Local Linux, Cloud, and Virtual Machines

This past week I accomplished a number of things.

I attended the local Linux user group. They are going through a transition, expanding their focus from Linux to open source. The change makes sense; when they were formed, Linux was a difficult beast and one needed a lot of technical knowledge. In today's world, the modern distros install themselves. (I recently installed Kubuntu 11.10 and the process was simple.)

The change in focus requires a new focus, and the challenge to the group is to identify it. No one is stepping forward to claim ownership, and the transition has stalled. I have considered stepping up, but I have no clear vision for the group, no "itch" that I want to "scratch". As such, I consider myself an inappropriate candidate.

The cloud computing meeting had an informative presentation on database.com, a "spin-off" of the salesforce.com folks. I chatted with a number of folks; these meetings attract people with varying degrees of experience.

The cloud computing group was in the Washington area, and it highlights the challenge of my living and working arrangements. Living in Baltimore and working in Washington leads to a long commute, even on the train. It also locks me out of a number of activities -- I arrive in Baltimore too late to participate, and I must leave too early to participate in Washington events.

As to virtual machines, I made modest progress with my local tests. I successfully connected to a virtual machine with remote access software. I had to completely disable the firewall on the host system, and the color palette leaves a bit to be desired. But it is success, and I am looking forward to tuning the arrangement, adjusting the firewall to allow access and handling the color palette. I also found instructions for creating a headless virtual machine, which makes a lot of sense for remote operation. I'll have to read up on the process; it is something more than simple.