#ubuntu-ke 2013-08-26
<mojo706> I am back now let us wait
<mojo706> still no one?
<grantbow> still
<mojo706> haha grantbow today you aren't alone
<grantbow> I hope someone from ihub cares enough to log in regularly
<mojo706> why?
<grantbow> to help connect people there online
<mojo706> if people cared they would find the channel as I did
<grantbow> I can't be there physically but I enjoyed talking to the people I met there
<grantbow> and when they do they find it empty like you do
<grantbow> and like I do
<grantbow> most of the time
<grantbow> momentum is needed
<mojo706> sadly but I will be a regular as off next week
<grantbow> great
<mojo706> I'm not sure of anyone else
<mojo706> but I have many channels to watch plus notifications I've set for this channel
<grantbow> I'm located near San Francisco, California now but I invited people to Ubuntu Hours at iHub in Oct and Nov 2011
<grantbow> I was trying to jump start a LoCo team in Kenya
<mojo706> we have one currently but only on the mailing list
<mojo706> like people are afraid to meet
<grantbow> why do you think they are afraid?
<mojo706> the self serving nature of humans
<mojo706> thinking of themselves first
<grantbow> the opposite of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28philosophy%29
<mojo706> It inculcated in us (Kenyans) to serve one self. I have to check myself from time to time hehe
<grantbow> What about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_work#Harambee ?
<mojo706> the same its even quoted when speaking of Ubuntu
<grantbow> Perhaps harambee is a good term to use that will be readily understandable when building a LoCo.
<grantbow> I'd like to help local efforts as best I can
<mojo706> what are you currently doing we have an event we're planning. Free Software Day
<grantbow> nice, I helped setup the email list but haven't been reading it much. Looks like a lot of interest. https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-ke/2013-August/thread.html
<grantbow> Nobody replied to my Jan 2013 request for an update.
<grantbow> on the email list
<grantbow> Can you please update? https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KenyanTeam
<grantbow> I did a quick update
<mojo706> good
<grantbow> did you know about the Developers' Summit starting soon?
<mojo706> UDS?
<grantbow> yes http://summit.ubuntu.com
<grantbow> the virtual ones started this year are quite different from the older ones
<mojo706> virtual?
<grantbow> There used to be a location. Now everyone participates from home.
<grantbow> It just changed this year
<grantbow> The May 2013 event was canceled. They are run every 3 months now instead of every 6 months.
<mojo706> I didn't know that
<grantbow> There are many opportunities to work with Ubuntu if you have online access.
<grantbow> When I was staying in Karen in Nairobi I had troubles with power and our internet sometimes.
<grantbow> Maybe I should email the list with this info.
<mojo706> I'm tethering right now.
<mojo706> yeah email the list
<grantbow> I found the announcement, I'm writing my note to go along with it.
<mojo706> ok but you have to hurry it starts today (its 0115 hrs in Nairobi)
<grantbow> hehe, yeah
<grantbow> sent
<mojo706> good.
<grantbow> please join our email list as well to keep updated. I am one of three leaders here in California. https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-ca
<grantbow> The official list for all LoCo team leaders is https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/loco-contacts and all that are interested (leader or not) are welcome to join.
<grantbow> Please join #ubuntu-us-ca as well if you like
<mojo706> ok I also joined off-topic cause I know most guys go there
<grantbow> there are lots more lists and channels for sure
<grantbow> do you have a particular interest I might be able to point you toward?
<grantbow> #ubuntu-us-ca-offtopic was more active when there were more problems with the team
<mojo706> programming. All my heavy development including Ubuntu Touch is done on my dev machine (running 12.04.2)
<mojo706> till 14.04
<grantbow> I just started working again to get by Debian Developer status back. I love Virtualbox.
<grantbow> which I run on 12.04 as well
<mojo706> I was on 13.04 but downgraded
<grantbow> interesting, why?
<mojo706> I think I will stick with 12.04 for now. Issues with my Dell.
<mojo706> and its actually a 2012 Laptop
<mojo706> kept crashing
<grantbow> I switched to lxde recently too. I have issues with the unity privacy stuff.
<grantbow> which started in 12.10
<mojo706> but with 12.04 surprisingly it works flawlessly
<grantbow> excellent
<mojo706> I still have 13.04 on a desktop
<mojo706> with redis
<mojo706> how long were you in Kenya?
<grantbow> three months
<mojo706> what do you think of it?
<grantbow> I was working on a project and teaching a group of graduates from nairobits.com
<grantbow> I enjoyed it
<mojo706> when was this?
<grantbow> Sept, Oct and Nov 2011.
<grantbow> I held several Ubuntu Hours at iHub downtown.
<grantbow> ihub.co.ke of course
<mojo706> sadly things have changed :(. The iHub's gotten bigger so scheduling events is tougher
<mojo706> I tried to restart the LoCo
<mojo706> few interested guys
<mojo706> but I think it will catch up
<mojo706> not giving up anytime soon
<grantbow> too many .Net events, not enough open languages
<grantbow> those logos at the bottom of the page are perhaps why
<grantbow> Microsoft being a Partner and all pushes out stuff like LoCos
<mojo706> yeah
<mojo706> Microsoft have their own conditions sadly
<mojo706> what do you recommend I do?
<grantbow> about meetings or about showing that open source tech is better than proprietary tech with it's marketing budgets?
