GSoC Ideas 2014

FOSSASIA aims to participate in the Google Summer of Code 2014. We are working together with a number of Open Source developers in the region and function as an umbrella for different projects. If FOSSASIA gets accepted, you will find more information about the application procedure for students on this page.

The ideas list below gets updated continuously as students also submit ideas in the process. So, please check back again later. If you have your own idea or small project, please apply for FOSSASIA on the Google Summer of Code website!

If you have questions or feedback, please write to us on the mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/fossasia

We have four areas for our GSoC projects 2014:

 


Open Design Projects, Garments, Knitting


 

Develop 2D Body Measurement App

The goal of this project is to provide users with an Android app that assists them in measuring their body data for generating customized patterns. The measurements are taken according to standardized measure points which are usually used by tailors. The student needs to propose a design and step by step guide to collect the measurements of the user. The data will be saved to the app or as a file, with additional options to export data as a Google spreadsheet and submit data to a web service.

A draft of a file format has been developed. A sample part below:

<document-info>
<personal>
   <family-name></family-name>
   <given-name></given-name>
   <birth-date></birth-date>
   <sex>female</sex>
</personal>
<body-measurements>
   <unit>cm</unit>
   <head_and_neck>
     <head_girth></head_girth>
     <mid_neck_girth></mid_neck_girth>
     <neck_base_girth></neck_base_girth>
     <head_and_neck_length></head_and_neck_length>
   </head_and_neck>
   <torso>
     <center_front_waist_length></center_front_waist_length>
     <center_back_waist_length></center_back_waist_length>
     <shoulder_length></shoulder_length>
     <side_waist_length></side_waist_length>
     <trunk_girth></trunk_girth>
     <shoulder_girth></shoulder_girth>
     <upper_chest_girth></upper_chest_girth>
     <bust__girth></bust__girth>
     <under_bust_girth></under_bust_girth>
     <waist_girth></waist_girth>
     <high_hip_girth></high_hip_girth>
     <hip_girth></hip_girth>
     <upper_front_chest_width></upper_front_chest_width>
     <front_chest_width></front_chest_width>
     <across_front_shoulder_width></across_front_shoulder_width>
     <across_back_shoulder_width></across_back_shoulder_width>
     <upper_back_width></upper_back_width>
     <back_width></back_width>
     <bustpoint_to_bustpoint></bustpoint_to_bustpoint>
     <halter_bustpoint_to_bustpoint></halter_bustpoint_to_bustpoint>
     <neck_to_bustpoint></neck_to_bustpoint>
     <crotch_length></crotch_length>
     <rise_height></rise_height>
     <shoulder_drop></shoulder_drop>
     <shoulder_slope_degrees></shoulder_slope_degree>
     <front_shoulder_slope_length>
     <back_shoulder_slope_length>
     <front_shoulder_to_waist_length>
     <back_shoulder_to_waist_length>
    </torso>
    <arm>
     <armscye_girth></armscye_girth>
     <elbow_girth></elbow_girth>
     <upper_arm_girth></upper_arm_girth>
     <wrist_girth></wrist_girth>
     <scye_depth></scye_depth>
     <shoulder_and_arm_length></shoulder_and_arm_length>
     <underarm_length></underarm_length>
     <cervical_to_wrist_length></cervical_to_wrist_length>
     <shoulder_to_elbow_length></shoulder_to_elbow_length>
     <arm_length></arm_length>
   </arm>
   <hand>
     <hand_width></hand_width>
     <hand_length></hand_length>
     <hand_girth></hand_girth>
   </hand>
    <leg>
     <thigh_girth></thigh_girth>
     <mid_thigh_girth></mid_thigh_girth>
     <knee_girth></knee_girth>
     <calf_girth></calf_girth>
     <ankle_girth></ankle_girth>
     <knee_height></knee_height>
     <ankle_height></ankle_height>
    </leg>
    <foot>
     <foot_width></foot_width>
     <foot_length></foot_length>
      <foot_girth>
    </foot>
    <heights>
     <height></height>
     <cervical_height></cervical_height>
     <cervical_to_knee_height></cervical_to_knee_height>
     <waist_height></waist_height>
     <high_hip_height></high_hip_height>
     <hip_height></hip_height>
     <waist_to_hip_height></waist_to_hip_height>
     <waist_to_knee_height></waist_to_knee_height>
     <crotch_height></crotch_height>
   </heights>
</body-measurements>
</body-measurements>
</hdf>

