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A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Eleanor Spenceley
I am (also) thinking about organising a sub-group within WAMUG specifically for techies and 'would be' techies. This sub-group would also be affiliated with the CocoaHeads organisation: http://cocoaheads.org

The kind of subjects I want to see and talk about would include:

For CocoaHeads:
Developing iPhone/iPad Apps
Marketing your iApps
Mac OS X Development
Software Version Control
Using Core Data
Developing for the Mac App Store.
The Joy of Objective-C.
Using AppleScript.

Other less development but still technically orientated subjects could include:

Mac OS X Server - Discussion why it's useful to have on your network through to configuring your own server...
Data sharing in a heterogeneous network. i.e. Techniques in data sharing across UNIX, Linux and Windows systems.
Running Virtual Machines - Parallels - Installation tips for the more obscure operating systems.
Remote Support Options. VNC, Apple Remote, iChat, Skype
Running Linux with Macs.
Building a database driven website - PHP, WebObjects...
UNIX Command Line tips and techniques.

I think the benefits of such a subgroup would help attract more experienced Mac users into the group itself.

The location of such a meeting would be at Crumpets Farm, Lytchett Matravers, Poole. Time would be a Sunday afternoon.

Would anyone be interested in coming to such a meeting and more importantly, would anyone have any objections for such a 'sub group' to be formed within WAMUG?

Thanks,

Martin

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
Martin, Whilst I agree that the development topics in your first list might be of limited appeal, I would hope that most, if not all, of the topics in your second list would be of interest to the wider WAMUG.

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Mark Ford
Good to see you planning again Martin!
An excellent development. Certainly whats needed - it would enhance the Group significantly.
As Apple stuff becomes more & more popular there are going to be more and more members like me who do not aspire to being a techie!
So I suspect meetings of WAMUG, certainly in Dorchester, will become of less technical relevance - you will have no doubt noticed on your last visit!
This idea could redress the balance at a central, hospitable and ideal venue picking up attendances from folk also attending elsewhere as well as those for whom other meeting hold only occasional interest.
Its good to know we might be returning to Crumpets Farm.

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Eleanor Spenceley
Hi Trevor,

I agree _some_ of the second list topics would appeal to _some_ people in WAMUG, however I am looking for talks which do not start at the beginning, but instead jump in 'mid stream'. For instance, take Mac OS X Server topic, the talk would not be about what the services like 'AFP, NFS, NAT, MySql' are, but how each service can be applied directly to a small business or location where there are multiple Macs established. (BTW: I do not know all the answers to this either at the moment, but since I have got Mac OS X Server 'free' by being a registered Mac developer, I'd love to find out!).

These talks would be pitched to a 'non beginner' directly. However, since we have a big contingent of 'beginners' at many of the existing meetings, I believe there is a consensus in some of the groups such talks could put beginners off attending future meetings. I think we have a need in the club for advanced users to discuss topics at an advanced level. Perhaps some of these talks could spawn more encompassing talks for the rest of the club... but we'll have to see.

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Eleanor Spenceley
Hi Mark,

'This idea could redress the balance at a central, hospitable and ideal venue picking up attendances from folk also attending elsewhere as well as those for whom other meeting hold only occasional interest.' - This has certainly happened to me, having found only 2 meetings of any real appeal over the past 12 months and only one of which turned out being really useful. I'm also not a great fan of the 'long, all encompassing' Q&A sessions, where I personally think an 'offline' one-to-one answer would be more productive to the member asking the question and to the rest of the members in the session who have no interest in the question itself!

Hey ho! That's not to criticise the current meetings, they are all doing a grand job catering for the majority of the members and that's how it should be. It's just my interests are (now) very specific and somewhat marginalised (as the Fareham ad hoc consensus showed the other month! ;-)
i.e. Not really interested in Photography, Video, Music, Image manipulation and general Mac Management!


Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
Thanks for the response Martin. As someone who has been using Macs for more years than I care to think (when did OS 7 first come out?), I still find that there are many aspects of the present Mac offering which I haven't explored. The recent Bournemouth presentation on Skype vs. iChat was a case in point - something that I have idly wondered about on and off over the years but which I now just might get around to having a play with. Another example was Network Utility. I never even knew this existed until I had DNS problems and had to become educated in the basics of Traceroute.

I suppose what I am saying is that most of your second list seems to fall into the category of aspects of Mac usage that most users are oblivious to but on which a brief introductory presentation could nonetheless be of general benefit, because you never know when the opportunity/need to use it might arise. I do agree though that, to get into the depth that you describe, you would not want to start at the beginning and so would need a more specialised meeting.

From a selfish point of view, I would advocate that a 5-10min introductory presentation at a general meeting should ideally precede your specialist meeting - it might even increase the participation in the follow up tech session.

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Euan Williams
Thanks, Martin, Mark and Trevor, an "intro" quickie is very positive, and we should encourage wider use of Discussions (maybe with some sort of "find" facility).

Our beginners aren't stupid, many are just cautious about learning technical language and screwing up the delightful solidity of their OSX. It's time to explore the white areas on our maps -- Where there be Dragons which can be tamed. It's time (for some) to move beyond Disk Utility and Permissions. ;-)

PS. I can't programme to save my life (tried Pascal on the Mac in 1986) but would love to learn more about it. Declaring variables always threw me with Pascal, and I should like to know more about the functions of those hidden folders such as .Var, Bin, Cores which Carbon Copy Cloner reveals to us.

Go for it, Martin!

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
And my programming experience was in the days before Pascal was invented, so getting into programming again would be a bit of an 'old dog, new tricks' problem for me. Anyone remember Algol 66 and DAP16?

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Lionel Ogden
A good idea Martin which will go a long way to deepening our appeal to local Mac users. Are you anticipating a regular meeting date?

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Euan Williams
This Apple announcement (via ArsTechnica) might be useful, if only by de-mystifying some of the interface design concepts -- and being available to all for $4.99:

ArsTechnica > Xcode 4 < new release web page

"Apple on Wednesday released Xcode 4, the latest version of its IDE for iOS and Mac OS X. The new release, in beta for nearly a year, combines several previously separate development tools into a single window interface. It also leverages new underlying tools such as the latest LLVM compiler and LLDB debugger and offers several time-saving features like automatic code checking. And while Xcode remains free to registered developers, Apple is now making Xcode available to any Mac OS X user via the Mac App Store for $4.99."

For more information see the link.

Is there a demand for a 'one-off' taster day at Crumpets Farm (bring your own crumpets and butter) to look at the wriggling bits and bytes under the hood?

My interest is in the Interface Design tools, but I confess, sadly, to zero talent for software programming.

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Euan Williams
btw. it's £2.99 on the App store (UK) today.

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Eleanor Spenceley
Lionel 'Are you anticipating a regular meeting date?' - Possibly, given enough interest.

Euan - 'Is there a demand for a 'one-off' taster day at Crumpets Farm (bring your own crumpets and butter) to look at the wriggling bits and bytes under the hood?'

We could do that however, XCode 4 is a complex and different beast and it is taking some time to get to master it from an XCode 3.x basis. Shame about Apple starting to charge for it for non-registered developers, even at 2.99! Doesn't seem much point.

Re: A sub group specifically for Mac Techies?

Avatar Andrew Banks
Martin

I am more than happy to join, this techie group.

I have just passed the Mac Exam 9LO-406 Mac Integration Basics 10.6 and this makes me.

Apple Certified Associate - Mac Integration Basics 10.6

It is my plan to do the other certification exams Essentials and Server, later this year or next.

I am in the process of setting up and configuring Snow Leopard Server at the moment. So will be most interested in the techie sub group. My only problem is, in the week meetings, most people who will be techie's are likely to also be in full time work. In my case in London. I work as a IT Technician for an Insurance Broker. So I would favour a weekend meeting, as long as it does not clash with the Fareham meetings.

Get in touch my Email is [undisclosed email].

Regards
Andy Banks
 
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