Tuesday August 11th, 2026 NCLUG Meeting

[Phil Marsh]

Hi Aaron, all,
I was wondering if there are any updates regarding Bob Proulx? I hope he's
recovering well.
I was working in Irvine CA the last couple weeks, back now, but a very
recent recovery from a cold means regrettably, I cannot attend tonight
because nobody wants my cold.
Claude is proving to be quite exciting for Qt GUI software development. I'm
using it for developing code (Python and C++) to control test instruments,
tube furnaces, and next data analysis via database. I strongly prefer to
emit GUI software because I think it's far easier for the users who need to
dedicate their time to coming up with experiments. However, GUIs are
proving to be very complex relative to my old method of driving software
using the command line and loading files. More complex but much more
gratifying and fun. Also, I'm wondering about the potential of AI to
supercharge development for open-source engineering software? I'm betting
it could even help with coming up with algorithms to fit, for instance, a
2-D surface 3rd order spline to derivatives at each point, instead of the
more common fit to actual values. That would be useful for modeling
transistors.
AI is fundamentally altering the methods used for software engineering and
we live in a very exciting time!
Best, Phil

On Tue, Aug 11, 2026 at 7:39 PM Aaron D. Johnson via NCLUG <nclug at nclug.org>
wrote:

> Filling in for rwp tonight...
>
> Who, as David is reporting as this is typed, is currently convalescing
> in Kansas City.  And is dearly missed.  Warm wishes and hopes for
> speedy recovery sent toward Kansas City from everyone at NCLUG
> tonight.
>
> Evelyn starts off tonight with a presentation about ATproto, a "big
> world open social" protocol:
>   - Identity at://DID/somethinggoeshere
>   - Personal Data Store (PDS)
>   - Relay
>   - AppView
>   - Clients
> ATproto might be a way for interested parties to widely distribute
> data without a centralized social network.  Much of the discussion
> focused on the personal data store component.  Sort of an "we want to
> publish our data to an open, Zuckerberg-free, Musk-free social network
> information sharing system.  I am probably not doing the topic justice
> at all, but there was some interesting discussion during the
> presentation.
>
> Project is homed at https://atproto.com/ for anyone interested in
> learning lots more.
>
> Did I mention it was warm in the meeting space tonight?  Citizen
> Warren reports the room is 87degF!  (Naturlization brings conversion
> to freedom units?)
>
> Stephen is sharing some real world experience with ZFS bookmarks in
> his remote backup facility running the target server out of space.
>
> At this point, we are going around the room with introductions.  And
> have a promise for a AT protocol personal data store container spec
> file demonstration for next month.
>
> We are adjourning to Slyce pizza for dinner at this time.  Thanks to
> all who attended!
>
> - Aaron
>
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