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

SUMMARY: A meeting for guiding, planning, reviewing and running this volunteer organization. Catch the pig. Kill the pig. Skin the pig. Gut the pig. Boil the pig. Make sausage.

  * [[http://www.sluug.org/steercom/ |STEERCOM]] is a webpage pointing to 
      * agenda, minutes, projects, reports, schedules, videos and wiki.  
    * Not restricted to Board members, nor appointed officers;
    * Open to all members, so attendance determines what is covered.
    * Usually held on first Monday of of each month,
    * about nine ( 9 ) days prior to the SLUUG MAIN General meeting.
    * Holidays will frequently alter the scheduled date.
    * Any members expressing interest are given attendance instructions.

• No physical meeting until further notice
  • When we again have physical meetings, we would like to continue video meetings in conjunction with physical meetings.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: None
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Remote ZOOM and Bat Cave
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Remote ZOOM and Bat Cave
• 2025-09-10 Comments: Remote ZOOM
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Remote Zoom and BatCave
• 2025-11-03 Comments: Remote Zoom and BatCave
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Remote Zoom and BatCave
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

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

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

• AGENDA CHANGE:
• QUESTION: Are there any additions, deletions, or other changes to sequence of items in the prepared agenda?
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: None
• 2025-08-04 Comments: None
• 2025-09-03 Comments: None
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None
• 2025-12-01 Comments: None
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

    January 2026      
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  

• 2026-01-05 Comments:
• QUESTION: Have the recorders been started ( they should be, before call to order )?
  • Yes

• Monday, January 5th, 2026
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
• QUESTION: When was STEERCOM meeting called to order?
  • Yes 6:35

Listed alphabetically by last name.

* Tony Cigna

* Ken Johnson

* Lee Lammert

* Gary Meyer

* Stan Reichardt

* Grant Taylor

* Sean Twiehaus

* Steve Stegmann

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

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Stan R acting only as recording secretary.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Stan R acting only as recording secretary.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Stan R acting only as recording secretary.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Stan will post numbers later.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: Stan R. Acting only as recording secretary.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Stan R. Acting only as recording secretary.
• 2026-01-05 Comments: Stan R. Acting only as recording secretary.

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

* The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.

• 2025-08-04 Comments: No expenses, no income. Net nothing.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Nothing spent. Lee to add numbers and dates later.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Posted.
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • $60 BuddyDNS expense
  • Lee will do correct numbers later.
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • $60 BuddyDNS expense was billed twice.
  • $60 BuddyDNS expense seems to have a 3 month minimum.
  • Charge based on consumption level because of DNS attack, back in September.
  • Estimated cost is for December expected level.
  • Currently, we believe the coverage is sufficient.
  • Lee was able to reset to lower coverage level.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • Lee will insert numbers later.
  • Steve Gomez donated $200.
  • BuddyDNS is no longer bill larger ammount. We are back to regular account size.
  • More money, more money, more money would be nice.

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 December 2025:

=

  * 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 June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: Gary still doing alone ( also with mouse in his pocket ).
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: None
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Still not training an assistant.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Gary has been pruning some old entries. No acomplice yet.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None.
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Not done, ran out of energy. Will do later, tomorrow.
  • Actually updated later ( 2025-11-12 ).
• 2025-12-01 Comments: None
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • Gary starting to prune more listings.
  • Gary needs to get Rudie involved and not wait.

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 December 2025:

|

  * 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 June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: One Discuss and Announce sign up was from crew that attended our Face to Face Pizza meeting.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: None
• 2025-08-04 Comments: None.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: None.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: Stan R. and Lee conspire to purge names off of SYSADMIN and STEERCOM.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Stan didn't get with Lee for purge of SYSADMIN and STEERCOM lists.
• 2026-01-05 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 December 2025:

|

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 June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments:
  • 15 May at Nick and Elena's Pizzaria ~ sign-in sheet was 23, no actual head count taken.
  • As always, hard to read hand writing on sign-in sheets.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: No significant changes.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Typical low summer numbers.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: None
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Mostly better attendance for most of the meetings.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

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

SUMMARY: Catch the pig. Kill the pig. Skin the pig. Gut the pig. Boil the pig. Make sausage.

  * [[http://www.sluug.org/steercom/ |STEERCOM]] is the Saint Louis Unix User Group Steering Committee.
    * Not restricted to Board members, nor appointed officers; so, attendance determines what is covered.
    * Any members expressing interest are given attendance instructions.
    * Usually on a Monday, the week prior to the main general SLUUG meeting.
    * Often about nine days prior.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: None
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Murphy's fun time. New and "improved" ZOOM, isn't improved.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: None
• 2025-09-03 Comments: None
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: We're here!
• 2025-11-03 Comments: Stan R. and Grant T were not able to attend. ZOOM recording failed.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: We are here. Steve made it.
• 2026-01-05 Comments: ( this comment belongs on 5 January ).
  • Tony C has joined us, claims only just observing. Interested in Sean Triehaus's revised SLUUG website.
  • Grant T offers to jointly work with Tony C to put revised SLUUG website in production.
  • Tony C and Grant T plan on collaboration.

