The Ogden Area Linux Users Group

The next meeting is being held at the Weber County Library Main branch in Ogden this Saturday, the 26th at 10:00am. This is due to the Weber State Campus not being available to us during Memorial Day Weekend. The topic covered will be Vim tips and tricks presented by Aaron Toponce.

Wireless is provided by the library, open and available to all. Light refreshments will also be served. The meeting will last about 2 hours, pending questions and comments from the group.

The library is located between 24th and 25th streets just a few blocks north of Washington Boulevard. The address is 2464 Jefferson Ave. in Ogden. We will be meeting in the board room in the basement of the building.

See you there.

It’s time we have one. I’ve been slacking in this area lately, and as such, I feel disorganized with the group.

So, please attend if you can. It’s online on the Freenode servers in the #oalug channel. Connect with your favorite IRC client (XChat, Gaim, irssi, etc.). Details:

Date: Feb 17, 2007
Time: 10:00am-Noon
Server: irc.freenode.net
Channel: #oalug

We need to discuss what we are doing for the 24th meeting, as well as future meets. Also, we need to go over the OALUG Constitution.

Thanks to some scheduling conflicts with the Ogden campus, the location has changed. I hope that through this, the mailing lists and IRC that I can get enough coverage to get the word out. Here are the details of the meeting:

• Date: Jan 27, 2007
• Time: 10am - 2pm
• Place: WSU Davis Campus
• Address: 2750 University Park Blvd, Layton, UT
• Map: http://tinyurl.com/3crjkv
• Room: 311
• Presenting: Daniel Crookston and Brandon Stout

If you have a favorite Linux distro LiveCD, please bring that with you. The room that we will be using will not have Linux installed on the workstations, so we will be running off of the LiveCDs. If you do not have a LiveCD, Ubuntu will be provided. Yes, PHP5 and PHP5-CLI are installable and executable from a LiveCD. We will have working Internet connections.

See you there.

Just a quick note about the upcoming meeting:

Date: Jan 17th, 2007
Time: 7:30pm
Place: WSU Davis Campus room 325
Topic(s): Installing and configuring Apache/PHP
Presenter(s): Kevin Carter
Map: http://www.weber.edu/wsuimages/WeberStateMap/regionmap_large.gif
Directions: Turn South from Hwy 193 onto 2000 E (University Park Blvd). Follow a slight “S” curve, and make your first left into the WSU parking lot.

Because we have to work our schedule around the school schedule at the campus, the Davis meets will now be the 2nd Wed of every month at 7:30pm. This month is an exception, due to the short notice from the school on when we could meet.

See you all there!

Just a reminder about our morning IRC meeting tomorrow. This meeting is for preparation of our PHP workshop coming up on the 27th. I highly recommend everyone to attend, if you can. We will be discussing what we want to see implemented at the meeting, location, food, etc. This will be as planning meeting as it gets. Also, we will be going over the progress of the wiki, the OALUG constitution, bylaws, code of conduct and more. Expect this meeting to go about 2 hours. See you all there.

Details are as follows:

Date: Jan 6, 2007
Time: 10am - Noon
Place: #oalug on irc.freenode.net

This is just a reminder post about the meeting tomorrow morning.  Details are as follows:

Date: Nov 18, 2006
Time: 10:00am
Place: Weber State University Ogden Campus
Room:  Building 2
Topic(s): Linux Games, Cedega and Wine
Presenter(s): Tristan Rhodes
Map: http://www.weber.edu/wsuimages/WeberStateMap/ogdenmap_04.gif
Directions: Turn North on Dixon Drive from Harrison Blvd.  Turn right on Edvalson going East.  Edvalson makes a slight bend left.  In the bend, turn right into the A2 parking lot.  Building 2 is identified on the URL above as “2 B2″.

It should be a great meet.  Linux has always taken a lot of criticism for being behind the times when it comes to gaming.  Tristan is here to put and end to that and show that there are a lot of great games for the Linux platform.

See you there.

Attached here.

We had a good online meeting this morning.  I can really feel the ball rolling and the momentum picking up in the group, which is great.  Here are a few of the highlights:

• Saturday Meetings will be hands-on workshops that will be covered in two 2-hour segments.
• Our first workshop will be on PHP January 27, 2007.
• We hope to collaborate with UPHPU in setting up the workshop and getting some presenters.
• The November 25th meeting has been moved up to the 18th to make way for the Thanksgiving holiday.
• There will be no Saturday meeting in Dec, due to the Holidays.

