WLUG - home

Puppet (November 15, 2007)

Presented by Frank Sweetser

The slides from Frank's talk are available in PDF and ODP formats.

Ruby on Rails (May 10, 2006)

Presented by Frank Sweetser

The slides from Frank's talk are available in PDF format. Other interesting links are:
Movies
Online Tutorial

Introduction to Wifi Security (March 15, 2006)

Presented by Frank Sweetser

WLUG member Frank Sweetser gave a quick overview of some of the major security related issues in setting up a wireless network, the major vulnerabilities (WEP weaknesses in particular), and ways to close up the holes. He also included a brief demo of Back Track, a bootable linux CD that includes numerous security related tools, and used it to crack a WEP key. Frank is currently employed by WPI in the Network Operations and Security department.

Linux on the Routerboard 532 (February 16, 2006)

Presented by Andy Stewart

WLUG founder Andy Stewart gave a talk on his experience with Linux on the Routerboard 532. Andy's intent was to build a firewall with GPL'd software, no moving parts, and no noise. Several pieces of software from the embedded Linux world were used. The PDF slides are available, as well as the HTML version.

Hacking the Linux Automounter (November 2, 2005)

Presented by Jeff Moyer

Jeff Moyer from Red Hat, Inc. discussed the Linux Automounter. The automounter provides a mechanism for automatically mounting file systems upon access, and unmounting them when they are no longer referenced. The PDF slides are available.

Linux on Appliances (May 19, 2005)

Presented by Jason Schonberg

Jason Schonberg discussed running Linux on appliances such as the Cobalt Qube. Included in this discussion are topics such as compilers, cross compilation, emulation of older hardware, and features of the Cobalt Qube. The original OpenOffice slides as well as the HTML version are available.

HOWTO Make Video DVDs (March 23, 2005)

Presented by Andy Stewart

Andy Stewart discussed his experience with Linux software, his video capture card, and some simple video editing, all used for the creation of DVDs containing video content for his own personal use. The slides are available here, and the OpenOffice slide sources are available here. Andy's quick HOWTO is also available.

Vesta - An Advanced Configuration Management System (February 13, 2005)

Presented by Scott Venier

Scott Venier discussed Vesta and its main features of source control, configuration, and file building. The slides are available here, and the StarOffice slide sources are available here.

Netdump and crash (January 13, 2005)

Presented by Jeff Moyer, RedHat Software

Jeff Moyer discussed the use of Netdump and crash for handling Linux kernel crash dumps and the analysis of a running kernel. The slides are available here.

Bootsplash and gfxboot (June 17, 2004)

Presented by Andy Stewart

WLUG founder Andy Stewart gave a talk about using gfxboot to graphically spice up the GRUB boot menu, and how the bootsplash software could be used to present a graphically pleasing screen during boot, complete with progress bars. The slides are available online, or one may download the OpenOffice source file.

Creating and Rendering 3D Objects in Linux (May 19, 2004)

Presented by Tim Keller

WLUG member Tim Keller gave a talk about different Open Source tools that he uses to create 3D object in Linux. Mentioned in this talk were Povray, Kpovmodeler, and Blender. The slides are available online, or one may download the OpenOffice source file.

TeX and LaTeX (March 24, 2004)

Presented by Doug Waud

WLUG member Doug Waud discussed the use of TeX and LaTeX. These programs are used as part of a document preparation system designed to make mathematics look beautiful when typeset.

The PDF version of Doug's presentation can be viewed, as well as the LaTeX source file.

Special Guest – J.D. Frazer (February 25, 2004)

J.D. is the cartoonist who writes the comic strip User Friendly. He gave us a great talk about what its like to be a cartoonist. We also broadcast this talk on the Access Grid, and were joined by two groups of people from Australia(!).

PGP (January 15, 2004)

Presented by Chuck Anderson

Chuck gave us a talk about the use of PGP.

PGP® or Pretty Good Privacy® is a powerful cryptographic product family that enables people to securely exchange messages, and to secure files, disk volumes and network connections with both privacy and strong authentication.

Revolution OS (December 12, 2003)

This meeting was a joint meeting between WLUG and the Worcester County IEEE Computer Society. At this meeting, we showed the DVD entitled Revolution OS. From the Revolution OS website:

REVOLUTION OS tells the inside story of the hackers who rebelled against the proprietary software model and Microsoft to create GNU/Linux and the Open Source movement.

REVOLUTION OS features interviews with Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, Bruce Perens, Eric Raymond, Brian Behlendorf, Michael Tiemann, Larry Augustin, Frank Hecker, and Rob Malda.

