Student Views and Reviews: Sun on Campus

I am always on the lookout for tutorials written by members of the OSUM community to re-publish here to hopefully help and serve a wide audience.  So, I was pleased to find a new and informative one in the OSUM blogs forum written by Masafumi Ohta, an active member of the OSUM community from Japan.

Masafumi recently purchased a new Eee named 'N10J' with a Nvidia G105M.  He said while it works well on OpenSolaris, the operating system did not recognize the driver as Nvidia because it wasn't supported. Masafumi ultimately found the driver on the Nvidia Web page under drivers for Ubuntu, and described how to install it in his N10J with OpenSolaris build 126 in this tutorial. 

The tutorial is great as Masafumi walks through all of the issues he ran into, and linked to his information sources. Now that the driver is up and running Masafumi is able to use it for games such as Second Life, but said unfortunately, most of the keyboard shortcuts are not working -- something he is hoping will be fixed quickly!  

So, if you have a similar issue with an Nvidia driver in a new system running OpenSolaris this may be a great tutorial for you to bookmark and keep handy.  Thanks for sharing Masafumi!

If anyone else has a tutorial for a Sun product post the link in the comments below or send it to me at maijaliisa.burkert(at)sun.com! 

Eze Singer posted an absolutely fantastic blog over in OSUM that gives OSUM Leaders a nice consolidated resource list to prepare for a NetBeans tech demo, as well as some sage advice for all students.

What's the big deal with a tech demo?  Well, as Eze points out, "This can help you leverage your career.  Nowadays, big companies are looking not only for the best developers or sysadmin, but also people that can lead others, and share knowledge with the rest of a team, showing great pro-activity and teamwork skills."

And this is a really important point in today's tight job market.  Demonstrated experience and skill in executing tech demos can really give a new graduate a leg up on the competition when being screened by potential employers. You never know when you will be asked to step up in your first job -- look at Ramin Mohammadi -- he just graduated this summer and is already presenting at a developer conference this month!

Nervous?  Of course, who isn't!  But as Eze says, "A tech demo isn't a big deal, so don't be afraid if you are a newbie." But, even better, Eze has compiled a series of resources for OSUM leaders to get started with their very first NetBeans tech demo!

Plus, all month, there are weekly Webinars being held in OSUM to train students and give them the resources they need to lead their first demo. 

So, with all the resources, tutorials, and support you could ask for, what are you waiting for!  Get started on your first tech demo!  And if you aren't an OSUM Leader, ask your OSUM Leader to help them coordinate and set up the demo to gain valuable experience for the future as well. 

These resources are here for you to succeed!  Please take advantage of them! As David Botterill said in an e-mail today: "Be involved in OSUM and other open source universities.  You can easily make a name for yourself by contributing valuable information to communities and by being involved.  This will open opportunities for you in the future." I couldn't agree more.  Work today and see the opportunities unfold tomorrow.

Hey students, are you looking for an interactive introduction to NetBeans?

Then check out the upcoming OSUM webinar called NetBeans 6.7 – the only IDE you need! This webinar will cover all the NetBeans basics and will also give you the chance to see the IDE in action with some NetBeans demonstrations.

This webinar is scheduled for Thursday, October 8 at 10 a.m. Mountain time. You can use the World Clock Meeting Planner to figure out when this will be in your own time zone.

David Botterill, the Global Technology Manager for Sun's Campus Ambassador Program will be hosting the webinar. David has worked at Sun for more than 9 years as a software engineer with the Sun Tools team, and as a NetBeans Evangelist.

The webinar – which will be conducted in English – will use the Elluminate Live! Platform which will allow participants to listen to the live audio and ask questions via chat and text! So, to get the most out of the webinar, do your best to attend the live event. But don't worry if you can't make it, all OSUM webinars are recorded and filed for replay.

Here are some links to additional resources to get you started with NetBeans!

• Learn Java, NetBeans, OpenSolaris & More!

• NetBeans 6.7 Video

• Activity – Technical Talk – Intro to NetBeans 6.7

If you plan on attending or are interested in more information on the webinar go to this OSUM page to RSVP or just indicate your interest. Hope to see you online!