Project: Valentina Patternmaking Project

Website: http://www.valentina-project.org

Skill Level: Medium

Usefull skills: Android development, UI design, Java, formats, CSS, Phonegap or other framework

Mentors: Mario Behling [http://mariobehling.de], Hong Phuc Dang

 


 

Develop a GUI for the Adafruit Knitting Machine Project

The goal of this student project is to facilitate the production process with the Brother KH-930e Knitting Machine, that can be controlled by Open Source software as below. Parts of the process require commandline experience and Python knowledge. In order to enable more knitting enthusiasts to use Open Source knitting machines, we hope to find a student that takes on the challenge and comes up with ideas to make this process easier. Below a video of the current work process and step by step descriptions.

 

Disk Drive/Computer Connection Notes

The external floppy drive for this machine was the same as a Tandy PDD1 (Portable Disk Drive 1). This drive is connected using a serial port. There is documentation on the internet about how to connect these drives to computers, but the connector pinout on the knitting machine is different than the drive, and I didn’t find that documentation to be helpful. I was able to figure out the connector pinout by examining the knitting machine PCB.

Knitting Machine/Computer Connection Notes

The knitting machine drive connection uses CMOS voltage levels, not RS-232. Here is the pinout of the drive connector on the knitting machine:

      _____
      |   |
______|___|______
|   |   |   |   |
| 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |
| 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
|___|___|___|___|

The pin numbering is shown as they are labeled on the knitting machine PCB, and does not agree with other documents I found on the web.

Connector Pinout
Pin Signal I/O Notes
1 Ground    
2   Out Tied to 5, Pulled up through 1K resistor
3 CTS? In (Tie to pin 2)
4 No Connection    
5   Out Tied to 2, Pulled up through 1K resistor
6 RXD In  
7 TXD Out  
8 RTS? Out Follows state of Pin 3 (buffered)

Methods of connecting the knitting machine to a computer

Using a FTDI serial adapter cable (RECOMMENDED)

Using an FTDI adapter is the best way to assure that you are interfacing with the machine using the same signal voltages as the original external floppy drives. This is documented on this wiki page, which will someday be merged with this one.MProg only runs under windows.

Using a USB serial adapter WITH flow control

This is a method I have used extensively with one model of knitting machine, but I no longer recommend it. Although it does not require any additional hardware like a FTDI adapter, this method does not present the exact same voltage levels to the knitting machine as the external drives which were designed to work with the machine. Although I have not had any reports of problems, it is possible that this method could stress the knitting machine input circuitry, and therefore I think it is safest not to use it.

Cable connections with flow control
Knitter 9 pin connector
1 5
6 3
7 2
8 4

Using a USB serial adapter WITHOUT flow control

I have pulled pin 3 high, and am not using flow control in my software. I have not had problems with data loss while sending to the knitting machine, and the machine I am using is fast enough to always keep up with data received from the knitting machine. The data rate is 9600 bps, and the largest amount of data sent at once is 1024 bytes. Here is the cable I am using to connect the knitter with a USB 9 pin serial port:

Cable connections without flow control
Knitter 9 pin connector
1 5
2 tie to 3  
6 3
7 2

Software Interface Information

There are a number of documents on the web about the Tandy PDD1 and the serial API for it, Most of them are incomplete. The knitter places the drive into a mode called “FDC emulation Mode”, which allows access to raw sectors. This document is the most complete documentation I was able to find: Media:Tandy-Disk-Reference.pdf

External Disk Drive Emulator

I have written software that emulates the external disk. It runs under Linux and keeps the data as files on the linux file system. This allows knitting designs to be saved and restored using the emulation computer. I am using these files to reverse-engineer the knitting machine file format. The emulator is written in Python, and released under the GPL. It has been tested most extensively under Ubuntu Linux. I have reports that it does not work on windows due to problems with the serial library. It has been successfully run under OSX. If you have any information to add about platforms that it does or doesn’t work on, let me know and I will update this informationI am happy to work with people who are trying to use the emulator with different models of knitting machine, and hoep to improve compatibility with other machines. The source code is available in the git repository listed above. Software for manipulating Brother data file: I have begun a python class which will provide an API to the brother data files. Source code is in the git repo. Knitting Machine File Format: A lot of the file format is now understood. Documentation is in the git repo.Work on this continues.This work was greatly helped by prior work performed by John R. Hogerhuis and posted on the kminternals yahoo group.

