Long ago I slid my way into the linux world by attending and taking an active part in two different Linux user groups in Denver.  One of these is the Colorado Linux User Enthusiasts, or clue, which got its start in the south Denver metro area.  This group remains very active and generally has a slightly heavier focus on end user and business issues more than deep seeded technical issues.  That doesn't mean they don't talk tech – it's just a different atmosphere than blug.

CLUE is very successful and remains an active group after many years.  They've even spawned additional groups such as clue-north for members on the far north side of Denver who can't make it down south.  Longtime CLUE member david anselmi hosts periodic Linux installfests to help new Linux users (and even experienced ones) get some hands on help.

BLUG, the Boulder Linux Users Group, is hosted in boulder which is essentially a northwest area of the Denver metroplex.  This group had its origins at around NCAR and thus tended toward more technical interests.

Unfortunately, I now live in the colorado springs area and can't make it up for the BLUG meetings (and am basically too lazy to try and make it to the CLUE meetings in south Denver).   But I keep a close eye on both groups through their mailing lists.  Because of this I can tell you BLUG is also still thriving after many years and recently hosted a talk about asterisk, an open source pbx system.

I can't tell you word one about Asterisk because I have yet to learn how to set it up and use it, but what I can tell you is that BLUG members have posted an interesting audio transcription of this talk.  The talk was recorded with LiveScribe, a device that keeps an audio recording while allowing the user to make notes on the talk.  On playback, the notes are displayed and highlighted at the point in the audio where the notes where originally taken.  Very cool.

The talk can be found in two parts: the LiveScribe audio and notes and the outline for the talk.  sean reifschneider of tummy.com gave the talk and did an excellent job.  Sean's a good speaker if you ever manage to catch him at a Python conference.