Update: I also just came across this great bunch of screencasts for people who are complete newbies to NetBeans -- it is a series of instructional videos that will get you introduced to the main NetBeans APIs.  Or, alternatively, here is a 21-minute crash course in NetBeans.  Check it out!

I know there are literally hundreds of OSUM leaders out there who have been working hard the past few weeks to get ready for Software Freedom Day 2009, this Saturday, September 19.

Thanks to the hard-working OSUM folks, Sun's network connected more than 25,000 students for local SFD events in 30 countries!  The SFD events have been designed to highlight the importance and benefits of open source technologies.  At each event, students will have the opportunity to hear from open source experts from local universities, and participate in installation demonstrations, all while networking with other students, professors, and developers who are passionate about free and open source technologies. 

If you haven't found an event, check this map to find out whether or not there is SFD party being held in your area! Also, check out the OSUM Software Freedom Day 2009 group or SoftwareFreedomDay.org for more information.

And OSUM leaders, don't be shy about sharing your success stories after the event!  I am most looking forward to seeing pictures of the hundreds of install fests that take place during SFD. 

Happy Software Freedom Day!

Several months ago I wrote a blog about a student who was seeking guidance on what would be considered an “ideal” skill set as a future Computer Engineer. When revisiting his original blog entry in OSUM it is clear there are many others that feel just as nervous and concerned about their future prospects.

Along similar lines, today I came across an article that talks about what HR professionals look for in a Programmer's resume, so I thought I would link to it here. As many of you know, making a good resume takes quite a bit of time and effort along with countless revisions. It is really a never-ending process! But, it is important because it is often what can get you into the actual interview to potentially land a job.

So, give this article a read and really take the time to measure and quantify all of your achievements at your internship, your job, or with any volunteer work you may do. It will also serve you well to capture important events as they happen – don't wait or you may totally forget about them altogether!

Also check out another related article called “How to Make HR Dump A Programmer's Resume,” for more great information.

It is that time of the year again -- time to head back to school!  I've been seeing a lot of blogs talking about OSUM campus events recently, which shows that students are getting back into the swing of things.

Here are a few reports of successful, recent OSUM-lead on-campus events:

Prakhar Bansal, an OSUM Leader at IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India recently blogged about a PHP workshop he organized for 31 students at his college.  Prakhar coordinated for two lecturers to both introduce the students to PHP, briefing them on basic terminology before teaching them how to create a Web page.  Prakhar noted that in addition to learning the basic commands of PHP including declaring variables, loops, and control statements, the students learned about the many benefits to be had by joining OSUM.

Pradeep Panigrahi, a student at the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, India blogged about the OSUM Introductory meeting he conducted at NIT at the end of August for freshman and second-year students.  Pradeep reported that the event was a success, with more students in attendance than expected.  Among the topics on the agenda were the benefits of FOSS, the OSUM community, and the NIT JSR OSUM group and their plans for upcoming technical seminars.  He noted that his next event is Software Freedom Day (September 19) so any students in the NIT area should make sure to sign up and attend!

Finally, Kevin Li, a Sun Campus Ambassador and OSUM Leader at the South China University of Technology blogged about an incredibly successful OSUM Freshmen Welcome event held on September 6.  Kevin reported that 300 freshmen came to the event, and more than 150 joined the SCUT OSUM group at the event-- amazing! The freshmen were able to watch demonstrations by OSUM SCUT member Feng Zihao, who showed his JavaFX and SunSPOT demo. Kevin also arranged for other OSUM members to talk about a future in IT and introduced the group to OSUM as well as the Sun SAI program.

I am glad to see that several OSUM groups are already holding events, and am sure even more are ramping up for Software Freedom Day on September 19.  Keep up the hard work!

Kevin Li, a Sun Campus Ambassador and OSUM Leader at the South China University of Technology (SCUT) reported on the status of the OSUM SCUT 3D virtual campus project called “WonderSCUT,” built with Project Wonderland.

