Next Meeting – Tuesday July 10, 2012

Macintosh for UNIX natives: Stranger in a not-so-strange land

In April we discussed how an UNIX Native could survive with their sanity intact on a Windows machine. This month we’ll take a closer look the Macintosh OS X operating system. It’s not quite as strange as you might think; having a UNIX operating system at it’s very core, but there are notable differences. Wolf will come to talk with us about surviving on a Mac OSX system as a UNIX user. This will be an interesting and enlightening talk for anyone who is considering using a Macintosh machine, or for those who want to get the most out of the UNIX side of their OS. You won’t want to miss this!

Google Maps API

Whenever you’re out in strange territory, it’s always helpful to have a map handy. Google has an excellent maps API that is available for use. Jim McQuillan and Will Fuqua have played a bit with the Google Maps API, and will talk about their usage of the Google Maps API. If you’ve ever wanted to write an application that required mapping, you’ll definitely want to check this out!

And we’ll also have our normal MUG meeting features: Jobs Looking For People, People Looking for Jobs, news and events, and much much more.

Hope to see you there!

Next Meeting – Tuesday June 12, 2012

Making Out with Make

We’ve all run `make install` to get something installed at some point in time, but did you know you can use it for more than just installing C packages? How about providing shortcuts and tools for your own scripts? How about installing packages and config files for a new system? Rick Harding will show us the basics of Make and show you how you can put it to use today to make your daily life easier and more efficient.

CiviCRM

We’re trying something new with the mug.org website, and we need your help to test it. We’ve implemented CiviCRM to handle some of the user group managent. Craig Maloney will demonstrate some of the added functionality, and give a quick peek into what to expect in the coming months.

Fishbowl

We had a great time with this discussion participation activity. Bring you topics for discussion, and let’s talk!

And of course we’ll have some of the other great features you’ve come to enjoy at our meetings, including current events and Job/People seekers.

Hope to see you there!

 

Next Meeting – Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

Shawn Powers – LTSP

We’re excited that Shawn Powers will be coming down-state to share his experiences with LTSP with us. Shawn is the Associate Editor of Linux Journal Magazine, and the gadget review guy at Linuxjournal.com, but by day he works extensively with LTSP (which was the subject of an extensive three-part series in Linux Journal, from issues 215-217. Another interesting fact is that LTSP was created by our own Jim McQuillan). Shawn will talk about his recent experiences with LTSP, with a focus on getting technology into the hands of kids. You won’t want to miss this!

Command of the Moment

If we still have some time, we’ll jump back into our continuing series: Command of the Moment. We’ll pick some UNIX commands at random and ask folks to take 5-10 minutes to discuss them. A list of the commands we’ll be picking from is available here.

And of course we’ll have some of the other great features you’ve come to enjoy at our meetings, including current events and Job/People seekers.

Hope to see you there!

Next Meeting – Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

Stranger in a Strange Land (UNIX Survival under Windows)

We all know that UNIX and Linux are a great place to get things done, but some of us have to spend our darker days slaving away in the dark, dank mines of Windows machines. OK, maybe it’s not so melodramatic, but there are times when we’ve been found wanting something more UNIX-like in the Windows shell. Will Fuqua will lead the discussion about some of the tools for how to use UNIX Utils, PuTTY, Private key management, a little about Cygwin, and how to integrate git on Windows. Bring your tips and tricks for how to work with UNIX-like utilities under Windows.

Stranger in a Not-so strange land (UNIX Survival under Mac OS)

With a growing number of people using Mac OS, it’s only fitting that we also show how a Linux/Unix user can survive on Mac OS. It’s really not that hard, considering Mac OS is based on BSD UNIX. Wolf will be here showing us how to get the most out of Mac OS X. Wolf has given us several presentations in the past and they’re always insightful and entertaining.

Command of the Moment

We’re trying something new with the Command of the Month. We’ll pick some UNIX commands at random and ask folks to take 5-10 minutes to discuss them. A list of the commands we’ll be picking from is available here.

And of course we’ll have some of the other great features you’ve come to enjoy at our meetings, including current events and Job/People seekers.

Hope to see you there!

