[Liverpool] Report from the Liverpool Social Centre meeting

[Sebastian Arcus]

On 02/07/11 22:27, Bob Ham wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The Social Centre have monthly meetings.  I attended the most recent,
> last Tuesday (28th June).  Here's a list of things that were discussed:
>
> * One of the computers needs a private user for collection of Social
>    Centre email.  This needs to not disappear :-)

Has there been any mention of backup? Are they using any form at the 
moment? If they have data of any significance on it, a form of backup of 
some sort would really be necessary.

</snip>

>
>    I noted the massive disparity in cost effectiveness of laser printers
>    and it was decided that it should be the focus.

I don't know what inkjet printer they have at the moment, but Brother 
inkjets use cartridges of a very simple design - which is easy to 
replicate by manufacturers of ink. Thus, it is possible to buy on Amazon 
cartridges for Brother printers for under £1 each - brand new, not 
refills - just not originals. This brings it well inline with laser 
costs per page. Pretty much any Brother which takes LC970, LC980, 
LC1000, LC1100 (or even the older LC900) cartridges will do just fine.

Also, they are far more resilient to clogging then Epson printers - even 
on compatible ink. I have clients running them in small office 
environments for years - without problems.

Of course, there is the issue that an inkjet printer is slower then a 
laser. However, if there is the need for a colour printer - I highly 
recommend the option.

Linux compatibility though is a bit sketchy. Brother has official 
support for Linux drivers, but last time when I tried (about 1.5 years 
ago) - I couldn't get them to work. Maybe things have changed. One of 
the models with network support should be less of a problem - if I 
remember correctly, they support IPP.

>
> * They would like us to run some introductory sessions to show people
>    how to do basic things in Linux.
>
> * One member would like a DTP package (I mentioned Scribus and said I
>    would make sure it was installed).
>
>
> So, to condense this there are a few tasks that need doing immediately:

Considering that there will be some data that potentially needs keeping, 
possibly the need for some automatic backups, and the need to share the 
printers - has there been any mention of possibly turning one of the 
computers into a server - so that things can be kept a bit more centralised?

>
> 1. Set up printing using the laser and/or photocopier
> 2. Set up the projector with one computer
> 3. Run introductory sessions
>
> I'm intending to make a start on the first two this Monday.  In general,
> though, I think the computers in the centre need some kind of attention.
> I'm intending to give them this but that shouldn't discourage others
> from helping.  If you want to get involved, please don't wait for people
> to say "this needs to be done", just get stuck in :-)

I don't want to sound like I'm disagreeing on this one (although I am 
:-) ) - but I think it wouldn't be a bad idea if you (or somebody else) 
would serve as a liaising, central contact point on this. Somebody needs 
to keep track of what has been done, how and by whom. There should be a 
list of things that need doing, and items/subtasks can be assigned to 
people as they offer to help. Having several different people sticking 
their fingers in the system, without any coordination between them, 
without knowing what has already been done by someone else and how, 
doesn't sound like a great idea to me.


(Talk to me, or
> Maria, about getting keys.)
>
> The last one is really the biggy that the LUG can get behind.  I've
> actually been considering the possibility of running some kind of
> beginners sessions where we just have some computers with Linux on that
> people can come and play with.  Possibly we could demonstrate installing
> Linux on a Windows PC or something.

Yes, this could potentially be very useful, if it gets organised so that 
enough support is available.

Anyway, I'm thinking we could put
> something together for the Social Centre people first and then put on a
> session that's open to the general public?  TBD :-)