The HEaRD! Micro Lounge

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With a growing SolidWorks community on Twitter it occured to me that it was time to make a Twitter-like place for SolidWorks users to hang out and talk shop. The HEaRD! is micro-lounge for SolidWorks users to chat with each other using an open source Twitter clone called Laconica. For those of you familiar with Twitter, it is very similar in the way you post 140 character messages of your current status or what you working on. I installed Laconica about a month ago and have most of the functionality working but plan to add SMS and XMPP (Instant Messenger) support down the road. Another nice feature is being able to cross post to Twitter, allowing you to keep your status current in both places at once.

However, the best experience for services like this are using a desktop client like Twhirl. Twhirl supports many micro-blogging services like Twitter as well as Laconica. By downloading this small Adobe Air desktop app you will be connected and updated as new posts come up on the HEaRD!

First you will need to visit herd.solidworksheard.com and setup an account by clicking "Register" at the top of the page. Once you are registered and have entered as much data as you like in your Profile settings you will be ready to use Twhirl!

Setup is extremely easy:

  1. Download Twhirl and install.
  2. Click on Configure (wrench icon)
  3. Click "Open Accounts"
  4. Pick "laconi.ca" from the selection list
  5. Type in "username@herd.solidworksheard.com" and click the "+".
  6. Then select your account and click "Connect"
  7. All finished! Now start posting!

As I mentioned you can use the web interface and use almost all the features except SMS and XMPP for now but when I get some free time I will be trying to implement these services for posting your status in the near future. For those of you not on Twitter, this is a great way to join the conversation without having to post to the masses.

So if you get a free second, vist http://herd.solidworksheard.com to register today and become a active member of "The HEaRD!" ~Lou