Welcome to the Alabama LoCo forums

[crane]

Welcome to the forums for the Alabama LoCo Team (http://wiki.ubuntu.com/AlabamaTeam).
If you are a resident on Alabama please consider joining our cause. I am aware that there are local user groups through out Alabama and this in no way is meant to take away from that. I am hoping it will be beneficial to everyone. I would like to work in conjunction with the exsisting groups.
The goal of the group is to provide support for local users and advocate Ubuntu and Linux whenever possible by means of Install fests, meeting, and organized programs.
I am no professional at this but I think as a group we could really benefit others along the way.
Please feel free to join us. Currently I have the forums and IRC channels available and will post a lint to the mailing list when it comes available as well.

irc.freenode.net
Channel - #ubuntu-alabama

[bdogg64]

Nice work Crane.. Glad to see Alabama being represented.

[crane]

Thanks, I have a feeling there are more Ubuntu users floating around Alabama. I think we should get something started.
I am from the Birmingham area and have pretty much lived here all my life. I'm hoping to gather people from all over the state.
Please spread the word if you know anyone else. :)

[papawstone]

Greetings! I call Mentone home, not there much due to work though. I'm just getting started, have not even installed it yet but plan on doing that Easter weekend.

[jordanau]

From Birmingham, Live in Auburn. Have one more year on the plains.

[crane]

Welcome, Thanks for checking this out. It's nice to see more people in Alabama are Ubuntu users. I was beginning to feel alone. There are a couple here in the local LUG (http://bham-lug.org/).
Auburn! wow I spent some time down there long ago with a friend who attended. Let's see, the places I went are probably closed. Niffers and SuperClub are 2 that I remember well.

Mentone, I have been there are well. I remember riding through there to go to Georgia to get beer when we would camp at Little River Canyon.
hmmmmm.... is it me or all my memories including drinking?!
LOL, everyone is going to think I'm a drunk!

Good luck with the install. Let us know if you need help. Are you going with Feisty (Beta) or Edgy?

[bdogg64]

I'm from Huntsville btw.... I dont know if you had any drinks there.... lol

I have installed edgy on my laptop and feisty on my desktop (updated kernel support)

I have managed to get everything that I had working on my vista installation working in Ubuntu (video, audio, network, tv card, mythtv (w/remote), vnc) plus beryl too, which is very nice

If I can find a program to stream live tv to my phone I would be all set for now. I am enjoying learning the ins and outs of linux and ubuntu as well

[crimsontide]

Hi everyone! Nice to see Alabama has a team.:)

[MerlinsLair]

Awesome! Just got Dapper installed yesterday and am adjusting to it and various settings. Still have a lot of questions but am researching and pouring over a book I bought (The Official Ubuntu Book).

Glad we have a group here in Bama. I'm just North of B'ham in Gardendale so we all seem to be fairly close. If any of you use Gaim...I'm usually on there in the mornings on either ICQ or MSN Messenger. Check my profile for the contact info. ;)

Soon as I get comfortable with Ubuntu, I'll be using it mostly instead of *******. :grin:

[johndavid400]

hello all,
I am from the Trussville area, just graduated from UAB. I've been dual-booting XP and Kubuntu for about a year now. I currently have at leasts 2 or 3 machines running kubuntu with Beryl all the time while I am still tied to XP on a few machines for its printer support, financial software for work, and games.

I have only met 2 or 3 people (other than the friend that got me involved to begin with) that have even heard of Ubuntu in Alabama... so it is good to see our state represented on the forum.

I don't have much knowledge of linux to offer, but I have gotten quite acustomed to installing Beryl with both Nvidia and ATI cards on Ubuntu, and I hope to contribute to the open-source cause!

btw, my girl went to Auburn for 4.5 years.... so you know that I've bought a few cases of beer there as well... haha ;)

[MerlinsLair]

Trussville? You're pretty close to me then. My son in law has a dental practice on Hwy. 11 just outside of Trussville close to Deerfoot.

I'm about to the point to start asking questions but I'll save that for another thread. :)

[crane]

Woo Hoo! Trussvillites! or trussvillions, or something. So you guys are familliar with Trussville huh.
What about the Clay area? I live just over a mile from the Pig out springville road.
Welcome, and thanks for dropping by and showing support!


lol... I just realized that there are a lot of people that may wonder why I am giving direction using a Pig.:lolflag:

[dtruesdale]

Well I am in Alabaster and use Ubuntu on about 13 systems from servers to workstations. I support Linux in any form but Ubuntu has stuck with me.

