NOTE: Minutes posted on the Wiki are always unofficial. Schedules for upcoming presentations are always tentative. (Some more tentative than others!)

• No physical meeting until further notice
  • When we again have physical meetings, we would like to continue video meetings in conjunction with physical meetings.
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Batcave and ZOOM.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: This is where we consider any additions, changes, deletions, sequence changes, or other changes to items in the prepared agenda.

  * HISTORY: 
  * We can consider changes prior to all reviews, planning and OLD BUSINESS items.
    * By jumping ahead, then back, without altering agenda layout sequence.
  * Do NOT alter agenda layout sequence, during current meeting.
  * Moving a listed item out of sequence makes later editing difficult.
  * 
  * We can jump to **Old Business** items, consider, then back to usual sequence.
  * We can jump to **New Business** section, create new item, consider, then jump back to usual sequence.
  * By NOT altering agenda layout sequence during the meeting, that will keep it easier to build the next agenda.

• AGENDA CHANGE:
• QUESTION: Are there any additions, deletions, or other changes to sequence of items in the prepared agenda?
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • Last month the decision was to jump to business for Sean Twiehaus so that he could leave early.
  • However; Stan R went right on into doing normal routine reports and nobody stopped him.
  • We could have done it better, allowing Sean to leave much earlier. Sorry.
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Count Ballots before the rest of the meeting.
  • Yes.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Sean T will not be able to stay for whole meeting.
  • Yes, we will jump ahead, so that he can demonstrate topic he has been working on.
  • 

     April 2024       
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  
    1  2  3  4  5  6  
 7  8  9 10 11 12 13  
14 15 16 17 18 19 20  
21 22 23 24 25 26 27  
28 29 30              

• QUESTION: Have the recorders been started ( they should be, before call to order )?
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

• QUESTION: When was STEERCOM meeting called to order?
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Monday, April 1st, 2024
  • TIME:

Listed alphabetically by last name:

* James Conroy

* Jonathan Drews

* David Forrest

* Ed Howland

* Ken Johnson present.

* Lee Lammert present.

* Gary Meyer present.

* Stan Reichardt

* Steve Stegmann

* Sean Twiehaus present shortly.

SUMMARY: Somebody has to build the agenda and then record the minutes.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments:
  • Stan R would like Sean T to act as recording Secretary ( if present and he still would ).
  • Sean offered in future, as requested.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Stan will Do tonight.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Stan will do tonight.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Stan out of town, has Internet access; but, uncertain whether will be able to attend and do minutes.
  • Ken Johnson is recording secretary tonight.

SUMMARY: Lee Lammert has been posting balances from bank statements.

• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • USPS is post office box.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We maintain a calendar of technical events in the Greater St. Louis area and surrounding regions.

  * HISTORY: 
  * Not all events are official/sponsored SLUUG events. All sponsored events are shown in red.
  * Items have been added and corrected by Stan R, Gary Meyer and Don Ellis.
  * Items listed on this calendar were used to feed the ANNOUNCE weekly mailing.
  * Events on HIATUS are NOT counted! Historical items are NOT counted!  
  * Only face-to-face meetings were counted!
  * Detailed breakdown showing cancelled, defunct, delayed, missed, moved, and postponed meetings was being done.
  * The page has been altered to allow showing separate displays of supported meetings from sponsored meetings.
  * Stan R has discontinued doing detailed breakdown of calendar entries believing it is too much effort for too little value.

• SLUUG Calendar is a Google Calendar available on our web site.
• Count of number of events listed, each month, as of end of March 2024:

=

  * LEGEND:
  * Greyed out areas indicate corrections or never previously reported counts.
  * xxx - numbers not recorded.
  * ??? - Future Numbers.
  * Stopped counting general Saint Louis County Library events in May 2016.
  * Re-counted April 2016 without library events.
  * Count of calendar entries for May is down from previous months. No explanation is given.
  * Count of calendar entries for March 2020 misleading because of 
  * Limited maintenance effort for March 2020 because CORONAVIRUS-19 self-isolation effects.
  * Started counting **moved** and **delayed** items in April 2020 as considered being useful.
  * Improvements in Google Calendar feature limits to five days processing at at time, takes
    * about 10 times as long to perform counting. Much more tedious.
  * Five day limitation "improvement" gone, no longer takes so much longer to count.

• ISSUES:
• Originally only local STL face-to-face meetings were counted. Started adding remote meetings.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to December 2023 Steercom have been removed.
• 2023-12-04 Comments:
  • Went back to get counts for September and October.
  • We found that Google changed the functions of the calendar display.
  • Google Calendar used to have an AGENDA listing feature, now replaced with more limited SCHEDULE feature.
  • We do not get same level of detail from SCHEDULE display that we used for scraping events for counting.
  • Counts from September onward seemed to be low compared to previous methods.
  • There is a way to ask for detail; but, not as of yet sure that it is giving good results.
  • Went back to August, only got 112 compared to previous method result of 300.
  • Went back to July, only got 108 compared to previous method result of 299.
  • Our ongoing cleaning up and removing of listings for defunct events may be reason for the significant change.
  • We never kept the files used from previous counting, so we are unable to determine how results have changed.
  • The new method counts all day events and events with a specific time, not historical entries.
  • So, we are now only counting events, not overall effort made while putting information on the calendar.
  • Future Event Stan R gets run over by a truck.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: Blame Stan R.
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • Counts seem to include a lot of the actual live events ( many remote ones ).
  • Gary starting to purge defunct meetings. Changes have been appreciated.
  • Ed H gave us history of O'Reilly's FOO camp and the resulting BAR camp ( thus Foo Bar ).
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Gary has not been purging some of the meetings listed. Slow progression is coming.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: Mailing List Report combined with MEETUP membership count, now called Subscriber Report.

  * HISTORY: 
  * We counted how many were on each SLUUG mailing list, then started using MEETUP dot COM site. 
  * These numbers roughly estimate size of our community over time. Both growth and shrinkage.

