- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Preparing for SFD
by Bryce Utting 11 Sep '08

11 Sep '08

Hi all, The publicity's up, the word's out, the gremlins have been beaten senseless with 4x2s and the usual appalling jokes, and now it's time to get ready for the day. A quick recap (since I've lost track of what's happened on which list): * we're putting on a bunch of (short, hourly) presentations at S Block on Saturday the 20th * Nandor Tanzcos is opening * we're hoping to see a whole bunch of people wanting to know more about F/OSS software * preparations are under way to kit the place out with PCs and have them doing hopefully-interesting stuff * there's also the -tiniest- suggestion of a hint that we might be implying that we're there to help answer questions, solve problems, and help out installing stuff. The only remaining worries now are: * nobody comes * EVERYBODY comes It's the latter I'm thinking about. We need to be sure of a core of people who'll be there on the day (it doesn't have to be the whole day), who can offer expertise in areas that people might come with questions about. Know how to painlessly burn CDs? How to walk a Windows user through what's different about Gnome or KDE desktops? How to build documents in OpenOffice? How to safely camp in Tremulous? Then you can help. You don't need to be an expert: if you know enough to be useful, and also know what your limitations are, then that's enough right there to get someone started on the basics and if you hit the wall to pass them on to the next person on the list. So, after a quick chat with Bruce I figure the best way to manage this is to sign up with what we're each willing to help with. This'll mean that, in the event of things getting overwelming, we all know who we can pass thorny questions on to and who can help with triage on queues. And if we keep copies handy, we can discreetly look it up rather than relying on some dim idea that what's-'s-name-'ve-met-twice-three-months- ago might be able to answer the question of how to create a DVD menu. If that's you, adding yourself to the list will help hugely. www.wlug.org.nz/SFD%202008%20Hosts (yeah, I know. but WikiWords don't LIKE acronyms, and it's really a use-once-and-forget page anyway.) And, further to that: we can keep the day flowing, and keep people's interest, if we can be sure of spot presentations during the day. If you're comfortable with getting up front and talking for three minutes about Gimp, Firefox extensions, something weird you've done in Perl, or how Mandrake keeps your cat fed, that'd be great: add that too. These are particularly useful because it means that we can keep the technical lot fed between user-level main presentations, and the users fed in between tech-level main presentations. (and if the day -is- quiet, you might get let off the hook.) sweet as. bryce

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SFD poster: need a photo gallery from a member URGENTLY
by butting＠ihug.co.nz 10 Sep '08

10 Sep '08

Hi all, We have the makings (I hope) of some great publicity for SFD. The banner I'm working on will hopefully be ready to print tomorrow, which you might guess is well past the original deadlines (and getting woefully close to the day itself). I've had some excellent stuff come in, but far far too late for our original plan of printing last Friday. I'd like to finish tonight, and there's one last thing I need: an online photo gallery that I can take a shot of. I don't need a screenshot, just a URL, of a gallery that you've created and own the rights to and are happy to have an image of the thumbnails of it released under creative commons with non-attrib. (the thumbnails, not the images themselves.) Something like: Something like http://softwarefreedomday.org/gallery/2007/newzealand/hamilton would be brilliant, only I've already used those images elsewhere. Can anyone help? Would be greatly appreciated. ta, Bryce

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Upcoming WLUG committee meeting (1 week today)
by Meeting Reminder bot 07 Sep '08

07 Sep '08

As per the WLUG charter, please note that there is a WLUG executive committee meeting one week from today. If you wish to get an item on the agenda for this meeting, please email it to secretary(a)wlug.org.nz. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- # Previous Minutes # Treasurers report # Correspondence # Matters # Server status # General business

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Re: [wlug] SFD library poster: still urgently need shots!
by Bryce Utting 07 Sep '08

07 Sep '08

I wrote: > CURRENT NEED-URGENTLY LIST: ... > CC photos of the Symphony cluster > (can anyone get me into the Symphony lab today or tomorrow?) does anyone have phone numbers for Jamie or for Donald Neal? (or anyone else with access to the lab) or for Rod or Nandor? contact me please ASAP thanks. Bryce

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gNewSense
by Bruce Kingsbury 06 Sep '08

