Linux User Group - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A Linux User Group or Linux Users' Group (LUG) or GNU/Linux User Group (GLUG) is a private, generally non-profit or not-for-profit organization that provides support and/or education for Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

users, particularly for inexperienced users. The term commonly refers to local groups that meet in person, but is also used to refer to online support groups that may have members spread over a very wide area and which do not organize, or which are not based around, physical meetings. Many LUGs encompass FreeBSD

FreeBSD

FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...

and other free Unix-based operating systems.

Local LUGs

Local Linux User Groups meet (typically weekly to monthly) to provide support and/or arrange and host presentations for Linux

Linux

users, particularly for inexperienced users.
Given that Linux is not dominated by any specific corporate or institutional entity, LUG meetings typically encompass a broader range of topics than the meetings of other users' groups. Linux is predominantly user supported and some support is vastly easier via phone or in person than over e-mail or USENET

Usenet

Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...

. LUGs are still primarily focused on hobbyist users and professionals who are engaged in self-directed study.

SVLUG is among the oldest and largest LUGs. It was originally formed as a Special Interest Group

Special Interest Group

A Special Interest Group is a community with an interest in advancing a specific area of knowledge, learning or technology where members cooperate to effect or to produce solutions within their particular field, and may communicate, meet, and organize conferences...

for the Silicon Valley Computer Society, founded by Daniel Kionka to support Xenix

Xenix

Xenix is a version of the Unix operating system, licensed to Microsoft from AT&T in the late 1970s. The Santa Cruz Operation later acquired exclusive rights to the software, and eventually superseded it with SCO UNIX ....

and "low cost PC UNIX systems" (which later became focused on Linux as the dominant free implementation of Unix

Unix

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

).

According to the Linux User Group HOWTO:

Computer user groups are not new. In fact, they were central to the personal computer's history: Microcomputers arose in large part to satisfy demand for affordable, personal access to computing resources from electronics, ham radio

Amateur radio

Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...

, and other hobbyist user groups. Giants like IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

eventually discovered the PC to be a good and profitable thing, but initial impetus came from the grassroots

Grassroots

A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...

To give just one indication of how LUGs differ from traditional user groups: Traditional groups must closely monitor what software users redistribute at meetings. While illegal copying of restricted proprietary software certainly occurred, it was officially discouraged—for good reason. At LUG meetings, however, that entire mindset simply does not apply: Far from being forbidden, unrestricted copying of Linux should be among a LUG's primary goals. In fact, there is anecdotal evidence

Anecdotal evidence

The expression anecdotal evidence refers to evidence from anecdotes. Because of the small sample, there is a larger chance that it may be true but unreliable due to cherry-picked or otherwise unrepresentative of typical cases....

of traditional user groups having difficulty adapting to Linux's ability to be lawfully copied at will.

Typical activities

LUGs typically meet once per month in facilities freely provided by universities, colleges, community centers, private corporations, or banquet rooms in restaurants. For example, the SVLUG of the Silicon Valley met for about 10 years in the back of a Carl's Jr. restaurant, and has met for the last several years in meeting rooms at Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...

and, more recently, Symantec

Symantec

Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...

. Similarly, the BALUG (SF Bay Area LUG) has always met in a banquet room above the Four Seas Restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Most LUGs are free, requiring no monthly or annual dues. In many cases the participants are encouraged to patronize the hosts (esp. in restaurant meetings, by buying dinner).

Some LUGs are informal conferences or round table discussions; members simply sit around and chat about Linux related topics. Some provide formal presentations. For example Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvalds

Linus Benedict Torvalds is a Finnish software engineer and hacker, best known for having initiated the development of the open source Linux kernel. He later became the chief architect of the Linux kernel, and now acts as the project's coordinator...

has occasionally talked to SVLUG or BALUG (which are close to his former home in Silicon Valley), and Hans Reiser

Hans Reiser

Hans Thomas Reiser is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and convicted murderer. He is the creator and primary developer of the ReiserFS computer file system, which is contained within the Linux kernel, as well as its attempted successor, Reiser4. In 2004 he founded Namesys, a...