• Subscriber numbers (approximate) as of end of March 2024:

|

  * LEGEND:
  * Numbers as of end of each month.
  * Blocking of mailing list attachments not completely configured yet.
  * This will be much easier to do on BOCK.
  * ANNOUNCE mailing list.
    * Still no volunteer editor to do a quarterly or monthly newsletter.
  * Command used to generate these (as root on Bud):
    * /usr/lib/mailman/bin/list_members **list_name** | wc -l (This doesn't seem to work on Bock.)
  * Greyed out areas indicate corrections or never previously reported counts.
  * xxx - numbers not recorded.
  * ??? - Future Numbers.

• ISSUES:
• We do NOT have any account access or control to our presence and videos on Google+ or YouTube.
• We do NOT know how or what to count in Google+ NOR do we know how to metric videos.
• We do NOT know how or what to count in YouTube NOR do we know how to metric videos.
• No way to change meeting dates or set temporary hiatus in Google+
• Don was to investigate Google+ status
• Don was to place credentials for YouTube and any others on Bock /home/sluug
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: Lee pointed out correction to program for doing counts.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Life is just too exciting. Life is more than just junk mail.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: Somewhat reflects the community interest in topics. Or, how well we publicised event.

  * HISTORY: 
  * Initial mail list subscriptions were prompted by attendance sheets.
  * Group leaders are responsible for taking attendance at face-to-face meetings.
  * Remote session attendance display with ZOOM does NOT work automatically.
  * Remote session attendance done best using extra recording with Linux SimpleScreenRecorder software. 

• Blank attendance sheets are available here
• Attendance numbers, as of end of March 2024:

|

Proposed layout for next year, without parenthases. Was agreed upon during December 2023 meeting.

  * LEGEND:
  * Greyed out areas indicate corrections or never previously reported counts.
  * xx - numbers not yet recorded, attendance not taken, or sheet missing.
  * ?? - Future Numbers.
  *(9) - Number in parentheses is head count. Use head count if greater than attendance sheet count (or sheet missing).
  * *  - sLUGs was STL Linux Users Group for Seniors with initial meeting 8 February 2015. Discontinued October 2017.
  * *  - SNUG SuSe was STL Novell Users Group with lunch meeting.  Discontinued December 2017.
  * -  - dash indicates no meeting (NEWLUG March 2020).

• ISSUES:
• Remote ZOOM sessions do not provide record of attendance. Currently done by Stan R with separate video recording.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to December 2023 Steercom have been removed.
• 2023-12-04 Comments:
  • Since there is no longer a sign-in sheet difference from actual head count, Stan R would like to remove parentheses that surround numbers.
  • Stan R uses a separate connection ( named Anonymous Coward ) to record virtual meeting attendance. Nobody else is doing this.
  • Stan R records meeting attendance in a LibreOffice Database and makes it available from the Steering Committee webpage
  • Nobody else is recording the attendance or even seems to be looking at that ATTENDANCE database.
  • Future Event Stan R gets run over by a truck.
  • Gary does screen shots, giving some kind of attendance.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: Stan R was amazed at number of folks that attended NEWLUNIX on the day after Xmas.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: NEWLINUX attendance strong, with a bunch of people from MEETUP.
• 2025-03-04 Comments: NEWLINUX was down in numbers; but, quality was high.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We try to analyse what happened or what was presented at the previous months meetings.

     March 2024       
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  
                1  2  
 3  4  5  6  7  8  9  
10 11 12 13 14 15 16  
17 18 19 20 21 22 23  
24 25 26 27 28 29 30  
31                    

• Volunteers do counting before STEERCOM called to order.

• SLUUG Board Membership changes acknowledged, published and recorded
• SLUUG Officers appointed from amoung ballot advisory votes

SUMMARY: Usually no presentation; so, held as a Configuration Workshop offering installation and configuration help. Hardware, Operating System and Vendor agnostic.

• SLACC is the Saint Louis Area Computer Club.
  • First Thursday of each month. Free format; so attendance determines what is covered.
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • One first time and one second time attendee. A few questions we could not provide good solutions. Otherwise, not many hardware or software configuration questions before going off on tangents.

Some questions and discussion about systemd journaling logs, and demonstration of using pinfo to navigate info pages. Question was asked about drop dead time to upgrade BOCK to debian 11.

    Ballot not yet avilable; but, explained that ballots would be made available on line and would be accepted for counting up to date of next Steering Committee meeting.
    Gary M described SLUUG Base session time as quickly covering required **annual meeting** and **Brief Review of Debian Upgrade**. 
    Also, MAIN Topic **Continued Growth of Artificial Intelligence** by Scott Granneman.
* 2024-03-04 Comments: None
* 2024-04-01 Comments:
  * :?:

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• BASE (Personal Computing):
  • STATUS: Done
  • WHAT: Cloning BOCK and Bringing Online
  • BY: Lee Lammert
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: NA
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • BIO: YES
• REMARKS:
  • We did not have an alternative ( secondary ) topic on hand.
  • November SLUUG BASE was script recording by Stan Reichardt
  • December SLUUG BASE was Asciinema by Sean Twiehaus
  • January SLUUG BASE was History of the Shell by Ed Howland
  • February SLUUG BASE was Brief Review of Debian Upgrade by volunteers
  • March SLUUG BASE was Cloning Bock and Bringing Online by Lee Lammert
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • Official annual meeting required by charter.
  • Ballot not finished, needs to be available online NLT 14 February main meeting.
  • Can we have specific email address for submitting ballots?
  • We need to explain ballots sent by email are not anonymous nor secret, and that
  • ballots sent thru USPS surface mail can be handled and treated to be anonymous and secret.
  • BOCK is on OpenSuSE virtual machine with XEN kernel. Issue is that Lee has yet to figure out how to clone BOCK.
  • vote2024@sluug.org is email address for submitting ballots, received by Lee, Gary and Stan.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

—- COOKIE TIME ~ ANNOUNCEMENTS ~ CALL FOR HELP (Gooey Middle):

