Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting reminder, tomorrow Wednesday, August 20, 2025 - Securing the Gnu C Library

When: August  20, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Securing the Gnu C Library

Presenter:  Benjamin P. Kallus

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

An analysis of security of the glibc heap

Abstract

Ben discusses his work on securing the Gnu C library, and reviews how
the allocator works, talks about how its structure makes it exploitable
in some circumstances, and explores some of the hardening patches he's
submitted and how they fix some of these problems.

Ben has previously given talks at BLU on Differential Fuzzing
(2024-01-17) and Reproducible Builds and Deployments with NixOS
(2022-10-19).

Links:

https://blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2022-oct
https://blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2024-jan
https://kallus.org/
https://web.cs.dartmouth.edu/people/benjamin-p-kallus

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are found on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , Wednesday, August 20, 2025 - Securing the Gnu C Library

When: August  20, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Securing the Gnu C Library

Presenter:  Benjamin P. Kallus

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

An analysis of security of the glibc heap

Abstract

Ben discusses his work on securing the Gnu C library, and reviews how
the allocator works, talks about how its structure makes it exploitable
in some circumstances, and explores some of the hardening patches he's
submitted and how they fix some of these problems.

Ben has previously given talks at BLU on Differential Fuzzing
(2024-01-17) and Reproducible Builds and Deployments with NixOS
(2022-10-19).

Links:

https://blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2022-oct
https://blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2024-jan
https://kallus.org/
https://web.cs.dartmouth.edu/people/benjamin-p-kallus

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are found on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Re: Boston Linux and Unix Annual Summer BBQ XXIX, reminder, today, Saturday July 26, 2025 at 1:00PM EDT

Boston Linux & Unix is holding its twenty-ninth annual summer BBQ on
Saturday, July 26 beginning at 1:00 p.m. (Rain date is August 2).
Everyone is welcome. Guests are encouraged to bring along something for
the grill and the snack table. We're holding the barbecue at John and
Shelley Chambers' home at 33 Cedarwood Avenue, Waltham, MA.

Location

John and Shelley Chambers' home https://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/dir/jcsd.html
Take Route 128 to Exit 41 (formerly Exit 26) in Waltham. Get onto Route
20 East, towards Boston; then take the first right onto Cedarwood
Avenue. There's a bus stop at Cedarwood, and usually several buses
parked there. The Chambers' residence, 33 Cedarwood Avenue, is on the
right-hand side of the street. See the Location link above for more details.

Weather forecast is currently sunny in the high 80s.

--
Jerry Feldman <gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unix http://www.blu.org

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
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Re: Boston Linux and Unix Annual Summer BBQ XXIX Saturday July 26, 2025 at 1:00PM EDT

Boston Linux & Unix is holding its twenty-ninth annual summer BBQ on
Saturday, July 26 beginning at 1:00 p.m. (Rain date is August 2).
Everyone is welcome. Guests are encouraged to bring along something for
the grill and the snack table. We're holding the barbecue at John and
Shelley Chambers' home at 33 Cedarwood Avenue, Waltham, MA.

Location

John and Shelley Chambers' home https://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/dir/jcsd.html
Take Route 128 to Exit 41 (formerly Exit 26) in Waltham. Get onto Route
20 East, towards Boston; then take the first right onto Cedarwood
Avenue. There's a bus stop at Cedarwood, and usually several buses
parked there. The Chambers' residence, 33 Cedarwood Avenue, is on the
right-hand side of the street. See the Location link above for more details.

Weather forecast is currently sunny in the high 80s.

--
Jerry Feldman <gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unix http://www.blu.org

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Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , reminder, tomorrow, Wednesday, July 16, 2025 - Grist: A modern, open source spreadsheet that goes beyond the grid

When: July  16, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Grist: A modern, open source spreadsheet that goes beyond the grid

Presenter:  Brendan Kidwell

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

Brendan gives an overview of Grist, and demonstrates some practical uses
for it

Abstract

Have you ever been frustrated with your spreadsheet program, fighting
with cell formats when you just want to enter data, or not understanding
how to link two spreadsheet tables to each other? Did you use Microsoft
Access in the past, and don't want to use it now because it hasn't been
updated in decades and doesn't run on Linux? Have you tried Kexi and
only ever had it crash on you?

