videos.  If you’d like to see that happen faster… consider dropping a few bucks toward the cause — or help spread the word.  So far we’re over 25% of the way there — off to a great start (huge thanks to everyone who has pitched in)!

Other Stuff

I was the guest on an episode of the FadeToBlack radio show on Monday.  You can listen to the entire episode online.  The topic was privacy, focused around the ties between the CIA and Google (and Niantic).  Fun show.
I will also be the guest on Coast to Coast AM on Friday, November 18th.

Fundraiser for the Lunduke Studio

It’s time to build a full, nice studio for my shows (including a new, nightly, radio show) — it’s going to be amazing — and I need your help to do it.

Progress Update (Nov 10th, 11:20pm)

Goal #1: $405 / $2,051

Goal #2: $0 / $1,367

Goal #3: $0 / $178

Contribute via Patreon — Contribute via PayPal using “Tip Jar” on the right

The Quick Version

The old recording PC that I’ve been using has died.  This is both sad (as I relied on it in order to produce videos and podcasts) and awesome (as it was old and crummy and I needed to build a new studio setup anyway).

I’m also now in a position to begin hosting a nightly radio show.  Yes.  Nightly.  On the radio.  I’ll be able to preach the good word of Free Software, Free Culture, open standards, & copyright reform to the masses.

But, of course, in order to do that I need to set up a dedicated studio in my home.  I have the room set aside — now I need to find a way to cover the costs of the gear… something that I simply cannot accomplish on my own.

That’s where all of you come in.  I’m asking everyone who enjoys what I do, if they are able, to pitch in a few bucks towards covering these costs.  If we are successful in raising the needed funds, we’ll be able to produce some amazing content, including:

Nightly tech radio show (also streamed online with video and downloadable as a podcast).
Video series documenting the building of a 100% Linux and Free Software powered studio.
Collaboration videos with some of the coolest people in the tech world.
High quality videos for all of my speeches and on-site events (including the next “Linux Sucks”).
Not to mention much higher audio quality for all podcasts that I take part in.

If we are not successful in raising the needed funds?  Well.  That means very little (if any) new audio or video content for quite some time (until I can find a way to cover the costs somewhere down the line).  Which would be a bummer.  I can create the content, but I simply don’t have the funds to cover production and equipment costs.

There are two ways you can contribute:

By going to my Patreon page and contributing there.  (This is the easiest for me and is easy for everyone to track progress there — if you only want to make a one-time donation to this cause, you can simply unsubscribe afterwards.)
By making a donation via PayPal using my “Tip Jar” which you’ll find on the right hand side of this page.

I will update the top of this post with the current progress (combining donations from both sources together).  I am also working with hardware manufacturers to try to drive the costs down — I want to stretch everyone’s donation as far as humanly possible.

I’ve broken this out into three distinct goals…

Goal #1 – The Recording / Editing PC – $2051

The main computer that records and edits all of my shows is going to need to be something beefy.  Something that can encode a whole batch of HD video faster than I can eat a donut.  This rig will, of course, need to be running Linux.  And it would be even more excellent if it were built by a company that focuses on Linux.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to go with a Wild Dog Pro from System76.

The Specs: i7-6700K CPU (water cooled to keep things in the studio nice and quiet), 32GB DDR4 RAM, GTX 750 2GB GPU, 500GB SSD main drive, 250GB SSD scratch drive, two 24″ 1080p monitors.

This is a beefy machine, no doubt about it.  Fast, quiet, and expandable in all the ways that matter for audio/video production.  A rig that will meet the studio needs for quite some time.

Goal #2 – New Audio/Video Gear – $1,367

Once the main PC is funded, it’s time to turn my attention to the necessary audio/video equipment.  For both producing podcasts and the radio show, as well as new videos (and video versions of the podcasts/radio show).  Up until now I have been filming my shows with low-quality cameras (webcams and the like).  It’s time for this to change.

After talking with a number of folks who do this for a living, here is the gear I’m looking at:

Microphone – Rode NT1-KIT

USB Audio Interface – Focusrite Scarlett 2i2

Camera – Panasonic G7

Video Capture – Magewell HDMI

Plus a handful of cables and stands.  The net result will be audio and video quality that is light-years better than anything I have ever recorded before.

Goal #3 – Making the Studio Awesome – $178

The final goal… is actually the smallest one.  By a lot.  Goals 1 and 2 provide everything necessary to produce a quality show — now it’s time to make the studio look (and sound) awesome.

Accoustic foam.  LED lighting panels.  Good sound, cool atmosphere.

How Do I Contribute Again?

Nice and easy:

By going to my Patreon page and contributing there.
By making a donation via PayPal using my “Tip Jar” which you’ll find on the right hand side of this page.

Are There Any Perks For Contributors?

Other than getting to enjoy a nightly show from yours truly — along with more videos at a higher quality?  Haven’t thought of any… but open to suggestions!

Weekly Lunduke Update: Oct 31 – Nov 6

Now that I release my works under a Creative Commons license — supported by individual contributors to my Patreon page as well as here on Lunduke.com — it’s time to start doing regular updates for all of you.

So, here it is.  The first ever “Weekly Lunduke Update”, for last week: October 31st through November 6th.

Words Written

I’m tracking the words written for various projects (not including articles for publications like Network World).

Your Favorite Software Development Methodology is Stupid (book) : 2,701 words
The Story of Linux (children’s book) : 18 words

Those 18 little words?  Those were the final words for “The Story of Linux”.  Release imminent.  Keep an eye here or over on the “Lunduke Book Store“.

Audio / Video Produced

I was in a new episode of Bad Voltage (podcast).

Light on the videos this week.  Though I did film an episode of a TV show for the History Channel right before that, so that makes up for it.  (More details on that to follow as soon as I know the air date.)