CUUG Meetings: 2022-2023

CUUG Meetings: 2022-2023 Last update: $Date: 2024-08-27 21:37:40-06 $
Past Meetings: 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025
June General Meeting A Brief History of the Internet Speaker: Alan Dewar, Software Engineer Staff, Synopsys June 23, 2023, marks the 80^th birthday of Vint Cerf, who is widely regarded as one of the fathers of the internet, along with Bob Kahn. Appropriately enough, June is also the month in which we celebrate Father's Day, so CUUG is declaring Tuesday, June 27, Fathers of the Internet Day. Join us at our June general meeting for an overview of internet history: where it came from, where it's going, and who the key people have been in its evolution. CUUG members vary in age from those who remember the internet as a shiny new thing, to those for whom it's always been just as much a part of everyday life as electricity and running water. We'd like to make this an interactive session, so feel free to share your perspectives and recollections about all things internet-related! Alan Dewar is a staff software engineer at Synopsys, working as part of the Software Integrity Group. He has been an active internet user since before most people had ever heard of the term. He is also a long-time CUUG member and director, currently serving as CUUG President. Slides from this presentation are available in PowerPoint and PDF format. Place 800 800 - 6 Ave. S.W. Plus-15 Conference Room There is $2 parking after 16:00 one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre. 5:30 PM, Tuesday, June 27, 2023 Snacks at 17:30. CUUG Annual General Meeting begins at 18:00. Presentation begins immediately after AGM. Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members. RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend. Image by Duncan.Hull - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
Annual General Meeting and Elections The Calgary UNIX Users' Group is holding its Annual General Meeting and election of the 2023/2024 Board of Directors. Nominees so far include the following: Peter Carless Alex Chow Alan Dewar Greg King Rebecca Reid If you would like to volunteer or nominate someone else, please contact cuugboard at CUUG. Place 800 800 - 6 Ave. S.W. Plus-15 Conference Room There is $2 parking after 16:00 one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre. 5:30 PM, Tuesday, June 27, 2023 Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00. Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members. RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend.
Membership Renewals Due It is annual renewal time for CUUG memberships. Membership fees remain at $50.00 (no GST), and cheques can be made payable to Calgary UNIX Users' Group. Our mailing address is as follows: Calgary Unix Users' Group Box 878, Station M Calgary, AB T2P 2J6 Invoices have been sent by email. If you have not yet received yours, please contact office at CUUG.
May General Meeting OT Security Engineering Speaker: Andrew Ginter, VP Industrial Security, Waterfall Security Solutions If your life depends on a 3-storey boiler not blowing up in your face as a result of a cyber attack, what protection from that risk would you prefer? A mechanical spring-loaded valve that opens when boiler pressure is too high, preventing the explosion? Or would you prefer a longer password on the computer controlling the boiler? In this presentation we look at the latest cyber threat data - cyber attacks with physical consequences in heavy industry are more than doubling every year. And we look at the new US DOE Cyber-Informed Engineering Strategy - a strategy to build a body of knowledge to use long-standing safety engineering, automation engineering and network engineering techniques to address cyber risk, in addition to traditional physical risks to operations like earthquakes, fires and hurricanes. Engineering techniques have been under-represented in most security programs. Where are over-pressure valves in the NIST Cybersecurity Framework for example? Join us for an interactive look at attacks, engineering-grade defences vs. classic IT-grade defences, and the future of industrial cybersecurity. Andrew Ginter is the VP of Industrial Security at Waterfall Security Solutions. He has written two books on industrial cybersecurity, is a co-author of the Industrial Internet Consortium Security Framework, co-hosts the Industrial Security Podcast, is a lecturer for the Industrial Security Institute, and contributes frequently to industrial security standards and best-practice guidance. Andrew spent 20 years developing control systems and IT/OT middleware. He then led the development of the world's first industrial SIEM as the Chief Technology Officer at Industrial Defender. Today he leads a team of experts at Waterfall who work with the world's most secure industrial sites. Place 800 800 - 6 Ave. S.W. Plus-15 Conference Room There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre. 5:30 PM, Tuesday, May 23, 2023 Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00. Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members. RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend.
