Ubuntu Wiki

Discussion Points

January F2F Meeting

A reminder has been sent for the Jan. F2F meeting.

Logs

<antdedyet> nomasteryoda: pwned
<robertj_> btw, we can probably take the F2F meeting out of the topic
<antdedyet> bwahahahah .
<antdedyet> heh :)
<antdedyet> Rose just spent an hour waiting for her new fondue fountain to work ... she assembled it the way I did when I pulled it out of the box without reading directions or looking at the pictures; I put the fountain layers upside down, heh
<antdedyet> Of course, I told her to read the directions before using it. :)
<boredandblogging> hello
<mbt> 'ello. How goes it?
<boredandblogging> mbt: not too shabby, trying to figure out what I need to shop for today
<mbt> Fun stuff.
<heathen> boredandblogging: just dont accuse some poor retail manager of ruining your christmas because they dont have what you are looking for
<boredandblogging> heathen: I'm not mean like that
<boredandblogging> usuall :-P
<boredandblogging> heathen: how's the new job?
<heathen> ok, save for that lady yesterday
<heathen> i had to have her escorted out...
<boredandblogging> mbt: i don't recognize you, have you been to our F2F meetings?
<boredandblogging> heathen: what happened?
<mbt> boredandblogging: I was at the last F2F meeting with the Dell laptop.
<heathen> she was causing a scene because I personally ruined her christmas
<heathen> we didnt have what she was looking for
<mbt> heathen: Eeek. Retail is /not/ fun.
<heathen> we couldnt promise a pre christmas delivery
<heathen> mbt: i dont mind it, i like the work...
<boredandblogging> mbt: ahh, mr. trausch, glad seeing you here
<mbt> heathen: The work isn't terrible, but the customers can be a pain. It seems like 90% of people just stop thinking when they are dealing with people working in fields like retail, customer service, technical support, etc.
<mbt> boredandblogging: Thanks. :) Were you the one with the laptop badge?
<heathen> luckly, i work with a somewhat "specialized" product
<heathen> most people i deal with are informed..
<boredandblogging> mbt: yeah, the brown guy
<heathen> lol
<heathen> mtb, he;s the one that looks like a terrorist
<boredandblogging> don't want to go shopping, but I need to find a power blower that will remove smoke out of my garage
<boredandblogging> heathen: lol
<heathen> sorry
<heathen> i couldnt resist
<mbt> lol
<boredandblogging> if I hear a knock at the door
<heathen> although, as far as teh garage goes, i can ask my buddy what he did
<mbt> boredandblogging: How did you get the Ubuntu case stickers? Is there some place to order them from?
<heathen> boredandblogging: i swear i had nothing to do wiht that!
<heathen> boredandblogging: we should go to l5p...
<boredandblogging> i've got an air filter, but after i'm done, I want something powerful that will just push all the air out of the garage
<heathen> he was having the same problem
<boredandblogging> mbt, the massachusetts loco organized this thing where they ordered like 10,000 badges
<mbt> Wow.
<boredandblogging> and different locos paid like 34 cents each
<boredandblogging> we have quite a few remaining that we plan on giving out
<mbt> I ask only because I want to put them on all my computers... but the only ones that I could find online were white, not silver like this one.
<boredandblogging> mbt: first one is free, then...
<boredandblogging> we don't have a set price
<mbt> lol
<mbt> I don’t mind paying a few dollars for several of them.
<boredandblogging> i bring them along to the F2F meetings, so hit me up next time
<mbt> Though, sadly, I have to replace the one that you gave me already; I neglected to adequately clean off the spot that I put this one on the laptop, so it is slowly peeling off. :-/
<boredandblogging> mbt: email me your address and i'll send you more, just pay me at the next meeting
<boredandblogging> heathen: you hanging around for the holidays
<heathen> eh?
<boredandblogging> mbt, just saw your blog, we run a thing on the side: www.planetgeorgia.org. You are more than welcome to syndicate to it
<mbt> boredandblogging: What’s your e-mail address?
<boredandblogging> mbt: nali@ubuntu
<mbt> Awesome. Will shoot a mail your way.
<mbt> Nice; do I just provide you with an RSS link?
<boredandblogging> mbt: yeah
<boredandblogging> heathen: we did NYC last year, was hoping we'd travel again this year
<heathen> oh
<heathen> nah
<heathen> i dont have any money
<heathen> vacation is out of the question at the moment
<mbt> boredandblogging: You should have mail.
