CHUUG Install-Fest Central Fall-2002 Seminar Series Sunday, Sept. 22 - 12:00 to 5:00

The low-down:

Updated 9/19/02, 10:00

What's up our sleeves?

> Also - do we have a main speaker for the event?

Well, I was hoping that there would be no "main speaker" for the event. I viewed this task as a group of members, taking turns to demo and answer questions about Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, etc.

The only example I can think of off hand is wine tasting. When you go to a winery to taste wine, the owners of the winery want to sell you some of their product. Therefore, they usually set up a bar where you can sample most if not all of their wines for sale. They will also talk to you about the wine, telling you how it was made, why it tastes or smells the way it does, and so on. The purpose of all of this is to get you to purchase one or more of their bottles -- if not immediately, then sometime later when you see their product in a store.

We have a similar goal: to get our participants to try our preferred operating systems. Therefore, I propose that we adopt the same strategy, since it appears to suit our "product" very well. We should encourage the participants to try Linux on our demo boxes while they are there. We should show off what it can do. We should discuss the relative merits of FreeBSD versus Linux versus NetBSD. We should answer their questions to the best of our ability. And finally, we should point out that they can take Linux with them when they leave -- which they can run off of a CD that we give them -- and they can install Linux or one of the BSD's for themselves with very little effort after the event. This is the strategy that I had in mind.

Therefore, I think that a couple of individuals (I already have a couple of good volunteers, but we can always use more) taking turns is better than one main speaker with a prepared presentation. This "show and tell" type of approach works much better, IMHO, for the kind of chaotic atmosphere that pervades an installation-oriented event.

I hope that this email gives everyone a better understanding of what I hope to accomplish on Sunday.

- Brian

So, what kinds of cool stuff do we have planned for the seminars?

Send me items to add to this list!

• DemoLinux CDs to demo and give away (if some kind people volunteer to burn some)
  And here's my edited version of the DemoLinux manual.

• Demo machines:

  • A few laptops (or desktops if you feel like lugging them in) cool software like OpenOffice or Mozilla
    Have one (Josh), need one or two more

  • One or two machines (again, laptop or desktop) with fast CD-ROM drives to run the DemoLinux CD.
    Plenty of RAM would be a plus here, too.
    Have one desktop (Adrian), would like another

Who's doing what for the InstallFest?

This is a list of people currently signed up to help with the installfest (volunteers)

(If you're looking to attend as an installee, go to the CHUUG web site)

If you'd like to help with the InstallFest, contact Brian or Josh.

Help me fill in this list!

What we need help with:

• A few installers (let us know what you're comfortable installing)

• Publicity (email Dave Rigby just so he knows what's covered)

• Install Media for:
  RedHat Linux

• Logistics (email Josh)

  • Someone to man demo machines and answer questions from non-install attendees

  • Help with set-up and tear-down

  • Speakers! (email Brian)

  • Whatever else comes up (and stuff ALWAYS does)

If you can help please let us know - we need to have an accurate count of volunteers so we know how many registrations to accept!

Guidelines for demo machines:

Demo machines should be set up with a suitable locked-down guest account.  Username: "installfest" password: "chuug" are recommended.  Take whatever steps are necessary for your OS to deny network logins for this account!  Also, this account shouldn't be able to sudo or su to root.  If you're running a desktop environment, put a few icons there for a web browser, word processor, etc.  If you don't have a desk environment, perhaps you can have a web browser, etc. start automatically on login.   These machines should demonstrate how friendly *nix can be.

Note for laptop demos:
Since laptops walk off easily, please consider having a way to lock your machine to the table and keep easily-removed peripherals to a minimum.

Get 'yer parted boot floppies!

Here's my custom parted boot floppy image. Just gunzip and 'dd' this to a freshly-formatted floppy and you're ready to go!

Looking for flyers?

Official CHUUG propaganda page (courtesy of Brian Mays)

Back to my personal page