Re: Funds

[Wouter Verhelst <wouter@debian.org>]

On 28-05-13 00:26, Christian T. Steigies wrote:
> On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 11:27:38PM +0000, Thorsten Glaser wrote:
>> Ingo Jürgensmann dixit:
>>
>>> Another possible way to spent some money could be to buy some stuff
>>> the m68k port could need, like SCSI<>SATA adaptors or NICs or so.
>>
>> I think hardware (both base computers, as I don???t recall seeing a
>> Macintosh, only Atari (VM and real) and Amiga, here recently, other
>> than what Finn does upstream and in Gentoo) and hardware extensions
>> (RAM, NIC, HDD, oh and did I mention RAM) stuff is the thing that
>> could help the best ??? assuming you find someone who???d accept them,
>> turn them into actual hardware pieces and host/run them.
>>
>> I don???t know whether anyone???s personal time investion into the
>> Debian/m68k port can be raised with money (but I guess not), and
>> organising a hackathon-like thing is probably beyond the scope
>> of trivial donations as you consider travel, accomodation, etc.
>> (no idea whether we could actually benefit from one, either; it
>> would need careful planning).
>>
>> So I???d suggest those who are already hosting our buildds to speak
>> up whether they can accept more pieces of hardware, especially
>> (but probably not limited to) mac68k-related (or money to buy those
>> pieces or have them built) and operate them.
> 
> I see three problems for the m68k port:
> motivation (thank you for offering help, its good hear that somebody can
> actually make use of our efforts), time (no, I don't think anybody could pay
> for all the hours, but we could probably use more hands!), and only then
> hardware/money.

Yes, I agree with that ordering.

> Yes, getting hardware for m68k is not always easy/cheap. I
> am not planning on getting more m68k hardware, I have too many boxes
> already.

Same here. Most of them haven't been powered on in a long time, though,
and they probably won't be any time soon, either (no place/time to deal
with that).

I still have:
- one MVME box
- three or four macs (I'm not sure, and they're at the office which is
  here I'm not right now)
- an amiga that I've never had the time to check if it even works
- one or two sun3s with the same caveat
- some spare memory (but not much anymore)

[...]
> A hackthon sounds interesting (although there is a problem with the name?). 
> A few years ago we had a meeting here.

Yeah, and that was a load of fun.

> I am sure I can get a seminar room
> at the University again during a weekend, and I have more space at home now,
> so maybe we would not have to sleep at the University.  There was not too
> much coding IIRC, things are so slow on m68k, but it was good to get the
> major players together, and I think Debian even paid for Stephens ticket.

Correct.

> I met several people for the first time, and even though we did not revive
> m68k (or coldfire) immediately, I still think this was a good event.

Yes, I agree.

> We
> should coordinate with Michaels travel plans, and next time also Geert has
> to come! Some people joined by Video, but I think in-person meetings are
> very beneficial. Maybe some time after debconf? Or _at_ debconf? I am not
> sure what people are doing there, so...

We could certainly do it at debconf, or (if that's going to happen;
there's still some uncertainty there) at debcamp. I think that'd be a
great idea.

For those of us who are DD's, getting travel sponsorship is ridiculously
easy. And beyond doing an m68k meetup, debconf is definitely an
interesting event.

I'm all for it.

-- 
This end should point toward the ground if you want to go to space.

If it starts pointing toward space you are having a bad problem and you
will not go to space today.

  -- http://xkcd.com/1133/