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.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • None

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.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • None

     June 2024        
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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 )?
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • TIME: 7:05pm

• QUESTION: When was STEERCOM meeting called to order?
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Monday, June 3rd, 2024
  • TIME: 7:08pm

Listed alphabetically by last name :5

* James Conroy

* Jonathan Drews

* David Forrest

* Ed Howland

* Ken Johnson ( joined but left on sick call )

* Lee Lammert

* Gary Meyer

* Stan Reichardt

* Steve Stegmann

* Sean Twiehaus

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.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Stan acting as recording Secretary ( Ken not here yet ).
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Stan acting as recording Secretary ( Ken had to leave ).

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

• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Lee not here, out of town.
  • May data added.

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 May 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Per Gary some groups are starting to come back. Often, without much lead time notice.

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 May 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Stan intends to go back in and reduce excess fake bodies.

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 May 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • NEWLINUX had lots of help from Phil and other regulars. As it should be; because Stan had sound problem first half.

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

      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     

• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: We are here.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • None

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 inavigate
• 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Don't see any problems. Phil has been able to connect from Arkansas consistently ( sister has fiber ).
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Phil very helpful.

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• BASE (Personal Computing):
  • STATUS: Done
  • WHAT: Network Sniffing for Beginners
  • BY: Grant Taylor and Lee Lammert
  • SYNOPSIS: Practical Problem Solving with Wireshark
  • WRANGLER: Lee
  • ABSTRACT: YES
  • 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 Screenshot To Code by Sean Twiehaus
• 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Expecting this will be first of a series. Part two was promsised.
  • Stan R mentioned that hot topic last month was about Remote Connectivity.
  • James C believes it ot be a very good idea to have a running tutoril series.

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: Review of Cybersecurity with AI
  • BY: Tony Zafiropoulos
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: No
  • 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.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Gary hasn't been able to contact Craig within the last few days to confirm.
  • Gary will presume we will be able to confirm shortly.
  • https://blueridgeruby.com/speakers_2024/craig-buchek/
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Originally Craig Buchek had tentative offering something about Ruby on Rails; but, exact topic was not clear.
  • Mostly a bunch of examples, not much more structured and analysed.

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: Computer History from 1980 to 1989
  • BY: Scott Granneman
  • 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 The XZ Hack by Andrew Denner
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Original draft title: Demonstration of Local LLM
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Not exactly Linux specific; but, we won't complain.
  • Best offer for now. A follow-on to talk given two months ago ( March SLUUG meeting ).
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Orginal title that we had given Scott's talk: Time Line of Computing in the 80s
  • Very good coverage of how MS DOS copied features of CPM.
  • Excellent comprehensive and detailed coverage that went long ( but worthwhile ).

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
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Works well when regulars show up. Expect NO problems.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Using Fredom Foundations JITSI server for session. Eliminates Google sign-in problems.
  • Started JITSI meeting early; but, took more than half hour to get my sound working. Phil kept meeting going.
  • The usual regulars were very helpful assisting the Linux newcomer.

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?"

     June 2024        
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa  
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16 17 18 19 20 21 22  
23 24 25 26 27 28 29  
30                    

• 2024-04-01 Comments: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Lee will be out of town. Might be able to connect remotely; but, won't be running from BAT Cave.
  • Presume Stan R will start the ZOOM meeting.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Stan R expects it to be complicated and difficult to start the meeting along with coordinating the attendance recordings.
  • Wasn't all that bad; but, lonely at start. Few to none early attendees, just Gary and me to start.

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 available; 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Added July holiday change notice to SLACC billboard slides.
  • Going to do SLACC on 5 July.

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• BASE (Personal Computing):
  • STATUS: Confirmed
  • WHAT: Network Sniffing ~ Part Two
  • BY: Grant Taylor and Lee Lammert
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: NA
  • ABSTRACT: YES
  • 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 Screenshot To Code by Sean Twiehaus
  • May SLUUG BASE was Network Sniffing for Beginners by Grant Taylor and 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Haven't read abstract yet, for putting up on home page.

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

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• MAIN (Professional Computing):
  • STATUS: Confirmed
  • WHAT: Social Media for Techies
  • BY: Scott Granneman
  • SYNOPSIS: Why use which social media. Discord? Slac? Facebook? Monmoth?
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: NO
  • BIO: NA
  • REMARKS:
    • We did not have an alternative ( secondary ) topic on hand.
    • 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 Virtualization Shootout by Volunteer Participants
    • May SLUUG MAIN was Review of Cybersecurity AI by Tony Zafiropoulos
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Originally confirmed Linux Virtualization Round Table BY: Robert Citek
  • However, withdrawn because of scheduling conlict.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • We just want to see what Scott says.