Links

Media:Portable_Disk_Drive_Operation_Manual.pdf

BL5 Brotherlink 5 serial or USB cable Brotherlink information

Yahoo group dedicated to hacking brother machines

Brother Liberation Front is working on open source interfaces

Info and protocols for the FB-100 interface

KE-100 motor drive (not sure that this is the right model drive for the KH-930E)

 

Project: https://github.com/adafruit/knitting_machine

More info: http://mariobehling.de/brother-kh-930-knitting-machine-hacking-and-knitting-tutorial

Skill Level: Medium to High

Useful skills: Python, Knitting Patterns, Image design

Mentor: Mentors to be announced

 

 


Create search functions and import pattern functions for Valentina

Valentina is a development project to edit pattern files for garments and textiles. The goal of the student project is to implement a method to choose additional design items, e.g. different collar styles, and to add them into a pattern during development.  In addition, the user should have the capability to organize their created patterns into categories, and conduct searches of patterns based on this organization. 

The student would develop user functions to add search tags to patterns, search for patterns, and select patterns from search results to load into the currently open pattern.

Background: One of the main ideas of Valentina is to enable users to create custom sized patterns based on applying an individual’s measurement data to pattern formulas, independent of industry sizing standards. Similar industry software packages include Assyst (www.assyst-intl.com), Lektra (www.lectra.com), Grafis (http://www.grafis.com), plus others. Grafis in particular enables users to generate patterns based on formulas derived from pattern descriptions from standard books (e.g. books published by Mueller und Sohn.) Currently available industry software, however, does not aim at the DIY/maker or SME markets.

Project: Valentina Patternmaking Project

Website: http://www.valentina-project.org

Skill Level: Medium

Usefull skills: Vector graphics, C++, Qt5, basic knowledge of garment patterns, basic knowledge of generating patterns from formulas

Mentors: Hong Phuc Dang to be announced

 


 

Port Valentina to different platforms, build packages and refactor code

Currently the installation process of Valentina is only semi-automatic on Linux and Windows. For MacOSX there is no port yet available. The goal of this project is to automate the build process for the major operating systems. Create a standard workflow for Windows .exe builds, create a MacOSX port and provide packages for the major Linux distributions. The challenge of this project is to work with a number of projects and partners. For example, it is possible to create .deb packages for Debian. In order to get the package accepted in the Debian repository, it is necessary to get approval of established Debian developers who verify that the package build was done according to best practices. Similar procedures are required for other distributions. The second part of this project is to refactor code and replace deprecated code including if constructions with switch. Please see below.

Many if constructions replace with switch.

Methods:

VDomDocument::ParsePointElement
VDomDocument::ParseSplineElement
VDomDocument::ParseArcElement
VDomDocument::ParseToolsElement

For example:

QStringList arcs;
arcs
<< VToolArc::ToolType << VNodeArc::ToolType;

switch(arcs.indexOf(type)){
case 0:
// parse arc tag
break;

case 1;
// parse node arc tag
break;

default:
// print warning
break;
}

Project: https://bitbucket.org/dismine/valentina/overview

Mailing List: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/valentina-project-list

Skill Level: Medium

Usefull skills: C++, Qt , Windows exe build, MacOSX, Linux packaging

Mentors: to be announced

 


 

Add Design items and Measurement Tables for Patternshare

Patternshare is a development project of a web application to edit pattern files for garments and textiles. The goal of the student project is to implement the choice of additional design items, e.g. different collar styles, and to add them to the patterns. Patternshare users should be able to generate non-custom sizes on the fly and add their own measurements table in the app. Another required feature is to add specific design items or changes, e.g. starting from size 36 up to 42. In order to establish a suitable way to allow the sharing of patterns in an industry quality, patternshare needs to support these features and be able to import and export CAD files.

Background: One of the main ideas of patternshare is to offer a web service that enables people to edit patterns independently from standard sizes. Similar industry software packages including Assyst (www.assyst-intl.com), Lektra (www.lectra.com), Grafis (http://www.grafis.com) and other exist. Grafis in particular seems to generate patterns in the same way, that we do it in patternshare – based on formulars which are defined from pattern descriptions from standard books. Many standards defined in books from Mueller und Sohn for example. The current players do not aim at the maker and SME market.