April General Meeting Build Your Own Pinball Machine Speaker: Chuck Rohs Pinball has had varying degrees of popularity over the years, and lately has had resurgence due to both the advancement of electronics and nostalgia. Building a pinball machine requires a rather broad set of skills: Software Hardware Mechanical Artistic, for both artwork and sound Ruleset Development And similarly large set of tools: CAD CAM Embedded code development Simulation Testing Chuck has been working on a home-brew pinball machine for the last three years that is now 75% complete. He will give a brief overview of pinball in general and a high level overview of the development of his game. Chuck has a background in embedded software development and security, and was a founder of Au-Zone Technologies Inc. He is currently retired and enjoys tinkering with embedded hardware and software. Place 800 800 - 6 Ave. S.W. Plus-15 Conference Room There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre. 5:30 PM, Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00. Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members. RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend.
March General Meeting The Go Programming Language Speaker: Alan Dewar, Software Engineer Staff, Synopsys Google is well known for its role in internet search, but it has also contributed to other areas, including the Go programming language. Go was initially developed internally at Google to improve programming productivity and address concerns with other languages then in use, notably including C++. Its founding designers were Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson. Pike and Thompson were previously involved in the original design and implementation of Unix. Despite its origins within Google, Go is not proprietary, but is open source with a broad community of contributors. TIOBE declared Go as the Programming Language of the Year twice: in 2009 and 2016. As of March, 2023, Go has entered the TIOBE index top 10 for language popularity. Many large companies use Go, including Google (obviously), PayPal, Netflix, Meta, Uber, and many more. Go is notable not only for the features it supports but for the deliberate choice of omissions for simplicity. This presentation will discuss the history and philosophy of Go, and highlight some of its key features, including example code. Alan Dewar is a staff software engineer at Synopsys, working as part of the Software Integrity Group. He has been focusing on making it easier for you to build trust in software. He is also a long-time CUUG member and director, currently serving as CUUG President. Slides from this presentation are available in PowerPoint and PDF format. Place 800 800 - 6 Ave. S.W. Plus-15 Conference Room There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre. 5:30 PM, Tuesday, March 28, 2023 Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00. Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members. RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend. Image created by Takuya Ueda, licensed under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attributions license.
February General Meeting Mitigations for Blind Return Oriented Programming (BROP) attacks Speaker: Theo de Raadt, Founder, OpenBSD Before 2000, processor memory-management-units ("mmu") only provided two permission controls for pages of memory: Read and Write. Around year 2000, Execute permission (with an X bit, or NX bit, some similar mechanism in the mmu) was introduced by most architectures. The software ecosystem was slow to adapt and make use of the feature. OpenBSD was first to use this new execute permission, and introduced the "W^X" concept, a model which was eventually adopted by all other operating systems and applications. 20 years have passed since W^X. We now realize that some permission combinations other than R, RW, and W^X are also useful. We have also created some 'synthetic' permissions which provide additional security benefits. This will be a low-level dive into attack methdology and reducing the means available to attackers without impacting regular software. Theo de Raadt is widely recognized as a world class security expert. In October 1995, Theo founded the OpenBSD project. OpenBSD is the most secure of the publicly available operating systems. In 1999, Theo created OpenSSH with other members of OpenBSD. It is now incorporated into all Unix systems plus hundreds of other network enabled products. It has become the most "vendor re-used" piece of open source software, with more than 95% of the SSH market. Theo was awarded the Free Software Foundation's 2004 Award for the Advancement of Free Software, for recognition as founder and project leader of the OpenBSD and OpenSSH projects. His work has also led to significant contributions to other BSD distributions and GNU/Linux. Of particular note is Theo's work on OpenSSH, his leadership of OpenBSD, his commitment to Free Software and his advancement of network security. Theo is also well known for his advocacy of free software drivers. He has long been critical of developers of Linux and other free platforms for their tolerance of non-free drivers and acceptance of non-disclosure agreements. Place 800 800 - 6 Ave. S.W. Plus-15 Conference Room There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre. 5:30 PM, Tuesday, February 28, 2023 Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00. Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members. RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend.
