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====== SLUUG Steering Committee Minutes - 1 April 2009 ======
NOTE: Minutes posted on the wiki are always unofficial.
Schedules for upcoming presentations are always tentative.
(Some more tentative than others!)

====== Location ======
  Saint Louis Bread Company,
  (at Old Olive and Olive),
  10550 Old Olive Street Road,
  Creve Coeur, MO 63141

====== Date and Time ======
  * Wednesday, April 1, 2009
  * 6:30 PM - 8:45 PM

====== Attendees ======
  * Tony Lovasco
  * Mike Wilkerson
  * Carl Fitch
  * Lee Lamert
  * Craig Buchek
  * Gary Meyer
  * Stan Reichardt
  * Jerry Stutte


====== Recognize Useful Effort ======
  * Recognize completed action items.
  * Recognize who did anything useful.

====== Secretary Report  ======
  * Secretary has printed out minutes up through March.

====== Treasurer Report ======
  * Balance: $1361.65 as of 2/28/2009
  * Accounts Payable: $100.00 for booth at Small Business Expo
  * Accounts Paid: $90.03 for electricity at Small Business Expo

====== Mailing List Report ======
  * Subscriber numbers (approximate) as of end of March 2009:

| List     ^ Mar ^ Apr ^ May ^ Jun ^ Jul ^ Aug ^ Sep ^ Oct ^ Nov ^ Dec ^ Jan ^ Feb ^ Mar ^
^ ANNOUNCE | 853 | 854 | 843 | 835 | 830 | 828 | 807 | 805 | 802 | 791 | 790 | 786 | 785 |
^ DISCUSS  | 186 | 1?? | 188 | 188 | 192 | 193 | 192 | 193 | 194 | 196 | 201 | 206 | 212 |
^ STEERCOM |  31 |  ?? |  29 |  32 |  33 |  33 |  33 |  34 |  34 |  34 |  34 |  34 |  35 |
^ SYSADMIN |  17 |  ?? |  15 |  15 |  16 |  16 |  16 |  16 |  16 |  16 |  16 |  16 |  16 |

  * Numbers will now be as end of each month.
  * Blocking of mailing list attachments not completely configured yet.

  * ANNOUNCE mailing list.
    * Still no volunteer editor to do a quarterly or monthly newsletter.

====== Attendance Report ======
  * Numbers, as of end of March 2009:

| Meeting  ^ Mar ^ Apr ^ May ^ Jun ^ Jul ^ Aug ^ Sep ^ Oct ^ Nov ^ Dec ^ Jan ^ Feb ^ Mar ^
^ Steercom |   4 |   4 |   4 |   7 |    4 |   2 |   4 |   5 |   5|   6 |   6 |   6 |    9 |
^ SLACC    |  (4)|   ? |   x |   6 |    9 |   8 |   6 |   ? |   4|   4 |   - |   6 |    5 |
^ SLUUG    |  23 |  17 |  31 |  18 |   17 |  15 |  18 |  21 |  20|  27 |  24 |  23 |   18 |
^ STLOSUG  |   6 |   - |  20 |  10 |    - |  12 |   - |  11 |  10|   7 |   6 | xxx |    8 |
^ SNUG     |  NA |  NA |  NA |   5 |    4 |   - |   5 |   3 |  5?|   - |   7 | xxx |    - |
^ STLLUG   |  16 |  17 |  29 |  22 |   20 |  23 |  13 |  15 |  11|  10 |  19 |  32 |18(21)|
^ STCLUG   |   3 |  13 |   5 |   6 |    3 |   6 |   3 |  19 |   -|   6 | 11? |  12 |    9 |
^ HZWLUG   |  14 |  11 |  11 |  10 |   11 |  12 |   9 |  11 |   9|   4 |   2 |   8 |    7 |
^ MythTV   |   - |   - |   - |   - |    - |   - |   - |   - |   -|   - |   - |   8 |    - |
  * -  - indicates no meeting.
  * NA - Not part of SLUUG
  * () - Numbers in parentheses are head count.
  * ?  - Question mark indicates attendance not taken or sheet missing.
  * xx - attendance numbers not yet recorded.
  * Added MythTV as a SIG.

