[kwlug-announce] Meeting Monday: ZoneMinder, FusionPBX, and more (but not PHP)

[Paul Nijjar]

You know what cures the February doldrums? Neither do I. But
changes can sure make our lives interesting, and this month's KWLUG
meeting promises to be dynamic -- so dynamic that I am not sure what
all the meeting topics will be!

I know a few things, though. Firstly, due to some unforseen
circumstances, Khalid won't be delivering his PHP presentation this
month. But fear not! We will be rescheduling this meeting topic for
later this year. 

Even if you were drooling with anticipation about the PHP
presentation, you may well find that this meeting has lots to offer: 

- John van Ostrand will demonstrate ZoneMinder, a Linux surveillance
  system that controls cameras, analyzes data and in general allows
  you to build your own personal Panopticon.

- Kiwi Ssennyonjo will demonstrate FusionPBX, a web front-end for the
  up-and-coming telephony solution FreeSWITCH. (You thought that
  Asterisk was the be-all and end-all of Linux telephony? Think again!)

In addition these two confirmed presentations you might also witness: 

- John Kerr presenting on "Law Librarian Linux Desktops". I am not
  sure exactly what this means, but it sounds fun and alliterative. 

- John van Ostrand demonstrating Firebug. If he does not demonstrate
  this excellent web debugging tool in February, he will be doing so
  in March. 

- Me blundering my way through apticron and apt-dater setup, two
  useful tools that can help you keep many Linux machines up to date
  with security patches easily. 


There will not be enough time for us to run all these presentations
during the meeting. Keep an eye on the website for updates -- or show
up at 7pm and be surprised!

You might also be surprised that our website got a facelift this
month. John van Ostrand put in some heroic work to upgrade our website
from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6. This is surprising because John did such a
good job of maintaining the look of our old website. If you notice
things that are broken on (or suggestions for improvement to) 
the website then please pass them along.

Speaking of passing along, this month's FLOSS Fund nominee is git, the
powerful revision control system Chris Frey presented last July. Even
though I am not a programmer, git has made my life better, and it may
have made yours better as well. You can learn more about the project
at http://git-scm.com/ , and if you are not at the meeting you can
contribute to our donation by contacting me. 

Speaking of contact, Calgary LUG member Dafydd Crosby sent us a
message that he is conducting a survey of LUG users. Whether you are a
regular meeting attendee or you have not participated in a long while,
you might be interested in sharing your thoughts. Visit 

http://www.lonesomecosmonaut.com/limesurvey/index.php?sid=94921&newtest=Y&lang=en

to participate. 

Although many things in this impermanent life change, there are some
things you can count on. Our meeting location isn't one of them, but
this month we are still meeting at St John's Kitchen: 

St John's Kitchen
97 Victoria St N
(Corner of Victoria and Weber) 
Kitchener

There are maps and photos of the location http://kwlug.org/node/709 ,
lots of bike parking along the side of the building, and a moderate
amount of car parking at the thrift store parking lot. 

- Paul



-- 
http://pnijjar.freeshell.org