I’m New! My name is Evan and I have been a hacker since I could swing a hammer at a VCR (I liked taking things apart, I adopted a screw driver eventually, and all my VCRs were sourced by my dad). I have been hacking throughout my life and been alone doing it until I found you guys! I am very excited to have people to tinker with, near, and around the VHS membership.
My applicable skills include:
Welding (certified: everything but TIG)
Carpentry (second hand)
Computers (Struggling self taught, but a passion)
I have a few projects I have been stumped with and would love help (BTW, I know it’s a lot, and don’t expect help on any of them, but a hand would be GREATLY appreciated. But I usually find a way):
Installing Libre boot on an x200 - I don’t think my BIOS chip is supported, but I would love if someone with experience to go over my process or take an attempt it. Good chance I missed something.
Installing Linux on a rack mounted server - Never encountered SAS before, and can’t seem to either get my install media working or recognize my RAID 5 array.
Building a drone - I bought a bunch of parts, but don’t have any soldering skill or experience putting them together.
Building a soldering iron - I am going to trudge through this either way, but I have little experience putting electronics together, and a little knowledge of wiring pre-made boards together would help a lot!
Also, how do I go about how to use the laser cutter or wood CNC?
And how do I join the Slack?
If any of the things listed above are things you are interested in as well, maybe we can collab and get to a result together?
Thanks a bundle, and look forward to seeing you all.
Sounds like you’ve got a nice variety of interests! Not unlike many of us. I’m going to attack a few of your questions and let others tackle some of the gaps.
Building a drone: Many of us have built drones, and in fact, years ago there was a big group build with laser-cut frames. Usually if you come on a busy night (such as Tuesday) there’s plenty of people around that have all sorts of soldering skills. That being said, an evening with a blinky badge kit, and a read over this comic and I’ve seen people with very little manual dexterity walk away with great solder joints in a single night.
As far as joining slack, go to nomos (the member management page at https://membership.vanhack.ca ) and click the ‘get involved’ button. On there you can generate your slack invite.
As far as WoodCNC, that is still being worked out for training, but currently it requires prior training on another CNC device (basically the Taig mill). This probably won’t always be the case, but there’s a large knowledge transfer between the Taig metal mill and the wood cnc. There’s a forum post for getting trained on the Taig, but understand that training (laser, mill, lathe, cnc, whatever) is all done on volunteered time and are usually irregular. Some have longer waits than others, but state your interest on the appropriate signup.
Finally, one note that I really don’t like to say, but probably best to put this up front. Regarding your hackintosh; VHS does not deal with, abide or enable illegal activities in any form of VHS (online, physically, etc). While I understand you may consider it a grey area, its probably not appropriate for VHS.
Thanks Mike!
I had no idea that hackintosh was illegal! Too much time spent with all the other UNIX systems I guess. I’ll redact that section of my introduction. Thanks for the warning.
If you haven’t already made it down to a Tuesday night open night, that’s probably one of the best ways to get to know people around the space. Watch for open hours on slack and participate!
I personally like to engage others with build logs and currently I’m leading a group project to build out a CNC circuit board mill. I hope to see you soon, and say “hi” on slack.
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