[plug] plug Digest, Vol 260, Issue 5
plug.panda926 at passmail.net
plug.panda926 at passmail.net
Wed Jun 17 21:58:10 AWST 2026
Apologies, this is my first post I have no idea if this is going to work.
In response to the suggestion below,
I suggest Repair Cafes.
There are several around Perth. Endof10 is already known to some of them.
Computer workshops and tutorials at Libraries another good one.
How about having a package that we can print out and promote at our workplaces?
Posters, brochure, How To instructions, slideshow etc.
I really want to share the FOSS and anti-big tech philosophy with more and more people.
I did one professional development day at my previous workplace (a school) and it was very well received by most.
https://contrachrome.com/ was one of my entry points into this rabbit hole.
End of Windows XP support was my entry point to Ubuntu, then, Linux Mint, and now Fedora.
"Rather than hosting at events which people who are already interested in and knowledgeable about Linux, I would suggest that we consider hosting Linux information sessions/InstallFests at events which the general public would be attending. One specific idea which I have suggested at recent committee meetings would be to hire stalls at some of the local market events which take place around Perth."
Proton Mail https://pr.tn/ref/SQRE6YZ9
GrapheneOS
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On Wednesday, 06/17/26 at 12:00 plug-request at plug.org.au wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Fw: #introducing and Installfests (Steve Schrader)
2. Re: #introducing and Installfests (Onno Benschop)
3. Re: #introducing and Installfests (Harry McNally)
4. Re: #introducing and Installfests (Harry McNally)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:56:03 +0000
From: Steve Schrader <steve36lives at hotmail.com>
To: "plug at plug.org.au" <plug at plug.org.au>
Subject: [plug] Fw: #introducing and Installfests
Message-ID:
<MEUP300MB0331FDC2E390FDA84DC5365CDEE52 at MEUP300MB0331.AUSP300.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
________________________________
From: committee <committee-bounces at plug.org.au> on behalf of Steve Schrader via committee <committee at plug.org.au>
Sent: Monday, 15 June 2026 12:43 PM
To: Harry McNally <harrymc at decisions-and-designs.com.au>; PLUG Committee <committee at plug.org.au>
Subject: Re: [plug-ctte] [plug] #introducing and Installfests
Interesting letter and history lesson, Harry. You detailed many points that were (i) before my time with PLUG, and (ii) pertinent to issues which Wyatt has raised in his recent talks at Cannington library. I must admit to being unaware of the political machinations which had been taking place.
Rather than hosting at events which people who are already interested in and knowledgeable about Linux, I would suggest that we consider hosting Linux information sessions/InstallFests at events which the general public would be attending. One specific idea which I have suggested at recent committee meetings would be to hire stalls at some of the local market events which take place around Perth.
These events could be used to demonstrate how everyday computing could be readily achieved on systems without tracking every action being performed. We could promote the InstallFests at these events, as well as PLUG membership.
Steve S.
________________________________
From: plug <plug-bounces at plug.org.au> on behalf of Harry McNally via plug <plug at plug.org.au>
Sent: Monday, 15 June 2026 12:16 PM
To: plug at plug.org.au <plug at plug.org.au>
Subject: [plug] #introducing and Installfests
Late last year, Onno and I discussed ways to find out what subscribers might be seeking from membership of PLUG or subscribing to the PLUG mailing list. Onno had helped another NFP group by hosting a meeting that, after four hours of ideas, arrived at a direction that suited the whole group. We wondered if a special event like that might increase IRL participation at events and encourage paid membership to support those events.
To add to that Onno posted about his own experience with Linux and, while he got a few people figuring out when they started participating in PLUG, there wasn't a lot of feedback to match Onno's thoughtful consideration of how Linux has been part of his professional and technical life.
It takes time to articulate and, I wondered, what am I going to say other than that I use it every day (pretty much exclusively other than when I use Win10 as a software wrapper around Altium Designer) ? So, apologies Onno, this post is a long time coming.