[MerlinsLair]

Woo Hoo! Trussvillites! or trussvillions, or something. So you guys are familliar with Trussville huh.
What about the Clay area? I live just over a mile from the Pig out springville road.
Welcome, and thanks for dropping by and showing support!


lol... I just realized that there are a lot of people that may wonder why I am giving direction using a Pig.:lolflag:

Heh, thing is...I know exactly where you're talking about. The Pig closed though if I remember correctly, didn't it? :)

[crane]

Heh, thing is...I know exactly where you're talking about. The Pig closed though if I remember correctly, didn't it? :)

The Pig moved from that old building to where the new Win-Dixie was.

[crane]

Well I am in Alabaster and use Ubuntu on about 13 systems from servers to workstations. I support Linux in any form but Ubuntu has stuck with me.

The main plant for our company is located in Alabaster. I work for DeShazo Crane.

[strabo40]

Hey All,

I'm also new to Ubuntu, but have messed around with Linux since Red Hat 6.0. I have not been too successful in previous Linux installations, but a friend introduced me to Ubuntu and since my laptop with Win 2k kept crashing and was in need of a rebuild I decided to make the jump and partition out a chunk of disc to load Ubuntu.

So far I am very impressed with the load and with the forums. I had some difficulty in getting my broadcom 4306 wireless working, but the forums were great for getting this worked out. Now if I can get some other apps to work with Wine maybe I can get closer to dropping MS all together.

Looking forward to a good Alabama group to share ideas with.

I'm also on AIM with strabo34.

Have a great Ubuntu day!

[strabo40]

BTW, forgot to mention that I live in Helena and work in Calera.

[crane]

Glad to have you. I think you will find Linux has changed a good bit since RedHat 6.0!

[strabo40]

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I started out with Red Hat 6.0 and the last version I had tried before Ubuntu was Fedora 4. I'm still not any good with any of this but I like the challenge and any opportunity to dump MS.

In any case, Linux sure has come a long way to becoming a viable OS.

[MerlinsLair]

The Pig moved from that old building to where the new Win-Dixie was.

Nuts! That's right...remember my daughter telling me that a while back.


Sorry for the misunderstanding, I started out with Red Hat 6.0 and the last version I had tried before Ubuntu was Fedora 4. I'm still not any good with any of this but I like the challenge and any opportunity to dump MS.

Know the feeling. Had enough of M/$ myself with al the issues then Vi$ta comes out with it's expensive upgrades. Enough is enough.

Tried Xandros Pro V4.1 and liked it but I wanted to experiment with another distro too. Found Ubuntu and haven't looked back. So far, I like it enough that I'm moving files to my external HD so that I can migrate most to Ubuntu. Then just leave XP on the other drive for those apps that just won't work in Ubuntu or haven't had an alternative created yet.

I'm a n00b at this too but it's beginning to get easier with all the excellent documentation and help from the forums.

[sailor2001]

down in the real south (Foley area) operating edgy on a dual boot but haven't been into windoz for a month or 2...Still need it to check on things for our computer group. Have started a couple on Ubuntu, most guys are chicken to go into something new (to them). Think I'll use that vid on utube and send it around. Would like to see a lug in this area.. Maybe someday.....I think age maybe holding me back a little on that though. Please keep me informed on things happening in Alabama

[jpneely]

I grew up in Pinson so I know all the areas people are talking about in Trussville/clay. I live over in Inverness now. I've been using Ubuntu for about a year and been on Linux for about the past 6.

I started with Red Hat and didn't like Gnome so i moved to Mandrake (Mandriva). Was on Mandrake for a while until Suse started beefing up it's driver support. On a whim I decided to play with Debian because of package management and chose Ubuntu as the flavor. I quickly moved over and am so happy I changed. I still consider myself a novice even though there isn't much that I can't figure out. I personal feeling is that you shouldn't have to figure it out though.

[crane]

down in the real south (Foley area) operating edgy on a dual boot but haven't been into windoz for a month or 2...Still need it to check on things for our computer group. Have started a couple on Ubuntu, most guys are chicken to go into something new (to them). Think I'll use that vid on utube and send it around. Would like to see a lug in this area.. Maybe someday.....I think age maybe holding me back a little on that though. Please keep me informed on things happening in Alabama

Just keep a check here and at the Alabama Team site on the Ubuntu wiki. I will try to keep all happenings up to date!