<grantbow> for the LoCo - IRC and email can keep people involved no matter where they are
<grantbow> I'm sitting in California :-)
<mojo706> thats a bit of a problem because of connectivity charges
<mojo706> most of the guys on the list don't have an active connection
<mojo706> thats probably the only reason why the LoCo is dormant
<grantbow> yeah, I remember my frustration in Kenya even with an expensive Internet connection to work on
<grantbow> email is low bandwidth
<grantbow> so is IRC and there are web based clients now.
<grantbow> Like this can be put on any web page. http://ubuntu-california.org/chat/
<grantbow> but the charges
<grantbow> I was thinking about an SMS to IRC gateway project
<grantbow> that might help
<mojo706> that would be great.
<grantbow> promoting the use of email (list) to sms might help too
<mojo706> Google charges for that after a certain number of smses
<grantbow> without team communication it's hard to grow
<grantbow> some of the telecom providers have special email addresses
<grantbow> with standard sms rates
<mojo706> I'll have to check that
<grantbow> I had trouble enabling this on safaricom when I was there
<mojo706> are the email addresses available to everyone?
<grantbow> that's right, kipokezi
<grantbow> http://www.safaricom.co.ke/personal/internet/kipokezi-safaricom-mail
<grantbow> they should be available but it depends on the carrier
<grantbow> smart carriers enable this for their customers for free to get the sms charges
<grantbow> other carriers might be better than safaricom for this
<grantbow> who do you use?
<mojo706> Safaricom
<grantbow> http://62.8.88.9/safaricom/xhtml/serviceguide.php?a=2
<grantbow> smstoemail might be better than the strange kipokezi setup
<grantbow> I am reading the google results for "safaricom email to sms"
<grantbow> I still have my safaricom sim card
<grantbow> hopefully nobody's hacked it, lol
<grantbow> We planned to use sms features for the website I was working on.
<grantbow> what IRC client do you use?
<grantbow> some irc channels are logged too
<grantbow> so you can catch up
<grantbow> likek this one
<grantbow> http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2013/08/26/%23ubuntu-ke.html
<mojo706> I use XChat
<grantbow> a google for "sms irc gateway" turned up a plugin for weechat that will give sms from irc.
<grantbow> with all our modern technology text is still hard to get from one place to another, isn't it?
<grantbow> <sigh>
<mojo706> yeah
<grantbow> there is an IRC client for android that I use sometimes
<mojo706> I'm not on Android
<grantbow> data rates still apply unless you can find wifi somewhere
<grantbow> you say you are tethering?
<mojo706> yes
<grantbow> that's usually expensive
<mojo706> sadly I have no choice for now.
<grantbow> You had trouble scheduling time at iHub? I was a green member.
<grantbow> wifi and Internet there is usually quite good
<mojo706> yes I was a green member for sometime in 2011 then I left
<mojo706> Internet isn't the problem. I'm on a strict budget for now thats why I'm tethering
<mojo706> I usually have wifi
<mojo706> at home
<grantbow> Do you know of any companies that do Ubuntu in Nairobi?
<grantbow> there's so much money wasted on proprietary solutions
<mojo706> no. I've converted a few internet cafe's but I don't know of any company
<mojo706> MS has a stronghold on East Africa and you could get in trouble if you try to reduce their market share :( and the host of middlemen
<grantbow> indeed
<grantbow> so let me ask this
<grantbow> who's most active in the LoCo right now?
<mojo706> Billy and I. We are also the ones try to organize Software Freedom Day
<mojo706> *trying
<grantbow> it's not easy at first
<grantbow> I was a Debian Devel then was working at SuSE in Oakland, California from 1999-2001.
<grantbow> I had other things going on for a few years then got back to technology in 2008 when I started organizing events and Linux User Groups in the San Francisco area.
<grantbow> in 2011 I tried to help Kenya get started
<grantbow> The emails should be in the archive.
<mojo706> The Only thing Kenyans need is a mind shift
<mojo706> to see the benefits of FOSS most of them are on Pirated software
<mojo706> even I was
<grantbow> market dynamics in California and the US are different from Kenya, of course, but many issues are shared
<mojo706> but in California people are afraid of being caught
<grantbow> it goes right back to the home brew computer club 1976...
<grantbow> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists
<grantbow> there have been cases of Federal US Marshalls doing audits of small US companies over pirated software
<mojo706> in Kenya MS does that
<mojo706> but the budget may be overwhelming
<grantbow> have you seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjaC8Pq9-V0
<grantbow> video sucks up tethered bits
<mojo706> I've put it on my watch later stream
<mojo706> :)
<mojo706> is it free to download?
<grantbow> it's on youtube
<mojo706> ok
<grantbow> It would be a good thing to download for a meeting - I showed it to my students while I was there.
<mojo706> iHub is definitely the place to go for meetings because mostly its free
#ubuntu-ke 2013-08-27
<mojo706> hello grantbow how do you reckon we have an Ubuntu Hour
<grantbow> hello mojo706
<grantbow> all it takes is showing up for an hour somewhere, advertising the fact and talking about Ubuntu
<grantbow> you don't have to be an expert either, just willing to talk and look stuff up
<mojo706> an expert I am not :( but I can talk :)
<grantbow> did you see my meeting announcements from Sep, Oct and Nov 2011 in the email archives? Please make use of them.
<grantbow> say that we talked too - they may or may not remember me there
<grantbow> I worked on a project called Dreamfish with Tiffany von Emmel, also a green member in 2011
<mojo706> ok. I was just on a UDS session not bad