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• MAIN (Professional Computing):
  • STATUS: Done
  • WHAT: Computer History From 1968 On
  • BY: Scott Granneman
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • BIO: NA
  • REMARKS:
    • We did not have an alternative ( secondary ) topic on hand.
    • November SLUUG MAIN was Microsoft Windows Subsystem for Android by Jon Newbold, Microsoft
    • December SLUUG MAIN was Python's Pandas Data Frames by Robert Citek
    • January SLUUG MAIN was Systemd Timers Better than Cron by Sean Twiehaus
    • February SLUUG MAIN was Continued Growth of Artificial Intelligence by Scott Granneman
    • March SLUUG MAIN was Computer History From 1968 On by Scott Granneman
• 2024-04-01 Comments: Big Thank you, done on short notice. Those who like history enjoyed
• the talk. There was good audience participation.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Originally confirmed Linux Virtualization Round Table BY: Robert Citek
  • However, withdrawn because of scheduling conlict.
  • 

SUMMARY: Formal presentations usually focused on LINUX Operating System

• STLLINUX is the St. Louis Linux Users Group.
• Planning Schedule Report
  • Eight days after SLUUG MAIN General Meeting.
• LINUX
  • STATUS: Consider
  • WHAT: Using LLM and RAG
  • BY: Sean Twiehaus
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: Coming next week.
  • BIO: NA
  • REMARKS:
    • We did not have an alternative (secondary) topic on hand.
    • November STLLINUX was Transport Layer Security ( TLS ) by Michael Lucas
    • December STLLINUX was ZFS 3-2-1 Backup and Bitrot by Sean Twiehaus
    • January STLLINUX was Introduction to Hadoop by Steven Lembark
    • February STLLINUX was Large Language Models by Alex Towell
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Original draft title: Demonstration of Local LLM
  • Well presented, timely.

SUMMARY: Previously named Hazelwood LUG (HZWLUG), then Newcomer LUG (NEWLUG). Now, Newcomer Linux User Group is designated as NEWLINUX. The NEWLINUX home page lists a number of topics to provide general directions from which we could start. Usually no presentation; so, held as a Beginner Workshop offering installation and configuration help. Topics are usually determined by attendees. We usually cover way more than one topic.

• NEWLUG was how we named our Linux Users Group (LUG) for Linux Newcomers.
  • NEWLINUX is name that we can frequently use for our Newcomer Linux Users Group.
  • Fourth Tuesday of each month. Free format; so attendance determines what is covered.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: This is where we discuss available and confirmed meeting topics. GOAL: To map out meeting topics for as much as 3 months out.

• No physical face-to-face meetings until further notice.
• When we again have physical meetings, we would like to continue video meetings in conjunction with any physical meetings.
• We try to track prospects to give presentations at our SLUUG General (SLUUG) meeting and LINUX (STLLINUX) meetings.
• We try to segregate topic types as either BASE, MAIN or LINUX, with BASE and MAIN given at the General meeting (SLUUG).
• BASE topics should be oriented toward simpler Personal Computing. Usually given at General meeting (SLUUG).
• Short is good. Something fundamental, introductory, instructive or simple.
• MAIN topics should be oriented more toward advanced or Professional Computing. Usually given at General meeting (SLUUG).
• Something more advanced, detailed, important, profound, new, significant, timely or useful.
• LINUX topics often could be either at the General meeting or at the St. Louis Linux Users Group (STLLINUX) meetings.
• We want to have alternative (secondary) topic on hand if primary speaker doesn't show.
• Gary will continue to explore different computer manufacturers (ex: Cray) who might be able to do presentation "Where are they now?"

     April 2024       
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  
    1  2  3  4  5  6  
 7  8  9 10 11 12 13  
14 15 16 17 18 19 20  
21 22 23 24 25 26 27  
28 29 30              

• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: Usually no presentation; so, held as a Configuration Workshop offering installation and configuration help. Hardware, Operating System and Vendor agnostic.

• SLACC is the Saint Louis Area Computer Club.
  • First Thursday of each month. Free format; so attendance determines what is covered.
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • One first time and one second time attendee. A few questions we could not provide good solutions. Otherwise, not many hardware or software configuration questions before going off on tangents.

Some questions and discussion about systemd journaling logs, and demonstration of using pinfo to navigate info pages. Question was asked about drop dead time to upgrade BOCK to debian 11.

    Ballot not yet avilable; but, explained that ballots would be made available on line and would be accepted for counting up to date of next Steering Committee meeting.
    Gary M described SLUUG Base session time as quickly covering required **annual meeting** and **Brief Review of Debian Upgrade**. 
    Also, MAIN Topic **Continued Growth of Artificial Intellegence** by Scott Granneman.
* 2024-03-04 Comments: None
* 2024-04-01 Comments:
  * :?:

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• BASE (Personal Computing):
  • STATUS: Confirmed
  • WHAT: Screenshot-to-Code
  • BY: Sean Twiehaus
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: NA
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • BIO: NA
• REMARKS:
  • We did not have an alternative ( secondary ) topic on hand.
  • December SLUUG BASE was Asciinema by Sean Twiehaus
  • January SLUUG BASE was History of the Shell by Ed Howland
  • February SLUUG BASE was Brief Review of Debian Upgrade by volunteers
  • March SLUUG BASE was Cloning BOCK and Bringing Online by Lee Lammert
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • Official annual meeting required by charter.
  • Ballot not finished, needs to be available online NLT 14 February main meeting.
  • Can we have specific email address for submitting ballots?
  • We need to explain ballots sent by email are not anonymous nor secret, and that
  • ballots sent thru USPS surface mail can be handled and treated to be anonymous and secret.
  • BOCK is on OpenSuSE virtual machine with XEN kernel. Issue is that Lee has yet to figure out how to clone BOCK.
  • vote2024@sluug.org is email address for submitting ballots, received by Lee, Gary and Stan.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments: A sly pitch for help with website migration project.
  • 

—- COOKIE TIME ~ ANNOUNCEMENTS ~ CALL FOR HELP (Gooey Middle):

