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The future of WLUG
by Joshua Stone Jan. 16, 2020

Jan. 16, 2020

Hey all, Last night's meeting was excellent, and I'd like say thanks again to Tim for giving me a ride home! Last night's discussion gave me ideas of ways we could improve general activity, increase attendence, and improve outreach efforts. Hosting a meetup.com group would be certainly improve discoverability, and getting in touch with WPI's computer science group would be great too. I think what a lot communities are doing nowadays is having a text chat format for users who want to communicate more easily over the internet, especially with mobile devices. As an example, there are Discord servers for Fedora, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, etc, and they have room sizes generally in the hundreds or even well over a thousand. Even before Discord they'd use IRC for providing support, posting updates, etc. Having a text chat of our own would certainly help improve participation -- I think Matrix would be a good option here because it has many nice features and has a fairly polished user experience: - Numerous clients available on desktop, mobile, and web ( https://matrix.org/clients/) - Persistent chat history - Link previews - Various bots to choose from for adding functionality ( https://matrix.org/docs/projects/bots/) - User moderation - Server federation - Self-hosting available, both client and server are completely FOSS - File sharing - Voice/video calls I have a screenshot if anyone wants to see what a Matrix chat room would look like: https://i.imgur.com/aVILcWB.png Or you can join the room I made: https://matrix.to/#/!EiTljkvagZDFKfQfFu:matrix.org?via=matrix.org Alteratively, if you have a Matrix client already: #wlug:matrix.org Any thoughts? -Josh

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Improving WLUG outreach
by Joshua Stone Jan. 14, 2020

Jan. 14, 2020

Hey all, I thought I'd like to continue the topic about what we could do to increase attendance meeting. I think working with the community at WPI would be a great thing for us, so long as we try to understand more about the student culture. I've learned that one of the most important things about WPI is that a sense of community and working toward a greater goal are included as part of the curriculum. One of the earliest classes a WPI student takes involves thinking about the biggest problems impacting the world and makes strides to tackling such problems head-on. https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/wpi-plan/10-things-to-know I believe WPI also has a strong background in bioinformatics, and that's a field that can surely benefit from FOSS as we want to encourage openness and ethics when being on the forefront of scientific research that could have sweeping societal impact. The last thing we need is more companies like 23andMe hoarding genetic data for profit. Perhaps WLUG can do more to be involved in such things, emphasizing the importance of "ethical" computing with the problems of DRM, spying/tracking, proprietary software and data formats, software patents, and licenses that lock away data that the community could benefit from. Essentially we could give people more of an opportunity to think about the social aspects and ramifications of technology, and can use that as a framework for creating a better future. These are still ideas I'm throwing at the wall, hopefully something sticks! -Josh

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Reminder! We've got a meeting tonight! (January 9th 2019) at 7PM. WPI Campus Center Rm 331
by Tim Keller Jan. 10, 2020

Jan. 10, 2020

Hey Everybody, We've got a meeting tonight. I'll be in our usual haunt (WPI Campus Center Mid Century Room (rm 331)) at 7PM. As this was a short notice meeting, I suspect the attendance might be sparse. Josh, why don't we plan for February so you're not on the spot and I can get the word out a bit better. I'm thinking tonight might be a bit freeform which is always fun! We can also talk about things that we might all find interesting for up coming topics. As usual snacks and refreshments will be provided and afterwards we'll head off for dinner. See you there! Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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Greetings Programs!
by Lexi Haley Jan. 9, 2020

Jan. 9, 2020

Hi, I'm Lexi! I've not been to a WLUG meeting since ... since a long time .... I remember a Blender talk, and a Maddog talk - and these look like circa 2003/2004.... So, absent a long time! Anyways. I am trying to find the time to come again. I've been a casual Linux user since 1998, when I installed Debian from a pile of floppies (( or should I say, my friend installed it for me, and my learning journey began )) .... and for a long time I was an exclusive user .... and at heart I think I am still - even as I flog along a 10 year old iMac. But for a couple years now, on my laptop I've been running 'Tiny Core Linux' , which if you're unfamiliar with it, it is based on the Linux From Scratch work, with an emphasis on a 'tiny' footprint. Needed additional software are mounted into ram from squashfs archives, on the fly. It is quirky, but I like it. I wondered if anyone else has used it (or uses it). I didn't feel right just asking blindly, without a vague reintroduction of myself. So - question: Anyone else use, now or previously, the Tiny Core Linux Distribution? [*] Thanks, Lexi Haley (WPI CS 2002) [*] a search on the email archives yielded no hits ...

