We hold two types of meetings : Pizza Limes and Tech Meetings. A Pizza Lime is the name given to our monthly discussion forum which is usually held at Pizza Hut, Roxy Roundabout, Port of Spain on the second Wednesday of the month. The tech meeting is when we have computers on site to demonstrate a particular type of hardware or software.
Contents
Wednesday 12 January 2005, 6pm
Topics discussed :
- Apple’s Mac Mini ; members were of the opinion that it was a good investment for people purchasing their first computer but powerusers were better off with more powerful desktop machines.
- Draft government policies from December 2004: the Draft National Policy on Data Protection and the Draft National Policy on Electronic Transactions
- Updated attendees on the TTCS open source cd project
Wednesday 26 January 2005
The topics for this meeting were:
- TSTT increasing its residential ADSL speeds from 128 kilobits to 256 kilobits for the same price (TT$460).
- TSTT applying to TATT (Telecom Authority) to increase local phone rates
- The closure of the government media company National Broadcast Network (NBN) and the impact, if any, it would have on local television archives held by state owned television stations TTT and TIC.
- Updated attendees on the TTCS open source cd project.
Wednesday 16 February 2005, 6pm
Topics discussed
- CCTT spends $150 million to upgrade its cable infrastructure. so that it can accomadate a theoretical capacity of 500 channels.
- International Domain Name (IDN) support in browsers allows attackers to spoof domain name URLs
Wednesday March 9th 2005, 6pm
Topics discussed :
- the .tt domain, its current status and future viability. This topic was inspired by the informal survey at http://scsee.uwi.tt/tt.html
- Music labels seek higher download prices for online music. How does this affect consumers? And what impact will it have on the very successful iTunes music store operated by Apple?
- Can Wi-Fi hotspots be popular in Trinidad and Tobago?
- There was an update on the TTCS open source cd project. A new layout was shown.
Saturday 19 March 2005 – Linux Live CD Distros
Richard Jobity from the Trinidad and Tobago Linux Users Group (TTLUG) gave a brief history of the concept of bootable cds from the early command line only days all the way up to the work of Klaus Knopper who discovered how to run a full, graphical-based distro from a bootable CD-ROM. Richard also demonstrated several “live” Linux distros, these are full versions of Linux (operating systems and applications) which run from a bootable cd.
Some of the distros were:
- Suse 9.2 Live CD (KDE)
- Austrumi
- Beatrix 2005:1
- ByzantineOS.
- KioskCD.
- FreeSBIE (BSD live demo)
- DamnSmallLinux
- Knoppix DVD 2004
- Dyne:Bolic
- SAM Xmas Fun
- Slax (Slackware Live CD)
- Ubuntu
- Hakin-9 (security)
- 7Puppy Linux
Copies of the distros were available for purchase.
Attendees were shown and asked to comment on the interface for the TTCS open source cd project.
Saturday April 9th, 2005, 2-5pm
In spite of the fire in downtown Port of Spain, we had a meeting at Engineering Consultants with a special guest, Sean Lyndersay who has been working at Microsoft Corporation, USA for nearly 6 years. Currently working as a program manager on several projects, including Internet Explorer 7, Sean talked about working at Microsoft and answered a variety of questions from attendees.
Wednesday 13 April 2005, 7-9pm
Held at Pizza Hut, Valsayn, topics for the meeting included :
- TSTT’s new phone rate packages for land lines for residential and business customers called “Smartchoice”. Some of the points raised :
- Many consumers have large landline phone bills because they call cellphones. This will not change under “Smartchoice” because the various packages of bundled minutes do NOT include calls made to cellphones. It is possible the final phone bill will still be quite large./li>
- Under “Smartchoice” landline calls to any ISP, other than TSTT, will be billed at TT 20 cents per minute. Members saw this as a blatant attempt by TSTT to not only destroy the competition but also to force consumers to switch to the TSTT internet service which, at the time of this update, is toll free (but not guaranteed to remain this way).
- This could be an attempt by TSTT to implement the infamous “rate rebalancing” without having to seek the regulatory approval of the Telecommunications Authority.
- TSTT has offered a discount on toll-free service for the independent ISPs. Basically, the ISPs will pay TSTT to allow their customers to receive toll-free access to their services. Needless to say, the rates being offered by TSTT for that toll-free access “service” are quite high and would likely increase the independent ISP’s internet bill if they were to take up TSTT’s offer.Update The Association of Independent ISPs (AIISP) has written a letter to the Telecom Authority about TSTT’s new pricing plan for fixed lines.
- a new ISP, Greendot offering wireless internet access in Trinidad and Tobago. A representative from Greendot attended the meeting and answered many questions related to their present and planned future services.
- Computer Technician charged with fraud.
