Get together in January for Florida laser hobbyists.?.

[allthatwhichis]

I will try hard to make it if I am not in Taiwan again
If I make it I will bring two foggers and a stereo.

What are you doing in Taiwan? Relief work?

[buffo]

Hey everyone...

I had a nice chat with Paul (Clandestiny) about the up-coming meet in January. It appears that things are really falling into place quite nicely. As an aside, Paul seems like one hell of a nice guy (we talked for like 3 hours!) so now I'm really looking forward to meeting him in person. (And the rest of you guys too!)

Paul suggested that we NOT have a set schedule for the meeting, and I completely agree. I'd like this to be a social event as much as possible. While I'm sure we'll all be geeking out over the hardware that people bring, not to mention the laser effects that are displayed, I don't want it to become a classroom lecture or anything so stiff and formal. Of course, it might end up as total chaos, but with good food, good beer, and good people all in abundance, I think we'll be just fine.

Things that we've got covered so far:

Date / Time: Saturday, January 27th, starting at 12 noon.

Fog machines: I think we've got several members that have pledged to bring fog machines, so that will be great. No one has mentioned a hazer yet; it's possible that none of the members in the area have one... If so, we'll just make do with fog.

Lasers: Pretty much everyone is bringing whatever they want. We will have plenty of 110V power available, and we will have limited 220V power as well. If you are bringing a 220V unit, be certain you have a plug that can fit into a 50 amp kitchen stove outlet. (It's different from the 30 amp dryer outlet.) Also, make sure to bring a couple power strips and/or extension cords. If you want to bring other equipment (oscilloscopes, breadboards, etc), feel free. No one has mentioned water cooling, but I believe it is available. (If you need water cooling, SPEAK UP NOW so we can make sure it will be OK.)

Computers: Bring whatever you need for your projector, but you are welcome to bring other gear as well if you wish. I'll have an 8-port fast ethernet switch with me, and I'll try to bring some network cable as well. That should be sufficient to link up a few machines if we need to.

Tables and chairs: The venue has these in abundance. No need to bring extras.

Things that need to be hammered out yet:

Sound system: Fred has one, and Paul also has some equipment. Plus the room itself has a PA system. Need to decide who is bringing what, and how much we need. My thinking here is to have a long set of RCA patch cables that any laserist can connect to his computer when he's ready to display a show that has music. And when we're not displaying choreographed shows, we can still have other music playing in the B/G if we want...

Beverages: Pretty much bring whatever you want. I'll have some homebrew stuff that anyone is welcome to try, and I might bring a bottle or two of "something" as well. Just please remember that we don't want anyone getting so damn wasted that they barf on a running power supply (or computer!), to say nothing of the risks of driving home drunk! I'm sure we can all be responsible.

Food: Again, bring what you want. We can also order out for food. I'm thinking about bringing down a pot full of pork BBQ and some rolls. I think Allthatwhichis was talking about lasagna... And there's always Pizza Hut! (Might be nice if someone volunteered to bring some paper plates, knapkins, etc...)

Camera / Video: It would be nice to be able to video some of the laser effects - does anyone have a camcorder that works well in low light that they'd be willing to bring and set up?

What else am I not thinking of? I'm assuming that parking won't be a problem... We'll need to post directions to the venue, of course. (Probably later next week.) Anything else I'm missing?

Adam

[allthatwhichis]

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
The planets are aliging...

1 small POS fogger.

If I can get it into a box my "projector" is 110.

I'll be bringing at least one good computer and probaly a laptop for it's aircard.

I have access to a pile of various NIB RCA, Coax, and network cables if we see a need for any. My cousin is a former cable guy with lots of bulk stuff that got left in his truck when he left his last cable gig.

I'll grab a bottle of Everclear... :twisted:

I'll start grabbin stuff for sauce for the lasangna.

I have a handycam but it's got some burnt pixels... :roll: ops:

[buffo]

Allthatwhichis:

Sounds great! The cables will come in handy, I'm sure. Everclear eh? Whew - been a while since I've messed with that stuff. (Rocket fuel, baby!) No sweat on the case (or lack thereof) for your projector. If you have to set it up on a table, so be it! Lasagna sounds yummy... 8)

I just started a batch of Red Ale and a batch of hard cider. I pitched the yeast about 30 min ago. Both batches (2 gallons each) should be ready to bottle by next Tuesday or so, which will give them just enough time to age before the 27th. (Actually, the Cider doesn't really need the time, but I like to lager the Red Ale for 2 weeks or so before I start drinking it...) Should be some great stuff!

Adam

[clandestiny]

I will bring 2 pa boxes plus amps. however i will have to bring a small 2 channel dj mixer to plug into. it has rca inputs.
i dont see the need to bring a larger console. I have the sound covered. However there is a picture framing shoppe next door , so we will have to stay within reason till after 5pm.

[buffo]

Hi Paul;

That sounds great! If allthatwhichis brings extra cables, we shouldn't have any problem connecting a computer to the board when someone wants to run a choreographed show. (Allthat: See if you can bring some 1/8 inch jack to RCA jack adapters... Most computer sound cards don't have RCA outputs, but rather just a stereo 1/8 inch jack...)

I don't think it will be a problem to keep the volume down 'till after 5. After all, we don't want to get anyone upset. (And we certainly don't want someone calling the police for a noise ordinance violation!)

Adam

[Astroguy]

Yeah, my two foggers are both similar to the Walmart units. One of them makes a thick, rather opaque fog, while the other (a Chauvet) makes a nice thin fog that works really well with lasers. But they both only have 700 watt heaters in them, so they're limited as to how much fog they can make. I think even with all three of our foggers we'd be hard pressed to fill a room as big as the place Paul is talking about. But if Fred can bring his machine as well, then we should be OK.

Adam

PS: Just thought of something else: Is anyone a smoker? Reason I mention it is that meeting rooms like this are usually non-smoking venues... If so, that's always a good thing to talk about in advance.

I will try hard to make it if I am not in Taiwan again
If I make it I will bring two foggers and a stereo.

It looks like I will be able to make it. I am leaving on Sunday for Taiwan for 11 days so I will be back in time for the meet.

Fred

[buffo]

That's good news Fred! Looking forward to seeing you there.

Something else that I've been thinking about... Since we're a pretty small group, if anyone has stuff that they're looking to sell (smaller stuff I mean), it might be a good idea to bring it with you. I know that when I used to go to computer LAN parties there always seemed to be someone selling a graphics card, or a CD burner, or something like that. So if you've got some hardware you're thinking about putting on E-bay, you might want to bring it to the meeting first and see if anyone there is interested. Just a thought....

Adam

PS: I just checked the fermenters. Bloop-Bloop-Bloop goes the water seal! (I love that sound) The yeast is hard at work...

[buffo]

Say Paul....

Would you post the address of the building? I'd like to look it up on mapquest, and maybe grab an image shot from google earth as well, so people will know how to find it.

It will also be good for people that need to find a room for the night... They can pick a spot near the venue.

Adam

[JimBo]

maybe grab an image shot from google earth

You do know that there is a massive bug in google earth 2006 don't you? :lol:
It has been sorted now though.

Jim