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We've got a Meeting on January 9th! Usual Spot, Topic: Possibly TBD
by Tim Keller Jan. 8, 2020

Jan. 8, 2020

Hey Gang, I hope you all had a great holidays and a happy new year! We've got a meeting on Thursday, the 9th! Location: WPI Campus Center Mid Century Room Rm 331 (our usual haunt) Date / Time: January 9th, 2020 at 7PM Topic: TBD! Let me know if you'll be attending we'll see what we might want to do. If more people are going to show up we could do a redo of Joshua's talk, it was fantastic. Another option might be to have a round table for topics people might want to hear this year. Obviously, if people have ideas feel free to post them to the list as well! As usual snacks and refreshments will be provided and afterwards we'll head off for dinner to continue the conversation. Hope to see you there Tim Keller WLUG President -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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STM8 blue pill boards and programmer
by John Stoffel Jan. 5, 2020

Jan. 5, 2020

Guys, I've got some STM8 bluepill boards and a spare knock off ST-Linkv2 programmer if anyone is interested. I was playing around with them this weekend and the lack of a decent IR Library meant that my interest has waned. They're cheap cheap chear, and interesting as a way to learn more low level programming. I can give you my linux notes if you like too! Or if you know of a library for STM8 that does both send/receive of IR codes, I'd love to hear about it. I'd trade for an AVR ISP programmer instead if anyone has one, since I'm now more interested in ATtiny 85/84/88/841 boards these days. I won't be able to make meetings (unless maybe if you have one the 16th of this January) for a while though, so we'd have to arrange a meetup or something. Cheers! John

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Wireless Networking for Cub Scouts
by Dennis Payne Dec. 29, 2019

Dec. 29, 2019

Anyone have a wireless networking card or computer with wireless networking they would be willing to donate to the cub scouts? For last years pinewood derby we used DerbyNet ( https://jeffpiazza.github.io/derbynet/) It was great. We want to step it up a bit this year. I'd like to have a computer running the software and tablets connecting wirelessly to register cars. This way we can take pictures of every car as they are registered. I have some old computers which could be used but none have wireless networking. -- Dennis Payne dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com https://social.freegamedev.net/channel/dulsi

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WLUG meeting and presentation material
by Joshua Stone Dec. 21, 2019

Dec. 21, 2019

Hey everyone, Thank you again for letting me present on Silverblue, Toolbox, and Flatpak for December's WLUG meeting! I've uploaded a PDF copy of the slideshow material to my Google Drive for anyone who couldn't make it to the meeting and/or wants to look at some of the references inside: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FJc9864buwRFS5UktivfffU7u9CySSKB Admittedly the material itself can be difficult to understand as it was made more to complement an oral presentation format, but I could continue improving on the material to make it more complete if there's enough interest, plus much development has been going on around containers that it makes sense to update it anyway. I hope everyone is having an excellent time enjoying the holidays! -Josh

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Encrypted Sorna Reviewer CD files
by Richard Klein Dec. 21, 2019

Dec. 21, 2019

I picked up a copy of some x-rays and MRIs. They're on a CD, encrypted, with Windows viewer software. Has anyone figured out how to view these in Linux? I have the password to decrypt, I just don't know what software to use (without resorting to Windows). I think it may actually be a DICOM file format. Here's a link to the viewer software: https://sorna.com/solutions/reviewer/ -- Rich

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December WLUG Meeting! Topic: Fedora Silverblue, toolbox and Flatpaks!
by Tim Keller Dec. 19, 2019

Dec. 19, 2019

Hey Everybody, We've got a meeting this Thursday on December 19th 2019! Location: WPI Campus Center Mid-Century room (our usual haunt) Date & Time: December 19th, 2019 Our speaker this month is Joshua Stone. He's going to giving a talk about a couple of cool technologies in Fedora! Josh provided me some details about these innovations so I've mashed them up and included them below. Silverblue: https://fedoramagazine.org/what-is-silverblue/ Toolbox: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-silverblue/toolbox/ Flatpaks: https://flatpak.org/ *Silverblue* s a Fedora variant designed around immutability where a new system image is committed as the new /sysroot without affecting the state of the running system. This is reminiscent of Android A/B updates, although the update backend -- ostree -- has elements of a version control system like git. *Toolbox* is also interesting as it lets you switch into an unprivileged development environment that can be built up and torn down without affecting the host as tools are installed inside a container. *Flatpak* uses the same file storage backend as Silverblue to manage apps and shared runtimes. This app distribution technology allows you to decouple apps and operating systems as everything is built and run inside a sandbox, making upgrades easier. Compare needing only one version of an app to package as a flatpak, versus packaging for different versions. As usual, snacks and refreshments will be provided and afterwards we'll head off for dinner to continue the conversation. Thanks, Tim Keller WLUG President -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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Marvellous Inc.
by Dennis Payne Dec. 17, 2019