Do you just want to open a table from a text file, filter it, and export
the results to another text file?

In this presentation we'll take a look at Grist, a "low-code" database
product that anyone can use to organize hobby, home, or business data.
We'll cover:

What is a relational database and why would you want to use one?
Differences between spreadsheets and relational databases
How to install Grist
What kinds of projects can be done in Grist, and when would you want to
use a more advanced system instead?
Example: Import, transform, and write a CSV file
Example: Building a solution with Grist: "my home media collection"
What are my options for going beyond "no-code", to go a little beyond
Grist's built-in features?

Bio

Brendan is a web developer and computer nerd in New York City.
Originally from Boston. Has a B.S. degree in Mathematics with a minor in
Computer Science from Bridgewater State University (Massachusetts). Day
job is building IT stuff for a big government policy research company.
On the side, Brendan hacks on open source projects, writes, and tells
people they should ditch proprietary software.

If you want to check it out before the presentation: See Grist's web
site ( https://www.getgrist.com/ [getgrist.com] ), the Documentation (
https://support.getgrist.com/ [support.getgrist.com] ). Please note: the
easiest way to try out Grist with no commitment is to use their
not-well-publicized all-in-one Desktop build:
https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-desktop/releases [github.com] .

Example files and presentation notes will be made available at
https://go.glump.net/grist-blu [go.glump.net] on the evening of 16 July
2025.

Links:

https://www.getgrist.com/

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are found on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , Wednesday, July 16, 2025 - Grist: A modern, open source spreadsheet that goes beyond the grid

When: June  18, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Grist: A modern, open source spreadsheet that goes beyond the grid

Presenter:  Brendan Kidwell

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

Brendan gives an overview of Grist, and demonstrates some practical uses
for it

Abstract

Have you ever been frustrated with your spreadsheet program, fighting
with cell formats when you just want to enter data, or not understanding
how to link two spreadsheet tables to each other? Did you use Microsoft
Access in the past, and don't want to use it now because it hasn't been
updated in decades and doesn't run on Linux? Have you tried Kexi and
only ever had it crash on you?

Do you just want to open a table from a text file, filter it, and export
the results to another text file?

In this presentation we'll take a look at Grist, a "low-code" database
product that anyone can use to organize hobby, home, or business data.
We'll cover:

What is a relational database and why would you want to use one?
Differences between spreadsheets and relational databases
How to install Grist
What kinds of projects can be done in Grist, and when would you want to
use a more advanced system instead?
Example: Import, transform, and write a CSV file
Example: Building a solution with Grist: "my home media collection"
What are my options for going beyond "no-code", to go a little beyond
Grist's built-in features?

Bio

Brendan is a web developer and computer nerd in New York City.
Originally from Boston. Has a B.S. degree in Mathematics with a minor in
Computer Science from Bridgewater State University (Massachusetts). Day
job is building IT stuff for a big government policy research company.
On the side, Brendan hacks on open source projects, writes, and tells
people they should ditch proprietary software.

If you want to check it out before the presentation: See Grist's web
site ( https://www.getgrist.com/ [getgrist.com] ), the Documentation (
https://support.getgrist.com/ [support.getgrist.com] ). Please note: the
easiest way to try out Grist with no commitment is to use their
not-well-publicized all-in-one Desktop build:
https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-desktop/releases [github.com] .

Example files and presentation notes will be made available at
https://go.glump.net/grist-blu [go.glump.net] on the evening of 16 July
2025.

Links:

https://www.getgrist.com/

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are found on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting reminder, tomorrow Wednesday, June 18, 2025 - MIT Haystack and the HOPS Project

When: June  18, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: MIT Haystack and the HOPS Project

Presenter: Violet Pfeiffer

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

Haystack Observatory Postprocessing System (HOPS)

Abstract

Violet discusses her experiences as a software engineer for the HOPS project

Bio
Violet writes and supports software that is used in astronomy and
geodetic experiments. She primarily works on the HOPS project and is
involved with the Event Horizon Telescope.