Project: https://github.com/sconklin/tmtp-patternshare

Website: http://www.taumeta.org

Skill Level: Medium

Usefull skills: Implementation of Mathematical Algorithms, Javascript, Fabric,js, Rafael.js, HTML, vector graphics

Mentors: Hong Phuc Dang to be announced


Web and Mobile Development


Implement Post to Github in NGO photo app and develop a Jekyll/Markdown Website

The goal of this GsoC project is to develop functions, that allow users of the phimpme photo app to upload images to their gallery that uses Jekyll, Javascript and Markdown. The most well-known one sites using these technologies are github pages. The phimpme photo app connects to “any social service” and Open Source CMS. It was developed for development projects in South East Asia and Open Sourced recently. Phimpme is a beautiful photo app that already works with any web systems based on Drupal, Joomla and WordPress. Android and iOS versions exist.

Project: https://github.com/phimpme

Skill Level: Medium

Useful skills: Web Api, Android Development, HTML, Jekyll, Markdown, Knowledge of CMS

Mentor: Hon Nguyen [Vanhonit], Mentor 2 to be announced

 


 

Anonymous mode and autosharing for phimpme Android app

Implement an anonymous photo sharing mode with auto-connect options to nearby phone , computers and wifi nodes with public sharing capability. Bluetooth connectivity was already implemented in the app to support this future feature. The implementation of Wi-Fi direct would require to change the minimum required version for Android to version 4.1 (Jellybean). Some functions and libraries that are required for this project are already implemented partly for other services. The goal of this project is also to use existing libraries and extend or change them where necessary to keep the code base clean and small. To make full use of an anonymous sharing mode as many systems as possible should be supported, e.g. shared folders on PCs, public ftp and other phones. The requirements include that sharing works without an Internet connection (local networks without Internet and other devices are available to connect). At the beginning of the project we require the student to define a list of features he/she plans to develop during GSoC and a timeline.

Project: https://github.com/phimpme

Skill Level: Medium to High

Useful skills: Nearfield Communication, Wifi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, ftp, avahi, Android Development, Java

Mentor: Mario Behling [http://mariobehling.de], Andre Rebentisch [http://wikical.com]

 


Network and Mesh Technologies

 

Develop Web Interface Administration tool for large numbers of Nodes (routers) for OpenWrt based on kalua

Kalua is a hardware-independent OpenWRT-extension (using busybox-ash as main-language) for setting up, monitore and manage many, large wifi-mesh-networks for different locations including billing, captive portal / splash screen / weblogin, accounting, data retention and layer7/8-QoS. OpenWrt is a widely used Linux distribution for embedded devices and specifically routers. Large networks consist of hundreds and even thousand of nodes. Administration of routers, e.g. ESSID setting is a long process.

The goal of the project is to develop a new web interface to show the status of routers and enable mass administration of devices.

configure the builtin-packages

# the fast and easy automatic way:
kalua/openwrt-build/mybuild.sh set_build standard
make defconfig

# the way to understand what you are doing here:
make kernel_menuconfig      # will safe in 'build_dir/linux-${platform}/linux-${kernelversion}/.config'

    General setup ---> [*] Support for paging of anonymous memory (swap)
    Device Drivers ---> Staging drivers ---> [*] Compressed RAM block device support

make menuconfig         # will safe in '.config'

    Global build settings ---> [*] Compile the kernel with symbol table information

    Base system ---> busybox ---> Linux System Utilities ---> [*] mkswap
                                  [*] swaponoff
    Base system ---> [ ] firewall

    Network ---> Firewall ---> [*] iptables ---> [*] iptables-mod-ipopt
                             [*] iptables-mod-nat-extra

    Network ---> Routing and Redirection ---> [*] ip
    Network ---> Routing and Redirection ---> [*] olsrd ---> [*] olsrd-mod-arprefresh
                                 [*] olsrd-mod-jsoninfo
                                 [*] olsrd-mod-nameservice
                                 [*] olsrd-mod-txtinfo
                                 [*] olsrd-mod-watchdog
    Network ---> Web Servers/Proxies ---> [*] uhttpd
                          [*] uhttpd-mod-tls
                          [*] Build with debug messages

    Network ---> [*] ethtool    # if needed, e.g. 'Dell Truemobile 2300'
    Network ---> [*] mii-tool   # if needed, e.g. 'Ubiquiti Bullet M5'
    Network ---> [*] netperf
    Network ---> [*] ulogd ---> [*] ulogd-mod-extra     # if data retention needed

    Utilities ---> [*] px5g
               [*] rbcfg    # if needed, e.g. 'Linksys WRT54G/GS/GL'
  • usage
    • login via ssh
    • prepare the router by calling firmwarewget_prepare_for_lowmem_devices
    • fetch/copy firmware image to /tmp/fw
    • call firmwareburn

Useful Skills: Linux development, OpenWrt, Embedded devices, Web UI design, Gimp, Inkscape, Lua, Scripting

Skill Level: High

Project: https://github.com/bittorf/kalua

Mentor: Bastian Bittorf [http://bittorf-wireless.de], Mentor 2 – to be announced

 


Peer to Peer Technologies and Cryptography

 

OpenCoin Digital Cash App

OpenCoin is a true digital cash system, similar to the former DigiCash/eCash based on tokens and providing real anonymity. A prototype wallet app is already available and has been written in JavaScript. Project scope is to implement a mature wallet with additional features (e.g. p2p transactions, encrypted wallet, QR codes), better look and feel and plattform independent (e.g. C, JavaScript+PhoneGap) Make yourself familiar with the OpenCoin protocol Agree the feature set Develop and test the wallet

Project: http://opencoin.org , https://github.com/OpenCoin

Skill Level: Medium

Usefull skills: Scala programming language, Twitter’s Finagle server, SBT build tool, Optional: Eclipse IDE is recommended, Optional: Coins are stored in a SQL database via squeryl library

Getting Started:

* Make yourself familiar with the OpenCoin protocol

* Agree the feature set

* Develop and test the wallet

Mentors: Jan Suhr [http://suhr.info], Joerg Baach [https://github.com/jhb]

Continue ReadingGSoC Ideas 2014

FOSSASIA is Mentor Organization for Google Summer of Code 2014

FOSSASIA participates again as a mentor organization in Google Summer of Code 2014. Students can apply for scholarships of FOSSASIA on the Google Melange website. Accepted projects will be published on the site here.

Google Summer of Code is a program that offers student developers stipends to write code for various open source projects.  Historically, the program has brought together over 7,500 students with over 440 open source projects, to create over 50 millions of lines of code. The program, which kicked off in 2005, is now in its tenth year. If you are feeling nostalgic or are interested in learning more about the projects we have worked with in the past, check out the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 program pages (https://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/document/show/gsoc_program/google/gsoc2014/help_page)

FOSSASIA Google Summer of Code 2014

Timeline

10 March: 19:00 UTC Student application period opens.
21 March: 19:00 UTC Student application deadline.
Interim Period: Mentoring organizations review and rank student proposals; where necessary, mentoring organizations may request further proposal detail from the student applicant.
18 April: All mentors must be signed up and all student proposals matched with a mentor – 07:00 UTC Student acceptance choice deadline.
21 April: 19:00 UTC Accepted student proposals announced on the Google Summer of Code 2014 site.
Community Bonding Period: Students get to know mentors, read documentation, get up to speed to begin working on their projects.
19 May: Students begin coding for their Google Summer of Code projects; Google begins issuing initial student payments provided tax forms are on file and students are in good standing with their communities.
Work Period: Mentors give students a helping hand and guidance on their projects.
23 June: 19:00 UTC Mentors and students can begin submitting mid-term evaluations.
27 June: 19:00 UTC Mid-term evaluations deadline; Google begins issuing mid-term student payments provided passing student survey is on file.
Work Period: Mentors give students a helping hand and guidance on their projects.
11 August: Suggested ‘pencils down’ date. Take a week to scrub code, write tests, improve documentation, etc.
18 August: 19:00 UTC Firm ‘pencils down’ date. Mentors, students and organization administrators can begin submitting final evaluations to Google.
22 August: 19:00 UTC Final evaluation deadline. Google begins issuing student and mentoring organization payments provided forms and evaluations are on file.
22 August: 20:00 UTC Students can begin submitting required code samples to Google
25 August: Final results of Google Summer of Code 2014 announced

Links

* Google Summer of Code 2014 https://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/homepage/google/gsoc2014

Continue ReadingFOSSASIA is Mentor Organization for Google Summer of Code 2014

FOSSASIA Summit 2013 Wrap Up

With many new meetups and coding events we saw an expansion of the FOSSASIA community in 2013. A particular focus was on Cambodia, where workshops took place at the Open Institute and local startup spaces in preparation of the FOSSASIA summit.

