[Lancaster] idea for regular computer evening at the Basement

[andy baxter]

hello all,

I've been thinking about an idea which is to have a regular evening at 
the Basement under Single Step where people could come along and use the 
computers there in company. This could mean anything from web browsing 
to writing their own web sites to full on programming, and the idea 
would be that by having an evening like this people would be able to 
share skills and ideas, help each other out with stuff, and also just be 
good company. I'm thinking that there must be a lot of people out there 
working on stuff by themselves who would appreciate the opportunity to 
meet others with similar interests. Also that from the people I've 
talked to so far there are quite a few people who would like to spend 
more time on their own projects but either have trouble finding the time 
or maybe don't know where to start, so this could be a good 
encouragement to get started on things.

I was thinking to make this a bit broader than the Linux group but still 
to have it based around free software - maybe have Linux installed on 
the machines down there and show anyone who needs to know how to use it, 
and if someone really wants to work on a Windows or Mac based project 
then they should bring their own laptop?

I think this has been talked about in the past and one of the obstacles 
has always been paying for broadband access. But the prices are much 
cheaper nowadays (e.g. plusnet have a low bandwidth deal for £9.99 a 
month), and you can also get short term contracts, so I was thinking 
that I wouldn't mind paying for this (for a few months at least) out of 
my own pocket just to kick things off and see if there is the interest. 
(But have a donations jar for people to contribute as well). There may 
also be the option of piggybacking on an existing wireless connection if 
we're lucky (e.g. if the Lancaster mesh has a node near single step.)

My idea was to do this one evening every week - e.g. Thursday evenings 
7-11. Again I wouldn't mind committing to going down one evening a week 
for a few months to start things off, though if anyone else wanted to 
help with this it would be appreciated.

If anyone is interested, also have a look at Access Space's website - 
they are an open access linux lab in Sheffield who have been running 
since 2000 using only recycled hardware and free software.
http://www.access-space.org/?c=overview
We could maybe organise a visit there some time to talk to them and get 
some advice about how to get started?

What do people think?

andy