<boredandblogging> mbt: got it, I'll drop them in the mail this week
<mbt> Awesomeness. Thanks!
<boredandblogging> mbt: cool, your posts show up on the site now
<boredandblogging> heathen: so no more travelling right?
<mbt> boredandblogging: Thanks!
<kevinfishburne_> whoops
<mbt> kevinfishburne_: Whoops?
<kevinfishburne_> I'm messing with my IRC client. It's been a long time and I've forgotten what I'm doing. :(
<mbt> Ahh. Anything in particular? I might still remember... though I have actually switched away from a dedicated IRC client program myself anymore.
<kevinfishburne_> It says my nick has been registered and appended an underscore, yet a freenode staffer says no such nick is online or registered.
<mbt> The server reports you as identified...
<kevinfishburne_> I was thinking about using Pidgin for IRC but went with xchat-gnome instead. I used to use mIRC in my winblows days.
<mbt> Pidgin is what I am using currently. I rather like it, actually. I did not think that I would.
<kevinfishburne_> I'll have to try it.
<kevinfishburne_> I wonder if Pidgin somehow registered kevinfishburne.
<mbt> Were you experimenting with it at all?
<JonReagan> hey guys, sorry I'm late
<JonReagan> Who's here?
* mbt wave
<mbt> *waves, even.
<kevinfishburne_> Hey.
<JonReagan> hey guys
<JonReagan> durn, none of the folks I needed to talk to are here... I guess they're out shopping... :P
<mbt> It is quite possible lol
<JonReagan> bandb already emailed me saying he had to go shopping, so I imagine he wont show up till monday, the traffic is terrible
<mbt> I know bored was talking about shopping earlier
<JonReagan> ah
<EightVirtues> I still haven't even started. :/
<EightVirtues> Just changed my nick... It was giving me problems. This is Kevin Fishburne.
<JonReagan> oh
<JonReagan> I'll wait a few for some other folks to show up
<JonReagan> if they show up, that is...
<EightVirtues> How many do we usually get?
<JonReagan> usually there are 7-8 active folks on the channel, not counting the folks idling or just signed on
<JonReagan> hey maada
<Maada> Hey Jon
<mbt> 'ello Maada
<JonReagan> how's it goin'?
<Maada> My first IRC. I am patting myself :-)
<EightVirtues> Good job. I'm pretty rusty myself. This is the first time I've used it in years.
<JonReagan> first IRC?
<Maada> Yessir. I a very basic computer user
<JonReagan> well then, welcome to IRC! :)
<Maada> Thanks
<EightVirtues> While we're waiting, I have a question about the ethics, for lack of a better word, of community involvement in me trying to sell Ubuntu desktop PCs.
<mbt> I used to use IRC a lot years ago, and only really starting it again about six months ago when I started hanging out here on Freenode.
<JonReagan> @ Eightvirtues are you considering selling Ubuntu PCs?
<EightVirtues> I want to do it for a living, which of coursre means I would make a profit. Selling Ubuntu PCs of course spreads Ubuntu too, so it's kinda weird to have the community help me.
<mbt> EightVirtues: That is something that I have been thinking about doing, as well, but I haven’t quite worked out the semantics of doing it just yet.
<EightVirtues> I've sold five or six in the last couple months.
<EightVirtues> Too slow to live on, but I'm doing everything I can to pump up business.
<JonReagan> ah
<EightVirtues> I'll tell you, it's not easy... I've been working my ass off for miniscule results.
<EightVirtues> I'm going to make it work if it kills me though.
<JonReagan> geez... sounds like a hard business
<mbt> There is a lot involved in the initial support of new users, particularly when they aren’t used to having the community that systems like Ubuntu have surrounding them.
<Maada> Hopefully the EEE pc's will open the door
<EightVirtues> I got the web site, business cards, user manuals, some tutorials, the HDD image, and three models so far.
<EightVirtues> Yeah. There's nothing but good news about the emergence of desktop Linux.
<EightVirtues> I check the news every day to stay up to speed. All I need now if effective marketing, so that's all I've been working on. I even have a press release that I'm working on getting out.
<JonReagan> did you try advertising in the forums?
<JonReagan> I am not sure if they have a section for it... but I know of some other folks who have advertised there.