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 ( TBD )
  • BY: Sombody Special
  • 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 The XZ Hack by Andrew Denner
    • May STLLINUX was Computer History from 1980 to 1989 by Scott Granneman
• 2024-03-04 Comments: None
• 2024-04-01 Comments:
  • Original draft title: Demonstration of Local LLM by Sean Twiehause
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Gary may get co-hosted session with local R Language group.
  • Also, with the local ladies R Language group, which is still very active.
  • Alex may be distracted by university class work.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Moved WHAT: Loading R Library into Linux by Alex Towell to Idea SLUUG MAIN July 10th
  • SYNOPSIS: R Language is used for statistics and charts.
  • Alex Towell may be currently streached with other issues and obligations.
  • Alex Towell facing reoccuring health issues.
  • Originally ( Craig Buchek had tentative offering something about Ruby on Rails; but, exact topic was not clear.
  • https://blueridgeruby.com/speakers_2024/craig-buchek/
  • Craig will attempt something more Linux specific for July or later.

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
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Stan may attempt a focus on beginner relivant terminology.

     July 2024        
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14 15 16 17 18 19 20  
21 22 23 24 25 26 27  
28 29 30 31           

• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • None

• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Added holiday change notice to SLACC billboard slides.

• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Nonthing.

• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Craig Buchek might have something of interest.

• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Nothing.

    August 2024       
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11 12 13 14 15 16 17  
18 19 20 21 22 23 24  
25 26 27 28 29 30 31  

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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Mike Knight deserves considerable credit for analysing current MAILMAN issues and traffic on BOCK.
  • Some great discussions being done on SYSADMIN mailing list ( for anyone interested in this kind of sausage ).
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Debian end of life dates available here https://endoflife.date/debian/
  • Debian 10 Buster End-Of-Life is 2024-06-30. No more updates or security patches.
  • Lee not here to update us on volunteer participation.

• 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Current efforts are focused on MAILMAN 2 and 3 ( MM2 and MM3 ) migration.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Debian end of life dates available here https://endoflife.date/debian/
  • Debian 10 Buster End-Of-Life is 2024-06-30. No more updates or security patches.
  • Lee not here to update us on volunteer participation.

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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Usual suspicious stuff.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Nothing unusual.

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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Don't have any thing new. New site developement doesn't seem to effect YOUTUBE upload content.
  • Will start uploading 2020 stuff shortly.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Uploading by Stan will start again later this week.

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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • None. Usual gripes, MEETUP sucks.
  • STL RUST group has new group manager. Only been in STL about six months. Gary will back him into corner.
  • RUST being included in Linux kernel as it is better environment.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • We hate MEETUP. Gary deals with it.

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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: Nothing new.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • We anxiously awaiting Scott's presentation.

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: Nothing new.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: Nothing new.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Nothing new.

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: No change.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: No change.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • No changes. But, we need to keep track of the hardware.

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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Still good, when I remember SimpleScreenRecorder for SLACC and NEWLINUX meetings.
  • I want to convert from the LibreOffice BASE default HSQLDB database to MariaDB database which would securely allow multiple users.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Nothing new.

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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • We are updating when Gary gets responses from volunteers.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Nothing new.

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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: Not enough time.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • No progress, not high priority.

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 raccoon 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: Not asked.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Gary vaguely remembers that there is a box.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Gary said earlier that they are there "somewhere".

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: Nothing new.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Nothing new. Omnitec ( Lee Lammert ) and Ken Johnson.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Nothing new.

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.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • All the ususal problems. No indians, just chiefs.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • We need clones, as we aren't getting any new volunteers to speak of.

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.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Nothing beyound Gary's agenda.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Nothin new.

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: None.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Lee pointed out that due to annual elections we would likely need to do every year.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • None.

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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • Mike Knight, Ron BC, Sean Twiehaus, and Grant T's comments on SYSADMIN list are greatly appreciated.
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • James C commends Stan for what he does.

• QUESTION: Will we have Blue Sky Idea session to record or not record?
• 2024-04-01 Comments: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • None

• QUESTION: At what time was STEERCOM meeting adjourned?
• Monday, June 3rd, 2024
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • TIME 8:31pm

• QUESTION: Have the recorders been turned off?
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Yes

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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • None