Busy weekend: Open Shop, Member Orientation, Open Source Class, Circuit Board Class [updated!]

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Non-members and members alike have three great excuses to swing by the shop some time this weekend. Bring a friend!

Friday night is a party to celebrate the new membership structure. In addition to new dues options ($39 and $89, with special options for students, crafters and coders), we’ve improved the process so you can do the paperwork, get your orientation, and receive your key in one shot.  Plus, Friday means it’s Open Shop so we’ll be teaching tools, hanging out, and working on whatever project you want to bring along! Oh, did I mention the beer, wine, pizza, and snacks? Doors will be open by 7pm…

Saturday evening, we’re hosting an open source software workshop to introduce screen and ssh, two supremely handy tools in the linux admin’s arsenal, which the rest of us can find uses for too. Briefly: SSH is the secure replacement for Telnet plus some sneaky features that’ll help you circumvent restrictive work firewalls and stuff, Screen takes your SSH experience to the next level by adding persistence and multiple windows to name just a couple features. They’re both free, and Saturday’s intro won’t require advanced sysadmin knowledge. Bring a laptop! Talk starts at 7, but doors will be open by 6 or earlier, so come hang out!

Sunday will be an electronics design day, starting with a PCB class at 3pm.   You’ll learn how to lay out a circuit board in electronic design software, then how to transfer that layout and chemically etch a board with it. Materials permitting, each student may get their own board to play with, and when the etching is complete, we’ll stuff components into the boards and solder ’em up, leaving you with a completed LED flasher circuit to take home! This is a really simple circuit and no electronics experience is required to attend.  If you wish to get in on the hands-on fun, please reserve your seat.  This will just be part of a new, regularly scheduled series of electronics classes we will be offering.  Keep checking our site for updates on more classes!

Robots: DONE

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As regular readers may know, i3Detroit has been sponsoring two FIRST Robotics teams, giving them full use of our shop and other resources. It’s been hectic, crowded, noisy, and very productive. And now it’s (almost) over.

Tonight was “ship day”, meaning that all work on the robots had to be completed before midnight, and bags and tamper-evident seals affixed. After that, there was some of the silliness that accompanies a late-night sink-or-swim deadline, and some cleanup. We made it! Two functional robots, a whole bunch of involved students, no fights, no injuries, nothing more than minor tool breakage and wear. Competition starts in two weeks. In the meantime, there’s software to work on, t-shirts to distribute, buttons to design…

Congratulations, 1216 Oak Park and 3302 Clawson! You’ve come a long way, and we’ll be rooting for you at competition!

i3 Detroit V2.0

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There is always a learning curve any time you take on a new project, start a new business or experiment with something new. The same is true for our experience with getting i3 Detroit off the ground here in Metro Detroit. Originally we had 10 of us who put up the money and started i3 Detroit.  All agreed to pay dues of $100 per month while meeting at the local coffee shop so we could build up our bankroll.  This would hopefully lead us to eventually opening our community space. We were all pumped to get to the point of having a physical space sooner as opposed to later.  Therefore, we quickly began our hunt for spaces throughout the Metro Detroit area.  We had done some research on spaces that we liked. And we started to crunch the numbers to see what we could really afford.  After all, our goal was to build a sustainable community.

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Come FLOSS this Saturday!

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Announcing ‘Open Source Saturday’ or OSS.

We’re starting up a series of meetups, workshops, and classes to meet the growing interest in free and open source technology. All are welcome to attend and learn why free software is a good thing.

This OSS: Workshop : SSH + Screen

Ever wanted to have access to a computer without physically being there? VNC and RDP seem too slow and clunky? Too paranoid to surf the net at a coffee shop, or just don’t trust those on the same network as you? This Saturday we’ll explore the power and wonder of SSH and Screen, probably two of the most used and useful commands. You’ll learn to copy and share files across the net, tunnel your web traffic in a safe and secure manner. Even if you already know SSH / Screen you’re bound to learn something new.  At the very least, come to learn a couple new acronyms and have a good time.

What to expect? You should bring a laptop; or if you don’t have one, a healthy dose of patience.

We plan to start around 7pm
-B

Open Shop Friday 7pm

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For anyone not going on the trip to Pumping Station: One, the shop will be open this Friday night starting at 7pm. Come get a tour of the space and equipment, work on your projects, and/or see what everyone else is working on! If you’re new, ask for Ed, and I’ll show you around. There may be some board games as well.