Here are a few of the key points discussed at the meeting at The Bear Cross on Tue 22/03/2001.

It would appear that Tuesday evening is Pub Quiz Night at The Bear Cross, which with the questions and answers being broadcast over the tanoy was a bit of an annoyance for us (and no doubt our conversation was a bit of an annoyance for the teams competing in the quiz). As a result, we decided that next time we would give The Bear Cross a miss.

James suggested that we meet in Dylan's, the bar on the University Talbot Campus, which is generally fairly quiet on a Tuesday night provided that there is no major sporting event on the TV that night. We can probably retire to one of a number of rooms on the campus if the bar proves to be a problem.

A few ideas that proved interesting included:

A hall of fame/shame. For this we need to collect photos of the various members and a short biography (e.g. name, location, digital camera to the next meeting to take a few photos.

Having map of members locations.

There were a few suggestions for good places to buy Linux related books and magazines but unfortunately, the only two I have written down are Borders (Bournemouth) and Omni Books (Poole).

It was suggested that we start setting-up in a room on the Talbot Campus from 10:00 on the Sunday morning and open for the public from 12:00 until 17:00. We can then clean-up and leave at about 18:00.

We discussed which distributions to use and came to the conclusion that we should try to use Mandrake 7.1/7.2 as it's pretty easy to install/re-install, understands most modern hardware and can run Win for Linux which allows it to coexist on a Windows file system, which should be good for anyone wishing to try Linux without doing any major changes to their system.

One of the down-sides to Mandrake not work on older machines (e.g. non-Pentium machines), so we agreed to keep a few distributions of Red Hat for such cases.

We also decided that having some copies of Demo Linux, which can be run from the CD-ROM and therefore requires no installation or disk partitioning would be useful for people who wanted to 'play' with Linux for a while before committing to it enough to re- partition their hard disk.

James kindly offered some of the University's hardware such as: keyboards, mice, monitors, NICs, cables, etc. and also some machines for demonstrations (a DELL running Mandrake 7.2 and an Alpha running Red Hat 6.2). (NB: we might need some PS/2 to keyboard DIN socket converters for the keyboards).

There were many suggestions for places/ways to advertise the Linux Install Day. These included:

• Magazines (Linux Format, PC Plus)
• Local Shops (Creative Computers, Clintons, Borders, Ottakers, PC World, Staples)
• Linux for Schools (SuSE sponsored scheme).

A few of us discussed options for the Linux Bier Wanderung (LBW) 2001 in Bouillon, including the possibility of taking a minibus across between us.

Tracy suggested that we might hold a mini-LBW in the New Forest (Foot and Mouth precautions permitting).

I'm sure much more was discussed but I didn't manage to take-in all of the conversations going on and get them down on paper. So, if you feel I've missed something, please post something to the list saying what was discussed.

I would suggest that our biggest priority is to get things organised for the Linux Install Day, although this seems quite a long way away at the moment, we only have one more meeting before the event and we have quite a lot to organise. We could also do with continuing the enhancements to the LUG web site.

To get this done, I suggest we divide-up the tasks between us each taking on one or more tasks which we think we can do and reporting progress back via the list and the meetings. Here as a starting point for the list of tasks, is a modified version of the '7 foot agenda'…

  TASKS:

  Projects:

  0.1 Maintain this list ;-)

    LUG Mailing List:
  1.1   Form for subscribing/unsubscribing from the mailing list
          (that doesn't rely on 'mailto' links working from your web
          browser);
        [Beanz is awaiting a reply from Mark Lewis on this]
  1.2   Alias support (alternate addresses or post-only addresses);
       'Bounce' rejected mail back to sender rather than to LUGMaster;
       [Beanz is awaiting a reply from Mark Lewis on this]

    LUG Web Site (www.dorset.lug.org.uk):
  2.1  Logo (Tux);
  2.2  Next meeting:
  2.3  Date, time, venue & proposed agenda;
  2.4  Map/directions, parking, bus/train notes, etc;
  2.5  Recognising other LUG members (look for penguins!);
  2.6  Meeting type: informal!;
  2.7  Membership: free!;
       [The site needs updating to show the date/venue of the next
       meeting and the various comments above]

  3.1 Archive of previous meetings, locations, minutes, etc.
      [I will post a copy of the 'minutes' of the last two meetings
      to Beanz, if he can find time to put it up on the site]

      Member information (optional):
  4.1   Form for entry/update of information;
  4.2   Hall of fame/shame (photos & names);
  4.3   Map of members locations;

  4.4   Need to check Data Protection Act implications;
          [I will see if I can find out what the implications of the
          DPA are - JMS]

  5.1  Voting system for venues of meetings, etc (e.g. PERL);
  5.2  Calendar/Schedule (or use www.intranets.com);
  5.3  Results of users survey of distributions;

      Projects:
  6.1   Summary of present projects, contacts + status;
  6.2   Summary of past projects, contacts + status;

      Local (Dorset) related information:
  7.1   Good local sources of hardware;
  7.2   Good local sources of books:
          Borders, Omni Books (Poole);
  7.3   Good local sources of magazines;
          Borders;
  7.4   Internet cafes for visitors, etc.

