Czajkowski

Now that I’m back living in Castleconnell I may or may not make the Ubuntu Hour in Dublin so I’m trying to set up one of them in Limerick.  But in June I made the drive up as I wanted to meet Orla O’Donohue  she was the winner in the Ubuntu Women World Play Day Competition that was run last month.

Orla came to the Ubuntu hour with her mum Jackie and dad Mike and little brother Oisin to say hello and I was able to skype Amber Graner to say hi and thanks.    It was nice to finally meet Orla and she showed me her desktop background and how she played a game on the computer.  She also mentioned how chuffed she was at winning and how she had told all of her friends.  Which is great as I’m sure the next time she or any of the other contestants mention they entered in the previous time others will be curious now and try entering.

It’s all about encouraging children to try something new and finding their comfort zone.  If that is being able to find a photo or an image online and making their desktop unique and being able to log onto the computer and search for things on the internet it’s the small encouraging steps we should try and help where we can. Start small and basic and from there they can do anything!

Thanks to all those who came along and looking forward to meeting more people again. More photos are here. If you do run an Ubuntu Hour, take photos and show us what you do and who shows up.  Remember encourage people to bring along a friend, someone who’s heard of Ubuntu but is unsure and get them to meet more people or ask questions.  Encourage kids to come along with you and see others using Ubuntu is a great way for them to see others using it and ask questions or get involved.

On the last WEDNESDAY of the month in Dublin, some of the Ubuntu Irish team members meet up for a face to face gather.  Having a bite to eat, drink and chat is a great way to mix and relax and chat about Ubuntu and see what folks are doing.

It’s very informal, anyone can turn up.  We can be found at the Trinity Capital Hotel, in the bar, spot the geeks with the laptops.  It has free wifi which is a bonus and food is reasonably priced.

This month we  met and I decided to show off the LoCo Directory as I’d been mentioning it on IRC but thought it best to walk folks through it.  This was a good idea as some folks hadn’t heard about it and this will be the way all events will be added in future.  Also by chance we have some python developers in our team who were interested in the system and want to help!  Some photos below and others are here.  The idea of the hour is just to get discussion going and introduce one another to other events happening in Ubuntu or their involvement in Ubuntu or Open Source.  We get lots of new people just popping in and saying hi, some come back others just wanted to drop by.  It’s very informal and nice to take the banter off IRC to real life when we can.

The hackerspace in Dublin TOG are running a series of seminars and workshops showcasing Open Source as part of Engineers Week.  On Monday 8th of February they have a seminar showing how to create a  circuit board using open source tools. The cost of commercial software is usually the big barrier to entry in designing your own circuit boards.Did I say this was free? All the seminars they are running for this week are free but you need to prebook your place.

On the Wednesday 10 of February, they are also showing open source hardware with the Arduino Platform. The  Arduino is
a microcontroller that has become very popular with artists and electronics tinkerers alike. The seminar is an introduction to Arduino and a great chance for people to make a start with Arduino. Again this event is free.

On the weekend, Sunday 14th of February, they are having a hands on Arduino workshop. Where people will be doing all sorts of things with Arduino’s. In the afternoon you can get you chance to build your very own Arduino. There is a materials fee for the workshop.

These events are being organised by the folks over at TOG.  All of the information is here.  As they pointed out you do need to register for a place at these workshops.

In keeping with the Merry Chrismtas spirit and all, we’re going have an outing. For those who are interested, ICE SKATING, followed by some food and drinks in a local pub so we can laugh at who fell over and nurse our bruises!

Hope to see you all there! Bring along your kids if you like it’s not going to go on late!

Ice Skating in Smithfield Sunday 13th December Meet up the the ice rink for around 16.00, to start on the ice at 16:35.
Cost:
Adult   €12
Under 12 €8

Direction on how to get there:

Smithfield Ice Rink

Luas Smithfield Stop.

Dublinbikes. Smithfield Station

Pub: We are meeting at 18.00 at Pifko for some food and beer.

The Ubuntu-ie LoCo held our Karmic Koala release party on Saturday and had a massive turn out, thanks to all those who came.  We decided to go for a sit down lunch at Jimmy Chungs an all you can eat Chinese buffet and we definitely had our fill.

After lunch we went to Karma, and this was chosen by the LoCo team  with a poll and list of places to go. It also had free wifi and opened up for us when we got there soaking wet as it lashed rain and it wasn’t due to open for an hour, so thanks Karma After a few hours of showing it off, we clearly were very thirsty, and the rest of the photos are here