January General Meeting Introduction to the Platform Innovation Centre Speakers: Various, Platform Calgary Please note this one time only change in venue! The Platform Innovation Centre is the front door to Calgary's innovation community providing a single point of access to resources, supports, programming and events to help startups successfully launch and grow their business. Located in the heart of Calgary's East Village, the Platform Innovation Centre helps create connections for local innovators, driving new economic growth and job creation in Calgary. For our January meeting, we will tour this exciting new facility and hear a few words from a member who is making Platform a part of launching their startup. The Platform Innovation Centre is located on the second floor of a CPA parkade, so parking is readily available. If you use the CPA parkade, once parked please take the west elevators to the second floor from which we will provide you with access to the Platform space. Please be aware this is a secure facility. You will need to take the west elevators to the second floor for entrance to the Platform space (not the main entrance as previously indicated). On the linked map, you want to be at the lower right, by Classroom 1 and Classroom 2. We look forward to seeing you there! Platform Innovation Centre 407 - 9 Ave. S.E. 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 24, 2023 (arrival at second floor, west elevators) 6:05 p.m. (tour of facility and introduction to Platform Calgary) 6:30 p.m. (snacks) 6:45 p.m. (brief presentation by a Platform member) Attendance is free for CUUG members, invited guests, and those who have pre-registered; or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members who have not pre-registered.
December Holiday Social CUUG December Holiday Season Social Evening As in past years, CUUG members and their invited guests will get together for an informal social evening to celebrate the holiday season and get to know each other a bit better. This will take place on Tuesday, December 13, 2022. Since COVID is still a thing, and flu season is particularly bad this year, we won't be doing the usual buffet dinner, but will instead get together at the same location as we've been using for our recent in-person meetings. (Don't worry, there will still be food!) If you are a CUUG member and would like to join us, please e-mail office at cuug.ab.ca so that we can get an approximate count of how many people to expect. If you would like to bring a guest, please let us know your guest's name as well. If you are not yet a CUUG member but would like to get to know your CUUG friends more personally, we invite you come join us! If you register in advance (no later than Monday, December 12), we will waive the usual fee that applies for non-members. We look forward to seeing you there! Place 800 800 - 6 Ave. S.W. Plus-15 Conference Room There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre. 5:30 PM, Tuesday, December 13, 2022 Attendance is free for CUUG members, invited guests, and those who have pre-registered; or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members who have not pre-registered. Image Copyright © Mark Riedesel 2021; Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
November General Meeting Application Security Testing Speaker: Alan Dewar, Software Engineer Staff, Synopsys These days, the whole world runs on software. Things which were previously manual or purely mechanical have been automated. Your fridge may well be smarter than a 1950's era super computer. The cyber age has brought about amazing efficiencies in our everyday lives. Unfortunately, this includes the efficiency with which bad actors can take advantage of you if the software upon which you depend is not secure. Security is not a feature which can be bolted on as an afterthought. The software development lifecycle must have security considerations built in, including application security testing at all levels. This has become a common practice (though not common enough), with standards and tools available to assist in the production of trustworthy applications. Alan Dewar will present an overview of vulnerability classifications and enumerations, and the various types of application security testing which can and should be used. Different roles have different needs, and there are tradeoffs to be considered. Alan Dewar is a staff software engineer at Synopsys, working as part of the Software Integrity Group. He has been focusing on making it easier for you to build trust in software. He is also a long-time CUUG member and director, currently serving as CUUG President. Slides from this presentation are available in PowerPoint and PDF format. Place 800 800 - 6 Ave. S.W. Plus-15 Conference Room There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre. 5:30 PM, Tuesday, November 22, 2022 Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00. Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.
