Episode: 694
Title: HPR0694: The U-Cubed Event
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr0694/hpr0694.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-08 01:02:42

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Full Circle Podcast on Hacker Public Radio This episode, the you-cubed event.
Hello world and welcome to the full circle podcast on Hacker Public Radio.
This episode we're promoting the you-cubed event for all Ubuntu users
happening at Madlab in Manchester, UK on Saturday the 3rd of April.
The full circle podcast is the companion to full circle magazine, the independent magazine for the Ubuntu community.
Find us at fullcirclemagazine.org forward slash podcast.
Hello and welcome we're still here despite the trials and tribulations of trying to get five people on a Skype connection.
It's good evening to Mr. Ed Hewitt and I would say good evening to Mr. Dave Wilkins but we don't actually know where he is.
But we do have with us two guests so it's good evening Mr. John Spriggs and good evening Les Pounder.
Shall we start with you two guys then? You sent us your little notification and asking us if we would give a mention to the you-cubed event that you're staging.
I'm going to turn the floor over to you if you'd like to tell us what you-cubed is about and when it's happening.
My mouth normally runs away with me so I'll walk full for a bit.
If you thought it's not enough stock you know.
UK is an unconference style event which we're calling an unwork shop.
It's the second one we've run and it's to promote the development of the community around the Ubuntu and Debian based distributions.
So anything's fair game.
I mean even it was a Ubuntu upstream and you was the you-cubed the first time around.
But now we're just classing it as a Ubuntu and upcoming.
It was a Ubuntu upstream and unconference.
Basically any project that's involved in what makes the distribution that we're using is that a little bit better.
So it's a days worth of workshops to try and see what we can do.
Yeah and it's any version of Debian so it could be anything that's running on a Nokia internet tablet all the way up to Linux Mint Ubuntu anything like that.
What's the format of the day going to be on the day we've got on the day we've got workshop talks going on.
The rest of the work jobs to be there to show you hands on how to do something.
So for example how to edit video with Linux the philosophy of Linux and open source software.
But we've also got talks as well now where the talks I just got this on the screen now.
We've got a keynote talk from Dan Lynch of Linux outlaw's fame and I've also got talk from Charlie Owen who's doing a whistle stop tour of Ubuntu.
Basically it's everything you need to know about Ubuntu in half an hour.
But we've got work jobs going on as well.
Blackpool Linux user group, we're in a demo area of all different versions of Debian and it also helps you to install Debian on your machine to bring it along.
And also Bob Kloff who's one of our organizers is actually running a session on a Debian arcade cabinet.
Which is basically a Debian PC inside an arcade cabinet that will play all the old video games in the 70s and 80s.
Very good. Where is it and when is it?
It's a mad lab which is a venue in Manchester in the northern court.
It's on the second of April and it starts at I believe it was 10 o'clock in the morning.
That's right, isn't it?
That's right.
Yeah.
That's right.
That's right.
Now we spoke to some of the crew that ran the mad lab event last year, I believe.
Is this a completely separate event with separate people or is this a continuation on from anything that happened there?
The mad lab is a venue in Manchester.
It's a funny for sort of geek groups and artistic types of all makes models and operating systems to congregate.
We, Liz and I and Bob and there's about five or six other people that we all got together to work on bringing you cubed into being last time.
Just before the last release.
There's a slightly smaller group of us working on it this time, but we're all still just as dedicated and we're still working on it to make a fantastic day.
Now, if I remember rightly, mad lab isn't a huge venue.
How are you off the space and if anybody wants to turn up, do they have to pre-register or what do they have to do?
Well, we've got tickets to the event website.
Uh-huh. Eventbrites, okay?
Now that people should just go to youcubes.info.
It'll have a page on there to go and get your own ticket and you can register for the event.
Turning up on day is possible.
We have to bear in mind health and safety restrictions in the building.
So we can't really go over a certain number of people.
If anyone turns up, we can obviously let people into a certain degree.
Okay, so the message for you to get tickets.
