Should Reading have its own LoCo team?--Poll to be included

[ChinnoDog]

Is that renewed renewed commitment or condolences? I live 25 minutes south of Reading but I am reluctant to do things near Philly because it is so far away.

[treepolitik]

Is that renewed renewed commitment or condolences?

It was condolences. The City of Reading didn't have much in the way of cheap rentals or free halls; I burned a lot of bridges, and was working full-time, nights, and weekends at the time.

If you wanted to try something, it would likely be you, me, and one other person, every now and then. How in-depth were you thinking, and do you like the idea of a central location?

I would find it amazing if we got something going regularly.

[ChinnoDog]

You're thinking too big. Even at release parties we don't pay for reserved spaces. I don't know that a central location is really a must either. The Philly contingent doesn't have regular meetings outside of IRC, just events. If you want something regular it could be as simple as meeting up at the Panera at the Broadcasting Square shopping center. (Though, they close at 7pm on weekdays I think.) If reserved space ever becomes an issue it will be after there are a significant number of people, which is further out than I can see.

I'm mostly into the Ubuntu community for myself. I only starting digging into Ubuntu / Linux a couple years ago. I'm a long time Windows guy (10+ years) and am trying to become equally proficient on Ubuntu. My vision of a regional group is meeting in a coffee shop or the like and spending a couple hours tackling small generally useful projects like...

• Getting automount to work right
• Find a way to get OpenGL shader support to work where it is otherwise missing (like my craptastic GMA 950 on my laptop).
• Generating expertise in general system performance tuning and hopefully documenting it for the community
• Find the absolute cheapest webcam available on the internet and make it work with Ubuntu. (Ok, I think I did this last one but the picture was so fuzzy it was like looking at someone through a drinking glass. You would need a disclaimer. "Actual appearance may vary!")

That is just what I would want to use it for. What do you want out of it? What is your motivation for wanting a regional group?

[treepolitik]

I wanted something for fun that would simply develop companionship and overall learning. I wanted to develop a system that does exactly what I want, when I want, and how I want it--browser, OS, you name it.

To put this into perspective, and not to offend, you appear to make appeals that older adults would make.

For example:
--Using very specific guidelines to assess casual meetings.
--Asking for very specific, limited-scope projects.
--Quoting your experience.
--Taking motor vehicle access somewhat for granted.
--Utilizing objects rather than identity as tools.

To my understanding, Ubuntu was largely a community of rebellion and big dreams, not realism. Perhaps you were successful in business for a while and now find yourself in the state of us "rebels," who find that life typically does not reward us for the achievements necessary to obtain those rewards. I am largely starting from scratch with everything.

I would reconsider donating my body(just me) to your projects if you were willing to seed me the lot of your knowledge, if possible. I actually do not live in Reading anymore, and I am poor, so I wouldn't be able to afford technology or dining as you would. We can discuss further details if these things are okay with you.

[ChinnoDog]

I'm not sure why you are providing supporting arguments for me being old. If you wanted to know, you could have just asked. I'm 31. I quoted my experience show how much of a noob I am. I know about computers but only have a couple years of linux experience. There are people more qualified than me to help with Ubuntu questions, some of which do not even work in an IT field. My projects were just examples of things I want to do. I am not an expert on community, but I do like having at least some structure.

I don't think your history of Ubuntu is entirely accurate. There is certainly some rebellion in open source culture but there are a lot of other reasons that Ubuntu is around and that people use it. I'm not a burned out IT worker if that is what you are thinking. On the contrary, I have wanted to break into the UNIX/Linux world for some time just to expand my horizons. Ubuntu was the path of least resistance because of its user community and minimal cost of entry in terms of effort required to get a fully functional system.

I wasn't making any assumptions about the resources you have available to you. Restaurants with wifi are common venues for community meetings in general. Do you have a place in mind? Acquiring capable technology generally isn't an obstacle when it comes to running Ubuntu as capable lower end hardware is cheap/free and Xubuntu can be used if Gnome is too much of a strain. If you need hardware try dropping by the IRC channel. There are a few sources I can think of. Where are you located now that you are not in Reading?

[treepolitik]

I'm not sure why you are providing supporting arguments for me being old. If you wanted to know, you could have just asked. I'm 31....I'm not a burned out IT worker if that is what you are thinking.

I actually have made a terrible blunder by thinking you were someone I knew from high school years, who had a recent life change in Denver and used Linux to repair Windows. Clearly, I was wrong. I apologize.

I do like having at least some structure.

Actually, I changed my mind. I do like your projects, especially the webcam one, because that seems to be a flagship challenge for Linux users. I would like very much to do YouTube again. I do want to learn more specific things that are marketable. I like the idea of creating graphics and websites with Python, C, Java, etc.

I wasn't making any assumptions about the resources you have available to you. Restaurants with wifi are common venues for community meetings in general.

If you could bring me to a place like Panera at Broadcasting from the turnpike Dunkin Donuts in Denver, that would be unprecedented, and I would be most grateful. I am not so secure about revealing my actual location publicly at this time, but I may share it in time.

I could put in a few dollars for gas, too.

[treepolitik]

I forgot to mention that I have a friend who lives close to Reading city who is trying to start a computer repair business and would love to join us. Feel free to propose days/times if it all sounds good to you.

We were trying to set up Remote Assistance as of recent and ran into trouble with TCP/IP settings. If you could help, that would be really cool, too.