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.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments:
  • SLACC 2025-06-05 meeting covered a vast gamut of Troubleshooting issues:
  • Ubuntu-server + Webmin + Samba ( maybe permissions )
  • Using MS Windows server installation as workstations to avoid MS crap ware
  • HP printer software sucks even with MS Windows
  • Local Area Network ( LAN ) Sub-network tips and techniques
  • Linux Novice recommendations: LinuxMint, Zorin ( basic ), PopOS ( gaming )
  • More Linux Novice recommendations: MX Linux, Manjero ( an Arch rolling release )
  • X Windows versus Wayland: Remote connectivity failures like Remmina and X2go
  • and many more topics.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July:
  • The guy from RedHat said he would be attending.
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Happy meeting. Stan really does enjoy these meetings.
  • One odd ball question with no familiar experience that we could provide.
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • Usual suspects and one new experienced attendee. Found us thru MEETUP. Enjoyed our calendar.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments:
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Newcomer discovered us by way of MEETUP.
  • One newcomer and relativly new user attend. Phil Bunch and Ed Howland attended making strong discussions.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Expect to help a returning newcomver from the NEWLINUX meeting last week.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • We had expected return a newcomer ( Deb ) but she got sick and didn't show.
  • But, reall intersting.

SUMMARY: Formal presentations usually focused on all Unix and Unix like Operating Systems. BASE Something fundamental, introductory, instructive, short, simple or small. Mostly for Personal Computing. MAIN Something more advanced, detailed, important, new, profound, significant, timely or useful. More for Professional Computing.

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• BASE (Personal Computing):
  • WHAT: What is a Router/Firewall
  • BY: Grant Taylor
  • BIO: 2024-05-06
  • STATUS: Done
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • PRIOR:
  • December SLUUG BASE was GCE Vulnerability Scanner with Docker by Lee Lammert
  • January SLUUG BASE was Andrew Cell reception tool by Lee Lammert
  • February SLUUG BASE was SSH Keys in three easy steps by Grant Taylor
  • March SLUUG BASE was Adding Additional Domain Names to CertBot Certificates by Grant Taylor
  • April SLUUG BASE was Minimum Viable Git by Grant Taylor
  • May SLUUG BASE was Bypassing AT&T eMAIL Blocking by Lee Lammert
  • June SLUUG BASE was skipped to provide extra time for MAIN.
  • July SLUUG BASE was Into to Ansible (using YAML) by Sean Triehaus
  • August SLUUG BASE was Various Tricks by Lee Lammert
  • September SLUUG BASE was Android Apps for Network Troubleshooting by Ken Johnson
  • October SLUUG BASE was Design Failures by Scott Granneman
  • November SLUUG BASE was Round Robin Database by Grant Taylor
• REMARKS:
  • We did not have an alternative (secondary) topic on hand.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: None
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Can he do it in 30 to 45 minutes?
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Sean took ?? Minutes for the BASE portion.
  • Sean used YAML structure during session. Early on Steve Stegmann suggested a BASE on YAML.
  • Grant considered quite useful to anyone interested.
  • Gary thought quite balanced, providing understanding of useful tools.
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • This was to be kind of a Keyboard Karaoke, hoping others would join in.
  • Stan R was not able to provide any of his planned BASE segment due to his unstable connection.
  • BASE session went much shorter than planned and we started MAIN earlier than usual.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments:
  • Great presentation, good tools, very useful!
  • Scott G - Additonal UX videos?
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Grant thought good, compared to many other similar examples.
  • Consensus that it was very good session, as usual.
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • Gary's prospects are not panning out.
  • Steve S. may provide something on "NetPlan using yaml files" for BASE in January.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • We heard a lot of good comments about this presentation.
  • The interaction really makes for a good session.
  • Gary M and Stan R act as shills, asking low ball questions ( adds to quality of session ).
  • Grant T expresses thanks for finalizing slides from rough material.
  • Lee's process was to pump markdown into ChatGPT (AI).
  • Grant T stuck foot in mouth and said he had another BASE session ready to go, when needed.

