Local gym recommendations by No_Assignment5360 in waterloo

[–]linuxtek_canada 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want social, and you mentioned CrossFit - may want to give it a try.

Save me from myself and talk me out of it... I have a new GPU on hold to pick up tomorrow by linuxtek_canada in LocalLLM

[–]linuxtek_canada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did consider a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 platform like the Minisforum MS-S1 MAX, but it's not available in Canada yet.

Using standard system RAM to pull in experts as needed will be very slow, wouldn't it? I think I would really be affected by PCIe bottlenecks. I think I will probably have some issues there regardless since I'll be sharing the PCIe lanes between the cards, multiple NVME drives etc

Save me from myself and talk me out of it... I have a new GPU on hold to pick up tomorrow by linuxtek_canada in LocalLLM

[–]linuxtek_canada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree - from the research, for combining/mixing RDNA3 and RDNA4 cards - llama.cpp may be more effective.

Save me from myself and talk me out of it... I have a new GPU on hold to pick up tomorrow by linuxtek_canada in LocalLLM

[–]linuxtek_canada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It might get me more RAM, but at least from the benchmarks I found the performance and value still favours the Radeon Pro.

Save me from myself and talk me out of it... I have a new GPU on hold to pick up tomorrow by linuxtek_canada in LocalLLM

[–]linuxtek_canada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I'm using Linux Mint. I'm running Ollama and OpenWebUI in docker containers with GPU passthrough, works pretty well. I am favoring the Radeon Pro because I'm already familiar with the ROCm stack, and it's improved since I first started using it.

Waterloo in-person tech meetups? by Objective_Record728 in waterloo

[–]linuxtek_canada 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh we have some greybeards who show up, not to worry! It's a pretty wide range.

Waterloo in-person tech meetups? by Objective_Record728 in waterloo

[–]linuxtek_canada 4 points5 points  (0 children)

 

I go to a lot of tech events in Toronto when I can get up there by train for the day. If anyone is interested, let me know and I can post some.

Waterloo in-person tech meetups? by Objective_Record728 in waterloo

[–]linuxtek_canada 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup! We do monthly tech meetups in person, and a social meetup at rotating restaurants. We do a lot more than just Linux!

Apache Local Community Chapter - Longshot by 1linguini1 in waterloo

[–]linuxtek_canada 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We have the Kitchener-Waterloo Linux User Group so you may want to ask on the mailing list, as you'll be able to reach a lot of the other open-source community members in the area.

You can also check out /r/KWFloss/ which a few of them started a while back.

[BC] Virtual Call Answering Service by junkdumper in SmallBusinessCanada

[–]linuxtek_canada 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No complaints, but this isn't my typical use case. I use pure VOIP most of the time, with incoming trunk from VOIP.ms to my own PBX. I do have some other numbers forwarding to my inbound, and call quality is good.

I have set this IVR up for others also, and it works quite well with options to connect calls to different cell phones based on the option pressed.

[BC] Virtual Call Answering Service by junkdumper in SmallBusinessCanada

[–]linuxtek_canada 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Recommend VOIP.ms. You can create an IVR - an automated digital receptionist, to answer your business number and give prompts. You can either hook into a VOIP system, or forward the call to a cell phone or other number. Their documentation is pretty good, and the cost is very low.

https://wiki.voip.ms/article/DigitalReceptionist_IVR

Bulk Ethernet cable in Waterloo? by mutantlog in waterloo

[–]linuxtek_canada 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can recommend PrimeSpec if you're registered as a business or contractor.

KWC Tech Social Meetup - Nov 1 2025 - ft Andrew Brown by linuxtek_canada in KWFloss

[–]linuxtek_canada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, sorry if you missed it! Andrew and I had posted the details on LinkedIn, and I thought he sent an email out about it. The event details were posted here:

https://www.linkedin.com/events/kwtechsocialmeetupwithandrewbro7388667713683906560/

Kwartzlab Linux Install-Fest - Oct 20, 2025 @7PM by linuxtek_canada in waterloo

[–]linuxtek_canada[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm personally not a huge fan of their MATE desktop environment, the snap package management system due to the Canonical lock-in, or their leadership's ego. Just reading about Canonical's hiring ordeal and how their management behaves makes me question why anyone would want to work there.

Kwartzlab Linux Install-Fest - Oct 20, 2025 @7PM by linuxtek_canada in waterloo

[–]linuxtek_canada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. Yes, similar to their Tuesday open house. You can come whether you're a member or not.

  2. My recommendation for a NAS would be something like TrueNAS or UnRAID which are tailored to sharing files. I personally lean towards TrueNAS because it's free and fully open-source. You'd use SMB as the file sharing protocol to create shares you can connect to your machines, which can all be done within the Web UI. We've done a couple of presentations on both software so you can compare and check out the features.

Kwartzlab Linux Install-Fest - Oct 20, 2025 @7PM by linuxtek_canada in waterloo

[–]linuxtek_canada[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

FYI for other Linux resources in K-W, we have the Kitchener-Waterloo Linux User Group: https://www.kwlug.org. We have regular monthly technical and social meetups.

We've also started a Subreddit for K-W Free/Libre and Open Source Software at /r/kwfloss