The ALE Central presentation for
Thursday, February 8th will be:
Fixing Computers with
SYSLINUX and PXELINUX
— “Help me! My windows broke and it can’t boot up!” —
Are these the words that haunt you every day?
Don’t you wish there was an easier way to diagnose
and repair computers than to haul about a hefty
stack of CD-ROM disks?
Join Brian MacLeod as he explores two options using tools
from the SYSLINUX package by H Peter Anvin. Learn how
to use SYSLINUX to make a USB drive with several useful
tools that will get you into (and clean) nearly any computer.
See how PXELINUX can provide you the same functionality
and keep you from carrying anything at all (so long as you
can access your local network).
Bio:
Brian MacLeod is an Enterprise Systems Administrator at
Georgia Gwinnett College. Since 1998, he has worked for
Georgia educational institutions as “that computer guy” and
has tickered with Linux since 1999. Currently, he serves as the
Linux Administrator at GGC and continues developing tools
for the tech support folks so that they, too, will never have to
haul around a stack of CD’s again.
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Meeting time is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School are at the
Central Meeting link on the side bar.
The ALE Central presentation for
Thursday, Jan 11th will be:
“Linux Geek Gadgets Gone Gonzo:
The Nokia N800”
Enjoy an early ogling of the latest geek crack to hit the streets…
the Linux based Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. Announced just this
past Monday morning at CES, the Nokia N800 is the successor to
the popular linux based Nokia 770. Somehow, one happened to
magically appear in the hands of our presenter, Marc Torres.
The presentation will start with an overview of what makes this
internet tablet tick and how the 800 differs from its 770 predecessor.
Then Marc will demonstrate its always connected abilities and the
range of applications available.
Bio:
Marc Torres is a co-founder of ALE and has been a minor contributing
member of the global Linux community since 1992. As a technologist
his background includes Network Management, Security, Large-scale
Systems Administration, Wireless and Mobility.
The regular Emory Law School venue for our ALE Central
meetings was unavailable for December due to the school’s
end of semester final exams.
There will be NO ALE CENTRAL MEETING for Thursday,
December 14th.
The Law School classroom schedules should be back to normal
after the holidays, so watch for the the next ALE Central meeting
on Thursday, January 11.
Our presentation for November 9th will
be an Encore Video Viewing of
Lawrence Lessig’s “Creative Commons”
Keynote Address from Linuxworld, 2006
In his keynote from Linuxworld San Francisco,
Professor Lessig describes what he calls the new
era of “Read/Write Culture� that has been revived
by the internet and fueled by Open Source software.
He talks about the technical, political, and social
challenges we face in the changing landscape of
creativity and free expression in the digital age.
From his background as a lawyer, Lessig’s presentation
addresses the conflicts between creative freedoms and
copyright laws, explaining his motivation for extending
the ideals of the GNU/Linux Public License into the
“remix” and derivative freedoms of Creative Commons
licensing.
===
Bio:
Lawrence Lessig is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law
School and founder of the school’s Center for Internet
and Society. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, he was
the Berkman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School,
and a Professor at the University of Chicago.
Professor Lessig is the author of Free Culture (2004),
The Future of Ideas (2001) and Code and Other Laws of
Cyberspace (1999). He chairs the Creative Commons
project, and serves on the board of the Free Software
Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the
Public Library of Science, and Public Knowledge. He is
also a columnist for Wired magazine.
In the opinion Marc Torres, an ALE founder and attendee
of Linuxworld 2006:
“Lawrence Lessig is one of the most engaging speakers you will
ever see. His examples and explanations of the complicated issues
of Copyright, Economics and Technology are something you can
take with you to any suit, boss, or politician you will meet.”
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Meeting time is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
(The video is about 70 minutes long and should start about 7:45)
Directions to Emory Law School are at the
Central Meeting link on the side bar.
Our presentation for October 12th will be
“K12LTSP: The Enterprise”
–or–
“The Search for Docs”
presented by
James P. Kinney
Synopsis:
The Atlanta Public Schools organization has seen the light at the
end of the tunnel. Normally, this would just mean the train is closer
than they thought. But this time it just our friend Tux whistling a
happy tune and walking down the tracks to show them a way out of
the dark cave with many twisty passages that all smell of grue.
James Kinney, CEO and Director of Engineering at Local Net Solutions,
will present a “Where Things Stand” synopsis of preparing for and
installing Linux thin clients at 7 Atlanta Public Schools elementary and
middle schools. Topics such as technical hurdles, scaling the process
and government contracting for newbies are bound to come up.
Bio:
Mr. Kinney has been an unusually verbose member of ALE since
sometime around 1997 when he embarked on a process of converting
as much of Emory Universities Physics department to Linux as possible.
This led to the formation of L.U.G.E. (Linux Users Group of Emory)
with Michael Hirsch and Sara Chodrow (with whom he worked in Linux
development at a now defunct media tech startup – ZapMedia). Somewhere
along the way, James formed Local Net Solutions in an attempt to take
over the world. So far the business aspect is doing OK but the Total World
Domination is taking a bit longer than planned.
Note that James has promised to try and keep this presentation under
6 hours (unlike his most recent presentation for ALE which just let out
an hour ago).
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Meeting time is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to ALE Central meetings at Emory
Law School are linked on ALE.org side bar.