October General Meeting Open Source based Whole House Audio with Snapcast Speaker: Mark Olson, President, Flokk Whole house audio, the ability to distribute a single audio source throughout a whole home, is a defining feature of luxury homes. Typically, achieving whole house audio requires one of: extensive dedicated audio cabling and built-in speakers; proprietary systems that are wireless, but require expensive new hardware and vendor lock-in; commitment to a smart speaker ecosystem that offers low cost and easy implementation, but shares every aspect of your home life with the American corporate conglomerate of your choosing. Snapcast offers a compelling alternative: whole house audio that employs hardware and networks already in place, operates entirely on-premises, and can be built with at-hand or inexpensively acquired audio hardware. In this session Mark will provide an overview and demonstration of Snapcast, and share highlights of what he learned setting up and using his Snapcast based system. Mark Olson is a senior leader and practitioner in project management, information technology, and business. He has consulted to, or held leadership positions in, enterprises in the fields of Oil and Gas, Agriculture, Government (Municipal and Provincial Agency), Transportation, and Health Care. He has owned and operated small and medium size businesses, and led operations and projects in large, complex, regulatory intensive organizations. He has been a CUUG member for 20+ years, and been using Linux for the same amount of time. He is currently President of Flokk, which is bringing to market an innovative solution (developed using Linux and Open Source) for livestock herd management and traceability reporting. Extensive notes from this presentation are available. Place 800 800 - 6 Ave. S.W. Plus-15 Conference Room There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre. 5:30 PM, Tuesday, October 25, 2022 Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00. Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.
September General Meeting Home Assistant: Introduction and Initial Experience Speaker: Christian Falkenberg-Andersen, retired M.D. and tech enthusiast Home Assistant is an open source home automation setup that is extremely versatile, though their documentation may not be as straightforward as you'd like. This talk aims to help people who want to learn about it and possibly start using it. Christian Falkenberg-Andersen will provide an introduction to the ESP8266 microprocessor as it is extensively used in ESPHome, along with the YAML markup language used for Home Assistant. He will demonstrate examples of what is possible with Home Assistant the way he has set it up in his own home, and will also give an example of how to implement a custom sensor into the Home Assistant environment (one for which Home Assistant does not provide template code). Helper functions for Home Assistant will also be discussed, as they are very useful to make the automation routines more sophisticated. If the technology gods smile favourably upon us, then Christian will include a live demo-setup as part of the presentation. Christian Falkenberg-Andersen was born in Denmark and emigrated to Canada at age 14. His parents lived on a farm and solving problems on the farm is likely where an interest in tinkering started. He completed a bachelor of science, majoring in biochemistry (University of Calgary) and taking a course in instrumentation for scientists sparked a very strong interest in electronics. Subsequently he got a second bachelor of science degree (in electrical engineering) and postgraduate master of science degree in biomedical engineering (studying the nerve conduction of a compound action potential traveling down a nerve, and using FFT to calculate the distribution of nerve conduction speeds for the axon). During his work on his master's degree he entered medical school and received a doctor of medicine degree. Subsequently he qualified for practising medicine with specialty in family medicine. He has recently retired from working as a solo family physician since 1999 in Market Mall. Currently, his activities include a lot of tinkering with the Raspberry Pi and Arduino single board computers, as well as 3D printing. Sewing, cycling (electric-assist bike) and kite skiing round out his activities. Slides and supplemental info are available, along with notes on Home Assistant devices and an example script. Place 800 800 - 6 Ave. S.W. Plus-15 Conference Room There is $2 parking after 16:00 one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre. 5:30 PM, Tuesday, September 27, 2022 Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00. Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members. As this is our first in-person meeting in two and a half years (!), we would appreciate it if you could RSVP to "office" at "cuug.ab.ca" if you would like to attend, so that we can get an approximate number of expected attendees. We look forward to seeing you in person again!
August Virtual Social Evening Summer Break CUUG does not hold meetings over the summer. However, we will have an informal virtual social evening to allow people to keep in touch. There is no presentation or agenda, and everyone is invited to tell us what you're up to or what you've found of interest in recent news. 7:00 PM, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 If you would like to attend, RSVP to "office" at "cuug.ab.ca" and we'll send you a Zoom invite prior to the meeting. We look forward to seeing you there!
July Virtual Social Evening Summer Break CUUG does not hold meetings over the summer. However, we will have an informal virtual social evening to allow people to keep in touch. There is no presentation or agenda, and everyone is invited to tell us what you're up to or what you've found of interest in recent news. 7:00 PM, Tuesday, July 26, 2022 If you would like to attend, RSVP to "office" at "cuug.ab.ca" and we'll send you a Zoom invite prior to the meeting. We look forward to seeing you there!
2022 Board of Directors At the June 2022 Annual General Meeting, the following people were elected to the Board of Directors for 2022/2023: Alan Dewar (President) Greg King (Secretary-Treasurer) Christopher Aziz Alex Chow Dick Miller Read all about them.

