David McNab wrote:

Hi all,

I'm a Debian user of 4 years, and have just recently moved into Hamilton from a certain torturous urban sprawl north of the Bombays.

I've been meeting lots of people here, and every time the topic of computers comes up, and I say I've been 100% virus-free for 4 years, people ask me how I've done it, and what they need to do to make the switch to Linux themselves.

Does WLUG have any official points of contact for linux newbies seeking to kick their proprietary software addictions? For instance, is there a programme of regular installfests, or linux for newbies meetings?

We don't have regular installfests or newbies meetings as such - ourlast installfest was in May, and back in November there was a "Fixit" meeting as one of the monthly WLUG meetings. The installfest was very successful for a moderate number of people who came, likewise the Fixit meeting. Ubuntu was the featured distro for the installfest, and the post-installation script and other stuff which made it such a success are on the WLUG Wiki http://www.wlug.org.nz/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup Likewise "How to get help for Linux" stuff used for the November meeting. However speaking from experience, the best resource is the members of the WLUG. You can find somebody to help with just about anything, and also books, magazines and CDROMs in the WLUG Library, so come to the next meeting which is tonight at LitB at Waikato University. Further info on the Wiki. Rodeick Aldridge