Re: [aclug-L] Meeting topic suggestions solicited

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

OK, let me summarize some of the responses I've received so far:

A lot of people are initerested in the command line and configuration
file system in Linux.  This is somewhat of a big mystery -- "dark
magic" if you use the hacker slang -- and yet it is extremely powerful 
and not that hard to figure out of someone demonstrates it.  I think
that on our next meeting, September 21, we'll go over these things,
and for the half hour prior, we'll go over some basic editors, control 
keys, and the like.

There have been a lot of good suggestions as well and I'm noting them
for future meetings.

Bob Deep <bobd@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> How about the following topics... (They would interest me at least):
> 
>       1.  Kernel building.

This one we have done already, but maybe we can do it again sometime.
There are online instructions I've prepared at http://www.aclug.org/info/.

>       2.  Pnp tools for Linux

This is a good idea, and perhaps we can go over these a bit along with 
the other config files at our next meeting.

>       3.  Use and abuse of Lilo and loadlin

Another good suggestion -- lilo.conf and fstab are vital system
config files.  I'll see if I can squeeze these in too.

>       4.  Network administration for beginners

This one we've already done too so we probably won't do that right
now.

>       5.  Productivity tools for Linux (How do I replace things like Word,
> Quicken, and such with Linux based solutions.)

We've already done this, but let me quickly summarize:

 * StarOffice (http://www.stardivision.com,
   ftp://ftp.stardivision.com) is free for non-commercial use and
   cheap for commercial use.  It has a word processor, spreadsheet,
   presentation module, HTML editor, and I think even database
   interface.
 * WordPerfect for Linux (http://www.sdcorp.com) is a port of the only
   word processor I have found to be better than Word.
 * LyX is a powerful pseudo-WYSIWYG front-end to the LaTeX text
   processing system -- basically a cross between a word processor
   and DTP.
 * ApplixWare makes another office suite, but it is less powerful
   than Star Office.  On the other hand, it uses less RAM.
 * There are several financial tools with Linux.  These are all on
   the Debian CD but shouldn't be hard to find with other
   distributions:
   * CBB (Check Book Balancer) is an excellent personal or small
     business bookkeeping program.  It can process QIF files.
   * Other programs include xacc (X-Accountant) and xfinans, if I
     remember correctly.
 * The GIMP (http://www.gimp.org) is an excellent graphics editor
   that is stealing users away from Photoshop.
 * XEmacs makes a great text editor.

Of these, we have demonstrated all except ApplixWare and WordPerfect
at one of our various meetings if I remember correctly.

This brings up a good issue -- a lot of people are getting introduced
to Linux for the first time since the installation.  We need to strike 
the right balance between repeating information that some have heard
already and providing others with this useful information.  Perhaps
this is another good use for our half-hour introductory time?

Thanks for the comments!

John

-- 
John Goerzen   Linux, Unix consulting & programming   jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx |
Developer, Debian GNU/Linux (Free powerful OS upgrade)       www.debian.org |
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