Next Meeting – Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Main Presentation – Squeezebox

Our main presentation features the Logitech Squeezebox ecosystem. If you’ve ever thought about having multiple-room, multiple device playback of audio, playing local or Internet-based content, then the Logitech (formerly Slim Devices) Squeezebox platform is for you. Craig Maloney will present what the Squeezebox platform is, what it can do, and how you can set it up tonight without making an emergency stop to the computer store. This presentation will focus on the open source aspects of the Squeezebox platform, as well as discuss how you can expand the platform to meet your music listening needs. As an added bonus, Logitech has generously provided us with discount coupons good for a considerable discount on their online store. If you have ever dreamed of having multiple-room music using open-source software, you won’t want to miss this!

Elections for the Board of Directors of Mug.org

We’ll hold the elections for the board of directors at this month’s meeting.

We currently have the following nominations:

  • Jim McQuillan
  • Dave Satwicz
  • Jim Glutting
  • James Hice
  • Gibson Nichols
  • Craig Maloney
  • Will Fuqua

Nominations are open until just before the vote starts at the meeting on the 13th.

In addition to the normal voting that will take place at the meeting, we’re also accepting votes submitted via Email.

For paid members that can’t make it to the normal meeting, you can submit your vote for the 6 people you’d like to see on the board of directors in 2012 by sending an email to: vote@mug.org

You can submit your vote anytime between now and 18:00:00 EST (That’s 6pm local time) on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012. Any votes received after 6pm on the 13th will not be counted.

Command of the Moment

We’re trying something new with the Command of the Month. We’ll pick some UNIX commands at random and ask folks to take 5-10 minutes to discuss them. A list of the commands we’ll be picking from is available here.

And of course we’ll have some of the other great features you’ve come to enjoy at our meetings, including current events and Job/People seekers.

Hope to see you at 6:30pm on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012.

We are back at the Farmington Community Library (map)
We’ll be in the large auditorium upstairs.

Next Meeting – Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

For our main presentation, we have Les Orchard showing us about Web Development and Virtual Machines.

Excerpt

The bar to contribution in Open Source web development projects can be lowered through the use of devops tools and virtual machine technologies.

Description

Open Source projects are most successful when they attract enthusiastic and capable contributors. But, often the first thing a new contributor to a web development project faces is a README file with a long list of instructions needed to even get the thing running.

And that’s if they’re lucky: Just as often, the necessary documentation is incomplete or missing entirely, leaving a new hacker no way to get involved without investing a lot of time up front.

This is no way to treat potential volunteers; they’re doing us favors by spending time with our projects. In return for their time, we should do the best we can to make our projects accessible and rewarding without unreasonable demands.

To that end, we can use modern tools like VirtualBox, Vagrant, and Puppet to turn walls of text into virtual machines. We can offer simple bootstraps and even bootable disk images to can get new developers started quickly, allowing them to explore a running system rather than demand they understand the complete stack before the first page view.

Bio

Les Orchard is a {web,mad,computer} scientist and {tech,scifi} writer from the Detroit, MI area working for the webdev team at the Mozilla Corporation.

Of course we’ll have some of the other great features you’ve come to enjoy at our meetings, including current events and Job/People seekers.

Hope to see you at 6:30pm on Tuesday, November 8th.

We are back at the Farmington Community Library (map)
Unless otherwise noted, we’ll be holding our meetings at the library, in the main auditorium. But, for the October and November 2011 meetings, we’ll be in the smaller meeting room upstairs, near the larger auditorium.

Next Meeting – Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

The Michigan Unix Users Group is pleased to present Marcel Gagné!

Marcel Gagné is best known for his long-running column in Linux Journal “Cooking With Linux” as well as the “Moving to Linux” series of books. Marcel will be coming to speak with us at MUG on September 13th. Marcel will be talking about “Linux and cloud computing . . . theories, technologies, ideas, and practices”. Not a week goes by without a mention about cloud computing, so you won’t want to miss this enlightening and engaging presentation!

Note: Because of scheduling issues with the Engineering Society of Detroit, this meeting will be at our previous location, the Farmington Hills Library. (map)

 

Ohio Linuxfest: Coming Soon!

