Weekend Hack ™ at Expresiv
The WeekendHack™ started in the noon at Expresiv’s den. While rest of the participants showed up at 12:04, 12:06 and so on, Deepak had already chosen his corner. Seated on one of red bean bags, and hovering the mouse over gray ottoman, he was in his zone. A YouTube video was running parallel to what Deepak was experimenting with- the SketchUp! Deepak’s first milestone, among a few for the day, was to convert 3D CAD designs into Cardboard VR app.
Ankur pulled a pocket size barebone computer from his bag- his alternative for the Raspberry pi All you had to know was that it’s do-able. Meanwhile, Kshitiz configured Kinect Sensor to work with his acer.
Kinect still wouldn’t recognize Kshitiz. He was working to make media center controller.
Ankur had tricks up his sleeve (he had worked with Kinect before). He was helping Kshitiz. He got as far as a recognizable cha cha cha.
Avash joined the crew as a cameo. So much so, probably Deepak didn’t even notice him. He tried his hands on Remote Torrent Server on Mac before he fled… to the rescue! Avash probably had a date.
Diwakar was working with OLiMEX A20-OlinuXino-Lime. He was trying to install Operating System. His parallel hack was to make media center and explore the opportunities. Well, did he find some? When he does, we won’t have to ask!
Sagar was enthusiastic when he entered. He definitely added that pump to the huge room. Then he sat on a desk, opened his computer and started working. Well, he worked!
Before the dawn
The Cardboard viewer had one block with a dawn in the backdrop. The SketchUp drawing was successfully ported to VR, but head gyration was not quite working. Deepak was looking for someone to help him with Unity 3D in despair. Given correct parameters, it can be done. To be very honest, we were all impressed. Pun, not intended!
Dixanta came and went, flaunting his musical side. Well, occasionally! The guitar isn’t collecting dust, so it works!
Meanwhile, Kshitiz mastered some grooves with Salsa. He had already configured Kinect to run with Kodi Media Center and now he was slapping the air left to right to select the media, Ankur was suggesting bow down gesture to select the media. Imagine playing a gong sound with it in perfect zen garden setting.
So what about Sagar? At the end of the day, he had figured out he’d be working on FM triangulation and found his partner hacker for next episode. Also, since Bal dai is watching his weight, Sagar had nice sandwich treat from Bal dai’s lunchbox. So, win-win!
Now folks at Expresiv can easily download torrents from their home and get it on their machine via ftp server, just because Diwakar was already frustrated with faulty SD card on his A20-OlinuXino-Lime (not the one you can make lemonade with though). And if life hands you A20-OlinuXino-Lime, hand it Diwakar. Life will be all like — whaaaat!
However, it all had silver lining. The first WeekendHackTM was about enthusiasm and participation. Although players were few, and so were takers, the WeekendHack hopes to continue in the coming weeks too.
TM.
