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The Precise Pangolin will be out in the wild, release parties will have taken place in Brisbane and Sydney, the Ubuntu Developer Summit will be wrapped up and it's time for another Ubuntu-AU team meeting!

It will be held on Sunday 13th May at 8pm QLD/NSW/TAS/VIC time. It will be held in #ubuntu-au on irc.freenode.net

Meeting details on loco.ubuntu.com

The next Ubuntu-AU team meeting will be held on Sunday, 11th March 2012 at 8pm AEST Brisbane time (9pm AEDST NSW/VIC/TAS). It will be held in the #ubuntu-au channel on irc.freenode.net. Connect using your favourite IRC client, or join in via freenode webchat.

More details and agenda are at loco.ubuntu.com. Feel free to add anything to the agenda.

See you there...

The Ubuntu-AU team are holding an Installfest at the Brisbane Square Library on 7th January 2012. Full details are on loco.ubuntu.com

The Ubuntu Global Jam is happening on 2nd-4th March 2012.

Jam area ideas include:
en_AU translation - scheduled for 3rd March 03:00 UTC (2pm local NSW/VIC/TAS)
Documentation
Bugs (filing and fixing)
Packaging
en_AU CD/ISO localisation
Ubuntu Materials (creating ubuntu posters/cards/pamphlets/etc)

The next Ubuntu-AU team meeting will be held on 8th January 2012 at 8pm AEST Brisbane time (9pm AEDST NSW/VIC/TAS). It will be held in the #ubuntu-au channel on irc.freenode.net. Connect using your favourite IRC client, or join in via freenode webchat.

More details and agenda are at loco.ubuntu.com. Feel free to add anything to the agenda.

See you there

From James comes some news from a recent gathering of the Ubuntu community in Brisbane.

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The second Brisbane Ubuntu community meeting was held at Gilhooley's Chermside, a typical Irish style pub. As I was the nominated meeting organiser for the event so I got there early, ordered a Kilkenny and sat back to wait for folks to arrive.

I found myself scrutinising everyone that walked past to see if I could identify if the person was an ubuntu user. Not sure what I was thinking; that by using ubuntu we are all somehow develop a power to be able to instantly recognise another member of the tribe. Anyway my powers were on the fritz that day as all I managed to do was get some odd looks from some poor people that where wandering around just trying to find the loo.

Do we ubuntu users need to come up with a secret signal so that we can pick each other out in public?

What a relief when I recognised someone from our previous meeting. Andrew was at the other side of the room near the bar scanning the area for signs of ubuntu geeks. At about the same time a couple of other ubuntu-ers arrived and the combination of swivelling heads and searching looks and my vigorous arm waving must have been enough of a signal to everyone that like minded people were in the area and we were all soon seated and making introductions. The last couple of attendees to arrive seemed to have no trouble finding us. Might have been due to the laptops and other gadgets that had appeared soon after we were all seated.

It was great to see a 50% increase in attendance for this meeting. There were six of us at the meeting! Fingers crossed we can match this growth for our next meeting.

After we completed the introductions everyone started talking about their favourite topic, tech. There were a number of different conversations at the same time, here is a list of the ones I was apart of, or caught snippets of:

- Conroy's filter plans ( what's a gathering without a bit of political chat)
- Calendar synchronisation
- How to secure home environments with tools that work with ubuntu
- Options for ditching itunes for teenagers with iPods.
- Are we brave enough to install Ubuntu on relatives computers?

Packages/products discussed:
- ispconfig
- amsn
- atunes
- xaile
- quickcad
- spyspurt
- GNOME configuration cleanup tool - name?
- randr.com
- Lenovo D10 server

Just before we pulled stumps Paul asked each of us "What is the one thing you would change about Ubuntu if you could?"

Here are the answers everyone gave:

Cary: combined DVD of all *buntu, no need to carry separate CDs for server, desktop, Kubuntu, etc.

Andrew: fix the regressions, esp. laptop power management

David: iPod/Nokia/electronic device support

James: added onto Andrew's point on laptop power management; more intuitive keychain password management when passwords change

Nigel: slick shared calendar across all desktop apps

Paul: compelling web admin interface for directory/file sharing/email/calendar setup; Active Directory & Exchange are killing us in this space

Just before everyone went their own way we agreed our goal should be to all have ubuntu tee shirts so that we at least can find each other and hopefully raise the profile of ubuntu at our next gathering.

We finished the meeting at about 5pm. Three hours goes fast when you having fun. I had a great time geeking out with a group of like minded people and am looking forward to our next gathering. Hopefully we can lure more ubuntu users and people who are curious about ubuntu and open source in general to our next meeting.

The list of attendees and where they travelled from to attend:
Andrew - Mt Gravatt
James - Mcdowall
Nigel - Hendra
Cary - Wamuran (Caboolture)
David - Springfield
Paul - Birkdale
Thanks to Paul for taking notes during the meeting.

Next meeting: Release party for Ubuntu 10.4 - Lucid at Breakfast Creek Hotel. Date TBD - End of April/Early May.

Until then, as my wife likes to says, "Shouldn't you, Ubuntu?".

James

Looking for a way to get involved with Ubuntu even more?

There are plenty of ways to offer your support to Ubuntu. Head on over to the Ubuntu Get Involved page, http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate, and have a browse through the list.

Developing Ubuntu into the great distribution that it is today is only acheived through the help and support of many people. Help out today and see what you can offer back to this community.

Whether you are a developer, a technical person or a non-technical person there are plenty of ways to offer your assistance.

The release of Ubuntu 9.10 'Karmic Koala' is just around the corner and it is time to get even more excited!

Please let us know if you are planning a release party to celebrate this. You can post details onto the mailing list or drop into the IRC channel to let us know, or just leave a comment below.

If you would like a countdown timer to adorn your website you can get the details here: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/countdown

Wow, it's a blogging module. How horrific.