Manchester Free Software

The February administrative meeting will be on the second Monday of the
month at the usual time and place:

* Date: Monday, 8th March 2010
* Time: 19:00
* Location: The Waterhouse

The meeting is open to everyone and normally lasts about an hour. At the meeting we review what we’ve done, assess where we are and plan what to do. This is your opportunity to get involved. We welcome new people wanting to help the group achieve its goals.

For this meeting we will try having the social meeting at the same time
as informally doing the administrative business. So it’s a good
opportunity to meet up with people and have a chat.

Minutes from last meeting which was held on 8th February 2010 are at
http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/Manchester/2010-02-08/Minutes

If you have something you’d like included in the Agenda of the meeting
please contact us.

This month’s talk will be delivered by Leslie I’Anson from Manchester Free Software. Leslie’s talk has one very simple objective, which is to answer the following question:

“From the literally hundreds of GNU/Linux distributions in existence, what makes Debian special?”

Leslie has been using some form of the GNU/Linux operating system as his primary desktop environment since the Summer of 2007 and since then he has experimented with a multitude of different distributions; form the “easy-to-use” ( i.e Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE) to the down-right “hardcore” (LFS, Slackware, Gentoo and Arch). All in all, Leslie’s estimates that he’s used over twenty different incarnations of this popular free software platform.

However, one distribution keeps drawing him back – Debian (which incidentally was Leslie’s first ever experience of a free software operating system). Believing that he has finally settled down with his one true love, Leslie attempts to explain why this is and, as you will no doubt discover, the rationale behind this decision is far from purely technical.

So join us if you will for, what will (hopefully) be, an entertaining and enlightening introduction to both DebianDebian as operating system and as a project.

Also, as a special treat, Robert Burrell Donkin will be following this month’s talk with what he is dubbing a “Cryptography Un-Workshop”. Robert’s plan is to use this opportunity to gauge the level of interest before possibly embarking on a full-blown, audience-led, un-conference style, interactive talk and workshop later in the year.

The meeting will take place at the usual time, 7pm, at the Lass O’Gowrie pub on Charles Street in Central Manchester. We will be located in the Salmon Room upstairs, although there will be people around a little earlier downstairs (probably sampling the food and drinks on offer). Just ask at the bar if you can’t find us. The Lass website has full details of how to get there and the fine selection of food and drink available. The venue also provides wifi.

If you would like five minutes to tell us about something, please contact us.

The February administrative meeting will be on the second Monday of the
month at the usual time and place:

* Date: Monday, 8th February 2010
* Time: 19:00
* Location: The Waterhouse

The meeting is open to everyone and normally lasts about an hour. At the meeting we review what we’ve done, assess where we are and plan what to do. This is your opportunity to get involved. We welcome new people wanting to help the group achieve its goals.

We stay around for a social meet up afterwards, so it’s a good
opportunity to meet up with people and have a chat.

Minutes from last meeting which was held on 11th January 2010 are at
http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/Manchester/2010-01-11/Minutes

If you have something you’d like included in the Agenda of the meeting
please contact us.