Wednesday May 11th, 2005, from 6pm
Topics discussed :
- TSTT’s new phone rate packages (“Smartchoice”) for land lines for residential and business customers. The AIISP has written letters to the Telecom Authority about the new rate plan :
- TSTT uses cross subsidies to support predatory pricing to drive Independent ISPs out of business (DOC file)
- AIISP lodges protest with TATT over TSTT SmartChoice (PDF)
Also see the TTCS discussion mailing list comments on TSTT’s Smartchoice
- The implications of the Telecom Authority’s Draft National Broadcasting Code on Internet users: Draft National Broadcasting Code
- MacOS 10.4 “Tiger” released.
- the TTCS OSSWIN CD, a CD of open source software for Windows. A release candidate CD was shown on the laptop, along with the label for the CD.
Saturday May 14th, 2005, 2-5pm – Podcasting
Georgia Popplewell, a local podcaster who produces CaribbeanFreeRadio.com, the first podcast to originate in the Caribbean, gave an informative presentation about podcasting and the issues surrounding podcasting (such as advertising, promoting podcasts, legal issues, bandwidth). She also showed the hardware used for creating the CaribbeanFreeRadio.com podcasts.
For more information about podcasting, check out:
Wednesday 8 June 2005, from 6pm
Topics discussed:
- The recent crash of the TSTT’s GSM cell network
- TATT reviewing concessions for the provision of Wired Cable Television Networks and /or Services
- An Internet project aimed at primary schools has been launched
- The rumour that Apple Computer will switch its computers to Intel CPUs
- Microsoft using XML as the new file format in Office 12
- Next generation gaming consoles: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Revolution at E3 2005.
- The TTCS OSSWIN CD, a CD of open source software for Windows compiled by the TTCS.
Saturday 25 June 2005, 1-5pm – MacOS X Tiger and the Mac Mini
At this meeting, we looked at Apple’s latest operating system Mac OS X “Tiger”, the Mac Mini and the iMac G5 with the help of local Apple retailers:
- F1 Connect of #33 Mucurapo Road St. James. email: ricardosnr (at) f1connect.com
- Right Enterprises of #110 Saddle Road Maraval. email: gg (at) ggonsalves.com
Saturday 16 July 2005 – TTCS Podcast #1
Recording session for our first podcast. The TTCS Regulars (Dev Anand, Anil, Colin, Richard J., Paul, Mike T. and Nissan) discussed several topics.
For more details, including list of topics and URLs mentioned on the podcast, as well as download links, visit the official page at: https://www.ttcs.tt/2016/09/16/ttcs-podcasts-1-to-20-from-2005-to-2010
Wednesday 20 July 2005, from 6pm
The topics for this meeting were:
- New cellphone providers entering the local market: http://www.tatt.org.tt/auction.htm
- TSTT blames customers for cellular glitch.
- The Trinidad Express article : “TSTT targeted in Internet attack”.
- Ministry of Legal Affairs Green Paper on “Consumer Protection in the Information Age”:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ttcs_announce/message/447.
- The eight documents made available for public comment by the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ttcs_announce/message/445
- The launch of the TTCS OSSWIN CD: https://www.ttcs.tt/ttcs-osswin-cd
Wednesday 3 August 2005 – TTCS podcast #2
Our second podcast with the TTCS Regulars: Dev Anand, Anil, Colin, Richard J., Paul, Mike T. and Nissan.
For more details, including list of topics and URLs mentioned on the podcast, as well as download links, visit the official page at: https://www.ttcs.tt/2016/09/16/ttcs-podcasts-1-to-20-from-2005-to-2010
Wednesday 10 August 2005, from 6pm
Topics for the meeting included:
- TATT writes to TSTT about the failure of the GSM network during the week commencing July 10th, 2005
- TSTT announces compensation plan for GSM customers
- The Trinidad Express newspaper website now supports RSS feeds.
- A Trinidadian working in the USA has released a Kiosk Browser extension for the Mozilla Firefox browser. Read the press release
- TSTT advisory on the MyTob Worm
Wednesday 24 August 2005 – Pizza Hut, Valsayn
Topics included:
- The ongoing email discussion between Peter Wimbourne and TSTT about TSTT’s “Smartchoice” packages. See :
- The Zotob worm which affected several large US companies:
- G4 to show G4TechTV Canada’s “Call for Help with Leo Laporte”:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ttcs/message/5869
- Ten years ago this August:
- Microsoft releases Windows 95 on August 24th, 1995.
- Internet access as we know it today was introduced to Trinidad and Tobago in the third quarter of 1995.
Saturday 03 September 2005 – TTCS Podcast #3
Our third podcast with the TTCS Regulars: Mike T, Nissan, Anil, Richard, Colin, Paul, Dev Anand and Peter.
For more details, including list of topics and URLs mentioned on the podcast, as well as download links, visit the official page at: www.ttcs.tt/podcasts/
Saturday 10 September 2005 – Software Freedom Day 2005
Sunday 11 September 2005 – Installfest
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS), in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Linux Users Group (TTLUG) and FLOS Caribbean celebrated Software Freedom Day 2005 with a 2 day event. The venue for both days was Engineering Consultants at 112A Edward Street, Port of Spain.
