Virginia Tech Linux & UNIX Users’ Group

Richard Stallman (The creator of the GNU project) is coming to Virginia Tech to give a speech on Copyright vs Community. The speech will be on Tuesday, March 25th in Torgerson 2150 at 8:00pm.

Abstract:

Copyright developed in the age of the printing press, and was designed to fit with the system of centralized copying imposed by the printing press. But the copyright system does not fit well with computer networks, and only draconian punishments can enforce it.

The global corporations that profit from copyright are lobbying for draconian punishments, and to increase their copyright powers, while suppressing public access to technology. But if we seriously hope to serve the only legitimate purpose of copyright–to promote progress, for the benefit of the public–then we must make changes in the other direction.

Bio:
Richard Stallman launched the development of the GNU operating system (see http://www.gnu.org/) in 1984. GNU is free software: everyone has the freedom to copy it and redistribute it, as well as to make changes either large or small. The GNU/Linux system, basically the GNU operating system with Linux added, is used on tens of millions of computers today.

Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award, a Mac Arthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation¹s Pioneer award, and the the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well
as several honorary doctorates.

Even though we are nearing the end of yet another semester here at Virginia Tech, we have saved some of the best presentations for last. To start with, the Linux & UNIX Users’ Group will be proud to host Professor Bukvic of the Music department here to do a presentation on Linux Audio (in a professional multimedia environment). The event details are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, November 13th, starting at 7:30 PM
Location: Downtown Studio (directions)
Primary Topics: Linux Audio, JACK, DISIS

It should be a great presentation, so we hope to see you there.

Additionally, we are fortunate enough to have another guest speaker to do another presentation for us at the end of November. We will be hosting Dr. Harry Foxwell of Sun Microsystems to discuss Sun’s OpenSolaris project, on Tuesday, November 27th, starting at 7:30 PM in the Graduate Life Center (formerly Donaldson Brown Hotel & Conference Center) Auditorium. More details will be forthcoming as we get closer to the date of the presentation, but this is quite possibly the largest Linux & UNIX Users’ Group event in quite a few years. We look forward to having a large turnout, so please be sure to let anyone interested in Solaris, OpenSolaris, or any of the amazing technologies Sun has created (such as DTrace and ZFS) about the presentation, and come on out yourselves. We hope to see you all there.

Welcome back to the Fall ‘07 semester!

For those who did not know, the VTLUUG experienced a reorganization at the end of last semester. A club charter was drafted and ratified, and elections were held as per the new charter. It is located under the Files section of the website so you can peruse it at your leisure. The new officers are on the contact page (check the tabs above). Any questions, comments, complaints or suggestions should be directed towards the appropriate officer, or the generic vtluug@vtluug.org address.

But enough of that.. on to the events we have planned for this semester.

Install Fest: The semesterly InstallFest has been set for September 16th, from 12 PM till 6 PM, in Squires Room 345. Of course walk-ins are welcomed (and encouraged). For more information head over to the Get Involved thread.
Crash Course The Crash Courses for the semester have been set for September 24th and September 25th, from 7:30 PM till 9 PM each night in Colonial Hall in Squires. The Crash Courses will be in the form of presentations we invite our guests to follow with their own computers. Those of you who know Colonial Hall know that we’ll have plenty of room, so come on out and try something new, or just brush up on your skills.

Bi-weekly Meetings: So, this year instead of having haphazardly scheduled BOFs the LUUG will meet every other week, alternating between Monday and Tuesday) at 7:30 pm in Squires. These meetings will be more open than the presentation style lectures we have traditionally held. In the week(s) before the meeting a thread will be started in the forum where members can toss about topics for discussion. By the weekend an agenda will be posted on the website so everyone knows what to expect when they come to a meeting. Posts will be made, and emails sent out over the listserv as these events creep closer.

To keep up to date on all of the LUUG’s events feel free to subscribe to the calendar and/or join the listserv. If you have any specific problems, issues, or want to share something jump on the forum and make a post.

Hey all -

I hope everyone is doing okay after last week's tragic events.

We have decided to move ahead with our final BoF of the semester, which
will occur this Thursday, April 26th, from 8:00 to 10:00 PM in Squires
Room 145.

Ashton, a music major here at Tech, will be presenting on the topic of
audio work and Linux.

If you have any questions, please head over to the forums and we will
field them!

Hey all!

This Wednesday, April 11th, from 8:30 to 10:30 PM in Squires Room 234, there will be a presentation on using Linux with amateur radio. It should be a great presentation.

See you there!