CUUG Meetings: 2022-2023
Last update: $Date: 2024-08-27 21:37:40-06 $

Past Meetings: 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025

June General Meeting

A Brief History of the Internet

Speaker: Alan Dewar, Software Engineer Staff, Synopsys

June 23, 2023, marks the 80^th birthday of Vint Cerf, who is widely regarded as one of the fathers of the internet, along with Bob Kahn. Appropriately enough, June is also the month in which we celebrate Father's Day, so CUUG is declaring Tuesday, June 27, Fathers of the Internet Day.

Join us at our June general meeting for an overview of internet history: where it came from, where it's going, and who the key people have been in its evolution.

CUUG members vary in age from those who remember the internet as a shiny new thing, to those for whom it's always been just as much a part of everyday life as electricity and running water. We'd like to make this an interactive session, so feel free to share your perspectives and recollections about all things internet-related!

Alan Dewar is a staff software engineer at Synopsys, working as part of the Software Integrity Group. He has been an active internet user since before most people had ever heard of the term. He is also a long-time CUUG member and director, currently serving as CUUG President.

Slides from this presentation are available in PowerPoint and PDF format.

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking after 16:00 one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Snacks at 17:30. CUUG Annual General Meeting begins at 18:00. Presentation begins immediately after AGM.

Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.

RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend.

Image by Duncan.Hull - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Annual General Meeting and Elections

The Calgary UNIX Users' Group is holding its Annual General Meeting and election of the 2023/2024 Board of Directors. Nominees so far include the following:

If you would like to volunteer or nominate someone else, please contact cuugboard at CUUG.

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking after 16:00 one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00.

Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.

RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend.

Membership Renewals Due

It is annual renewal time for CUUG memberships. Membership fees remain at $50.00 (no GST), and cheques can be made payable to Calgary UNIX Users' Group. Our mailing address is as follows:

Calgary Unix Users' Group
Box 878, Station M
Calgary, AB T2P 2J6

Invoices have been sent by email. If you have not yet received yours, please contact office at CUUG.

May General Meeting

OT Security Engineering

Speaker: Andrew Ginter, VP Industrial Security, Waterfall Security Solutions

If your life depends on a 3-storey boiler not blowing up in your face as a result of a cyber attack, what protection from that risk would you prefer? A mechanical spring-loaded valve that opens when boiler pressure is too high, preventing the explosion? Or would you prefer a longer password on the computer controlling the boiler? In this presentation we look at the latest cyber threat data - cyber attacks with physical consequences in heavy industry are more than doubling every year. And we look at the new US DOE Cyber-Informed Engineering Strategy - a strategy to build a body of knowledge to use long-standing safety engineering, automation engineering and network engineering techniques to address cyber risk, in addition to traditional physical risks to operations like earthquakes, fires and hurricanes. Engineering techniques have been under-represented in most security programs. Where are over-pressure valves in the NIST Cybersecurity Framework for example? Join us for an interactive look at attacks, engineering-grade defences vs. classic IT-grade defences, and the future of industrial cybersecurity.

Andrew Ginter is the VP of Industrial Security at Waterfall Security Solutions. He has written two books on industrial cybersecurity, is a co-author of the Industrial Internet Consortium Security Framework, co-hosts the Industrial Security Podcast, is a lecturer for the Industrial Security Institute, and contributes frequently to industrial security standards and best-practice guidance. Andrew spent 20 years developing control systems and IT/OT middleware. He then led the development of the world's first industrial SIEM as the Chief Technology Officer at Industrial Defender. Today he leads a team of experts at Waterfall who work with the world's most secure industrial sites.

