2020-2021 Project Ideas
Docker
Docker is a very popular container system for stacking applications and doing virtual machine (VM)-like things. Industry experience is in high demand, and pre-made docker images for all sorts of things are available to try new software, making it useful to understand and handy to have available.
We don't currently use it nor can it (we think?) "just" be used on our shared machines, but it should work, for instance, on dedicated project/personal VMs. We just need to try it, iron out any issues, and document the process for anyone else who's interested!
Campus Power User Documentation
The club likes to consider itself a nexus for Power Users, people who stretch resources to their limit and who prefer to understand how their computers actually work. But most other people aren't like this and could use our help! What sorts of talks, seminars, or instructions can we offer the campus community to do some good while raising our profile?
Example: Prof. Dave Eckhardt would love some help from us with documentation on wired ethernet - how it works, how to hook it up, and why it's so much better (and socially friendly to neighbors) than WiFi. With so much virtual conferencing these days, it can really make life better! He has a draft document here that is open to anyone who would like to contribute. Among other things, it needs some pictures, product-specific instructions for Comcast/Verizon, and some product recommendations to purchase. When complete, we can get campus-wide Computing Services to host it for us and get some credit.
Datacenter AI Acceleration
Google TPU accelerator cards - could get a bunch and make a cluster!