Dec. 17, 2019

I stumbled on an open source programming game. It is called Marvellous Inc. It is available on Steam and itch.io for $5. I downloaded the github source to try it. I had to make some modifications to get it running on love 11.2. You can download it from: https://github.com/dulsi/MarvInc To run it, install love. Grab the git repository. Go to the MarvInc/marv directory and run 'love .' I've written up an Open Game Source article about my playing around with the program. http://identicalsoftware.com/games/marvellousinc -- Dennis Payne dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com https://social.freegamedev.net/channel/dulsi

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Date for next meeting
by Joshua Stone Dec. 9, 2019

Dec. 9, 2019

Hey everyone, Have we decided on a day for the next club meeting? I'm interested in demonstrating some new material for it, if not for January. -Josh

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Plex media drive mount point
by Richard Klein Dec. 2, 2019

Dec. 2, 2019

I blew away my Linux Mint installation today and installed Manjaro. All my media for my Plex server was on a separate drive that was mounted at /Media. Now it's at /run/media/richspk/Media/, and Plex can't see anything below richspk. My /etc/fstab is much more spartan than I'd expected. sda is a Windows install, sdb is media, and sdc is the Manjaro install. Should I add /Media (sdb) to /etc/fstab, or should I mount it some other way? This is what /etc/fstab looks like right now: # /etc/fstab: static file system information. # # Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a device; this may # be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices that works even if # disks are added and removed. See fstab(5). # # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> UUID=26dedffb-3099-4a86-b565-c2e8adec81b2 / ext4 defaults,noatime,discard 0 1 tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0 And current block devices: NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT UUID loop0 7:0 0 89.1M 1 loop /var/lib/snapd/snap/core/8039 sda 8:0 0 465.8G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 500M 0 part B6AAD05DAAD01BA5 ├─sda2 8:2 0 464.5G 0 part E002D31A02D2F50E └─sda3 8:3 0 846M 0 part 9294B21894B1FF33 sdb 8:16 0 2.7T 0 disk /run/media/richspk/Media 946b363e-ec7e-49d1-a5f2-f06caf8e4e21 sdc 8:32 0 931.5G 0 disk └─sdc1 8:33 0 931.5G 0 part / 26dedffb-3099-4a86-b565-c2e8adec81b2

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Call for help with network hardware setup
by Keith Wright Nov. 22, 2019

Nov. 22, 2019

I am using Debian and trying to set up a couple of ethernet cards. I've seen strange behavior. Have I found a bug? Done something stupid? Rather than clog the WLUG list with details, I have put my question on a web page, which I will update as I learn more: http://www.free-comp-shop.com/ether.html -- Keith

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Ideas for the next WLUG meeting
by Joshua Stone Nov. 20, 2019