FOSSASIA 2013 Planning Meeting
FOSSASIA 2013 Planning Meeting at Small World Phnom Penh

FOSSASIA Meetup at Norton University Phnom Penh
FOSSASIA Meetup at Norton University Phnom Penh

Chantra Be with Hong Phuc Dang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Chantra Be with Hong Phuc Dang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Community Workshops in Cambodia
Community Workshops in Cambodia

Links

Images: flickr.com/photos/tags/fossasia2013
Tweets: twitter.com/fossasia

Continue ReadingFOSSASIA Summit 2013 Wrap Up

FOSSASIA Summit 2014 Call for Speakers and Projects

The FOSSASIA Summit 2014 is looking for talks and projects in the area of Open Source Software, Hardware, Open Maps, Fonts, Geo-data, and Open technology solutions to improve living conditions for people in emerging countries.

Please join us at FOSSASIA 2014 in Phnom Penh, the gate to Cambodia and the Mekong Delta from February 28 – March 2!

FOSSASIA Gate to Cambodia Tech Community
FOSSASIA Gate to Cambodia Tech Community

The presentation sessions at the FOSSASIA OpenTechSummit will be scheduled

a) for 30 minutes and

b) for one hour blocks of time. Hands on labs/Workshops can be held in dedicated classrooms.

At the entrance we offer an exhibition area for your community projects with space for tables, posters and stands. The deadline for submission is 15 January 2014. Please submit your talk, workshop or project now at our website at: http://fossasia.org.

FOSSASIA Organization Committee meeting
FOSSASIA Organization Committee meeting

Continue ReadingFOSSASIA Summit 2014 Call for Speakers and Projects

FOSSASIA 2014 at Norton University in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from February 28 – March 2

We are excited to announce FOSSASIA 2014 in Phnom Penh. After taking place several times in Vietnam, it is the first time FOSSASIA takes place in Cambodia. The event will be held at Norton University from February 28 – March 2, 2014.

Hong Phuc Dang at Norton University Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Hong Phuc Dang at Norton University Phnom Penh, Cambodia

FOSSASIA is an event that offers students, developers and start ups a place to meet, share ideas and collaborate. It is a premier place for Open Source communities in Asia to get together with International developers and an opportunity to experience Open Source technologies.

Previous events attracted up to 1400 participants and speakers from 20 countries. Apart from Open Source Software FOSSASIA 2014 will feature a number of Open Hardware projects. In the FOSSASIA business lounge participants can learn about start up ideas and practices and connect with International companies and outsourcing partners.

Norton University Phnom Penh, Cambodia hosting Tech and Developer Community at FOSSASIA
Norton University Phnom Penh, Cambodia hosting Tech and Developer Community at FOSSASIA

Continue ReadingFOSSASIA 2014 at Norton University in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from February 28 – March 2

Digital Sewing Patterns Workshop with Susan Spencer

The textil industry is dominated by some big players and proprietary file formats for digital cut patterns. With the maker scene getting a big push with 3D printers, it is time to push for open digital sewing pattern creation as well.

Susan Spencer already works for some time on this goal. She created plugins for creating and portraying sewing patterns in Inkscape and documents her work on the TauMeta Website.

The next goal is to enable designers to upload and customize patterns online through a web interface. This is why we are meeting up at a workshop after the Libre Graphics Meeting in Madrid. I believe this is exciting and offers many people a way to collaborate on patterns around the world.

As textil making is very big in Vietnam and other Asian countries, this could be very interesting for people. I can see that it would also offer ways for small business owners to work together.

Sewing Pattern Workshop with Susan Spencer and Hong Phuc DangSusan Spencer and Hong Phuc Dang at the Digital Pattern Workshop after LGM 2013

Links

http://www.fashiontec.org

* http://meshcon.net

http://www.taumeta.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_(sewing)

Continue ReadingDigital Sewing Patterns Workshop with Susan Spencer

Libre Graphics Meeting 2013 – Including Asian Users and Developers

Thank you for a great event! The Libre Graphics Meeting 2013 took place in Madrid from April 10-13.

While the participation of Asian contributors is still low, talking to developers and designers it is clear that Asian users are “on their map”. Designing fonts that include characters for Asian languages for example is high on the agenda.

I would be happy to help people who are interested in font design to get in touch with established font projects. Please get in touch with me, if you are interested.

