[Sderby] Linux testing day

[Mike]

On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 08:02:42AM +0100, Jellybeanz wrote:
> Hello folks,
> Its good to see some movement on here, I have just come back from LUG radio live 2008... with plans, to be executed with a cunning array of leavers and pulleys.
> What I think would be a fantastic idea is to have a "linux testing day" in the centre of Derby, this would be a day where we set up a few boxes with different flavours of Linux on them (I have 2 boxes but more would be good) I have been intouch with the Debian guys, The Redhat and Fedora guys... Ubuntu... Suse.. blah blah, to get some stuff to give away, so far I have got a load of free T-shirts, stickers, pens, teddys.. the list goes on. oh and not forgetting free CD's and DVD distros to give away.
> All I need to pull this off is a little help, a venue and some boxes to have a fresh install on so people can come and take a look. Its aimed at people who currently use windows but want to know more about Linux, alot of people are afraid of trying it because they dont know if it will work with there hardware or that its easy to set up.
> My aim for it to be a succesfull event is to get people attending to have a play, see a demo install and hopefuly become a user. I am thinking about holding a meeting a week or so after, so that if anyone has any issues then they can come along and get help. They dont have to install linux to be a member of our group, everyone is welcome. lets hope the meeting will be more of a social event rather than a "Fix it" event, however I have another cunning plan just incase it becomes a "fix it" event.
> See you soon I hope
> Clare

This used to be run as a national event, many years ago called "Linux
Install Day".  The idea was that you rocked up to your local LID with
your computer and got one of the knoledgable folks to install Linux on
it.  This presents a few issues:

1) When you install Linux on someone's machine and their washing machine
then stops working, they get p***ed

2) Noone really wants to tote their machine over to the LID

3) It doesn't take a degree in rocket science to install Linux these
days

SDLUG held a Linux install day in Derby as part of the nation event a
few years ago (back in 2002, I think).  This was themed as more of a
Linux Demo Day though.  It was held at the Friend Meeting House in
Derby, near the Flowerpot.  On the positive side, it was well attended,
we had plenty of kit and the hall was cheap (though it was paid for by
PNL.)

The things we needed to improve were:

1) The location was a bit average, it was down a side street on the
outskirts of Derby and suffered from bad parking and no passing trade

2) There was a lack of our target audience.  Although we got a few
people along, most people who were there were SDLUG.

I think that the kit for the event is readily available and easy to
arrange.  The things that we need to think about are:

1) Venue.  This is a bit tricky as it really needs to be city centre to
attract passing trade and people can easilly pop in on their way into
town or something.  The issue here is that venues are expensive.  I have
a bit of good will with St Peters Church after I did some work there a
while ago and I know they have ADSL available.  This leads onto:

2) Maybe we can get someone to sponsor room hire for us?

3) Advertising, I'm sure people would be happy to pop in on their way to
town, if only they knew about it

4) Follow on: We'd probably attract a lot of people to take an interest
if a social/support group existed.  Wait, isn't that called a LUG?  We
should arrange a regular session of pub meets for social/support and try
to arrange some techy talks for the people to attend.

My 2p.

Mike.