With the next Installfest less that a week away, I thought I'd explain why I asked the committee if I could run a series of Installfests this year. The journey begins in the last millennium.
I'd been using Linux for a few years by 1999 although I think the first system in the house was a firewall installed for us by Harry Protoolis around 1994.
In the late 90's the Coalition Federal government needed support from a Tasmanian senator for <some unrelated bill> and he predicated his vote on the introduction of a net censorship bill. Wikipedia is light on the machinations but EFA has some archive material:
https://efa.org.au/media-releases-archive/
There was a lot of campaigning by the EFA and the first (of not very many) political rally I attended was the Anti-Censorship Protest in Perth May 28, 1999.
See: https://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/may28/perth/index.html
My reason for taking part was a technical one; that the methods they were proposing would not work and it was easy to take that position because CSIRO were an authoritative source that were informing parliament in the same way.
The political reaction was savage. For anyone that remembers, the tactic taken was that anyone who opposed the Online Services Bill was a bomb maker, drug dealer, or child molester.
I wondered, outside of the astonishment and outrage, if more people were better informed about what the Internet offered, then the debate might be more rational.
That started what turned out to be 7 years of participation in Computer Angels in various roles and I am forever grateful for the participation of so many other technical supporters and non-technical volunteers for what was a free training and awareness organisation that supported that with a free re-furbished Linux computer.
But while there was a lot of support from all sides with time and knowledge, the thing we constantly struggled with was financial; a premises needed rent and disposal costs for "working glass monitors" that were found to have weeds growing through them meant we were constantly looking for operating funds.
That really wore us out and stopped us in 2007. Associations law required that we had to wind up in the black and boxes and boxes of IEC power cables became a skip full which went away for chipping to copper scrap. The copper price was at a peak and we got $2400 (I think) for the scrap which cleared our debts and, as required to wind up, we passed the remainder to "a like-minded association" which naturally was PLUG.
I've also learned that a past Benjamin (we have a few) donated all fees from one of his consulting contracts on to PLUG so these intermittent cash injections have helped PLUG continue to host events; albeit frugally.
Skip to late 2025 and this year and with Online Services (Age Restrictions) Bill and AI and I wondered if Installfests could encourage a new group of users to install Linux or become proficient with independent content using Hugo or a Mastodon server.
James has demonstrated the minimal cost required to host PLUG on Digital Lane and my own interest is still RaspberryPi hosting on a home network. Could PLUG share Ansible scripts or configured RPi images to download to offer alternatives to social media algorithms ?
So far public attendance at the Installfests has been mute but I have extended the promotion this time to see if we can reach people to simply install on a retired machine and give it a try. I see it as a Computer Angels flashmob; all the fun but at much lower cost.
So the event this Saturday is on the usual page. https://plug.org.au/installfest
Committee has added backup/restore as a theme and I have extended the RPi theme if anyone wants to bring ideas for home hosting servers or all other things Pi. If you let the list know if you are coming for an hour and what time then it is an opportunity to get like-minded project ideas at certain times.
If we get more public attendees then more hands will be helpful. If we don't, then we can hear your ideas and projects that you can bring. It would be great to see you and them.
All the best
Harry
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committee mailing list
committee at plug.org.au
https://lists.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/committee
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:11:32 +0800
From: Onno Benschop <onno at itmaze.com.au>
To: PLUG mailing list <plug at plug.org.au>
Subject: Re: [plug] #introducing and Installfests
Message-ID:
<CACybYRVfXi8f0f33CP3-M5TvrwJ7FkwpdDijFKHiUmY7yn-3PQ at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
While the notion of promoting Linux is one way of getting PLUG noticed, I
think that there are more fundamental questions to consider.
What is the purpose of PLUG, why does it exist, what does it mean to be a
member of PLUG?
Getting members or promoting the club at public events is all fun and games
in theory, until you get into the logistics of the process when you
discover that it's the same three people doing all the work.
O
--
finger painting on glass is an inexact art - apologies for any errors in
this scra^Hibble
()/)/)() ..ASCII for Onno..
