June General Meeting

YYCIX - an Internet Exchange for Calgary

Speaker: Theo de Raadt, Network Manager, YYCIX

Calgary now has an Internet exchange. Presently, Calgary has some of the most expensive and limited Internet services in the world. Will YYCIX be a disruptive paradigm changer or a footnote?

YYCIX has similarities to but is not SIX, the Seattle Internet Exchange, or TorIX, the Toronto Internet Exchange.

These are the corporate objectives of YYCIX Internet Exchange Community Ltd.: Benefiting Alberta's Internet community; Providing, on a not-for-profit basis, an electronic infrastructure to allow for the exchange of Alberta-based Internet traffic among Alberta-based ISPs (Internet Service Providers), NSPs (Network Service Providers), CSPs (Content Service Providers) and other Internet users; Providing Alberta residents with direct access to local Internet content; and increasing the transfer speed of Internet communications between Alberta companies, friends, neighbors and family members.

Come join us for an evening discussion with Theo de Raadt and the principals and directors of YYCIX as we explore the progress, the challenges and the potential implications for our community of this exciting new initiative.

Admission is free. Priority will be given to pre-registered guests and CUUG members. If you are planning to attend, please send a note to office at cuug.ab.ca so that we can make appropriate arrangements.

W.R. Castell Central Library

5:30 PM, Monday, June 17, 2013

N.B. This is the third Monday of the month, to accommodate the schedules of the YYCIX personnel.

Snacks at 17:30. CUUG Annual General Meeting begins at 18:00. Presentation begins immediately after AGM.

Free admission for the general public.

Door prize.

Annual General Meeting and Elections

June 17, 2013, is the Calgary UNIX Users' Group's Annual General Meeting to review financials and elect a 2013-2014 Board of Directors. CUUG bylaws require that we have at minimum a 5^th director. John Clarke is ineligible after 5 consecutive years. John does an excellent job of maintaining our financials.

With a small board, it is better for quorum reasons to have an odd number of directors. So 1 or 3 additional candidates is ideal.

Candidates for the 2013-2014 Board of Directors so far include the following:

• Christopher Aziz
• Alan Dewar
• Mark Hewitt
• Dick Miller

W.R. Castell Central Library

5:30 PM, Monday, June 17, 2013

N.B. This is the third Monday of the month.

Snacks at 17:30. Meeting begins at 18:00.

Membership Renewals Due

It is annual renewal time for CUUG memberships. Membership fees remain at $50.00 (no GST), and cheques can be made payable to Calgary UNIX Users' Group. Our mailing address is as follows:

Calgary Unix Users' Group
Box 878, Station M
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2P 2J6

Invoices have been sent out by e-mail. If you have not received yours, please contact office at CUUG.

May General Meeting

Developing Games for HTML5

Speaker: Jim Parker, Lead Designer, Mink Hollow Media

With newer standards, the web browser has become a more and more powerful platform for application deployment. Computer games, specifically, can take advantage of features available in HTML5. Jim Parker discusses his hands-on experience in this area.

Jim Parker has degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science and Informatics (Ph.D., Universiteit Ghent with greatest distinction, 1998). He has been a Full Professor of Computer Science, a professor of Drama, and a professor of Art in a 30 year career in academia, and has published over 160 technical articles and five books, including the most recent one The Guide to Simulations and Games.

Dr. Parker has taught game design and has designed a score of games in the Serious Game category, and now works at MinkHollow Media as their lead designer.

W.R. Castell Central Library

5:30 PM, Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Snacks at 17:30. Presentation begins at 18:00.

Free admission for the general public.

Door prize.

February General Meeting

Oracle Enterprise Linux

Speaker: Rolawe Bakare, Systems Sales Consultant, Oracle

Since its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Oracle has been the provider of the Solaris operating system. However, Oracle also offers another operating system: Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL). Rolawe will discuss the key features of OEL, and how it differs from other Linux distributions and from Solaris.

Also up for discussion are some of the latest announcements from Oracle surrounding hardware, including a new SPARC line, and Oracle Virtual Networking.

Rolawe Bakare is an Oracle Systems Sales Consultant. He was educated in Computer Science and Statistics at the University of Saskatchewan, and has seven years of IT experience.

