I just created a linked in page for the Arizona Ubuntu LoCo team: (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3014215&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr) in an attempt to make us more visible on the internet and, perhaps, make us easier to find for people needing/wanting our help. If you can think of other places where we can make our presence known, please let us know so we can make use of that info or create an entry for the team and give us the info so we can keep track of it.

ABLEconf (Arizona Business and Liberty Experience conference) was held on Saturday, October 24, 2009. Once again at the University of Advancing Technology in Phoenix, the conference held more presentations than in its inaugural. Among those displaying their services was the Ubuntu-Arizona LoCo team.

I was disappointed with the conference at first, this year. Not because my table was bracketed by Red Hat on one side and Fedora on the other. That was pure serendipity, and we had a lot of fun talking about our experiences and discussing mutual problems with various programs and new converts. No, it just seemed that there were very few people attending the conference. All morning long, we only had a handful of people approach the tables.

BOY! Was I wrong. Noon-time came, and the whole area around the vendors' tables seemed to sprout people by the handfuls and in bunches. Then it hit me. Everyone had been at the morning presentations. That's why we hadn't seen them. About 90 people filled the space as PLUG (Phoenix Linux Users Group) leader Hans started up the raffle for prizes. Sponsors had donated a number of prizes to be given out - everything from books to a USB pen (literally) drive, to a child's penguin costume, to various food items. Excitement ran high as Hans had tickets selected and numbers called off, and good natured teasing erupted from all over.

Reports I've heard lead me to believe that the presentations were well received. Certainly discussions at my table were enlightening both for the people who came to ask questions and for me. If the questions raised at my table are any indication then people are starting to think of more than just "what's in it for me." They are beginning to ask about how Linux behaves and what is available, as well as differences between distributions.

The talks with the Red Hat representatives was just as enlightening. We discussed problems we'd had with various elements of our distributions - everything from window managers and sound and graphics to problems raised by others and how we strove to solve them. It was interesting to find that we all shared similar problems and solutions. Unlike commercial software vendors, there was no competition between us, or at least only good natured competition. We were just as apt to suggest to someone that they also look into Red Hat or Fedora or Ubuntu, and see if it suited their needs. We even discussed SELinux, both between ourselves and with conference attendees. The spirit of Free Libre Open Source Software seems to have been the attitude of the whole conference. Though we each presented our own distributions and situations, we didn't restrict ourselves, and tried to make things as all-inclusive as possible.

For myself, the AZ LoCo distributed 12 Ubuntu server disks, 9 Kubuntu desktop disks, and 19 Ubuntu desktop disks. In all, I think this ABLEconf was a success, and was glad that I was able to represent Ubuntu and the Arizona LoCo. I look forward to future ones as being even better.

Welcome to the Ubuntu-Arizona Weekly Newsletter, Issue #105 for the week August 17, August 23.

* Arizona Loco Newsletter
* One Hundred Fifth Edition
* Powered by Ubuntu
* Wednesday-August 26, 2009
* Arizona Loco Team Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam

* Next meeting: Sunday August 30, 2009 9:00 PM
* Server: Freenode: IRC Channel #ubuntu-us-az

In This Issue

* Announcements: Fourth Ubuntu Developer Week! August 31st - September 4th, 2009. https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-August/0006... . Karmic Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) packages are now open for translation. https://translations.launchpad.net/unr . The Ubuntu Global Jam is an incredible opportunity for the Ubuntu community to unite together around the weekend of 2nd - 4th Oct 2009 to work together to improve Ubuntu. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam .

* Discussion on the Tucson installfest: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1244718

* PLUG announcements: PLUG west side is this Wednesday. It will be a different temporary location. http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/node/352 . Phoenix Installfest also this Saturday for those who don't go down to Tucson. http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/node/135 . ABLEconf has added a FOSS dev camp on Friday and a FOSS LAN party on Sunday. Work on those will start in a few weeks. The Call For Presentations went out last week. Early bird proposals are due in two weeks. Short version for including in emails, etc.: http://www.ABLEconf.com/node/30 . Long version when only providing a link: http://www.ABLEconf.com/2009/Phoenix/cfp . TEDx is coming to Phoenix and looking for presentation input. http://www.tedxphoenix.com/2009/08/who-do-you-want-to-see-at-tedxphoenix... . Software Freedom Day is coming up in a few weeks.http://www.SoftwareFreedomDay.org/ . Mark Shuttleworth was interviewed Monday for Gutsy Geeks. It should be broadcast two weeks from yesterday [Ed. Note: That would be 2 weeks from Saturday, August 22, 2009]. http://www.GutsyGeeks.com/

Read the whole thing at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam/Newsletters/09August26

Welcome to the Ubuntu-Arizona Weekly Newsletter, Issue #104 for the week August 10, August 16.

* Arizona Loco Newsletter
* One Hundred Fourth Edition
* Powered by Ubuntu
* Wednesday-August 19, 2009
* Arizona Loco Team Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam

* Next meeting: Sunday August 23, 2009 9:00 PM
* Server: Freenode: IRC Channel #ubuntu-us-az

In this issue

johnc4510, began with an announcement:

"Greetings team! I hope everyone is looking forward to the installfest at the U of A on Sat. August 29th. You can find the details in the body of the newsletter below. I want to encourage all team members to attend if possible. This is a great chance to get in with the Computer Sciences Dept. at the University. They are thinking of doing this as a co-hosted event on a regular basis, which would be a real coup for our team. Of course anyone from Phoenix or any other place in the state is welcome to come to...the more the merrier!!!! If you need further help on the day of the event finding the location, I'll have my cell phone on...the number is 520-400-3040. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there and catching up face to face, or meeting some of you for the first time. See you there!! johnc4510 "

* Further announcements: Karmic Alpha 4 has been released: Pre-releases of Karmic are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/karmic/alpha4 . Another manufacturer is adding Ubuntu to it's netbook lineup. ZaReason is now offering it's Terra A20 Netbook for $349 with ubuntu 9.04 pre-installed. http://www.zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16216 . I received the two free books that our loco was entitled too. One is on Ubuntu Desktop and the other is on Ubuntu Server. I'm planning on using these as give aways at the ABLEcon in Phoenix. I've also sent for our conference pack from Ubuntu.

