KLUG meeting minutes.

[Bruce Smith <bruce@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

                      *** Kalamazoo Linux Users Group ***
                                 Meeting Notes
                                 31 March, 1998

The meeting began at 6:05 PM.
Present: Chris Gidman, Robert Brown, Bruce Smith, Rick Knowlton, 
         Steve Scherbinski, Adam Williams

A number of personal experiences were exchanged about computing in general, 
and Linux in Particular, some of whichare of interest to everyone:

  - Our Web site [ http://klug.armintl.com ], has grown a good deal in the 
    last couple of weeks.  Bob and Bruce have been adding to it a little
    at a time, and would like to see feedback from everyone in the group 
    (which is everyone getting these notes). 

    We now have meeting plans, maps showing the meeting site, and other 
    new additions.

    If you have ideas, suggestions for improving the web site, or want to
    contribute your own HTML, please get in touch with Bob, Bruce (or both).

    We have made our site part of the Linux User Group Webring, linking to
    a number of sites belonging to a number (17 at the moment) of other 
    groups. Going around this group of sites yields many worthwhile links,
    resources, software packages, and projects.

    We've also added a link to a site about Kalamazoo, and we'll be getting a
    link from that page as well.
    {Since the meeting, ANOTHER link has been added to our Web Site, for an
     Upcoming Linux Conference}

  - As the number of links we have increase (we now have at least 4, PLUS all
    the LUG Webring links), we need our OWN LOGO.  If any of you are good 
    at using one of the many graphic rendering tools available, We could
    use a logo that is disctinctive, to stand for our group on links across
    the web.  The next link may be on YOUR ISP!  Another chance to contribute
    something to the group.

  - Bruce Smith has perfected the fine art of updating a Linux Distribution,
    Then Recording it on CDROM. Anyone who brings a CDROM (or $2.00) to a
    KLUG meeting will receive (at the next meeting) a CDROM containing Red
    Hat Linux 5.0, with the latest updates from the Red Hat site, as well as
    other software updates as suggested by KLUG members. These CDROMs will
    NOT contain commercial software distributed with the Official Red Hat
    distribution, but does contain the very latest (as in fewer/no bugs)
    versions of many of the Red Hat packages. In addition, the RH Linux
    Powertools, Tips, and other goodies (e.g., Netscape 4) can be found here.

    Bruce has done a great job assembling all of this software, and it was
    thought by all present that this service would be a good benefit of KLUG
    membership.

    Come to meeting, with a blank CD-ROM or a little money.

    Come to the next meeting and pick up your version of "BS-WARE"
    (That's Bruce Smith, folks!)

    Bruce will also duplicate other Linux distribution CDs, as long as there
    is no restrictive copy protection right attached to the content. An
    excellent example of this is SLACKWARE.

Other Topics

  - Rick Knowlton wanted to know if anyone in the group was using An 
    IOMEGA ZIP Drive with Linux, via the parallel port. If so, please 
    write to him, for sdend to the mailing list.... you never know how 
    many people are interesting in the same topic!

  - Adam Williams reports that he has just set up a local nameserver, and
    that the Linux Network Administrators  Guide (Olaf Kirch, O-Reilly/SSC)
    has bad (maybe mistaken, maybe out of date?) examples. He got around 
    this problem.  

    Adam also reports some notable changes to SAMBA, as of the end of March.
    SAMBA is an NFS-like system that works with Windows NT SMB (Server Mes-
    sage Blocks). Anyone interested feel free to contact Adam, or he can 
    supply details to us all.

  - We spent some time discussing future plans as well. The talk that Adam 
    will give was outlined in general terms, and couple of ideas were kicked
    around to focus the attention of the group better.....

        - Going to the "two-tiered" meeting plan without more formal 
          structure has not worked well. We need to provide more
          topics and opportunities for beginners to learn common
          things.

        - The notion of having a highly structured monthly meeting,
          with one advanced, and one beginners topic was raised.

        - Titling at least one meeting per month as a "Beginers'
          Meeting", where people can bring machines,install Linux,
          or explain a problem to a small group of helpers was also 
          suggested.

        - The idea of an "installfest" at John Rollins (West Main)
          is a good one.. They are willing to do this in principle.
          details need to be worked out.  Anyone interested in help-
          ing should writye to Bruce or Robert.

  - More publicity would be a help... we could use someone who only 
    does writing and posting to USENET newsgroups (The net-link.net
    newsgroup for linux is open once again, thanks to Shawn Mattingly).
    Our recent changes have been posted to several newsgroups, and that
    should have followup.

  - The idea of moving the meeting to a new place was also raised. Rick
    Said he'd look into the new Kalamazoo Public Library as a meeting 
    place.  Both Steve and Adam agreed this would be a Good Thing, since 
    it reduces their total drive time by something over a half hour. It
    may increase some travel times (Chrisd and Bob), but they don't really
    mind.

So, the new meeting went well, as we continue to build on a good 
foundation. There are lots of ideas, lots of things to take part
in, and lots of activity as we move to a new time.  Visit the site
and see our new look, links, and plans... and next Tuesday, see you 
there!