About Us

Who are we?

We’re a friendly group of Linux enthusiasts, looking to share knowledge, experience, and ideas.

I’m Mike Marsh, the group organizer. I was first introduced to Linux in 1994, currently teach Computer Science at UMD, and use Debian as my daily driver.

Who is MoCoLUG for?

Anyone, at any skill level, who wants to meet with others in the area who are interested in Linux and Free Software in general. There’s a long history of Linux Users Groups (LUGs) for mutual technical assistance and support, and it seemed extremely odd to me that somewhere as technology-focused as Montgomery County had no LUG, so here we are!

When do we meet, and where?

We’re planning to meet monthly, and meeting information will be posted in our blog and our Meetup group (see the link at the bottom of the page). We’ll be meeting in public libraries, alternating between the Western and Eastern branches of the Metro Red Line. In practice, this means the Rockville or Bethesda (Connie Morella) libraries and the Silver Spring (Brigadier General Charles E. McGee) or Wheaton libraries.

What do we do at our meetings?

We will generally have at least one agenda item. This might be a discussion, a demo, an install-fest, or anything else. This will typically be determined at the prior month’s meeting. We’re also working on standing up a decent online discussion forum, where folks might propose agenda items.

How do I join?

Just show up to one of our meetings! Everyone is welcome!

Does it cost anything to be a member?

Nope! It’s completely free! There might be a dues-paying level eventually, but we’ll never limit people’s ability to participate in meetings based on dues, and dues will solely be used for things like paying for the domain and hosting, USB thumbdrives with Linux installers, and other things of direct benefit to the LUG.