[Aslug] ASLUG Update

[ninti at internode.on.net]

FINAL 2009 MEETING 
Jessel has generously made his place available for ASLUG to hold it's final 
meeting for 2009. 
 
Saturday 12/12/2009 5:30pm 
27 Nicker Crescent 
 
Event to be roughly modelled on the traditional Australian barbeque. Jessel has 
even more generously offered to make the contents of his beer fridge available, 
but please BYO food (steak|snags|bread|salad|etc). 
 
 
MEMBERSHIP 
After one round of pinging the ASLUG mailing list membership, there have been 7 
replies, with at least 3 more regulars I know of who are either not subscribed to 
this list or are procrastinators. If you are reading this, haven't yet responded, 
and want to stay subscribed, please reply to Mike (@ the address this email was 
sent from). At some stage Mike may start trimming some of the 87 currently 
subscribed list members. 
 
 
ANY SUGGESTIONS? 
Stuff on the ASLUG agenda for 2010: 
 
Regular Meeting Time. Let's start bidding with the second Wednesday night of the 
month, 7PM. Anyone prefer/need a different time? 
 
Regular Meeting Place. Meeting at members' houses sort of works, but a public 
space (conducive to a 'Linux Cafe' atmosphere?) would be good. Could be a local 
club but we need a level of quiet and most of us don't seem to feel the need for 
alcohol consumption during the working week, so again let us know your suggestions. 
 
Presentations/Events. Probably not every meeting, but semi-programmed 
presentations on IT or open source related topics/projects that can be publicised 
to the wider Alice Springs community (eg IT students). Any suggestions or 
volunteers? 
 
Mike is willing to have a go at something like: 
- a survey of Linux Virtualisation options 
- recent trends in web development (evolution of PHP, code bloat, advent of web 
servers like Nginx and Lighttpd) 
- greening the internet (myths and humbug in many so called "green" hosting 
solutions, some real alternative directions) 
- Linux on ARM boards (5 x 10cm, 64Mb RAM, Ethernet, USB, built in Boa web server) 
 
Other potential topics could (hint hint) include things like: 
- Linux music production 
- Building a Linux media centre 
- The OLPC project (one laptop per child) 
- Planning and implementation of a MediaWiki project 
- Group presentation on how/where Linux is being used in "enterprises" around 
town and why 
 
It would be great if we could setup a Linux lab/cafe somewhere around town, a 
place we meet in and maintain but which could also be useful to a wider public. 
For example, if a local school or community group could make a room available we 
could undertake to source donated hardware and build a lab. Dunno, but would be 
good for "hands on" sessions and if we ever signed up for RHCE study groups etc. 
Something like this exists at the Scout Hall, but the idea is something slightly 
more accessible and inviting. Suggestions? 
 
Anyone interested in learning (or even better, teaching!) C/C++ programming 
through some sort of study group thingo? It's been raised before, but what about 
RHCE study group ... any interest? 
 
Asking the Public Library to subscribe to at least one Linux magazine. Which one? 
 
Can anyone suggest any good Linux/Open source/IT related documentaries we might 
be able to source?  
 
Anything else anyone wants to raise? 
 
 
TESTING TESTING 
Mike has built some RPMs for CentOS 5 (x86_64 only at 
this stage) related to C++ and C++ web frameworks. Not everyone's cup 
of tea, but if you have a suitable system available and the spare time, testing 
the download (via repo) and installation process would be much appreciated. See 
http://www.mjhall.org/repo