I grew up in Pinson so I know all the areas people are talking about in Trussville/clay. I live over in Inverness now. I've been using Ubuntu for about a year and been on Linux for about the past 6.

I started with Red Hat and didn't like Gnome so i moved to Mandrake (Mandriva). Was on Mandrake for a while until Suse started beefing up it's driver support. On a whim I decided to play with Debian because of package management and chose Ubuntu as the flavor. I quickly moved over and am so happy I changed. I still consider myself a novice even though there isn't much that I can't figure out. I personal feeling is that you shouldn't have to figure it out though.
True, but if you have been with linux for a few years, you know that there is a whole lot less to figure out now than before.
Pinson, huffman, and Trussville is where I stomped around....many....many years ago. (Graduated in '87 from Huffman)

[BrooksOfSheffield]

Been running Ubuntu since Hoary was new. Prior to that, I've had a little experience with old Red Hat and Mandrake.

The only reason that I even have a dual boot is because I got this freebie MP3 player that is somehow invisible to Linux.

Live and work in Mobile.

[crane]

Welcome! How life and work in Mobile?

[pitbulls20]

Hi I lived the past 4 years in Bham then joined the military. Now I am in Gulfport ms and come home to where my family is in Mobile Al.

I saw there was a LUG in Mobile but I guess they closed that down because the site hasn't ben updated in like a year I think. That would be awesome to have something in mobile so I can get someone to teach me how to install stuff LOL. But I like linux so far and wish I also could totally drop MS. I keep MS around until I can work out how to use linux and figure out a way to do my gaming on it since most games are windows based.

Hope to hear more
Larry

[crane]

Welcome man. You should look into getting the local lug started back up and moving. They my be using a mailing list to communicate. Try contacting someone at http://www.salug.org (http://www.salug.org/) Looking through the links it looks like they were really active so I doubt they just quit. They probably just don't update their webpage .
If you can't find anything out then feel free to ask here and at http://bham-lug.org/ I hope to have the LoCo mailing list up soon so that will be another point of contact as well. The more people we bring in the better the more we can grow as a group.
I will be planning the first meeting via IRC soon. Sometime in the next couple of weeks so we can all meet up together and kind of have a round introductions and so.
As far as help installing, ask away! We can all help each other out. Just start up a new post and ask away!
Be sure to join the team at https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-us-al

Peace

[y6FgBn)~v]

Southeast Alabama here in Eufaula. Feel free to contact me with any requests regarding the Alabama Team.

[metroknight]

Hello everyone,

New user here. I'm dual-booting with WinXP and Feisty on my systemfor the last couple months while starting to test out a Live-CD on my wife's laptop. My son's(he's 5yrs old) computer will stay WinME since all his games are windows only. I just recently started exploring the forums outside the absolute beginner's section and discovered you all.

My family and I live in Rainsville and there is noboby around that has heard of Ubuntu let alone use it. I'm working on changing that. I already gave a live cd to someone and I've ordered a 3 pack of the Feisty cd so that I can hand out more of them. I'm trying to encourage my workplace to look into and possible use linux (in particular Ubuntu). Right now they have this hodgepodge of various windows systems and no I'm not in the tech field. I'm just a blue collar worker that would like his workplace to run smoother.

[crane]

Right now they have this hodgepodge of various windows systems and no I'm not in the tech field. I'm just a blue collar worker that would like his workplace to run smoother.

That is about the same for me. I am trying to convince my work to use Ubuntu or Linux in general. A lot of the systems at our main plant a win 95 and 98. Linux could be used with out any trouble. I have no coding or programming skills. I'm just an old crane service tech.

[MerlinsLair]

Hi metroknight,

Welcome to the jungle! This is a good learning experience for me also. My machine also dual boots (separate hard drives) XP Pro and Ubuntu although it mostly stays on the Ubuntu side. Once I get more familier with NVU and The GIMP I may stay Linux all the way (for my side business).

I tried Xandros V4.1 Pro and it did ok but began to have some issues with it that would not go away. Tried Ubuntu and so far am enjoying it. Installing things is different from Windows but it's nothing but a learning thing.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? :)

[metroknight]

Thanks for all the welcomes.

