The feature presentation at the ALE Central Meeting
for 7:30pm on Thursday, Feb. 18th, 2010 will be:
Native Linux Virtualization:
An Overview of KVM Installation and Management
with Damon Chesser
==
Synopsis:
— An overview of the Kernel Virtual Machine with consideration of the
advantages and disadvantages compared to technologies like Xen. The
talk will cover basic installation and configuration, then look at several
KVM management and monitoring tools including virt-manager, virsh,
oVirt and Proxmox VE.
Bio:
— Damon’s career has been nothing if not diverse. Formally, he has
worked as (in order) a Navy Electronics Tech, a Self Employed Window
Cleaner, a Furniture mover, and a Furniture Sales Man. Then one day he
woke up and decided to be a computer tech. As his wife, a commercial
programmer, would not let him run any unlicensed software, so he turned
to the freedom of Open Source and learned Linux. As a self taught
computer aficionado, he made a career out of being a drop in support
tech. Along the way, he was hired by Dell to be an Enterprise Support
Analyst and opened up the support center in OKC. While there he
became a founding member of the “Alt OS Queue”, Dell-Speak for
anything NOT Windows, including VMware products. After moving to the
Atlanta area to be close to his wife’s family, he connected with a startup
company that allowed him to experiment with Linux virtualization.
He rolled out a few new product offerings based off of KVM, but due
to poor structuring, the company did not survive. He is currently
weighing his options for continuing to work professionally in Linux:
“I always look at technology from a practical view: Yes, that’s cool,
but what can it do for me?”
=============
We will be meeting at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found
via the side bar link.
The feature presentation at the ALE Central Meeting
at 7:30pm on Thursday, Jan. 21st, 2010 will be:
“Open SUSE 11.2:
A Tardy but Hearty Release Party”
with Chuck Payne, regional OpenSUSE Ambassador
==
Synopsis:
— Sure, we’re well past the November 2009 release date for
OpenSUSE 11.2, but we figure there’s never a bad time for a
distro release party! So please join our regional OpenSUSE
Ambassador, Chuck Payne, as he showers the crowd with free
11.2 install disks and discusses the work behind all the feature
additions and updates found in the latest OpenSUSE offering.
Chuck will additionally explain how any user can tinker with
OpenSUSE by building their own distro or appliance package
using the SUSE Studio online services.
Light refreshments and s.w.a.g. (courtesy of Novell / SUSE)
are also expected, along with a concerted effort to answer
anyone’s questions about OpenSUSE and the 11.2 release.
Bio:
— Chuck “PUP” Payne has been working with computers since
his parents gave him an Atari 130XE for his 16th birthday.
Computing turned from hobby to career in 1998, the year he
started exploring GNU Linux with Slackware, Red Hat and SUSE,
and took on his first job as a System Administrator. He is
currently employed by Travel Channel Media as a Unix Systems
Admin, where day to day tasks include managing 70+ Red Hat
Linux Servers, 20 Solaris Servers, and a handful of Mac XServers.
He also helps out with web development in the areas of Apache
and JBOSS administration.
In April 2009 Chuck’s application to be a regional volunteer
ambassador for OpenSUSE was accepted, facilitating his goals
of helping people discover the benefits of Free Software,
GNU/Linux and the OpenSUSE distributions. In his free time he
bolsters his geek cred by writing bash scripts or php code,
hacking hardware in his home gadget lab, and watching any
and all Zombie flicks that cross his path.
Related Links:
— OpenSUSE.org
— SUSE Studio
=============
We will be meeting at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found
via the side bar link.
Our Featured Fun for the 7:30pm ALE CENTRAL MTG.
on Thursday, December 17, 2009, at the (usual) Emory
School of Law, Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue is
The Second Annual ALE Solstice Celebration
& GNU Pecha Kucha Contest
An ALE Solstice Celebration:
— This year’s December ALE Central Meeting will be an Open Social
event with ample time for chat and cheers with fellow Linux
enthusiasts. All Bad Puns, Geek Toys, Robots, Friends and Family
are welcome, with a special encouragement to invite anyone who
may be interested in learning more about Linux and GPL Open
Source Software in a casual setting. Opportunities for informal
Geek Gadget show and tell talks are also part of the plans.
— Provided refreshments may be limited, so guest contributions
of snacks and beverages will be welcome. Coolers, Ice and Cups
be on hand, with the possibility of an abundance of SWAG.
Plus a GNU OSS Pecha Kucha Contest:
— As topical entertainment for the evening everyone is encouraged
to participate in our Geek version of a Karaoke contest and provide
a (modified) Pecha Kucha style presentation on a Linux or Open
Source related topic (with the understanding that the relationship
to Open Source is Open to personal interpretation).
– In the ALE adaptation of the Pecha Kucha model, presenters are
allotted 10 minutes at the microphone and up to 20 computer slides
or mixed media elements in order to fully enlighten the audience
with absolutely all the salient information there is to know about their
Open Source related topic. After all the Pecha Kucha presenters
are done, the audience will select the winning presentation of the
evening and an appropriate prize will be awarded.