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00.

Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.

RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend.

April General Meeting

Build Your Own Pinball Machine

Speaker: Chuck Rohs

Pinball has had varying degrees of popularity over the years, and lately has had resurgence due to both the advancement of electronics and nostalgia. Building a pinball machine requires a rather broad set of skills:

Software
Hardware
Mechanical
Artistic, for both artwork and sound
Ruleset Development

And similarly large set of tools:

CAD
CAM
Embedded code development
Simulation
Testing

Chuck has been working on a home-brew pinball machine for the last three years that is now 75% complete. He will give a brief overview of pinball in general and a high level overview of the development of his game.

Chuck has a background in embedded software development and security, and was a founder of Au-Zone Technologies Inc. He is currently retired and enjoys tinkering with embedded hardware and software.

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00.

Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.

RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend.

March General Meeting

The Go Programming Language

Speaker: Alan Dewar, Software Engineer Staff, Synopsys

Google is well known for its role in internet search, but it has also contributed to other areas, including the Go programming language. Go was initially developed internally at Google to improve programming productivity and address concerns with other languages then in use, notably including C++. Its founding designers were Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson. Pike and Thompson were previously involved in the original design and implementation of Unix.

Despite its origins within Google, Go is not proprietary, but is open source with a broad community of contributors.

TIOBE declared Go as the Programming Language of the Year twice: in 2009 and 2016. As of March, 2023, Go has entered the TIOBE index top 10 for language popularity. Many large companies use Go, including Google (obviously), PayPal, Netflix, Meta, Uber, and many more.

Go is notable not only for the features it supports but for the deliberate choice of omissions for simplicity.

This presentation will discuss the history and philosophy of Go, and highlight some of its key features, including example code.

Alan Dewar is a staff software engineer at Synopsys, working as part of the Software Integrity Group. He has been focusing on making it easier for you to build trust in software. He is also a long-time CUUG member and director, currently serving as CUUG President.

Slides from this presentation are available in PowerPoint and PDF format.

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00.

Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.

RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend.

Image created by Takuya Ueda, licensed under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attributions license.

February General Meeting

Mitigations for Blind Return Oriented Programming (BROP) attacks

Speaker: Theo de Raadt, Founder, OpenBSD

Before 2000, processor memory-management-units ("mmu") only provided two permission controls for pages of memory: Read and Write. Around year 2000, Execute permission (with an X bit, or NX bit, some similar mechanism in the mmu) was introduced by most architectures. The software ecosystem was slow to adapt and make use of the feature. OpenBSD was first to use this new execute permission, and introduced the "W^X" concept, a model which was eventually adopted by all other operating systems and applications.

20 years have passed since W^X. We now realize that some permission combinations other than R, RW, and W^X are also useful. We have also created some 'synthetic' permissions which provide additional security benefits.

This will be a low-level dive into attack methdology and reducing the means available to attackers without impacting regular software.

Theo de Raadt is widely recognized as a world class security expert. In October 1995, Theo founded the OpenBSD project. OpenBSD is the most secure of the publicly available operating systems.

In 1999, Theo created OpenSSH with other members of OpenBSD. It is now incorporated into all Unix systems plus hundreds of other network enabled products. It has become the most "vendor re-used" piece of open source software, with more than 95% of the SSH market.

Theo was awarded the Free Software Foundation's 2004 Award for the Advancement of Free Software, for recognition as founder and project leader of the OpenBSD and OpenSSH projects. His work has also led to significant contributions to other BSD distributions and GNU/Linux. Of particular note is Theo's work on OpenSSH, his leadership of OpenBSD, his commitment to Free Software and his advancement of network security.

Theo is also well known for his advocacy of free software drivers. He has long been critical of developers of Linux and other free platforms for their tolerance of non-free drivers and acceptance of non-disclosure agreements.

