2004.03.02 Meeting Notes

News

• Guido van Rossum, creator of Python, speaks at SVLUG tomorrow.
• Noted at the recent Linux- and Open-Source-focused entreprenuer meeting in the Bay Area, it seems the venture capital community now sees start-ups' plans to use Linux as an advantage, thanks to its lower cost.

Project Reports

• Demo - The last Linux demo was Saturday. Bill Kendrick was unable to convince his Windows XP laptop to boot Knoppix, so demonstrated OpenOffice.org, Mozilla and The Gimp under Windows. About 6-8 people dropped by, and a few of them were there for hours at a time! The next demo will be March 20th.

• Installfests - The next Installfest will be on Saturday, March 20th.

• LERT - No news. (Still need to create a web form!)

• Library - Kevin Felty donated a copy of O'Reilly's Perl in a Nutshell, 1st Edition

Other Business

• New Demo Machine Status - Mike Simons reports that Debian Testing with 2.6.1 kernel isss intalled. The built-in Ethernet (Rhine2-based) seems flakey, although it worked well when connected to a 10-base-T network earlier today. (It reports problems receiving packets.) The processor is a VIA Ezra 800MHz. It also seems to have some power-supply problems when using the DVI/VGA combo PCI card, so we're using the built-in VGA right now.)

• Open Source presentation for Sac. State MISA - Edward Elliott will be speaking at March 25th's Sacramento State Management Information Systems Association (SacMISA) meeting. Those interested in attending should contact him to RSVP and to get a parking pass. Edward is interested in gathering information on local public groups (like schools and government agencies) that are using Linux or other Open Source software. He passed around his current presentation and other information for meeting attendees to look over.

• Whole Earth Festival - At least a half dozen people at this meeting said they'd be willing to volunteer at WEF this May (7th-9th), and Henry House said we can afford the $50 fee for our space. Bill Kendrick will fill out the application form (for an 'educational booth') and we'll send it, plus payment, to WEF later this week.

• Government Technology Conference - No news regarding GTC. We should begin contacting them regarding availability of free or reduced-price space in early April. GTC is May 10th-14th. We'll, of course, need volunteers.

• Financial Report - $28.40 in voluntary dues were collected.

Presentation

• Mark K. Kim did a presentation on Autotools: Autoconf and Automake.

  Presentation notes and examples

Photos

• Photos of this meeting

Attendance

• Bill Kendrick
• Mike Simons
• Jeff Rousch
• Stephen Helms
• Ryan Castellucci
• Hans Uhlig
• Akbar
• Ed Elliott
• Mark K. Kim
• Jean-Jacques Lambert
• Paul
• Ken Bloom
• Bryan Richter
• Jeff Newmiller
• Jeff DeFay
• Richard Harke
• Charlie
• David
• Emily
• Kevin Felty