Tags: tlug

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Backlog: TLUG

I caught the tail end of the Toronto Linux Users Group get-together at
the GSI pub last Tuesday, and I'm really glad I went. I chatted with
Colin McGregor about writing for journals, and received a lot of
encouragement from him, Drew, and Maureen. I also chatted with a bunch
of the other regulars. =)

I like going to those meetings, and I feel very much welcome there.
Now that I've made friends, I don't have to worry about drooling
fanboys or whatever because my friends will take care of things. I
love it when I can sit down and drop into a conversation, when people
smile when they see me and draw me in, when they joke… =) It's
almost like being home, almost like being in PLUG.

And hey, Drew's totally cool now. =) Thanks to Bill for asking him to
be nice to me, and thanks to Maureen for being an absolutely wonderful
person…

I like this group. I'll go again next month.

Geek-out weekend

| geek, japan

Had a fantastic weekend geeking out. Saturday’s TLUG technical
presentation introduced me to the joys of Squeak, and I stayed as late
as I could for the karaoke and stuff. Sunday was cold, dreary, and
rainy. This turned out to be a very good thing, although it was gloomy
in the beginning. Rain makes street performers scarce, so I decided to
skip Yoyogi. Thought about going to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, but couldn’t
get in touch with Sebastien (a museum buff who mentioned wanting to go
to the falconry exhibition). Decided to put that off instead. Got in
touch with Dave Brown who invited me up to Saitama for DDR. Aaron
Chmielowiec is a wizard at that thing. Asked him about Dance Maniax.
Apparently, there are no more Dance Maniax machines in normal arcades.
Waaah.

Had tons of fun practicing some songs with the two, as they’re both
better than I am. Browsed through Bic Camera afterwards. Lots of
amusing commentary. Had dinner at an izakaya. Learned so many things
about the Japan IT industry from the conversation. <laugh> Their
college stories were also hilarious. They had such characters in their
university! We talked about many other things, but I’m too sleepy to
record them.

Wonderful weekend. =D

Squeak talk

| linux

– Luca, from Italy. Been in Japan for 1 year. 4 months in Tokyo. Lived in Sendai. Working as a private researcher on computational electromagnetic fields. Solve big system of equations using Linux. Not a system administrator, but he likes it.
– Dave. I also just moved here from Sendai. Looking for work as a sysad in Tokyo. Moved here on Wednesday. Lived in Sendai for a few months. Moved from Vancouver.
– George. Six months in Japan. Came at the December meeting at the pub and had a specific Linux question; thrill to be there, so came back this time and next time will come early so that he won’t get lost. Moved from South Carolina last June.
– Keith. Met some of you at the pub. Have been here for the last 4 months. Come from Australia.
– Kevin. Three months. Moved from New York. Wife Miki. Working at Nokia.
– Jim. Usually wakes up late. Been in Japan for around 14 years. Works for Puma. Use Linux there—one machine, starting to play with it.

Squeak! Squeak!

Datacomm guy, college student—Keio University. Wife teaches English and computer technology.

– Alan Kay Project — teaching children with Squeak

Squeakland, Play with Squeak, squeak.or.kr, small land, croquet (3d
environment for Squeak), Tweak (nextgen of Morphic), but stick with
the versions available today.

I want. =)

TLUG meeting: Knoppix

Today we have two presenters talking. Before we do that, we usually have new faces give a short introduction.

– Craig. In and out of Japan, 1996 to 1999. In Tokyo since November.
– Laslow. I heard that this is the place you go to get your old Lotus 123 programs fixed. UNIX user since 1996 or so.
– Phil. First time here. Been in Japan for two months. Probably stay here for a couple of months more. Managed VPN services from Japan to China.
– Zev. Somehow TLUG president for this year. Linux user since 1995, but wasn’t very serious. Personal use, on and off, since 2000.

Edmund Edgar is going to talk about making live CDs.

– Ooooh, apt-get works after you chroot Knoppix’s source/.
– Making the compressed filesystem takes around an hour on an average computer of today.
– Need a lot of disk space and memory. HD: 700 MB for iso, space for the uncompressed filesystem (3-4 GB), lots of virtual memory (at least 700 MB of available virtual memory).
– GRUB can boot ISOs directly? That’d be handy.
– Knoppix Japanese distribution