Right, here goes nothing...
We've never really had a good result as far as talks/demonstrations run, there's either generally not the turnout, or the interest in the talks, or enough spare time in the world. What I'd like to see, sometime, (and this goes doubly for the lurkers on the list) is some suggestions for talks, what you want to learn about, etc. It'd be good to see more of the hundreds of subscribers to the list turn up to meetings, if only to say hello. Is the problem that the meetings are on the wrong days? or in the wrong places? I'm sure there are many of us willing to travel to other places if there's a meeting held there.
Basically, I think what I'm trying to say is this: * We can't do talks without topics * We can't do talks without people interested in the talk (i.e. turning up to said talks) * ALUG is a community, we have no real "leadership", the decisions to do things are made by the members.
So, maybe it's time to find out what people want out of the group?
Do we want a full from scratch to desktop linux install demonstration? If so, which distribution? Certainly we have quite a few debian developers in the group, maybe we should go right through an install from the beginning to having X running, with KDE/Gnome/XFCE4? Do we want a demonstration on reuse of old kit for small servers, samba, LDAP, HTTP, FTP, etc? How about someone talking on how to give talks, maybe that'd be useful? Maybe demonstrations of what other Free operating systems can do?
Do people want to know about specific topics, like 3d, DVB, graphics, DTP, Office applications? Without a starting point we'll never get any talks written.
Do we actually want talks, or a quick guide on the website for how things work? should we be using the ALUG wiki more? should there be more technical documentation/recommendations available from the site?
Maybe we should start with a set of subjects, perhaps as part of the ALUG wiki, and go from there?
Thoughts, suggestions, and anything else to the list. :)
Thanks,
On Tue, 2004-06-29 at 16:01, Brett Parker wrote:
So, maybe it's time to find out what people want out of the group?
I can just about manage apt-get update and apt-get upgrade but need my hand held quite a bit. So I want to know how to manage my debian installation so that if quinophex vanished I would not be stuck. Also knowing how to build kernels would be fun.
/Kirsten
On Tuesday 29 June 2004 16:01, Brett Parker wrote:
Right, here goes nothing...
(snip)
So, maybe it's time to find out what people want out of the group?
Put me down for "reuse of old kit for small servers, samba, LDAP, HTTP, FTP, etc". That's what may well drag me out at a weekend when I should be attending to domestic duties.
Maybe we should start with a set of subjects, perhaps as part of the ALUG wiki, and go from there?
Where be that, then, and how to use it?
-- GT
On Tue, Jun 29, 2004 at 04:33:23PM +0100, Graham wrote:
On Tuesday 29 June 2004 16:01, Brett Parker wrote:
Right, here goes nothing...
(snip)
So, maybe it's time to find out what people want out of the group?
Put me down for "reuse of old kit for small servers, samba, LDAP, HTTP, FTP, etc". That's what may well drag me out at a weekend when I should be attending to domestic duties.
Damn, now I'll have to find someone that knows about it :)
Maybe we should start with a set of subjects, perhaps as part of the ALUG wiki, and go from there?
Where be that, then, and how to use it?
Ah ha! So people don't know about the ALUG wiki... aka the "Contrib" area.
Go to http://www.alug.org.uk/ click on "Contrib Area". It's all a big community editable set of pages, I'd suggest playing in the SandBox towards the bottom of the page before playing in the 'real' pages, just to get a feel for what can/can't be done. There's the startings of some interesting things here and there in the Contrib area, but it appears that most people either lost interest or forgot it was there.
Cheers,
On Tue, Jun 29, 2004 at 04:33:23PM +0100, Graham wrote:
On Tuesday 29 June 2004 16:01, Brett Parker wrote:
Right, here goes nothing...
(snip)
So, maybe it's time to find out what people want out of the group?
Put me down for "reuse of old kit for small servers, samba, LDAP, HTTP, FTP, etc". That's what may well drag me out at a weekend when I should be attending to domestic duties.