On Tue, 16 June 2026, 18:56 Steve Schrader via plug, <plug at plug.org.au>
wrote:
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* committee <committee-bounces at plug.org.au> on behalf of Steve
> Schrader via committee <committee at plug.org.au>
> *Sent:* Monday, 15 June 2026 12:43 PM
> *To:* Harry McNally <harrymc at decisions-and-designs.com.au>; PLUG
> Committee <committee at plug.org.au>
> *Subject:* Re: [plug-ctte] [plug] #introducing and Installfests
>
> Interesting letter and history lesson, Harry. You detailed many points
> that were (i) before my time with PLUG, and (ii) pertinent to issues which
> Wyatt has raised in his recent talks at Cannington library. I must admit to
> being unaware of the political machinations which had been taking place.
>
> Rather than hosting at events which people who are already interested in
> and knowledgeable about Linux, I would suggest that we consider hosting
> Linux information sessions/InstallFests at events which the general public
> would be attending. One specific idea which I have suggested at recent
> committee meetings would be to hire stalls at some of the local market
> events which take place around Perth.
>
> These events could be used to demonstrate how everyday computing could be
> readily achieved on systems without tracking every action being performed.
> We could promote the InstallFests at these events, as well as PLUG
> membership.
>
> Steve S.
> ------------------------------
> *From:* plug <plug-bounces at plug.org.au> on behalf of Harry McNally via
> plug <plug at plug.org.au>
> *Sent:* Monday, 15 June 2026 12:16 PM
> *To:* plug at plug.org.au <plug at plug.org.au>
> *Subject:* [plug] #introducing and Installfests
>
>
> Late last year, Onno and I discussed ways to find out what subscribers
> might be seeking from membership of PLUG or subscribing to the PLUG mailing
> list. Onno had helped another NFP group by hosting a meeting that, after
> four hours of ideas, arrived at a direction that suited the whole group. We
> wondered if a special event like that might increase IRL participation at
> events and encourage paid membership to support those events.
>
> To add to that Onno posted about his own experience with Linux and, while
> he got a few people figuring out when they started participating in PLUG,
> there wasn't a lot of feedback to match Onno's thoughtful consideration of
> how Linux has been part of his professional and technical life.
>
> It takes time to articulate and, I wondered, what am I going to say other
> than that I use it every day (pretty much exclusively other than when I use
> Win10 as a software wrapper around Altium Designer) ? So, apologies Onno,
> this post is a long time coming.
>
> With the next Installfest less that a week away, I thought I'd explain why
> I asked the committee if I could run a series of Installfests this year.
> The journey begins in the last millennium.
>
> I'd been using Linux for a few years by 1999 although I think the first
> system in the house was a firewall installed for us by Harry Protoolis
> around 1994.
>
> In the late 90's the Coalition Federal government needed support from a
> Tasmanian senator for <some unrelated bill> and he predicated his vote on
> the introduction of a net censorship bill. Wikipedia is light on the
> machinations but EFA has some archive material:
>
> https://efa.org.au/media-releases-archive/
>
> There was a lot of campaigning by the EFA and the first (of not very many)
> political rally I attended was the Anti-Censorship Protest in Perth May 28,
> 1999.
>
> See: https://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/may28/perth/index.html
>
> My reason for taking part was a technical one; that the methods they were
> proposing would not work and it was easy to take that position because
> CSIRO were an authoritative source that were informing parliament in the
> same way.
>
> The political reaction was savage. For anyone that remembers, the tactic
> taken was that anyone who opposed the Online Services Bill was a bomb
> maker, drug dealer, or child molester.
>
> I wondered, outside of the astonishment and outrage, if more people were
> better informed about what the Internet offered, then the debate might be
> more rational.
>
> That started what turned out to be 7 years of participation in Computer
> Angels in various roles and I am forever grateful for the participation of
> so many other technical supporters and non-technical volunteers for what
> was a free training and awareness organisation that supported that with a
> free re-furbished Linux computer.
