Hello everybody!
I just attended my first VTLUUG meeting and it was nothing like what I expected. From their website, the Linux and Unix Users Group at Virginia Tech (VTLUUG or “the LUUG”) is dedicated to improving the computing skills of its members, supporting Linux and Unix use on campus, and serving the community through Free Software and open data. The first meeting was especially interesting because I felt a lot of the members were regulars and very experience with UNIX/LINUX based operating systems.
At this meeting, we talked about a simulation game that was developed in a UNIX environment similar to one of the primitive handheld console games. To be quite honest, I really felt that almost everyone in the audience who was participating in the discussion of the game was very experienced with UNIX and I couldn’t follow along in some of the subtopics of the discussion. The people who were speaking about the game did go into a fair amount of technical detail but there was an atmosphere of mutual respect and inquisitiveness all around.
One of the trends I seemed to notice at the meeting was that the same key people kept presenting new ideas and talking about developments in the world on UNIX/LINUX. A suggestion that I would encourage to be implemented is encouraged participation of some of the newer members of the organization, especially students who attend the meetings to get credit for the Intro to Unix class. This would encourage an increased level of learning and curiosity which I think would be very beneficial. It was a great experience from an overall perspective though.
Until next time!