Following the meeting, Rolawe provided these related links:

• Free and Open Source Software from Oracle
• Oracle Linux
• Oracle Linux (ORCL_Linux) on Twitter
• Oracle Software Delivery Cloud - Oracle Linux and Oracle VM
• Oracle Public Yum Server
• Linux 2 6 32 - Linux Kernel Newbies

W.R. Castell Central Library

5:30 PM, Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Snacks at 17:30. Presentation begins at 18:00.

Free admission for the general public.

Door prize.

December General Meeting

CUUG Holiday Season Social Evening

We are rapidly approaching the end of the 13^th b'ak'tun (December 21, 2012). According to some, this will be accompanied by the end of the world. UNIX aficionados, of course, know better: the end of the world isn't until January 19, 2038.

In celebration of the end of another Gregorian calendar year, and all the associated seasonal festivities, please join your CUUG friends on Tuesday, December 11, for an informal dinner and an opportunity to discuss all things UNIX. As we did last year, we'll get together at the Regency Palace restaurant, where we'll have a private room in which to enjoy the buffet.

If you'd like to join us, please send a quick note to office at cuug.ab.ca so that we can get an approximate count of how many people to expect. We hope you can make it!

Regency Palace Restaurant

5:45 PM, Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Everyone is welcome to come!

October General Meeting

3D Printing

Speaker: Shawn Grover, open2space, Make3D

3D Printing is sweeping the world and changing traditional manufacturing techniques. Recent advances have made low-cost printers available to early adopters and enthusiasts. Open Source is driving this trend and changes are happening fast! Come see a 3D Printer in action and how an idea can be transformed into a physical object, starting with nothing. Bring your ideas and questions!

Shawn Grover is a local business owner specializing in web based application development, and more recently 3D Printing. He is a past member and president of the Calgary Linux Users Group, and a current member of Protospace (Calgary's Hackerspace).

Knox United Church

5:30 PM, Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Snacks at 17:30. Presentation begins at 18:00.

Free admission for the general public.

Door prize.

September General Meeting

Roundtable Discussion: Privacy on the Internet

Moderator: Mark Hewitt, Lead System Administrator, Calgary UNIX Users' Group

The Internet and its World Wide Web are amazing developments in human communication. This communication change has also directly impacted a vital part of our lives: the perception and reality of our privacy.

Corporations and governments now know more and more about you. They want to know even more. And they're buying and trading it and making decisions with it that affect you. Current and new databases are growing and they are being sold or stolen.

Advertising is now the primary way for websites to pay their bills. Advertisers want to know who's watching and tailor their message not just to the audience but to each person. They want to know everything about you and they're willing to pay for it.

Governments and owners of copyright and patents are joining in with their own monitoring as well as introducing and supporting Draconian laws (including the Canadian Government's own Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act) that demand records be kept of all your Internet searches and accesses.

From Google succeeding knowing you (including reading your Gmail) and selling that information. To Facebook shrugging at it and irritating their users with policy changes and new hidden privacy switches you have to find to turn on. And employers demanding your Facebook password.

From Steve Rambam saying "Privacy is dead--get over it." and Google's Eric Schmidt excusing Google's prying with "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." To Bruce Schneier saying "Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power."

From Microsoft enabling the Do-Not-Track flag in Internet Explorer 10 to Apache ignoring it from IE 10.

Privacy in this Brave New Electronic World is in the news facing great challenges and changes.

Join the Calgary UNIX Users' Group at our September monthly meeting and join the discussion.

Be seeing you.

Mark Hewitt has passionately worked with computers and networks for longer than he cares to admit. He is a strong proponent of open and free (as in speech) computing and runs Debian GNU/Linux (but keeps a Windows machine around for "graphics research"). He also hosts and administers CUUG's server.

Knox United Church

5:30 PM, Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Snacks at 17:30. Presentation begins at 18:00.

Free admission for the general public.

Door prize.

2012 Board of Directors

At the June 2012 Annual General Meeting, the following people were elected to the Board of Directors for 2012/2013:

• Christopher Aziz (President)
• Dick Miller (Secretary-Treasurer)
• John Clarke
• Alan Dewar
• Mark Hewitt