Meetings

From Sfvlug

Next Scheduled Membership Meetings

Weekday meeting now held on Mondays. There will be a meeting every Monday, alternating between formal and informal. We will post announcements on which is which.

Monday February 19, 2007 6-9 PM
Topic: Direction For Monday Meetings 
Gayle's Perk's
Northridge, CA 91325
818-893-6507
map

Saturday February 24, 2007 6-9 PM
Topic: RPM & Deb Package Management by Jeff and Brian
Denny's
16575 Sherman Way 
Van Nuys, CA 91406
818 994-0952
map

What are our meetings like?

At the recent SCALE 5x we were asked many questions about what a LUG is and what were our meetings like. I'm going to go ahead and address that issue here on our wiki so all you potential new members get a chance to know what you may be getting into especially if you have a long drive to get to one of our meetings.

I can't speak for every member, I think we all have our own individual reasons for coming and we do have a quite unique and very eclectic group of folks. However, I will try and stay as objective as I can and fill you in on what you might expect from a meeting. Our meetings are very informal, recently we haven't had many scheduled presentations. We have no aversion to formal presentations and we are always welcome suggested topics, anything that you would like to have covered. We do have an eclectic group with members that are complete Linux and Unix newbies as well as highly experienced system administrators and developers. What we really have is several smaller groups meeting at once within the larger group. So, say for instance you are a system administrator, you may have a question that needs to be answered by a system level developer or there might be a newbie that needs to know how to configure /etc/fstab for the new hard drive they just installed. The newbies mostly help each other until they can't figure something out among themselves they will call on someone that may know the answer to their question.

It is a chance to meet with other computer geeks and exchange knowledge. Breaking into sub groups cuts down on spending too much time on a subject about which you may have no interest, the only down side is that meetings can get noisy with many people talking at once. It must also be said that the meetings are not only just chaos, we always try to have a period during each meeting where only one person speaks at a time. During this period of the meeting we encourage members to bring up questions or concerns. We often bring up current events that have an impact on the free exchange of knowledge. Socially and politically we are also quite eclectic and we always try to keep out topics that might be charged. While our politics and religion may not be similar we do all seem to share a love for the free and open sharing of information.

To step up a moment on my pocket sized soap box, the main reason computer science has advance so far and so fast was that in the beginning it was believed that software programs were not subject to patents or other restrictive forms of ownership. It was only later that the attorneys figured out how to raise the ladder. Fortunately the free exchange of ideas went on for a long enough of a time and there were individuals and institutions that worked against the complete monopolization of the computer industry. I could go on, but chances are I'd be preaching to the choir. That you are still reading this you have probably at least entertained the idea that open source software is a good thing for many reasons. However, rather that just let that go at that, it is important to note that Linux advocacy is also a part of our organization, but not a requirement.

OK, you say, so what then is a requirement? That's easy! All that is really required is a thirst for knowledge. If you can't make meetings in person we invite you to join through this wiki or in our IRC channel on freenode.net. In fact if you need the best up to date info on meetings, especially the unofficial Monday meetings, #sfvlug is the best place to go. There may be periods when nobody will participate for a couple of days straight, this can be frustrating especially someone not familiar with IRC, so don't give up if no one answers you right away.

It is my distinct impression that besides finding out how to install a special driver, a tip on a job opening, or other personal gain it is the opportunity to share in a community. I personally have as deep a sense of community with this organization as I have where I live. I hope to see you at a meeting soon. --Miasma 23:08, 16 February 2007 (EST)