Links:

https://www.haystack.mit.edu/

https://www.haystack.mit.edu/haystack-observatory-postprocessing-system-hops/

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are found on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , Wednesday, June 18, 2025 - MIT Haystack and the HOPS Project

When: June  18, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: MIT Haystack and the HOPS Project

Presenter: Violet Pfeiffer

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

Haystack Observatory Postprocessing System (HOPS)

Abstract

Violet discusses her experiences as a software engineer for the HOPS project

Bio
Violet writes and supports software that is used in astronomy and
geodetic experiments. She primarily works on the HOPS project and is
involved with the Event Horizon Telescope.

Links:

https://www.haystack.mit.edu/

https://www.haystack.mit.edu/haystack-observatory-postprocessing-system-hops/

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are found on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting reminder, tomorrow, Wednesday, May 21, 2025 - Securing the Gnu C Library

When: May  21, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Securing the Gnu C Library

Presenter:  Benjamin P. Kallus

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

An analysis of security of the glibc heap

Abstract

Ben discusses his work on securing the Gnu C library, and reviews how
the allocator works, talks about how its structure makes it exploitable
in some circumstances, and explores some of the hardening patches he's
submitted and how they fix some of these problems.

Ben has previously given talks at BLU on Differential Fuzzing
(2024-01-17) and Reproducible Builds and Deployments with NixOS
(2022-10-19).

Links:

https://blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2022-oct
https://blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2024-jan
https://kallus.org/
https://web.cs.dartmouth.edu/people/benjamin-p-kallus

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are found on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , Wednesday, May 21, 2025 - Securing the Gnu C Library

When: May  21, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Securing the Gnu C Library

Presenter:  Benjamin P. Kallus

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

An analysis of security of the glibc heap

Abstract

Ben discusses his work on securing the Gnu C library, and reviews how
the allocator works, talks about how its structure makes it exploitable
in some circumstances, and explores some of the hardening patches he's
submitted and how they fix some of these problems.

Ben has previously given talks at BLU on Differential Fuzzing
(2024-01-17) and Reproducible Builds and Deployments with NixOS
(2022-10-19).

Links:

https://blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2022-oct
https://blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2024-jan
https://kallus.org/
https://web.cs.dartmouth.edu/people/benjamin-p-kallus

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are found on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux and Unix InstallFest LXXII Reminder, tomorrow, Saturday May 3, 2025 Umass Boston

When: Saturday May 3, 2025, from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm EDT
Where: UMASS Boston. CS CCS Conference Room 3rd floor McCormack Building
a short walk from The Campus Center.

Park in the Campus Center garage or take the UMASS shuttle bus from the
JFK/UMass station on the MBTA Red Line. This bus goes to The Campus
Center. Please see https://blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2025-ifest72 for
more detailed directions and maps.

What you need to bring: Your computer, monitor, power strips and your
Linux distributions. We do have copies of some distributions.
In general we have expertise with most distros, but if you need special
expertise, please email the BLU discussion list in advance. Today, most
distros are using Live images that you can try out and then install.
This can be copied to DVDs or USB sticks.There are a number of USB
creators, such as UNetbootin (https://unetbootin.github.io/). Both
Fedora and Ubuntu have a USB creator built in.

COST: It's free! However, we DO have expenses, and contributions are
welcome. Please consider contributing $25 per machine. UMass Boston
students and faculty no cost.

Our volunteers will help you to install Linux on your own system. While
Linux runs on most systems, some systems do have configurations and
hardware that may not be supported. Please consult the following web
pages for hardware compatibility. While we prefer you to bring your own
distros, our volunteers will normally have

         Linux Howto Pages: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/howtos.html
         Linux Frequently Asked Questions: http://tldp.org/docs.html#faq
          Additionally, there are forums and listservs for most distros.

