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.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Remote ZOOM session

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
• 2024-07-03 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.

     July 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           

• QUESTION: Have the recorders been started ( they should be, before call to order )?
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • TIME:

• QUESTION: When was STEERCOM meeting called to order?
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Wednesday, July 3rd, 2024
  • TIME:

Listed alphabetically by last name

* James Conroy

* Jonathan Drews

* David Forrest

* Ed Howland

* Ken Johnson

* Lee Lammert

* Gary Meyer

* Stan Reichardt

* Steve Stegmann

* Grant Taylor

* 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 ).
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • TIME:

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

• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Lee not here, out of town.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • June entered.

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 June 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.
• 2024-07-03 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 June 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.
• 2024-07-03 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 June 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.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • NEWLINUX meeting failure, due to technical issues ( details below ).

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

     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                    

• 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.
• 2024-07-03 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 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.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • 

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• BASE (Personal Computing):
  • STATUS: Done
  • 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.
• 2024-07-03 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: 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.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Some discussion of Fediverse (follow-up to Scott's presentation). It got Lee to set up Mastodon.

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: Debian Upgrade Work Session
  • BY: Lee Lammert and Volunteers
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Lee
  • 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.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Stan found the Debian Upgrade Work Session very helpful.

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 relevant terminology.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:

    * 
    The NEWLINUX meeting for June 25 was a failure. A multitude of problems. It 
    seems that only one person could be in the session at a time. Second person
    could connect; but, was almost immediately disconnected. Tried reporting
    issue to FSF.ORG; but, couldn't even get connected to their forum.  I 
    have a valid FSF account; but, connection rejected.
    *
    Fought issues since 6:00pm CST.  Tried every combination of alternatives
    that I could think of, short of going to old MEET.JIT.SI server.  I did
    that just now, got in; but, by now most everyone else may have given up.
    So, I don't think it worthwhile to do any alternative site.
    *
    I was not doing anything further as it had been more than two hours since
    I started and an hour and a half past regular NEWLINUX meeting start time.
    *
    Remembered that there was already someone in the session when I first joined.
    That person was designated as a moderator. I was not able to stay connected.
    There are a number of possibilities. A waiting room might have been started
    and the moderator failed to remove the waiting room. Or a password might
    have been set.
    *
    I had used the FSF.ORG Jitsi remote service twice before without issues.
    Possibly the FSF.ORG Jitis server is misconfigured or inadequate in that
    it is not providing a good method of restricting moderator status.
    *
    Tried the connection the next day and was able to connect without any issue.
    Even though I would prefer to not rely on ZOOM remote service connections,
    I can not continue trying to hold remote meetings without adequate JITSI 
    moderation.  Therefore, will switch to using ZOOM for SLACC and NEWLINUX.
    Of course MEETUP sucks, even though it offers to make changes to the information
    on multiple future events, it errors and we can only change one month at a time.

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?"

     July 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           

• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Moved from 1 July

• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Added holiday change notice to SLACC billboard slides.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Planning on using ZOOM remote software services.
  • Of course MEETUP sucks. Despite saying that it could make changes across multiple meetings,
  • it just gave an error, requesting corrections without giving an intelligent clue of how.
  • Since instructions for every future meeting will have to be corrected, it is only able to
  • correct one meeting at a time.
  • 

• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Grant Taylor will do remote data capture instructions
  • Live demonstration of remote data capture for actual trouble-shooting.

• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Craig Buchek might have something of interest.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Title: Architectures Big and Small
  • Blurb: A look at how software patterns came from patterns in building architectures, and what we can learn.
  • Speaker: Craig Buchek

• 2024-06-03 Comments:
  • Nothing.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Planning on using ZOOM remote software services.
  • Of course MEETUP sucks. Despite saying that it could make changes across multiple meetings,
  • it just gave an error, requesting corrections without giving an intelligent clue of how.
  • Since instructions for every future meeting will have to be corrected, it is only able to
  • correct one meeting at a time.
  • 

    August 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  

   September 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: 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.
• 2024-07-03 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: 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.
• 2024-07-03 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: Usual suspicious stuff.
• 2024-06-03 Comments: Nothing unusual.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Sean Twiehaus demonstrated progress building his proposed graphical YouTube pages.
    • AI generation of unique meeting graphics.
    • Production cycles and cost estimated to be about $0.30 per month.
    • We will consider older presentation attachments, videos and slidework much later.
    • Current mobil display very good.
    • We expect to grant Sean administrator permissions on MEETUP dot COM. Stan R believes he can grant the permissions.
    • Ken Johnson pays for our use of MEETUP dot COM but doesn't know if there is any price increase based on subscribers.
  • Stan R has run across a utility process that could be configured to log reading of individual files.
  • 

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 development 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.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Stan did not start uploading, because he had to spend time replacing his secondary desktop machine.
  • Sean T has done quite a bit of work dealing with providing a method of improving YOUTUBE narratives
    • so that our uploads will have distinctive logos and more searchable descriptions.
  • 

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 unrecognized 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 eliminated 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.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Recent MEETUP membership showed as 1004. Stan R reduced count again, to 927 by deleting many unrecognized names.
  • Did some modifying of SLACC and NEWLINUX stanzas to change from using Jitsi to ZOOM remote video software service.
  • Of course MEETUP sucks. Despite saying that it could make changes across multiple meetings,
  • it just gave an error, requesting corrections without giving an intelligent clue of how.
  • Since instructions for every future meeting will have to be corrected, it is only able to
  • correct one meeting at a time.
  • Sean Twiehaus offered to explore joining his AI graphic process with MEETUP. Needs editor/moderator access.
  • Currently Ken J. is paying the Meetup fee. That is about $200/year, but pays for up to three meetups. Ken uses one of those.
  • 

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.
• 2024-07-03 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: Nothing new.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: Nothing new.
• 2024-06-03 Comments: Nothing new.
• 2024-07-03 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: 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.
• 2024-07-03 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: 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.
• 2024-07-03 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024:
  • We are updating when Gary gets responses from volunteers.
• 2024-06-03 Comments: Nothing new.
• 2024-07-03 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: Not enough time.
• 2024-06-03 Comments: No progress, not high priority.
• 2024-07-03 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 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".
• 2024-07-03 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: Nothing new.
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: Nothing new. Omnitec ( Lee Lammert ) and Ken Johnson.
• 2024-06-03 Comments: Nothing new.
• 2024-07-03 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.
• 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.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • 

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 beyond Gary's agenda.
• 2024-06-03 Comments: Nothin new.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • Sean T. shows the current status of his work creating a new version of the SLUUG website.
  • Discussion of using consistent artwork across eco-systems: website, meetup, youtube
  • Some discussion of Meetup usage & costs.
  • Methods for access to files associated with meetings discussed. There are a variety
  • of considerations. A JSON file for each meeting.

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.
• August 2024 - Grant suggests buying 2 years once, then one additional year each year. So, when you renew each year, you have a year left, rather than a few days.
• 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.
• 2024-07-03 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: 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.
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • 

• 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
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • 

• QUESTION: At what time was STEERCOM meeting adjourned?
• Monday, July 1st, 2024
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • TIME

• QUESTION: Have the recorders been turned off?
  • Yes/No
• 2024-07-03 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: None
• 2024-04-29 Comments for May 2024: None
• 2024-06-03 Comments: None
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • 

• QUESTION: Have the recorders been turned off?
• 2024-07-03 Comments:
  • TIME