[Gllug] My response to Ivan's comments made at the recent GLLUG meeting.

[John Hearns]

On Mon, 2002-09-16 at 22:24, Jim Bailey wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 16, 2002 at 04:29:10PM +0100, Mark Lowes wrote:
> > On Sun, 2002-09-15 at 23:24, Colin Murphy wrote:
> > [...]

> > 
> > If by "dumbed down" it's meant that 'lower' or 'lesser' issues will be
> > dealt with on a more frequent basis I don't think that this is a bad
> > thing.  Concentrating on the higher/guru end of Linux is all well and
> > good but it does limit the appeal of the group and the meetings to a
> > small group.  This I feel would be a worse thing.
> >
> I like the guru level stuff even if I can not follow some of it on a
> technical level.  My first Gllug meet, a time when I could barely
> traverse a directory tree included talks on Samba-tng and Linux routing
> both of which I enjoyed and appreciated.  Since then the guru level talks
> have introduced me to CPU internals and kernel debugging.  I doubt if I
> will ever have the knowledge or skills to really put the last two into
> use, at least in the foreseeable future but it didn't stop me enjoying
> them.
> 
> What I would like to see is links to lecture notes for all gllug talks
> placed on the gllug web site as a point of reference for the future.
> 

I agree with what Jim says.
And I would like to speak up in Ivan's defence - we really don't
appreciate the level of speaker which he has tried hard to bring to
GLLUG, and the level of respect in which the group is held.
Let's be honest - many LUG groups are meetings in pubs.
My local one consists of regular Tuesday evening meetings for beers
and flammekuche (think of a flattened pizza). They would really like to
get some talks off the ground, never mind three good talks in a row.
And we have had interest in the group from all over the world -
the Gulf states, Paris and Switzerland.

I recently was discussing a web page which one of our Linux Experts
group had put up, on debugging and crach dump analysis. I got a lot
of kudos when I casually mentioned that I had talked with Richard Moore
about dprobes...

As Jim says, pointers to talks are good, and the new website which
Janet and kim have worked hard on is good for this.
Maybe we can make more use of the Wiki, and maybe some photographs
could go on there - though that could scare newbies away!


Going a bit deeper, I genuinely feel bad about the way I left GLLUG
in the lurch re. the CFC cinema, which was a good venue.

I've always spoken up in favour of a big computer company in London
backing up their claims to support Linux by offering us space - but
nothing has ever come of this. I've tried to make links with the
HPTC division in Compaq/HP, with no result. I know Colin has tried to
make links with IBM. I'm disappointed that we can't make these contacts.

But let's face forward. GLLUG has done very well - and is doing very
well.
Let's look forward to Linux Expo - in a year when, IMHO, Linux has at
last reached centre stage. We are likely to have many people there from
companies, colleges, schools for the very first time.
We want to present a positive front, as one (*) of the leading Linux
resources in the country.
I want to be able to do just what I did yesterday - spot someone from
the UK on the linuxmanagers list and recommend to join GLLUG.



(*) acknowledge other LUGs too



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