[SC.LUG] Software Freedom Day Results

[Lucy]

Manchester Free Software's Software Freedom Day at the Marbella Cafe

 The day started with fitting an extra switch (needed so that both the
 office machines and the cluster computers could use the internet
 connection) and powering on the LTSP cluster machines to check
 everything was still working. The computers were only moved into the
 Marbella Cafe Friday afternoon and there was still lots to tidy and
 check. Thanks to Robert, Steffi and everyone working at the cafe for
 helping out!

 From about 11.30am we had a steady stream of people stop by for a
 coffee and a chat. Everyone was interested and impressed by the LTSP
 setup. For those who wondered, the server has a 3Ghz Sempron processor
 with 2GB ram and runs everything for the four thin client machines
 with hardly any load. We hope to add a few more clients in the near
 future.

 It didn't take people long to start playing games, like asteroids, and
 running flash heavy websites on the machines. One of the few problems
 we found was that Tux Racer does not play well with LTSP
 (unsurprisingly) and slowed down all of the clients!

 There was a bit of a lull around lunchtime, which was a shame because
 the food was really good. Things picked up again in the afternoon
 though. Overall, we handed out plenty of information sheets, CDs,
 badges and stickers. We all got to meet a wide variety of people from
 lots of different backgrounds, but who had all heard of free software
 and were keen to find out more.

 I think it was a really fun day and best of all, there's now a cafe in
 town using free software to provide free internet access (and wireless
 for those with laptops) and serving wonderful food.

 Thanks again to everyone who turned up and to those who helped out.

 Plenty of people had cameras and some photos can be found at:
 http://picasaweb.google.com/lucybridges/SoftwareFreedomDay2008#
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/16743931@N00/2872799118/in/photostream/

 I hope to see some new faces at our talk in October.


 Lucy


 p.s Don't forget about the BCS/NO2ID/ORG talk this Tuesday about
 privacy and security in the database state
 (http://manchester.no2id.net/content/privacy-and-security-public-meeting)