====== Meeting Review and Comments ======

===== March 2009 =====
<code>
     March 2009     
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            
</code>

==== SLACC - March 5 ====
  * Linux configuration workshop - no presentation
    * Was Internet available, any issues?

==== SLUUG - March 11  ====
  * BASE: Internet Tablet Demo by Jerry Stutte
    * Lots of participation. Really good demo and interaction.
    * Needs to post some of the info referenced to DISCUSS list.
  * MAIN: March Through Linux /proc by Carl
    * Need a re-do.

==== Solaris - March 17 ====
  * TOPIC: Continuation of System Build
    * Really really good. Jeff Muse set up zones.

==== SNUG - March 18 ====
  * CANCELLED Because of StL Business Expo on same day.

==== StL Business Expo March 18 ====
  * SLUUG Booth
  * See Discussion Below

==== STLLUG - March 19 ====
  * TOPIC: Podcasting and New Media by Mike Wilkerson
    * Very good. Different than most of our presentations.

==== HZWLUG - March 24 ====
  * Topics are usually determined by attendees.  We sometimes cover more than one.
    * TOPIC1: Miscellaneous
    * Not many questions asked.

==== STCLUG - March 26 ====
  * TOPIC: Bulk Deployment with Linux by Tony Lovasco
    * Some technical issues; had to improvise.
  * PLANNING: Free Software and Technology Expo
    * No longer calling it Ubuntu Release Party
    * See Discussion Below

==== MythTV - NO MARCH MEETING ====
  * This SIG meets at irregular intervals.

====== Presentation Schedule ======

===== April 2009 =====
<code>
     April 2009     
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      
</code>

==== SLACC - April 2 ====
  * Linux configuration workshop - no presentation

==== SLUUG - April 8  ====
  * BASE: GNU screen by Jeff Muse
  * Main: Live Demo of IBM Virtualization by Barry Morrison, IBM (via Lee)
  * Backup: WordPress by Craig Buchek

==== SNUG - April 15 ====
  * TOPIC: TBD (lunch meeting)

==== STLLUG - April 16 ====
  * TOPIC: Open Source on the Desktop: Why Not? (TENTATIVE, via Gary)
    * by Don Hardaway and Craig Van Slyke (St. Louis University)
    * See first article [[http://lwn.net/Articles/293907/ | here]]

==== STLOSUG (Solaris) - April 21 ====
  * TOPIC: Continuation of System Build - DNS
    * Last month of this topic!

==== STCLUG - April 23 ====
  * TOPIC: Google Calendar by Stan Reichardt
  * TOPIC: Google Gadgets by Jerry Stutte

==== HZWLUG - April 28 ====
  * Topics are usually determined by attendees.  We sometimes cover more than one.
    * OPTION1: Continued exploration of /var directory.
    * OPTION2: Exploring the GNOME File Manager.
    * OPTION3: Partitions.
    * OPTION4: Anything else.

==== MythTV - NO APRIL MEETING ====
  * This SIG meets at irregular intervals.

===== May 2009 =====
<code>
      May 2009      
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                  
</code>

==== SLACC - May 7 ====
  * Linux configuration workshop - no presentation

==== SLUUG - May 13 ====
  * BASE: Using System Rescue by Carl Fitch
  * Main: Firefox Extensions by Mike Wilkerson

==== STLOSUG (Solaris) - May 19 ====
  * TOPIC: TBD

==== SNUG - May 20 ====
  * TOPIC: To Be Determined (TBD)

==== STLLUG - May 21 ====
  * TOPIC: Patent-Free Codecs (Ogg Vorbis, Ogg Theora, FLAC, Dirac) by Tony Lovasco

==== HZWLUG - May 26 ====
  * Topics are usually determined by attendees.  We sometimes cover more than one.

==== STCLUG - May 28 ====
  * TOPIC: To Be Determined (TBD)

==== MythTV - NO MAY MEETING ====
  * This SIG meets at irregular intervals.


====== Potential Presenters ======
These are some people who can present, and possible topics they can speak about.