I very rarely boot into my window xp now. I'm learning Ubuntu but immersing myself into it. It is the best way I know how to learn. My first linux experience was a boxed set of Mandrake 7.0. I could never get it to run properly and gave up on it due to frustration. About 6 months ago, I heard about live cd's and downloaded / made acouple different ones but they never really made me go WOW then I found Ubuntu by accident and tried it. I'm now giving out live cd's of it to get people to try it out. That is how much I like Ubuntu. I messed my system up acouple times but with the friendly help in these forums. I was able to fix it myself and get back up and running on it within a day or so.

[crane]

The best advice I could give would be to make a different partition next time you need to do an install. currently have 6 partitions on this system. One is mounted /usr/local/Pictures , /usr/local/music, /user/local/games/, /usr/local/backups as well as a partition with edgy installed ( which will be used to install the next Ubuntu Beta) and a windows install. Although I must say I have no idea if the windows install will boot. I haven't touched it in a long time.
The reason I suggest the partitions is this. If something happens and I competely screw the system up I can reinstall and use the advance partition tool in the installer to remount these partitions. This way I do not have to worry as much with saving or reinstalling data. My music, pictures, and games stay put.
For example. I have Quake3 installed. I installed it when I put Warty on this system. Warty was the first release of Ubuntu a few years ago. I have never had to reinstall it. I have been through warty, breezy, dapper, edgy, and now Feisty not to mention many syste,m crashes. I am still running the same install of Quake3.
Just a suggestion.

Peace

[logicalsi]

i am not sure if this is a good place to post this but here it is.

our company is located in columbus, ga. we are looking for a couple of linux geeks.
we are looking for a linux help desk and a linux admin.

if anyone knows of someone or is interested please send an email or resume to jobs@logicalsi.com.

[crane]

i am not sure if this is a good place to post this but here it is.

our company is located in columbus, ga. we are looking for a couple of linux geeks.
we are looking for a linux help desk and a linux admin.

if anyone knows of someone or is interested please send an email or resume to jobs@logicalsi.com.

YOu may have better luck in the Georgia Forums! (http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=210)

[Neysa]

Do you need a novice here?
I switched over to linux from ms a year and a half ago or so. I think I've been using Ubuntu around six months. I don't know what I'm doing, just enough to be dangerous, but I'm not going back to microsoft, so I reckon it's time to figure out at least some of this.
I believe I saw that someone here is in the Gardendale area, I am as well.
Oh, and if anyone has suggestions for learning more about this, please point the way! Most everything I know about computers is self-taught, so I don't even know enough terminology to ask good questions!

[ectospasm]

'sup y'all... I've been lurking in the IRC channel on Freenode for the past couple of weeks. I'm an advanced Linux user (I wouldn't call myself an expert though) currently living in Mobile. I have been using nothing but Linux for the past 4+ years, but my Linux experience goes back to 1997 when I first had to install Slackware for a class I was taking. I only run Windows XP in a VMWare VM now, if I absolutely need to run a Windows program. Up until yesterday the machine I'm typing this on was a Gentoo box. Now it's Ubuntu (yes, it has impressed me that much).

I've begun to do a little advocacy for Ubuntu (very, very small steps). I introduced my now-89yr old grandfather to Ubuntu (Breezy, I think). The only reason why he doesn't use it now is that his children bought him a new computer for Christmas, and I was tired of arguing with them over why he couldn't install malware-laden Windows programs. But he admits he liked it after he got used to it. I've also left Ubuntu Live CDs over at various consulting jobs (basically,"Will you fix my computer?" "Try this instead"). I also installed Ubuntu Server (Edgy) at my father's office.

The SALUG still meets in Mobile, apparently they've got at least 30 people regularly showing up. Free pizza and all that. I haven't been in a while because I can't ever remember to go. I do know that they still meet at the same time and place listed on the SALUG homepage.

I'm probably not going to start going to the SALUG meetings mainly because I am more than likely about to be offered a job at Digium in Huntsville. If not, and I need to stick around here, I'll start going more often.

[crane]

Welcome guys, great to see you on the forums. I hope to get the mailing list up soon. Congrats on the Digium possibility and good luck. One other person here in the group also works for that company. They seem to be hiring a good bit here lately.

As far as another novice, heck yea! Everyone can help out in one way or another. I still consider myself as a novice in many areas.