(creator of ReiserFS

ReiserFS

ReiserFS is a general-purpose, journaled computer file system designed and implemented by a team at Namesys led by Hans Reiser. ReiserFS is currently supported on Linux . Introduced in version 2.4.1 of the Linux kernel, it was the first journaling file system to be included in the standard kernel...

) presented his early design plans at an SVLUG meeting. Presenters might be anyone in the community with something interesting to say. Occasionally, corporations will sponsor or encourage their employees to speak at users' groups to promote their products. LUGs generally require that these presentations provide technically interesting content rather than overt sales pitches. Often, LUG meetings provide an opportunity for members and guests to make announcements, especially for jobs offered and/or wanted, pleas for assistance (free or professional consulting), and hardware for sale or to be given away "to a good home".

LUGs in close geographic location would get together to hold conferences and share knowledge among peers. Like in Central America, in 2009, the first Encuentro Centro Americano de Software Libre was held in Nicaragua. Where LUGs from the region, from Belize

Belize

Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...

to Panama attended. Groups from other countries are also invited. In 2010, it was held in Punta Renas, Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

; where there were members from the region, including from Germany and Mexico. In 2011, it will be held in El Salvador

El Salvador

El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

. These events usually take place in summer, as most of the LUG members are students.

Many LUGs also organize installfests (FreeBSD groups tend to refer to them as "installathons") which are opportunities for experienced Linux users to help others, especially novices with installation and configuration of Linux systems. Installfests may also have break out sessions for teaching new tips and tricks—performance tuning, security hardening, etc.

A few LUGs have developed projects of regional or even international stature. For example, the Uganda Linux User Group operates in 3 major cities and frequently coordinates national and international events which have featured guests as high-profile as Tim Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee

Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...

. The Bellingham Linux Users Group (BLUG), in Bellingham, Washington

Bellingham, Washington

Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...

, holds the annual Linuxfest Northwest, which attracts large numbers of participants from throughout the region, including Western Canada. Likewise, Bellevue Linux Users Group (BELUG), which meets in a bookstore in Bellevue, Washington

Bellevue, Washington

Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...

, has developed The Linux Information Project (LINFO), a comprehensive online resource that receives hundreds of thousands of hits monthly from around the world.

LUGs sometimes are gifted with surplus books, back issues of Linux magazines, copies of CDs and other promotional items to give away to their members.

Other than these "official" LUG activities the meetings provide opportunities for users to socialize. Members often exchange e-mail addresses, URLs, and phone numbers and provide technical support or collaborate on study or development projects together. Some local LUGs share characteristics of online LUGs, meeting on IRC

Internet Relay Chat

Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...

or hosting support mailing lists in addition to the physical meetings. LUGs may also have an online blog presence, an example is the OSU LUG or the Nottingham LUG whose Planet NottsLUG is an aggregation of various members' blogs.

LUGs can also be a natural place for local organizations to find Linux expertise. Professors for Unix

Unix

classes at San Jose State University

San José State University

San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...

came to SVLUG in the early days of Linux to find guest lecturers for their classes; some LUGs provide computer help to schools and non-profit organizations, and perform other community outreach services.

Installfests

An Installfest (a portmanteau of installation and festival) is an event, generally sponsored by a local Linux User Group, university or LAN party

LAN party

A LAN party is a temporary, sometimes spontaneous, gathering of people with computers, between which they establish a local area network , primarily for the purpose of playing multiplayer computer games. The size of these networks may vary from the very small to very large installations...

, at which people get together to do mass installations of computer operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

s or software

Computer software

Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....

, most often Linux

Linux

and other open source software.

It is generally an advocacy and community-building event, where novices bring their computers along with their preferred operating system installation disks to the location of the installfest, and experienced users help them in getting started and troubleshooting problems. Sometimes a Linux distribution

Linux distribution

A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...

and informative flyers are given for free to the attendees. Some events ask for participants to bring power strip

Power strip

A power strip is a block of electrical sockets that attaches to the end of a flexible cable and allows multiple electrical devices to be plugged in. As such it can be considered a type of trailing socket though that term is more often used for single and double cable mounted sockets...

s and network switch

Network switch

A network switch or switching hub is a computer networking device that connects network segments.The term commonly refers to a multi-port network bridge that processes and routes data at the data link layer of the OSI model...

es if available.