Generally our volunteers have sets of the latest Fedora, Ubuntu, and
Mint distributions on Live USB.
         * Fedora - https://getfedora.org/ (Fedora 42)
         * Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com ( 24.04LTS or 25.04)
         * Linux Mint - https://linuxmint.com/ (22.1)
         * other distros can easily be downloaded at the Installfest

We generally have them on local drives and can burn USBs.
Since there are many variants of these distros, we advise you to
bring an empty USB stick with sufficient memory to hold one of the
distros. Live images require about 1.5GB. I usually have some USBs
prepared or can easily burn a USB.

We usually have both a Wired and Wireless network available.

Additionally, you can run Linux on your Windows PC through a virtual
machine manager, such as Virtualbox. You can install this in your
Windows machine and run Linux as a guest OS, or install it in your Linux
machine and run Windows as a guest. Linux has a built-in virtual memory
system, but you can also download and install VirtualBox 6.0
(http://www.virtualbox.org) which is free and is available for Linux,
and Windows

Please refer to the BLU website (http://www.blu.org) for further
information and directions.

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux and Unix InstallFest LXXII Saturday May 3, 2025 Umass Boston

When: Saturday May 3, 2025, from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm EDT
Where: UMASS Boston. CS CCS Conference Room 3rd floor McCormack Building
a short walk from The Campus Center.

Park in the Campus Center garage or take the UMASS shuttle bus from the
JFK/UMass station on the MBTA Red Line. This bus goes to The Campus
Center. Please see https://blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2025-ifest72 for
more detailed directions and maps.

What you need to bring: Your computer, monitor, power strips and your
Linux distributions. We do have copies of some distributions.
In general we have expertise with most distros, but if you need special
expertise, please email the BLU discussion list in advance. Today, most
distros are using Live images that you can try out and then install.
This can be copied to DVDs or USB sticks.There are a number of USB
creators, such as UNetbootin (https://unetbootin.github.io/). Both
Fedora and Ubuntu have a USB creator built in.

COST: It's free! However, we DO have expenses, and contributions are
welcome. Please consider contributing $25 per machine. UMass Boston
students and faculty no cost.

Our volunteers will help you to install Linux on your own system. While
Linux runs on most systems, some systems do have configurations and
hardware that may not be supported. Please consult the following web
pages for hardware compatibility. While we prefer you to bring your own
distros, our volunteers will normally have

         Linux Howto Pages: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/howtos.html
         Linux Frequently Asked Questions: http://tldp.org/docs.html#faq
          Additionally, there are forums and listservs for most distros.

Generally our volunteers have sets of the latest Fedora, Ubuntu, and
Mint distributions on Live USB.
         * Fedora - https://getfedora.org/ (Fedora 42)
         * Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com ( 24.04LTS or 25.04)
         * Linux Mint - https://linuxmint.com/ (22.1)
         * other distros can easily be downloaded at the Installfest

We generally have them on local drives and can burn USBs.
Since there are many variants of these distros, we advise you to
bring an empty USB stick with sufficient memory to hold one of the
distros. Live images require about 1.5GB. I usually have some USBs
prepared or can easily burn a USB.

We usually have both a Wired and Wireless network available.

Additionally, you can run Linux on your Windows PC through a virtual
machine manager, such as Virtualbox. You can install this in your
Windows machine and run Linux as a guest OS, or install it in your Linux
machine and run Windows as a guest. Linux has a built-in virtual memory
system, but you can also download and install VirtualBox 6.0
(http://www.virtualbox.org) which is free and is available for Linux,
and Windows

Please refer to the BLU website (http://www.blu.org) for further
information and directions.

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux and Unix InstallFest LXXII Saturday May 3, 2025 Umass Boston

We are finally able to resurect our Linux installfests.