Lifelines and GEDCOM– Genealogy on Linux (October 9, 2003)

Presented by Doug Waud

WLUG member Doug Waud discussed the Lifelines software. Lifelines allows the user to enter genealogical information and print it out in a variety of different report formats.

The HTML version of Doug's talk can be seen here.

An Introduction to Linux for Newcomers (September 10, 2003)

Presented by Andy Stewart

This evening's talk was a broad overview of topics of interest to Linux newcomers,such as: What is Linux? Why might I wish to run Linux? From where would I obtain Linux? Also discussed were the Linux demonstration CDs such as Knoppix and SuSE Live Eval.

Slides for this presentation can be viewed here, or one may grab the StarOffice source.

Live Demo: Linux Terminal Server Project (August 14, 2003)

Presented by: Andy Stewart

Andy Stewart gave a talk about the Linux Terminal Server Project. With this software, a user can turn a lowly Pentium 90 with around 16 – 32 MB of memory into a diskless graphics terminal which can log into a more powerful server. After the talk, Andy demonstrated a client booting over the network, and then logged into the server. After that, Andy took a client machine brought in by Doug Waud and got it to function as a client also.

Slides from this meeting can be viewed or you can grab the StarOffice source.

WLUG's Annual Barbecue: (July 16, 2003)

Guest Speaker: Vince McHugh – NECS/Cannon (May 15, 2003)

The guest speaker for this meeting was Vince McHugh. Vince is a member of GNHLUG and also a Systems Support Manager for NECS/Canon (the largest independent Canon dealer in New England). Vince has been involved with Linux for the last 4-5 years, and also possesses a Novell CNE and a Windows MCP.

Vince gave a two part talk. The first part was about the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS). The second part was about imaging and scanning. In this context, Vince talked about how NECS is making Canon scanning products work in the Linux environment.

Slides from this meeting can be viewed or you can grab the StarOffice source. My apologies...the viewable files don't look as good since the “slide effects” do not transfer well to HTML. Here is the 7 MB gzipped PDF file.

Live Demo: A Linux Digital Video Recorder (April 16, 2003)

Presented by Tim Keller

WLUG member Tim Keller spoke about his experience building a digital video recorder using a video capture card and the Myth TV software. Tim mentioned that any video capture card which is supported by Video4Linux should work with Myth TV. (Other video capture cards may also work). As a video source, Tim used his Nintendo.

Guest Speaker: Jon 'maddog' Hall (March 26, 2003)

Jon 'maddog' Hall, the executive director of Linux International, gave a talk entitled Linux in Emerging Technologies. Abstract: Linux is being used in a series of emerging economies around the world. As maddog goes on his travels, he becomes aware of more and more of these uses and why these groups are using it. Some reasons are not obvious, and some are very interesting. This meeting was attended by 40 people(!). Thanks, maddog!

WLUG LAN Party: (February 19, 2003)

WLUG held a LAN Party on this date, where several people brough their computers, laptops, and some network gear. A small network was created where people tested network diags, ran security screens such as nessus, and played multiplayer games such as FreeCIV.

Live Demo: Install Linux on an iPAQ (January 15, 2003)

Presented by Brad Noyes and Wes Allen

Brad Noyes showed us how to install the iPAQ boot loader on Wes' iPAQ. After that,
Brad used minicom and an xmodem file transfer to load Opie into the iPAQ. This all
worked successfully – no bricks here! Brad also mentioned several useful websites
which discuss Opie and other useful software for Linux on the iPAQ.

Live Demo: Scanner Use with Linux (November 20, 2002)

Presented by Scott Venier

Scott demonstrated how to make his scanner work under Linux using the SANE
scanner library. Scott also got Doug Waud's scanner (Mustek with parallel port
interface) to work. Scott was using the text based scanimage program for image
capture.

WLUG Install Fest (October 24, 2002)

WLUG held an install fest on this date. Unfortunately, attendance was sparse.

Live Demo: Videolan Client and Server (September 18, 2002)

Andy Stewart, Doug Waud, and Scott Venier built a small network at the WLUG
meeting. Andy loaded up a DVD and used the Videolan software to broadcast
the DVD out onto the network. Scott's machine picked up the broadcast, and
he was able to view the DVD without a problem. Doug's machine was unfortunately
too slow to successfully pick up the video stream.

Annual WLUG Barbecue (August 22, 2002)

The annual WLUG barbecue was held at Doug Waud's house in Shrewsbury.
After eating lots of food, Doug regaled us with his poetic wit, which can be
read here.