06 Sep '08

I just installed gNewSense this morning on my laptop, and I am rather plesantly surprised how useable it actually is! I have no inbuilt wireless, of course. Broadcom chipsets require a non-free binar blob so I was expecting that. My USB wireless adapter (ZyDAS WLA-54L WiFi) also doesn't work, which surprised me. It worked OOTB in Ubuntu so I had assumed it was using only Free software, but perhaps not. I'm fairly sure my rt2400 card would work with entirely free software, but I an't seem to find it at the moment. Pity. I've installed swfdec and I'm very happy to find it plays both youtube videos and weebls stuff. At least all the ones I've tried so far, which isn't many.. I'll have to try some flash games next. I've also installed all of the 'Free but patent-threatened' codecs and libdvdcss2. Apart from not having wireless, I can do pretty much everything I was doing before in Ubuntu. This rocks! -- This email is for the intended recipient only. If you are not the intended recipient you must burn your computer, while standing on one foot and chanting the entire jabberwocky. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily the opinions of the person who expressed them.

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Re: [wlug] SFD library poster: call for contributions (now URGENT)
by Bryce Utting 06 Sep '08

06 Sep '08

Hi all, A couple of weeks ago, I wrote: > To do that, we need colourful, compelling, and useful (where applicable) > screenshots of a wide range of FOSS software. These screenshots need to > be released under Creative Commons, so we need to draw on resources > within WLUG rather than simply downloading sample screenshots. We've > got around 2.4 x 1.2 metres, so we've got real estate to burn. > > I've set up a page detailing the goals, showing the current layout > design (using, ahem, downloaded screenshots), and listing candidate > packages: > > http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~butting/wlug/contrib.html > > If you think you can offer something -- killer examples of Inkscape or > Gimp in use, Kino being used to create something lively, a Rosegarden > composition, a Mono program that looks good onscreen -- please, please, > check the page out and drop me a line. Things are looking grim, and it's causing a truckload of stress here. Deadline is *FRIDAY*, and so far I've not seen -any- final, print-ready artwork. The only contributions so far have been from just two people. Everything else has come off my bat: Impress, Kino (will be replacing with either Jahshaka or Avidemux), Firefox (pending, tho), Inkscape, MuseScore, and Torcs. I *need*: Euler, Wesnoth, Freeciv, Frets on Fire, Glest, Neverball, Flightgear, Gimp, OpenOffice Writer & Calc, and Mono (*especially* Mono). Surely someone's able to contribute? butting

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WLUG Fixit Meeting is today!
by Meeting Reminder bot 05 Sep '08

05 Sep '08

A reminder, the WLUG Fixit Meeting is today. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday September 6th, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm We will be holding our SaturdayWorkshop at Te Whanau Pūtahi (http://zoomin.co.nz/nz/hamilton/enderley/-te+whanau+ptahi/?place/full_map) the community church at the end of Oxford Street. We'll have the usual tables, power, various ISO's, Internet, coffee and light lunch, etc.

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WLUG Fixit Meeting tomorrow
by Meeting Reminder bot 05 Sep '08

05 Sep '08

A reminder; the WLUG Fixit Meeting is tomorrow. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday September 6th, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm We will be holding our SaturdayWorkshop at Te Whanau Pūtahi (http://zoomin.co.nz/nz/hamilton/enderley/-te+whanau+ptahi/?place/full_map) the community church at the end of Oxford Street. We'll have the usual tables, power, various ISO's, Internet, coffee and light lunch, etc.

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Reminder bot? Saturday workshop
by Bruce Kingsbury 04 Sep '08

04 Sep '08

I haven't seen any bot reminders for the Saturday workshop. Is it getting them from the wiki page or just the sidebar? Anyhow; Saturday workshop on the 6th. I'll be there. If you have stuff you'd like help with, be there too! -- This email is for the intended recipient only. If you are not the intended recipient you must burn your computer, while standing on one foot and chanting the entire jabberwocky. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily the opinions of the person who expressed them.

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Happy Birthday to GNU
by Ronnie Collinson 03 Sep '08

03 Sep '08

As part of GNU's 25 birthday, has released a short film featuring Stephen Fry, for those intersted here is a link<http://www.gnu.org/fry/happy-birthday-to-gnu.html>. Havent watched myself yet, but will a bit later

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