On 1/14/20 8:03 PM, Jon "maddog" Hall via WLUG wrote:
> GNHLUG started in 1995, but was reduced to a mailing list about ten years ago. 
> It no longer holds meetings.  Every once in a while someone tries to
> resuscitate it, but it eventually goes into a coma again.
>
> I think BLU has been around a long time.  It is what is left from the Boston
> Computer Society, and as such may have pre-dated even GNHLUG.

I believe that BLU predates WLUG by quite a bit.

I had just started learning about Linux, and I knew nothing of the GPL or the
ideals surrounding Free Software.  I decided that I wanted a place to hang out
with people more knowledgeable about Linux.  I lived in Worcester at the time,
and I didn't want to drive to Boston or New Hampshire for a meeting due to the
distance.  I had never been to a user group meeting of any sort, yet I decided
to jump into the deep end of the pool, with no clue of what to do, or how to do
it, or what the result would be.  All I thought was that people needed to be
brought together.  As a WPI alumnus, it seemed like a natural place for such a
gathering.

WLUG's first meeting was in July 1997 in the WPI Library.   Maddog was there,
and our first speaker was Jim Paradis.  We had 17 people in attendance.

I distinctly remember maddog telling me at that time that if we had 17 people
in attendance in a year, we'd be doing quite well.

We purchased really expensive food from DAKA, the WPI cafeteria service at that
time.  Later, we moved to different rooms on campus, and I brought soda and
cookies.  I never believed in charging membership dues for WLUG.  I decided to
go with small voluntary donations, just to defray costs, and no more.  Somehow,
it worked.

We had something on the order of 50 people show up at what I think was probably
the best attended WLUG meeting in history.  I don't remember the year, but KDE
had just come out, and I gave a talk about it.  I have a feeling that this
meeting took place in the big room in Olin Hall.

The summer parties were always a big hit.  Great food, conversations, and great
people.

While we occasionally had a speaker from outside of the club, most of the
speakers were members of WLUG.  We have a very talented membership who was
never afraid to get up in front of the crowd to share what they know.  I
learned a lot from WLUG, both technically and otherwise.

WLUG has its own Tux penguin, hand made by Doug Waud.  WLUG Tux shows up at
summer gatherings and other unexpected times.

I'm sure if a bunch of us sat together after a WLUG meeting, we'd recall more
stories and could, if desired, document the club's history.  I think it would
be a lot of fun!

Andy
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