Here is a breakdown of meeting dates up through January 27th:

• Nov 18, 10:00am, WSU Ogden Campus- Linux gaming presented by Tristan
• Nov 25 moved to 18th.  Happy Thanksgiving!
• Dec 2, 10:00am- IRC in #oalug
• Dec 14, 7:30pm, WSU Davis Campus- Topic TBD
• Dec 16, 10:00am- IRC in #oalug
• Dec 30- No meeting.  Happy Holidays!
• Jan 6, 10:00am- IRC in #oalug
• Jan 11, 7:30pm- TBD (date and time pending Spring semester class schedules)
• Jan 20, 10:00am- IRC in #oalug
• Jan 27, 10:00am- WSU Ogden Campus- PHP Workshop

The Jan 11th meeting could change to any day in that week.  I have to keep that schedule flexible due to scheduling around classes that meet at the Davis campus.  I will try to keep it the 2nd week and around 7pm or so.  Hopefully, we can just keep it on Thursdays.

This is just a reminder for everyone. There is a meeting this Thursday. It is at the Davis WSU campus at 7pm. I believe the room number is 117.

Aaron is going to give a presentation on the basics of bash scripting. It will be entertaining and enlightening so don’t miss it.

Hope to see ya there
-Kevin-

So there’s a meeting tomorrow morning. Usual time and place. We are just going to do a release party type thing. Talk about the new releases of Firefox, Ubuntu, Fedora and anything else that was released recently.

On a side note things should be picking up on this site. I’ll be posting some more info about the book program within the next couple days and about other stuff. So stay tuned for that.

A week from this Saturday is the semi-annual Linux install fest.  The details for the location and time of the fest are below.  We will be installing Linux distributions and/or software.  If you need help setting up a server, desktop or just need help with a particular application, now is the time to come.

The distros that we will have on hand are:  Ubuntu, FreeBSD, Mandriva, Fedora Core, Debian and Gentoo.  We will also have some live CDs, such as Knoppix and Damn Small Linux on hand.  We should have a network connection with Internet, so if we don’t have something on hand, we can download it.

What you will need to provide is as follows:

• Blank CDs.  We will most likely have some there, but just in case there aren’t enough to go around.   The past few install fests were smash hits, and we were out of CDs fairly fast.
• Network cable (RJ45).  We just won’t have enough to provide for everyone.  Although I have a lot of cable, it’s in about 12′ lengths.  We will have switches and hubs at the meet though, enough for about 24-30 simultaneous connections.
• Computer.  Obviously, if you want a distro, or software, installed, you will need the hardware for us to install it on.  It’s just difficult to do long distance over-the-air installs.  You know how it goes. :)  Don’t forget keyboard, mouse, monitor and CDROM.  Yeah, they’re kinda necessary too.
• Surge supression.  Yes, we most likely will NOT have this on hand.  Especially for the crowd that will be attending.  And we won’t have enough outlets for everyone, so sharing is inevitable.

I know this will be a great meet, and I’m looking to see everyone there.  Again, just to emphasize that this isn’t for distros only.  Need help with a driver, software, server, etc., we should be able to help.  Heck, just want to talk, we’re game.

Date: Oct 12, 2006
Time: 7:00pm
Place: Weber State University Davis Campus
Room: 117
Topic(s): Liux Install Fest
Presenters: None
Map: http://www.weber.edu/wsuimages/WeberStateMap/regionmap_large.gif
Directions: Turn South from Hwy 193 onto 2000 E (University Park Blvd). Follow a slight “S” curve, and make your first left into the WSU parking lot.  Enter the building’s main entrance, and walk straight. The room is next to the elevator on the main floor.

The OALUG Steering Committe had another good meeting in #oalug. We were able to solidify some plans for the upcoming meets, and set a good foundation from which we are building the group. If you’re curious, the meeting log can be found here.

If you’re not interested in reading the whole log, and I don’t blame you, then here is a quick rundown of everything that we covered:

• Sept 30th Meeting: Linux distro smackdown is finalized! The time has been pushed to 12 noon, instead of the standard 10am time to accomodate those watching LDS General Conference. The distros that will be featured are Ubuntu, SuSE, Gentoo and Damn Small Linux. Each presenter will be showing of on of those distros for about 10-15 minutes. Highlights will include advantages/disadvantages, unique features, security and portability. If you are curious about Linux, but not sure what to run, this will be a good, extensive meeting that may answer your questions. There will be distro CDs handed out to those in attendance.
• Oct 12th Install Fest: We are currently planning an install fest for the meeting following the Linux distro smackdown. Time, date and location are set in stone, but we may have a coordinated state-wide install fest with the Ubuntu-Utah group. Details pending that will be released to the mailing list. If SLLUG and PLUG are intersted, this could turn out to be a successful meet. Keep an eye on the mailing list for further details and plans.
• Oct 28th Meeting: This meeting is still very tentatively planned, and we are looking for ideas on what or who to present. So far, LFS, portable Linux, Internet safety, iptables and favorite application have been presented. Keep an eye on the mailing list and this page for more details about that meeting.
• Sponsors, book programs and free schwag: We have already received free schwag from Xmission, which looks like we may have them as a sponsor, which is great! Also, as mentioned on the mailing list, we have arranged a book review program with Sams and Prentice Hall publishers. Expect books to be at the next meet, with details on how the program works. We are currently in the works of setting up more sponsors, specifically those in the Ogden area. These sponsors could be our food, t-shirt and free schwag sponsors.
• Application of the month: At the start of each meeting, for a few minutes, the “Application of the month” will be presented. Meetings for the month may or may not follow the topic that the application resides in. This will help members be more familiar with apps that they may or may not know about.
• Volunteers: OALUG needs more volunteers! We have a solid team now that is excited about the future of the group, but we want your help. If you are interested, please send an email to either me or the group. Currently, the positions open are:
• Install Fest Coordinator
• Public Relations Director
• Weber County Represenative
• Student Ambassadors

