[CLUE-Talk] KISS Topic Idea -- Bootloaders

[Chris K. Chew]

Thanks, Lynn, I am enjoying CLUE.

I am mostly self-taught, having been a serious computer user for four years
and a Linux user for about 2.5 years.  Most of my bootloader experience
comes from messing up installations on various computer projects.  I do
volunteer for the presentation, and feel competent enough to keep people's
interest for a 1/2 hour, but will happily bow out if someone is particularly
excited or qualified for the topic.

Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: clue-talk-admin at clue.denver.co.us
[mailto:clue-talk-admin at clue.denver.co.us]On Behalf Of Lynn Danielson
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 11:31 AM
To: clue-talk at clue.denver.co.us
Subject: Re: [CLUE-Talk] KISS Topic Idea -- Bootloaders


Chris K. Chew wrote:
>
> I haven't been around with CLUE for very long, so I don't have much of an
> idea what has been done already besides what I gleamed from the
presentation
> history on the website.  I also don't know how to go about officially
> recommending a topic idea.

Welcome to our LUG Chris.  We currently don't have an official method of
recommending a topic.  As CLUE's speaker coordinator, you're welcome to
contact me directly at any time with suggestions.  Perhaps we could start
a web page with requested topics.  But since I'm at the mercy of volunteers
to give these talks, I can make no guarantees that the subject will ever be
covered.

Suggesting a presentation topic on this list is fine by me.  With luck
someone on the list will speak up and volunteer to talk on the topic.
However, I don't always monitor the list closely, so if you don't see
me responding to the thread, please make an effort to get the information
to me.

> But I do think that bootloaders might be a good topic for a KISS session.
 > One could talk about what a bootloader does, some hard drive basics,
 > ntloader, lilo, grub (why grub is an improvement on lilo), etc.  Maybe
 > even throw in a little about XOSL.  It would be especially informative
 > to new users, which I understand to be the target audience for the KISS
 > session, given that they probably don't know any of this stuff and they
 > probably need to be able to boot between their new and legacy OS's.
 > Knowing a little more about bootloaders could help us all feel more
 > comfortable inter-operating between systems.

I think you're absolutely right.  I'll try to recruit a speaker or two or
three on these topics.  One of the biggest problem with a KISS session can
be the scope of the presentation.  The time slot for KISS talks is a half
hour.  Each of the boot loaders you mentioned, especially when followed or
interrupted with Q&A, could easily deserve that much time.

Is any body willing to talk to the group about one or more of the boot
loaders Chris mentioned?  You don't half to be an expert on the topic.
If you have some experience with a boot loader and are willing to bone
up on a few of the finer points, you are an excellent candidate.

Public speaking and presentation experience can look good on a resume.
Excellent communication skills are frequently listed as a job requirement.
So, here's an opportunity for you to hone your skills.  We're a friendly
crowd of folks who are interested in what you know.

I suspect many of us on the list could easily talk about lilo.  Knowledge
of grub, ntloader or XOSL is probably not as common.  This should make
these boot loaders even easier talk about because the audience won't be
filled with a bunch of experts.

> So what do you guys think?  Somehow I can't believe that I am the first
one
> to think of this, so forgive me if I deserve a "duh..." and a slap on the
> back of the head.

Thanks for the suggestion, Chris.  Hopefully someone on the list will
offer to oblige your request.  If not, I'll threaten to torture the
group myself with a talk about lilo. ;-)  If you think you can do a
better job (and you'd be wrong to think otherwise) you should volunteer.

Cheers,

Lynn Danielson
CLUE Speaker Coordinator
speakers at clue.denver.co.us
lynnd at techangle.com
lynnd at ihs.com

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