Pippin and Hong Phuc Dang at Libre Graphics Meeting 2013Pippin (Øyvind Kolås) from the Gimp project and Hong Phuc Dang at Libre Graphics Meeting 2013

 

Hong Phuc Dang and Sirko Kemter discussing Inkscape at Libre Graphics Meeting 2013Hong Phuc Dang and Sirko Kemter discussing Inkscape at Libre Graphics Meeting 2013

Graphics Tool Social Meet up with Gimp and GNOME developers at Libre Graphics MeetingGraphics Tool Social Meet up with Gimp and GNOME developers at Libre Graphics Meeting

Fontforge presentation with Dave Crossland and BenFontforge presentation with Dave Crossland and Ben

Continue ReadingLibre Graphics Meeting 2013 – Including Asian Users and Developers

Crypto Stick accepted as Google Summer of Code Mentor Organization

Crypto Stick has been accepted as a mentor organization for Google Summer of Code (GSOC) 2013. If you are a student interested in working on cool crypto stuff, developing a high security system, latest web security or embedded programming – this is for you. You can apply for a project and if accepted the mentors will work with you over the summer and Google will sponsor you 5000 USD during that time.

Please check out the ideas page at https://www.assembla.com/spaces/cryptostick/wiki/Ideas or suggest your own idea.

And, join the mailinglist to discuss it: https://lists.crypto-stick.org/mailman/listinfo/dev

Your applications should be submitted through Google Melange (https://google-melange.com) between March 26 and April 6. Generally, it is better to submit your application early as mentors like to discuss proposals.

Important dates are:

* March 17-25: Would-be student participants discuss application ideas with mentoring organizations.

* March 26, 19:00 UTC: Student application period opens.

* April 6, 19:00 UTC: Student application deadline.

You can continue to submit additional information and comments into the system after your initial application submission. In order to participate in the program, you must be a student in an accredited institution or university.

Links:

* Crypto Stick project: http://crypto-stick.org

* Ideas Page: https://www.assembla.com/spaces/cryptostick/wiki/Ideas

* GSOC Progam F&Q: https://google-melange.appspot.com/gsoc/document/show/gsoc_program/google/gsoc2013/help_page

* Crypto Stick Mailing List: https://lists.crypto-stick.org/mailman/listinfo/dev

* Google Melange: http://google-melange.com

Continue ReadingCrypto Stick accepted as Google Summer of Code Mentor Organization

Google Summer of Code Ideas 2013

FOSSASIA aims to participate in the Google Summer of Code 2013. We are working together with a number of Open Source developers in the region and function as an umbrella for different projects. If FOSSASIA gets accepted, you will find more information about the application procedure for students on this page.

The ideas list below gets updated continuously. So, please check back again later. And: The best ideas are often ideas of students themselves. So, if you have your own idea or small project, please apply for FOSSASIA on the Google Summer of Code website!

If you have questions or feedback, please write to us on the mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/fossasia

Important dates for students:

April 9 – 21: Would-be student participants discuss application ideas with mentoring organizations.

April 22: 19:00 UTC: Student application period opens.

May 3: 19:00 UTC: Student application deadline.

GSOC Ideas for FOSSASIA

1. Phimpme Android App

This photo app to connect to “any social service” and Open Source CMS is a project of developers from Vietnam. The goal is to make a beautiful app that also works with web systems based on Drupal, Joomla and WordPress. In Google Summer of Code Students can propose a number of projects around the app. The source code of the app is on github here: https://github.com/phimpme

Ideas for student projects:

Project 1: Implement full Google Maps and OpenStreetMap Support

This project also aims to show photos on a web map on a CMS of own choice.

Usefull skills: Android, Maps API, Understanding of Exif data and implementation, Web development, CMS

Project 2: Add support to more social networks and CMS

Phimpme already supports many social networks including many in Asia. Nevertheless there are still other networks popular in some countries. There are also CMS like TYPO3 which are not yet supported. Students can propose support for other services in this project.

Useful skills: Web Api, Android Development, PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails, Knowledge of CMS

 

2. Meilix Linux Distribution

Meilix is a new Linux project aimed to offer users a fast and easy to use Linux desktop, that can be “frozen” and therefore secured. 

Student projects should implement new features. The goal is to offer a simple user interface to freeze the OS up to different levels, e.g. only freeze the system, but not the home directory.

The Meilix System User Lock can be found on Github here: https://github.com/meilix/systemlock 

Usefull skills: Linux development, Python, Shell, Scripting, GUI design, Inkscape, Gimp

 

3. Networking Tools

OpenWrt is a widely used Linux distribution for embedded devices and specifically routers. Large networks consist of hundreds and even thousand of nodes. Administration of routers, e.g. ESSID setting is a long process.

