VanLUG Email Archive
Dave Michelson (dmichelson@home.com)
Thu, 08 Apr 1999 14:21:54 -0700
Report on the VanLUG Steering Committee Meeting - 7 April 1999, ~21:00 -
23:00
Held at the Marine Neighbourhood Pub, 5820 Marine Drive, Burnaby
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In Attendance
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Dave Michelson <dmichelson@home.com>
Bill Gillespie <bill@gillespie.bc.ca>
Steve Roy <steve@hendrix.postino.com>
Ivar Vasara <ivar@vcn.bc.ca>
Brian Bray <brianbr@ibm.net>
Ben Holt <ben@emedia.bc.ca>
Bruce Balden <balden@rillanon.org>
Ted Powell <ted@eslvcr.fireplug.net>
Regrets:
Ryan Land
Lee Haslett
Brian Edmonds
Russ Krywolt
1. Background: The group attended the meeting of the Vancouver GIS
Users Group at the BC Hydro Auditorium, 6911 Southpoint Drive, Burnaby
(adjacent to the Edmonds SkyTrain station) then went to the Marine
Neighbourhood Pub for further discussions. Historically, the GIS
community has used UNIX extensively because of their need for lots of
computing power and disk space to process and store their data sets. As
a result, VanGUG and VanLUG have a bit in common. Several well-known
GIS applications are available for Linux (GRASS, TNTMips, Spring)
although ESRI still hasn't ported ARC/INFO or ArcView.
2. First Impressions. The group was favourably impressed with the BC
Hydro Auditorium as a meeting location. It is only a few hundred metres
from the Edmonds SkyTrain station and there is lots of street parking
available in the surrounding area. (It is very accessible by transit
from UBC via the B'way 99 and SkyTrain connection.) The neighbourhood
is well lit and seems quite safe. The auditorium can comfortably seat
~100 people and has a data projector available for use with PC's and
laptops. Since a security guard is on duty in the lobby, the front door
to the building is left open to allow easy access for meeting
attendees. Thanks to Ted Powell for bringing this site to our
attention!
3. Alternating Meeting Locations. Some have proposed following the
Brunix lead and alternating VanLUG meetings between say, UBC and a
location on the east side of the city, say BCIT or BC Hydro. However,
the majority of those attending the Steering Committee meeting
apparently feel that it was important to hold the meetings at the same
time and place each month in order to avoid confusion.
4. Rating Alternative Meeting Locations. The group agreed that the
following points should be considered in rating alternative meeting
locations.
* cost
* capacity
* audio/visual gear (overhead projector, data projector)
* neighbourhood
* travel time
* transit access
* automobile access & parking
Note: At present, we have some good leads, but no confirmation that we
can get access to SFU Harbour Centre, BCIT, or BC Hydro.
5. Meeting Duration. The vast majority of those responding to the
straw poll and the group attending the steering committee meeting agreed
that the meeting start time should be shifted to 7:30 pm. Further, the
group at the meeting felt that meetings should always end by 9:00 pm in
order to allow time for informal discussion afterwards.
6. Meeting Agenda. The group suggested that the following general
format should be followed at most future VanLUG meetings:
7:30 - 7:35 pm - News & Announcements
7:35 - 8:10 pm - Feature Presentation
8:10 - 8:15 pm - break
8:15 - 9:00 pm - Panel Session/Group Discussion
- The feature presentation would be an in-depth presentation by a
knowledgeable VanLUG member or guest speaker, e.g., George Pajari on Fax
Software for UNIX or Ted Powell on RPM for Users and Developers. I
would also be quite interested in inviting people from would also be quite interested in inviting people from Rogers@Home or
BCTel to speak on their networks and plans for future development.
- The panel discussion would focus on comparing alternative approaches
to a particular task or issue. Topics might include free UNIX (Linux
vs. *BSD), Linux distributions, window managers, programming languages,
scripting languages, backup software, database engines, high speed
internet service providers, software licences (GPL vs BSD), web
browsers, C compilers, etc. Each panelist would give a five minute/five
slide overview of the salient points of the position or product they
were advocating. The remaining twenty or thirty minutes would be
devoted to questions/answers and general discussion about the relative
merits of each approach.
7. Linux Advocacy. We've previously talked about the desirability of
giving standard Linux and/or Open Source presentations to different
groups around town include educational institutions, industry, and even
government. Brian Bray <brianbr@ibm.net> has volunteered to organize
and coordinate this effort.
The meeting concluded at 10:55 pm.
-- Dave Michelson dmichelson@home.com
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