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• MAIN (Professional Computing):
  • STATUS: Available
  • WHAT: To Be Determined
  • BY: Unknown
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • BIO: NA
  • REMARKS:
    • Gary will ask at Microsoft re xz
    • November SLUUG MAIN was Microsoft Windows Subsystem for Android by Jon Newbold, Microsoft
    • December SLUUG MAIN was Python's Pandas Data Frames by Robert Citek
    • January SLUUG MAIN was Systemd Timers Better than Cron by Sean Twiehaus
    • February SLUUG MAIN was Continued Growth of Artificial Intelligence by Scott Granneman
    • March SLUUG MAIN was Computer History From 1968 On by Scott Granneman
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Originally confirmed Linux Virtualization Round Table BY: Robert Citek
  • However, withdrawn because of scheduling conflict.
  • 

SUMMARY: Formal presentations usually focused on LINUX Operating System

• STLLINUX is the St. Louis Linux Users Group.
• Planning Schedule Report
  • Eight days after SLUUG MAIN General Meeting.
• LINUX
  • STATUS: Available
  • WHAT: To Be Determined
  • BY: Unknown
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • BIO: NA
  • REMARKS:
    • We did not have an alternative (secondary) topic on hand.
    • December STLLINUX was ZFS 3-2-1 Backup and Bitrot by Sean Twiehaus
    • January STLLINUX was Introduction to Hadoop by Steven Lembark
    • February STLLINUX was Large Language Models by Alex Towell
    • March STLLINUX was Using LLM and RAG by Sean Twiehaus
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • R libraries talk is a possibility

SUMMARY: Previously named Hazelwood LUG (HZWLUG), then Newcomer LUG (NEWLUG). Now, Newcomer Linux User Group is designated as NEWLINUX. The NEWLINUX home page lists a number of topics to provide general directions from which we could start. Usually no presentation; so, held as a Beginner Workshop offering installation and configuration help. Topics are usually determined by attendees. We usually cover way more than one topic.

• NEWLUG was how we named our Linux Users Group (LUG) for Linux Newcomers.
  • NEWLINUX is name that we can frequently use for our Newcomer Linux Users Group.
  • Fourth Tuesday of each month. Free format; so attendance determines what is covered.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments: None
  • 

      May 2024        
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  
          1  2  3  4  
 5  6  7  8  9 10 11  
12 13 14 15 16 17 18  
19 20 21 22 23 24 25  
26 27 28 29 30 31     

• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: Usually no presentation; so, held as a Configuration Workshop offering installation and configuration help. Hardware, Operating System and Vendor agnostic.

• SLACC is the Saint Louis Area Computer Club.
  • First Thursday of each month. Free format; so attendance determines what is covered.
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • One first time and one second time attendee. A few questions we could not provide good solutions. Otherwise, not many hardware or software configuration questions before going off on tangents.

Some questions and discussion about systemd journaling logs, and demonstration of using pinfo to navigate info pages. Question was asked about drop dead time to upgrade BOCK to debian 11.

    Ballot not yet avilable; but, explained that ballots would be made available on line and would be accepted for counting up to date of next Steering Committee meeting.
    Gary M described SLUUG Base session time as quickly covering required **annual meeting** and **Brief Review of Debian Upgrade**. 
    Also, MAIN Topic **Continued Growth of Artificial Intellegence** by Scott Granneman.
* 2024-03-04 Comments: None
* 2024-04-01 Comments:
  * :?:

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• BASE (Personal Computing):
  • STATUS: Available
  • WHAT: To Be Determined
  • BY: Unknown
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: NA
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • BIO: YES
• REMARKS:
  • We did not have an alternative ( secondary ) topic on hand.
  • December SLUUG BASE was Asciinema by Sean Twiehaus
  • January SLUUG BASE was History of the Shell by Ed Howland
  • February SLUUG BASE was Brief Review of Debian Upgrade by volunteers
  • March SLUUG BASE was Cloning BOCK and Bringing Online by Lee Lammert
  • April SLUUG BASE was To Be Determined by Unknown
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • Official annual meeting required by charter.
  • Ballot not finished, needs to be available online NLT 14 February main meeting.
  • Can we have specific email address for submitting ballots?
  • We need to explain ballots sent by email are not anonymous nor secret, and that
  • ballots sent thru USPS surface mail can be handled and treated to be anonymous and secret.
  • BOCK is on OpenSuSE virtual machine with XEN kernel. Issue is that Lee has yet to figure out how to clone BOCK.
  • vote2024@sluug.org is email address for submitting ballots, received by Lee, Gary and Stan.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

—- COOKIE TIME ~ ANNOUNCEMENTS ~ CALL FOR HELP (Gooey Middle):

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• MAIN (Professional Computing):
  • STATUS: Uncertain
  • WHAT: A Talk about Ruby
  • BY: Craig Buchek
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • BIO: NA
  • REMARKS:
    • We did not have an alternative ( secondary ) topic on hand.
    • November SLUUG MAIN was Microsoft Windows Subsystem for Android by Jon Newbold, Microsoft
    • December SLUUG MAIN was Python's Pandas Data Frames by Robert Citek
    • January SLUUG MAIN was Systemd Timers Better than Cron by Sean Twiehaus
    • February SLUUG MAIN was Continued Growth of Artificial Intelligence by Scott Granneman
    • March SLUUG MAIN was Computer History From 1968 On by Scott Granneman
    • April SLUUG MAIN was To Be Determined by Unknown
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Originally confirmed Linux Virtualization Round Table BY: Robert Citek
  • However, withdrawn because of scheduling conlict.
  • 

SUMMARY: Formal presentations usually focused on LINUX Operating System

• STLLINUX is the St. Louis Linux Users Group.
• Planning Schedule Report
  • Eight days after SLUUG MAIN General Meeting.
• LINUX
  • STATUS: Available
  • WHAT: To Be Determined
  • BY: Unknown
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: NA
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • BIO: NA
  • REMARKS:
    • We did not have an alternative (secondary) topic on hand.
    • December STLLINUX was ZFS 3-2-1 Backup and Bitrot by Sean Twiehaus
    • January STLLINUX was Introduction to Hadoop by Steven Lembark
    • February STLLINUX was Large Language Models by Alex Towell
    • March STLLINUX was Using LLM and RAG by Sean Twiehaus
    • April STLLINUX was To Be Determined by Unknown
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Original draft title: Demonstration of Local LLM
  • 

SUMMARY: Previously named Hazelwood LUG (HZWLUG), then Newcomer LUG (NEWLUG). Now, Newcomer Linux User Group is designated as NEWLINUX. The NEWLINUX home page lists a number of topics to provide general directions from which we could start. Usually no presentation; so, held as a Beginner Workshop offering installation and configuration help. Topics are usually determined by attendees. We usually cover way more than one topic.