Live Demo: Wireless Networking (July 17, 2002)

Presented by Andy Stewart

Andy Stewart brought his laptop and wireless card to do a live demo of how to
get wireless networking with Linux. Other WLUG members brought their
wireless laptops and a small network was created.

Live Demo: PLIP - Parallel Line Internet Protocol (May 15, 2002)

Presented by Andy Stewart

You may view the online presentation at 800x600 or 1280x1024. You may also
download a PDF version of the slides if you wish.

Tim Keller Hacks the Linux Kernel (April 11, 2002)

Presented by Tim Keller

Tim discusses with WLUG his experience in adding a new signal to his copy of the Linux kernel.

Borland Kylix for Linux (February 14, 2002)

Presented by Marc Hughes

You may view the online presentation at your leisure.

Linux Distributino "Bakeoff" (January 16, 2002)

WLUG members Doug Waud and Tim Keller discussed the distribution specific features of
SuSE Linux 7.2 and Mandrake 8.1, respectively. There were no slides for this presentation.

USB Compact Flash Reader (October 11, 2001)

Presented by Doug Waud

You may view the online presentation at your leisure, or you
may download the HTML slides and associated graphics.

DVDs and Linux (August 16, 2001)

Presented by Brian J. Conway

You may view the online presentation at your leisure, or you
may download the original (gzipped) StarOffice slides.

Linux & Digital Cameras (July 18, 2001)

Presented by Marc Hughes

You may view the online presentation at your leisure, or you
may download the original (gzipped) StarOffice slides.

Logical Volume Management and Journaling Filesystems (June 14, 2001)

Presented by Tim Keller

You may view the online presentation at your leisure, or you
may download the original (gzipped) StarOffice 5.2 slides.

Practical Use of IPCHAINS (May 16, 2001)

Presented by Andy Stewart and Doug Waud

Doug presented the simpler case of getting a firewall up and running using
network address translation (NAT). Doug's original slides (gzipped StarOffice 5.2)
and his online presentation are available.

Andy then went into more details of IPCHAINS with usage examples. Andy's
original slides (gzipped StarOffice 5.2) and his online version of the presentation
are also available. Andy's firewall script, leveraged from work done by Bob Ziegler,
is available here. The original copy of Bob's script is available here.

Welcome to Linux (April 23, 2001)

Presented by Andy Stewart at a meeting
of the Delphi Developers Group of Greater Boston

You may view the online presentation at your leisure, or you
may download the original (gzipped) StarOffice 5.2 slides.

Firewalls - What They Are, What They Do,
and What Do They Protect Against (April 2001)

Presented by Robert Ziegler
Author of Linux Firewalls
Published by New Riders Publishing

You may view the online presentation at your leisure, or you
may download the original (gzipped) PowerPoint slides.

Home Networking (March 2001)

Presented by Doug Waud

Written by Doug Waud, Chuck Anderson, and Stephen Daukas
You may view the online presentation at your leisure.

Eazel and Nautilus (December 2000)

Presented by Bart Decrem and Mike Fleming from Eazel

You may view the online presentation or download the slides.

Linux Multimedia (October 2000)

Presented by Nate Godin, President of the WPI Linux Association

You may view the online presentation at your leisure.

Mission Critical Linux
High Availability Cluster Overview (September 2000)

Presented by Tim Burke, Mission Critical Linux

You may download the entire presentation or you may view the online presentation.

Related links:
MCLX Kimberlite
MCLX Convolo
Beowulf clusters
Linux-HA Project
Linux Virtual Server
TurboLinux Cluster
Red Hat High Availability Server

Software Package Management II
Presentation #1 - Packaging Software with RPM (July 2000)

Presented by Charles Anderson

You may download the entire presentation or you may view the online presentation.

Related links:
http://www.rpm.org/

Presentation #2 - Managing Software Packages with GNU Stow (July 2000)

Presented by David Lee Ludwig

You may download the entire presentation or you may view the online presentation.

Related links:
http://www.gnu.org/software/stow

Using GNU tar and RPM for Software Installations (June 2000)

Presented by Andy Stewart and Doug Waud

You may download the entire presentation or you may view the online presentation.

Related links:
http://www.rpm.org/

Applixware for Linux (March 2000)

Presented by Virginia Caple, Applix, Inc.

You may download the slides in Applixware graphics format (useful only if you own a copy

of Applixware for Linux). You may also view the slideshow online.