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

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• MAIN (Professional Computing):
  • WHAT: Btrfs File System ~ Level 100 Introduction
  • BY: Lee Lammert
  • BIO: 2017-11-06
  • STATUS: Done
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • PRIOR:
  • December SLUUG Main was Distrobox by Tom Clark
  • January SLUUG Main was LIVE Debian 10 upgrade to Debian 11 by Lee Lammert and Grant Taylor
  • February SLUUG Main was Systemd Logging by Andrew Denner
  • March SLUUG Main was Problems Solved with ChatGPT - A.I. by Scott Granneman and Jans Colton
  • April SLUUG Main was Rescue Router when SHTF by Lee Lammert
  • May SLUUG Main was Voice Technology by Craig Buchek
  • June SLUUG Main was Computer History from 2000 to 2009 by Scott Granneman
  • July SLUUG Main was Ansible-Pull by Sean Twiehaus
  • August SLUUG Main was Local LLMs for Local IA by Andrew Denner
  • September SLUUG Main was Network Time Protocol by Andrew Denner
  • October was Securing MS-Windows with FOSS by Lee Lammert
  • November was Securingng "ifconfig and route" to "ip route" by Lee Lammert
• REMARKS:
  • We did not have an alternative (secondary) topic on hand.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: Gary will go to calendar and explicitly state about no regular BASE, just a Call for Help.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July:
  • Gary and Grant think it might be interesting. New and shiny toys are always interesting.
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Same comments as above.
  • The way the BASE came across blended quite well with MAIN topic.
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Possibles:
    • Andrew Denner
    • Scott Granemann
    • Brian Bilgerie ( maybe by October Nov Dec Jan )
    • Matt Hargrave ( Red Hat POC )
    • Ken Johnson ( maybe October Nov )
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • This was to be kind of a Keyboard Karaoke, hoping others would join in.
  • Stan R was not able to provide any of his planned BASE segment due to his unstable connection.
  • BASE session went much shorter than planned and we started MAIN earlier than usual.
  • Andrew got some ideas for improving the slides from some of the questions that were asked.
  • Seems to be a lot of industry adopting AI with laying off developers.
  • Industry now seeing contractors that come in and fix AI slop.
  • Gary thought it well covered.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Good tools, good presentation! Very useful!
  • Possible BASE:
    • Scott G - Additonal UX videos?
  • Possible MAIN:
    • Brian B - busy with a new bathroom;
    • Matt Hargrave (RH) - No response from last two dings.
    • Ken J - Might be availalbe oct/nov, saving for reserve.
    • Calls in to Robert C (teaching again), Bryce (no response yet)
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Very interesting. Grew Grant's list of things to mess with.
  • One participant provided a list of potential job openings.
  • Gary says he will provid exact name later ( ? ).
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • Gary's prospects are not panning out.
  • Burn.
  • Lee may do 2 or 3 MAIN session for Btrfs.
  • Btrfs 100 intro/Fundamentals.
  • Btrfs 200 Intermediate/Practical Ops
  • Btrfs 500 Deep Internals/Engineering ( possibly at STLLINUX on 18 December )
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • There are file system wars ongoing within tonight's meeting.
  • Was a very interestering demonstation of Btrfs failure and recovery.

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 (Either Personal or Professional Level)
  • WHAT: The Wonderful World of Linux Filesystems
  • BY: Lee Lammert
  • BIO: 2017-11-06
  • STATUS: Done
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • PRIOR:
  • December was Computing from 1990 to 1999 by Scott Granneman
  • January was WiFi packet capture with Pwangochi by Joe Cathell ( KamazeeJoe )
  • February was Managing Storage Using Partitions, LVM, and Stratis by Sean Twiehaus
  • March was Using dsub with Google Cloud Platform by Robert Citek
  • April was BASH Variable Difficulties by Ed Howland
  • May was Voice Coding with AI by Craig Buchek
  • June was Evolution of Internet Security by Grant Taylor and Lee Lammert
  • July was Password Vaults and Tools by Lee Lammert
  • August was xxxx by xxxx
  • September was Introduction to UX Design by Scott Granneman
  • October was Command Line Demonstrations with Kitty by Sean Twiehaus
  • November was Free Linux Environments in the Cloud and DuckDB ~ SQLite for Analytics by Robert Citek
• REMARKS:
  • We did not have an alternative (secondary) topic on hand.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-12-30 for 2025-01 Comments:
  • Sean T. on Toolbox? (a related to to Distrobox) – No. Sean has taken a teaching position.
• 2025-02-03 Comments: Nothing yet
• 2025-03-03 Comments:
  • Details on using dsub submits jobs to the Cloud.
• 2025-03-31 Comments for April 2025:
• 2025-05-05 Comments:
  • This will be Craig Buchek's 2nd talk!
    • Programming Voice to text/commands using A.I.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: CTLS-Escape
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: None
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Lots of material. Covered quite a number issues, options.
  • Good audience participation with excellent questions.
  • Touched on family survivor issues.
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • Grant thought content was good; but, a bit advanced. Presentation was not quite welcoming to LVM novices.
  • Significant $_DIFFERENCES of concepts. Hard to make mentally adjustment for many.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments:
  • Full of good content, examples, history!!
  • Finally diss'd out ( discovered ) SuSE manager of our previous contact, working on a topic.
  • Possible - creating a Wireguard VPN to allow remote access from win11 clients (Lee)
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Worthwhile, interesting.
  • We have slight adversion to specific and unique applications.
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • Gary's prospects are not panning out.
  • Lee ~ Btrfs 500 Deep Internals/Engineering ( TENTIVE possibly at STLLINUX on 18 December )
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • This was kind of a prequal.
  • Later in session, talk covere subvolumes ( Essentially the 200 Level).
  • Lee has 500 level slides ready.

