I am going to start a new Linux focused FOSS online meeting for people in Australia and nearby areas. People can join from anywhere but the aim will be to support people in nearby areas.
To cover the time zone range for Australia this requires a meeting on a weekend, I’m thinking of the first Saturday of the month at 1PM Melbourne/Sydney time, that would be 10AM in WA and 3PM in NZ. We may have corner cases of daylight savings starting and ending on different days, but that shouldn’t be a big deal as I think those times can vary by an hour either way without being too inconvenient for anyone.
Note that I describe the meeting as Linux focused because my plans include having a meeting dedicated to different versions of BSD Unix and a meeting dedicated to the HURD. But those meetings will be mainly for Linux people to learn about other Unix-like OSs.
One focus I want to have for the meetings is hands-on work, live demonstrations, and short highly time relevant talks. There are more lectures on YouTube than anyone could watch in a lifetime (see the Linux.conf.au channel for some good ones [1]). So I want to run events that give benefits that people can’t gain from watching YouTube on their own.
Russell Stuart and I have been kicking around ideas for this for a while. I think that the solution is to just do it. I know that Saturday won’t work for everyone (no day will) but it will work for many people. I am happy to discuss changing the start time by an hour or two if that seems likely to get more people. But I’m not particularly interested in trying to make it convenient for people in Hawaii or India, my idea is for an Australia/NZ focused event. I would be more than happy to share lecture notes etc with people in other countries who run similar events. As an aside I’d be happy to give a talk for an online meeting at a Hawaiian LUG as the timezone is good for me.
Please pencil in 1PM Melbourne time on the 5th of Feb for the first meeting. The meeting requirements will be a PC with good Internet access running a recent web browser and a ssh client for the hands-on stuff. A microphone or webcam is NOT required, any questions you wish to ask can be done with text if that’s what you prefer.
Suggestions for the name of the group are welcome.
I am an interested newby. Hopefully Russell, you will be emailing us a link to join the meeting?
There will be a mailing list, a web site, and an ical file.
Wombat: Relatively reclusive, endangered species – only found south of the Wallace Line. Also resolutely non-threatening. Also WOMBAT – British phrase used possibly by Winston Churchill and allegedly in British Civil Service: Waste Of Money, Brains And Time :) [And used by me for an experimental computer system in $DAYJOB).
Anyone who describes a wombat as non-threatening has never messed with one. A wombat will do whatever it wants and be as forceful as necessary to do so.
I don’t think it has much connection to the group I’m trying to organise, but it could be a name.
How about ANZLUG to keep the LUG naming scheme, or if you’re after something witty – FLOUNDER (F/LOSS Down Under)?
Flounder is a winner!