[Lancaster] did some work on the server

[Andy Baxter]

On Tuesday 18 May 2004 16:34, Taylor Nuttall wrote:
> Thanks again to all inputting on this.
>
> I mentioned to Andy and ken separately that we have the opportunity to
> get around £500 to support community and voluntary activity - I feel
> the LUG input and the kitchen space itself qualify for this.
>
> I need some input for ideas on what we could use the £500 for.
>
> Ideas so far
>
> launch event - training activity etc.
> promotional literature
> cd writer
> memory for server
> improvements to space - e.g. signage / fire exit door handle / lock for
> door in corner / other?
>
> Whatever it is the emphasis will have to be about accessibility to and
> use of the resources rather than the resources themselves - so we can't
> just buy a piece of kit.

Personally, I think it's more important to have the room set up and running as 
well as we can get it and looking friendly and accessible for possible users 
than to spend a lot on advertising - there are quite a few free advertising 
channels we could tap into if we want, so this needn't involve spending too 
much money. The main thing not to do is to put out a load of leaflets before 
it's all quite ready, and have people turning up and being disappointed.

You said the money can't go into equipment - is this something that comes with 
the funding, and is there any way we could justify spending maybe 100-150 
pounds of it on some more memory for the server (most important), and some 
kind of removable media drive to go into the room (ideally a DVD/CD-rw, but a 
CD-r would be a start)? I remember running a test on the old setup we had, 
and it was quite short of memory, so getting some more would speed the server 
up a fair bit. And to have a public access computer lab without any removable 
media drives isn't going to work I think.

Apart from this, it might be good to have a launch weekend with a couple of 
workshops - maybe one on a basic introduction to linux, and another on linux 
graphics / multimedia applications. Then print some leaflets which are 
advertising this and also letting people know that the room is open for 
public use afterwards. After this, we could have regular public workshops in 
the room maybe on one Saturday afternoon every month, run on a more informal 
basis where LUG'ers and others could pass on skills they have or show how 
they have got something working. E.g. I'd be happy to do one on how to set up 
a home ADSL webserver using linux, doing graphics/web pages in linux, or 
running a net radio broadcast, or something like that.

andy.

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Thanks, andy.