Feel that in the air? That somewhat chilly feeling of back-to-school and fall weather. It can only mean one thing (well, besides the fact that summer is over, and the kids are almost back to school, and I’ll have to re-learn how to drive in Michigan winters). Yes, it means that Ohio Linuxfest is right around the corner.

“But Craig”, I imagine you saying right now to your favorite Internet-enabled device, “isn’t Ohio Linuxfest only… oh my… yep, it’s just around the corner isn’t it?”

“I know”, I say back to you, “isn’t it amazing how time flies when you least expect it? But fear not, dear reader, for we shall persevere and get you down to Ohio Linuxfest so you too can bask in the sheer-awesomeness that is Ohio Linuxfest”.

For those of you who don’t know what Ohio Linuxfest is, it’s a weekend event that has been growing ever since 2003 into a massive conference and celebration of Free and Open Source Software. This year it’ll be September 9-11, at the  The details of the conference are available at http://ohiolinux.org, but here’s a brief run-down:

  • Ohio Linuxfest is free (as in beer) to attend, provided you register early. If you show up at the door, they’ll ask you for $5 for registration. Think of it as an anti- procrastination incentive.
  • HOWEVER: You’ll just get to attend the conference for free. If you also want a super-awesome T-Shirt, lunch on Saturday, and the warm fuzzy feeling that you’ll be helping to keep Ohio Linuxfest running next year, you can register as a Supporter for $65. And you know you like supporting.
  • But don’t they also have training? Sure thing, and you can get access to the training classes by registering as a Professional for $300.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “But Craig, Ohio Linuxfest is in Ohio, and my favorite reality TV-show ‘Celebrity Mutant Squirrel Apprentice’ is on this weekend. What could I possibly get out of Ohio Linuxfest that beats watching famous mutant squirrels try to outsmart each other?

Well, for starters, there’s the presentations. There’s keynotes by none other than Jon “maddog” Hall and Bradley Kuhn. There’s Ubucon on Friday. There’s the After Party.

But what’s more important than all of that is being in the middle of a community of Free and Open Software developers, and having the chance to talk with them outside of sterile Internet communication forums. It’s the chance to hang out with people who design, make, and build the things you use every day.

“OK, you’ve convinced me to forego ‘Celebrity Mutant Squirrel Apprentice’. What should I do?

Head on over to the Ohio Linuxfest site for info on how to register. Also check out the hotels link for making your sleeping arrangements (very important). Check out the directions in case you don’t know how to get there. And plan to have a great time.

(Shameless Plug: Rick and I will be down there with our Lococast.net booth. Drop on by and say Hi).

Hope to see you there!

Categories Uncategorized

Next Meeting – Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

Security in the Modern Internet

Continuing the security topics from last month’s meeting:

  • PAM Authentication (Devin Heitmuller)
  • Surviving an audit (Gib Nichols)
  • File Permissions (Dave Satwicz)
  • File Encryption (Craig Maloney)

We won’t have time to cover every detail of every topic above, but we’ll at least touch on the highlights and see where the conversation takes us.

This will be a collaborative discussion. We invite (and encourage) audience participation!

Map and Directions


Next Meeting – Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Staying secure in the modern Internet

Best practices, Common sense and even some non-obvious techniques

We’ll be covering many things, including the following:

  • Password policies including generating, aging, cycling, revoking, … (Jim McQuillan)
  • ssh public/private keypairs instead of password auth (Craig Maloney)
  • vpns using IPSec, OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP  (and any other technology you might think of) (Jim McQuillan)
  • SSL certificates for securing your IMAP, POP, HTTP, Postgresql, … (Jim McQuillan)
  • Wireless security with WPA, WEP, … (Gib Nichols)
  • file encryption with pgp/gpg (Craig Maloney)
  • file permissions (rwx—) (Dave Satwicz)
  • Auditing – How to survive a corporate audit (Gib Nichols)
  • Home directory encryption (Anyone interested in presenting this?)

We won’t have time to cover every detail of every topic above, but we’ll at least touch on the highlights and see where the conversation takes us.

This will be a collaborative discussion. We invite (and encourage) audience participation!

Map and Directions