[Neysa]

According to my daughter, there is a small contingent of linux-kids at the local high school. The one who wants to go out with her is trying to decide on a flavor, so maybe I'll be able to lobby for Ubuntu. I've even got a couple of spare discs!
It'll be nice, since all I get around the house is a great rolling of eyes when I bring up the subject of how they should all be weaned from Bill Gates. ~~sigh~~

[clblanchard]

Hello, I live in Luverne and I'm addicted to Ubuntu. Have been for almost a year now. I have a 10 gig winXP partition that I want to get rid of because i have found the joys of VMWare for my wife, but can't ever figure out how to get grub to boot again. I swear, that fu**ing whole "OS" is a VIRUS. Glad to see that Alabama ppl aren't as dumb as we're made out to be!!!

[crane]

Welcome!
That sounds like a tricky task. I have never tried removing the windows partition nce the bootloader is set in it. I would suggest starting a new post on the forums titled something like "removing Windows causing bootloader problems" A lot of people won;t bother reading this thread because it may not pertain to them.

Keep us posted though, thet would be some valuable info.

[crane]

Hey, I just did a quick search and found something that may be useful to you.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224351&highlight=GRUB+HOWTO

[jonwilbanks]

Hi all. I am so glad to find this group. I live in Hanceville which is about 50 miles north of Bham. I have toyed with different Linux Distros for years but finally threw out all my Windows garbage and am now going full steam with Kubuntu. It seems everyday is a new discovery of why I like Kubuntu.

See ya around.

jonwilbanks@gmail.com

PS -
Feel free to hit me up on google talk whenever you see me there.

[MerlinsLair]

Welcome to the Forums Jon. I'm from Leeds, Alabama but used to live in New Castle (next to Gardendale) so I'm familiar with Hanceville. ;)

[crane]

Welcome to the group man!:guitar:

[ectospasm]

Welcome to the group! May I remind y'all we have an IRC channel (#ubuntu-alabama@irc.freenode.net), that in my opinion needs more mass, i.e. more regular visitors. Drop in, and lurk around. Someone will eventually say something!

[crane]

Yes, please drop into the irc channel. I must apologize for my absence. Due to work being crazy busy and a few networking trouble at home I have not logged in in the last week.
You guys should see me this week though. My network is just about set up and work is actually getting back to a calmer state.

[andyvarner]

Hey guys, I just installed Ubuntu for the first time yesterday and am so far loving it. I'm down in Auburn, so yeah, that's me... i think.

I suppose i'll be lurking on irc if anybody gets on there anymore.

[MerlinsLair]

Will try to get on the channel asap. Thing is that my shifts are mostly at night so I'll catch ya when I can. ;)

[michaelramm]

Hello to all from Northport, AL (right across the river from Tuscaloosa).

I have had a dual boot kubuntu FF and WinXP box for quite awhile. I have decided to go full bore to ubuntu and get rid of XP completely. My only real XP reminant is World of Warcraft, but I think that the fine folks at CrossOver (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxoffice/) have that problem solved to.

I am looking forward to embarking down the ubuntu road. I am familiar with linux, but by no means a guru, so I feel that it may be a bumpy road.

I will also be installing Compiz Fusion on the box for the coolio effects and such. I have an ATI x1600 video card with 256MB RAM. I know that the card is good enough, but I have seen a lot of problems with ATI cards and Linux. Guess I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Looking forward to being part of the AL contingent. See you guys on the dark side!

Michael

[crane]

Hey man, Thanks for joining us. I figure if we can get just a few more members we can take over Alabama!
Muahahahahahaha...
Right now our meeting are just casual meetings every Thursday night at 8:00 but I think we are reaching a larger level of members that we can start really giving some southern hospitality back to the community.
I have moved completely to Linux at home, and as soon as I can get some drivers for our Cannon printers at work I will move to Linux there as well!
WoW, was a good game, I played it under wine for a while, I just lack the time to invest in it. I have a few friends from ASWP who play Horde on the Dethoroc server.

[stubborndave]

Hello all. I hail from Huntsville. My career as a Unix sysadmin begin in 1986. I'm currently employed as the lone linux guru on a large IT helpdesk. Most linux around here is RHEL, CentOS and Fedora. At home, I use a combination of Ubuntu, Fedora and Windows.