  * June Topic:
    * Creating your own Neural Network to scan DNA (or other interesting stuff)
    * Bryce Meyer (bmeyer@sei.cmu.edu) - confirmed at April Main
  * Jerry Stutte
    * OpenGL (June 2009 STLLUG)
  * Kyle Cordes
    * Puppet
    * git and GitHub
    * Flying Boxes
  * Hostirian/Primary.NET
    * Tour of their data center
    * What it takes to run a hosting data center
  * Wehrenberg Theaters (via Gary)
    * TOUR/DEMO: Digital cinema projectors
  * Sanjiv Bhatia (or someone from UMSL, via Lee)
    * TOPIC: AIX 6
    * TOPIC: Open Grid Computing
    * December or January
  * David Letscher (Prof of CS at SLU) (via Gary)
    * TOPIC: TBD
    * Still gone for summer. Awaiting details.
  * Rick Clark (Ubuntu) (via Craig)
    * TOPIC: TBD
    * Might be able to talk to STCLUG and STLLUG
  * Jeff Logullo (Sun)
    * TOPIC: MySQL - now a Sun product
    * TOPIC: Project Indiana, a new package management system a la apt/dpkg
    * TOPIC: Versioning filenames (snapshots?) in ZFS
    * TOPIC: New release of ZFS
    * TOPIC: Belenix & other live CD's based on Open Solaris
  * Scott Nesler
    * TOPIC: GIMP (follow-up from previous presentation)
    * TOPIC: PGP and GPG
  * Jeff Muse
    * TOPIC: various Solaris topics
  * Stan Reichardt
    * TOPIC/DEMO: Google Calendar
    * TOPIC/DEMO: Using Scribus
  * Tim Dreste (via Stan R)
    * TOPIC: Untangle Gateway Platform
    * TOPIC: CentOS Linux
  * Don Ellis
    * Mac OS X Snow Leopard
  * Craig Buchek
    * git and GitHub
    * ack (grep replacement)
    * GNU grep (--count, --context, -e, --color)
    * wget and curl
    * Mac OS X topics
    * Ruby on Rails
    * Test-Driven Development (or get Brian Button, if possible)
  * Tony Lovasco
    * ???
  * Mike Wilkerson
    * Round-Table on Joe Linux User (moderator)

====== Potential Topics ======
These are some topics that we've had requested, or brainstormed, but need to find speakers for.

  * Unix glossary - define terms
    * mount point
    * white space
    * "well-behaved" app
    * zombies
    * parent process
  * Knoppix karaoke (various users sit in front of Knoppix system)
    * regedit - edit Windows registry from Linux
  * Drawing network diagrams using Dia or OpenOffice Draw
  * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL 5)
    * Still looking for volunteer; tried Clark Smith at Red Hat
  * Fedora recent releases
  * SuSE or OpenSUSE recent releases
    * Someone from Novell?
    * Gary Hollingsworth?
  * HP-UX current release, features, future
    * Dave Mills?
    * HP corporate?
  * iSCSI
  * Using git
  * CPUs
    * Features of modern Intel/AMD CPUs
    * x86-64
    * x86, x86-64, IA64, Sparc, PowerPC, ARM, POWER
  * iPhone
    * Developing for (web, native)
  * iPhone competitors
    * LG Dare
    * Samsung Instinct
    * Other Linux-based phones
    * LiMo versus Google Android
  * Linux from scratch.
  * SplashTop - a quick booting distro.
  * PGP/GPG use in Email
    * Thunderbird Enigmail
    * KMail
  * Google Android
    * Gateway and STL JUGs both recently had presentations
  * GUI builders (GLADE, KDevelop)

====== Small Business Expo ======
  * Small Business Expo was March 18.
    * Very nice day.
    * Plenty of support.
    * Handed out 100 fliers.
    * Lots of people stopped by and said that they use Linux.

====== STCLUG ======
  * Scott Nesler purchased and donated STCLUG.ORG domain.
  * Gary renewed STCLUG.ORG domain.
  * Craig added to Apache configuration, so it now runs off our servers properly.
  * Craig will add DNS records on our EveryDNS account.
  * Gary needs to create DNS records in EveryDNS and point the domain at EveryDNS.
    * Currently pointing at GoDaddy parking page.

====== SLACC ======
  * Need to register SLACC.COM domain.
    * Carl - follow up with Noel about transferring the SLACC.COM domain to us.
    * Expires in September 2009; need to renew.
  * Check on SLACC.ORG - seems to be owned by a cybersquatter.
    * Expires in August 2009.
  * Noel asked that we allow current email users to keep their SLACC.COM email addresses.
  * ACTION ITEM: Carl, Gary - Transfer and renew SLACC.COM domain.

