Minutes 1998-10

The first meeting of the NAMELESS LUG (still) was held at the Pizza Hut on Route 17C in Owego, New York, from 7:30 pm to about 9:30. Thanks to the waitress who put up with us for that time. (And she didn't screw up our order, no matter how hard we tried to confuse her).

=Attendees=
 * Jerry Guy
 * Kimball ???
 * Mirella ???
 * Joel Tleon
 * Jeremy Impson
 * and last but not least, Rich Webber, who pronounces it "Lie-nux" :)

=Discussion= The first hour and a half were spent eating and talking. (Let the _official_ record show that Mirella did not eat any pizza.) We talked about our backgrounds, our interests, and then about anything related to Linux and computers.

We eventually got down to business. I talked a little bit about establishing a LUG. SSC, the publisher of Linux Journal, has a $32 kit for doing this. It includes a lot of stuff, but one thing it included was a mailing list service. This was thought to be a good idea because then we could include non-roadrunner members in our online discussions.

We talked about what we expected from the LUG. Joel said "he just wanted an excuse to get out of the house". Here's hoping his wife doesn't read this message :)

Sentiments expressed were:

 * to learn about Linux (and other software)
 * to teach people about Linux
 * to give back to the Linux community
 * to establish a support group
 * to spread the word to the local community
 * to eat food

Ideas for accomplishing these things were:

 * lectures
 * posting flyers to local campuses
 * holding open meetings (like at Barnes & Noble)
 * starting our own project (software, maybe)
 * to sit around Pizza Hut just talking back and forth about Linux and such
 * set up a web site

I announced that someone has offered space on his web site, an offer that was welcomed by the assembled.

An interesting point was made by Kimball, who said that as he saw it the biggest thing that Linux was lacking was a base of video games. It was said that this is the one area where commercial operating systems are still kicking Linux's buttocks.

We thought that weekly meetings might be too often, although it might be worth trying if there is sufficient interest. (Maybe every other week cold be a completely informal sessions, with the opposite week having a formal sessions, with lectures, agendas, and such?) Maybe even monthly meetings would be good.

The next meeting time and place was not determined. So I guess it should be determined here. All interested parties, pipe in!

I originally thought that new users wouldn't find the early meeting too useful, but if future meetings have the same tone that this one did, I think that anyone interested in Linux would have a good (and informative) time at the next.

=External links= Source