Introduction to HUMBUG - The Home UNIX Machine - Brisbane Users Group

Welcome!

• This talk is for Brismesh people who may not be familiar with HUMBUG and it's mission

• Please feel free to ask questions at any time during the talk

What is HUMBUG?

• HUMBUG is a computer club dedicated to the UNIX operating system and it's derivatives, like Linux and the BSD family of operating systems

• We aim to provide a means for people interested in UNIX/Linux and peripheral topics to meet up, swap tips, network and socialise

The Club

• HUMBUG is different from many other computer-related interest groups in several ways

  • People bring their machines to meetings and hook them up to the club LAN

  • Meetings are unstructured

    • No formal agenda, no collars and ties, etc

    • People just arrive, set up and start playing

  • Meetings are long

    • Room booking is for 10 hours but many meetings drag on for longer

Who goes to HUMBUG?

• Newbies

• Hobbyists

• Professional sysadmins

• Software developers

Expertise within HUMBUG

• HUMBUG is full of people knowledgeable about installing and configuring various flavours of UNIX and Linux

• Many HUMBUGgers know about fancier topics, like configuring network services and obscure devices

• Additionally, some members are knowledgable about scripting and programming in Open Source environments

• HUMBUG's interests are quite broad; chances are, if it's Open Source, there will be somebody who knows about it

I want in! Now what?

• Meetings are held every second Saturday here at the University of Queensland

• Start at 3pm and typically run to (or past) 1am

• They're almost always held in Hawken S201 (but not always!)

• Meeting announcements are posted on the HUMBUG Announce mailing list and on the HUMBUG website

Become a Member

• You can choose to become a paid Member of the club

• Memberships are $15 a year, renewable at the annual AGM in September

  • Fees are on a three-step sliding scale

• You're quite free to show up to HUMBUG meetings, but if you like to access certain club benefits, you should become a paid member

Membership benefits

• Access to our 10 megabit network like at HUMBUG meetings

• Access to the HUMBUG Library, containing 3 years worth of Linux Journals, CDs and other things

• Email aliases within the HUMBUG domain

• DNS entries under the humbug.org.au DNS zone

HUMBUG Online

• HUMBUG isn't just limited to face-to-face meetings!

• Heavy presence on the Internet

  • Mailing lists (best for seeking help)

    • "General" list

    • "Chat" list

    • "Announce" list

    • "Talks" list

  • IRC

    • #humbug on irc.uq.edu.au

  • HUMBUG website

    • http://www.humbug.org.au

Foundation

• First meeting was held in the Prentice Computer Centre tea-room in September 1995

• The early meetings ran monthy, but soon switched to fortnightly, where they're remained ever since

• HUMBUG was founded by Robert Brockway, who also served as the club's first President

Organisation

• The club is run like most clubs, with an annually-elected Executive

• Current Executive

  • President: Mark Suter

  • Vice-President: Clinton Roy

  • Treasurer: Matthew Sellers

  • Secretary: Raymond Smith

  • Librarian: David Makepeace

• The club is not incorporated and most likely will not be for the forseeable future

Questions?

More information

• http://www.humbug.org.au/