[crane]

Hello all. I hail from Huntsville. My career as a Unix sysadmin begin in 1986. I'm currently employed as the lone linux guru on a large IT helpdesk. Most linux around here is RHEL, CentOS and Fedora. At home, I use a combination of Ubuntu, Fedora and Windows.

Welcome and thank for joining! There have been a good bit of Ubuntu users come from North Alabama. Be sure to check out the User group up there as well. (LUNA)
One question for you though. If you are the Lone Linux Guru, did you get a mask and cap and a horse?
LOL J/K I just got a mental image of the Lone Ranger when I read you post! Hi-Yo Bit_torrent Away!
:)

[stubborndave]

I didn't get a mask and cape, but they did give me a cool target to put on my back.

'later

[crane]

I didn't get a mask and cape, but they did give me a cool target to put on my back.

'later

LOL:lolflag:

[Eutaw]

Eutaw (about 30 miles sw of Tuscaloosa).
I'm still trying to get my old beater to read Ubuntu. I've got Redhat 9, but for some reason my cdrom won't read any of the disks for feisty or xubuntu. It's long past time for me to upgrade, then I'll dual boot and find out what I've been missing on Ubuntu:confused:

[michaelramm]

Hey Eutaw,

Welcome to the LoCo!

I would try re-burning the ISO at a slower speed. I had one of those CDROMs that did not like the 52x burned ISO, so I re-burned it at 8x and it was like butter...reinstalled on the box with no problems.

Hope that helps,
Michael

[crane]

Also look through your boot options. YOu may want to add apm=off acpi=off to the end of boot line.
not sure if it will help but I have heard of this working for others.

[Eutaw]

Hey Eutaw,

Welcome to the LoCo!

I would try re-burning the ISO at a slower speed. I had one of those CDROMs that did not like the 52x burned ISO, so I re-burned it at 8x and it was like butter...reinstalled on the box with no problems.

Hope that helps,
Michael

Thanks, that made the cd play. Then it didn't like the fact that my acpi was from 1998, not 2000. Then I buggered up the hard drive (was going to buy new anyway). :confused:
I'm on track now anyway. Sad thing is, I should have known to try that. Glad you thought of it:popcorn:
Rick

[michaelramm]

I am glad that was an easy fix for you.

Maybe we can meet up since we are so close.

Michael

[Eutaw]

Sounds good. I'm up fairly often - have to get to WallyWorld from time to time. My son likes to get to Books a Million there at Skyland, maybe we can get together over coffee sometime.
Rick

[michaelramm]

That will even be better in November when Barnes and Nobles open in the new Midtown Center on McFarland Blvd.

I work for the City of Northport in City Hall about 1 mile from Wal-Mart.

We could catch lunch at Taco Casa or the new Zaxby's when it opens up.

Michael

[marianlibrarian]

Greetings from Geneva Alabama!

I have been all over this forum and never knew this Alabama thing was going on. I had to find it in -- you will love this -- Orkut! HA -- and I met some nice people there too.

It sure is nice to know that I am not alone in the state of Alabama in promoting Ubuntu.

I am a library director in a weenie little town of about 4000. I have taken our library from obsolete winders 98 to Ubuntu 6.06. The patrons love it. The staff love it too. I have been very fortunate to have found wonderful help in the Ubuntu forum.

My library website also got DUGG for using Ubuntu. What a fluke!

Anyway, just wanted to stop by and say "Hello"!

Marian the Librarian

P.S. My name really is Marian :)

[crane]

Welcome! Thanks for joining us. I don't think I have ever heard of a weenie little town, that just cracked me up! So all the PC's are running Dapper do you have any plans on upgrading them or are you holding out until the next LTS version?

[dunaway]

I'm a lawyer in Birmingham. I switched from Windows XP to Mac in February '07 after having experienced first-hand how bad Vista is. My switch from Windows to Mac has lead me to explore other options, i.e.-Linux. I bought a Dell laptop (1420n) pre-loaded with Ubuntu 7.04 in September and have been trying to make it my primary office computer since. My only issue now is the scanner. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good scanner to use with Linux?

[michaelramm]

WELCOME Dunaway!

I am sorry that I do not have any answers to your scanner questions. I am pretty new to Ubuntu. Drop by our IRC Channel on the Freenode server in the room #ubuntu-alabama. There is probably someone there that can help.

