[TriLUG-announce] RFP 2020

[Mauricio Tavares]

The new year quickly approaches, and it is time to send a request for
presentations!  We really like to see our members going up and giving
a talk about something they are passionate about. Don't worry, we are
still going to bring in outside speakers but a club with passive
member participation is like watching TV: this club would not exist
without members like you.

Do you want to talk and have no ideas? Per the recent questionnaire,
here are some starting points:

- Programming/Scripting Languages: Why there are nobody talking about
Lua in the club? How hard is it to write a little game in language X?
What would you recommend as a learning language for a kid? An adult
who never programmed and wants to do a career change? A Wal Martian?
How to detect and deal with java running out of memory (besides
restarting tomcat server every night)? How to write code that others
can use? Which projects have you been involved with and how to
contribute to one? What makes someone a good programmer?

- Linux distros: compare and contrast. Why do you like your favourite
distro? Which distro is better for someone who is starting into linux?
Someone who is blind?

- Automating system administration: Do you use puppet/chef/ansible to
keep all your servers in shape? Have you written script to do things
because puppet/ansible/chef was too much of a 800lb gorilla on the top
of an elephant?How do you allocate servers and users? How do you keep
track fo changes in case you need to go back? Does automating really
cuts down your busy time, so you can actually do productive/fun work?
Is there a lazy way to create custom OS images?

- Monitoring, Instrumentation, and Performance: how do you know when
your machines are happy or they went on strike (No CNCF jokes,
please)? Should you run your mail server in a NFS partition? How do
you know when it is time to update your hard drive and how do you plan
ahead for that (instead of replacing when broken)? Is your old
computer still good enough for your Linux adventures?

- Cloud services: how to maximize your budget? What should someone
getting into, say, AWS should be aware of? What is the right way of
thinking running something in the cloud? Can I automate (yes, there is
always crossover) setting it up? Do you use kubernetes? In your home?
In your bathroom? Are you concerned the cloud knows what you are doing
in the bathroom? Why is Alexa breathing hard when there is nobody in
the room?

- Security: how to protect your mail/phone/laptop/database underwear
drawer? At home? When you travel? Who is the Nigerian Prince? Is
security too hard; are there things we can do without breaking the
bank or sacrificing social life? Really, why is Alexa breathing hard
when there is nobody in the room?

- Home and entertainment technology projects: what happened to mythtv?
What is the minimum hardware to make a good entertainment computer? Do
you monitor who is knocking at your door? Using Open source? Is the
Raspberry pi all it is hyped to be? Can I make an entertainment center
as a virtual system? Can you make Alexa stop as it is now moaning?

- Jobs: how to make yourself a good candidate? What are common
mistakes when working in a project? How to stay current? Any stories
from the tenches? Are certifications any good?

If you want to give a talk or know someone you can volunteer to do so,
please contact as at steering at trilug.org