[Glastonbury] next meeting

[Martin Wheeler]

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005, Ian Dickinson wrote:

> Hi Martin,
> Wednesdays have got a bit complicated for me with family commitments,
> so getting to the next meeting could be tricky.

I'm actually beginning to favour something like the second Thursday of 
every month myself, so don't worry.

I've just been on the phone to Steve, and there's more than a chance we 
may change the official status of the group as far as the school is 
concerned so we can then use the school premises whenever we want; but 
what this all entails I'm not sure about as yet.  Maybe Steve will let us 
know when he gets on line.

Also, the reason next week's meeting was changed is because Steve will be 
in London that day -- *exactly* the sort of thing Sean and I want to 
avoid.
Mainly because it puts an unfair onus on Steve to be around for the 
meetings whether he wants to be there or not --  and has repercussions on 
whether we can, or can't, meet on a regular basis.
This *has* to be sorted.
Almost three years down the line, and the conditions in place when we set 
up the group no longer obtain -- there are now more than 60 of us, each 
with different limitations; and we have to have a little more tightness in 
the organisation of what we do, and when we do it.

I throw this open for comment and discussion.


>> (If no-one's thought about this yet: Ian, I wouldn't mind hearing how your
>> large-project DocBook coding turned out;
> Weelll - badly would be the summary. In something of a blow for
> DocBook and OSS, I spent the best part of a couple of months wrestling
> with tools.

<sympathetic clucking noises>

I'm sorry to hear it; but I know *exactly* what it's like.
I'm afraid the DocBook / OSS toolchain for heavyweight publications is 
nowhere near competent (or robust) enough at the moment -- it's fairly OK 
for text-only; but get adventurous and start adding complex graphics 
(complex equations? you must be mad!) and you're definitely on your own.

Personally, I've taken to using OpenOffice.org -- it produces beautiful 
pdfs; it allows me to incorporate all my network diagrams and statistical 
charts (I just *hate* editing tables with it, though -- it's so finicky).
I've tried unzipping the .sxw files it produces to get at the XML it 
creates, but it's no easy job picking your way through that without a 
first-class XML graphic editor (sorry - quanta doesn't cut the mustard 
yet).
So yeah -- I know where you're coming from.  Unfortunately.

>   On reflection, I *could* have gone back to
> using LaTeX, which I used to use 15 years ago. Those neurons are
> probably revivable! But by the time I'd finished with DocBook I was
> desperate to stop focusing on tool issues.

(There's nothing wrong with LaTeX.  In fact if you've got exceptional 
print/visual presentation needs, it's probably *still* your best bet.)

Tool issues...  Been there...   *Still* there...



>> or Sean, can you enlighten us on
>> AJAX techniques?)
> How much are non-Linux issues in scope for discussion? There's various
> interesting** software stuff I could talk about, but, like ajax, most
> of it is operating-system neutral.

Well, I'm pretty broad-minded.
As I see it, the Linux User Group is for those who *use* Linux -- for 
whatever.
So anything they use it for is fair game to me.
(Anyone know anything about network analysis?  Heavyweight statistical 
analysis?  I'm teaching myself and making very heavy weather of it.
Could do with a good evening's talk on whatever anyone else has done.)

So folks -- if you're using Linux for something interesting -- let us 
know, and we'll turn up and listen to you talk to us about it.

Cheers all,
-- 
Martin Wheeler   -   StarTEXT / AVALONIX - Glastonbury - BA6 9PH - England
mwheeler at startext.co.uk                http://www.startext.co.uk/mwheeler/
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