• NEWLUG was how we named our Linux Users Group (LUG) for Linux Newcomers.
  • NEWLINUX is name that we can frequently use for our Newcomer Linux Users Group.
  • Fourth Tuesday of each month. Free format; so attendance determines what is covered.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

     June 2024        
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  
                   1  
 2  3  4  5  6  7  8  
 9 10 11 12 13 14 15  
16 17 18 19 20 21 22  
23 24 25 26 27 28 29  
30                    

SUMMARY: We put up a server on the Internet for email, it grew, and now we have to maintain it.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2023 Steercom have been removed.
• 2023-01-09 Comments: DNS zone transfers broken right now. Investigating. Everything else working fine.
• 2023-01-30 Comments for February: Running fine. No rush to go to Debian 11.
• 2023-02-27 Comments for March::
  • Removed comments prior to January 2023.
  • Running fine. BOCK is a virtual machine. Host will be updated some time in March.
• 2023-04-03 Comments:
  • Running. Kernel update brought down for just 5 to 10 minutes. No complaints.
  • Mike Knight found 4.4 Gb of data that Stan R had temporarily hosted for BUGLug.
• 2023-05-01 Comments: Still running. Expect to upgrade from Debian 10 to 11 sometime this year.
• 2023-06-05 Comments: Seems to be working ( many thanks to maintenance script written by Mike Knight ).
• 2023-06-26 Comments for July:

=

=

• 2023-07-31 Comments for August: We need to post to DISCUSS about a project to upgrade BOCK.
• 2023-08-28 Comments for September: Biggest concern on BOCK upgrade is around MAILMAN.
• 2023-10-02 Comments: Planning to move from Debian 10 to Debian 11. Emcee should ask for volunteers.
• 2023-10-30 Comments for November:
  • Mike Knight has been doing considerable research on mail problems.
  • We still need to consider mailman versions available for Debian 11 or 12.
  • We need to improve publicity for volunteer for transition to Debian.
  • Gary suggests not doing December (too encumbered) to do transition, maybe January or February.
  • Need to decide whether to do live upgrade session during MAIN or STLLINUX meeting.
• 2023-12-04 Comments:
  • Lee has tweeked Postfix problems.
  • Mike Knight solves some email problems, set up DEMARK and some paramaters that help with the mailing lists..
• 2024-01-03 Comments: Planning in progress, Wiki page is up for contributions of thoughts and issues.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Nothing
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Nothing
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

• 2024-01-03 Comments:
  • Mike Knight has been looking at Mail
  • Lee recommends collecting ideas to build steps.
    • A to-do list ( structure ).
    • A what-we-did list ( a Wiki manager ).
  • Lee suggests two people,
    • one to build Wiki Page documentation.
    • second is recording as we go along
  • Spin up of testing version in a Virtua Machine.
  • Sean Twiehaus will give shot at building Wiki instance.
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • Sean Twiehaus created https://wiki.sluug.org/bock_upgrade_debian_10_-_11
  • Stan R added Debian LTS End of Life link to the Reference section.
  • Discussion will be during BASE time on 14 February.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Lee will cover next SLUUG BASE period.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We have a traditional Internet presence with the existence of our main SLUUG web site.

• Usage statistics for Bock Web Pages https://www.sluug.org/hitreport/.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2023 Steercom have been removed.
• 2023-01-09 Comments: Mike Knight posted about broken and missing links. That prompted Stan R to make some corrections ( not all yet ).
• 2023-01-30 Comments for February:
  • Some discussion about making STLLINUX site more resemble SLUUG front page.
  • Consensus that it would be good idea and should clean up some Google Lighthouse complaints.
• 2023-02-27 Comments for March::
  • Mike Knight posted remarking that we frequently state in many places NO PHYSICAL MEETINGS until further notice.
  • His question is "Should they just state NO PHYSICAL MEETINGS.
  • Or is there a plan for future real face-to-face meetings, and thus the hope for a "further notice"?
  • Per Stan R there are no plans for future face-to-face SLACC and NEWLINUX meetings.
  • Per Lee Nic-N-Elana's restaurant going strong ( old site ).
  • We will leave narrative, so there is some hope.
• 2023-04-03 Comments: Stan R. way behind in website updates.
• 2023-05-01 Comments: Stan R. starting to catch up ( somewhat ). Barely keeping up. Little reorganization as hoped.
• 2023-06-05 Comments: Mostly simple barely keeping up. No progress on keeping things logical or stream lined.
• 2023-06-26 Comments for July: Stan R still maintaining and not drowning. Treading water.
• 2023-07-31 Comments for August: Nothing important.
• 2023-08-28 Comments for September: Steady as we go.
• 2023-10-02 Comments: Usual. Not enough time to clean up much.
• 2023-10-30 Comments for November:
  • Stan R combined meeting listing from STLLINUX home page with Presentation Archives page. Used available info, clean up still needed.
  • Stan R then placed Presentation Archive iframe page on all three sponsored home pages, the SLACC, STLLINUX and NEWLINUX home pages.
• 2023-12-04 Comments: Added Presentation Archive iframe page to the Steercom web page.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: None, keeping up.
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • Usage statistics for Bock Web Pages https://www.sluug.org/hitreport/.
    • Gives numbers; but, they are not deeply informative.
    • Stan R ( and maybe all of us ) should be intereseted in knowing how many views of Presentation Archive items we were getting.
    • We might start polling during meetings, whether memebers are looking at Presentation Archive items.
  • We are fat, dumb and happy. Even we don't look at what we have.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Nothing really new.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We have recorded many of our past meetings and made some of them available on the Internet.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: Keeping up with current recordings. Not time for dealing with back-log of old recordings.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Keeping up.
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Stan uploaded the presentation archive videos from the year 2019 to our YOUTUBE dot COM SLUUG channel.
  • Sean T is willing to help with adding thumbnails and narratives to the material.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We have presence on MEETUP.COM.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: Meetup sucks, removing mistakes send out confusing CANCELLATION message.
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • In a previous month ( December ? ) Stan R had reduced membership count by deleting many unrecogized names.
  • On 20 January MEETUP membership showed as 999. Stan R reduced count again, to 896 by deleting many unrecognized names.
  • Have not seen any elimanated names show back up.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: New subscribers jumped to 30 this month. Previous months usually were about 10 new subscribers.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We presume that our single web site isn't enough to draw younger crowd.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: No feedback from James Conroy or Sean Twiehaus about any social media.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: No specific comments, some discussion early in this meeting.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Per Gary Meetup sucks.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: As a historical descendant of our monthly newsletter, the ANNOUNCE mailing had been a weekly extract of our SLUUG GOOGLE Calendar of Events. Previous editors had also styled it less of 1 liners of the entire calendar and more of abstracts of OUR talks & outstanding interest items.

