NYC LOCAL: Monday 12 June 2006 GNUbies: Antonio Perpinan of Codigo Libre on doing what you want to do with Free Software

[secretary]

<blockquote
  what="official GNUbies announcement">

 Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 17:22:05 -0700 (PDT)
 From: lo+gnubies-announcement@eskimo.com
 Subject: THIS MONDAY GNUbies meeting: Antonio Peripinan: Moving toward 
Software Freedom: Finding good ways to do what you want with Free Software.

 GNUbies meeting MONDAY June 12th, 2006, at 6:30pm
 Special Guest Speaker Antonio Peripinan
 Moving toward Software Freedom:
 Finding good ways to do what you want with Free Software.
 (see details below)

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 GNUbies will be meeting this coming Monday at 6:30 (see below for details)
 and we have a special guest speaker from Fundacion Codigo Libre Dominicano
 (http://www.codigolibre.org) for this meeting.  He will be
 speaking on "Moving toward Software Freedom: Finding good ways to do what
 you want with Free Software."

 If you want freedom from propietary program(s) you are currently dependent
 on and/or simply don't know how to find a good program for what you want
 to do using Free Software, this is the meeting for you.  Antonio will
 introduce you to programs to replace expensive proprietary software with
 Free Software.  It is amazing what is available now.  Bring all your
 questions to this meeting.

 As usual the meeting will begin at 6:30pm with the first half hour devoted
 to general questions.  And as always the meeting is intended to be
 beginner-friendly -- for GNUbies.  The main presentation will begin at 7:00,
 and afterwasrds you may join us to eat together in the neighborhood, and
 ask further questions, or just socialize.  This meeting will be one of
 your best chances to learn what Free Software is available if:
   -you are planning to move to a Free OS (e.g. GNU + Linux)
   -you've already made the move and are looking for the best Free Software
    program for some task.
   -you simply want to try some Free Software to see what it is like
    to be free from the bonds of proprietary software with:
        - the constant pressure to upgrade
        - insecurities
        - proprietary formats that could lock you out in the future,
        - having your activities tracking
        - viruses
        - etc.

 Antonio founded a Free Software Foundation (Fundacion Codigo Libre
 Dominicano) about 10 years ago in the Dominican Republic and its success
 has been wonderful.

 Codigo Libre has done extraordinary things:

 1. Codigo Libre has over one thousand members.

 2. Codigo Libre has helped migrate all sorts of public and
 private institutions to free software, including banks such as
 BHD, Popular, and Reservas (the State Bank), the biggest
 supermarket chain, el POLA, which runs entirely on Red Hat, and
 the largest Dominican mining company, Cemento Cibao, which runs
 Fedora.  They are now migrating the La Salle high schools,
 starting in the City of Santiago, where they will teach using
 Ubuntu.  The State has 9 schools spread throughout the capital
 city of Santo Domingo, where they are planning the migration of
 over 525 PCs to SuSE GNU/Linux.  Codigo Libre has taught more
 than 15,000 teachers at the Board of Education to use GNU/Linux,
 as well as college professors at the Public University.

 3. Codigo Libre does on-site paid training, free counseling and
 support for businesses, including free investigation to solve any
 problems related to integrating free software in the workplace.

 4. Codigo Libre prints and publishes their own books.  They give
 courses ranging from from beginner's courses to advanced courses
 in telephony, programming, and databases.  They have developed
 their own Certification with manuals, practices, courses, and
 certification exams, covering fundamentals, administration,
 networking, and security.

 5. Codigo Libre are today working in the Dominican Senate to
 establish a National Law for Free Software, and to have the
 Senate approve a Committee of Free Software to guide public
 institutions in migrating to free software.

 6. The UNICDA university offers a graduate level course on
 GNU/Linux technology administration.  The Dominican Republic is
 embarked on a two million dollar project to teach 25,000 kids
 GNU/Linux.  Codigo Libre is central to these efforts.

 7. Codigo Libre has two bases, a 375 square foot location in
 Santo Domingo with 4 classrooms and 40 PCs running Ubuntu,
 routers, wireless internet access, a large meeting room for 50
 people, where groups meet every day on diverse subjects:
 GNU/Linux administration, Asterisk, c/c++/java, PHP, DBMSes,
 etc.; and a 1,500 square foot location in Santiago with 4 air
 conditioned classrooms and an event hall for 200 people, 24 PCs,
 blackboards, etc.

 8. Codigo Libre offers various forms of membership.  Members get
 discounts, participate in courses, and give and get help in job
 searches.

 Antonio Perpinan has been at the head of these advances since
 1998 when Codigo Libre was founded.


 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Meeting Details~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 MONDAY June 12, 2006

 6:30    General Q&A

 7:00    Antonio Perpinan
         Moving toward Software Freedom:
         Finding good ways to do what you want with Free Software.

 Location:
         Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions
         16 Cooper Square


 Kaplan is in the Village near Astor Place as seen at:
 http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=16+Cooper+Square,+New+York,+NY

 It can be reached by subway as follows:
 Eighth Street stop on the N, R, sometimes W, lines;
 Astor Place on the 6 line; Third Avenue on the crosstown L line;
 Lower EastSide-Second Avenue-Houston Street on the F, V lines


 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 (as always the most up-to-date information can be found at our website:
 http://www.gnubies.org (or http://www.eskimo.com/~lo/linux)

 After the meeting please join us to eat, ask quesitons and socialize in
 the neighborhood.  (It helps to know in advance how many people will be
 joining us, so please let us know as soon as you know.)

 We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.
  
</blockquote>


Distributed poC TINC:

Jay Sulzberger <secretary@lxny.org>
Corresponding Secretary LXNY
LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
http://www.lxny.org