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Linux Installfest At MIT On February 28
Bellhead (
Second-Tier Associate to the First-Tier Minion, BLU) writes "The Boston Linux & Unix User Group's 16th Linux Installfest is being held at MIT on Saturday, February 28. Linux users in and around Boston, Massachusetts will have access to expert help and tools in order to install Linux on their computers. The BLU's volunteers will help anyone who shows up and brings their computer, free of charge (they accept donations). See the BLU Website for details and directions. Information about the BLU is at http://www.blu.org."
Not trying to troll, I'm really wondering whether something like this is needed. The major distros have such nice installers these days, I was able to walk away during my Fedora install after doing nothing but inserting the CD and selecting a few options.
2004 has been declared the year of Linux for joe user, as by many organizations. Grab your typical Linux distro such as Mandrake, SuSE or Fedora, and see that they are all easier than Windows these days. But, we need to get linux to the joes, that means helping the Joes. To do this, we need to "Introduce" people to linux with an install fest.
Organize it. Decide what time you want to do it, then make a list of all your freinds and family you want to invite to it. Make your invitations, and send them to your freinds. Dont make the install fest a geeky talk. Make it a freindly party.
On the day, set up a computer (any old computer will do, get that old pentium III out of the basement) As a "demonstration" pc, and hook it up to a projector, So people can see Linux nice and big. Invite them to bring over a computer or laptop, so that they can try Linux themselves.
Start off with a presentation using OpenOffice Impress, explaining what is Linux, about its History, Why should you use it and Why am I introducing it to you.
After the presentation, give people a guided tour of the KDE desktop, explaining how to use Linux, run programs, changing their settings. But whatever you do, DO NOT show them the console, if you do, then you scare everyone off. Sorry cli fans, the future of linux is cli-less. Show them the best of Linux. Show them the games, let them play the games. Show them howto create pictures with the gimp, Show them music with Juk, play some movies with Kmplayer, show them the galaxy with kstars, show them Wine, so they know that they dont have to abandon their old Windows programs.
Then, after the tour, its time to install. If people were brave enough to bring a computer along, hook it up to the projector, and install Linux on it. Show him how easy it is to boot off the cd, select the language, resize their windows partition (explain partitions like cake slices, and give Linux the bigger slice), select the packages and install. Then reboot and show them the boot menu, point out that Windows is still there in the unlikely event they want to go back, then boot up and watch them see their shiny new desktop. Then, install Linux on any other machines there.
Next, its party time. Treat your freinds to a Linux Buffet, with delicous Linux style food, that Linux users eat. give them party bags with Linux goodies, including a Knoppix disk so they can Linux at home.
So, introduce the world of Linux today, with your own install fest and party!
Now we /. LUGs??? /. users come.... Wait...
i can see it now hordes of
we all use *nixes anyways... nevermind
Cool Linux
A Linux News Site
Our ACM chapter used to do this at our school and it was very benificial. First, for the publicity - all us computer geeks would setup machines showing off what cool things you could do with linux. Furthermore, you would see normal people walking in with their computers throughout the day and getting linux installed on it, by friendly people. These things drew alot more attention that a simple booth to pass out discs would have.
Secondly, having an event like this is a wonderful catalyst. Most of the people who brought in machines had been thinking about installing linux, but had reservations and doubts, or were busy and never got around to it. Having someone to help in the odd case that there are problems is very reassuring and is a good way make sure they get off on the right foot.
Also I heard in the past that there was someone who would every year bring in some machine which they just could not get linux installed on, as a challenge. We had some mad skill kernal hackers, who would go so far as modifing the drivers to get the thing to work, and most of the time they succeeded. One of the guys there gained the reputation as "the guy who could get linux to run on a paperclip wrapped around a pencil".
Third, I can't understate the fact that people like dealing with other people. It was a good time, and everyone walked away with a favorable impression of the free software community.
If I brought them my Macintosh LC-III, would somebody even know how to install Linux on that? The docs just confused the crap out of me. There's probably a lot of architectures like that I suppose. How many are just going to be vanilla x86 installs?
. . . so, basically, Linux is an operating system that is so hard to install and use that even MIT students need help?
Has one each semester...
not sure about the slashdot proness of this website, so copy paste, no click for you!
http://siglinux.utacm.org/
They get stumped? I mean, it's bad enough when a relatively experienced user gets stumped on Linux (Linux newbie, relatively experienced over all) and people in like #Fedora or #WineHQ are stumped. But if you put all your hopes into a LUG and something breaks.... I guess the only way to make sure that doesn't happen is to stay away. I have notoriously bad luck with Red Hat. I have not managed to get a single install up and running immediately, and I'm running a Celeron 366 with standard components.
I've been experimenting with building a Linux PVR recently and if I can get a configuration working, I'll be at the installfest to kickstart PVR's.
- soupmaster