Remember, as I have mentioned here already, to keep and eye on the mailing list. There, you will get the latest news announcements, meeting updates, job postings, and everything else. If you haven’t already subscribed, sign up! Google Groups also has on RSS feed for the list, if interested.
Further, Linux nerds just aren’t nerds if they don’t frequent IRC. We are on Freenode in the #oalug channel. Stop by, and be a regular OALUG nerd!

The OALUG Steering Committe had a good meeting today in #oalug on Freenode. We got a lot planned for the upcoming meetings. If you’re interested, the meeting log can be found here.

Basically, we have tentatively scheduled the following:

• Meet and Greet meeting on Sept 12th. This will mainly be a get to know you and your OALUG group. We will go over introductions, the mailing list, the IRC channel, and a number of other things related to the group. This meeting will probably be about an hour or less.
• Linux Comparison Smackdown on Sept 30th. During this meeting, we will compare a number of different distributions incluing Ubuntu, OpenSuSE, Damn Small Linux and others. We’ll cover highlights and advantages/disadvantages of each.
• Linux Install Fest on Oct 10th. If you need help seeting up a workstation, mail server, web server, desktop, laptop or anything else, this will be the time to get it taken care of. We will have plenty of CDs on hand, and we will have a wide range of distros from which to pick.

That is so far the swing of things. We have discussed other things, and greater detail will be found on the mailing list. Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already.

We are gearing up to hold a meeting on the 2nd Tuesday in September, and start the group back up again. By this time, Joe and I hope to have visited many high schools, and gotten the word out about the group. Hopefully, by the end of 2006, we will have visited every high school computer/technology-related class and developed interest in students.

The next meeting will be September 12, 2006, and we will continue on our normal meeting schedule from there.

Of course, if any of you are willing to help out in the high school quest, it would be great.

I am looking for volunteers to help lead the way for the OALUG group.  I would like to resurrect the old Steering Commiteee.  As such, I am looking to fill the following positions:

• Vice President- Help the President oversee the general administration of the group, website and server.
• Secretary- Help coordinate the regular meeting schedules, dates and times.
• Install Fest Coordinator- Help coordinate install fests and general activities.
• Public Relations Director- Establish and keep relationships with local businesses, schools and groups.
• Weber County Represenative- The official represenative of Weber County, overseeing locations for meetings and helpng the Public Relations Director in the Weber area.
• Davis County Represenative- The official represenative of Davis County, overseeing locations for meetings and helpng the Public Relations Director in the Davis area.
• Student Ambassador- A full-time college student at any college, technical center or university.  Helps keep the college students informed about the group.  May need more than one Ambassador if needed.

These are what I am looking to create the steering committee.  The group seems to have died down during the summer, due to lack of involvement.  I hope to pick up this involvement to full swing by the fall.  So, if you are interested, then either comment below, or send me an email about the position that you would like to fill, and we’ll get started.

I should mention that I am looking for eager volunteers that will attend meetings, be active on the mailing list and advocate Linux.  There is no reason why this LUG can’t be one of the best.  This state certainly has the best talent.

Mambo was just too much to handle and too buggy, so the site has finally found its resting place.  I have been using Wordpress for a long time, and I love it, so that is what will be powering the site from here on out.  However, the default theme is a little boring, so I am on the lookout for a good theme that will convey the spirit of Linux.

There is no need to register for an account as with the previous site.  Commenting is turned on and completely available for anyone and everyone.

With the new site, comes a new RSS feed for those that would rather syndicate the posts than pull up their web browser and visit the site.  The feed can be found here.

Finally, if you are unaware, please check out our mailing list at Google Groups.  It also has an RSS feed if you would rather have the mail come to a newsreader than your inbox.  For those unaware of RSS, it is an XML stream of data that arrives to a program that syndicates the data.  I personally recommend Liferea if you are using Gnome or Akregator if you are using KDE.