>
> But while there was a lot of support from all sides with time and
> knowledge, the thing we constantly struggled with was financial; a premises
> needed rent and disposal costs for "working glass monitors" that were found
> to have weeds growing through them meant we were constantly looking for
> operating funds.
>
> That really wore us out and stopped us in 2007. Associations law required
> that we had to wind up in the black and boxes and boxes of IEC power cables
> became a skip full which went away for chipping to copper scrap. The copper
> price was at a peak and we got $2400 (I think) for the scrap which cleared
> our debts and, as required to wind up, we passed the remainder to "a
> like-minded association" which naturally was PLUG.
>
> I've also learned that a past Benjamin (we have a few) donated all fees
> from one of his consulting contracts on to PLUG so these intermittent cash
> injections have helped PLUG continue to host events; albeit frugally.
>
> Skip to late 2025 and this year and with Online Services (Age
> Restrictions) Bill and AI and I wondered if Installfests could encourage a
> new group of users to install Linux or become proficient with independent
> content using Hugo or a Mastodon server.
>
> James has demonstrated the minimal cost required to host PLUG on Digital
> Lane and my own interest is still RaspberryPi hosting on a home network.
> Could PLUG share Ansible scripts or configured RPi images to download to
> offer alternatives to social media algorithms ?
>
> So far public attendance at the Installfests has been mute but I have
> extended the promotion this time to see if we can reach people to simply
> install on a retired machine and give it a try. I see it as a Computer
> Angels flashmob; all the fun but at much lower cost.
>
> So the event this Saturday is on the usual page.
> https://plug.org.au/installfest
>
> Committee has added backup/restore as a theme and I have extended the RPi
> theme if anyone wants to bring ideas for home hosting servers or all other
> things Pi. If you let the list know if you are coming for an hour and what
> time then it is an opportunity to get like-minded project ideas at certain
> times.
>
> If we get more public attendees then more hands will be helpful. If we
> don't, then we can hear your ideas and projects that you can bring. It
> would be great to see you and them.
>
> All the best
> Harry
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
> https://lists.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail: committee at plug.org.au
> PLUG Membership: http://www.plug.org.au/membership
>
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:08:30 +0800
From: Harry McNally <harrymc at decisions-and-designs.com.au>
To: plug at plug.org.au
Subject: Re: [plug] #introducing and Installfests
Message-ID:
<fd7346a1-f575-4d64-994d-d25918868bb8 at decisions-and-designs.com.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"
You make a good point Onno
These Installfests are advocacy rather than finding out what members and list
lurkers want from PLUG.
In retrospect, I missed promoting that Linux doesn't install an AI tool by
default.
And yes, I tackled the Installfests at the Collins Street Centre because I can
get wireless from home and can drag gear there quickly (and why I said I'd run
a series this year).
I dropped in to my two closest Mens Sheds this morning with posters.
Curtin FM did some promotion to a similar audience based on their commercials
and promotion.
RTRFM had an entry in their newsletter.
I'll see if this attracts more people on Saturday. Otherwise, it is hard work
but it is an opportunity for PLUG people to meetup and share projects.
All the best
Harry
On 16/6/26 19:11, Onno Benschop via plug wrote:
> While the notion of promoting Linux is one way of getting PLUG noticed, I
> think that there are more fundamental questions to consider.
>
> What is the purpose of PLUG, why does it exist, what does it mean to be a
> member of PLUG?
>
> Getting members or promoting the club at public events is all fun and games
> in theory, until you get into the logistics of the process when you discover
> that it's the same three people doing all the work.
>
> O
>
> --
> finger painting on glass is an inexact art - apologies for any errors in
> this scra^Hibble
>
> ()/)/)() ..ASCII for Onno..