Project Wonderland is a open-source Java toolkit designed to create collaborative virtual worlds. Users within the worlds can communicate with high-fidelity, immersive audio, share live desktop applications and documents which allows them to conduct real business!

Kevin last reported on the OSUM SCUT 3D work in March, when the group had built a virtual classroom building that included conference rooms and learning centers – it was very impressive! However, Kevin reported that because the precision of the 3D models were so high, the client performance was not up to par.

In revisiting the building design, OSUM SCUT focused on controlling the number of polygons and the precision of the 3D models, to ensure, as Kevin noted, “a common modern computer can run it well.” In this blog Kevin posted pictures of a virtual museum that shows both the history and large overviews of the SCUT campus. Kevin noted that when referencing the real museum on the SCUT campus, “the virtual one looks pretty (much) like the real one.”

Click here to check out some screenshots of the virtual SCUT campus created by members of OSUM SCUT. Congratulations to all the OSUM SCUT members on their fantastic efforts; I can't wait to see the next update! I am glad you are making good use of the open-source Project Wonderland toolkit, I am curious to see whether any other OSUM groups are giving it a try as well?

Software Freedom Day is coming up quickly – have you made plans to participate?

Saturday, September 19 is THE day this year for celebrating Free and Open Source Software as well as inspiring further adoption of FOSS around the world.

Eze Singer has set up a group in OSUM to consolidate information about all the great events that Sun's Campus Ambassadors and OSUM leaders will be doing to celebrate Software Freedom Day! Check out this map to find an event near you (although I'm not sure the one in the middle of the ocean north of Antarctica will be a hot spot). If you find an event near you that's great – just contact the organization and/or event leader to score an invite for your OSUM Club.

However, if you can't find one there is still time to organize your own Software Freedom Day Event! To begin with, join the OSUM Software Freedom Day group! There you will find complete instructions on how to register your event and order the special events kit. Don't delay though – all kits MUST be ordered by August 31! That is next Monday so make sure you check out the OSUM site as well as the official Software Freedom Day Web site right away to get ready for September 19!

Sun Campus Ambassador Rodrigo Peleias recently reported in his blog that there are now more than 10,000 OSUM members in Brazil -- a number that is truly amazing!

Reading Rodrigo's blog made me curious about how many universities are now members of the OSUM Century Club -- defined as universities with more than 100 members in their group.  I hadn't checked the list in a few months and was amazed to find that there were more than I was willing to count!  India alone has dozens of universities in the club!  Just looking at the list is eye-opening when you consider that the students in these clubs are committed to FOSS.

Wondering if your university has an OSUM group? They just might, there are almost 2,100 groups on OSUM so click here to check it out!  If you don't, you can start your own.  New groups are started all the time under the leadership of bright, proactive students. 

There are already more than 101,000 registered users on OSUM, are you one of them?  The site itself is a treasure trove of information, tutorials, tools, tips, and tricks.  So if you haven't already, get involved!

Jagdish, a student and OSUM leader at Templecity Institute of Tech. & Engg., Barunei, Khurda, posted a blog in OSUM welcoming students to the upcoming school year and getting ramped up for a full year of OSUM activities! 

Jagdish reports that he has new plans to grow the number of OSUM members (goal of 500) and boost the technology program at his University! After distributing items such as GlassFish, badges, and posters last year Jagdish remains committed to distributing more FOSS, development tools, and Sun software programs to the students in his program.

Jagdish asks that all students in his OSUM group join the Sun Academic Initiative (SAI), which I also highly recommend, and offers his assistance for anyone having any troubles.

Jagdish has a great attitude and I think his enthusiasm for OSUM and FOSS is contagious.  I hope many others follow his lead and set concrete goals for their programs and get to work on getting them going!  Jagdish is clearly off to a great start!

Venkat, an OSUM leader at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Karimnagar, India reported on a university meetup he organized this past week.  

He estimated that there were between 55-60 students in attendance, all of whom were eager to learn about OSUM, and its benefits, such as online courses and Web-based training seminars with the Sun Academic Initiative. 

