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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => Rental Management Software Project => Topic started by: Mac Kerr on February 01, 2017, 10:51:53 AM

Title: New forum
Post by: Mac Kerr on February 01, 2017, 10:51:53 AM
There has been interest in organizing the users of these forums to help develop a software solution for managing the rental inventory of a sound business.
This effort will be led by Scott Holtzman, will help and suggestions from the rest of the community.

Mac
Title: Re: New forum
Post by: Corey Scogin on February 01, 2017, 11:06:08 AM
Is the goal to create a design spec then outsource the development or something else?
Title: Re: New forum
Post by: Kevin McDonough on February 01, 2017, 11:25:27 AM
Is the goal to create a design spec then outsource the development or something else?

The goal as has been discussed in the other thread is firstly to put together a detailed spec and project plan, and possibly a small fund of money to allow Scott, who has experience with software development and access to programmers who could do a lot of the actual program work, to begin to move forward with the actual programming an implementation.

As far as I'm aware, forum members would be able to help in this if the had the relevant skills/experience, but if not would still be able to help in documentation writing, design decisions, UI, etc etc.

The software would then be available freely on the GPL license for people to use, but Scott has also indicated that for people who don't have access to web servers to host their own instance of the software, he would be able/willing to provide hosted access on servers he has for a small monthly fee.

However I'm sure he'll be along soon to give more detail on where we are and how we should plan to move forward.

K
Title: Re: New forum
Post by: Scott Holtzman on February 01, 2017, 12:02:58 PM
The goal as has been discussed in the other thread is firstly to put together a detailed spec and project plan, and possibly a small fund of money to allow Scott, who has experience with software development and access to programmers who could do a lot of the actual program work, to begin to move forward with the actual programming an implementation.

As far as I'm aware, forum members would be able to help in this if the had the relevant skills/experience, but if not would still be able to help in documentation writing, design decisions, UI, etc etc.

The software would then be available freely on the GPL license for people to use, but Scott has also indicated that for people who don't have access to web servers to host their own instance of the software, he would be able/willing to provide hosted access on servers he has for a small monthly fee.

However I'm sure he'll be along soon to give more detail on where we are and how we should plan to move forward.

K


Kevin,  thanks for the fine introduction however some clarifications:


1 - The decision if we can solicit funds to add developers is being reviewed.  Not a given yet
2 - This has been going on for a long time.  I sold my business so no longer can provide hosting.  My current thinking is to publish a "playbook" or series of commands that can be pushed to a server so that the software could be installed when ordering an Amazon AWX/EC2 cloud instance or my personal favorite Digital Ocean.  In either event a simple installer will be provided on an image, that can be downloaded and put on a USB key or a DVD will install an Open Source operating system, a web server, a DB server and the software.  This method of distributing web based apps is called LAMP for Linux Apache MySQL and PHP.  Those constituents are:


1 - Linux - Basic operating system
2 - Apache - Web server
3 - MySQL - DB Server
4 - PHP - Web language


3 - We already have system admin tools (so users don't even have to see Linux), installers, updaters, home screens that can push feeds.  All we have to do is start writing modules. 
4 - I work on another Open Source project and have offered my time and some development resources
5 - I also intend to use this software in my production efforts


Thanks
Title: Re: New forum
Post by: Nathan Riddle on February 01, 2017, 12:14:44 PM
My day job is a software test developer. Primarily I write use cases, use Test Complete to test software to requirement specifications, etc.

I'm not particularly good at programming, I prefer a more hardware level programming (C++) than C# or SQL or databases.

That said, I understand UI, the user experience, various development strategies, etc.

I'd be willing to help out as much as time allows, (definitely not as a developer [no time as I'm growing my sound company & working my day job], probably I'm best suited a tester to give feedback and thoughts).
Title: Re: New forum
Post by: James Feenstra on February 01, 2017, 06:43:32 PM
Can offer up some UI testing as well....I have a shop full of account managers that are eager to get on a new streamlined system. We're currently looking at Flex in the interm, mainly due to my previous experience with it.

Obviously it will take some time for a preliminary version of the PSW RM System to be released, however
Title: Re: New forum
Post by: Scott Holtzman on February 01, 2017, 07:25:11 PM
Can offer up some UI testing as well....I have a shop full of account managers that are eager to get on a new streamlined system. We're currently looking at Flex in the interm, mainly due to my previous experience with it.

Obviously it will take some time for a preliminary version of the PSW RM System to be released, however


We have a room we can't use the name yet though!  I want to have a fun naming contest as whenigetabused.com seems cynical



Title: Re: New forum
Post by: John Rutirasiri on February 06, 2017, 10:12:57 PM
Is the scope limited to inventory management (barcode/QR code, checking in and out equipment), or does it include realtime asset tracking (e.g. geofencing used in the construction industry to track locations of heavy machinery)?

John R.
Title: Re: New forum
Post by: Scott Holtzman on February 07, 2017, 12:16:26 AM
Is the scope limited to inventory management (barcode/QR code, checking in and out equipment), or does it include realtime asset tracking (e.g. geofencing used in the construction industry to track locations of heavy machinery)?

John R.


It's modular and Open Source should be able to integrate with an existing geotracking solution.


Let's get something going before we talk about improving it.


So far we have had 0 coders step up to the plate.  If I am footing the bill more than likely the features I need will get finished first, that's just a guess.  I don't want to be accused of not being transparent.





Title: Re: New forum
Post by: John Rutirasiri on February 07, 2017, 12:52:54 AM
How about setting up a project in Github?  Need a place to store docs, log issues, do version control on code.

John R.
Title: Re: New forum
Post by: Scott Holtzman on February 07, 2017, 01:07:21 AM
How about setting up a project in Github?  Need a place to store docs, log issues, do version control on code.

John R.


We will use git for the code repository.  I am so ingrained to have jira sitting in front of it though.  I am just trying to find someone who hosts Jira so I don't have to stand up a whole server for one project.


https://www.atlassian.com/software/views/open-source-license-request


If someone else is going to contribute a significant portion of the code and wants to bring a different tool I am open to that.  As it stands now this is the fastest way for me to get going.





Jira is free to Open Source projects.  The Jira/Confluence/Stash suite is simply without peer.  I am going to host it on Digital Ocean as I don't want any conflicts with my other vocation.