Meeting Details

• Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2008

• Location: IRC: #ubuntu-maryland on freenode.

• Time: 8:00pm - 9:00pm (Meeting may end earlier, but no later)

• Moderator: Chuck Frain

Agenda

The following is a tentative agenda for the meeting. The moderator will move the conversation from topic to topic. Each agenda item is followed by an estimated amount of time to be spent on the topic. The meeting will end with an open discussion which will allow all members to ask questions or discuss anything they wish. The agenda may change as the meeting approaches.

• More discussion on how the LoCo could do usability testing (30min)

• Let's hear your ideas! (open)

• Open Discussion (open)

IRC Log

<phr0ze> hi Chuck
<chuckf> hi all
<chuckf> how is everyone?
* seele waves
<phr0ze> Been busy
<chuckf> good busy or bad busy?
<phr0ze> i guess that depends on your definition of good
<chuckf> ah
<phr0ze> Hurt myself pretty bad a few weeks ago. 31 stitches
<chuckf> oh no, sorry to hear that
<phr0ze> yeah, ohh well.
<chuckf> but at least you can still type on the computer:)
<johnny_> hi
<phr0ze> I wasn't allowed for a week
<johnny_> so.. asl lol
<johnny_> or really just l..
<chuckf> hi johnny
<johnny_> so, are these formal meetings here on irc?
<phr0ze> more informal really
<chuckf> we have one scheduled meeting a month
<chuckf> on irc
<johnny_> anybody from baltimore?
<johnny_> i'm relatively new to the area
<johnny_> i guess it is coming up on a year tho
<phr0ze> Columbia... just 15 min away
<chuckf> I'm down in Olney, 45 mins or so
<johnny_> there is a lug meeting up in timonium, anybody go to that?
<chuckf> once in a while
<phr0ze> I dont
<johnny_> i haven't wanted to drive out there, and i don't really want to meet in a place like barnes and noble
<johnny_> or borders, or whatever
<johnny_> md2600 meets down at the inner harbor
<chuckf> it's a good group of people though
<johnny_> all lame
<phr0ze> heh
<johnny_> i've got some meeting space
<johnny_> or at least i can schedule meeting space
<johnny_> either at a coffeehouse , or in an old church
<chuckf> we do in person meets in columbia
<chuckf> at the library
<johnny_> i have space for an installfest too
<johnny_> if anybody is interested in doing another one
<chuckf> that's going to be a while coming I think
<johnny_> how many folks showed up to the loyala one?
<phr0ze> The last install fest wasn't busy enough.
<johnny_> err loyola*
<johnny_> i can also do mini install fests
<chuckf> 3 I think showed up
<johnny_> i have space for that too
<chuckf> anyway, I want to get onto a few topics while people are here
<johnny_> i can schedule one once a month for any random person to show up, and since i'll be here anyway, it shouldn't be a big deal :)
<phr0ze> Thanks for the offer.
<chuckf> that'll be good
<phr0ze> So what's on sched Chuck
<johnny_> we've got fast net , wifi, and coffee :)
<chuckf> can you post to the forum or mailing list with some details of what you have?
<phr0ze> coffee, yum
<phr0ze> Yes, that will be good.
<johnny_> yes.. i want to know what you guys are up to
<chuckf> as for the topics the first should be the easiest and that is where to do the party
<phr0ze> Ahh. I guess it got voted to Friday.
<johnny_> i wish you guys would idle on irc more :(
<phr0ze> No time.
<johnny_> i have to be on irc anyways i guess
<phr0ze> You can add my gmail and chat in the evenings if you want.
<chuckf> John, do you have time to call a few places to find out if we can get a table for ~18 on a friday night?
<phr0ze> hehe. I'll try it, but I know the answer.
<johnny_> so.. what's the deal with both a forum and a mailing list? which one should i care about..
<chuckf> well if we don't ask, the answer will be no
<phr0ze> true.
<chuckf> johnny, whichever makes you happy:)
<phr0ze> Most of them these days do a call ahead seating which is a joke.
<chuckf> phr0ze, if we have to we'll do it on Thursday, it's not that big a deal
<istarex> Do you think we'd have better luck scheduling the release party at a smaller place (like a local pub instead of a TGI Friday's)?
<chuckf> istarex, we have to deal with minors
<istarex> oh
<istarex> right :)
<phr0ze> We have a few under 21
<phr0ze> some under 18
<phr0ze> Maybe a small place is a better idea.
<phr0ze> Let me see what I can find which will allow under 18s
<chuckf> that's fine too
<chuckf> and if you need help with it let me know
<phr0ze> Any type of cuisine? I know a mexican place that may not be as busy as the chains.
<johnny_> i hope they have some sort of veggie option..
<johnny_> other than a salad that is..
<phr0ze> hmm. I don't know really. Bean burrito ?
<chuckf> I dont' know how finiky or veggie people are so as long as there is something for everyone I'm okay with a primarily mex, chinese, etc
