Last month we gave an overview of Ubuntu and some installation tips. Now that you have installed Ubuntu we will be touching on a few introductory topics that will help you start using your new OS. Among the items we’ll cover as a part of the presentation will be installing applications, navigating the menus, some basic system configuration, and using OpenOffice.org. We are planning time for questions after the planned demonstrations.

Please visit our event page if you would like a PDF version of the flyer to print out and post at your favorite locations!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

I gave a talk I wrote entitled ‘Welcome to Ubuntu’ which is a starting point for people new to Ubuntu. What it is about and how things work from a high overview perspective. What you can expect once you have installed the Ubuntu distribution. We had over a dozen people turn out for the event and some great questions and discussions about Ubuntu and Free software.

So for the next meeting on June 17th we will continue with this format. I have a tentative talk in mind and will post again in a few days once I have a title and firm idea of what will be discussed.

This will be an introductory talk about what Ubuntu Linux is and how you can use it in your daily life. So if you or someone you know is curious and would like to come out on May 20th to the Howard County Library Central branch from 7-9pm. I and my team will be happy to talk to you about the benefits of Ubuntu!

If you bring a USB drive with 1GB or more free space we can install a live USB version of Ubuntu for you to use and install from!

We will also be providing free Ubuntu CDs for all who attend!

This month’s meeting will feature a presentation entitled “Welcome to Ubuntu”. This is an introductory level talk to welcome new users into the Ubuntu world.

With the latest Ubuntu release, Lucid Lynx, we have a new long term support version of the operating system. Now is a great time to learn the advantages of running a Linux distribution. If you’ve had questions about using Ubuntu and wondering if you can do it (which you can, sorry to spoil the talk:)) join us!

We will have a Q&A session afterwards and all that attend will receive a free Ubuntu Lucid Lynx CD!

See the wiki for details and a flyer you can hand out to your friends and post at your favorite community spot, coffee shop, school bulletin board… you get the idea!

We will once again be enjoying pizza and soda provided by Praxis Engineering and should arrive about 6:30pm.

Additionally we will have Ubuntu Lucid Lynx CDs to hand out. This is the latest long term support release from Ubuntu, so get them while they are fresh!

As normal we are meeting at the Columbia, MD offices of Tenable Network Security. The address is 7063 Columbia Gateway Drive Suite 100 Columbia, MD 21046[3,4]. The building is easily identified by the Nessus eye keeping watch from the side of the building. Please enter at the back patio door near the blue tables.

Due to the snow conditions we are canceling the February CALug meeting.

I want to thank Jonathan Riddell for volunteering to give a talk to our group. Justin Kirby has agreed to come to our March meeting and give his talk to us at that time.

That being said, the KDE 4.4 release party scheduled for Fuddruckers in Columbia, MD on Friday is still on. Jonathan is planning to give his talk (without slides) and a Q&A at this event! So if you were looking forward to hearing what he has to say drop by, dine with us and hopefully learn something useful for desert!

* My attendance Friday evening is dependant on seeing a plow between now and then on the road outside…

I’ll be getting in touch with Justin and Jonathan to find out if they are available to make a rare Thursday appearance. If they are willing we will make the decision Thursday morning pending conditions in the area.

Keep up with any and all the methods I outlined previously for updates.

Don’t forget the KDE release party happening Friday the 12th at Fuddruckers in Columbia, MD!

Remember to lift with the knees, not the back!

So keep an eye out here, on the CALug mailing list, my identica account, the CALug identica group and/or my twitter account. Those last three will be the same message across them all so pick your favorite (Hint: The Identica site runs Free AGPL software). The CALug website will also be updated but may be a bit behind the announcements I make via my feeds.

Also don’t forget that the local KDE release party will be at Fuddruckers in Columbia, MD on Friday the 12th. With luck the snow will be gone by then!

Hi Everyone!

This coming Wednesday, February 10th is the next Columbia Area Linux Users Group meeting in Columbia, MD at the offices of Tenable Network Security.

Jonathan Riddell will be opening with his talk entitled “Kubuntu Community and Technology”. He will talk about the Linux distribution Kubuntu who makes it and the tools used.

Jonathan works for Canonical and started Kubuntu five years ago.

As long as Jonathan keeps to his contract and doesn’t do his Leno impression he’ll turn over speaker responsibilities to Justin Kirby*.

Justin will be presenting his talk “Making the leap from KDE user to contributor”. Justin will discuss simple ways for KDE users to become contributors, even without knowing a thing about developing code. His talk will provide specific details about various teams that exist within KDE, what you can do to help them out, and who to talk to if you have questions.

Justin Kirby is an active contributor to the KDE Promo team. He has been a user of KDE for about 3 years but more recently got actively involved in giving back to the community in July of 2009. You can learn more about the KDE Promo team on their wiki.

So join us at the Tenable offices at 6:30pm for pizza, wings and soda supplied by Praxis Engineering followed by the talks starting at 7pm.

* After minutes of negotiation with Justin’s agent I was able to secure a return appearance at a later date should Jonathan decide the evening belongs to him alone.

The issue that I have is that the current default of Google is actually my preferred search engine. It works for me and is part of my work flow. According to Popey’s post about the topic because I use the current Ubuntu default of Google when I upgrade to Lucid my default will change to Yahoo(Bing) search.

I’m wondering why the change is being forced. Why can there not be a pop up when launching Firefox the first time after the upgrade to Lucid? Something simple that prompts with two buttons and asks ‘Would you like to change your default search engine to Yahoo! (powered by Bing) and support Canonical and the developers of Ubuntu or continue with your previous search engine?’ The buttons can read ‘Support Ubuntu’ and ‘Keep Current Selection’. You will probably get a better than even selection of ‘Support Ubuntu’ choices.

The other issue I see with this deal is that it is with Yahoo search powered by Bing. For those unaware Bing is the search engine owned by Microsoft. Microsoft is the company mentioned in bug #1 which is still open. While not dealing with Microsoft directly, we are relying on their search engine for the default searches of the Ubuntu user base which chooses Yahoo search powered by Bing to support the Ubuntu developers. And we all know that when companies deal with Microsoft it is always a fair deal (he says thinking of patents, Novell and all the other positive things Microsoft has done for FOSS).

So even eliminating the particular choice of default search engine that is not my main issue (Microsoft software and products are, after all, another choice). The main concern is changing the existing user’s choice of search. Yes, it is just a couple clicks to change it back. I have to wonder though how many people will switch to a different search engine after an upgrade just due to the change being implemented by default rather than being asked.

As Popey suggested in his post there will likely be many people who say ‘you broke my internet/browser’ with the upgrade. What about site deployments, small or large, that upgrade? The admins and help desk techs of the network will have to spend time and effort customizing the browser package or deal with their users calling asking ‘Where did my Google go?’

That’ll be a sad thing to deal with when all that has to be offered is a choice.