Dorset

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====== 2001-03-22 The Bear Cross, Bournemouth ======

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

===== The Next Meeting =====

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.

===== LUG Web Site =====

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).

===== Linux Install Day =====

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).

===== Other Events =====

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.

===== Going forward =====

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.