[Liverpool] LUG Meeting update - 7pm tonight @ LSC

[Sebastian Arcus]

On 10/01/13 13:16, Dan Lynch wrote:
> On 10/01/13 09:45, Neil Bothwick wrote:
>
>         On Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:23:39 +0000, Sebastian Arcus wrote:
>
>             I should be OK for presentation next month - unless something is
>             already planned for the LUG meeting.
>
>
>         We have Roger Whittaker from SUSE booked for next month, the
>         month after
>         would be good.
>
>
> Has Roger confirmed? You probably told me that before Christmas and I've
> forgotten. I knew we had him pencilled in for Feb. Good news.

Well - I could be the understudy then - ready to take the limelight if 
he gets a better offer at the last minute :-) I'll just have to look up 
what this SUSE is ...

>
> A quick report on last night. 4 of us turned up. Will, Ben, Tony and
> myself. We went through all the computer kit in the corner and worked
> out what was worth keeping, then threw out some of the rubbish. Both
> machines are now working and have all the peripherals they need.
>
> They're running Ubuntu 10.04 and we discussed upgrades. My worry with
> moving to standard 12.04 would be Unity, the complete change of
> interface for users and the amount of resources it needs. They're old P4
> machines and don't have amazing graphics cards. According to my research
> 10.04 LTS support stops in April this year. With 12.04 the desktop
> support cycle was extended to 5 years, so it'll get updates till 2017.
> This makes a good proposition for us. So perhaps installing 12.04 with
> an alternative desktop or using a version of Mint based on it would be
> good. I'm open to suggestions. The current interface is Gnome 2. So
> Gnome 3, KDE, Unity or even XFCE will involve users learning something
> new. That's always the battle.

Do these boxes really have to be upgraded? Is there any software on them 
which is not up to scratch any more? If it's just for security purposes, 
what's that real likelihood of security problems on a Linux box used for 
non-critical stuff?

Alternatively, would something like 'proper' Debian be an option? After 
all, half of the world of distros seem to be based on the thing.

>
> I propose to head down there one Saturday afternoon and spend a bit
> longer sorting things out. I'll let you know more concrete plans nearer
> the time if anyone wants to join me.

I can come. I've put it down in my calendar. Just keep us posted with 
details (time etc.)