[19:39] <grantbow> hi MichaelPaoli
[19:39] <MichaelPaoli> Hi.
[19:40] <grantbow> Thanks for getting online from berekeleylug.com today - how's the turnout?
[19:40] <MichaelPaoli> Oh, small.  Maybe I'll have few if any 'objections' on type of pizza.  ;-)
[19:41] <MichaelPaoli> Nice weather, Mother's Day ... some competition out there.
[19:41] <grantbow> yeah, I got to working on the blog and am having trouble finding the hour each way time to get there
[19:41] <MichaelPaoli> Yup ... that travel time adds up.
[19:42] <grantbow> as you know
[19:42] <grantbow> so let me know if there are any questions I can answer, especially about IRC today! http://www.berkeleylug.com/?p=1203
[19:42] <darthrobot`> Title: [Berkeley Linux Users Group » Blog Archive » Internet Relay Chat]
[19:42] <MichaelPaoli> Quite true.  Hence my rule-of-thumb on commutes - keep it under an hour.  Longest commute I ever had was about 2.5 hours ... each way.
[19:43] <MichaelPaoli> Okay, sure - thanks.
[19:43] <grantbow> I had one of those and I'll never do that again
[19:43] <grantbow> 5 hours a day is not worth it
[19:43] <grantbow> I've been hacking on http://www.grantbow.com/irc.html too
[19:43] <darthrobot`> Title: [Learning IRC]
[19:44] <grantbow> please give my regards to everyone there and invite them into irc ;-)
[19:44] <MichaelPaoli> Yeah, ... was my 'starving student' days - in the Summer, ... commute sucked like hell, but I had time, and, even after subtracting out commute costs - it was more $$ for the Summer's work with that hellishly long commute.
[19:44] <MichaelPaoli> Okay, will do.
[19:44] <grantbow> commute--
[19:44] <grantbow> I was a student at the time too
[19:45] <MichaelPaoli> These are the ISO images I've got ... updated the list a bit more earlier today: http://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:cds_and_images_etc
[19:45] <darthrobot`> Title: [balug:cds_and_images_etc [BALUG Wiki]]
[19:45] <grantbow> excellent
[19:45] <grantbow> I saw your berkeleylug.com post earlier this week, thank you.
[19:46] <grantbow> Did Jack make it? I talked to him yesterday at Ian's wedding and he said he was probably busy.
[19:47] <MichaelPaoli> No - haven't seen or heard from Jack ... not since last time he was here at the meeting - at least that's last I recall, anyway.  Not sure about all the lists 'n such.
[19:49] <MichaelPaoli> Hmmmm, know good source for fairly inexpensive flash (e.g. USB, or microSD)?  in like the 1G to 4G capacity range?  I think Tony mentioned some at CostCo ... for ... I'm presuming $1.40 ea. @ 4G http://bad.debian.net/list/2013-May/003548.html
[19:49] <darthrobot`> Title: [wheezy is OUT. tonight. Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: BAD meeting for2013-05 (and mini-installfests, and ...)]
[19:50]  * MichaelPaoli . o O ( silly bot )
[19:50] <grantbow> I was looking for cheap bulk flash usb sticks awhile back
[19:50] <grantbow> there are local sales
[19:51] <grantbow> That's a really good price
[19:51] <akk> I've never found a source for those either.
[19:51] <MichaelPaoli> True ... I did see ... I think it was 8G at or below $4.00 USD on sale at - I think it was Office Depot - a while back.
[19:51] <grantbow> hi akk
[19:52] <MichaelPaoli> Yup - I'd like to find good source for <= $2.00 USD ea. ... ideally under $1.00 ea.  And capacity of 1G or more ... 4G would be nice, but 1G would do ... for a while, anyway.
[19:53] <grantbow> amazon has deals, that's where I go now. I ordered from http://theflashstore.com but they are expensive compared to alternatives now.
[19:53] <darthrobot`> Title: [TheFlashStore - Micro SD, SDHC, CF Memory, USB Flash, CD, DVD, Batteries & More!]
[19:53] <akk> I always wonder where all the old small sticks go, when they stop selling them in stores.
[19:53] <MichaelPaoli> I did look wee bit at CostCo the other day - they've got some, e.g. 10 packs of 8G ... decent prices, but not down around the price each I'd like to find.
[19:53] <akk> You'd think there would be places to get small old ones in bulk.
[19:53] <grantbow> akk: exactly!
[19:53] <MichaelPaoli> Yup, clearance sales - warehouse clearance sales ... something like that ... one would think.
[19:53] <akk> I wanted some to pass out to a class, so they could save their work and take it home with them.