We have a weekly meeting at 9:00pm on Thursday nights in that room also! Feel free to drop by.

Michael

[ectospasm]

The project that deals with scanning under Linux/UNIX is SANE, found here:

http://www.sane-project.org/sane-backends.html

I'd choose one that support is listed as Complete. Also, you may want to look into the XSANE project for GUI manipulation of the scanner:

http://xsane.org

HTH

[Brindled]

Birmingham here.

i first dabbled with redhat a few years back. then, i used 6.06 last year some, but ran into problems running my home network. so i dropped out for a while, but came back when i saw a vid on youtube with all the desktop improvements. upon reinstalling ubuntu 7.04 the network problems had disappeared, and i was sold. i now run a dual boot with windnos for just gaming and mp3 player needs. now, i won't spend a second longer than i have to in windnos.

Peace!
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/6866/tgsr4.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tgsr4.jpg)

[eznet]

Hello Alabamians,
I am writing from Troy, though it will soon be Birmingham. I have been using Linux since about 00-01. Until Ubuntu I had primary experience with Slackware 8.0 and Gentoo. Although I have played with Linux for some time, I am far from a pro.. or even proficient for that matter :)

I am currently running 7.10 on both my notebook and desktop, with my desktop serving as a media center (PVR + 'HD' Media Player). I use my notebook primarily as a dev computer, though I get no development done. I am a Computer Science senior with Troy University and hope to one day be creatively inspired enough to give something more than a script or tutorial back to the community, but as of now I can think of nothing to do with what I have learned :) Guess thats how it goes: have ideas when you don't know how to do anything with them and have none when you do.

Anywho, glad to see Alabama representing and hope to see you all around... need to get a release party up for Hardy!!!

-Matt

[cyberia81]

Hello. I just moved to Scottsboro this November. I was a Central Florida native. I promise I will not ruin your beautiful state! If possible I would never go back, but I have family there (the poor things!).

My first experience was with Slackware. I didn't actually use it myself, but I was exposed to it. I finally got tired of Windows and I went to the bookstore to see what Linux books I could find. I found an Ubuntu book and fell in love. I have been using Ubuntu for about a year now, but I still feel lost a great deal of the time. I enjoy the challenge though and I believe in Ubuntu's philosophy.

I am a teacher (although I have yet to find a teaching job here in this small town). About a year ago I started collecting computers and putting Edubuntu on them for students. It is something I want to continue very soon.

I hope to be very active here. Have to find a job first! :KS

[chrinabuntu]

Hey everyone! I have been floating around the Ubuntu forums for a bit now but for some reason have never noticed this section of local stuff. I am in Alabama as well...and I am a female Linux user..I only mention that because it seems for the most part to be more of a guy thing. ha!

Well, I'll have to read up and see how far I'm behind in the 'Bama forum before I go posting stuff...but I wanted to at least say hello and get myself counted!

Thanks for putting this up here! ;O)

Chris in Bama

PS - hey Crane...I'm also in B'ham! Kewl!

[michaelramm]

Hey Chris,

Welcome!

We have a number of folks in Birmingham, while I am in Tuscaloosa. They all hang out in the BALU (http://www.bham-lug.org/)also (Birmingham Area Linux Users).

We have been entrenched in a bit of a lull since Christmas, but we are trying to work our way out of it. I am going to try to have an actual IRC meeting Thursday night. Not sure how it will go, but we will see.

You can find the Mailing list, IRC channel and blog address on this forum.

Michael

[Jim20_5]

Hello All, I have been on the Ubuntu Forums for a while now. Good to see so many Ubuntu users in Alabama. I am in Alexander City, half way between Birmingham and Auburn. Sign me up, please. ):P Jim20_5

[michaelramm]

Hey Jim, that is cool.

Come by the IRC room on Thursday nights around 9pm and meet some of the other folks. The room is #ubuntu-us-al.

Michael

[ectospasm]

Come by the IRC room on Thursday nights around 9pm and meet some of the other folks. The room is #ubuntu-us-al.

And here I thought it was #ubuntu-alabama! No wonder nobody's in that other channel!!!

[chrinabuntu]

I went to that irc.freenode.net and it asks for a user name and password. There isn't a page to sign up either (at least not at that address), so can someone enlighten me? Are we supposed to go somewhere else and register first...or where else would I get a login?

Thanks folks!

