u3a

Hale & District

Linux

Status:Active, open to new members
Coordinator:
Tom Fallon
Group email: Linux group
When: Monthly on Thursday mornings 10:30 am-12:00 pm
2nd Thursday of each month. There is also a social pub lunch with partners welcome following the March & September meetings.
Venue: The Griffin Public House
Cost: Free

Linux group lunch in the Griffin July 2024
Linux group lunch in the Griffin July 2024

Linux - the world’s most installed operating system.

Latest news: France moves away from Windows - In April 2026, France announced plans ultimately to switch all 2.5 million government computers from Microsoft Windows to Linux. France has experience making this switch. Some 18 years ago, the Gendarmarie police service chose not to upgrade XP to Vista and switched to free open-source software (“FOSS”) based Linux. See video click here.

  • Windows 10 reached end of support on 14 October 2025. See video click here.
  • Microsoft no longer provides free updates.
  • Without security fixes for new threats, it will be unsafe to use on the internet.
  • With more onerous hardware requirements, upgrading to Windows 11 is usually not possible.
  • Replacing Windows 10 with Linux should give the PC a new lease of life at no cost.
  • Find out how with Hale U3A Linux group.

Never heard of Linux ?

  • It's no surprise
  • Nobody sells it
  • You cannot buy it
  • It's free

Many consider Linux:

  • more secure,
  • faster,
  • more stable, and
  • easier to use

Linux the system of choice for 1 :

  • The Pentagon,
  • US military,
  • The White House
  • Amazon,
  • Google,
  • French police,
  • Dutch police,
  • London Stock Exchange trading,
  • New York Stock Exchange trading,
  • City of Barcelona,
  • City of Lyon
  • Government of Schleswig-Holstein
  • Universities in Germany,
  • 35 million students in Brazil's schools,
  • the majority of the world's internet web servers,
  • business data centres and
  • the majority of the world's mobile phones

... and Sony uses it to power my TV!

Replacing Windows with Linux takes about 20 minutes. All data is erased. So best start with an old machine. Linux loves older hardware and can give a discarded Windows 7 pc a new lease of life. Pre-installed free apps include: browser, word processor, spreadsheet, email, photo library manager, music library manager, media players and more.

The group meets monthly face-to-face with workshops and presentations. New members are very welcome and can bring along a laptop for a free install.

Members share experience using not-for-profit Free Open-Source Software (FOSS) on Linux covering family history, photography, digitising family records, offline maps for cycling and walking, and other activities.

Online fraud is the fastest growing crime sector and elderly users are more often the victims. It is no surprise group discussions frequently focus on STAYING SAFE ONLINE. This includes how to use FOSS based apps to manage stronger passwords in a way that is faster and easier than the often used alternative of a paper based notebook.

Frequently asked questions

What does the group talk about?

Mostly, we meet to talk about and help each other using great free apps on Linux to get things done:

  • More secure on-line banking with stronger passwords (eg KeePassXC)
  • Transferring photos effortlessly from mobile phone (Syncthing)
  • Safely backing up precious family photos or documents (Back In Time)
  • Using cloud based services (Rclone)
  • Streaming photos from pc to the family tv (Rygel pre-installed with Gnome)
  • Managing a digital family photo album creating an intergenerational legacy (digiKam)
  • Using free open source software on Android mobiles (F-Droid)
  • Secure encrypted social network messaging with family and friends on mobiles, iPad and pc (Signal)

or support other hobbies we have including those we pursue in Hale U3A such as:

Is it safe?

It does not need anti-virus software. It is considered very safe and powers the internet and is the system of choice for many leading government and military users including the US Navy nuclear submarine fleet 2. Security is the top reason many cite for switching to Linux.

Isn’t it boring?

Yes. Absolutely boring. Linux is designed to be totally boring. It just works leaving users free to concentrate on getting things done.

Is it a group only for geeks?

No. Most group members are inexperienced computer users just looking for help getting things done easily and safely with a pc, mobile phone or iPad. Many are worried about on-line fraud and computer viruses. It’s a knowledge sharing group with some knowing more than others. But we do not turn away geeks!

What’s it useful for?

