The Clarkson Open Source Institute (COSI) was founded in the fall of 2001 to promote open source software (OSS) and provide equipment and support for student projects. The COSI Laboratory is a Linux-based, student maintained computer lab that serves as a development environment and meeting space for students involved in Open Source projects. The lab is also used for teaching Computer Science, and is open for public use during much of the work week.
COSI students have brought home numerous awards in international open source computing competitions such as the IBM's Linux Scholar Challenge and the Unisys Tuxmaster Invitational. Several members have published a book, Running Xen, while others have completed internships and co-ops with companies like Google, GE, VMware, Lockheed Martin, IBM, C-Speed, SRC, and AIS.
COSI meets every Wednesday to review projects and offers tutorials and workshops. If you want to learn more about Linux, contribute to a project or start your own, or just hang around for all-night coding sessions in the dead of winter, feel free to stop by! More information can be found on our Wiki.
Projects can be created by just going to a meeting and seeing if anyone wants to help. Projects can span from tinkering with PDP-11s, making an entire computer lab sing, mobile applications, playing with Raspberry Pis, and anything else you can think of. There are 10 lab machines in COSI that can be used by anyone, and Virtual Machines can be spun up by asking for one for a project at a Wednesday meeting.