[19:54] <MichaelPaoli> Of course since (almost?) all of 'em aren't made in the USA, maybe when they stop making 'em, they go to overseas markets - after all, ship 'em to here then, and that's fair bit pricier?  Maybe demand elsewehre absorbs 'em at reduced prices before they ever make it to here (US).
[19:56] <grantbow> I have wanted on more than one occasion to pass out olpcsf.org related images and ubuntu-california.org images
[19:56] <MichaelPaoli> A while back, I did find good price on microSD/microSDHC USB readers - I think under $2.00 for qty as low as 10, and under $1.00 ea. for qty. somewhere below 50.
[19:56] <grantbow> people just don't sell bulk stuff for cheap
[19:56] <grantbow> right, bulk with a large enough order is possible
[19:56] <grantbow> but I couldn't shell out for a large enough quantity by myself
[19:57] <MichaelPaoli> True, ... packaging, inventory management, handling, ... pro'lly cost about a dollar of overhead each.  But ... in quantity ... but have to find where to source 'em in quantity.
[19:58] <MichaelPaoli> Well, maybe get enough folks together in on a combined order.  Have to watch out on quality, though.  There are some - including 'fakes', that are of exceedingly poor quality.  And yes, thus far I've got two dead USB sticks - and they didn't even get all that much usage.
[19:58] <grantbow> a search for "usb flash drive" then click on 1GB on the left turned up a bunch of vendors at $2 or so each.
[19:59] <akk> Same here, "bulk" to me means 10 or 20, not 500.
[20:01] <MichaelPaoli> I do really like the idea of inexpensive microSD/microSDHC USB 'readers' ... that plus microSD/microSDHC - at sufficiently low cost.  Keep the physical storage size *way* down.  :-)
[20:01] <grantbow> $7 for 8GB is the best kingston deal on amazon now. though for $10 you get 16GB now which seems a better deal to me
[20:02] <grantbow> good idea
[20:02] <akk> I have one of those small usb uSD readers EFF was passing out at a conference (plus another one I bought -- it was very cheap).
[20:02] <akk> The little flat ones.
[20:02] <grantbow> There has got to be price fixing going on. Those readers go for $1 each
[20:02] <MichaelPaoli> Well, in $/G - I've seen it occasionally dip below the $0.50/G price - that seems to be around 8G capacity - sweet spot on $/G seems to be around 8 or 16G ... at least last I peeked.
[20:02] <akk> But the actual uSD card still costs money.
[20:04] <MichaelPaoli> Yeah, I've got two such microSD(etc.) USB 'readers' ... of course they also work for writing.  :-)
[20:04]  * grantbow nods
[20:04] <MichaelPaoli> True, the microSD and such, are still more expensive on the $/G ... at least for the smaller capacities - they seem to be closer in price in the mid-range capacities - then again more expensive in the higher capacities.
[20:06] <grantbow> This is an interesting list of bestsellers http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/3151491/
[20:06] <darthrobot`> Title: [Amazon Best Sellers: best USB Flash Drives]
[20:39] <grantbow> I actually got quotes from several of the bulk USB companies at one point but the minimum order seemed to be in the 50 range.
[20:40] <grantbow> prices change quickly too
[20:42] <MichaelPaoli> Well, 50 might be doable ... at least split among say, 2 to 5 or so people - could probably come up with that.  E.g. between Bay Area Ubuntu/BALUG/SF-LUG/... folks, likely not too hard to do.
[20:43] <MichaelPaoli> But of course, too, not necessarily everyone wants quite the same thing (what capacity, and what $/G or $/unit ?)
[20:48] <MichaelPaoli> More and more systems these days don't even come with optical drives, yet at the same time, many older systems won't boot or won't boot reliably from USB - if they even have USB.  "Of course" Ubuntu has somewhat higher hardware requirements currently, than many other Linux distributions - but "of course", it does vary quite a bit among distributions.  So, ... given Ubuntu's hardware requirements - at least for the sta
[20:58] <akk> Ubuntu hasn't run well on my too-old-to-boot-from-USB systems for nearly 2 years now.
[21:05] <MichaelPaoli> Yup, that doesn't surprise me at all.  12.04 won't even boot - at least the standard version - on my old T40p, as it requires CPU that with PAE support, and the Pentium-M CPU doesn't have that ... but ... 10.04 works 'fine' on it, as does Debian i386.
[21:07] <grantbow> debian +1
[21:13]  * MichaelPaoli grins.
[21:13] <MichaelPaoli> And Ilsa has arrived here now.
[21:14] <MichaelPaoli> ... and now we're up to 3 people here!
[21:49] <MarkDude> Debian- good enough to trust your life to whilst in space
[22:00]  * MichaelPaoli grins.
[22:02] <MarkDude> True story.
[23:14]  * grantbow grins