Installfests welcome all skill levels from complete novice to expert. An installfest will range from an informal get together to festivals involving music. The tone and scope of a specific event will depend on the organization sponsoring it.
The Ubuntu Global Jam includes installfests.

Hackfests

A Hackfest (a portmanteau of hack and festival) is an event, generally sponsored by a local Linux User Group, university or LAN party

LAN party

, at which people get together to demonstrate security issues or reverse engineer computer operating system

Operating system

s or software

Computer software

Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....

, most often Linux

Linux

and other open source software.

SFD

Local LUGs celebrate Software Freedom Day

Software Freedom Day

Software Freedom Day is an annual worldwide celebration of Free Software. SFD is a public education effort with the aim of increasing awareness of Free Software and its virtues, and encouraging its use....

by going out and promoting Free and Open Source Software

Free and open source software

Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...

(FOSS). Free Ubuntu CDs are given out along with brochures and any information about FOSS. This event is commonly held on the third Saturday of September.

Online LUGs

Not all online Linux support groups refer to themselves as "a LUG", and the use of the word is sometimes (as in the Linux User Group HOWTO) intended to specifically refer to groups of Linux users which organize regular meetings. However, the LUG indexes list groups with members over a large geographical area, and over time, organizations like the EU LUG, for Linux users throughout the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

use the term LUG to refer to themselves.

Online LUGs use mailing lists, bulletin boards and IRC as their primary method of communication, with members meeting physically seldom or not at all. As with local LUGs, some groups are limited to technical discussions and others seek to form social bonds between Linux users by having "chat" or "off topic" forums.

Reasons for forming or joining an online LUG vary. Some members of online LUGs may be relatively isolated without a local LUG accessible or with only a few other Linux users in their area.

Women in Libre software communities

Some Linux users are dissatisfied with their local LUG for reasons that might include its size, insularity or atmosphere: the online group LinuxChix

LinuxChix

LinuxChix is a women-oriented Linux community. It is designed to provide both technical and social support for women Linux users, although men are encouraged to help and contribute...

, which is a worldwide LUG and social group for women Linux users, was founded due to the perceived aggression and rudeness prevalent in other Linux forums. The potential member base of an online LUG, as with other online support groups, make them suitable for people seeking help with more obscure or difficult problems. Some Linux users are part of both a local LUG and an online LUG.

An EC funded study (2006) summarized in the Flosspols report, indicates that about 1.5% of FLOSS community members were female, compared with 28% in proprietary software. The Ubuntu Census Survey (June 2006) also reflects a similar female ratio with 2.4% women actively volunteering in the Ubuntu community.

Other *-women communities are :

Ubuntu-Women seeks to balance and diversify the Ubuntu Community by actively engaging in discussions with women and encouraging them to participate and become more involved within the Ubuntu community.
Debian-Women seeks to balance and diversify the Debian Project by actively engaging with interested women and encouraging them to become more involved with Debian.
Gnome-Women is a group dedicated to providing encouragement for women to contribute to GNOME, a free and open-source Linux/Unix desktop suite.

KDE-Women is about building a community of female KDE contributors and users.

Apache-Women has a mailing list for discussions.
Fedora-Women program aims to provide a forum for the women of the Fedora Community.

External links

Linux User Groups List (Linux.org)
Linux User Groups List (Lea-Linux)
LugWorld - lugworld.org is a social network of Linux Users groups and Open Source project groups
UniLUG - "a project to create communication and organizational links between Linux Users Groups"
List of Linux User Groups and communities in Romania
UK Linux User Groups List
Linux Users Groups in Chile
List of Linux Users Groups in Italy
Installfest dot Org
The Linux Documentation Project Install Fest HOWTO - Resource for organizing an Install Fest
FLISOL InstallFest - Latin American Free Software Installfest List

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Local LUGs

Typical activities

Installfests

Hackfests

SFD

Online LUGs

Women in Libre software communities

See also

External links