[fedora-astronomy] Fedora SIG Astronomy Meeting

[Christopher Hunter]

Hi,

I trolled on at the last IRC meeting for Fedora SIG Astronomy. I should 
make a better introduction. My name is Chris Hunter, I am with IT 
support for astronomy & astrophysics at yale university, in connecticut 
usa. Our department has ~100 linux machines; 70 which are desktop 
workstations for faculty, students & research staff. We also support 
workstations at astronomical observatories in the usa and south america.

We use linux because most research software has a history of starting in 
a UNIX environment. Our current platform of choice is scientific linux 
(www.scientificlinux.org); close second is OS X. We additionally use ESO 
"scisoft" research software packages (www.eso.org/scisoft).

We are evaluating alternate platforms that will provide support for new 
projects such as "Virtual Observatory" tools (typically java based or 
SOA). A key decision factor will be how easily we can incorporate 
"non-free", or academic licenced software into local installations.

I'm interested in fedora-astronomy, since fedora will give us bleeding 
edge hardware support and looks provide packaging of popular 
astronomical research software.

Regards,

-- 
Chris Hunter
Systems Programmer, Astronomy Yale University