[Nottingham] Re: Linux InstallFest / Awareness Day 1st November

[Michael Simms]

> Now we need lot's of volunteers and ideas for the day ;)

I'll be there

> So far ideas and thoughts for the day which need fleshing out are:
> 
> 1. Bring and Install
> 	They bring their computer, we install Linux.
> 	PROBLEM: Backing up their data.
> 	Personally I think the best we can do is say "make sure you have everything important
> 	backed up before you come"

I agree with this, there is really no feasable way to  ensure complete
system recovery. I think for ease we should, before anything else,
resize their existing partitions, anyone have a good tool for that that
will handle NTFS and other doze partitions (AFAIK the gnu tool only
really handles a few basic types). Then we can set them up for dual-boot
with little or no risk as long as the resize tool works.

People should be aware they need to backup first, however.

> 2. Lot's of demos.
> 	GIMP, Evolution, games , email.

I'll bring in a nice selection of games to demo. Hell, I may even bring
in some stock to sell to them so they can buy and take away some decent
commercial games if they want to

> 3.  Who are we aiming at ?
> 	Joe/Jo public, local businesses ... (all) ?

Id suggest two areas, one for public, one for business, clearly defined
and signed, so that the suits can see what they want, the public can see
what they want, and they dont have to intermingle too much. They will be
interested in completely different things amd mixing it all up will
confuse them probably.

> 4.  Linux tutorials.
> 	Can we get hold of a screen and projector for the day (I'd hope Green's Mill
> 	would have one).
> 
> 5.  Equipement / People
> 	Any offers greatfully received.
> 	We will need machines to run demo's on and probably a network.

I'll bring a box with games to demo, and I'll bring a couple of hubs
(dont have any spare switches but hubs should be enough).

> 6.  Sponsors
> 	Please guv, spare a poor impoverished LUG a copper for a cat cable...

well, if I do go for selling some stuff, I'll put a percentage of profit
to the lug.


> > 2. Lot's of demos.
> > 	GIMP, Evolution, games , email.
> *cough kde* *cough koffice* :)

Personally Im a gnomie but really, whichever looks nicer will be better

> > We hope to use the September meeting to finalise some of the plans and
> > decide upon what we are going to do (and have resources for) including a
> > 'distro war' ie. what distro are we going to install (remember this is
> > probably aimed at the un-initiated so Gentoo is probably not the best idea)
> > and what distro(s) are we going to use for demo machines (eg Knoppix).
> 
> I think you're right. I think pretty much for absoloute beginners it's between 
> redhat and SuSE, and I personally would go for SuSE.. But then, I suspect 
> there will be much disagreement on this :)

I would say Red Hat. Why, because people know the name red hat. If you
say 'Red Hat Linux' people will say 'oh yeah Ive heard of that'. If you
say 'Suse Linux' people will say 'huh?' We need to make sure, if we want
to give people confidence in letting us butcher their machines, we use
words they have heard before and can relate to.

> Let's not forget the does it work on my Mac issue...

My other company is a Yellow Dog Linux partner, I'll bring a YDL distro
with me just in case. I will admit I work with them, but Ive never used
it. Problem there is I have NO idea about a tool for resizing whatever
partitions macs use...

> > 2. Lot's of demos.
> > 	GIMP, Evolution, games , email.
> Right, I was thinking that it may help to do a couple of writeups for
> the software packages.  I did have a great list of packages that we
> could demo but lost between the pub and my study, pants! :(  However
> broadly I suspect the sort of people that would come to an installfest
> would want:
> 1) User productivity apps (someone mentioned koffice) I guess that means
> a browser plus mail and office (DTP?) apps.

Id say Gimp, an office package, mozilla, evolution, that covers most
productivity areas and will make business people happy.

> 2) Games (well we all need some time out right? :).  I don't suspect we
> need to show much in this regard, just something that works on a 486 and
> something cool and requiring a swanky GFX board.

Disagree (I would, but I have reasons). People at home want to use their
computer for games, its one of the main uses for computers in the home.
In the office is different, but at home, definitely games.

> 3) Development, I'm thinking web development as opposed to C/Java here.
> Something like Quanta and Gimp.

Do we really want to go here, chances are there wont be techies, cos
techies already know about Linux. They'll see people coding and go
'urgh, geek geek geek' and run away screaming. Maybe a 3rd area
separated from business and home for 'programming' for the more
technically inclined

> > 4.  Linux tutorials.
> > 	Can we get hold of a screen and projector for the day (I'd hope Green's =
> Mill
> > 	would have one).
> Hmmm, I suspect one-on-one demos would work much better.

Depends how many people are there


> For install:
> 	If a machine has floppy|cdrom|network card we can probably install.
> 	Slackware for floppy only, SuSe|Redhat|Mandrake for the rest.
> 
> 	We can also use a CD distro like Knoppix for people to 'try without
> 	commitment'.

Good idea

> 	I have to admit to last having tried  RedHat(tm) @ v7.2, SuSe @ v6.?
> 	and Mandrake before that but have been lead to believe they are
> 	reasonalby 'novices' friendly ;)

RH and MDK are pretty much fine for newbies. My mother worked out redhat
and she barely knows what a keyboard is

-- 
Michael Simms - CEO, Tux Games
http://www.tuxgames.com