  * **HISTORY:** The subscriber list has been populated from attendance sheets by a nominating subscription process, which requires human input.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: None.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Stan R thought archive was broken, but it was human error PICNIC ( Problem In Chair Not In Computer ) .
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Nothing new.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: Combine recording physical plus remote meetings

  * HISTORY: 
      * We have for the longest time been saying: 
      * **No physical face-to-face meetings until further notice.**
      * When we again have physical meetings, we would like to continue video meetings in conjunction with any physical meetings.
      * So, in anticipation of future openings of libraries and restaurants,
        * reduction of lock-down, we need to work toward perfecting the technology. 

• 2021-07-05
  • Project considerations
    • Locations
    • Schedule ~ Timeline
  • Assets
    • Staffing
      • Project Leader ~ Lee Lammert (at least Point Of Contact)
      • Project Wrangler ~ Steve Stegmann (if he will remember)
      • Recording Hardware ~ Lee Lammert
      • Recording Software ~ Tyler Rudie (had been experimenting with OBS during July STLLINUX meeting)
      • Remote Virtual Software ~ ZOOM or Jitsi (maybe better) ?
      • Head Count (local clipboard and remote software participant panel to capture attendance).
      • Production Chief(s) ~
        • does recording and archives.
        • one for remote and one for live location
      • Minions
    • Equipment ~ inventory ~ splitter ~ projectors ~ microphones ~ cameras ~ smartphone cameras ~ portability
      • avoid condenser microphones ~ want dynamic microphones (which may be more expensive)
    • Servers ~ ZOOM ~ Jitsi
    • Software ~ OBS ~ Discord? ~
      • Capabilities ~ Remote Video ~ Chat ~ Recording ~ Screen Sharing ~ YouTube Streaming?
      • Documentation ~ Diagrams ~ Limitations
      • Testing ~ Bat Cave? ~ Restaurant?
  • Discussion:
    • Gary M virtual remote experience at 2600 club was not good. They did not have splitter for hybrid session.
    • Lee figures harder, quite difficult, do we want to really do it. How do we do recordings?
    • Stan R says local noise too much at restaurants.
    • Head counts need to be considered. Gary once shared ZOOM participant panel. We need to promote sharing participant panel(s) for count heads.
    • Stan R has less problem using Jitsi.
    • Stan R thought Jitsi does not have built in recording (may not be true).
    • Stan R uses Linux SimpleScreenRecorder (SSR) to record all remote sessions. Specifically activates participant panel while recording sessions with SSR.
    • We must consider when will libraries open up. Also, Siemens, Nick and Elena's restaurant.
    • Gary suggests we move this topic earlier in agenda. We don't expect to make much progress right away; but, need to keep in mind.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: None.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: None
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Any volunteer effort would be appreciated.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We try to record many of our meetings.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to December 2023 Steercom have been removed.
• 2023-12-04 Comments:
  • Note that We have not made any progress toward moving to hybrid meetings.
  • Also, we have NOT agressively advertised seeking assistance in developing hybrid meeting techniques.
  • Have we essentially abandoned face-to-face meetings?
  • Should we consider donating or selling these assets?
• 2024-01-03 Comments:
  • No actions or decisions made on previous month comments.
  • Since nobody is volunteering to do work, we won't make any progress.
  • Will come back eventually; just, we don't know when.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Not likely to bring much money.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: No change. Keep on list.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We use for head count tracking and for member voting qualification during each Calendar Year (CY)

  * HISTORY: 
  * Attendance tracking necessary for member qualifications to vote in our annual elections.
  * At face-to-face meetings we would pass around clipboard with sign-in sheet.
  * The standard remote video recordings do not automatically show participants.
  * Stan R runs a second connection to each video meeting named **Anonymous Coward** to record attendance. 

• LibreOffice BASE Attendance database file is available for download from https://www.sluug.org/steercom/ page.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments:
  • Keeping up the counts. Lee said very worthwhile.
  • Stan R suggests we do away with elections and just do a lottery for positions.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Run under Russian Rules.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Actually used to validate voter qualifaction. Used it to reject one ballot as NOT QUALIFIED.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We have LibreOffice BASE for tracking BASE, MAIN and STLLINUX meeting topics and speakers.

  * HISTORY: 
  * A running database helps Gary schedule meetings.