SUMMARY: Free format Beginner Workshop for anyone new to using Linux. 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.
  • Either five ( 5 ) or twelve ( 12 ) days after Saint Louis Linux meeting, depending on month.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to May 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: None
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July:
  • Looking forward to it as always.
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Not enough newcomers.
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • Usual suspects and one new experienced attendee.
  • Spent time covering the NEWLINUX.ORG website pages that suggest videos.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Newcomer discovered us by way of MEETUP.
  • Again had one or two relatively newcomers that came back from preivous meeting.
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • Stan R went to visit family in Las Vegas.
  • Phil Bunch acted as emcee. Grant Taylor and Lee Lammert attended.
  • Stan R reviewed ZOOM recording for attendance and sent email to primary newcomer.
  • We await the Thursday SLACC meeting attendance.

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 continues seeking different computer manufacturers (ex: Cray) who might be able to do presentation "Where are they now?"

• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • Still nobody has offered to help Gary find presenters.
  • Grant suggested Gary should contact Michael W. Lucas about BSD topics.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: NOTE That NEARLY All future meetings were listed with wrong dates last month!
• 2025-11-03 Comments: Gary overwhelmed, unable to have time to corner a volunteer.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None
• 2025-12-01 Comments: None
• 2026-01-05 Comments: Always good to have any help.

SUMMARY: Catch the pig. Kill the pig. Skin the pig. Gut the pig. Boil the pig. Make sausage.

  * [[http://www.sluug.org/steercom/ |STEERCOM]] is the Saint Louis Unix User Group Steering Committee.
    * Not restricted to Board members, nor appointed officers; so, attendance determines what is covered.
    * Any members expressing interest are given attendance instructions.
    * Usually on a Monday, the week prior to the main general SLUUG meeting.
    * Often about nine days prior.

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: None
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Murphy's fun time. New and "improved" ZOOM, isn't improved.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: None
• 2025-09-03 Comments: None
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: We're here!
• 2025-11-03 Comments: Stan R. and Grant T were not able to attend. ZOOM recording failed.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: We are here. Steve made it.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • Tony C requested access instructions to attend.
  • Tony C is now wanting to leave the meeting, since we volunteered him to do a presentation.

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.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments:
  • SLACC 2025-06-05 meeting covered a vast gamut of Troubleshooting issues:
  • Ubuntu-server + Webmin + Samba ( maybe permissions )
  • Using MS Windows server installation as workstations to avoid MS crap ware
  • HP printer software sucks even with MS Windows
  • Local Area Network ( LAN ) Sub-network tips and techniques
  • Linux Novice recommendations: LinuxMint, Zorin ( basic ), PopOS ( gaming )
  • More Linux Novice recommendations: MX Linux, Manjero ( an Arch rolling release )
  • X Windows versus Wayland: Remote connectivity failures like Remmina and X2go
  • and many more topics.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: The guy from RedHat said he would be attending.
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Happy meeting. Stan really does enjoy these meetings.
  • One odd ball question with no familiar experience that we could provide.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Usual suspects and one new experienced attendee. Found us thru MEETUP. Enjoyed our calendar.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Newcomer discovered us by way of MEETUP.
  • One newcomer and relatively new user attend. Phil Bunch and Ed Howland attended making strong discussions.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Expect to help a returning newcomer from the NEWLINUX meeting last week.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • Usual meeting date would have been on NEW YEAR DAY holiday; so, has been delayed to the 8th.
  • Stan R made ajustments to SLUUG calendar and MEETUP webpages.
  • MEETUP sucks, per Gary M and Stan R.

• 2025-11-03 Comments:

SUMMARY: Formal presentations usually focused on all Unix and Unix like Operating Systems. BASE Something fundamental, introductory, instructive, short, simple or small. Mostly for Personal Computing. MAIN Something more advanced, detailed, important, new, profound, significant, timely or useful. More for Professional Computing.

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• BASE (Personal Computing):
  • WHAT: WHAT IS HOSTALIASES
  • BY: Grant Taylor
  • BIO: YYYY-MM-DD
  • STATUS: Confirmed
  • SYNOPSIS: Sort of a way to do nicknames for hosts, commands on a system. Similar to multiple names in /etc/hosts file.
  • WRANGLER: Grant
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • PRIOR:

• December SLUUG BASE was GCE Vulnerability Scanner with Docker by Lee Lammert
• January SLUUG BASE was Andrew Cell reception tool by Lee Lammert
• February SLUUG BASE was SSH Keys in three easy steps by Grant Taylor
• March SLUUG BASE was Adding Additional Domain Names to CertBot Certificates by Grant Taylor
• April SLUUG BASE was Minimum Viable Git by Grant Taylor
• May SLUUG BASE was Bypassing AT&T eMAIL Blocking by Lee Lammert
• June SLUUG BASE was skipped to provide extra time for MAIN.
• July SLUUG BASE was Into to Ansible (using YAML) by Sean Triehaus
• August SLUUG BASE was Various Tricks by Lee Lammert
• September SLUUG BASE was Android Apps for Network Troubleshooting by Ken Johnson
• October SLUUG BASE was Design Failures by Scott Granneman
• November SLUUG BASE was Round Robin Database by Grant Taylor
• December SLUUG BASE was What is a Router/Firewall by Grant Taylor

• REMARKS:
  • We did not have an alternative ( secondary ) topic on hand.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: None
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Can he do it in 30 to 45 minutes?
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Sean took ?? Minutes for the BASE portion.
  • Sean used YAML structure during session. Early on Steve Stegmann suggested a BASE on YAML.
  • Grant considered quite useful to anyone interested.
  • Gary thought quite balanced, providing understanding of useful tools.
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • This was to be kind of a Keyboard Karaoke, hoping others would join in.
  • Stan R was not able to provide any of his planned BASE segment due to his unstable connection.
  • BASE session went much shorter than planned and we started MAIN earlier than usual.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments:
  • Great presentation, good tools, very useful!
  • Scott G - Additonal UX videos?
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Grant thought good, compared to many other similar examples.
  • Consensus that it was very good session, as usual.
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • Gary's prospects are not panning out.
  • Steve S. may provide something on "NetPlan using yaml files" for BASE in January.

• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • Grant T has outline, slides forthcoming. Will be developing from actual work in progress.
  • A very good work in progress. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Yeah!!!!

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

• SLUUG General Meeting
• Planning Schedule Report
• Second Wednesday of the month.
• MAIN (Professional Computing):
  • WHAT: Build A Router With Spare Hardware
  • BY: Grant and Lee
  • BIO: YYYY-MM-DD
  • STATUS: Confirmed
  • SYNOPSIS: NA
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: NA

• PRIOR:
• December SLUUG Main was Distrobox by Tom Clark
• January SLUUG Main was LIVE Debian 10 upgrade to Debian 11 by Lee Lammert and Grant Taylor
• February SLUUG Main was Systemd Logging by Andrew Denner
• March SLUUG Main was Problems Solved with ChatGPT - A.I. by Scott Granneman and Jans Colton
• April SLUUG Main was Rescue Router when SHTF by Lee Lammert
• May SLUUG Main was Voice Technology by Craig Buchek
• June SLUUG Main was Computer History from 2000 to 2009 by Scott Granneman
• July SLUUG Main was Ansible-Pull by Sean Twiehaus
• August SLUUG Main was Local LLMs for Local IA by Andrew Denner
• September SLUUG Main was Network Time Protocol by Andrew Denner
• October SLUUG Main was Securing MS-Windows with FOSS by Lee Lammert
• November SLUUG Main was Evolving "ifconfig an route" to "ip route" by Lee Lammert
• December SLUUG Main was Btrfs File System ~ "Level 100 Introduction" by Lee Lammert
• REMARKS:
• We did not have an alternative ( secondary ) topic on hand.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to June 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: Gary will go to calendar and explicitly state about no regular BASE, just a Call for Help.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July:
• Gary and Grant think it might be interesting. New and shiny toys are always interesting.
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
• Same comments as above.
• The way the BASE came across blended quite well with MAIN topic.
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
• Possibles:
  • Andrew Denner
  • Scott Granemann
  • Brian Bilgerie ( maybe by October Nov Dec Jan )
  • Matt Hargrave ( Red Hat POC )
  • Ken Johnson ( maybe October Nov )
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
• This was to be kind of a Keyboard Karaoke, hoping others would join in.
• Stan R was not able to provide any of his planned BASE segment due to his unstable connection.
• BASE session went much shorter than planned and we started MAIN earlier than usual.
• Andrew got some ideas for improving the slides from some of the questions that were asked.
• Seems to be a lot of industry adopting AI with laying off developers.
• Industry now seeing contractors that come in and fix AI slop.
• Gary thought it well covered.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Good tools, good presentation! Very useful!
• Possible BASE:
  • Scott G - Additonal UX videos?
• Possible MAIN:
  • Brian B - busy with a new bathroom;
  • Matt Hargrave (RH) - No response from last two dings.
  • Ken J - Might be availalbe oct/nov, saving for reserve.
  • Calls in to Robert C (teaching again), Bryce (no response yet)
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
• Very interesting. Grew Grant's list of things to mess with.
• One participant provided a list of potential job openings.
• Gary says he will provid exact name later ( ? ).
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
• Gary's prospects are not panning out.
• Burn.
• Lee may do 2 or 3 MAIN session for Btrfs.
• Btrfs 100 intro/Fundamentals.
• Btrfs 200 Intermediate/Practical Ops
• Btrfs 500 Deep Internals/Engineering ( possibly at STLLINUX on 18 December )

• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • May start with a virtual box thing or a Pico
  • Build a firewall device.
  • Add a third device.
  • How to build a firewall for a device you don't trust.
  • 

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 (Either Personal or Professional Level)
  • WHAT: NEW VERSION OF FIRST TEN MINUTES ON A SYSTEM
  • BY: Ken Johnson
  • BIO: YYYY-MM-DD
  • STATUS: Confirmed
  • SYNOPSIS: Updating "First 10 Minutes on a System" previously done by Andrew Latham
  • WRANGLER: Gary
  • ABSTRACT: NA
  • PRIOR:
  • December STLLINUX was Computing from 1990 to 1999 by Scott Granneman
  • January STLLINUX was WiFi packet capture with Pwangochi by Joe Cathell ( KamazeeJoe )
  • February STLLINUX was Managing Storage Using Partitions, LVM, and Stratis by Sean Twiehaus
  • March STLLINUX was Using dsub with Google Cloud Platform by Robert Citek
  • April STLLINUX was BASH Variable Difficulties by Ed Howland
  • May STLLINUX was Voice Coding with AI by Craig Buchek
  • June STLLINUX was Evolution of Internet Security by Grant Taylor and Lee Lammert
  • July STLLINUX was Password Vaults and Tools by Lee Lammert
  • August STLLINUX was Logical Volume Manager by Steven Lembark
  • September STLLINUX was Introduction to UX Design by Scott Granneman
  • October STLLINUX was Command Line Demonstrations with Kitty by Sean Twiehaus
  • November STLLINUX was Free Linux Environments in the Cloud and DucDb~SQLite fro Analytics by Robert Citek
  • December STLLINUX was The Wonderful World of Linux FileSystems by Lee Lammert

• REMARKS:
  • We did not have an alternative (secondary) topic on hand.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to January 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2024-12-30 for 2025-01 Comments:
  • Sean T. on Toolbox? (a related to to Distrobox) – No. Sean has taken a teaching position.
• 2025-02-03 Comments: Nothing yet
• 2025-03-03 Comments: Details on using dsub submits jobs to the Cloud.
• 2025-03-31 Comments for April 2025:
• 2025-05-05 Comments:
  • This will be Craig Buchek's 2nd talk!
  • Programming Voice to text/commands using A.I.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: CTLS-Escape
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: None
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Lots of material. Covered quite a number issues, options.
  • Good audience participation with excellent questions.
  • Touched on family survivor issues.
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • Grant thought content was good; but, a bit advanced. Presentation was not quite welcoming to LVM novices.
  • Significant $_DIFFERENCES of concepts. Hard to make mentally adjustment for many.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments:
  • Full of good content, examples, history!!
  • Finally diss'd out ( discovered ) SuSE manager of our previous contact, working on a topic.
  • Possible - creating a Wireguard VPN to allow remote access from win11 clients (Lee)
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Worthwhile, interesting.
  • We have slight adversion to specific and unique applications.
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • Gary's prospects are not panning out.
  • Lee ~ Btrfs 500 Deep Internals/Engineering ( TENTIVE possibly at STLLINUX on 18 December )

• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • Expect abstract tomorrow.

SUMMARY: Free format Beginner Workshop for anyone new to using Linux. 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.
  • Either five ( 5 ) or twelve ( 12 ) days after Saint Louis Linux meeting, depending on month.
• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to May 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-09 Comments: None
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Looking forward to it as always.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Not enough newcomers.
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • Usual suspects and one new experienced attendee.
  • Spent time covering the NEWLINUX.ORG website pages that suggest videos.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Newcomer discovered us by way of MEETUP.
  • Again had one or two relatively newcomers that came back from preivous meeting.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: None
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

   BASE: TBD
   MAIN: BOOTC: Booting from Containers by Matt Hargroves, Red Hat POC in Kansas City

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 July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July:
  • We still have to finish upgrading Mailman version 2 to Mailman version 3.
  • Mike Knight and Lee Lammert dealt with SLUUG being blacklisted because of spammer using us ( credentials stuffing )..
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Grant asked if we need to deal with BOTS that harass BOCK.
  • Lee talked about using Fail2Ban. Grant responded with requesting details ( along with slides ).
  • Steve playing possum.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Grant pointed out issue raised by Mike Knight. Stan says he will push toward top of his to-do-list.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None
• 2025-11-03 Comments:

* DNS DOS attack <?> last month saturated our BuddyNS DNS service!