I have a few spare machines kicking around. What I do hate about kit meetings is that anything that I would be prepared to show involves my main workstation (which of course needs the server on the network... which means network switches and stuff but this could be worked around) and what I really /dislike/ bringing monitors... I would be prepared to build a machine out of bits for practical demonstrations at meetings, just not bring a monitor (as I only have 1 and it is my main monitor (which is 19" and very nice) and I don't want to drop it, and anyhow it doesn't do monitors any good to sling them in the back of the car and drive them around as I found out with my old 17" monitor which "just died" and never worked again (well it was a good excuse for the 19" Iiyama I had been wanting anyhow)).
At least at Syleham there is some monitors available (IIRC) what about a projector?
Maybe we should start with a set of subjects, perhaps as part of the ALUG wiki, and go from there?
Where be that, then, and how to use it?
http://www.alug.org.uk/contrib/ It has instructions on that page about 2/3rd the way down. If you have problems shout.
Adam
On Tuesday 29 June 2004 16:43, adam@thebowery.co.uk wrote:
I have a few spare machines kicking around. What I do hate about kit meetings is that anything that I would be prepared to show involves my main workstation (which of course needs the server on the network... which means network switches and stuff but this could be worked around) and what I really /dislike/ bringing monitors... I would be prepared to build a machine out of bits for practical demonstrations at meetings, just not bring a monitor (as I only have 1 and it is my main monitor (which is 19" and very nice) and I don't want to drop it, and anyhow it doesn't do monitors any good to sling them in the back of the car and drive them around as I found out with my old 17" monitor which "just died" and never worked again (well it was a good excuse for the 19" Iiyama I had been wanting anyhow)).
I'd be happy to bring a 15" LCD to any meeting I attend.
-- GT
On 2004-06-29 16:01:51 +0100 Brett Parker iDunno@sommitrealweird.co.uk wrote:
[...] Certainly we have quite a few debian developers in the group, maybe we should go right through an install from the beginning to having X running, with KDE/Gnome/XFCE4?
I'm quite happy to help with this.
Do we want a demonstration on reuse of old kit for small servers, samba, LDAP, HTTP, FTP, etc?
I'm quite out of touch with this, so I'd like to hear from anyone who's done this recently with really old/small kit.
How about someone talking on how to give talks, maybe that'd be useful?
I'm happy to regurgitate stuff from training courses I've been on, but maybe that's a bit heavy, given the generally random nature of most ALUGs, unless we want to change things totally.
Maybe demonstrations of what other Free operating systems can do?
HURD? FreeBSE?
Do people want to know about specific topics, like 3d, DVB, graphics, DTP, Office applications?
I'm quite interested in DVB and 3d, too.
Do we actually want talks, or a quick guide on the website for how things work? [...]
Quick guides added to the web site are always welcome, but there's no substitute for seeing it done, having how it works explained and maybe even having a small test. I like talks if they're interesting, but I know they're quite stressful for the people doing them, so could understand it if they don't happen too often. I think there's some mileage in adapting http://www.lcsc.edu/ss150/poster.htm to fit ALUG (mini-posters? top-posters: you can have as much as you can stick on the back of your top?), but does anyone else?
Maybe we should start with a set of subjects, perhaps as part of the ALUG wiki, and go from there?
I added one, as you seem to have noticed already. I'd appreciate help tending the wiki, as it's been hit by spammers twice recently.
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On Tuesday 29 June 2004 16:01, Brett Parker wrote:
Right, here goes nothing...
Big gentoo fan here. Exim & Anti-sapm person... PHP Programmer
Will talk about any of that if community so desire.
- -- Ian P. Christian - pookey@pookey.co.uk - +44 (0) 7740 189415 - http://www.pookey.co.uk/
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adam＠thebowery.co.uk -
Brett Parker -
Graham -
Ian P. Christian -
Kirsten Naylor -
MJ Ray