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OSU Open Source Lab

A Little Love for the LUG

by OSUOSL Admin on Wed, Aug 03 2011

he Oregon State University Linux Users Group (LUG) exists to promote free and open source software on campus. Its members and moderators turn to events like OSCON to find support from premier open source affiliates to help boost the group’s reputability at Oregon State University, and last week some OSU Open Source Lab (OSL) students —also LUG members— were treated to mass donations.

An incredible 23 organizations and companies —listed below— opened their booths and handed the students boxes of t-shirts, books and other great gifts to help the LUG’s development this coming year.

The OSU LUG Cannot Live on OSL Goodies Alone

“At the start of the school year, you have a bunch of freshmen coming in being pulled left and right by all these different organizations,” said Emily Dunham, a sophomore developer at the OSL and LUG member. “We want to give the students more encouragement to try the Linux Users Group; see if getting involved with open source is something that interests them. We picked up quite a bit of stuff in that interest.”

While LUG moderators will use t-shirts, stickers and the like to entice new members and create an eventful atmosphere during meetings, they also will utilize the large quantities of books and magazines organizations provided for educational means. No Starch Press, for example, donated critical material like How Linux Works, Book of Inkscape, Essential Blender and Ubuntu for Non-Geeks. MongoDB, ARIN, SourceGear and Linux Magazine also gave armfuls of useful resources.

“We so sincerely appreciate their commitment to helping our assistance to the community,” Dunham said. “These aren’t necessarily the biggest companies and don’t necessarily have a lot of stuff to give away, and yet they shared with us what they thought would help.”

The moderators are excited about this upcoming year. They hope to reenergize the LUG, and the donations will certainly play a major role in doing so.

From the OSL and the OSU LUG, thank you to the following organizations for their amazing contributions!

Ed. Note: This story was written by Anthony Casson, Student Writer for the OSL. Photo is his own.