====== StlWebDev ======
  * Lee proposed resurrecting StlWebDev as a SLUUG SIG.
  * Lee spoke w/ Allan Trick, president of (now-defunct) StlWebDev group.
    * They're willing to abide by SLUUG terms.
    * They've not held meetings for some time.
    * Would like to move the web site and mailing list to our servers.
      * Mailing list would be separate from our DISCUSS list.
      * Using our Mailmain and Apache services.
  * Unanimous agreement.
  * Mailing lists have been set up.
  * Web site has been recovered from old server.
    * Needs to be pruned - 250 MB.

====== Server Admin ======
  * Lee will install (and document) Webalizer on Bud, to gather web stats.
  * Craig updated DokuWiki to the latest version.
  * Partitions on Bud are getting full.
    * Home and var partitions.
    * Tony looked into prices for 9 SCA hard drives - 36 GB and 72 GB.
      * $49 / drive for 72 GB drives.
      * Discussion on whether it might make more sense to replace the systems.
      * Discussion on whether it might make more sense to move storage to a separate NAS box.
      * Leaning toward NAS solution.
  * Jeff installed Solaris 10 on the E250 with the hard drives.
    * Ran into mirroring issues, due to disk sizes.
  * Omnitec offered to provide secondary DNS for us.
    * We would provide secondary DNS for them.
    * Lee and Carl would maintain DNS on both ends.
  * Dark is alive again, thanks to a campus-wide power outage.
    * Anyone who needs to get anything off should do so ASAP.
    * We should retire this system.
  * Wash U took our **webdev** box (128.252.19.27) off network Mon December 1.
    * They detected questionable IRC traffic with IP addresses in Finland & Norway.
    * We should analyze and respond.
  * Jeff Muse added Ultra and Busch - Sun Netras running Solaris 10.
    * Expect to use one like Bud and one for backup storage.
  * We have 2 Sun E250s, which are currently racked but not connected.
    * Carl proposed parting out those boxes.
    * Craig concurred.
    * One of the systems is reporting a bad/missing CPU.
    * The other seems to be OK, but needs power and an OS.
    * Jeff got 4 x 36 GB hard drives, and placed in the good Sun E250.
  * We're planning to setup our own DNS on Ultra/Busch.
    * Make our own servers authoritative for our own domains.
    * Would allow us to publish reverse records.
      * Primary has said they can allow this.
    * Would allow us to publish SPF records.
    * We could offer dyanmic DNS services to our members.
      * On a subdomain, such as users.sluug.org
  * Steve Smith (from Solaris SIG) offered a 36 GB drive to install in one of the Netras.

====== Server Management ======
  * Backups
  * Work left to do:
    * Make sure docs are up to date.
      * Add documentation telling users how to configure mail clients to use Bud.
      * Started documenting client email configurations, to help users migrate.
      * See [[../users]] and [[../mail_setup]] pages.
    * Craig - Work on finishing server builds.
      * Document changes to PAM to correct MAIL variable. (Craig)
      * More security, for SSH and otherwise.
      * Get offsite backups working. (Mike)
      * Publish SSH host keys on web page.
      * Standardize/regularize user accounts (IDs, password expirations). (Mike)
  * Other work to do:
    * Better web site management tools
    * Document useradd process.
    * Develop standardized 'Membership List' & same UIDs on all production machines.

====== Sponsorships ======
  * Lee said that Hostirian is looking for more out of their sponsorship of our hosting.
    * Move their logo up on our home page.
    * Include both Hostirian and Primary.NET logos on our web site.
    * Somehow determine how many hits we're sending to them.
  * Tony Lovasco will look into getting some sponsorships.

====== Membership (and Shell Accounts) ======
  * Craig had a discussion with Jim Leingang about membership, and got several suggestions.
    * Assign small task to more members, so they feel more a part of the organization.
      * For example, have someone new every month doing sign-in sheets and new user contact.
    * Reward good behaviors.
      * Awards at the end of the year.
      * Provide incentives (like door prizes) for people who bring in new members.
  * Membership drive
    * Need to print out name tags.
      * Omnitec will print them out and bring to SLUUG meeting.
  * Cafe Press merchandise
    * Carl/SLUUG/Lee need to reconcile demo merchandise
  * Lee has proposed to sell pizzas as fund-raiser if continued insufficient Memberships & Sponsors.

