17 September 2005 - Intro to Linux
Topics
Intro to Linux (by Jason Bechtel, Josh Locklear, Mark Randles, Abdul (QoD))
Beginner Q&A
Installation help
Application tutoring
Attendance
15-20
Presentation Resources
Meeting Announcement (txt)
Peter van der Linden's Guide to Linux (reviews: LinuxPlanet PCBurn)
"Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye!"
Meeting Notes
The meeting started about 15 minutes late, as usual. There were a lot of new faces, which is great! I forgot to pass around a sign-in sheet, but I'm guessing there were at least 15 people, maybe 20. The projector was complaining about needing its filter replaced and refused to run until we reset the filter timer, which we couldn't figure out how to do... So, the Stautzenberger staff helped us swap out for a ViewSonic projector and that worked fine.
I started with a welcome and the recent Linux news, which probably went on longer than it should have. Then we broke up into three groups: General Intro Q&A, Installation, and Applications. I took the Q&A group, Josh Locklear took the Installation group, and I think Mark Randles and Abdul (QoD) took the Applications group. Then I also took pizza orders. Most people who said they wanted pizza didn't sign up for any, so I just guessed that we wanted four pizzas and placed the order. One of the new faces offered to drive so we went and got the pizza and pop together. Meanwhile, the people in my Q&A group sat in on one of the other two sessions. When the pizza arrived everyone sort of stopped for that, of course. Then we really settled in again.
I thought the meeting went pretty well. It would've been nice if there hadn't been those interruptions for the pizza and for the projector, but people seemed to be having a good time and appreciating the sessions. My session wound up mostly talking about what Linux is versus GNU and UNIX and the whole history with Richard Stallman. That surprised me a little. There were some questions that seemed to question the entire premise of Open Source, but there wasn't time to get into all that. To some degree, Open Source speaks for itself. If you don't get it yet, you will eventually. It's an unstoppable force!
We were supposed to have the room until 5pm, but security came by at about 10 til and asked us to leave. I thought they were open until 6pm on Saturdays. If that's no longer the case, we might look at moving the meetings up a half hour or an hour to give ourselves time to finish the meeting and pack up... I will follow up with Stautzenberger.
It was also resolved between me and the treasurer that we would finally open an actual bank account for TALUG to hold the funds. Since we now have over $300, it's a lot of responsibility to put on someone.
Oh, and Prentice Hall donated some new books to the LUG, one of which we raffled off at the end of the meeting. That book is Peter van der Linden's Guide to Linux. Here are some reviews of the book to get you salivating: LinuxPlanet PCBurn. I let someone borrow the other copy. They also donated two copies of the 2nd Edition of Marcel Gagné's "Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye!". I think both of those are now in circulation as well. Assuming they make it back at the next meeting, be sure to come if you'd like to borrow them for a while.
For next month, I envision more of what we tried to do at this meeting, but better! :-) Stay tuned to the front page and the mailing list...