<johnny_> usually mexican places have something good
<phr0ze> Well, I'll call them.
<johnny_> many chinese places have tofu dishes
<phr0ze> I definately know a chinese place that is never busy in the dining room
<phr0ze> But, I prefer a place with beer on tap
<johnny_> so how extensive is this loco? what do folks normally do here?
<johnny_> you guys just run ubuntu, or are you involved with the project?
<johnny_> it's hard to tell from reading the list/forum
<chuckf> most of us just run Ubuntu
<phr0ze> Johnny we mostly focus on getting the word out to strengthen the community.
<johnny_> oh..
<chuckf> there are a few involved with the project though
<johnny_> i use ubuntu with ltsp
<johnny_> for public internet terminals
<johnny_> so i know some ubuntu folks
<johnny_> i use ubuntu on the laptop, but gentoo at home and on the server
<johnny_> working on gentoo ltsp5 port atm
<chuckf> cool
<johnny_> i obviously don't recommend gentoo for everybody tho :) thus why i'm here
<johnny_> i've been coding open source software for many years, but never really met many in person
<johnny_> well if you call 7 years many years i guess :(
<phr0ze> ohh cool. I think the group would be interested in anything you would want to talk about.
<chuckf> I guess the next topic would be the usiblity testing
<phr0ze> I just don't have the time to do it atm.
<johnny_> i'd love to help more community members become contributors
<chuckf> seele, are you still here?
<seele> yep
<johnny_> so.. who's who ? on the list?
<johnny_> so i can recognize you
<phr0ze> I'm a windows developer looking for someone to give me a quick run through on linux dev.
<chuckf> seele, do you have things that we need to do to gear up for testing?
<johnny_> easy :)
<johnny_> phr0ze, pm me anytime
<johnny_> i'm always on freenode
<seele> first we need to figure out who exactly wants to participate
<johnny_> usually with tne nick johnny.. johnny_ is my lapp nick
<seele> so maybe we should set up a poll for who is interested
<pdragon> almost forgot about the meeting. glanced back at irc and saw activity here :)
<chuckf> okay, we can do that
<johnny_> or johnny localmomentum net for email and jabber
<seele> basically, i think it will be a commitment of at least 2 days.. one for our "training" session and one for the actual sessions
<chuckf> do they need to be back to back or can it be a couple weeks spread?
<phr0ze> I'd love to make it to the training session.
<phr0ze> Then I am ready when I have more time.
<johnny_> phr0ze, mainly i do web devel, but via that, and just using gentoo.. i know quite a bit about the rest of the stack of what people call linux
<seele> chuckf: it can be a couple of weeks spread
<seele> chuckf: basically, i htink i will try to be at all the sessions, then people can do their sessions whenver their friends/family can come
<chuckf> okay, and how soon do you think we'll be ready for a training day?
<johnny_> and lately iv'e been contributing to gnome for the sabayon user profile application, and the pessulus lockdown tool
<seele> so it will probably take a few weeks to complete
<seele> chuckf: i'd say may at the earliest
<chuckf> okay
<seele> maybe second week
<seele> then do the sessions the first or second week of june
<chuckf> so what I'll do is start a thread for who is interested in helping
<phr0ze> Johnny I want to start fixing reported bugs in ubuntu or a project I find useful.
<phr0ze> Ohh cool. I may have time by june to help
<chuckf> do you have an agenda of what to test in mind? something that you're already working on that we can help wiht?
<seele> phr0ze: triage or 5-a-day?
<johnny_> got resume? or just a general listing of your skills
<seele> chuckf: nope, i need ot discuss that with the powers to be what they want tested :)
<johnny_> i don't know what you know.. so i don't know how low level i need to be
<chuckf> okay
<johnny_> i don't want to act all condescending if you already know the stuff i'm tellin ya :)
<chuckf> how about the brocures? Anyone had a chance to do anything with them?
<chuckf> Bwtween easter and some family stuff last weekend I haven't done much
<phr0ze> Chuck. I must apologize for not having the time.
<chuckf> phr0ze, not a problem
<chuckf> it's still early in the project for it
<chuckf> as I said, I've been too busy for it as well
<chuckf> so is there anything else anyone wanted to discuss as far as the md team goes?
<phr0ze> Not really. I only came because I've been away. Busy with life, and recovering from my accident.
<chuckf> but you're okay overall at this point right?
<pdragon> I contacted Ron about the stuff he'd been doing with helping the childrens' and seniors' centers
<phr0ze> yeah. Cant lift heavy things is all
