Disclaimer
This is a wiki document and nothing in it is to be taken at face value!
This is intended to be a useful collection of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for people wanting to learn more about the Anglian Linux User Group, The documentation contained here may be complete lies or incorrect. If you disagree with something contained here please contact the current maintainer given at the top of this document. The ALUG gives no responsibility for anything that is incorrect breaks your computer, someone else's computer, causes your house to burn down or someone else's. We also accept no responsibility if this document causes the end of the world, invasion by aliens or causes you to be dragged through a worm-hole into another dimension.
What is ALUG?
The ALUG is the Anglian Linux User Group, we are based in the UK and primarily cover the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge and Essex although members are encouraged from all over the universe and will be made to feel welcome.
Some members' views...
"The Anglian Linux Users Group (ALUG) is a group of like minded individuals, many of which live in the East Anglian region of England. Membership is not limited to East Anglia with members living as far afield as Kent, the Channel Islands and Japan. As a group, we exist to help promote the use of Linux and are happy to help any newbie to get started. Any one is welcome, even Bill Gates :o)" - David Freeman
"ALUG is a bunch o' misfits." - Alexis Lee
"ALUG is your best hope for a saner computing future." - MJ Ray
Want your view here? add it using the link below.
What is Linux?
"Linux, or more properly GNU/Linux, is an extremely powerful and reliable UNIX-like operating system. It can be installed alongside another OS (such as MS Windows or Mac OS) to provide a superior networking, coding, design or office platform. Contrary to popular belief, Linux does have very sophisticated GUI (Graphical User Interface) facilities, including many utilities to help you set up your machine the way you want/need it." - Alexis Lee
Linux is a clone of the Unix kernel, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance. It has all the features you would expect in a modern fully-fledged Unix kernel, including true multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading, shared copy-on-write executables, proper memory management, and TCP/IP networking. - Freshmeat posting (note this is only talking about the kernel)
"Linux is a five letter word." - David Freeman
"Linux - living proof there is an alternative!" - BJ (John Woodard)
For those that might be interested, the Single Unix Specification is available online at http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007908799/ (with the more recent version at http://www.unix-systems.org/version3/online.html).
What does the ALUG do?
We exist primarily to advocate the use of Linux as an mainstream computer operating system and provide support to beginners and hardened veterans, and have a chat about Linux related topics.
We are a social group who try to arrange regular meetings throughout East-Anglia to provide advocacy, help and have a chat over things not only related to computers.
We generally try and have a meeting at least every couple of months. Unlike some groups we don't meet weekly, as the geographic area we cover is so large but we try and supplement this by having an email mailing list for people to join.
We have a mailing list for people to post to with problems they are having with Linux and GNU software and for discussion of Linux-related items.
We also have an IRC channel with a scheduled weekly meeting although you can try dropping in anytime to see who is on as some of us hang out there at other times the discussion can be very wide ranging also not just limiting itself to discussions about computing/linux. (see below for more info on IRC)
What doesn't ALUG do?
We are not a secret society planning to take over the world while worshipping a giant Penguin called Tux. (honest)
What is acceptable for discussion?
Generally anything to do with *nix like operating systems and related software current related media news. You won't be lynched if you ask questions on non-free variants of Unix.
I use BSD, HP-UX, Solaris, MacOS X, etc. Will I be lynched if I join?
No, you will be fine, although asking the ALUG list for help getting your mega-doohicky 9 working under Solaris might not be good. It would be better asked on a more relevant mailing list.
I don't yet use Linux, is it still ok to join?
Yes, by all means. Newbies (beginners) are very welcome and encouraged. If you are a beginner and have a question feel free to ask the list but make sure you have at least done a quick search on [3]google first and read (or tried) any documentation you have. We are generally supportive of new users but remember we are human too. If you ask too many questions too quickly, then you may find people getting to the end of their tether...
How many people are there in the ALUG?
There are about 300 subscribed to the main and announce mailing lists and the meetings generally get attendance of between 6 and 30.
How long has the ALUG been together?
The ALUG has been together since just before the first meeting in May 1999.
The mailing list is getting very high traffic lately, is there a way of getting fewer emails?
Yes subscribe to the digest instead, this will send you a daily email including all messages from that day. If that's still too much, try the announcements list instead of the main list.
What is on-topic for the mailing list?
Anything that is to do with computing issues generally related to Linux (although it doesn't strictly have to be so, free software, Unix systems and programming languages/topics are all generally acceptable. There is now a separate mailing list called ALUG social which is for discussion of off-topic issues as a lot of the ALUG members are interested in similar subjects and not just computing.
I replied to a mail on the list but my mail only went to the original poster?
This is a feature. The default is set this way so as to avoid nasty mistakes. You could have a situation where you want to reply to a poster privately so hit reply in your mail client and as the list has set a "reply-to" it goes to 250 people who really don't want to know (or you don't want to know). Also if the original poster has set a reply-to then it would be rude for us to change it (and the original poster may have good reasons for setting one).
The other reasons we do not set a reply-to are because it is non-standard, destroys data and breaks some mail clients, so neither setting nor leaving it pleases everyone. In the absence of consensus, this list supports RFC-2369 and RFC-2919 (email headers that start List-) so that most email software can be customised to do whatever its owner wants. If you want a reply-to then you can do this with filters that set one, or your email reader might have mailing list support already.
Is advertising permitted on the list?
Yes, but there are some strict guidelines which you must follow. The items you are advertising must be of interest to group members (eg computer hardware, computing books etc, any vintage and not necessarily capable of running Linux) but this means trying to sell Microsoft software would result in a lynching and is strictly forbidden!
If you have a job to advertise then it also must be Unix/Linux related eg. Perl development or Solaris admin would be relevant but a Windows 2000 network admin would again be out. No commercial advertising is allowed or repeat advertising. Note that if you are a company or work for one that has interesting jobs or some cheap hardware going then that is acceptable. Employment agencies are strictly out as we've not seen one that posts useful stuff yet, you also may find that you will get a better response if you try listing at
Advertising in signatures is allowed but please keep your .sig less than 4 lines if possible and use a "-- " (dash dash space) separator on its own line before the signature please.
Note these rules are only guidelines, please be sensible and heed any warnings of abuse, as abusers are likely to lose posting privileges and possibly their limbs too if we catch them with the lart...
What is this IRC thing?
IRC stands for Internet relay chat. It is a kind of online chat room system where people can talk even when they are in different locations. It is a bit like a telephone conference line but with a text interface. The IRC meetings are held every Monday evening at around 8pm onwards and it is not unusual to find people hanging out sometimes in the week. An email reminder is sent to the list every Monday morning to encourage people to make the effort to turn up. The following text is what is sent as part of this reminder message:
The meeting takes place on the IRC server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. You can take a look at http://www.oftc.net/ to get more info on the IRC network we currently use, the Open and Free Technology Community.
Popular irc clients include tkirc, epic, xchat and ircII on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with IRC.
Unix
http://freshmeat.net/ (lots of them)
Windows (if you must)
http://www.bitchx.org/ (ported from *nix version)
What's with the armoured flag-carrying penguin on the horse?
It's Tux imitating the Anglia Knight from the 1970s/80s, which lots of people still remember and GNU was born in the 80s, so it's about the right period.