====== Manage The Group ======
  * Lee suggested we create a Rails app on Bud to manage the group.
    * Member data - payments, expirations, etc.
    * Sponsors - expirations, etc.
    * Attendance
    * STL Ruby Group is writing a similar application.
      * RAMS - Rails Association Management System
      * We should leverage that, and guide it to our needs
    * Scott Nesler has built an app for attendance
      * Stan has plugged data into it for the year
      * Not sure if the app fits any of our other needs
          * (app is developed on CakePHP MVC architecture).   
          * Member Payment, expiration would be simple addition to existing table/screens.    
          * CRUD functionality simplifies expanding the application with additional tables.
          * Compartmentalization of CSS and layout templates simplifies changes to the look and feel.

====== Improve Attendance ======
  * Gary suggests we discuss why the #s on the general meeting and STLLUG are so low!
    * What can be done to return them to more traditional values?
    * Also relate to subscriptions to ANNOUNCE.
    * Gary suggests we talk about what can be done about the declining subscriptions to ANNOUNCE.
    * A ~20% drop in 18 months!  (And it was over 1000...when?)
  * Craig gave away a stuffed penguin as a door prize.
    * Had stated that whoever brought the most (new, returning) people to STLLUG meeting.
    * Tony Z won the penguin, bringing his Linux class to the meeting.

====== Free Software and Technology Expo ======
  * Rick Clark from Canonical proposed SLUUG sponsor an Ubuntu release party.
  * Official Name: Free Software and Technology Expo
  * Date will be 2nd Saturday in May - May 9.
    * Runs from 1 PM to 7 PM (NOTE: time change)
    * Setup from noon to 1 PM
  * Tony Lovasco from Nexradix paid for [[http://www.westportstl.com | Westport Plaza]] location.
    * Sheraton (900 Westport Plaza) - gold tower
    * Tony has registered [[http://freesoftwareexpo.com | freesoftwareexpo.com]]
  * Single ballroom - 75' x 30'
    * Tables in a horseshoe, with projector
    * Booths around the edges
    * SLUUG membership desk
  * Potential Presentations
    * something by Rick Clark of Canonical / Ubuntu (TENTATIVE - have not heard from him)
    * Open Source Licensing: What You Need to Know by Craig Buchek
    * something by Scott Granneman (TENTATIVE)
    * something security-related by Christine Wanta
    * Open Source in an Economic Downturn by Craig Buchek
    * Why Ubuntu? (POTENTIAL)
    * Were You Worried About Conficker? We Weren't! (POTENTIAL)
  * Need to have speakers confirmed by Tuesday April 7.
    * Need bio and synopsis (with photo, if possible) - send to Tony Lovasco.
  * No longer calling it Ubuntu Release Party
    * Changed references to a Ubuntu Release Party to simple Ubuntu Release coming end of April
  * Changed home pages for SLUUG, STLLUG, STCLUG and STL computer events calendar
  * Planning to visit Westport site at 5:30 on Wednesday April 8.
    * Meet at Pujols 5 at 5:00 PM.


====== Follow-up and Action Items ======
  * Everyone - Talk to someone about coming to meetings.
  * Everyone - Talk to someone about sponsorships.
  * Everyone - Talk to someone about giving a presentation.

  * Lee - Please ask Sammie to bring past (and current) presentation to us on thumb drive.
  * Gary - Follow up with Don Hardaway and Craig Van Slyke (St. Louis University).
  * Craig - Follow up with Kyle Cordes on Puppet.
  * Gary - Update STLLINUX.ORG to show 3 names in WHOIS data.
  * Gary - Point STCLUG.ORG domain registrar to EveryDNS name servers.
  * Gary - Clean up home directory on Bud.
  * Carl, Gary - Transfer and renew SLACC.COM domain.
  * Craig - Follow up w/ Scott Granneman about talking at Expo.
  * Craig - Send bio/abstract to Tony Lovasco.
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