The North Bay Linux® Users' Group is a computer users group serving the San Francisco North Bay and surrounding areas. We are dedicated to Linux, Open Source and other related topics. We strive to promote Linux, Free Software, open standards and to generally have a good time by hosting social events that educate, allow members to share ideas and knowledge and to build friendships.

We hold regular meetings on the second Tuesday of each month with a selected topic presented by a guest speaker. We also hold other meetings and events on a regular or semi-regular basis. Meetings and membership are free and open to the public. Please sign up for the announce email list to receive notifications of upcoming events. Or the talk list to get help with Linux.

General Meeting - Gamba

| |
2007/06/12 - 7:30pm
2007/06/12 - 9:00pm

Visual Basic allows anyone, even beginners, to do Windows programming.

You can create powerful graphic applications just by dragging and
dropping widgets onto a form and typing a couple of lines of Basic.

Gambas takes rapid application development even further, and makes it
more powerful - with access to QT and KDE functions just a couple of
mouseclicks away - and it's for Linux!

In this presentation you'll get a quick introduction to the Gambas
development environment and see how easy it is to build a webcam
application.

O'Reilly Media
Bob Blick
» login or register to post comments | calendar

General Meeting - Crypto, Linux and how Bob meets Alice

| |
2007/05/08 - 7:30pm
2007/05/08 - 9:00pm

Cryptography has been around since the days of the Pharos, and could
possibly be the reason for the birth of the modern computer as we know it.
In this talk, Aaron will touch on some of the highlights of crypto's long
history; explain some simple and more complex ideas/terms, following with
information about how this involves Linux. He will cover how to secure not
only, the files you hold on your computer, but your traffic as it goes
over the tubes (from mail to myspace). Aaron will cover some of the common
misconceptions and overview some basic to advanced tools available. This

O'Reilly, Sebastopol, CA http://nblug.org/genloc
Aaron Grattafiori
» read more | login or register to post comments | calendar

General Meeting - Handheld Linux

| |
2007/04/10 - 7:30pm
2007/04/10 - 9:00pm

Several handheld computers are on the market that run(or can be made to run) Linux. In this talk, Bob will discuss the differences between Linux on the desktop and on these little devices. He will compare models from Compaq/HP, Sharp and Nokia, the different window managers, and show some of the applications available. Bob has owned a few different handhelds and will bring a couple of them to demonstrate. Some technical points regarding Linux on small systems will also be brought up.

O'Reilly Media
Bob Blick
» login or register to post comments | calendar

General Meeting: Your Linux Questions Answered

| |
2007/03/13 - 7:30pm
2007/03/13 - 9:00pm

As a predecessor to NBLUG's upcoming InstallFest (Saturday, March 17th), the NBLUG Panel will be answering all of your basic Linux questions at tonight's meeting. Topics range from multimedia (sound, video, burning, ripping), installing software, desktop managers (KDE, Gnome, et cetera), setting up printers, wifi networks, security, and much more. We will first start with the list of questions asked on our mailing list during the past weeks, and time permitting, will end with questions from the audience.

O'Reilly Media
NBLUG Panel
» read more | login or register to post comments | calendar

General Meeting: Linux and the Linksys NSLU2 (SLUG)

| |
2007/02/13 - 7:30pm
2007/02/13 - 9:00pm

The Linksys NSLU2 (Network Storage Link Unit) is a small NAS devices
(Network Attached Storage). The NSLU2 is most often refered to as the
"SLUG" by the Linux community built around it, due to the apparence of
its acronym. The NSLU2 runs Linux out of the box, due to this Linksys
was forced to release the source code under the GPL, opening it wide
open for anyone looking for a cheap/silent/small server. This talk
will cover Firmware Options, Installation of Firmware, Overclocking,
Installing a full version of Debian, and some cool uses for a "Slug".