<EightVirtues> Not yet but I plan to. I collected a list of over 100 from the net at work and forgot I was working off a LiveCD and rebooted. Good job there, haha.
<mbt> Oops.
<mbt> I have done that, though; then again it is one of the reasons (other than performance) that I do not do that anymore unless I am showing the system off.
<EightVirtues> True...I forgot why I was using it. Normally I don't either. Right now I use it at work as a VM because they won't let it be my main OS.
<EightVirtues> This is pretty crazy, but I bought a white cargo van and am pimping out the inside to be a mobile showcase for my PCs.
<JonReagan> nice!
<mbt> Very cool :)
<EightVirtues> I already have black cloth on the inside, two layers of carpet padding, new carpet, a 5.1 surround system, and a 42" LCD flatpanel.
<JonReagan> wow, that's pimped.
<EightVirtues> It'll have artwork on both sides in the next few weeks. I use an AC inverter to power it all off the batter.
<mbt> Indeed. That is awesome.
<JonReagan> hey gnine
<EightVirtues> Haha, yeah, it's coming along. I still have to build the housing for the PC, etc., and a pedestal for the mouse and keyboard.
<Gnine> :0
<EightVirtues> Thanks.
<Gnine> i just was almost successful dual booting windows on a second HDD from another puter. just had to say that.
<mbt> On a totally different subject, anyone have any idea how long it takes to build the JVM setup from IcedTea?
* Gnine is not familiar with JVM
<Gnine> yet
<Gnine> did i just stumble upon the weekly meeting ?
<mbt> I am just trying to get working Java on my 64-bit system. I had read somewhere that the IcedTea binaries had to be re-built for that, but I have been building for awhile now... :-)
<mbt> This is the time slot for the meeting, but I think we are still waiting for it to officially start.
<JSVH> hey all
<Gnine> ok .. i have gotten used to not have the meeting
<mbt> 'ello
<Gnine> even thought it was succesfully held last week
<JSVH> no meeting today?
<Gnine> undetermined
<JSVH> boredandblogging: you on?
<JSVH> JonReagan: ping
<Gnine> !ping
<JonReagan> hey
<Gnine> oh. forgot. no ubotu here
<JonReagan> bandb isn't here, he went shopping
<JSVH> ah
<JSVH> did we have anything to cover today? just f2f meeting schedule?
<JonReagan> ummm, well let me check... I think I uploaded some topics, but I can't remember
<JonReagan> the first topic involves our inventory...
<Gnine> that was last week. 2nd sat. of the month at the mushroom place.. (?)
<Gnine> f2f meet
<JonReagan> 2nd Sat of every month, at 2pm
<JSVH> sounds good
<JonReagan> if anyone has anything that involves Ubuntu, they can upload it to our inventory
<Gnine> i havent checked the latest digest yet
<JonReagan> the second topic is for goals for 2008
<JonReagan> I was kinda hoping for more people for that one, but if you'd like we could go ahead with it
<JSVH> I dont mind either way.
<JonReagan> alright
<JonReagan> it'll take a sec for me to write down a basic description of what I was going to talk about...
* Gnine is still trying to work his way to be actually present at next F2F
<Gnine> baby steps
<JonReagan> basically, I was hoping to discuss what we are going to do as a team (or individually, for that matter) to bring more users to Ubuntu. We already have our events down (one more edit for the calendar and I will publish it), but there is still the question of what are we going to do to get more users. The next release will be an LTS, so it will be a great opportunity to bring more people than ever to Ubuntu
<mbt> There is something that I wanted to do with the next LTS, but I am not quite sure it would be practical or permitted even...
<JonReagan> please tell!
<mbt> I had the idea of getting lots of discs and spending weekends putting Ubuntu CDs on the windshields of cars parked at large places like the mall or Wal★Mart.
<mbt> But I am fairly certain that would be hard to secure permission to do.
<JonReagan> that sounds like a good idea. Getting the CDs would be the hardest part. Fliers would be easier and cheaper if you wanted to go that route.
<mbt> Fliers are nice, and I did think about that...
<mbt> But that still requires people to go out and get it. And a lot of people that I know would not be using Ubuntu if it weren’t for me getting it to them.
<JonReagan> ah
<Gnine> i have put links to ubuntu on a myspace page i got too. thats something. if anything at all
<mbt> I wouldn’t mind buying discs (when I have the money next time, lol) and putting them together and supplying maybe a flier or pamphlet with it. But the idea was one that I had last year, and I thought about it a bit. It would require help, though, both with time and money, of course, and getting permission to raid the parking lots, but I think it /might/ be doable.
