I was thinking exactly this.  In fact, I've already forwarded the suggestion to a friend (who is interested in learning about Linux) to see if he'd be keen. -- Securely sent with Tutanota.  It's good, you should try it:  https://tutanota.com 27. Jul 2016 14:37 by ldo(a)geek-central.gen.nz:

On Wed, 27 Jul 2016 13:47:36 +1200, Peter Reutemann wrote:

...

"An introduction to Linux - features, history, examples of popular flavors (Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat etc). Advantages and disadvantages to Windows."

Is this something we could usefully publicize to try to get more non-regulars to attend? _______________________________________________ wlug mailing list | > wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz Unsubscribe: > https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug

On Wed, Jul 27, 2016 at 2:39 PM, Peter Reutemann <fracpete(a)waikato.ac.nz> wrote:

...

...

"An introduction to Linux - features, history, examples of popular flavors (Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat etc). Advantages and disadvantages to Windows."

Is this something we could usefully publicize to try to get more non-regulars to attend?

Yep :-)

Want a pamphlet designed? Don't know other ways of getting non-regulars. And I will be quite happy to talk a bit about the history and people involved. It will likely be mostly from Wikipedia but the slides will be art. Cheers, William.

On Wed, Jul 27, 2016 at 2:59 AM, Peter Reutemann <fracpete(a)waikato.ac.nz> wrote:

...

Want a pamphlet designed? Don't know other ways of getting non-regulars.

Yes, please.

Draft: http://i.imgur.com/ldsd4nF.png Feedback will be great. Quite happy with my terminal drawing. Tux is the basic version from wikimedia.

Demonstrating different interfaces (MATE, Gnome3, Unity) would be useful to newbies as well.

I think this is even better than showing a range of OS (wlug often covers a new or random OS every so often anyway). Maybe have a OS setup with a range of different desktop installed or install a duel boot of different flavors of the same OS (Ian comes to mind for this!). Cinnamon desktop is partically good those translating from windows, though some have said they love Unity because it's completely different to windows look. Could be good to have a QA session sometime also - had this at Auckland Wordpress Meetup and thought it was quite a neat idea (maybe not time in August meeting). People were able to submit their questions before the meetup. Cheers, William

On Thu, 28 Jul 2016 14:32:31 +1200, William Mckee wrote:

I got carried away: http://artctrl.me/wlugaugust.svg

Nifty. :)

On Wed, 27 Jul 2016 14:39:32 +1200, Peter Reutemann wrote:

...

Is this something we could usefully publicize to try to get more non-regulars to attend?

Yep :-)

Leaflet drop, even? Something similar to what we have been doing for the Python introductions? Points perhaps worth making: * Get more life out of an older PC, with a more up-to-date OS. * Don’t like the direction Microsoft is going with Windows 10? Try moving to an OS which gives you more control. * Do you have several machines in your home or small business? Do you buy a single licence, or a few licences, for some piece of software, but then install it on more machines than that? Or do you buy discounted “personal/academic use” licences which you then use for actual serious work? Wouldn’t it be more convenient (as well as more honest) to consider software that doesn’t make you worry about such licensing headaches at all? * Would you like to be part of an active community of users of the platform, being able to help other users, rather than just being a passive recipient of the products of a large corporation?