When: Saturday May 3, 2025, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: UMASS Boston. Room and Building to be announced.

http://mitiq.mit.edu/mitiq/directions_%20parkinge51.htm

What you need to bring: Your computer, monitor, power strips and your
Linux distributions. We do have copies of some distributions.
In general we have expertise with most distros, but if you need special
expertise, please email the BLU discussion list in advance. Today, most
distros are using Live images that you can try out and then install.
This can be copied to DVDs or USB sticks.There are a number of USB
creators, such as UNetbootin (https://unetbootin.github.io/). Both
Fedora and Ubuntu have a USB creator built in.

COST: It's free! However, we DO have expenses, and contributions are
welcome. Please consider contributing $25 per machine. UMass Boston
students and faculty no cost.

Our volunteers will help you to install Linux on your own system. While
Linux runs on most systems, some systems do have configurations and
hardware that may not be supported. Please consult the following web
pages for hardware compatibility. While we prefer you to bring your own
distros, our volunteers will normally have

        Linux Howto Pages: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/howtos.html
        Linux Frequently Asked Questions: http://tldp.org/docs.html#faq
         Additionally, there are forums and listservs for most distros.

Generally our volunteers have sets of the latest Fedora, Ubuntu, and
Mint distributions on Live USB.
        * Fedora - https://getfedora.org/ (Fedora 42)
        * Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com ( 24.04LTS or 25.04)
        * Linux Mint - https://linuxmint.com/ (22.1)
        * other distros can easily be downloaded at the Installfest

We generally have them on local drives and can burn USBs.
Since there are many variants of these distros, we advise you to
bring an empty USB stick with sufficient memory to hold one of the
distros. Live images require about 1.5GB. I usually have some USBs
prepared or can easily burn a USB.

We usually have both a Wired and Wireless network available.

Additionally, you can run Linux on your Windows PC through a virtual
machine manager, such as Virtualbox. You can install this in your
Windows machine and run Linux as a guest OS, or install it in your Linux
machine and run Windows as a guest. Linux has a built-in virtual memory
system, but you can also download and install VirtualBox 6.0
(http://www.virtualbox.org) which is free and is available for Linux,
and Windows

Please refer to the BLU website (http://www.blu.org) for further
information and directions.

-- Jerry Feldman <gaf.linux@gmail.com> Boston Linux and Unix
http://www.blu.org PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7 PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5
53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7
_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting, reminder,, tomorrow Wednesday, April 16, 2025 - Fotocx Updates: 2025

When: April 16, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Fotocx Updates: 2025

Speakers: Dick Miller, Jill Miller, Mike Cornelison

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

An overview of the latest release of Fotocx

Abstract

Dick and Jill Miller of NatickFOSS, and Michael Cornelison, developer of
Fotocx, showcase the latest release of Fotocx

Attachments:

https://kornelix.net/
https://kornelix.net/fotocx/fotocx.html
https://kornelix.net/fotocx/fotocx.html


For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

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Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , Wednesday, April 16, 2025 - Fotocx Updates: 2025

When: April 16, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Fotocx Updates: 2025

Speakers: Dick Miller, Jill Miller, Mike Cornelison

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

An overview of the latest release of Fotocx

Abstract

Dick and Jill Miller of NatickFOSS, and Michael Cornelison, developer of
Fotocx, showcase the latest release of Fotocx

Attachments:

https://kornelix.net/
https://kornelix.net/fotocx/fotocx.html
https://kornelix.net/fotocx/fotocx.html


For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7

_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , reminder, tomorrow,Wednesday, March 19, 2025 - DeepSeek Demystified

When: March 19, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: DeepSeek Demystified

Speakers: Brian DeLacey, Kurt Keville

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

We will not be live streaming as the YouTube the live streams have been
failing partway through our meetings. We will be recording the meeting
using Jitsi's recording feature.

Summary:

A first look an China's new DeepSeek A.I. engine

Abstract:

This first session will look at what technologies and innovations
that make up DeepSeek.

We'll demonstrate DeepSeek Coder to see if it can help us write and
fine-tune our code.

And, finally, for this introduction to DeepSeek, we'll try to answer the
enigmatic question: What does BERT have to do with this anyway?

