BillingsLUG
Where
The BillingsLUG has a small informal gathering most Thursday evenings at:
MT Space
1519 Broadwater Ave
(adjacent to Tahitian Nites casino -- same building)
When
Meetings start at around 5PM and have no formal ending time but usually end around 7PM.
July 2009 Meeting
This month I would like to give another LDAP presentation. I am using OpenLDAP for authentication of system accounts, integrated with Postfix and Courier-IMAP for virtual mail addresses, and serving DNS records for BIND.
sounds good
I have been authenticating postfix and dovecot against mysql. Will be interesting to chat with someone with some practical knowledge. Always wondered how LDAP would handle system logins, email, and other services from one database.
Our QMAIL LDAP experience.
We used Redhat ES3, qmail and LDAP providing free email accounts for students for 5 or 6 years. All was installed on one machine with tons of disk space. LDAP was a really nice fit for us cause it provided open source options for account and mail management. Eventually all of that was deemed unnecessary and about the only thing to do was the disk management, filter the spam, check for virus and upload/create the new student account/mail box(s). We wound up with thousands and thousands of accounts over time and LDAP didn't ever seem to blink or complain. We had our problems but LDAP was never one of them. I learned early on to feed it, quietly leave the room, leave it alone and let it do its thing. Thanks LDAP.
April 2009 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
1943 Main Street
Front door and up the stairs above Butt's Gun Sales
When:
7:00 PM on Thursday April 16th, 2009
Speakers:
Brian Vincent
Talk:
WINE ("Wine Is Not an Emulator")
Abstract:
What is Wine? History of Wine development A few demos Wine architecture / Linux integration Usage tips and tricks What the backend development process is like Future of Wine
November 2008 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street.
When:
7PM on Thursday November 20th, 2008
Speakers:
Warren Sanders
Talk:
BackupPC Virtual User Mail System
Abstract:
In the past most of our talks have been focused on howto installations
and very little to do with the end result. For this presentation, I
want to do a little show-n-tell. These are projects I have been working
on for the past couple months.BackupPC has matured enough as a front-end web-app and has replaced my
long used dirvish system.My email server is now a virtual user base using mysql, postfix,
courier, clamav, spamassassin, pyzor, managed by mailscanner and mailwatch.Lastly, we need to do a check-in on how our tasks for the planned
installfest is going.
Backups
I wish that I would have attended. I admin a network in Billings and use backuppc to handle a number of linux and unix (sco, tru64) servers as well as a number of desktops. I am active on the backuppc mailing lists as well and make regular contrubutions.
I hope to make it to next thursdays meet!
October 2008 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street.
When:
7PM on Thursday October 16th, 2008
Speakers:
Andrew Niemantsverdriet Dan Spencer (group project)
Talk:
DRBL FOG
Abstract:
Diskless Remote Boot in Linux (DRBL) provides a diskless or systemless environment for client machines. DRBL uses distributed hardware resources and makes it possible for clients to fully access local hardware. It also includes Clonezilla, a partitioning and disk cloning utility.FreeGohst (FOG) is a free open-source cloning/imaging solution/rescue suite. An alternate solution used to image Windows XP, Vista PCs using PXE, PartImage, and a Web GUI to tie it together. Includes features like memory and disk test, disk wipe and AV scan.
Oct 16 Meeting Presentation Notes
I would love to be a fly on the wall at your meeting tonight! But with the storm system between Boise and Bilings, even the fly would be grounded and a bit of long walk for a penquine. Would it be possible to get presentation or meeting notes for the presentations on DBRL and FOG.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks,
Clint Tinsley
We may be able to come up
We may be able to come up with something. This meeting tonight is more of a project than a presentation. But there might be something worth mentioning as a blog about our success/failure.
Update: We're talking perhaps video now. We'll see.
Thanks for the encouragement!
--
Warren
Meeting Follow-up
How'd did the meeting go a week ago last Thursday? Been watching for details to be posted here. Just thought I would check in.
Thanks,
Clint
Sorry cttinsley, no video
Sorry cttinsley, no video was made recorded. As this was a group project; presentation papers were not prepared. We did however discover that FOG was going to require further investigation.
The DRBL demo was pretty straight forward. From a LiveCD Andrew did a mock PXE boot image from the host.
I for one will be testing both in production in the near future.
September 2008 Meeting
With the results of the poll I had going over the last week, we have decided to do a dinner at Old Chicago next Thursday the 25th at 7PM.
