Club Linux Coffs Harbour

Yes it's genuine, and utterly incomprehensible. Must lose something in the translation.

(via BoingBoing)

I won't be able to make it to this meeting, but please come along regardless (or perhaps because of my absence). There will be lots to discuss; to quote at length from Robert Thorsby's reminder email:

 In anticipation of delays in downloading the latest *buntu (9.04 Jaunty Jackalope) which will be released tomorrow (Friday) perhaps someone who has managed to download a copy might bring along a CD or DVD with whichever version they downloaded. I suspect that Ubuntu and Kubuntu will be popular requests at the meeting.

Also, although I haven't checked, I suspect that Mandriva will be releasing shortly (or may have released recently) their latest upgrade. Mandriva's six-monthly release cycle always seems to coincide roughly with Ubuntu's.

For those into lightweight-but-fully-featured window managers Xfce has just released its latest version, and it looks impressive. Note that Xfce manages "windows" not "Windows", the latter is only capable of being properly managed by low-level formatting.

On the kernel side, the new file system is progressing well, with bugs being squashed rapidly. I wonder when the major distros will decide that the new system is production ready and make the transition from their current "interim" file systems to the new one.

On a closing note, what will be the final effect on FLOSS of Oracle's purchase of Sun? Oracle has always been a supporter of a "free" version of it's massively-priced database and it has made many contributions to the kernel. But there are many people who have been openly sceptical of Oracle's grasp of the concept of "Free Software". Sun, of course, as originally contemptuous of FLOSS generally, and Linux particularly. There are many who say that Sun's recent epiphany was driven by its allet not its heart.

Anyway, there will be plenty to discuss on Sunday.

May the Source be with You,

A while ago we got this query via the contact form on the site, and as it's a question so often asked, I think it's worth putting the answer somewhere Google can see it.

I have loaded Ubuntu 8.04 and all is well except when I download other programs eg Banshee I have no idea how to install it or any other app. This is generally a very easy task in windows.

Those of you who have used GNU/Linux for a while are now doubtless spraying the screen with bikkie crumbs as you shout "It's EASIER than in Windows!!!", but there are good reasons why a new Ubuntu user wouldn't know that.

It's just been brought to my attention that the Coffs Coast Community College is offering courses this semester in OpenOffice.org and the GIMP, led by one David Bryant, a familiar face to ClubLinux regulars. Well done David! I would advise anybody interested to enrol ASAP.

As a (very) amatuer musician I've often wanted to experiment with electronic music creation.

Linux, Rosegarden, Lilypond, Jack and Fluidsynth/Qsynth, along with a Digital Piano for Christmas, have finally made this little dream come alive.

It seems that variations of recent worms have been successfully infesting that other operating system!

Downadup, also know as Conficker, apparently has 'boticised' perhaps 9 million Windows Computers, with up to a million being added daily!

Happy New Year!

Whilst recovering from mixing my drinks I found an 'article' on some annoying website (via Slashdot) listing "The 10 Coolest Open Source Products Of 2008" to save you expending your time clicking through all 11 pages here is the list:

Not only is the design of the Netherlands' latest commemorative coin very clever, it was developed with 100% free software. A must-have for freedom-loving numismatists everywhere.

Earlier this month the Free Software Foundation (FSF) announced a "reboot" of it's High Priority list, a list of projects critical to allowing people to use their computers in freedom. I've finally had a look at the revised list, and think it's right on the money.

For those that missed Sundays meet-up here is a brief synopsis of of our nerdly chatterings;

• Mike Stanton was kind enough to show us around his expansive Customer Relations Manager Application, "DAM Suite CRM" which he has developed using PHP and MySQL. It is great to see a local developer using open source technology so effectively.
• We discussed, amongst other stuff:
  • the Australian Governments' disturbing plans for filtering the Internet. Now may well be a good time to join the EFA
  • The amazingly excellent Stellarium - A planetarium on your computer. I was very impressed with the slick interface and endless tweakabilty... (is that a real word?).
  • Again with the tweaking with gedit and nano two of my favourite text editors. Unlike Mike, my brain cannot handle vi.
  • Matthew kindly showed us a few holiday snaps which reminded me of an excellent hack I recently discovered for Canon Digital Cameras. CHDK can be installed on top of the existing camera firmware to unlock heaps of hidden functions.