Received 04/20/2009 13:17

What's Mark currently hacking around on

At LOGIN tonight it was brought up that we don't have a centralised repository of 'hacks' that we are all currently playing with. Such a list could potentially stimulate interest within the group and drive future presentation topics.

As a start, here is a high-level list of things that are currently of interest to me (as of this week), either due to work, research or just general hacking.

• Arduino and microprocessor programming for serial communication and high-metric digital channel control
• Layer-3 and up network and application load balancing
• Amateur Astronomy, specifically with Celestron SC scopes
• Cloud Computing and Component-based Networks and Operating Systems
• Security auditing and pen-testing, specifically with OpenVAS and OWASP
• Open Source SSL VPN solutions

If anyone is playing in the same area's, let me know :-)

Received 04/20/2009 12:48

LOGIN presentation - VOIP

I managed to throw some last-minute slides together for a presentation at LOGIN [1] tonight on VOIP (voice-over-IP). The slides can be found on the LOGIN website [2].

VOIP is an interesting topic due to the level of complexity you can get into when you start combining multiple providers, ATA's and PBX software like Asterisk [3]. I hope that the talk generated some interest as I'm keen to talk more about setting up community or group- level PBX's for cheap communication in the cloud (sick of that term yet ?).

[1] - Newcastle Linux Users Group
[2] - VOIP presentation slides
[3] - Asterisk - Open Source PBX