      Dorset LUG related sources of information:
  8.1   Mailing list FAQ (My postings are 'lost, I get two copies, etc);
  8.2   Local expertise (e.g. PERL, networks, clusters, etc);
          Clusters - James (PhD/MPhil);
          C++ - John Smith;
  8.3   Informal HOW-TOs;
  8.4   Book/Hardware reviews;
  8.5   Informative articles;

      Other sources of information:
  9.1   Pointers to various FAQs and HOW-TOs held elsewhere;
  9.2   Subject categorised link lists;
  9.3   Documentation indexes;
  9.4   Linux related magazines (and where to buy them);
  9.5   Online bookstores (Computer Manuals, Amazon, etc);
  9.6   List of Linux related mailing lists;

      Local Linux related events:
  10.1  Linux Install Day (see below);
  10.2  Other Linux related events (LBW2001, etc);

      Miscellaneous:
  11.1  Merchandising (T-shirts, etc);
  12.1  Review other LUG web sites for ideas;
  13.1  contribs@dorset.lug.org.uk address;
  13.2  anonymous ftp accessible directory /contribs on the server;

  Workshops:
    Linux Install Day:
      Date: Sun 29th April;
      Time: Set-up: 10:00, Open to Public: 12:00-17:00.
      Venue: Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus. Room?
      Sponsors: Red Hat, SuSE & Mandrake are sponsoring the event;
      UK Site: http://linuxday.org.uk
  14.1  Distribution(s): Mandrake 7.2, Red Hat 6.2, Demo Linux.
        [I will try go contact the UK Linux Install Day people again,
        failing that I will try to contact the sponsors directly - JMS]
  14.2  Updates/Patches (esp. security);
  15.1  Charge to cover media & other costs (YAST non-free licence?);
  16.1  List of Help Needed:
  16.2  List of Help Offered:
  17.1  List of Hardware Needed:
          Spare keyboards, mice, monitors, etc;
          NIC, cables, etc;
  17.2  List of Hardware Offered:
  18.1  List of Software Needed:
  18.2  List of Software Offered:
  19.1  Demonstration machines/software;
  20.1  Power requirements;
  21.1  Repartitioning/Backup facilities;
  22.1  Security, labelling & logging facilities;
  23.1  Posters (with map & directions):
  24.1  Questionnaire/vote on distributions suitable for newbies:
          Qualities required (e.g. stability, ease of installation,
            ease of use, etc);
          Weighting of qualities;
          Weighting of experience level of user;
  25.1    Information leaflets:
  26.1    Printed Installation FAQs;
  26.2    Printed Linux Compatibility Guides;
  26.3    Sources of Help (Linux web sites, etc);
  27.1  Creating distributions;
          [James offered to copy distributions using the University's
          multi-CD writer providing we provide/pay for media]
  28.1  Testing distributions (on different hardware);
          Advertising:
  29.1  Voluntary donations to cover advertising/distribution costs;
  30.1  Dorset LUG web site;
  30.2  Linux Day UK web site (http://linuxday.org.uk);
  30.3  E-mail postings to Linux newsgroups;
  30.4  E-mail postings to friends/colleagues;
  31.1  Poster/Flyer creation:
        Poster posting (with permission):
  32.1    University campus;
  32.2    Other;
        Local hardware/software shops;
  33.1    Creative Computers;
  33.2    PC World;
  33.3    Staples;
        Local businesses:
  34.1    Clintons;
  34.2    Borders;
  34.3    Ottakers;
  35.1  Other local sites;
  36.1  Template letter creation:
  37.1  Newspaper article creation (human interest):
        Local newspapers:
  38.1    Poole & Bournemouth Advertiser;
  38.2    Bournemouth Echo;
        Local radio stations:
  39.1    BBC Radio Dorset;
  39.2    2CR FM;
  39.3    Wave 105;
        Local TV stations:
  40.1    Meridian;
        Linux magazines:
  41.1    Linux Format;
  41.2    PC Plus;
  42.1  Linux for Schools (SuSE sponsored scheme).

  Lectures:
  43.1  Possible mini-lecture for Linux Install Day;
  44.1  Possible lecture on Linux for BCS/BU;

What I suggest we do, is each of us pick a task (or tasks) we think we can do, post an amended table with your name/initials and comments against the tasks you plan to do back to the list so that we know who's doing what. We can then revise a master list from time to time, to keep track of things.

As always, these are only suggestions, please feel free to comment and/or amend them.