12/4    Maybe you should have the CSUA initiate an ongoing CS project it could
        be known for, and thereby have more of a raison d'etre for the hardware
        choices.  For example a game development thing open to any and only
        members.  It could perhaps offer experience/tutelage in more practical
        aspects of CS than the academic stuff, but not just pointless IT
        exercises like you guys seem to be focused on now.
        \_ Not a bad idea, but last time we started projects, they died from
           neglect. --toulouse
           \_ So do something small.  Get an ipod touch and have an iphone
              development contest.  Give people 1 month to come up with
              something cool and give away the touch to the top prize.
              The CSUA should be all about getting people interested in
              CS.  There was a time when "having a unix computer that was
              on the internet" was a good way to give people an incentive
              to learn about cool computer stuff.  That day is long gone.
           \_ The lottery scheduler was the last project I remember. What
              other projects were there? -crufty-alum
        \_ Didn't help the XCF.  (RIP)
           \_ Well, maybe their project and club is too boring.  CSUA starts
              from being a social club; a project like this would have to
              be lightweight enough to keep people interested as an aside from
              their school work.  I don't think some OS research project is
              appropriate, for example.
           \_ XCF had other problems, but honestly, CSUA is getting less
              and less relevant these days.
        \_ Maybe you can start by organizing small groups interested in
           contributing some feature to an open source project. People working
           alone or towards a non-well-defined goal tend to be unmotivated.