On Saturday 10th September 2005, from 1 to 5pm, we focused on demonstrations of not just some of the common FOSS software, but also FOSS software created by local software developers. The TTCS OSSWIN CD, a collection of over 100 Free/Open Source software for home and business users running Microsoft Windows (98SE/Me/2000 and XP) was made available for purchase. Special versions of the Linux operating system that you can try without altering anything on your computer (“Live distros”) were also on sale. Persons attending were encouraged to bring their own blank 700MB CDs and get these distros duplicated for free.
On Sunday 11th September 2005, from 1 to 5pm, we held an Installfest session where persons attending were encouraged to bring their PCs to get FOSS for Windows installed by the TTCS or a Linux distro installed by the TTLUG.
Other related URLs :
- Software Freedom Day website
- Software Freedom Day 2005 photos taken by the TTCS
- Mark Lyndersay BitDepth column about Software Freedom Day
- Burrokeet an open source project that Anil Ramnanan is working on
- Google Summer of Code
- TTCS Podcast #4 has recordings of the presentations taken on September 10th, 2005
- Trinidad and Tobago Linux Users Group (TTLUG)
- FLOS Caribbean
Wednesday 14 September 2005, 6pm
We discussed:
- What the TTCS, TTLUG and FLOS Caribbean did for Software Freedom Day. See: (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ttcs_announce/message/461)
- The delay in cell phone competition in Trinidad and Tobago. See:(http://www.guardian.co.tt/archives/2005-09-01/bussguardian4.html) for more details.
- The Draft Electronic Transaction Policy: (http://www.fastforward.tt/media/release_detail.asp?id=3560)
- Other miscellaneous stuff: (eBay buys Skype, Kevin Mitnick coming to Trinidad, the iPod nano, Firefox and Thunderbird v1.5b, the seven versions of Microsoft Vista)
Saturday 17 September 2005 – TTCS Podcast #4
In our fourth podcast, Mike T. and Dev Anand talk about the audio recordings Mike did on Software Freedom Day (SFD), an event that was held by the TTCS, TTLUG and FLOS Caribbean on September 10th, 2005.
For more details, including list of topics and URLs mentioned on the podcast, as well as download links, visit the official page at: www.ttcsweb.org/podcasts/
Wednesday 12 October 2005, 6pm
The topics for this meeting were:
- Cell phone competition by December 2005: http://www.guardian.co.tt/archives/2005-10-08/news1.html
- Venezuela to make low cost PCs: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26714
- TSTT to “employ CDMA technology….for special applications, not inclusive of voice services”
- TATT wants to have the final version of the broadcast code in place by June 2006
- The Draft Data Protection Policy and Bill
- Kevin Mitnick was the featured speaker at a security seminar in Trinidad.
Saturday October 22, 2005 – TTCS Podcast #5
In our fifth podcast, (Mike T, Anil, Richard, Paul and Dev Anand) talked about our upcoming meeting in San Fernando and the coming cell phone competition from Digicel and Laqtel.
For more details, including list of topics and URLs mentioned on the podcast, as well as download links, visit the official page at: www.ttcsweb.org/podcasts/
Saturday October 29 2005 – TTCS OSSWIN CD, Burrokeet, Ubuntu
At this meeting, held at the Computer Block Amphitheatre at the San Fernando Technical Institute, we:
• demoed the TTCS OSSWIN CD, a compilation of
Free/Open Source software for the Windows platform.
(http://www.ttcsweb.org/
• demoed Burrokeet, software to help create
content for Learning Content Management Systems,
by one of its developers. (http://www.burrokeet.org/)
• a look at Ubuntu v5.10, a popular Linux distribution
which was released this month. (http://www.ubuntulinux.org/)
Wednesday November 9 2005 – Pizza Hut, Valsayn
We talked about :
* delay in local cell phone competition due to interconnection disputes.
See http://www.guardian.co.tt/
http://www.guardian.co.tt/
http://www.guardian.co.tt/
* Sony using rootkits to enforce digital rights management on its
music cds. (http://www.sysinternals.com/
* OPUS NETWORX (http://www.opus.co.tt/) focuses on spam-free
e-mail after announcing it will discontine its dialup services.
* the 2003 National E-Commerce Secretariat’s (NeCS) Surveys
on E-Commerce Usage and Awareness among Businesses and Households.
Download the 1.3MB PDF at
http://www.fastforward.tt/
Wednesday December 7th 2005 –
End of year pizza lime
Saturday 10th December 2005 – Rootkits
We looked at the Sony XCP rootkit (http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html) included on several music cds, showing how the Sony rootkit is installed and ways of detecting and preventing such rootkits from your PC.