<pdragon> i have some more computers to help out with that
<pdragon> he said he'd get back to me
<chuckf> phr0ze, good thing you have that eee then huh? :)
<phr0ze> yeah.
<chuckf> pdragon, good deal
<seele> ooh, i think i'm getting an eee
<johnny_> helping?
<johnny_> LTSP
<seele> depends on if Xandros deems me worthy enough
<phr0ze> Very nice.
<chuckf> I know I'm getting one
<johnny_> if you guys need help deplooying ltsp
<johnny_> let me know
<johnny_> i have experience
<johnny_> and i know the ubuntu dev :)
<seele> isnt there a recent canonical employee in here somewhere?
<chuckf> johnny_, there is something that we might tap you for in that vein down the line
<seele> i think he's going to prague in May
<johnny_> now if only i can find a decent job doing FOSS
<johnny_> other than web stuff that is
<johnny_> any of you guys interested in the freegeek project?
<phr0ze> Whats that
<johnny_> a community techology center
<johnny_> in portland orgiinally
<johnny_> they take old pcs and fix em up
<johnny_> put linux on em
<johnny_> volunteers are taught how to build pcs, and after so many hours they get to keep one
<chuckf> it's a great idea
<johnny_> and they recycle them :)
<johnny_> the ones that are as they say "amazingly obsolete"
<phr0ze> Yeah, there is a lot of these types of projects these days thanks to linux.
<johnny_> you know of some in baltimore?
<johnny_> i heard of this project in columbia, but they do it windows
<pdragon> where do they get the money for the os license?
<phr0ze> Windows what 98?
<chuckf> johnny_, the ones around here are all windows based
<chuckf> pdragon, from MS
<pdragon> ahh
<phr0ze> What windows would you try to run on old hardware.
<johnny_> xp runs on the eeepc
<chuckf> phr0ze, they are tending to take p3's and better
<phr0ze> Yeah, but thats modern hardware with a good amount of ram
<chuckf> with 256 ram, so they are minimal for xp but for free machines they are tolerable
<johnny_> so.. anybody interested in working on such a thing?
<pdragon> sure i would
<phr0ze> Yeah
<johnny_> i know some folks who can write grants
<phr0ze> Just a matter of finding the machines.
<johnny_> machines are no big deal i think
<chuckf> working on the project would be great
<johnny_> the baltimore freestore has a bunch of stuff
<pdragon> i'm sure i'll be getting more. don't think Ron will use them all
<johnny_> they get all sorts of old computers
<pdragon> my job is getting rid of them
<johnny_> i'm going to follow up on the freegeek lists
<johnny_> and check out what they have to say about startups
<johnny_> and also to make sure we organize in a similiar spirit to them
<johnny_> collectively run and all that jazz
<phr0ze> Would prefer to have this a part of Ubuntu MD team than free geek
<johnny_> i don't like being so specific to ubuntu
<johnny_> i like ubuntu
<johnny_> but canonical doesn't pay me
<seele> most distributions are made by free contributions by the community, not employees or commercial interests
<phr0ze> No big deal.
<seele> that is the nature and spirit of open source
<chuckf> johnny_, what were you planning to put on them?
<phr0ze> They dont pay me either
<seele> i put in 15-20 hours on Kubuntu every week and canonical doesnt pay me
<phr0ze> I like to help Ubuntu because I think its a great project.
<chuckf> I started this team and time and effort without cannonical paying me
<phr0ze> I dont really care about the company behind it or if I'm getting paid.
<chuckf> but johnny_ what were you thinking of installing on them?
<phr0ze> I like to meet people, have some beers or a slice of pizza and help introduce others to ubuntu or at least an alternative to M$
<phr0ze> Ironic because all of my pay comes from my knowledge/skills with M$ products.
<chuckf> phr0ze, well if it's going to be used, might as well help people with it and get paid, and give your time to what you enjoy
<phr0ze> I thought everyone suddenly afk
<johnny_> most likely ubuntu
<johnny_> but not always
<pdragon> i'm still here
<johnny_> debian is a good choice for some
<johnny_> or dsl
<johnny_> i'm just not interested in branding something so important as an ubuntu project
<chuckf> but for someone taking a free box home, I'd rather they get a great desktop experience out of the box
<johnny_> it just depends on what kinda machine it is
<phr0ze> I feel ubuntu is the best out of box experience too.
<johnny_> fedora is pretty good these days
<johnny_> or so they tell me
<chuckf> johnny_, it's doesn't have to be branded ubuntu but from this team you'll get more support using that if that is the best choice
<johnny_> i'm sure i'll use ubuntu.. but i don't want the project to be branded as an ubuntu project
<pdragon> well, this is the ubuntu loco team :p
<johnny_> sure
<chuckf> I'd use other distros for the right reasons
