Presentations

The fastest way to learn something is to have someone teach us.

One of the best benefits from joining computer groups is learning new technology. Each member of TTLUG has unique skills and interests. By sharing that knowledge, we gain a perspective which we would otherwise not obtain. We do not possess enough time to learn every last detail of Linux. However, we can leverage on the experiences of others by attending presentations, thereby building our knowledge at a fraction of the time and effort it would take to learn it on our own.

Not only do the attendees benefit from the presentation, but presenters get the opportunity to present in a supportive environment. Preparing for the presentation drives the presenter to learn as much as possible about the subject. By anticipating possible questions, the presenter must consider all angles and prepare for them. Presenters gain even more from doing presentations!

Finally, remember that you don't have to be a Linux guru to make a presentation. Everyone here is a student of Linux, and we are all still learning. Just pick a topic that appeals to you, do some research and present it to the group!

Here are some suggestions for presentations. This list is meant to encourage members to find a niche that suits them, and which they feel confident enough to make a presentation:

1. Mainstream Distros: Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), SuSE, Mandriva, Mepis, Slackware, Gentoo.

We all have a favourite distro, which reflects our own personal taste and passion. Share your excitement with the world!

2. General Purpose: Similar to mainstream distros, but not as well known or used: Puppy Linux, Beatrix, Damn Small Linux

For more distros, see http://www.linux.org/dist/

3. Specialized Distros: Distros which serve a specific purpose, for example, hakin9, dyne:bolic, smoothwall

4. Distro Roundup: This presentation highlights new recent releases to distros (perhaps, for example, during the last quarter)

5. Applications/Tools: Linux Applications, which may or may not be bundled with distros, e.g. Webmin, WireShark, Amanda, Xen

6. Case Studies: Tell us a bit about why your organization use Linux. What are the advantages of using Linux? Cost-Benefit Analysis, reduced administrative costs, reduced workload, security etc.

7. Comparisons: How do two similar applications face off? Gnome vs. KDE, VLC vs. mplayer, Firefox vs. SeaMonkey, OpenOffice vs. KOffice, MySQL vs. PostgreSQL. What are the pros and cons of each? Which would you recommend, and why?

8. HOW-TOs: Research a topic covered in a HOWTO document, then present your findings.

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/

9. Projects: If you are working on an open-source project, we'd love to hear about it! Or if a project from SourceForge (http://www.sourceforge.net/ ) or FreshMeat (http://www.freshmeat.net/ ) strikes your fancy, do some research and share it with us!

10. Programming: Using Linux as a development platform, what are the tools required to code in a particular language? What challenges do programmers face on this platform? A general introduction to programming languages can also be covered e.g. Java, Perl, Python, bash, Ruby, as well as specialized editors and IDEs.

11. General purpose presentation: Computing related discussion, which pertains to Linux, or would be of interest to computer professionals.

12. Videos: More and more, Linux enthusiasts are creating videos demonstrating various aspects of Linux, from installing to maintaining and configuring distros. These can be shown at meetings, after which there can be a general discussion of the video.

n.b. Presentations need not only take the form of slide shows, but also hands-on demos.

If you're interested in doing a presentation, let us know when would be best for you. We can then make arrangements (location, projector etc.) to accommodate you.

Got an idea for a presentation? Add it to the list!