Nov. 20, 2019

Hey everyone, I'd just like to say I had a fun time at Thursday's meeting! I'm already looking forward to the next meeting as I'm sure there are plenty of interesting topics we could discuss. As mentioned before, I think we could examine technologies that'd be beneficial to Linux on the desktop, like comparing packaging technologies including Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage. I think we could also look into the future of containers on the desktop as a whole with projects like Flatpak, toolbox, podman, and Silverblue. My workflow over the past few years has been using these upcoming technologies as daily drivers as they lead to saner development. For example, my laptop runs Silverblue ( https://fedoramagazine.org/what-is-silverblue/) which is a Fedora variant designed around immutability where a new system image is committed as the new /sysroot without affecting the state of the running system. This is reminiscent of Android A/B updates, although the update backend -- ostree -- has elements of a version control system like git. Toolbox ( https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-silverblue/toolbox/) is also interesting as it lets you switch into an unprivileged development environment that can be built up and torn down without affecting the host as tools are installed inside a container. For example, I can build and install duc inside a toolbox without actually installing to the host /usr: [jstone@jstone-laptop ~]$ toolbox create --release 31 --container duc- test [jstone@jstone-laptop ~]$ toolbox enter --container duc-test ⬢[jstone@toolbox ~]$ git clone https://github.com/zevv/duc ⬢[jstone@toolbox ~]$ cd duc ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ sudo dnf --assumeyes install gcc make autoconf automake pango-devel cairo-devel tokyocabinet-devel ncurses-devel ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ autoreconf --install ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ ./configure ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ make ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ sudo make install # no password needed ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ mkdir ~/.cache/duc ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ tcbmgr create ~/.cache/duc/duc.db ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ duc index ~ ⬢[jstone@toolbox duc]$ duc gui Finally, I've been installing most of my apps as Flatpaks, which uses the same file storage backend as Silverblue to manage apps and shared runtimes. This app distribution technology allows you to decouple apps and operating systems as everything is built and run inside a sandbox, making upgrades easier. Compare needing only one version of an app to package as a flatpak, versus packaging for different versions of distros: https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.clementine_player.Clementine https://www.clementine-player.org/downloads I'd be glad to hear what everyone has to say! -Josh

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Reminder: Meeting today! Nov 14th, 2019
by Tim Keller Nov. 14, 2019

Nov. 14, 2019

We've got a meeting today! If people are interested I could go into detail about the new 355tb zfs on linux system i just deployed and the issues I ran into and the bug/behavior reports I've put I to the Zol team. Date & Time: November 14th, 2019 @ 7pm. Location: WPI Campus Center Room rm 128 (Taylor room) It's the bottom of the stairs in the student center. Snacks and refreshments will be provided and afterwards we'll head off for dinner. Later, Tim.

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WLUG Meeting Next Thursday! (Nov. 14th, 2019) Topic: TBD
by Tim Keller Nov. 8, 2019

Nov. 8, 2019

Hey Everybody, We've got a meeting next Thursday! I don't have a topic yet so if you're got a topic that you'd like to talk about, let me know! Otherwise, we'll figure something out Date & Time: November 14th, 2019 @ 7pm. Location: WPI Campus Center Room rm 128 (Taylor room) It's the bottom of the stairs in the student center. Snacks and refreshments will be provided and afterwards we'll head off for dinner. Later, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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word perfect
by donald vitkus Nov. 7, 2019

Nov. 7, 2019

can not install word perfect 8.0 on united linux any ideas

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Cloud Integration Engineer - Ericsson
by rozerfederatfieldengineer＠gmail.com Nov. 7, 2019

Nov. 7, 2019

A cloud integration engineer is somebody who helps migrate existing company network and IT assets into the cloud. By integrating a firm’s systems with the cloud services, cloud integration engineers help firms improve accessibility, backup, and connectivity. https://www.fieldengineer.com/skills/cloud-integration-engineer-ericsson

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Photo Frames
by John Stoffel Oct. 23, 2019

Oct. 23, 2019

Hi all, I'm looking for a photo frame for the family. I *hate* the model where you have to email/upload photos to some site so they can curate them. I do like the idea of a touch screen, so you can scroll back if you see a photo you like. I'd like a nice display, with subtle cropping if needed of images. I've looked on Aamzon.com, but got lost in the weeds, and I've also looked at "The Wirecutter" but the review is a bit old and not really too useful. But maybe I'm too harsh on the upload model, but how many times have I seen companies get bought out and shutdown? Especially for something like this which will probably be around for ages. So my vague requirements: 1. local photo storage 2. touch screen control 3. automatic dimming/brightening and ideally power off when no one is around. 4. 10" in size approx. 5. IPS display for the widest possible angles and best colors. 6. High Resolution display. 7. If it has Wifi for remote photo adding, I want them to download to the frame, so that if the Wifi goes out, it's not a problem. And I really hate small remotes that get lost. I'm torn though, because I'd like to give one to my Dad who doesn't live near me so I can easily send pictures... but I hate the idea of remote sites which can and do go away without warning. But what really gets me is the controls on the back, useless! I'd like it to look like a photo frame, but *some* controles so I can swipe through photos easily. Sorta like a big cell phone. I've looked at the reviews on: tomsguide.com reviewlab.com thewirecutter.com I'm really tepted by the "PhotoSpring 10-inch Digital Frame" for the touchscreen options, but strongly dislike that there's no local storage, you have to upload to the cloud. "Nix Advance 8-Inch Digital Photo Frame" doesn't have Wifi, and uses a remote. So I like that it's not cloud based... but for remote family members it won't work as well. And probably a bit small. Totally annoying, but I'm sure I'll just have to settle for something. THanks, John