Attachments:

https://www.tecmint.com/run-deepseek-locally-on-linux/
https://www.wired.com/story/deepseeks-ai-jailbreak-prompt-injection-attacks/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avjccjKIrQ0


For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7
_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , Wednesday, March 19, 2025 - DeepSeek Demystified

When: March 19, 2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: DeepSeek Demystified

Speakers: Brian DeLacey, Kurt Keville

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

We will not be live streaming as the YouTube the live streams have been
failing partway through our meetings. We will be recording the meeting
using Jitsi's recording feature.

Summary:

A first look an China's new DeepSeek A.I. engine

Abstract:

This first session will look at what technologies and innovations
that make up DeepSeek.

We'll demonstrate DeepSeek Coder to see if it can help us write and
fine-tune our code.

And, finally, for this introduction to DeepSeek, we'll try to answer the
enigmatic question: What does BERT have to do with this anyway?

Attachments:

https://www.tecmint.com/run-deepseek-locally-on-linux/
https://www.wired.com/story/deepseeks-ai-jailbreak-prompt-injection-attacks/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avjccjKIrQ0


For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7
_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting reminder, tomorrow, Wednesday, February 19, 2025 - Inkscape: A Free and Open Source Vector Graphics Editor

When: February 19, 2025 7:00PM EST (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Inkscape: A Free and Open Source Vector Graphics Editor

Speakers: Martin Owens

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

We will not be live streaming as the YouTube the live streams have been
failing partway through our meetings. We will be recording the meeting
using Jitsi's recording feature.

Summary:

n overview of Inkscape and vector image editing

Abstract:

Martin discusses Inkscape's capabilites, and shows how he used it in a
project to lay out a floor plan.


Attachments:

https://inkscape.org/


For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7
_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , Wednesday, February 19, 2025 - Inkscape: A Free and Open Source Vector Graphics Editor

When: February 19, 2025 7:00PM EST (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: Inkscape: A Free and Open Source Vector Graphics Editor

Speakers: Martin Owens

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

We will not be live streaming as the YouTube the live streams have been
failing partway through our meetings. We will be recording the meeting
using Jitsi's recording feature.

Summary:

An overview of Inkscape

Abstract:

Details will be provided shortly


Attachments:

https://inkscape.org/


For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7
_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

The BLU server is moving.

We will be moving the server tomorrow, 2/4/2025 to a new data center. We
think we should be up and running by tomorrow evening, but things don't all
ways follow plans.


--
Jerry Feldman <gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unix
http://www.blu.org/
_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , Reminder, tomorrow, Wednesday, January 15, 2025 - NixOS, Part 2: The Nix Operating System (NixOS)

When: January 15 2025 7:00PM EST (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic:  NixOS, Part 2: The Nix Operating System (NixOS)

Speakers: Zachary Lieb

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

We will not be live streaming as the YouTube the live streams have been
failing partway through our meetings. We will be recording the meeting
using Jitsi's recording feature.

Summary:

A continuation from last month's meeting on the Nyx software
deployment ecosystem

Abstract:

Zachary continues his talk on Nix by focusing on the Nix operating syste.

Attachments:

https://www.xda-developers.com/thread/nixos-is-an-amazing-distro/
https://zachliebl.com

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7
_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting , Wednesday, January 15, 2025 - NixOS, Part 2: The Nix Operating System (NixOS)

When: January 15,  2025 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: NixOS, Part 2,:The Nix Operating System (NixOS)

Speakers: Zachary Lieb

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

We will not be live streaming as the YouTube the live streams have been
failing partway through our meetings. We will be recording the meeting
using Jitsi's recording feature.

Summary:

A continuation from last month's meeting on the Nyx software deployment
ecosystem

Abstract:

Zachary will follow up his talkfrom December with an overview of theNix
operating system

Attachments:

NixOS: https://www.xda-developers.com/thread/nixos-is-an-amazing-distro/

Zachary Lieb: https://zachliebl.com/

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

--
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux@gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1 3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7
_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce@lists.blu.org
https://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce