Kyle will demonstrate how to create your own DVD with menus from a sample video all with Open Source software. No XML editing required!

Ruby on Rails is an open-source web framework that’s optimized for programmer happiness and sustainable productivity. It lets you write beautiful code by favoring convention over configuration.”

Rob will demonstrate the creation of a simple database driven web application using the Rails framework. He’ll also talk about some of the best practices that Rails brings to the web programming table and how it, and projects like it, are making programming more fun.

Speakers TBD, but the presentation will be a round table discussion of some of the current popular Linux distributions.

If you’re interested in talking about your favorite distribution for a few minutes, please contact speakers@nblug.org.

Tor is a toolset for a wide range of organizations and people that want to improve their safety and security on the Internet. Using Tor can help you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol. I will discuss how it works (the onion router and Tor), how to install and run it(its easy!), and how it’s a very secure system. I’ll also look at the common criticisms, who needs this kind of technology and why, compare the Tor network to other anonymous systems, such as anonymizer, and contrast Tor with traditional proxies. I’ll finish up with talking about hidden services Tor can provide, and allow for questions and comments of course.

Description:

Please note that this InstallFest is at O’Reilly in Sebastopol. Please see below for information on the exact location and directions.

WHEN: Saturday, September 17th - 10:30AM - 4:30PM PDT
WHERE: O’Reilly in Sebastopol; https://nblug.org/genloc
WHO: Anyone wanting help in installing Linux onto their computer
URL: https://nblug.org/installfest/
WHAT DO I DO: Go to http://www.nblug.org/installfest/ to signup!!!!

What is an InstallFest and who can come?

Instead of putting all of the usual “what is an InstallFest” info in this and future announcements, we have a link up on our website as to what a NBLUG InstallFest entails and how to participate. If you point your browser of choice to http://www.nblug.org/installfest/ , you’ll be presented with all the info you ever wanted to know about what goes on at an InstallFest, and how you can get the most out of attending one.

Anyone is more than welcome to attend. If you need help or just want to hang out and talk, you are more than welcome to show up. They are always totally free; you might want to bring a few dollars for pizza, however.

How do I sign up?

We will again be taking signups for this InstallFest, so please be sure to visit that URL if you plan on attending. Those who signup and reserve a time slot, are first in line. We’ve found that by taking signups, we can help more people in a timely fashion. We can also make sure that enough helpers are available for those wanting help. If you need help at the last minute, you can still just show up and we’ll probably be able to help you, but it really helps us if you register first, preferably a week or more in advance so we have a chance to beg for more helpers if we need them.

What if I want to offer help?

If you’re interested in helping out, please contact installfest@nblug.org; if you’ve successfully installed Fedora (or RedHat or Mandrake or SuSE or Debian or FreeBSD or OpenBSD or YellowDog or …) before, you can probably help out. We can even use a bit of help from somebody helping people bring their heavy equipment in. Besides, it’s fun to come hang out with all the geeks. ;)

For helpers, the schedule is a little different:

8:30AM - Breakfast (optional) at an undecided location.
10:00AM - Room open to helpers for setup
10:30AM - Installs begin (event start)
4:00PM - Installs should be done by now.
4:30PM - Installs must be done by now.
5:00PM - Room closed; alarms go off, doors lock, police show up.

We always need helpers, and we can usually use more helpers than we get. It’s a good way to “give back” to NBLUG and it’s a geeky good time. (If you’re interested in helping out but can’t do an InstallFest, please consider giving a presentation, contact speakers@nblug.org )

NBLUG’s own Dustin Mollo will be covering the highlights of moding a Linksys WRT54G. He’ll cover OpenWRT and some of the other options out there including some of other hackable routers that run linux.

So for our next general meeting we will be doing something a bit different. Our regular meeting room is already book with another event, so we will be meeting in the kitchen next door. The plan is for those who are interested to come early (6:30-7:00) and order some pizza, so if you want to join in, bring some pizza money.

We won’t have a formal speaker this time, however we will have a projector so I might do a more informal demonstration of some of the Linux multimedia applications I’ve been using lately, either that or depending on the level of interest I might give a short talk on what’s new in Knoppix land.

So bring your appetite and some pizza money and join us in the O’Reilly kitchen. Knowing how our group is, it promises to be a good time.

Description:

Please note that this InstallFest is at O’Reilly in Sebastopol. Please see below for information on the exact location and directions.

WHEN: Saturday, July 23 - 10:30AM - 4:30PM PDT
WHERE: O’Reilly in Sebastopol; https://nblug.org/genloc
WHO: Anyone wanting help in installing Linux onto their computer
URL: https://nblug.org/installfest/
WHAT DO I DO: Go to http://www.nblug.org/installfest/ to signup!!!!

What is an InstallFest and who can come?

Instead of putting all of the usual “what is an InstallFest” info in this and future announcements, we have a link up on our website as to what a NBLUG InstallFest entails and how to participate. If you point your browser of choice to http://www.nblug.org/installfest/ , you’ll be presented with all the info you ever wanted to know about what goes on at an InstallFest, and how you can get the most out of attending one.

Anyone is more than welcome to attend. If you need help or just want to hang out and talk, you are more than welcome to show up. They are always totally free; you might want to bring a few dollars for pizza, however.

How do I sign up?

We will again be taking signups for this InstallFest, so please be sure to visit that URL if you plan on attending. Those who signup and reserve a time slot, are first in line. We’ve found that by taking signups, we can help more people in a timely fashion. We can also make sure that enough helpers are available for those wanting help. If you need help at the last minute, you can still just show up and we’ll probably be able to help you, but it really helps us if you register first, preferably a week or more in advance so we have a chance to beg for more helpers if we need them.

What if I want to offer help?

If you’re interested in helping out, please contact installfest@nblug.org; if you’ve successfully installed Fedora (or RedHat or Mandrake or SuSE or Debian or FreeBSD or OpenBSD or YellowDog or …) before, you can probably help out. We can even use a bit of help from somebody helping people bring their heavy equipment in. Besides, it’s fun to come hang out with all the geeks. ;)

For helpers, the schedule is a little different:

8:30AM - Breakfast (optional) at an undecided location.
10:00AM - Room open to helpers for setup
10:30AM - Installs begin (event start)
4:00PM - Installs should be done by now.
4:30PM - Installs must be done by now.
5:00PM - Room closed; alarms go off, doors lock, police show up.

We always need helpers, and we can usually use more helpers than we get. It’s a good way to “give back” to NBLUG and it’s a geeky good time. (If you’re interested in helping out but can’t do an InstallFest, please consider giving a presentation, contact speakers@nblug.org )

gumstix, Inc. creates the world’s smallest commercially available Linux boards and computers. Their devices are based on Intel’s PXA255 processor with Xscale technology (also used in high-end PDAs and smartphones), measure only 20mm x 80mm x 8mm — the size of a stick of gum — and cost as low as $109. gumstix boards provide GPIO pins, serial ports, USB 1.1 client, an MMC flash memory card slot, and an I2C bus.

Their’s are among the first single board computers (SBCs) shipping with the new Linux 2.6 kernel, with its fully pre-emptible, multi-threading capabilties.

Gordon Kruberg, Founder & CEO, founded, financed, and played operating and strategic executive roles in over 30 startups and venture-capital backed companies. He holds an A.B. degree in Human Biology, a M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and an M.D. degree from Northwestern University.

aka: Managing linux nodes in a heterogeneous cluster environment using readonly rootnfs.

Eric will talk about how ILM is able to boot all its Deathstar servers from a single linux image and the gotchas associated with using mixed hardware in a clustered environment. He’ll also discuss how linux is utilized for production rendering at ILM.

Description:

Please note that this InstallFest is at O’Reilly. Please see below for information on the exact location and directions. This is not our usual installfest location. We’ve decided to start doing all of our InstallFests at O’Reilly.

WHEN: Saturday, May 14 - 10:30AM - 4:30PM PDT
WHERE: O’Reilly in Sebastopol; https://nblug.org/genloc
WHO: Anyone wanting help in installing Linux onto their computer
WHAT DO I DO: Go to http://www.nblug.org/installfest/ to sign up!!!!

What is an InstallFest and who can come?

Instead of putting all of the usual “what is an InstallFest” info in this and future announcements, we have a link up on our website as to what a NBLUG InstallFest entails and how to participate. If you point your browser of choice to http://www.nblug.org/installfest/ , you’ll be presented with all the info you ever wanted to know about what goes on at an InstallFest, and how you can get the most out of attending one.

Anyone is more than welcome to attend. If you need help or just want to hang out and talk, you are more than welcome to show up. They are always totally free; you might want to bring a few dollars for pizza, however.

How do I sign up?

We will again be taking signups for this InstallFest, so please be sure to visit that URL if you plan on attending. Those who signup and reserve a time slot, are first in line. We’ve found that by taking signups, we can help more people in a timely fashion. We can also make sure that enough helpers are available for those wanting help. If you need help at the last minute, you can still just show up and we’ll probably be able to help you, but it really helps us if you register first, preferably a week or more in advance so we have a chance to beg for more helpers if we need them.

What if I want to offer help?

If you’re interested in helping out, please contact installfest@nblug.org; if you’ve successfully installed Fedora (or RedHat or Mandrake or SuSE or Debian or FreeBSD or OpenBSD or YellowDog or …) before, you can probably help out. We can even use a bit of help from somebody helping people bring their heavy equipment in. Besides, it’s fun to come hang out with all the geeks. ;)

For helpers, the schedule is a little different:

8:30AM - Breakfast (optional) at an undecided location.
10:00AM - Room open to helpers for setup
10:30AM - Installs begin (event start)
4:00PM - Installs should be done by now.
4:30PM - Installs must be done by now.
5:00PM - Room closed; alarms go off, doors lock, police show up.

We always need helpers, and we can usually use more helpers than we get. It’s a good way to “give back” to NBLUG and it’s a geeky good time. (If you’re interested in helping out but can’t do an InstallFest, please consider giving a presentation, contact speakers@nblug.org )

Chris will discuss GNOME Accessibility features, including screen reading and magnification, plus how to configure X and Gnopernicus to use a second monitor for magnification. One or two accessible live Linux distributions will also be demonstrated.

Accessibility is enabling people with disabilities to participate in substantial life activities that include work and the use of services, products, and information. Gnopernicus is designed to enable low vision or totally blind users to use the Gnome Desktop, through screen magnification, text to speech, text to Braille and other assistive features.

Update: Chris will have relevant materials up at http://www.waggie.net/accessibility/ shortly.