So we've got an idea of numbers in advance.
So the message LR Joe Pondin is book early.
Correct. Yes, yes, very much so.
So how did you guys manage to get, how shall I put this, volunteered to organise this thing?
I think the volunteers themselves, didn't they?
So, yeah.
And this is one of the guys that's involved in organising Blackpool love.
I don't know whether you're formal enough to class yourself with anything,
like chairman or anything like that.
No, I'm just at an attendee.
A Blackpool look.
But we like to get out and do different things.
We've done about five or six events in the last 12 months.
Go around Manchester, Liverpool and also some bits of pieces in Blackpool itself.
And aside from loads doing this fantastic outreach work from its look,
about two or three releases back on Ubuntu.
I organised the release party in Manchester.
Again, with the help of a few other people.
But so I'm also involved in one of the groups that meets the Madelow,
which is called Hackman.
The last release when it was coming up, I was talking to a few people that were involved in the big party.
And a few people that were involved in Hackspace.
And I sort of said, no, that anyone wants to get involved,
post a message on the Ubuntu UK mailing list.
And, you know, small groups, a small group of people,
kind of put that up and said they were interested.
I can't remember if it was me that actually said,
let's do this event or if it was just a general consensus that we wanted to do an event
to try and prove the community spirit in the Manchester and North-West area in general.
Are you planning to have another release party for 1104?
If we do, I won't be the one that's organising it.
My wife gives you two days ago.
I mean, you've been lucky even to catch me tonight.
Yeah, it won't be me that's organising it. Let's put it that way.
Anything else that you want to prime your potential attendees for the event?
Anybody wants to turn up with any particular skills to help out?
Or anybody else needed to do any talks?
We'd like anyone to turn up.
No matter what they do, you turn up and know everything about Ubuntu,
there'd be anything like that.
I wouldn't come up and say, I know nothing, tell me more.
And it's on all of a sudden to say, yeah, this is what you can do today and show them what's on offer on the day.
But all the people who are there who know something about subjects can put their name on the board
and say, I want to give a talk on this subject and we'll give them the resources to do it.
No problem, free charge.
And those are there to learn and not sit there to teach from each.
Good, OK.
And those are there to code, to code.
All right.
Ed, you're sitting very quietly in the background. Anything you want to ask?
No, I'm just listening intently.
Shall we wrap up and get on with things?
Because it's Friday night and we're all young, free and single,
and should be putting on our dancing trousers.
You don't sound convinced.
Les, are you still there?
I'm still there, yeah.
Are you still awake?
I've been working in the background.
I'm working in the background, are you up tall?
Well, there we are.
We've kind of pulled back the curtain in Wizard of Oz fashion,
and you've seen or heard just how much of a mess we go through to produce these episodes.
But it all comes out in the edit, though, doesn't it, really?
You'll take all the worst bits out in your office.
Have a fantastic podcast.
Sometimes it turns out better when I leave all the worst bits in.
Yeah.
So Les, before we disappear,
give us a quick reminder of YouTube.
When is it? Where is it?
Yeah, YouTube is the second of April,
and it's going to be at Mad Lab in Manchester.
It's a free event.
Tickets are available from the website, which is uq.info.
So come along, enjoy yourselves, bring some kit,
we can install Ubuntu or Debian or Linux Mint or CrunchBang or anything on it.
We can talk about things, and we can help each other.
Excellent. Thank you very much, Les.
Say thanks to John for us.
I think he disappeared sort out real life, because he's got one.
I'll pass that on now.
Thank you.
Let's start with the event.
Shall we do the usual and say good night?
Say good night, Ed.
Night.
And Mr Wilkins.
Good night.
Pause in case Dave decides he wants to say good night again.
No.
No.
Good night.
We even sing it.
And for me, Robin Catling, we'll see you on the next episode.
Thank you very much. Good night.
It's going to be a better way of doing this, you know.
Thank you for listening to Hack with Public Radio.
HPR is sponsored by Carol.net.
She'll head on over to CARO.NT for all of her dreams.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