• LibreOffice BASE Planning database is available from https://www.sluug.org/steercom webpage.
• Go to https://www.sluug.org/steercom/ has link to planning.pdf
• or directly to report at Planning Schedule Report
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: Lee was amazed about how many presentation he had done.
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • Stan R added General meeting BASE and Main items, plus STLLINUX items for 1996 from info in old newsletters.
  • The event items include WHEN TYPE STATUS WHAT WHO, giving a more complete history of our past efforts.
  • Will have to add our previous Special Interest Group, the Computer Telephony Integration (CTI).
  • Likely will later start including the previous Saint Charles Linux Users Group events.
  • Above will be done when Stan R has time.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Any improvements will likely have to wait until after BOCK upgrade.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We have informational handout PDFs available http://www.sluug.org/resources/handouts/.

  * HISTORY: 
  *The PDFs are generated using LibreOffice. The originating files are stored along with generated PDFs.
  * Lee ordered printer parts that should correct crinkle problem.
  * Stan R has been modifying a Linux Presentation Day from 2015 found on the Internet.  It has excellent content.
    * Difficult to modify, as it is extremely graphically intense.  Built and modified with the Scribus application.
    * Likely too complex to print, may wind up splitting content to make a slide show presentation.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: None.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: No time, no changes.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: No time, no changes.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We have large box of hard copy historical records concerning our organization. It has been floating around.

  * **HISTORY:** 2020-10-05 Gary found cardboard box with old secretary material. Original Xeroxes of articles of corporation, etc. Historical interest. No idea who dropped it off.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: No racoon has carried the box away.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Stan R asked Gary M to bring him the box. Stan R wants to look for old newsletters prior to 1996.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Box still there.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We seek financial support from the tech community.

  * **HISTORY:** We are not good at getting sponsors.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments:
  • We appreciate donations ( two years ) by Steve Gomez.
  • Concencus is to show it with beer or meal. Approved. Gary volunteered.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Gary is slacking, hasn't contacted Steve Gomez. Did see him at a remote meeting last month.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Omnitec ( Lee Lammert ) and Ken Johnson have kept us afloat. Greatly appreciated.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We don't have enough volunteers to do everything consistently.

  * **HISTORY:** We need new members who want to do stuff. Same as every month.

• QUESTION: Any new volunteers to help?
• Tyler Rudie had volunteered to help with SLUUG Google calendar input.
• Gary, Stan, & Tyler need to get together to review Tyler getting to work on Google Calendar modifications?
• Tyler Rudie has been granted permissions to help with SLUUG Google calendar input. Not yet given guidance or instructions.
• Gary needs to prompt him.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments:
  • We need to seek more individual help by one-on-one requests. Ask crowd gets no response.
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • Gary M has been trying to do more publicity, more timely MEETUP information. Seems to have been working.
  • Gary M will seek other avenues and more one-on-one requests.
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Gary M should do less publicity, and find someone else to do publicity.

SUMMARY: After old business, we call for anything that we need to deal with.

• QUESTION: Do we have anything else, anything new that we need to deal with?
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: None.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: None.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Sean T. shows an approach to moving the SLUUG website to github. He used a tool called
  • screenshot to code. Announce at Weds mtg. that this project is underway. Sean will
  • do Weds. base session on screenshot-to-code.

SUMMARY: We routinely rotate thru the following (just in case).

  * HISTORY: 
  * In past, we had missed critical government filings, dropped ball on domain renewals, and similar important items.

• December 2023 - Ticket ( ballot ) nominations should be solicited.
• January 2024 ~ Post Office Box Renewal ( automatic 6 months on credit card ) ~ Lee handles.
• January 2024 ~ Bribes early to Stan R so your name won't be on ballot.
• February 2024 - IRS Form 990-N for Tax Exempt Status. Due by April. e-postcard.
• February 2024 - STLLINUX.ORG domain automatic renewal.
• February 2024 - SLUUG Annual Board meeting and elections.
• March 2024 - Count Ballots
• March 2024 - Updates to contacts on webpage if required.
• March 2024 - Updates to email aliases if required.
• March 2024 - BuddyNS SLUUG account due (Automated) * WAS RENEWED.
• May 2024 - LetsEncrypt renews every 60 days early ( 30 day grace period ).
• June 2024 - BuddyNS SLUUG account due (Automated) * WAS RENEWED.
• June 2024 - Missouri Annual Report for Corporate Legal Status due. DUE 2024 ( every two years now )
  • https://bsd.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/BusinessEntityDetail.aspx?page=beSearch&ID=681250
• June 2024 - *automated* LetsEncrypt free SSL certificates for websites on BOCK.
• July 2024 - SLUUG.ORG account due (Automated) done in June.
• July 2024 ~ Post Office Box Renewal (automatic 6 months on credit card) ~ Lee handles on SLUUG card.
• August 2024 - Missouri Tax Holiday ( on our calendar )
• August 2024 - NEWLINUX.ORG domain renewal. Stan R.
• August 2024 - SLACC.ORG domain renewal. Stan R.
• September 2024
• October 2024
• November 2024 - Search for upcoming Technical Group Xmas parties to put on our calendar.
• The narrative comments in this section prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: None
• 2024-02-05 Comments: None
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Minor review.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: When anybody does something to help!

• QUESTION: Did anyone do anything helpful or useful?
• 2023-12-04 Comments:
  • Phil Bunch all time contributions.
• 2024-01-03 Comments:
  • Phil Bunch handled the NEWLINUX meeting.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Thanks to Ed, Lee and Stan for showing up. Lee thanks Gary for food and beer delivery.
• 2024-03-04 Comments: Dave Forrest service to the group has been greatly appreciated.
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

• QUESTION: Will we have Blue Sky Idea session to record or not record?
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • 

• QUESTION: At what time was STEERCOM meeting adjourned?
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
• Monday, April 1st, 2024
  • TIME:

• 2024-03-04 Comments:
• Monday, March 4th, 2024
  • TIME: 7:55pm
  • 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Boad of Governors/Directors
    • James Conroy and Sean Twiehaus
    • Approved
  • 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • TIME: 8:01pm

• QUESTION: Have the recorders been turned off?
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • TIME:

SUMMARY: Food for thought ~ anything not previously covered that provides mental stimulus for thinking about improvements or solutions.

