Nottingham LUG - 2000 September

The First Meeting

It was perhaps not the best start for the LUG, with just 7 people turning up for the first meeting, but considering the weather, and the transport problems at the end of the 'fuel crisis', it was to be expected.

After a short welcome when everyone introduced themselves and said how long they had been working with computers and linux (our group ranges from complete beginners to experts with over 25 years in computing!), we then talked about what we wanted to see at the meetings and when they were to be held.

There is a split between tuesday and Wednesday evenings, so the next few meetings will alternate, with the next meeting booked for Wednesday 18th October. Everyone agreed the meeting place was convenient, so we will meet there again - room 4 of the Dunkirk Community Centre at 6.30 Montpelier Road, just off the ring road at University Blvd. (enter by Lace Street, then "L" into Montpelier Rd.).

There was interest in hands-on sessions, so please can folks arrange to bring in some machines? We are also looking for speakers, and I hope to have someone talk about the recent government law, the RIP Act at the October meeting.

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In reply - Ted wrote:-

Thanks for the summary Godfrey. I thought I would add something about a "project" for the Nottm LUG. We discussed this briefly and it was thought to be a good way to bind us together. So we parted saying we would discuss it more by email.

Here's a late night brain storming - do whatever with it!

Offer Linux support service to local schools/firms/organisations. (This could range from consultancy to voluntary work).
Build a web site providing pointers to local Linux expertise, services, training, resources, meetings.
Take on development of some documentation, a howto, or a faq. (e.g. see http://www.linuxdoc.org/todo.html). Or update some existing documentation.
Do a comparative study of e.g. browsers, GUIs, sound cards, Linux distributions, search engines, graphics software, local hardware suppliers, ISPs available locally, voice activated software.
Hardware project e.g. connecting a portable PC to a base station by short range radio, building a security camera controller, inventing a fail-safe baby-minder or cat-feeder.
Software project e.g. intelligent telephone answering machine, better spam/junk mail detection/rejection, more functions for octave (MATLAB lookalike - http://www.che.wisc.edu/octave/), a music analyser that extracts the rythm from music, educational software (e.g. to teach Linux knowledge).

There's lots of possibilities, it all depends on where our interests and expertise lie as a group. During that first meeting I heard people mention interests in hardware drivers, system administration, web site building and maintenance, programming in Java, promoting Linux, helping other Linux users, and document processing. Did I miss anything?

Hopefully, this will spark off some more ideas from others that can lead to something we all relate to. Lets gather a bigger pot of suggestions before we start binning some of them as no good!

Ted.