>
> On Tue, 16 June 2026, 18:56 Steve Schrader via plug, <plug at plug.org.au> wrote:
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:*?committee <committee-bounces at plug.org.au> on behalf of Steve
> Schrader via committee <committee at plug.org.au>
> *Sent:*?Monday, 15 June 2026 12:43 PM
> *To:*?Harry McNally <harrymc at decisions-and-designs.com.au>; PLUG
> Committee <committee at plug.org.au>
> *Subject:*?Re: [plug-ctte] [plug] #introducing and Installfests
> Interesting letter and history lesson, Harry. You detailed many points
> that were (i) before my time with PLUG, and (ii) pertinent to issues
> which Wyatt has raised in his recent talks at Cannington library. I must
> admit to being unaware of the political machinations which had been
> taking place.
>
> Rather than hosting at events which people who are already interested in
> and knowledgeable about Linux,? I would suggest that we consider hosting
> Linux information sessions/InstallFests at events which the general
> public would be attending. One specific idea which I have suggested at
> recent committee meetings would be to hire stalls at some of the local
> market events which take place around Perth.
>
> These events could be used to demonstrate how everyday computing could
> be readily achieved on systems without tracking every action being
> performed. We could promote the InstallFests at these events, as well as
> PLUG membership.
>
> Steve S.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:*?plug <plug-bounces at plug.org.au> on behalf of Harry McNally via
> plug <plug at plug.org.au>
> *Sent:*?Monday, 15 June 2026 12:16 PM
> *To:* plug at plug.org.au <plug at plug.org.au>
> *Subject:*?[plug] #introducing and Installfests
>
> Late last year, Onno and I discussed ways to find out what subscribers
> might be seeking from membership of PLUG or subscribing to the PLUG
> mailing list. Onno had helped another NFP group by hosting a meeting
> that, after four hours of ideas, arrived at a direction that suited the
> whole group. We wondered if a special event like that might increase IRL
> participation at events and encourage paid membership to support those
> events.
>
> To add to that Onno posted about his own experience with Linux and,
> while he got a few people figuring out when they started participating
> in PLUG, there wasn't a lot of feedback to match Onno's thoughtful
> consideration of how Linux has been part of his professional and
> technical life.
>
> It takes time to articulate and, I wondered, what am I going to say
> other than that I use it every day (pretty much exclusively other than
> when I use Win10 as a software wrapper around Altium Designer) ? So,
> apologies Onno, this post is a long time coming.
>
> With the next Installfest less that a week away, I thought I'd explain
> why I asked the committee if I could run a series of Installfests this
> year. The journey begins in the last?millennium.
>
> I'd been using Linux for a few years by 1999 although I think the first
> system in the house was a firewall installed for us by Harry Protoolis
> around 1994.
>
> In the late 90's the Coalition Federal government needed support from a
> Tasmanian senator for <some unrelated bill> and he predicated his vote
> on the introduction of a net censorship bill. Wikipedia is light on the
> machinations but EFA has some archive material:
>
> https://efa.org.au/media-releases-archive/
>
> There was a lot of campaigning by the EFA and the first (of not very
> many) political rally I attended was the Anti-Censorship Protest in
> Perth May 28, 1999.
>
> See: https://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/may28/perth/index.html
>
> My reason for taking part was a technical one; that the methods they
> were proposing would not work and it was easy to take that position
> because CSIRO were an authoritative?source that were informing
> parliament in the same way.
>
> The political reaction was savage. For anyone that remembers, the tactic
> taken was that anyone who opposed the Online Services Bill was a bomb
> maker, drug dealer, or child molester.
>
> I wondered, outside of the astonishment and outrage, if more people were
> better informed about what the Internet offered, then the debate might
> be more rational.
>
> That started what turned out to be 7 years of participation in Computer
> Angels in various roles and I am forever grateful for the participation
> of so many other technical supporters and non-technical volunteers for
> what was a free training and awareness organisation that supported that
> with a free re-furbished Linux computer.
>
> But while there was a lot of support from all sides with time and
> knowledge, the thing we constantly struggled with was financial; a
> premises needed rent and disposal costs for "working glass monitors"
> that were found to have weeds growing through them meant we were
> constantly looking for operating funds.
>
> That really wore us out and stopped us in 2007. Associations law
> required that we had to wind up in the black and boxes and boxes of IEC
> power cables became a skip full which went away for chipping to copper
> scrap. The copper price was at a peak and we got $2400 (I think) for the
> scrap which cleared our debts and, as required to wind up, we passed the
> remainder to "a like-minded association" which naturally was PLUG.
>
> I've also learned that a past Benjamin (we have a few) donated all fees
> from one of his consulting contracts on to PLUG so these intermittent
> cash injections have helped PLUG continue to host events; albeit frugally.
>
> Skip to late 2025 and this year and with Online Services (Age
> Restrictions) Bill and AI and I wondered if Installfests could encourage
> a new group of users to install Linux or become proficient with
> independent content using Hugo or a Mastodon server.
>
> James has demonstrated the minimal cost required to host PLUG on Digital
> Lane and my own interest is still RaspberryPi hosting on a home network.
> Could PLUG share Ansible scripts or configured RPi images to download to
> offer alternatives to social media algorithms ?
>
> So far public attendance at the Installfests has been mute but I have
> extended the promotion this time to see if we can reach people to simply
> install on a retired machine and give it a try. I see it as a Computer
> Angels flashmob; all the fun but at much lower cost.
>
> So the event this Saturday is on the usual page.
> https://plug.org.au/installfest
>
> Committee has added backup/restore as a theme and I have extended the
> RPi theme if anyone wants to bring ideas for home hosting servers or all
> other things Pi. If you let the list know if you are coming for an hour
> and what time then it is an opportunity to get like-minded project ideas
> at certain times.
>
> If we get more public attendees then more hands will be helpful. If we
> don't, then we can hear your ideas and projects that you can bring. It
> would be great to see you and them.
>
> All the best
> Harry
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
> https://lists.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail: committee at plug.org.au
> PLUG Membership: http://www.plug.org.au/membership
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG discussion list:plug at plug.org.au
> https://lists.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail:committee at plug.org.au
> PLUG Membership:http://www.plug.org.au/membership
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:33:46 +0800
From: Harry McNally <harrymc at decisions-and-designs.com.au>
To: plug at plug.org.au
Subject: Re: [plug] #introducing and Installfests
Message-ID:
<1a78df5b-bd99-4256-9acf-76e9299958cb at decisions-and-designs.com.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"
Thanks Senectus, useful feedback.
I can't get to as many events as I'd like but with so many resources on-line,
perhaps IRL is what PLUG offers. That has a higher cost to PLUG except PLUG in
the Pub but some people may prefer events that don't have beer and food cost.
I don't know without asking the people here or doing the meetup Onno proposed.
All the best
Harry
On 15/6/26 14:20, Sen ectus via plug wrote:
> My involvement is dependent on whats going on in life...? so over the many
> years I've basically just become a lurker.
>
> I'd like for PLUG to get a little more lively while not being demanding...
> something like the https://allthingslinux.org/ project (before it got
> cancelled?and trolled and hacked into oblivion).
> A discord like chat/forum would be nice.
> But again, while I use Linux daily at work and home, I'm mostly just using
> it these days. I dont?often get time to play or contribute.
>
> On Mon, 15 Jun 2026 at 12:16, Harry McNally via plug <plug at plug.org.au> wrote:
>
> Late last year, Onno and I discussed ways to find out what subscribers
> might be seeking from membership of PLUG or subscribing to the PLUG
> mailing list. Onno had helped another NFP group by hosting a meeting
> that, after four hours of ideas, arrived at a direction that suited the
> whole group. We wondered if a special event like that might increase IRL
> participation at events and encourage paid membership to support those
> events.
>
> To add to that Onno posted about his own experience with Linux and,
> while he got a few people figuring out when they started participating
> in PLUG, there wasn't a lot of feedback to match Onno's thoughtful
> consideration of how Linux has been part of his professional and
> technical life.
