Remember, Jon "maddog" Hall, and many other speakers, will be at the April 25-27th LinuxFest Northwest in Bellingham.
BELUG: Supporting Linux and open source for 21 years.
The next BELUG meeting is Tuesday, April 8th at 6:30pm.
The in-person location is at the North Bellevue Community Center:
North Bellevue Community Center 4063 148th Ave NE Bellevue, WA. 98007
Please come early to help set up the room.
The meeting will follow our usual format with introductions all around, collecting technical questions to answer later, then any presentations, and finishing with our best answers to your technical questions.
In March we discussed these topics:
AI training using copyright material at Ars Technica
I get a newsletter from Daniel Miessler, a security and AI investigator
A few comments on these general Linux distributions and apps:
- Linux Mint
- MX Linux
- GNU Cash
- nmap. Try
nmap -pto look at your local subnet - Ventoy
An AI generated transcript from the meeting is below.
We had a few more new people at this meeting, so welcome to BELUG. Thank you for visiting. We cover a wide range of topics and I hope you can attend our next meeting.
Zoom Meeting summary for BELUG (03/12/2025)
Quick recap** The meeting covered various technology topics, including recent developments in AI, copyright issues, and Linux operating systems. Participants discussed personal experiences with Linux distributions, firewall configurations, and tools for creating bootable USB drives. The group also explored advancements in computer hardware, programming languages, and upcoming tech events, while sharing resources for learning about AI and cybersecurity. Next steps** ? Steve to send out meeting notes with links to resources discussed, including Ventoy and Daniel Meisler's newsletter. ? All attendees to consider attending Linux Fest Northwest on April 25-27. ? Steve to follow up on sending money to Bob for badge renewal. ? Steve to investigate the new AMD video boards (7970 and 7990 XT) for potential AI model running. ? Kevin to provide more details on the Pine Phone experience at a future meeting. ? Emilio to explore installing Linux on old computers for students during his 3-month teaching trip to Italy. ? Steve to continue researching and sharing updates on AI developments and tools with the group.
Summary** AI Copyright Cases and Mobile OS* Steve leads a meeting with several participants, including Kevin, Randy, Sanjiv, and others. Kevin mentions that there are three more people in the room with him, including Alex, Tom Jenkins, and Mary. The group discusses recent developments in AI, particularly copyright cases involving Facebook, OpenAI, and Github. Kevin notes that Facebook may need to start their AI model from scratch due to a lost copyright case. Steve brings up the topic of copyright issues related to the Internet Archive. Kevin shares that he has a family tree dating back to 579, recorded on wood panels in a church. The group also briefly discusses alternative mobile phone operating systems, with Kevin mentioning plans to try a Pine Phone. Kevin's Linux Learning and Installation* Kevin expressed his interest in learning more about Linux and sought the group's help in his learning process. He shared his experience with installing Puppy Linux on an old computer and his plan to try out other versions. Steve recommended keeping the dual-boot computer aside for testing and suggested Tom Lambert as a good resource for learning about Puppy Linux. Kevin also shared his intention to install Linux on old computers to give to students, aiming to reduce electronic waste. Randy offered to provide further suggestions. Exploring Ventoy and Linux Distributions** Steve demonstrates how to use Ventoy, a tool for creating bootable USB drives with multiple Linux distributions. He explains that Ventoy allows users to easily test different Linux versions without full installation. Steve also discusses Distrowatch, a website that ranks Linux distributions, and shows how to access information about various distributions. The group explores reasons for the existence of numerous Linux versions, attributing it to different goals, hardware requirements, and developer interests. Kevin expresses interest in learning more about Linux, having tried a few distributions already. Steve's Firewall Setup and Testing* Steve discusses his experience with running AI models locally and his efforts to improve his home firewall setup. He explains his use of Shorewall, a firewall software, and shows various configuration files including interfaces, zones, policies, and rules. Steve demonstrates how he controls traffic flow between different network interfaces and zones, including cable, fiber, and business connections. He also shares a recent improvement that allows his internal "why you no" host to send traffic out to the internet through the cable connection. When asked about firewall testing, Steve mentions using nmap for port scanning. AI Developments and Automation Tools* Steve discusses his interest in AI and shares information about new developments in computer technology. He mentions a new AMD board with 16GB of memory in the $500-600 range that could boost AI capabilities. Steve also talks about efforts to incorporate Rust into the Linux kernel for improved memory safety, and a new version of C that aims to be memory safe. He shares information about Daniel Meisler's newsletter on AI and cybersecurity, as well as a course on building personal AI infrastructure. Tom reminds the group about the upcoming Linux Fest Northwest event in April. Gerald notes that AMD has caught up with NVIDIA in AI chip technology. The meeting concludes with a brief discussion of automation tools for business processes. AI-generated content may be inaccurate or misleading. Always check for accuracy.
Best, Zoom