Others have asked if we wanted to do a regular meeting this evening anyway. I had not planned for one but as long as you all are up for it... sure thing. So if you get this soon enough, feel free to meet us at Computer4Kids at 7PM.
Will bring some more books from Pearson publishing. Also it is Shawn's Birthday today!
Dinner Meeting Reminder
Don't miss it... dinner at Old Chicago tonight at 7PM in the bar/patio area.
Hope to see you there!
InstallFest
At last month's meeting we began some discussion on an InstallFest to take place at an as-yet-undetermined date and time. I meant to get the discussion notes posted here sooner but they were almost lost in my office move! My apologies on the late posting...
Time & Place
- Warren knows of a conference room available for $40
Target Audience
- Highschool students
- College students
Distros (LiveCD)
- Ubuntu
- Fedora
- Gentoo?
Hardware
- Free C4K computers to hand out -- "Linux-powered broadband-ready PCs"
- Networking gear (switches, etc.)
- Internet connectivity
- Old computers...I'm not sure what we meant by this one
Getting the Word Out
- School fliers
- Bring your own PC -- must sign a waiver!
- BLUG sponsored by C4K
- Billings Gazette featurette
- Refreshments
- Schwagg
Linux Talking Points
- Showcase some Linux in action
- Philosophy of Open Source, open standards
- List of alternatives to Microsoft software & how to install on chosen distro
Task Assignments
- Dan - Gazette featurette
- Warren - PC waiver
- Warren - Talk to Alkali Creek school principal
- Shawn - Talk about philosophy of Open Source
All the above are just some notes to get the discussion going. Please post any other suggestions, questions, or offers to volunteer your time and/or equipment here or bring them with you to the regularly-scheduled meetings!
Thanks everyone.
July 2008 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street.
When:
7PM on Thursday July 17th, 2008
Speakers:
All
Talk:
Spontaneous
Abstract:
Talk about our latest adventures in Linux, latest in the news. Continue
plans on Septembers InstallFest. I also have 4 new books to give away:Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One Refactoring HTML: Improving the Design of Existing Web Applications Running Xen: A Hands-On Guide to the Art of Virtualization Dojo - JavaScript Library to Build Ajax Applications
June 2008 Meeting
Hi Billings LUGers,
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South
(North side of the street)
When:
7:00 PM Thursday June 19th, 2008
Speakers:
Andrew Niemantsverdriet
Talks:
pfSense
Abstract:
Tonight, Andrew will be giving a demo of pfSense -- a free, open source firewall and router distribution based on FreeBSD. For more information, the project's website is at http://www.pfsense.com
May 2008 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street.
When:
7PM on Thursday May 15th, 2008
Speakers:
Warren Sanders Donnie Lunder
Talk:
Remote Desktops
Abstract:
Demonstration on how to access applications, terminal services, and sessions via Linux. Talking about X11 forwarding, NX, rdesktop, and VNC.
April 2008 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street.
When:
7PM on Thursday April 17th, 2008
Speakers:
Dan Spencer Mike DeLoach
Talk:
Untangle: Firewall
Abstract:
It's firewall software! Firewall evaluates traffic traveling across your network by applying your rules until a block/pass verdict is reached or a default action is taken.Also, I have another preview book to give away! Anyone interested in Linux driver development? Essential Linux Device Drivers by Sreekrishnan Venkateswaran; http://www.informit.com/title/0132396556
March 2008 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street, tucked behind the Mustang Barbershop.
When:
7PM on Thursday March 20th, 2008 (Note new time)
Speakers:
Brian Irish
Talks:
DD-WRT v24 firmware on a Linksys WRT54GS wireless router
Abstract:
Brian will be demonstrating DD-WRT v24 firmware on a Linksys WRT54GS wireless router. One of the new features that he will be focusing on is virtual wireless interfaces that allow for multiple SSIDs served by a single router.
February 2008 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street, behind the Mustang Barbershop.
When:
7:30 PM on Thursday February 21st, 2008
Speakers:
Andrew Niemantsverdriet Warren Sanders
Talks:
Basic WiFi Security and Why You Need It digiKam
Abstract:
Andrew works every day with wireless systems and knows them inside out. Learn the basics in how to secure your wireless network. Hear from an expert what you should know before exposing your network.Warren, will tentatively demo digiKam. digiKam is an advanced digital photo management application for KDE, which makes importing and organizing digital photos a "snap". I will be out of town most of the day but will try to make it back in time for the meeting.
January 2008 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street, tucked behind the Mustang Barbershop.
When:
7:30 PM on Thursday January 17th, 2008Speakers:
Dan Spencer Donnie Lunder Warren Sanders Talks:
EasyFWGen FireHOL digiKam Abstract:
Dan mentioned using a cool firewall tool called Easy Firewall Generator. This program generates an iptables firewall script for use with the 2.4 or later linux kernel. It's so easy Dan plans to do it on Slackware just to make things a bit more challenging. ;-)Donnie would like to talk about FireHOL. FireHOL is an iptables stateful packet filtering firewall builder. Both of these look complex to me so hope to learn a bit about their differences.
Warren, time permitting will change it up a bit by talking about something totally different; digiKam. digiKam is an advanced digital photo management application for KDE, which makes importing and organizing digital photos a "snap".
December 2007 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street, tucked behind the Mustang Barbershop.
When:
7:30 PM on Tuesday December 18th, 2007
Speaker:
Donnie Lunder
Talk:
LinuxMCE
Abstract:
LinuxMCE is a free, open source add-on to Kubuntu including a 10' UI, complete whole-house media solution with pvr + distributed media, and the most advanced smarthome solution available. It is stable, easy to use, and requires no knowledge of Linux and only basic computer skills.
November 2007 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street, tucked behind the Mustang Barbershop.
When:
7:30 PM on Thursday November 15th, 2007
Speaker:
Group Discus
Talk:
gOS Linux Distribution
Abstract:
gOS is based on Ubuntu 7.10 but uses Enlightenment 17 instead of the usual Gnome/KDE desktops. Earlier this month it was introduced to come pre-installed on the $198 Everex Green gPC TC2502 sold at Wal-Mart. At this meeting we will go under the hood and take a closer look.
October 2007 Meeting
This is just a reminder about our meeting tonight. We will start
meeting at 6pm tonight at:
Computer 4 Kids
4017 1st Ave S, Billings, MT
This meeting will be somewhat more relaxed that normal. Anyone
unfamiliar with C4K will get to see what they are about first hand.
We will discuss some of C4K's processes, and brainstorm as a group to
possible solutions.
If all goes well, we will learn about the Hotplug.d service and a
little shell scripting.
Additionally, I will be cooking up some fresh pizza, and you are
welcome to bring your favorite drink. We will start the food portion
of the meeting earlier than usual at about 6 and by 7:30 should be
getting into Hotplug.d and some Bash.
If you ever want to chat with some of the local Linux users, many of
us are in #ubuntu-montana on irc.freenode.com
September 2007 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
The meeting will be held this Thursday.
Where:
MCS Office Products
1812 Grand Avenue
When:
7:30 PM on Thursday September 20th, 2007
Speaker:
Donnie Lunder
Talk:
Live Asteriks vzmigration
Abstract:
This will be a demonstration more in line with the power of OpenVZ's vzmigration tool. In this demo we'll see how it can handle a live phone call.
August 2007 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
The meeting was postponed one week as Shawn was out of town last week.
Where:
ATM Express Inc., 145 Regal Street Suite 7.
Turn south at 15th Street West and Central Avenue.
When:
7:30 PM on Tuesday August 21st, 2007
Speaker:
George Milliken
Talk:
SugarCRM and the Oracle port
Abstract:
Talk about the SugarCRM package, the way the source is organized, the things I have learned in working on a port from MySQL to php dbx (to support Oracle oci8). A little about the CRM application in general, their competitors, the way companies use CRM.
Books for review:
The Official Ubuntu Book (2nd Edition) The Official Damn Small Linux(R) Book: The Tiny Adaptable Linux That Runs on Anything RailsSpace: Building a Social Networking Website with Ruby on Rails Enterprise AJAX: Strategies for Building High Performance Web Applications Ajax Construction Kit: Building Plug-and-Play Ajax Applications
Pre-Meeting Dinner
Feel free to join us at Fudruckers about 6:30.
July 2007 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
The meeting was postponed one week as Shawn was out of town last week.
Where:
ATM Express Inc., 145 Regal Street Suite 7.
Turn south at 15th Street West and Central Avenue.
When:
7:30 PM on Tuesday July 24th, 2007
Speaker:
Tentatively: Shawn Wilson
Talk:
Tentatively: Gentoo Installation
Abstract:
Quick review of a Gentoo installation.
June 2007 Meeting
Billings Linux Users Group
The meeting will be postponed one week as I will be out of town this week.
Where:
Computer4Kids, 4017 1st Ave South.
North side of street, tucked behind the Mustang Barbershop.
When:
7:30 PM on Tuesday June 26th, 2007
Speaker:
Brian Kelly
Talk:
MythTV
Abstract:
Brian may be adding more info on this later this week.
