How’s Your LUG Life?

“They’ve all got penguins on their T-shirts,” one of the tourists remarks to her companion. “Maybe it’s a baseball team or something.”

“No. That doesn’t quite seem right,” her companion answers. “They don’t look like baseball players.”

Upstairs, in the Four Seas reception room, keyboards are clacking, hardware is booting up, beer is flowing, people are meeting. No, this isn’t a baseball team. This is BALUG — the Bay Area Linux User Group, and its monthly meeting is about to start.

When I started using Linux in 1996 I was the only person that I knew who was. Hell, I was the only person I knew who ran Unix on a PC. In the small town where I went to college, there was no Linux User Group; when I had a technical question, I turned to the Internet. It never even occurred to me that I might some day meet with other Linux enthusiasts.

My enlightenment occurred when I went to my first installfest, hosted by the Colorado Linux Users and Enthusiasts (CLUE) group. Installfests are a sort of community outreach program that many Linux user groups organize. They’re usually day-long events where Linux gurus volunteer their time to help anyone who needs it to install and troubleshoot Linux. Pulling out your hair trying to get Linux installed or running on your network? Find…