<chuckf> just as there's a project that I'm working on with another LUG that will be using, it looks like, centos because that makes sense for that project
<johnny_> exactly
<chuckf> but if Ubuntu were the right choice, and for home pc's I believe it is, then I'd argue for that
<johnny_> thus using the word ubuntu in the title could be misleading, and also doesn't encompass the entire scope of reuse and recycling
<seele> how is the word ubuntu misleading if the boxes are installed with ubuntu?
<phr0ze> The project can be named whatever. I just want Ubuntu MD Loco be the team behind the project, not Geek something.
<johnny_> there will be lots of teams behind the project :)
<phr0ze> I trust the LoCo, I know nothing of the geek project. And I dont want to be lured away from this team to go off to some other team.
<johnny_> lured away?
<johnny_> no.. the loco will continue to do what it is doing
<chuckf> johnny_, I don't think we could call the project ubuntu something due to trademarks and such
<johnny_> there is that too :)
<seele> i'm pretty sure it is an open community trademark, but *shrug*
<chuckf> johnny_, and we're not suggesting calling it ubuntu something either, just using Ubuntu on the machines
<johnny_> i already said ubuntu should be used :)
<chuckf> seele, I think there are limits to what can be done with it
<johnny_> by default
<seele> chuckf: sure, but those limits are usually commercial
<johnny_> if somebody wants something else, they can use it
<phr0ze> Hey, this is good stuff but I gotta go.
<seele> chuckf: i dont think calling an install projects "ubuntu $something" is against it
<chuckf> take care phr0ze
<phr0ze> Good night all.
<chuckf> get well soon
<chuckf> seele, I'll take your word for it
<chuckf> so johnny_ we'll have to call it ubuntu something now:)
<johnny_> lol
<chuckf> hehe
<johnny_> i'm willing to get grants together to make stuff happen, as long as i have some techie people who want to be involved
<johnny_> that's been the problem so far
<chuckf> johnny_, I think before going too far we need to get a better idea of how this is going to be done
<seele> aren't there a few programs like this already in existance?
<seele> would it be modeled after one of them, or merged, or what?
<pdragon> i dont know myself. why i'm here trying to get involved
<chuckf> right now, the MD team is geared to support a project with volunteer time
<pdragon> yeah, i know about that one. heard anything more
<pdragon> ?
<chuckf> not yet
<chuckf> I think I'll hear a bit more next week
<johnny_> yes.. freegeek is one of those
<johnny_> and they are organized in a really nice way
<johnny_> uggh.. store closing time..
<chuckf> what store are you at?
<pdragon> guess things have kinda ended themselves then?
<chuckf> I was just about to ajourn the meeting if no one else had anything to say
<seele> have a good night then
<istarex> bye all
<chuckf> see ya
<chuckf> have a good night everyone
<pdragon> g'night
<johnny_> red emma's bookstore coffee house
<johnny_> in baltimore
<ihasn> howdy, just joined up still getting figuring things out...im from MD however im deployed to iraq. Got pissed off at vista for the last time a few days ago and moved completly over to ubuntu 8.04 and loving it
<ihasn> sorry i missed the meeting...8pm home time is like 4am here
<johnny> my friend is over there
<johnny> i'm not sure what he's using now
<ihasn> good stuff
<johnny> he's about to come back
<johnny> he's finally getting out
<johnny> moving to arizona
<johnny> kinda far for me to visit
<johnny> last i heard he was using gentoo
<johnny> i kinda got him into it
<johnny> i've been using gentoo for 5 years myself
<johnny> been a long fun ride
<ihasn> haha
<johnny> got ubuntu on the laptop
<johnny> gf uses it
<johnny> on hers too
<johnny> and we use ubuntu at our collectively run bookstore coffeehouse
<johnny> in baltimore btw
<ihasn> i lived in bmore for 2 years
<ihasn> went to umbc
<johnny> i'm trying to find some baltimoreans who are into ubuntu
<johnny> other than the ones who i know through the collective
<ihasn> ill be on later i have to go shower and get to work
<ihas1> anyone out there?
*** ihas1 is now known as ihasn
<pdragon> sorta
<ihasn> how goes ubuntu in md?
<pdragon> slowly but surely i guess. just starting to get involved myself
<ihasn> cool cool...i just joined up yesterday...im from MD originally but in iraq now
<pdragon> ahh ok. how goes things for you over there?
<ihasn> same shit different day
<ihasn> got internet in my chu at least
<pdragon> yeah, i'd go crazy without net access for a while :p
<ihasn> sucks though cause i also gotta go around collecting money for this shit
<ihasn> 2600 is hard to come by for 2 months

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