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Reminder! Meeting Tomorrow Thursday, Oct 10th, 2019: Topic: CAD on linux!
by Tim Keller Oct. 10, 2019

Oct. 10, 2019

Hey Everybody, We've got a meeting tomorrow!!! Date & Time: Oct 10th, 2019 at 7PM Location: WPI Rec Center Room Rom 412 (Class of '61 conference room) Topic: Round table on CAD software for linux. This month we're going to talk about the plethora of FOSS and otherwise options for doing Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) on linux. Logan Brown has offered to speak about OpenSCAD Frank Sweetser will be talking about TinkerCAD I will be talking about FreeCAD We'll also gloss over LeoCAD and a few other cad products as well. This is a round table, so if you have a piece of cad software on linux you love feel free to speak up! Refreshments and Snacks will be provided and afterwards we'll head off for dinner. Thanks, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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WLUG Meeting: Oct 10th 2019 Topic: CAD on linux!
by Tim Keller Oct. 4, 2019

Oct. 4, 2019

Hey Everybody, We've got a meeting next week! Date & Time: Oct 10th, 2019 at 7PM Location: WPI Rec Center Room Rom 412 (Class of '61 conference room) Topic: Round table on CAD software for linux. This month we're going to talk about the plethora of FOSS and otherwise options for doing Computer Aided Drafting on linux. Logan Brown has offered to speak about OpenSCAD Frank Sweetser will be talking about TinkerCAD I will be talking about FreeCAD We'll also gloss over LeoCAD and a few other cad products as well. This is a round table, so if you have a piece of cad software on linux you love feel free to speak up! Refreshments and Snacks will be provided and afterwards we'll head off for dinner. Thanks, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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Linux in the wild
by Richard Klein Sept. 26, 2019

Sept. 26, 2019

Seen on Nextdoor (lost cat): https://nextdoor.com/post/125096592?init_source=copy_link_share -- Rich

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Thanks for a great meeting last night!
by Tim Keller Sept. 26, 2019

Sept. 26, 2019

As usual at WLUG, we went off on a tangent and it was amazing.. What started out as a side conversation about storage technologies turned into 1.5 hour conversation about LVM / ZFS on Linux / Ceph / GlusterFS / Synology / FreeNAS / NetAPP and the general philosophies around managing scalable storage at home and in the enterprise! This conversation continued at the Boynton and was great fun! Next meeting is the 10th of October! Later, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

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Becoming a brick-and-mortar Linux vendor
by Joshua Stone Sept. 25, 2019

Sept. 25, 2019

Hey everyone, I'm sure we all know how successful Linux is across different markets today, but I've been wondering about with Linux as a desktop platform if one were to run a business around selling machines that're built with it in mind. The market for online retailers selling devices shipping Linux already seems diverse enough, but I don't know of any successful brick-and- mortar stores selling these devices. I think there could be some advantages to this, including: - Spreading awareness about Linux and the FOSS community - Providing on-site troubleshooting and consultation - Demonstrating different form factors such as Raspberry Pi, Steam OS machines, workstation etc - Providing a physical location for workshops, LUGs, and other meetups - Having a one-stop shop for hardware that's already known to work on Linux such as USB DACs, wifi adapters, etc - Generally act as a community center for computer enthusiasts - Partnering with pre-existing online vendors so customers can test their hardware in-store Jumping into a business such as this does sound risky though, seeing as the Linux crowd is generally very hands-on about computers they purchase and are willing to fix problems on their own. There are also many hurdles that the ecosystem has to catch up on in order to be competitive with applications found only on Windows and/or macOS. That being said, I think I'm still curious to see how much interest there would be in selling a platform around desktop Linux in a brick-and- mortar store with an experience similar to Microsoft and Apple stores. It would certainly help for attracting new users with a more integrated approach that we've come to expect from other platforms, and I think we're in a pretty good position these days for seeing growth. I'd also like to say that I have no experience in marketing, so I wouldn't know where to start with doing anything like market research or studies, so I'm eager to hear any suggestions for how to gauge the potential for a business idea such as this. More than happy to hear what everyone else thinks! Sincerely, -Josh

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