June Billings Linux User's Group
MythTV is the Linux equivalent of Microsoft's Media Center. It is the "Mythical convergence device" where your TV, audio and computer all meet in one mythical device.
We'll run through an installation from scratch using standard off the shelf hardware. The box can be connected to an S-video jack to display on a regular television. We'll also configure a MCE remote and tuner card.
The end product will be running Debian. We will use Knoppmyth to do the install.
May 2007 Meeting
Where:
When:
7:30 PM on Tuesday May 15th, 2007
Speaker:
Warren Sanders
Talk:
Show n' Tell IPCop mini-itx style
Abstract:
Last year I purchased a fanless mini-itx system customized for my personal firewall at home. This past week I installed IPCop on it. I plan to show you under the hood and maybe even do a quick IPCop install.
April 2007 Meeting
Where:
ATM Express, Inc. at 145 Regal St. Suite 7 which is south of Central at 15th Street West.
When:
7:30 PM on Tuesday April 17th, 2007
Speaker:
Warren Sanders
Talk:
Virtual Users With Postfix, PostfixAdmin, Courier, Mailscanner, ClamAV On CentOS
Abstract:
In this presentation I want to show the rpm/Red Hat way of installing this popular setup of virtual users and postfix. Last meeting and some post prior, Dan asked if I would show some Red Hat stuff. The presentation is a bit long winded and may be strained for time, so I have been working on pre-baking some of the steps and working out the bugs to get the time down this past week. So some steps will be just like watching the Food Network Channel!
Two new books to be given away this month:
The Linux Programmer's Toolbox (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development Series) (Paperback) The Apache Modules Book: Application Development with Apache (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development Series) (Paperback)
March 2007 Meeting
We're giving MCS a break this month and heading over to the Computer4Kids shop. They are located at 4017 South 1st Street. Not only is Dan hosting he has also volunteered to talk about connecting Linux to an MS Advanced Server Domain. The idea is to be able to use a single logon for corporate type environments.
Also worth noting... feel free to bring refreshments of your choice. Some brews will be provided.
Please note the meeting will be held Friday the 23rd. Check with the Event calendar often for the latest dates and locations.
February Meeting Postponed
Once again we are postponing our monthly meeting one week. Please check the Events calendar. We will resume our monthly meeting February 27th. Sorry for any inconveniences this may have caused.
Volunteer Timeslots
I want to point out a new plugin to the website that allows you to volunteer for a timeslot at a meeting. What I'm hoping to do with this is schedule out into future meetings. Currently each meeting has two one hour time slots but rarely will both be filled but I would like to at least have someone volunteer one slot; even if it is just a show-n-tell you want to do. For February I have already asked Donnie if he would give us a show-n-tell so I have already added him in.
The plugin is also designed to send you a reminder and you can check off a box to have it send you a copy of the event information. However at this time the server is only setup to deliver locally so hopefully that issue can be solved eventually.
To access the volunteer timeslots, you can just click the Upcoming event directly or through the Events calendar which would be extra clicks to get there. To volunteer you need to check one of the two slots and hit Submit assuming you already logged in. So yes you need to have an account and be logged in to volunteer. Also after submitting you can add a note to the Volunteer roster and I can use that to further describe the meeting as the notes are not viewable to those not logged in.
So don't be afraid to commit to a slot. You can remove yourself just as easily as you added yourself. Feel free to play with it!
New LUG Night Confirmed
Please note the day changed for our monthly meetings to the third Tuesday of every month.
Feel free to join us
Feel free to join us at Fudruckers about 6:30.
wireless network monitor
January 2007 Meeting
Please note this month we are meeting on Tuesday rather than Thursday. Same place, same time; MCS Office Products, 1812 Grand Avenue at 7:30PM.
Time has come around again where we discus BillingsLUG business. Tomorrow night we will discuss meeting ideas, meeting date, meeting place, speakers, marketing, and possible InstallFest interests.
Anyone wishing to bring in any new toys they got for Christmas, please feel fee to bring them in for a little show-n-tell. Always fun stuff!
Meeting Changup
Starting this month our "Super Host" Jason Huether (MCS Office Products) has a scheduling conflict with our normal 3rd Thursday of the month meetings. He has offered to host it on Tuesday the 16th. Same time; 730.
Does anyone have other ideas/offers for hosting 3rd Thursdays? Does a different night work better for others? Best way to do this is to post your vote.
Also if anyone wants to do a talk on something, please chime in.