   * Required us purchasing an additional 1MM of hits for $60
	   * BuddyNS responded with an additional 100MM of hits
   * Setup a backup DNS on live.sluug.org (bia.omnitec.net)
  * We are still using Debian 11 Bullseye.
  * Need to get mail thing working.
* 2025-12-01 Comments: It's running.
* 2026-01-05 Comments:
  * :?:

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July:
  • We still have to finish upgrading Email ( MAILMAN ~ the mailing list software ).
  • Otherwise everything else seems to be working just fine.
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Need to finish with MAILMAN shortcomings.
  • We need to fund bribing Mike Knight to perform a miracle.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Nothing more done this year.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Nothing more done this year.
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • We should note that Debian 13 "Trixie" was released 2025-08-09.
  • We are currently running Debian 11 "Bullseye" which has Debian LTS security patch coverage up to 2026-08-01.
  • Need to set a goal to work on the Mailman3 [MM3] migration 1Q 2026!!
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Mike posted a number of helpful messages about Mailman3 [MM3] last week.
• 2026-01-05 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 July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Stan R still hasn't gotten into working with the new website structure.
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Stan R still hasn't gotten into working with the new website structure.
  • Grant is still trying to find time to finish the redirects.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Grant found error to downloadable survey.sh file on SLACC web page. Fixed today.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • Nothing out of ordinary. No changes.
  • Stan wants to change main SLUUG homepage background color. Can't find CSS file. Grant offers help.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

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

• The narrative comments in the agenda/minutes prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Stan R. Keeping up with monthly uploads to our Archives pages.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Many file from Lee ( treasure trove ) relating to his BASE presentation.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Stan R. barely keeping up. Still has to do referene links for Steven Lembark's presentation.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Usual, routine old methods.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We have presence on https://www.meetup.com/Saint-Louis-Unix-Users-Group/.

• The narrative comments in this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Gary says it sucks. Gary hasn't been reading the MEETUP monthly changes.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: None
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • MEETUP dot COM sucks. Gary's account shut down. They didn't resolve after he filled out appeal form three times.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments:
  • Meetup spent two months trying to fix his account, after which a
  • scathing survey garnered a nice email from a manager and restration.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: SUCKS! BUT two attendees found us in October!! Hopefully they will come back!!
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Meetup really SUCKS. New features don't do what they did last month.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

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

• The narrative comments in this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: No change, no help. Not getting any feedback. Everybody slacking? Some MEETUP; but many ghosts.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: No feedback lately from James Conroy and Sean Twiehaus.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: James Conroy is alive.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: Dinosaurs are not interested!
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • Gary prompts James Conroy and Sean Twiehaus to post elsewhere.
  • Maybe they are posting, or not.
• 2026-01-05 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 this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July:
  • We were briefly blacklisted because of credential stuffing issue.
  • One of our user's accounts was taken over and sent out 20,000 SPAM.
  • Because of huge number, system still had not sent out 17,000.
  • Fortunately Mike caught it early enough, and Lee was able to delete unsent SPAM.
  • After Mike filled out form, we were taken off blacklist.
  • Grant T points out this is a fairly annual occurrence for an organization of our size.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: None
• 2025-09-03 Comments: None
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None.
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • Still serves main purpose.
  • Gary is using Google Mail as a client.
  • Stan points out that results provide nasty extra Google links.
  • Grant suggests copying into text editor prior to sending.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We try to record many of our meetings.

• The narrative comments in this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: We still got them and know where they are.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: As a non-profit organization we don't have to worry about equipment depreciation.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: We still have them.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: None.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: No progress.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Stan still has projectors.
• 2026-01-05 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 this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Works fine.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Continues to work well.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Works fine.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Nothing else.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Stan keeps it updated.
• 2026-01-05 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 this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: * Broken. My workaround is to update it in a Virtual Machine using older distro.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Still broken. Grant has offered his help, I have yet to provide background documentation.
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • Still broken. Stan hasn't emailed Grant with information. Real life interfering.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: No update.
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • Stan posed question about SPAM received as 'sent' by Bock! Need to

investigate for possible options.

• 2025-12-01 Comments: Still broken; but, provides good ideas.
• 2026-01-05 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 this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: No change, not enough time.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: No change, not enough time.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: No change, not enough time.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Nada.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: No change, not enough time.
• 2026-01-05 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 this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July:
  • Box being held by gravity.
  • When the poles shift, we will all be in trouble.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Eventual.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Stan offered to come to his house to find them. Gary declined to be embarrassed.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Nada.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: Box is still there!
• 2025-12-01 Comments: Gary CLAIMS the box is still there!
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: We seek financial support from the tech community.

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

• The narrative comments in this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: No change. We appreciate support from Omnitec, Steve Gomez and Ken Johnson.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: No change.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: No change.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: No change
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: None.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

• The narrative comments in this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.

2026-01-20 Comments: This will be Burroughs → Unisys 140th birthday - started in St. Louis.