>
> It takes time to articulate and, I wondered, what am I going to say
> other than that I use it every day (pretty much exclusively other than
> when I use Win10 as a software wrapper around Altium Designer) ? So,
> apologies Onno, this post is a long time coming.
>
> With the next Installfest less that a week away, I thought I'd explain
> why I asked the committee if I could run a series of Installfests this
> year. The journey begins in the last?millennium.
>
> I'd been using Linux for a few years by 1999 although I think the first
> system in the house was a firewall installed for us by Harry Protoolis
> around 1994.
>
> In the late 90's the Coalition Federal government needed support from a
> Tasmanian senator for <some unrelated bill> and he predicated his vote
> on the introduction of a net censorship bill. Wikipedia is light on the
> machinations but EFA has some archive material:
>
> https://efa.org.au/media-releases-archive/
>
> There was a lot of campaigning by the EFA and the first (of not very
> many) political rally I attended was the Anti-Censorship Protest in
> Perth May 28, 1999.
>
> See: https://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/may28/perth/index.html
>
> My reason for taking part was a technical one; that the methods they
> were proposing would not work and it was easy to take that position
> because CSIRO were an authoritative source that were informing
> parliament in the same way.
>
> The political reaction was savage. For anyone that remembers, the tactic
> taken was that anyone who opposed the Online Services Bill was a bomb
> maker, drug dealer, or child molester.
>
> I wondered, outside of the astonishment and outrage, if more people were
> better informed about what the Internet offered, then the debate might
> be more rational.
>
> That started what turned out to be 7 years of participation in Computer
> Angels in various roles and I am forever grateful for the participation
> of so many other technical supporters and non-technical volunteers for
> what was a free training and awareness organisation that supported that
> with a free re-furbished Linux computer.
>
> But while there was a lot of support from all sides with time and
> knowledge, the thing we constantly struggled with was financial; a
> premises needed rent and disposal costs for "working glass monitors"
> that were found to have weeds growing through them meant we were
> constantly looking for operating funds.
>
> That really wore us out and stopped us in 2007. Associations law
> required that we had to wind up in the black and boxes and boxes of IEC
> power cables became a skip full which went away for chipping to copper
> scrap. The copper price was at a peak and we got $2400 (I think) for the
> scrap which cleared our debts and, as required to wind up, we passed the
> remainder to "a like-minded association" which naturally was PLUG.
>
> I've also learned that a past Benjamin (we have a few) donated all fees
> from one of his consulting contracts on to PLUG so these intermittent
> cash injections have helped PLUG continue to host events; albeit frugally.
>
> Skip to late 2025 and this year and with Online Services (Age
> Restrictions) Bill and AI and I wondered if Installfests could encourage
> a new group of users to install Linux or become proficient with
> independent content using Hugo or a Mastodon server.
>
> James has demonstrated the minimal cost required to host PLUG on Digital
> Lane and my own interest is still RaspberryPi hosting on a home network.
> Could PLUG share Ansible scripts or configured RPi images to download to
> offer alternatives to social media algorithms ?
>
> So far public attendance at the Installfests has been mute but I have
> extended the promotion this time to see if we can reach people to simply
> install on a retired machine and give it a try. I see it as a Computer
> Angels flashmob; all the fun but at much lower cost.
>
> So the event this Saturday is on the usual page.
> https://plug.org.au/installfest
>
> Committee has added backup/restore as a theme and I have extended the
> RPi theme if anyone wants to bring ideas for home hosting servers or all
> other things Pi. If you let the list know if you are coming for an hour
> and what time then it is an opportunity to get like-minded project ideas
> at certain times.
>
> If we get more public attendees then more hands will be helpful. If we
> don't, then we can hear your ideas and projects that you can bring. It
> would be great to see you and them.
>
> All the best
> Harry
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
> https://lists.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail: committee at plug.org.au
> PLUG Membership: http://www.plug.org.au/membership
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG discussion list:plug at plug.org.au
> https://lists.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail:committee at plug.org.au
> PLUG Membership:http://www.plug.org.au/membership
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