<JonReagan> it takes some effort for people to make the switch to Linux. I have talked to people about it while out in town, and most have heard of Linux (although not Ubuntu) and would like to try it, but do not know where to start.
<JonReagan> I think the raiding parking lots idea is certainly a good one! :)
<mbt> Maybe we could try to see about getting permission to do it at one place and see how well we could pull it off... maybe start off with some smaller places or something and work up to the bigger ones. :)
<EightVirtues> Something that I have in my plans is to compile a list of "public domain" advertising spaces. CDs could be put there.
<Maada> I have tried to put together a small network using Ncomputing components (very easy) and I am hoping I can sell such a pckage to my church since they want to have an internet cafe of sorts. That is one way Linux (Ubuntu) can be snuck in.
<EightVirtues> I noticed Waffle House had a plastic bin for fliers near the register, and they said people could put whatever they wanted in there.
<mbt> Man, a color laser printer is starting to sound better than ever.
<JonReagan> @ maada: that's a good place to start
<JSVH> Best Buy/ Computer stores might be a target too, get people that are already techy
<EightVirtues> Laundromats, apartment complexes, and grocery stores also often have free advertising space.
<JonReagan> Border
<mbt> Hahaha... I heard someone ask a Best Buy employee last time I was at one if Office was the same as Windows. The employee answered "Yes"
<JonReagan> *Borders also has a place for fliers
<EightVirtues> Some kind of paper bin that could be pinned to a bulletin board would be ideas for holding CDs and pamphlets.
<EightVirtues> Haha, funny.
<Maada> Now I just need a good internet cafe software for Linux to control.
<JonReagan> Like a modded CD stand
<JonReagan> I have tried Ubuntu CE and it is very nice... I thought about giving it out at my church, although they all use Macs, and are VERY passionate about them. :P
<EightVirtues> When I put together my list I'll put it on the wiki and announce it. Also, I have about 3600 newspaper addresses in mailing list form if anyone needs them.
<JSVH> We could do this in conjunction with the ubuntu boxes
<EightVirtues> Mailing label form I meant...
* Gnine will never own a mac. unless it is for free
<JSVH> flyer cars, and have the CDs in a box in the store
<EightVirtues> Is there a marketing/advertising campaign page on the wiki?
<JonReagan> wiki.ubuntu.com/GeorgiaUSTeam/Marketing
<mbt> Macs are very expensive, and the interface is not bad at all. Many people really like the interface to it. (Actually that makes me wonder if any effort has been made into duplicating it, since it would theoretically be possible to emulate the Macintosh API now with it being Intel and all.)
<JonReagan> We have CDs and stuff on wiki.ubuntu.com/GeorgiaUSTeam/MemberPortal/Inventory
<mbt> Oh, wow. We have pens?
<EightVirtues> I'll add a section for "venues" our "outlets" that lists every possible method of promotion.
<JonReagan> yup
<JonReagan> @ EightVirtues: good stuff!
<EightVirtues> Just wrote a to-do on my board. ;)
<JonReagan> were going to be up against some competition from Apple, since they are grabbing up a large number of Windows switchers, so anything we can do will help.
<EightVirtues> True. And Apple isn't much different than Windows regarding our philosophy... They just have a smaller market share.
<EightVirtues> I gotta go work on the van before it gets dark. Good meeting though. I'll stay logged in and catch up with the rest later.
<JonReagan> k, thanks for droppin' in!
<JonReagan> I could print up some stuff geared towards power users with Kubuntu
<mbt> Is there going to be some discussion in the near future on maybe establishing a regular meeting place (preferably someplace with room, wifi, and food)?
<Gnine> thing is that like it or not windows is easier to just use. i like fiddling with puters. most people dont. they just want an appliance that can do stuff for them. thats how i see it
<JonReagan> well, that's basically the F2F, which is a monthly meeting with a fixed location
<JSVH> Mellow Mushroom was talked about, right?
<JonReagan> I'm not sure about wi-fi, but I am sure there would be some nearby, if not in the MM
<Gnine> i use linux because i like computers
<mbt> There was WiFi in the MM, which was nice.