December 2006 Meeting
Happy Holidays fellow LUGgers! Next Thursday is our next scheduled meeting. I wanted to get this out early this month so you might be able to plan ahead. It's just before the big Christmas weekend, so hopefully you can make it to the meeting.
This months topic is in season! I knew about this since some time this summer and waited to tell you. Craig Hicks will be talking about a team project he has been working on since this summer. I'm sure you all have heard of the Wizards of Christmas... the light show Christmas display? Well this is that project. Unfortunately he can't just take his server out of service Thursday for our meeting and we can't all just go to his house and tour as there is no parking. We can on our own drive by to see it in action. Craig plans to talk about the project and how this is done. I am told their goal is to port it to Linux as well as other OSes.
I also want to mention that Craig's house is entered in the Gazette's "Share the spirit contest". He would appreciate your vote and check out some video by KULR8 here as well: Montana Christmas
Mark your calendar apps and see you next Thursday the 21st at 7:30.
November 2006 Meeting
I'm putting my foot down. I'm lynching the TiVo's from my wife for one evening. She fought the good fight, but I convinced her I need to upgrade the drives. So I am brining in my two TiVo's; a Series 1 and a Series 2. I plan to take the new unused "perpendicular" drive back out of the Series 1 and put it in the Series 2. But first I need to create a backup of the existing Series 2 in order to save my settings and recordings; or else my wife WILL have a bone to pick with me. In case you are wondering if this is on topic, yes it is a Linux distro and I will be working with some Live CD's.
I also want to hand out the rest of the door prizes as I got more and just can't seem to get rid of them.
October 2006 Meeting
While Shawn Wilson was ill last month, Bryan was the only presenter. This Thursday Shawn plans to give last months vi/vim talk.
I also want to mention here that there will be a couple door prizes again. You must be present to get in on those.
Last month I only mentioned the door prizes in the BillingsLUG Mailing List as sort of an added bonus to those keeping tabs on us there. I may on occasion add something in the email notice not on this main site, so please sign up if you have not already.
September 2006 Meeting
You may have heard of Distro wars and X wars but there is another arena you may have heard of... editor wars. When giving your Linux profile to an interviewer, he most likely will ask what editor you prefer; vi or emacs? I would be looking for more options personally.
Shawn Wilson will be talking about vi/vim this month. So even if you don't prefer to use vi, you probably should brush up on the basics of how to get around in it at the least. Much of editing cron daemons call on vi.
Also Bryan Irish is working on his VPN hacked access point. He would like to demo what he has done so far in setting this up on the DD-WRT.
August 2006 Meeting
This month I asked Donnie if he would like to show us a couple tricks you can do with your WiFi access point to detour unauthorized access. Sort of a "having fun with your neighbors" security feature!
I also have a little added incentive for attending this month. SuSe Linux has sent some spiff door prizes! If time permits we can take a peak at SuSe 10.1 included in this kit they sent.
July 2006 Meeting
It's summer, so everyone should be having fun doing those fun summer things like BBQs and camping.
Tonight we will be having our LUG meeting at MCS Office Products on 1812 Grand. Much thanks to Shawn and ATM Express for hosting last month's meeting. Thanks!
Tonight, I (Donnie) will give a demonstration of Synergy, a client/server application that lets you share your keyboard and mouse (and more) between multiple computers. It's a software KVM without the V.
Also, in keeping with a new summer tradition, all LUG'ers and friends and family are invited to meet for a pre-meeting meal. This month, we will meet at Grains of Montana located at 926 Grand Ave at 6:30.
June 2006 Meeting
A little change-up this month. We will be meeting at ATM Express (1911 King Ave West) for this Thursday's meeting. We're giving Jason a break as he spends some time with family coming to visit him. Also to add to this change-up, we are planning to meet for dinner at Fuddruckers (2011 Overland Ave) about 6:30 PM. If you are new to the group and would like to find us, please contact me directly and I can give you some info on who to look for.
August 2009 Meeting
Greetings BillingsLUGgers,
I picked up a few XO OLPC's from Scott Dowdle from the BozemanLUG a couple weeks ago on my way through. Unfortunately I was out of town another week following and was unable to have them dispersed for play. I need to return them next week before BozemanLUG's next meeting when they get returned to the rightful owner.
Fortunately I will be bringing them to this weeks meeting Thursday evening starting at 7PM. They are much funner to use in a mesh or on the net than having only one.
Tonight we will be meeting at Off The Leaf Coffee Bar at 819 Grand Avenue.
See you there at 7.