It acts as a gateway to tens of thousands of community developed and maintained not-for-profit free open source software (FOSS) apps. It’s the free apps it runs that is interesting. Using free easy to use powerful apps on Linux is what make it fun.

Is it compatible with my old office documents?

Yes. By default LibreOffice uses ODF - the Open Document Format. Microsoft “plays nicely” with ODF. LibreOffice can also read and write documents in Microsoft formats.

Will my printer still work?

Yes. It should do. Linux will generally discover any local or network installed printer and set it up automatically.

Switching from Microsoft Windows to Linux

The guide here provides steps to consider in switching to Linux from Windows.

Future and past programme

Event date & timeLinux Group EventVenue
10:30 Thu 8 January 2026Presentation: Email: soup to nuts Everything you need to know about emailing.
Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 12 February 2026Presentation: Extracting text & data from paper, images, receipts and downloaded pdfs from bank and credit card accounts. Using pivot tables in spreadsheets. Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 12 March 2026Round table discussion on how AI is impacting our lives with concerns about it harvesting personal data, intrusively interacting on so many devices including TVs, pcs, tablets, mobiles and even car SatNavs.Griffin PH Bowdon
12:30 Thu 12 March 2026🍷Post meeting pub lunch with partners welcome 🍷Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 9 April 2026Presentation on how to keep the home safe from hackers explaining how I/P addresses work, the crucial role of a home router and how to set up alternative firewall apps.
Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 14 May 2026Presentation on switching to passkeys. UK National Cyber Security Centre now officially advises using passkeys whenever available.
 		Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 11th June 2026Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 9 July 2026Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 13 August 2026🏖️No meeting in August (summer break) 🏖️
10:30 Thu 10 September 2026Griffin PH Bowdon
12:30 Thu 10 September 2026🍷Post meeting pub lunch with partners welcome 🍷Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 8 October 2026Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 12 November 2026Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 10 December 2026Griffin PH Bowdon
12:30 Thu 10 December 2026Post meeting 🎄 Christmas drink 🍷 & informal pub lunch with partners welcome. Griffin PH Bowdon
2025 Historic Meetings

Event date & time

Linux Group Event

Venue
10:30 Thu 13 March 2025Monthly meeting - discussion topics:
Switching to faster broadband, recording 1841 census records in gramps, and free national e-newspapers/magazines from UK libraries. 		Griffin PH Bowdon
12:30 Thu 13 March 2025Pub lunch with partners welcomeGriffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 10 April 2025Monthly meeting - presentation on face recognition in digiKam, the free photo library manager. Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 08 May 2025Monthly meeting - presentation on searching files and their contents using recoll and cataloguing with Tellico. Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 12 June 2025Monthly meeting - presentation with a focus on photography covering the benefits of raw vs jpg format and editing raw images with darktable. Mike showed how AI on a phone can now remove unwanted subjects. Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 10 July 2025Monthly meeting - presentation by Mike on recent news including European city, regional and sovereign state government announcements in Denmark, Germany and France switching software from Microsoft to FOSS.Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 14 August 2025🏖️ No meeting in August (summer break) 🏖️
10:30 Thu 11 September 2025Monthly meeting - presentation on installing free open-source software (FOSS) that is digitally-signed for safety from the 20k+ apps available on Linux.Griffin PH Bowdon
12:30 Thu 11 September 2025🍷Post meeting pub lunch with partners welcome 🍷Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 09 October 2025Monthly meeting - presentation by Mike on browser security—explaining the key settings he always adjusts to help keep safe on-line.Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 13 November 2025Monthly meeting - presentation on building an intergenerational legacy of ancestry research and a digital family photo album discussing the pros & cons of online platforms like Find My Past and Google Photos vs FOSS apps: Gramps & digiKam.Griffin PH Bowdon
10:30 Thu 11 December 2025Monthly meeting - presentation on
(1) ripping music CDs, (2) music library managers and (3) bulk adding data tags including: * artists, * album names, * album cover and * track names
Apps covered included:
CD ripper – Asunder, Music library manager – Rhythmbox, Bulk taggers inter alia – MusicBrainz. Discussion of in-car playback and in-home streaming.		Griffin PH Bowdon
12:30 Thu 11 December 2025Post meeting 🎄 Christmas drink 🍷 & informal pub lunch with partners welcome.
Griffin PH Bowdon