  * HISTORY:  Stimulate creativity by planting the seed of an idea.  
    * Current action or response not required.
    * Some ideas are Off-The-Record ~ NOT TO BE RECORDED!
    * Some ideas should be publicized.~ SHOULD BE RECORDED!
    * If a speaker believes something should not be recorded, the recording operator needs to be notified.
    * ** Each speaker would initially declare whether an idea should be recorded or not. ** 

• The narrative comments in this section prior to January 2024 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: None
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • TIME:

SUMMARY: Usually no presentation; so, held as a Configuration Workshop offering installation and configuration help. Hardware, Operating System and Vendor agnostic.

• SLACC is the Saint Louis Area Computer Club.
  • First Thursday of each month. Free format; so attendance determines what is covered.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: None
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • One first time and one second time attendee. A few questions we could not provide good solutions. Otherwise, not many hardware or software configuration questions before going off on tangents.

Some questions and discussion about systemd journaling logs, and demonstration of using pinfo to navigate info pages. Question was asked about drop dead time to upgrade BOCK to debian 11.

    Ballot not yet avilable; but, explained that ballots would be made available on line and would be accepted for counting up to date of next Steering Committee meeting.
    Gary M described SLUUG Base session time as quickly covering required **annual meeting** and **Brief Review of Debian Upgrade**. 
    Also, MAIN Topic **Continued Growth of Artificial Intellegence** by Scott Granneman.
* 2024-03-04 Comments:
  * Nothing significant.

• Usually the Monday, that is a week prior to SLUUG General meeting.
• 2024-01-03 Comments: None
• 2024-02-05 Comments: Small group.
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Few attended.

• 2024-03-04 Comments:
• The required Annual Meeting
  • This annual meeting is required by our by-laws.
  • Anyone attending two sponsored meetings during last calendar year is eligible to vote.
  • Ballot is available on all of our websites.
  • Short, brief and sweet.

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• BASE (Personal Computing):
  • STATUS: Done
  • WHAT: Brief Review of Debian Upgrade
  • BY: Volunteers
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: NA
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • BIO: NA
• REMARKS:
  • We did not have an alternative ( secondary ) topic on hand.
  • October SLUUG BASE was Pi-Hole by James Conroy
  • November SLUUG BASE was script recording by Stan Reichardt
  • December SLUUG BASE was Asciinema by Sean Twiehaus
  • January SLUUG BASE was History of the Shell by Ed Howland
• 2024-02-05 Comments:
  • Official annual meeting required by charter.
  • Ballot not finished, needs to be available online NLT 14 February main meeting.
  • Can we have specific email address for submitting ballots?
  • We need to explain ballots sent by email are not anonymous nor secret, and that
  • ballots sent thru USPS surface mail can be handled and treated to be anonymous and secret.
  • BOCK is on OpenSuSE virtual machine with XEN kernel. Issue is that Lee has yet to figure out how to clone BOCK.
  • vote2024@sluug.org is email address for submitting ballots, received by Lee, Gary and Stan.
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Lee had prepaired a few slides that helped guide the discussion.
  • Got a few interested folks to volunteer.

—- COOKIE TIME ~ ANNOUNCEMENTS ~ CALL FOR HELP (Gooey Middle):

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• MAIN (Professional Computing):
  • STATUS: Done
  • WHAT: Continued Growth of Artificial Intelligence
  • BY: Scott Granneman
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: YES
  • BIO: YES
  • REMARKS:
    • We did not have an alternative ( secondary ) topic on hand.
    • October SLUUG MAIN was Risc-V Architecture by Carl Perry
    • November SLUUG MAIN was Microsoft Windows Subsystem for Android by Jon Newbold, Microsoft
    • December SLUUG MAIN was Python's Pandas Data Frames by Robert Citek
    • January SLUUG MAIN was Systemd Timers Better than Cron by Sean Twiehaus
• 2024-02-05 Comments: None
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Very interesting, timely and well presented.

SUMMARY: Formal presentations usually focused on LINUX Operating System

• STLLINUX is the St. Louis Linux Users Group.
• Planning Schedule Report
  • Eight days after SLUUG MAIN General Meeting.
• LINUX
  • STATUS: Done
  • WHAT: Large Language Models
  • BY: Alex Towell
  • SYNOPSIS: YES
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: YES
  • BIO: NA
  • REMARKS:
    • We did not have an alternative (secondary) topic on hand.
    • October STLLINUX was A Mix of Tech Topics by Ken Johnson
    • November STLLINUX was Transport Layer Security ( TLS ) by Michael Lucas
    • December STLLINUX was ZFS 3-2-1 Backup and Bitrot by Sean Twiehaus
    • January STLLINUX was Introduction to Hadoop by Steven Lembark
• 2024-02-05 Comments: We need to advertise this during Gooey Middle time of SLUUG Main meeting on 14 February.
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Lots of other topic discussion after presentation over and presenter left session.
  • Very deep for many members. Rich Seible indicated content was very thurough and accurate.

SUMMARY: Previously named Hazelwood LUG (HZWLUG), then Newcomer LUG (NEWLUG). Now, Newcomer Linux User Group is designated as NEWLINUX. The NEWLINUX home page lists a number of topics to provide general directions from which we could start. Usually no presentation; so, held as a Beginner Workshop offering installation and configuration help. Topics are usually determined by attendees. We usually cover way more than one topic.

• NEWLUG was how we named our Linux Users Group (LUG) for Linux Newcomers.
  • NEWLINUX is name that we can frequently use for our Newcomer Linux Users Group.
  • Fourth Tuesday of each month. Free format; so attendance determines what is covered.
• 2024-02-05 Comments: None
• 2024-03-04 Comments:
  • Smaller attendance than last month.
  • Stan gave lots of tips on help, bash help, info, pino and man pages that a few of the newer power users didn't know about.
  •