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00.

Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.

RSVP to office at CUUG if you plan to attend.

January General Meeting

Introduction to the Platform Innovation Centre

Speakers: Various, Platform Calgary

Please note this one time only change in venue!

The Platform Innovation Centre is the front door to Calgary's innovation community providing a single point of access to resources, supports, programming and events to help startups successfully launch and grow their business.

Located in the heart of Calgary's East Village, the Platform Innovation Centre helps create connections for local innovators, driving new economic growth and job creation in Calgary.

For our January meeting, we will tour this exciting new facility and hear a few words from a member who is making Platform a part of launching their startup.

The Platform Innovation Centre is located on the second floor of a CPA parkade, so parking is readily available. If you use the CPA parkade, once parked please take the west elevators to the second floor from which we will provide you with access to the Platform space.

Please be aware this is a secure facility. You will need to take the west elevators to the second floor for entrance to the Platform space (not the main entrance as previously indicated). On the linked map, you want to be at the lower right, by Classroom 1 and Classroom 2.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Platform Innovation Centre

407 - 9 Ave. S.E.

6:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 24, 2023 (arrival at second floor, west elevators)

6:05 p.m. (tour of facility and introduction to Platform Calgary)
6:30 p.m. (snacks)
6:45 p.m. (brief presentation by a Platform member)

Attendance is free for CUUG members, invited guests, and those who have pre-registered; or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members who have not pre-registered.

December Holiday Social

CUUG December Holiday Season Social Evening

As in past years, CUUG members and their invited guests will get together for an informal social evening to celebrate the holiday season and get to know each other a bit better. This will take place on Tuesday, December 13, 2022. Since COVID is still a thing, and flu season is particularly bad this year, we won't be doing the usual buffet dinner, but will instead get together at the same location as we've been using for our recent in-person meetings. (Don't worry, there will still be food!)

If you are a CUUG member and would like to join us, please e-mail office at cuug.ab.ca so that we can get an approximate count of how many people to expect. If you would like to bring a guest, please let us know your guest's name as well.

If you are not yet a CUUG member but would like to get to know your CUUG friends more personally, we invite you come join us! If you register in advance (no later than Monday, December 12), we will waive the usual fee that applies for non-members.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Attendance is free for CUUG members, invited guests, and those who have pre-registered; or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members who have not pre-registered.

November General Meeting

Application Security Testing

Speaker: Alan Dewar, Software Engineer Staff, Synopsys

These days, the whole world runs on software. Things which were previously manual or purely mechanical have been automated. Your fridge may well be smarter than a 1950's era super computer. The cyber age has brought about amazing efficiencies in our everyday lives. Unfortunately, this includes the efficiency with which bad actors can take advantage of you if the software upon which you depend is not secure.

Security is not a feature which can be bolted on as an afterthought. The software development lifecycle must have security considerations built in, including application security testing at all levels. This has become a common practice (though not common enough), with standards and tools available to assist in the production of trustworthy applications.

Alan Dewar will present an overview of vulnerability classifications and enumerations, and the various types of application security testing which can and should be used. Different roles have different needs, and there are tradeoffs to be considered.

Slides from this presentation are available in PowerPoint and PDF format.

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00.

Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.

October General Meeting

Open Source based Whole House Audio with Snapcast

Speaker: Mark Olson, President, Flokk

Whole house audio, the ability to distribute a single audio source throughout a whole home, is a defining feature of luxury homes.

Typically, achieving whole house audio requires one of:

extensive dedicated audio cabling and built-in speakers;
proprietary systems that are wireless, but require expensive new hardware and vendor lock-in;
commitment to a smart speaker ecosystem that offers low cost and easy implementation, but shares every aspect of your home life with the American corporate conglomerate of your choosing.

Snapcast offers a compelling alternative: whole house audio that employs hardware and networks already in place, operates entirely on-premises, and can be built with at-hand or inexpensively acquired audio hardware.

In this session Mark will provide an overview and demonstration of Snapcast, and share highlights of what he learned setting up and using his Snapcast based system.