— Anyone planning to participate in the Pecha Kucha contest is
asked to please inform the Event Planner of this via email to
arxaaron @gmail.com. They should also see AV Support**
notes below.
=============
We will be meeting at Emory Law School in our usual
Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue. Meeting time frame is
7:30pm to ~9:30pm Directions to Emory Law School
can be found [here]
— Festivities may continue post meeting with a
Solstice drum circle, a warming fire, and similarly
interesting activities at the nearby Railroad Earth
Studios facilities.
=====
** AV Support:
A VGA RGB data projector, an amplified microphone and a sound system
connection (1/8″ mini stereo) will be provided for Pecha Kucha presenters.
A Linux laptop (single screen) with Ubuntu 9.04 installed and a Mac G4
iBook (with DVD player and support for most media file formats) will also
be available. Computer Slides should be compatibly formatted in OOo
Impress presentation format or as a series of jpg, png or pdf files. There
is also a document camera for displaying hard copy items or smallish
physical objects like Geek Gadgets.
=====
All offers to provide refreshments, amusements, SWAG or more
significant Pecha Kucha Contest Prizes are welcome. Please contact
us via email to arxaaron@gmail.com
11/19 Central Meeting & Key Signing Party
11/21 ALE Ubuntu Linux Install Fest
The focus for our ALE CENTRAL MEETING
for 7:30pm on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19th will be:
Protecting Your Identity and Privacy
with GPG PGP encryption:
An Overview and Key Signing Party
with an intro presentation by Charles Shapiro
and Key Party host Jeremy Bouse working in
consultation with ALE’s resident (and recuperating)
Guru of Cryptography, Michael Warfield.
The meeting will begin with a brief overview talk on PGP / GPG
starting at 7:30 pm, to be followed by a Key Signing Party
starting PROMPTLY at 8:00pm.
Synopsis:
— As in introduction to the Key Signing Party we’ll look at some
of the mechanics of using GPG and show why this tool is such a
valuable resource for enhancing the security of your data, as well
as protecting both your identity and your civil liberties in a world
that is increasingly driven by computers and information technology.
— Note that participation in the Key Signing party requires
registration of your GPG Key Info in advance of the meeting.
Details about generating, storing, signing, registering and using
GPG keys are provided here. These step by step “HowTo”
instructions should make it easy for you to create a personal
GPG Public Key and participate in the ALE Key Signing party
by sending your Key Info to alekeyparty@wittsend.com.
The meeting will be at Emory Law School in our usual
Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue. The meeting time frame
is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm, and Directions can be found here
=============
AND THEN…
On SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, from 9am to 5pm,
we hope you will join us for:
The Fall, 2009 ALE & Ubuntu Linux Install Fest
featuring Ubuntu release 9.10
The event is hosted this year by ITT Technical College
at their SW Atlanta Campus:
Two Crown Center
1745 Phoenix Boulevard
Suite 100
Atlanta, GA 30349
(Note to please use the North end building entrance
and follow signs to Lab 1.)
This will be a great chance for the pros of the ALE and
Ubuntu user communities to mentor Linux students and
see the facilities of our ALE partners at ITT Technical
College. There will be opportunities to install the latest
Linux releases and get some face time help with your
Open Source technical challenges. Plenty of Ubuntu
disks will be on hand, plus install disks for many other
popular Linux distros, not to mention swag and raffle
gifts. As always, plenty of good Open Socializing and
dutch treat pizza lunch will be available, too!
We invite everyone to promote this event where ever
possible and appropriate! A printable PDF poster for
the event is available here.
The highlight presentation at the ALE Central Meeting
for Thursday, Oct. 15th, 2009 at 7:30pm will be:
“Application Development with QT 3.3”
featuring “KSDB” as presented by the wildly illusive
but always engaging Charles Shapiro
Synopsis:
— Join our guide, Charles Shapiro, as he leads us through the evolutionary
process of coding an exciting new open source application, replete with bold
side-excursions through the wilds of QT 3.3 and C++. Wear your ties [as
a headband] and watch as Charles becomes either the Hero (It Works!)
or the Goat (It Crashes!) with a live demo of his new QT intensive database
form designer on his KDE laptop. In an audacious climax he will then do
what Bill “Greedy Guy” Gates could never do: SHOW YOU THE CODE!
The epilogue will be a tearful, impassioned plea for help and support from
you, the beneficent bug hunting audience. Come learn and participate
as History is Made!
bio:
— Charles Shapiro is a fan of fencing, gadgetry, juggling, gizmos,
beer brewing, obscure weaponry, radio control (in all it’s connotations),
and most anything else the that lesser world might consider “geek”.
Consistent to these avocations he has been a professional programmer
for over 12 years, specializing in C and Unix with a couple years of
C++, Perl and a plethora of Python in the mix. He can type faster than
most people can talk, is a Linux Lunacy Cruise alumnae, a liberty
minded friend of the EFF, an officially sanctioned Richard Stallman
impersonator for the FSF, and a seriously committed GNU Linux
zealot since 1996.
=============
We will be meeting at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found
[here]