[Tfug] TFUG Advocacy

[Bill M.]

The MySQL group brought up a point of some interest and that is Linux 
Advocacy. [1] Can TFUG do more? Yes, there are the Sunday night BYOB 
sessions and those are great--help new and old folks get their Linux 
systems up and running. TFUG members can't be thanked enough for their 
time and energy in putting on (and attending!) these meetings. I'm 
offering to start this thread to brainstorm ways TFUG (and its members) 
can get the word out about Linux and the group. I don't personally know 
about what type of advocacy things TFUG as a group has historically 
done: set up tables to distribute CDs and handouts about Linux? done 
presentations to schools?

I would love to see a table set up in a mall or Pima/UofA to hand out 
flyers and CDs of an easy to install distro. Of course, provide all the 
TFUG info: listserv, web site, meeting times. Collect Linux books for 
donation to local library or your favorite high school and junior 
college campus library? Make copies of OpenOffice.org for Linux and 
Windows for distribution? (I have started doing this at my high school 
library, CDO) Some TCS members put together a computer workstation and 
nice computer for a patient visitor area at TMC a couple of years (??) 
ago - they documented their efforts for the web site. Good karma builder 
AND a good PR builder!

I am personally waiting for the next rev of SuSE Professional--9.2 is 
supposed to be coming out in November. I've run various flavors of Linux 
on an older laptop (that I mangled last summer) and now have a new 
laptop. I run Smoothwall for my house firewall and Debian (from the 
CIS-225 class, thanks Harry!) on an older box always on running 
FoldingAtHome and SETI--both in console mode only! And that's just at home.

Any thoughts on this? I'm hoping TFUGers approach this with a sense of 
advocacy and not "can't be done", "we shouldn't do this because..." 
Let's find a way to spread the word about Linux--get it out there!

http://www.datasync.com/~rogerspl/Advocacy-HOWTO.html

-*-Bill