[conspire] Some CABAL meeting bits(+++?)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Michael Paoli (Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu):

> Some bits from the CABAL meeting earlier today.
> 
> Some folks *really* don't like systemd, and also mentioned many
> distros using systemd.

Steve Litt (who joined our Jitsi Meet session from Orlando, FL) is a
friend, but also a classic anti-systemd ranter, which is why I teased
him about that when he started getting wound up.  He's one of a group
of former regulars -- pretty much all desktop users, and no sysadmins --
on the debian-user ('d-u') mailing list who got thrown off, over that
matter.

Personally, I always considered d-u's S/N ratio unacceptably low, and
never joined it, which is why I was unaware how vituperative the
complaining from desktop users had been during and after the General
Resolution vote.  (To my knowledge, the prevailing attitude among
Debian-using sysadmins has been that if you preferred a different init
system, just install one, and you're done.)

> I mentioned Debian, and though Debian's default is systemd, it's not
> the only choice Debian offers.

Exactly.  This is a point I've repeatedly impressed on Mr. Litt,
including on my Web page documenting the matter.

> Did also mention:
> https://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:offered_wanted_hardware_etc
> but maybe a bit too late
> can be handy for coordinating hardware giveaways (or wanted) or the
> like ... and probably also most useful when mentioned on relevant list(s).

This was relevant to one of the participants mentioning he had
recent-production 1U and 2U servers to give away.  He's in San Bruno.

> And dig go over a bit:
> https://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:covid-19
> And yes, CABAL is on there (Rick had earlier put it on,
> I fixed one typo and tweaked formatting a bit).
> I also mentioned Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts,

Whose Sunday session is actually still running, BTW.
https://meet.jit.si/ALE-NW