[chrinabuntu]

Wow...I guess no one knew the answer, eh? LOL!

[crane]

Sorry man I missed the post altogether. Are you talking about registering on freenode?
If so check HERE (http://freenode.net/faq.shtml#nicksetup) things have been crazy at work but If that doesn't help let me know and I will see what I can do about finding more info.

[tryxl]

Thought I would drop a line and say hello. Just realized this group was here and thought maybe I should join as I run Ubuntu at home and work. BTW, I am in Gadsden, AL.

Anyone know if there is a LUG in Gadsden of which I am not yet aware?

[DoktorSeven]

Hello, fellow Alabama Ubuntu user here, been using Linux around ten years now (spent most of them trying to get rid of Windows once and for all -- but I've succeeded!). Alabaster area, but currently sort of jobless at the moment (frustrated sysadmin/developer who can't get a break).

Just trying to spread the word about Linux and Ubuntu in the meantime...

[michaelramm]

Welcome Stephen.

We are always looking for linux veterans for our group. Please look around and help in anyway that you feel. We have a mailing list and IRC channel that most of us frequent.

I am in California until next week for my sister's wedding, but will be back on wednesday.

Enjoy your stay.
Michael

[wolffangalchemist]

wow didn't now this was here and am glad it is!
i have basically just started using Ubuntu (or for that matter linux its self)
because Window$ crashed and it wouldn't boot and i was sick and tired of it! i have been using Ubuntu for a month or so now I'm loving it so much more than xp or vista and am glad to know there is a local forum gathering for it.
BTW I'm from Daleville,AL

[crane]

Thanks for joining us! Deep south Alabama I see. So have you convinced any of your friends for make the switch?
You can find lots of help around here, the irc channel and the mailing list.
We are planning a big even in August here in Birmingham so stay tuned and I'll keep everyone posted on the planning of that.

[wolffangalchemist]

i have a friend who i'm going to try to convince to make the switch this summer.
he live her in Alabama during the summer and in Ohio during school time.
.
hopefully i can convince him to switch over and use wine he is a PC gamer i think almost all his games work with wine.
theres a few others i am going to try to convince to switch one has a old computer wait till i show him how to make it fly!:lolflag:

[lolzer]

Hey guys. Just found out about the Alabama LoCo the other day while perusing the IRC channels. I have been using Linux since '04 and using Ubuntu exclusively since around '06. Anyway, glad to meet up with you guys. I make my home up in Madison but hopefully if there are some install fests or meetups I could make them.

Later

[zer010]

Hey there! It's nice to see other Ubuntu users here in Alabama! I'm in Troy, Pike County. I've only been using Ubuntu exclusively for about 4 months now, so I am no expert by any means. I have, however, learned to love it though! I have just applied for AL LoCo membership. I hope that eventually, just as Ubuntu is a global endeavor, it will be just as at home in the south as chitlins! :P

[ectospasm]

The AL LoCo IRC channel appears to be mostly dead. Last announced IRC meetup was planned for January of this year. We need to see if the LoCo leadership is still around.

[epowers]

Reside in Cullman, Al. Would like to become more active in promotion of Ubuntu/Linux.

[Robert.Lowery]

I can say I am surprised to find others interested in Ubuntu in Alabama.
Does anyone know the release schedules for Ubuntu because I want to put it on one of my boxes here to get the hang of it and I would prefer to start with the latest. I have 9.04 now but haven't installed it yet.
I hope to get comfortable enough with it to get it on a few friends boxes.

Thanks in advance to all!

[ectospasm]

I can say I am surprised to find others interested in Ubuntu in Alabama.
Does anyone know the release schedules for Ubuntu because I want to put it on one of my boxes here to get the hang of it and I would prefer to start with the latest. I have 9.04 now but haven't installed it yet.
I hope to get comfortable enough with it to get it on a few friends boxes.

Thanks in advance to all!

The Ubuntu release schedule is every six months, typically in April and October. Ubuntu 9.10 (in all of its flavors) was released at the end of October this year. I'd get one of those ISOs if you're intending a new install.

I haven't upgraded yet, but I'm planning on doing so fairly soon. As soon as I can get a weekend to myself.

[ratcheer]

It doesn't look like there's much point in joining. Is this group still alive? ;)

Tim

[philbording]

HI,

Need a simple way to load developer software without doing it package by package....

-Phil