• 2025-06-30 Comments for July:
  • We should do a presentation.
  • Gary will try to contact ( he has five or six months ) .
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Gary has done nothing.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: * Gary has done nothing. Office downtown was closed. Bourroughs merged with Unysis.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: No change.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None.
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • No progress, Gary still searching.
  • Grant points out too little time remaining for us to successfully make highlight.
  • We think 20 January is anniversary date.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

* 2025-06-09 Suggested that we add 2038 UNIX time counter roll-over to presentations / website

• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: We should do a presentation ( we have about 12 years ).
• 2025-08-04 Comments: None
• 2025-09-03 Comments: It is listed in the broken Planning Schedule database.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Looking for contact from Bourroughs or Unisys regarding Burrourghs annivarsary.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: We still have about 12 years. Tempus Fugit (time flies).
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • See Treasury section about DNS .
  • We reverted to smaller 3 million rate.
• 2026-01-05 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?
  • Items from this section needs to be extracted, removed and/or split up into new categories.
• The narrative comments in this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
  • Start promoting and planning for physical or hybrid meeting for mid-October or mid-January.
  • Gary has given Matthew Hargrove of Red Hat phone numbers to Nick and Elania's Pizzeria.
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • Gary suggests we make this as specific business item.
  • Grant suggest IPV6 as a topic. Lee has no interest.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Matt Hargrove (RH) offered to host IRL meeting, but has not responded.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: Debian 11 → 12 UPGRADE!!! Blocked on MM3!!!
• 2025-12-01 Comments: None
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

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 2025 - Ticket ( ballot ) nominations should be solicited.
• January 2025 ~ Post Office Box Renewal ( automatic 6 months on credit card ) ~ Lee handles.
• January 2025 ~ Bribes early to Stan R so your name won't be on ballot.
• February 2025 - IRS Form 990-N for Tax Exempt Status. Due by April. E-postcard.
• February 2025 - STLLINUX.ORG domain automatic renewal.
• February 2025 - SLUUG Annual Board meeting and elections.
• March 2025 - Count Ballots
• March 2025 - Updates to contacts on webpage if required.
• March 2025 - Updates to email aliases if required.
• March 2025 - BuddyNS SLUUG account due (Automated) * WAS RENEWED.
• May 2025 - LetsEncrypt renews every 60 days early ( 30 day grace period ).
• June 2025 - BuddyNS SLUUG account due (Automated) * WAS RENEWED.
• June 2025 - Missouri Annual Report for Corporate Legal Status due. DUE 2026 ( every two years now )
  • https://bsd.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/BusinessEntityDetail.aspx?page=beSearch&ID=681250
• June 2025 - *automated* LetsEncrypt free SSL certificates for websites on BOCK.
• July 2025 - SLUUG.ORG account due (Automated) done in June.
• July 2025 ~ Post Office Box Renewal (automatic 6 months on credit card) ~ Lee handles on SLUUG card.
• August 2025 - Missouri Tax Holiday ( on our calendar )
• August 2025 - NEWLINUX.ORG domain renewal. Stan R.
• August 2025 - SLACC.ORG domain renewal. Stan R.
• August 2025 - 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 2025
• October 2025
• November 2025 - Search for upcoming Technical Group Xmas parties to put on our calendar.
  • Gary has placed StLGameDev & MS' (Azure, etc,…)
  • Holiday Parties onto calendar and into Discuss.
  • Election Nomination Committee
• The narrative comments in this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: None
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Stan wants to redesign this section.
• 2025-09-03 Comments: Nothing to add.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: ditto
• 2025-11-03 Comments: None.
• 2025-12-01 Comments: We have done advertisement to help promote social gatherings for Unix/Linux/Other geeks.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

SUMMARY: When anybody does something to help!

• QUESTION: Did anyone do anything helpful or useful?
• The narrative comments in this section prior to July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July: Mike Knight spotted blacklist problem.
• 2025-08-04 Comments: Normal
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
  • Grant and Lee saved the bacon. BGP conversion from AT&T static route.
  • Conversion needed to keep website and server traffic.
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: September was a blur for all!
• 2025-11-03 Comments: BuddyNS debacle resolved in 36 hours with help from Lee & Grant
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • Mike Knight throws us information that we can't keep up with.
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

• QUESTION: Will we have a Blue Sky Idea session to record or not record?
  • https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments: Nada.
• 2025-11-03 Comments: Yes
• 2025-12-01 Comments: No
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 

• QUESTION: At what time was STEERCOM meeting adjourned?
• Monday, January 5th, 2026
• 2026-01-05 Comments:
  • 8:34pm

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 July 2025 Steercom have been removed.
• 2025-06-30 Comments for July:
• 2025-08-04 Comments:
• 2025-09-03 Comments:
• 2025-09-29 for October Comments:
  • Need better description for Scott's Base
  • Backup - Lee & Wireguard
• 2025-11-03 Comments:
  • CHALLENGE: Take a look at planning.pdf and send Grant your list of 2-3

that you would like to see by December 31st!!

	https://www.sluug.org/planning.pdf
	More links on the Steercom @sluug.org/steercom
* 2025-12-01 Comments: None
* 2026-01-05 Comments:
  * :?:

• QUESTION: Have the recorders been turned off?
• Monday, January 5th, 2026
• 2025-12-01 Comments:
  • 8:35pm