Mark Olson is a senior leader and practitioner in project management, information technology, and business. He has consulted to, or held leadership positions in, enterprises in the fields of Oil and Gas, Agriculture, Government (Municipal and Provincial Agency), Transportation, and Health Care. He has owned and operated small and medium size businesses, and led operations and projects in large, complex, regulatory intensive organizations.

He has been a CUUG member for 20+ years, and been using Linux for the same amount of time.

He is currently President of Flokk, which is bringing to market an innovative solution (developed using Linux and Open Source) for livestock herd management and traceability reporting.

Extensive notes from this presentation are available.

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking available one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00.

Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.

September General Meeting

Home Assistant: Introduction and Initial Experience

Speaker: Christian Falkenberg-Andersen, retired M.D. and tech enthusiast

Home Assistant is an open source home automation setup that is extremely versatile, though their documentation may not be as straightforward as you'd like. This talk aims to help people who want to learn about it and possibly start using it.

Christian Falkenberg-Andersen will provide an introduction to the ESP8266 microprocessor as it is extensively used in ESPHome, along with the YAML markup language used for Home Assistant. He will demonstrate examples of what is possible with Home Assistant the way he has set it up in his own home, and will also give an example of how to implement a custom sensor into the Home Assistant environment (one for which Home Assistant does not provide template code). Helper functions for Home Assistant will also be discussed, as they are very useful to make the automation routines more sophisticated.

If the technology gods smile favourably upon us, then Christian will include a live demo-setup as part of the presentation.

Christian Falkenberg-Andersen was born in Denmark and emigrated to Canada at age 14. His parents lived on a farm and solving problems on the farm is likely where an interest in tinkering started. He completed a bachelor of science, majoring in biochemistry (University of Calgary) and taking a course in instrumentation for scientists sparked a very strong interest in electronics. Subsequently he got a second bachelor of science degree (in electrical engineering) and postgraduate master of science degree in biomedical engineering (studying the nerve conduction of a compound action potential traveling down a nerve, and using FFT to calculate the distribution of nerve conduction speeds for the axon). During his work on his master's degree he entered medical school and received a doctor of medicine degree. Subsequently he qualified for practising medicine with specialty in family medicine. He has recently retired from working as a solo family physician since 1999 in Market Mall. Currently, his activities include a lot of tinkering with the Raspberry Pi and Arduino single board computers, as well as 3D printing. Sewing, cycling (electric-assist bike) and kite skiing round out his activities.

Slides and supplemental info are available, along with notes on Home Assistant devices and an example script.

Place 800

800 - 6 Ave. S.W.
Plus-15 Conference Room

There is $2 parking after 16:00 one block north-east of the meeting location, in the underground parkade at McDougall Centre.

5:30 PM, Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00.

Attendance is free for CUUG members, or $10 (cash only) at the door for non-CUUG members.

As this is our first in-person meeting in two and a half years (!), we would appreciate it if you could RSVP to "office" at "cuug.ab.ca" if you would like to attend, so that we can get an approximate number of expected attendees. We look forward to seeing you in person again!

August Virtual Social Evening

Summer Break

CUUG does not hold meetings over the summer. However, we will have an informal virtual social evening to allow people to keep in touch. There is no presentation or agenda, and everyone is invited to tell us what you're up to or what you've found of interest in recent news.

7:00 PM, Tuesday, August 23, 2022

If you would like to attend, RSVP to "office" at "cuug.ab.ca" and we'll send you a Zoom invite prior to the meeting. We look forward to seeing you there!

July Virtual Social Evening

Summer Break

7:00 PM, Tuesday, July 26, 2022

If you would like to attend, RSVP to "office" at "cuug.ab.ca" and we'll send you a Zoom invite prior to the meeting. We look forward to seeing you there!

2022 Board of Directors

At the June 2022 Annual General Meeting, the following people were elected to the Board of Directors for 2022/2023:

Alan Dewar (President)
Greg King (Secretary-Treasurer)
Christopher Aziz
Alex Chow
Dick Miller

Read all about them.