O'Reilly Media
Paul Peterson
» read more | login or register to post comments | calendar

Board Meeting Minutes - 1/16/2007

* Role Call: Present: Kyle (president), Matt (vice pres.), Dave (scribe), Aaron & Paul (dirs @ large).
* Installfest date has been confirmed: Sat. 3/17 at O'Reilly in Sebastopol. Dave will post to the announce list and mark the 'fest as confirmed on the website.
* Upcoming Meetings:
- February: Paul will give a talk re: Linux & the 'Slug', the Linksys NSLU2, a network device designed to allow you to network an external drive.
- March: This talk is being given in conjunction with the Installfest. It will be geared towards new/potential Linux users. The plan is for Kyle to give a 30 minute overview and then we will have a Q&A re: Linux headaches/annoyances as experienced by new users. We will solicit questions ahead of time via the mailing list.
* We have voted to change the date of the Board Meetings. They will now be held on the Monday after the General Meeting (so the next one will be held Feb. 19th).

» login or register to post comments

Installfest: Saturday March 17th, at O'Reilly

| |
2007/03/17 - 10:30am
2007/03/17 - 4:00pm

The date for our next Installfest has been confirmed: Saturday, March 17th at O'Reilly Media in Sebastopol (directions).

If you are interested in attending, please pre-register on our Installfest page. If you would like to help out, please send an email to installfest[at]nblug.org. If you'd like to help promote the event, we will also have a flyer that you can print out and post in useful places (watch this space and the announce list for a link to the flyer when it is ready).

Also: In conjunction with the installfest the March General Meeting (Tues., March 13th) will be a discussion geared towards new Linux users. Watch this site and the mailing lists for more info!

O'Reilly Media, in Sebastopol
» read more | login or register to post comments | calendar

Asterisk

| |
2007/01/09 - 7:30pm
2007/01/09 - 9:00pm

Chris will be briefly going over the history of Asterisk. He'll discuss a few available protocols like h.323, SIP, and IAX2. He'll go into a little more detail about IAX2 since it's simple and has low over head. Chris will be demonstrating a simple SIP device. Then make a call from one Asterisk server to another. Maybe even a couple servers hooked to each other. Possibly a call into his home PBX that goes over a VPN tunnel.

NBLUG members are invited to call my PBX by dialing: (707)703-1982 or connecting to: guest@odunix.org with their SIP or IAX2 client.

This is a link to his dial plan: http://www.odunix.org/pbx/

Here's an brief overview of what he will cover (Open Document format) http://odunix.org/pbx/asterisk/asterisk.odp

Chris Widger
» read more | 56 comments | calendar

Board Meeting Minutes - 1/4/2007

* Role Call: Present: Kyle (president), Dave (scribe), Aaron & Paul (dirs @ large).
* Discussed moving the Board Meeting from a night other than the 1st Tuesday of the Month so as not to conflict with SoCoSA's general meeting. It was decided that we would move it to the Tuesday after the General Meeting (the 3rd Tues. of the month). (This may not be final, yet...).
* Next Installfest has been tentatively scheduled for Saturday, March 17th.
* Upcoming Meetings:
- January: Asterisk with Chris Widger
- February: Paul will give a talk on the Linksys NSLU2 (aka: the SLUG)
- March: To coincide with the upcoming Installfest, we might offer a roundtable discussion on topics of interest to those who are new to linux. Possibilities include: Distro Comparison, Getting more out of a home Linux box. Other suggestions are welcome!
- Kyle said he would like give a test run of his Linux World talk, topic tba (vmWare perhaps?).
* It was also suggested that perhaps we open the Installfest a bit to offer help in setting up or tweaking a particular app or service ("I've always wanted to run BLAH, but can't figure it out...). We do NOT want to be setting up someone's office mailserver, though.

» 2 comments

Board Meeting Minutes - 12/5/2006

* Role Call: Present: Kyle (president), Dave (scribe), Aaron & Paul (dirs @ large).
* Discussed rules & procedures for using our new O'Reilly passkey (for the conference room).
* Upcoming Topics for the General Meetings:
- December: RFID (already happened - a great talk!)
- January: Asterisk
- February: Paul will talk about the Linksys slu2 which allows you to make your own Network Storage Device.
* We also discussed the next Installfest: March, perhaps?
* NBLUG's 10th anniversery is this summer - how to celebrate?

» 2 comments