Venkat reported that many students were interested in the different certifications offered by Sun, and referred all of them to this Web site for more information.

To see photos from Venkat's meetup click here to go to his blog in OSUM. 

Great work Venkat -- thank you for being such an enthusiastic OSUM leader!  Keep up the hard work!

I know I have mentioned before what a fantastic resource OSUM is, but it is worth mentioning again (and again, and again, and again...).  While trying to find something to blog about today I was looking around the OSUM site and came across a whole series of NetBeans 6.7 screencast tutorials!

The tutorials include for the new NetBeans IDE 6.7 release:

• An introduction to creating Java applications in NetBeans IDE 6.7 (with a demonstration of editing tips)
• Opening a Kenai Project in NetBeans IDE 6.7
• Creating a Kenai Project in NetBeans IDE 6.7
• Working with issue tracking in NetBeans IDE 6.7
• Learn all NetBeans IDE Refactorings

There are hundreds of other video resources as well from OpenSolaris tutorials to James Gosling talking to students about Java programming as well as student-uploaded videos from their OSUM club events.  So head over to OSUM to check out the video library.  And while you are there, make sure you vote on the upcoming redesign!  Green is now in the lead -- but for how long?

The OSUM Community Web site is getting ready for a makeover!  

Gary Serda has been working on several new features and enhancements to the Web site based largely on the suggestions of OSUM Community members.  Many of the improvements are slated to be released by the end of the month, but some of the decisions are not yet final! 

There is a poll up on the front page of OSUM where you can vote between two completely new looks for the OSUM Web site, or vote to keep it just the way it is.  The poll is now open and will close on Tuesday, July 14 at 5 p.m. 

So share your opinion and have a say in the new look for the OSUM community!  I myself am partial to the blue design, but it is definitely going to be a tight vote between blue and green.

And please encourage all of your other OSUM club members to participate.  And for those who don't know what OSUM is, check it out and sign on.  It is a great community of students who are passionate about and dedicated to Free and Open Source Software and how it is Changing (Y)Our World.

Gary Serda, Sun's fantastic OSUM leader, posted a blog for young students that I wanted to share here. The Institute for the Future recently launched the Digital Open, which is an innovation expo for global youth. The Digital Open is a both a community and a competition (with prizes) for youth age 17 and younger that launched April 15 and ends August 15. 

The contest challenges youth around the world "to demonstrate how they are using technology that will change the world -- or just make life a little easier or more fun." Students have the opportunity to share their projects and experiences through several mediums including photos, text, or videos.

The Digital Open is all about free and open technology.  Therefore, all submissions must make use of existing free and open platforms and/or licensing under one of the Digital Open-approved licenses.  For more information watch the video below and check out this site.

There are a bunch of cool prizes up for grabs including a PeeCee Mini Laptop running OpenSolaris as well as a video camera, a solar-powered flashlight, and other cool stuff. 

Projects may be submitted in a wide variety of areas including:

• Software
• Hardware
• Environment
• Media
• Community

And while many of you reading this blog are older than 17 that doesn't mean you can't participate in some capacity -- so please get out and encourage the youth in your community to take part!  Be a resource for youth as they explore their creativity! Often the lessons gained through teaching are far more valuable than any others.

Asim Munawar is a student and Sun Campus Ambassador at Hokkaido University, Japan. 

Asim recently held a SunSPOT seminar at his university -- after nearly a month of research and planning -- and reported that he had a successful turnout.  Asim stated that he wanted to "clearly explain and demonstrate the ease of use and the advantage of using SunSPOT as compared to other alternatives."

He noted that after the meeting several students approached him wanting to learn more about SunSPOT.  Some wanted to use the technology in their research and course studies while others wanted to make toys "that can do what you want them to do and not what they are programmed to do by default."

It sounds like Asim's seminar definitely piqued the interest of a number of students, which is certainly what he set out to do. Read more about Asim's seminar and check out some pictures in his blog. Congratulations on your success Asim and many thanks to sharing with all of us!