Student Project: Develop Web Interface Administration tool for large numbers of Nodes (routers) for OpenWrt based on kalua

The goal of a student project would be to develop a new web interface to show the status of routers and enable mass administration of devices. The foundations of this have already been developed in the Kalua application: https://github.com/bittorf/kalua#readme

Useful Skills: Linux development, OpenWrt, Embedded devices, Web UI design, Gimp, Inkscape, Lua, Scripting

Links: http://openwrt.org

 

4. Opencoin.org

Open Coins introduce the idea of versatile digital cash which can be used similar to ordinary cash but allows a higher flexibility. The cash is issued by a central service and you can think of it as digital coins which hold a certain denomination. Each coin is basically a long string like 6A09E317F4BCD… which can be stored locally and transferred between customers in a peer-to-peer manner. Actually the central issuer does not perform the transaction itself but is only involved to ensure the validity of the coins and to prevent fraud by double-spending a coin. This approach is based on David Chaum’s blind signature algorithm in which cryptography protects the coins and ensures the anonymity of the customers. This algorithm was invented 1983 and since then has been analyzed exhaustively by cryptographers and proven to be secure. Since our central issuer service is not directly involved in the transfers, coins can be exchanged peer-to-peer via social networks, e-mail, chat, web portals, and even via portable USB drives.

Links:

* https://github.com/FellowTraveler/Open-Transactions/wiki

https://blindbitcoin.com

* http://opencoin.org

Student Project 1:

The goal is to develop a foundation for the issuer service. The issuer service expose a REST API. For the scope of this project it consists of two simple interfaces for demonstration purposes only:

– A GET interface to allow clients to retrieve coins in JSON format

– A POST interface to allow clients to redeem/send coins in JSON format

Optional: Coins are stored in a SQL database (via squeryl library)

Further Requirements:

– Coins have the following structure: case class Coin(type: String, value: Int)

– The deliverable should contain a documentation which describes how the system is deployed to allow future updates of individual software components. For instance in the future a newer Finagle server version may be used and the documentation should describe step by step how to integrate it with the other libraries and the actual source code.

– Source code should be documented as well.

– Test cases should be performed and documented. Optional: ScalaTest may be used for testing.

Usefull skills and technologies: Scala programming language, Twitter’s Finagle server, SBT build tool,  Optional: Eclipse IDE is recommended, Optional: Coins are stored in a SQL database via squeryl library

The following links might be useful to understand Finagle’s REST capabilities:

https://github.com/robi42/heroku-finagle-rogue/blob/master/src/main/scala/server.scala

https://github.com/twitter/finagle/blob/master/finagle-http/src/main/scala/com/twitter/finagle/http/path/Path.scala

 

Other Student Project Ideas

* Implement opencoin client as a smart phone app (e.g. Android, iPhone, Boot to Gecko)

*Implement core opencoin protocol library in JavaScript. It can be migrated from Python.

* Implement an opencoin client using JavaScript and HTML(5)

* Utilize WebGL to do high performance crypto using JavaScript

* Use the available sensors on mobile phones to generate random numbers that are usable for cryptography (e.g: shake your coins)

* Implement the server side of opencoin using your language of choice (e.g. JavaScript + node.js, Python, Java, Scala, C etc.)

* Implement web wallet in your preferred language which allows users to login an manage their coins and payments.

 

5. Linux Games Distro

The developments in this project are useful for a number of Linux Games distribution. The goal is to create a modern and simple design inspired by new user interfaces in smartphones. The implementation of the UI will be for Linux desktops. The advantage of working with traditional desktop technologies rather than Android is that distributions can make use of numerous games that exist in repositories and combine it with a modern interface.

Project Idea: Develop and implement new UI features with LXlauncher

Apart from designing, developing and implementing new features the student should also package the application for major Linux distributions.

LXLauncher 1: http://sourceforge.net/projects/lxde/files/LXLauncher%20%28for%20Asus%20EeePC%29/

LXLauncher 2: https://launchpad.net/lxlauncher

Useful Skills: C++, Linux Development, gtk+, APIs, GUI design, drivers, Packaging

Continue ReadingGoogle Summer of Code Ideas 2013

Meilix System Lock released

We released the first version 0.1 of Meilix System Lock. It is an application that can lock or “freeze” your system.

The application is based on Ofris, but it offers more features like a simple graphic interface to lock or unlock the system. Main developer is Hon Nguyen (Vanhonit) from Vietnam, who started the tool as part of his Google Summer of Code project for FOSSASIA.

The sourcecode is here on github: https://github.com/meilix/systemlock

A couple of Meilix System Lock Screenshots.

Meilix System Lock

Continue ReadingMeilix System Lock released