[aclug-L] Plans for upcoming meetings

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

OK, based on the feedback everyone has sent (thanks!) here's the
tentative plan:

September 21:
 * Intro to the Linux command line
 * Filesystem layout, how to find files, why files live where they do
 * Basic config file editing, and intro to some of the config files
 * Some command-line tools like FTP, telnet, lynx, and the like.
 * Editors used in a text-based interface.

This will provide needed background for the next meeting:

October 5:
 * Networking with an emphasis on smaller or personal networks.
   (We did some of this before, but I'll take a different angle with
   it)
 * How IP masquerading (aka Network Address Translation) works, its
   benefits, pitfalls, and how to use it in Linux.
 * How to integrate Linux into a Windows network and Windows into a
   Linux network.
 * Basic security precautions
 * Mail server setup
   (Or: why you should be glad you do not run complete.org <grin>)

And October 19:
 * Graphical user interfaces under Linux: KDE, Gnome, fvwm2,
   Enlightenment, and the new one that's been getting a lot of
   excitement: Window Maker.  A review of the differences between
   them and who would benefit most from each one in particular.
 * Linux distribution comparison and discussion.  Which distribution
   is the right choice for which people and *why*.  Why Debian and
   RedHat are currently the most popular, and the future direction
   of the distributions.
 * A brief coverage of the legal issues surrounding some of the
   controversial GUIs like KDE/Qt.
 * Brief coverage of legal issues at play in the distributions.

This may be "overbooking" a few evenings.  The general consensus has
seemed to me that these are the hot topics for a lot of people right
now -- the trick is the order.  I think that the order I've laid out
here is optimal, as some basic knowledge of the commandline is good
for networking and for understanding some of the issues in the
distributions.  We'll cover the command line in an easy way -- those
of you that have never used it before will be able to do basic things
comfortably, and we'll show some tricks to those of you that have been 
using it for ages, too.

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