<JonReagan> good stuff
<mbt> I think the only potential issue I saw when I was at the last F2F meeting was space. I can’t imagine it would be inexpensive to rent the space there exclusively if we grow to be large enough at the F2F meetings. :-D
<JSVH> we can tackle that once we get to that problem
<JSVH> I am sure they will be happy to let us use the space if we buy food and beer for now
<Gnine> there were only 6 people at last meeting
<mbt> Yepper.
<Gnine> i almost made it
<Gnine> :-P
<mbt> I was kind of surprised at that, since at least two of us (myself and otenkiya) were new.
<JonReagan> I completely missed it. :(
<Gnine> sometimes is the thought that counts. sometimes is not
<mbt> I am looking forward to the next one.
<JSVH> I missed it too :(
<nomasteryoda> we had only 2 here .. myself and my son at our LUG meeting
<JonReagan> ah
<nomasteryoda> think Christmas being so close has a lot to do with it
<mbt> Everyone has to shop, or craft, or whatever, yeah.
<JonReagan> yup
<Gnine> am just bad with real world addresses
<mbt> nomasteryoda: You went to Ohio LinuxFest this year?
<JonReagan> I gotta run guys, but before I go, should we discuss what were going to do to bring more user to Ubuntu at our next meeting, sometime early Jan? We can think over the stuff untill then, and then bring it to the meeting
<mbt> JonReagan: I think that is a good idea.
<JonReagan> good shtuff
<JonReagan> c'yall later! I work on the wiki for this meeting and check the logs later this evening.
<Gnine> am good with indirect ways. am not a people person. for the most part
<JonReagan> I'll send out an email too...
<nomasteryoda> man, i need more ram on my desktop here...
<mbt> nomasteryoda: How much do you have?
<nomasteryoda> 1gb
<nomasteryoda> mostly is ok
* Gnine is content with 1gig
<nomasteryoda> just when i try to process or scan lots of photos into say digikam or picasa it goes to a crawl
<mbt> hehehe, yeah, 1GB is livable, but 2GB is better. One of my friends, until just recently, was using a 300MHz PPC with 128 MB RAM, though, and I can’t imagine how.
<Gnine> i have seen laptops shipping out with 512. no thank you.
<nomasteryoda> i just ordered 2gb for $50 for this laptop...
<nomasteryoda> cause I can't run vmware ... and i need it
<nomasteryoda> man
<nomasteryoda> that is a slow little thing
<nomasteryoda> i have a ppc imac and only 512mb in it
<nomasteryoda> crawls for some things, but is ok for just a picture show tool
* Gnine saving to get me a compaq
<Gnine> dual core amd athlon for under $500
<mbt> Nice.
<mbt> 64-bit?
<nomasteryoda> i want to save to get a nice core-2 laptop
<Gnine> yes. @1.7
<nomasteryoda> with a real nvidia card
<nomasteryoda> and say 2gb or more ram
<Gnine> this one got the good. check tigerdirect.com
<Gnine> s/good/goods
<Gnine> intel based laptops are overpriced anyway
<nomasteryoda> trudat
<nomasteryoda> i like the amd
<mbt> I agree; I am a big AMD fan.
<nomasteryoda> and they are great
<mbt> My current system is a dual Turion 64 @ 1.8 GHz.
<nomasteryoda> i've just been trying to stick complete intel... even for graphics.. but nvidia is a must if i'm paying for it
<Gnine> sweet
<nomasteryoda> cool
<mbt> The only thing that I dislike on my system is the graphics card.
<nomasteryoda> this one is a centrino 1.7 single core, but 533mhz bus... so its fast
<mbt> I am hoping that the to-be-coming open source 3D driver for it will eliminate my grievances with it.
<Gnine> this compaq i want got nvidia on it too. i wouldnt have consider it if it wasnt . i have got alot done with an mx4000 to just give up nvidia
<Gnine> and it got over 1000mhz FSB too!
<Gnine> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3440119&CatId=1897
<mbt> Very nice. Wonder if they will let you return the Windows license, too.
<Gnine> not worried about that
<Gnine> heh
* mbt refuses to pay for another computer with Vista pre-loaded.
<Gnine> i can still use vista for gaming.
<mbt> I use Cedega for that. I have found that (properly configured) Cedega runs the one Windows game that I do play far better than either XP or Vista do.
<Gnine> interesting. but i also like fiddling with OS's. i am neutral about it. i do prefer ubuntu though

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