The Ubuntu Chronicles: The Saga of Amber and Ubuntu
Part 33
Becoming involved. Where can I fit in?
I didn’t think I was part of anything, but as I list these things, I realize that I am beginning to become involved. I am enjoying getting to know and be a part of another community bigger than me. I still feel like I’m crawling, but at least I am moving forward.
#ubuntu-women – great place to start – great people Ubuntu Women Wiki
Reading Wiki pages – overwhelming source of Ubuntu information
Registering an OpenID and a Launchpad account – so I can file bug reports.
Brainstorm Team – so can be part of a team and help somehow
NC Loco Team – I signed up and I hope I can be part of this team as well.
I was recently approved to be an idea-reviewer for the Brainstorm Sandbox. It’s fun. I have to research more than most of the seasoned moderators because I am not familiar with things like they are (stuff developers understand but researching the ideas helps me learn). The Brainstorm team is very welcoming. Team members said, “Ask questions, email us, etc, if you need help and or have any questions let us know”. Ziroday and tgm4883 in #Ubuntu-brainstorm are great mentors and are very patient with me as I learn the process. As mentioned before the whole team is helpful and wealth of knowledge. I am looking forward, as my skills progress, to interacting with more people over time.
I found Brainstorm so frustrating in the beginning, because I didn’t get it, I couldn’t see the flow. However, now I am seeing the flow, and watching how it all works. Becoming familiar with the big picture and how the pieces fit together. This is a good thing. (or at least I think so).
What I personally like about being involved in Brainstorm now is, it is a place for people regardless of skill set to be able to contribute to Ubuntu. For me the non-technical end user this is where I get to see an idea suggested and learn about it and be part of a team that helps move it along it’s path. I don’t feel like I am just visiting anymore in the community. I feel like I’ve been invited to stay. 🙂 Thanks!! Here’s the link to the QA Team Blog, please take a look and see if there is something you feel you could help out with. They don’t byte..:), but seriously take a look.
Since pgraner somehow ended up with all the USB sticks in the house and he has been traveling for the last two weeks, I needed to figure out how to set up my test machines. (Again, you don’t have to, I just think its cool that I can.) I installed Intrepid. Then I read a blog post by about 3 ways to upgrade to Jaunty. I saw the command and went to my trusted #ubuntu-woman channel and asked what the command was to upgrade from Intrepid to Jaunty and james_w confirmed the command “update-manger -d” (without the quotes) would in fact update Intrepid to Jaunty. It was up and running in less that an hour. Thanks everyone! Read the article mentioned above to get the explaination and more details about the command.
Also, Rikki Kite, Managing Editor of Linux Pro Magazine sent me a copy of the Ubuntu 8.1O Special,Edition. It comes with a DVD with Intrepid on it and full of helpful articles. Sections included Welcome (introducing you to the Intrepid Ibex.) Getting Started, Office, Desktop and Tips and Tricks section.
The Open Office 3.0 section is very informative as it covered all the areas of the Open Office suite, with writing tips, shortcut keys and more. Also, if anyone remembers reading about me, F-spot, Gimp and the troubles I had early on making my hackergotchi, then you can image how excited I was to read about F-spot and Gimp in this issue. It’s going with my reference material. Linux Pro Magazine to find out more. If you are new to Ubuntu, running 8.10 or you want to try it, this issue comes with the DVD and the literature you need to get started.
Never in a million years would I have thought I would be reading a Linux Magazine, understanding any of it, much less *enjoying* it. 🙂 I’m not giving up my Good Housekeeping, or Southern Living just yet. (It’s the suzy home-maker side of me.:) Though according to the Facebook quiz “which TV mom are you?” I am more Sharon Ozbourne than June Cleaver) Hmmm I hope I’m not going to need a 12 step program for this seemingly growing addiction to all things Ubuntu and Linuxie. (That’s not a bad thing though)
Just a reminder there is another Packaging Class this Thursday. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Packaging/Training. Even though I only watched and followed along I still learned a process. One day I will be able to implement the process – have just have to learn the commands 1st. 🙂
The Saga is now the experience and it continues. 🙂
Enjoy!