* Discussion on the Tucson installfest: We now have a location for the install fest: Gould-Simpson Building 9th floor atrium (http://iiewww.ccit.arizona.edu/uamap/staticLarge/77.html ). That's at 1040 East 4 Street in Tucson. We'll have access to the building from 11 am to 5 pm. The flier for the install fest is now available at http://tinyurl.com/r5bx5j in .jpg format. This is a full page flier, but may need to be adjusted to center up on your printer. A further discussion was held on the issue of parking availability and how to find where we need to go. (scott-ev has since come up with a map of potential parking lots. See http://tinyurl.com/pr75md )

PLUG announcements:

* Both Phoenix Stammtische are this week: Tuesday in Tempe, Wednesday in Avondale. http://www.LuftHans.com/Free_Software_Stammtisch . Phoenix Installfest is _not_ this Saturday, it's next week. The Installfest is the _last_ Saturday of the month. MCC classes start in a week. We really need students for the shell scripting and OpenOffice.org classes. The OpenOffice.org class is online, so can be taken from anywhere that has a network connection. http://www.LuftHans.com/Classes . ABLEconf has a call for presentations going out this week. We added LinuxJournal as a media sponsor. Meetings in IRC every Sunday at 20:00, the hour before the loco meeting. http://www.ABLEconf.com/participate

Read the whole thing at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam/Newsletters/09August19

Welcome to the Ubuntu-Arizona Weekly Newsletter, Issue #103 for the week August 5, August 9.

* Arizona Loco Newsletter
* One Hundred Third Edition
* Powered by Ubuntu
* Wednesday-August 12, 2009
* Arizona Loco Team Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam

* Next meeting: Sunday August 16, 2009 9:00 PM
* Server: Freenode: IRC Channel #ubuntu-us-az

In this issue

* supergeekdave was introduced and welcomed to the team

* Announcements: Karmic Alpha 4 freeze ahead: The fourth Karmic alpha release is planned for next Thursday, August 13. Landscape will now be available in two architectures: installed on-site or hosted as software as a service (SaaS) by Canonical. Migrating to an Encrypted Home Directory: http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2009/06/migrating-to-encrypted-home-direc... . Full Circle Magazine #27 - the independent magazine for the Ubuntu Linux community: http://fullcirclemagazine.org/issue-27/ . Ubuntu-UK Podcast: Day of Reckoning - http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/ . Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue154

* Discussion on the Tucson installfest: Possibility of location at the U of A. Still trying to figure out the setup for a game server. Flier will be produced when we have a location.

* We have about 3 or so members in Flagstaff now...so he'd like to see us get an installfest going up there to down the road.

* PLUG announcements: Classes start in two weeks: http://www.LuftHans.com/Classes . Intro GNU/Linux class, CIS126DL: http://www.LuftHans.com/Classes/CIS239DL.html . OpenOffice.org and shell scripting classes: http://www.LuftHans.com/Classes/BPC110.html . Prescott Free Software Stammtisch is Tuesday night: http://www.LuftHans.com/Free_Software_Stammtisch and http://www.lugy.net/. PLUG east side meeting this Thursday: http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/node/134 . BlenderCAD in person and online meetings this Saturday: http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/node/1148 . Both Tempe and Avondale Stammtische are next week. Hope everyone in the Valley shows up for at least one or the other. ABLEconf will have a call for presentations out this week. Social networks for ABLEconf were updated this week: http://www.ABLEconf.com/networks

Read the whole thing at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam/Newsletters/09August12

Welcome to the Ubuntu-Arizona Weekly Newsletter, Issue #102 for the week July 27, August 2.

* Arizona Loco Newsletter
* One Hundredth Second Edition
* Powered by Ubuntu
* Wednesday-August 5, 2009
* Arizona Loco Team Wiki: ["ArizonaTeam"]

* Next meeting: Sunday August 9, 2009 9:00 PM
* Server: Freenode: IRC Channel #ubuntu-us-az

In this issue

New member flakeparadigm introduced himself. The Team welcomed flakeparadigm aboard.

johnc4510 , then gave some announcements:

* Canonical announced Canonical's Desktop Support Services: including three offerings: Starter, Advanced and Professional. https://shop.canonical.com/

* Free Books For Approved LoCo Teams: Official Ubuntu Book, and Official Ubuntu Server Book. johnc4510 has already sent our request for our copies and is awaiting conformation on the order.

johnc4510 then gave a report from lenards on the venue for the installfest. johnc4510 also asked tyche about the "fill-in-the-blanks" flier, which is available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/22090195@N03/3702697843/

johnc4510 then asked xHans for the PLUG announcements:

* Devel meeting is this Thursday. http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/node/559

* Hackfest security mtg is this Saturday. http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/node/659

* The official press release annoucing ABLEconf 2009 Phoenix went out last week. http://www.ABLEconf.com/press_releases/2009Jul29.html

* Our call for presentations should go out in the next couple of weeks.

* Free Software Stammtisch in Prescott is next week, bring pillows and diapers for slofgren :) [Ed Note: slofgren just became the proud father of a baby girl.]

Read the whole thing at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam/Newsletters/09August5