Yes... LUGs matter very much
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| cjcox Dec 24, 2005 1:01 PM EDT |
Not sure what's up with the Austin LUG... but I know NTLUG shifted from its all-geek following back in the high tech hayday (where we had hundreds at each meeting) to what it is now where we as many as 50% in the "new to Linux" camp. Granted, it's harder to get people to do beginner centered presentations (everyone wants to play uber geek)... but still. LUGs are always your best source of troubleshooting. Working on a machine with a live person right there can't be beat. You can't depend on everyone knowing the tech tricks to allow for remote collaboration. This is why NTLUG does free installations at every meeting (instead of having sporadic install fests). It isn't perfect.. it's volunteer run after all... but it does work overall. For the author... things do tend to cycle. Austin has become overrun with geeks (and it's getting worse not better)... many if not most trying to make a "name" for themselves. As those folks get a bit older they'll change their priorities a bit and you'll get back that evangelistic feel you had once before. With that said, NTLUG could do more in this area as well. We too have lost a bit of our focus on the new user. Some of that due to problems with the competition... for example, my Mom is a netzero user. Netzero, like Netscape, Internet America, etc. use the SlipStream web accelerator technology to attempt to make dial up modems seem faster. But only NetZero supports Linux, and then it's only Linspire... I tried their proprietary client on SUSE... it SEGVs. Sigh.... of course there is still the long list of hardware that is not Linux friendly. While the number of things that work with Linux has grown, the number of new hardware that is totally incompatible keeps growing as well.... to make matters worse, architectural changes with AMD/Intel and the various chipset manufacturers is enough to keep the kernel developers spinning full time for the next 10 years or more. Until we (the Linux community) can convince people to start with Linux (and thus totally compatible hardware/software/services with our assistance), it's just going to be frustration trip for most Linux newbies. If you are thinking about Linux, have folks in your local LUG help you put together a machine configuration that is Linux friendly FIRST. It's just a whole lot easier. It will save you time, money and a whole lot of frustration. |
| sharkscott Dec 24, 2005 3:49 PM EDT |
As someone who is still new to Linux(well, I'm not as new as I used to be) I would say that LUG's are still important. I think that the amount of info available to the new user from forum sites like LinuxQuestions.org has made joining a LUG happen later rather than sooner. Up until the last couple of years LUG's were the forum where newbies got the info they needed. Other users were the main source of accurate information about Linux. In the year or so since I started to get my feet wet I have used the internet and forum sites to get the info I needed to answer my questions. It has only been in the last month that I even started to look for a LUG near me to join. I speak only for myself in saying that I have only just recently felt confident enough in my knowledge to be a positive addition to a LUG. Also, with a little knowledge of my own I am much more likely to be accepted by others already in a LUG. People on the forum sites can be testy with newbies but they are tame compared to members of a LUG. It is unfortunate that the level of patience decreases as you get further into the community. What I see that has happened is, the super geeks have retreated into their own LUG's where you only know about it if they want you too, and that many of the new LUG's are made up predominately of newbies and not-so-newbies like me. I am ok with that though, I would rather get help from someone who doesn't know the answer to my question, but is willing to help, than someone who treats me like dirt because I obviously do not know as much as they do. That being said, I have met many kind and helpful people that have gone way out of their way to help me. They far outshine any negative interactions I have had. This site itself is a perfect example, I asked for advice in starting a thread about my switch to Linux and the help and ideas I received were awesome, and the responses in the thread were great because of it. In the last month I have contacted several LUG's but have found them all to be either defunct or otherwise non-existant. I found one on the LinuxQuestions.org site but the closest member is 100 miles away. I do not live in a small town, quite to the contrary. It really does not surprise me though, I am still the only person I know that actually uses Linux, or how to pronounce it correctly. :-) If anything, this place is a LUG for me. |
| dthacker Dec 25, 2005 10:20 AM EDT |
I happy to say that my LUG is still quite friendly towards new users. The Omaha Linux Users Group runs a meeting once a month, has "Lunch with a penguin" at two ends of the city the third Friday, of every month and runs twice annual installfests. We've got an email list that's fairly friendly towards newcomers and pros alike. Our group is non dues-paying, non-fundraising, and for the two years that I've been around, we haven't had any mad power grabs. I'd like to see the group do more publicity and advocacy, and I'm hoping I can help more with this in 2006. |
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