What happened to October and November then ?

Well, we did hold meetings as normal, but due to other commitments, the attendance was down on the usual numbers.

However, looking forward to 2008 (as we should), perhaps we can get things rolling again.

What's happened to the www.wrexham-lug.co.uk website I hear you cry? Well, I have no idea. It seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet. Perhaps we can get an answer at the next meeting.

Onto other matters Linux. I'm glad to see Dell UK are now following their American sales divisions lead, by making Dell PC's available with Linux installed as standard.

The distro of choice for Dell is Ubuntu. Although they are not advertising the offering at all in the public domain, it's definately on their website. It takes some finding (perhaps thats intentional), but you can now buy a Dell desktop or notebook with Linux installed as standard.

The starting page is here:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/emea/segments/gen/client/en/ubuntu_landing?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs

Well done Dell for taking the plunge! Hopefully other manufacturers will follow.


Best product of 2007

This has to be the Asus Eee PC. A truly ultra-portable pc for £230 including VAT !!

AND - it comes with Xandros distro of Linux as standard. Whilst it's true you can install a thin version of Windows XP, why would you want to. The display isn't particularly good when using XP anyway. It suits Linux a whole lot better. OK, so its only got a 4Gb or 8Gb solid state drive, but it does have integrated wifi, and an Intel processor.

The Eee PC is sold out already, and fresh stock isn't expected back in the UK till January 2008. If you have never seen an Eee PC before, you really ought to take a look. Here's the official Asus website:

http://event.asus.com/eeepc/microsites/en/index.htm

and the UK site (one of several re-sellers):

http://www.asuslaptop.co.uk/products.php?cat=53

Another UK seller is Expansys, at http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=158485


I reckon these will sell like hot cakes. Rumours are that it's already the number 1 requested item on US Christmas lists.


And now.... if you dont fancy Xandros on your Eee PC, you can install Ubuntu ! It's in the early days of it's development, but the version of Xubuntu presently being ported for the Eee PC is known as EeeXubuntu.

Read more about it here:

http://www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk/20071214221/install-ubuntu-linux-on-your-eee-pc.html

or visit the developers site at:

http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu:eeexubuntu:development

If you already own one of these ultra portables, and fancy a change from Xandros or XP,
you can download the package and read the installation notes here:

http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu:eeexubuntu:home


Hopefully next time there will be some more news from the Wrexham Linux User Group itself.


Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Remember - the next meeting is at 8pm on Tuesday 8th January 2008 at Wetherspoons, Regent Street, Wrexham.

Be there or be a polygon with four equal sides and angles.