[wlug_org] Installfest report

[Brent Wood]

I figure I should scribble summat out, so some scribble follows :-)

Total of 48 installs/fixes/tidies as far as I can work out. The SUSE 9.2 Pro
kits from Novell were easily the most popular, with 19 systems. We also had 3x
Mandriva/Mandrake, 5x SUSE 9.3, and 9 Ubuntu/Kubuntu. Even one Fedora system,
for a Fedora fan, although it wasn't on the list of supported distros. We wanna
help as many as possible after all :-) The rest were fixes & help with existing
installs rather than new installs. Pretty much on a par with last year, but, (I
think due to Novell's SUSE Pro kits looking soo good) a swing to SUSE as the
preferred distro to install.

We also gave away about 45 DSE Open Office CD's, and about 20 (I'm not how many
turned up from various sources) OpenCD's, as well as LiveCD disks.

Generally there seemed to be less hardware issues than last year, though they
didn't disappear entirely. 3 external modems were sold to avoid winmodem
hassles, Chris put a lot of effort into getting an HP multifunction
scanner/printer to work with Ubuntu, eventually winning by TKO in the 49th
round.

One slightly under spec Dell laptop was set up with Kubuntu. Everything seemed
to work except the DLink wireless LAN card. Jethro's came to the fore & that
too will hopefully be sorted. (No mains adapter & the batteries lasting just
long enough to complete the initial install was just one of those little joys
of such events!)

With the extra space Silicon had arranged over last year we were much less
crowded, even with the same number of installs going on, people could wander
more easily and see what was being done.

The presentations seemed to go very well (again), special thanks to Carl (who's
great presentations always raise the target for the rest of us!) as well as
Jethro & Michael. I had some technical problems, sigh, as did some others, but
we all got there eventually.

A first for this year was setting up some systems with each of the distros
running as demo's, so people could see & try them before choosing which distro.
We had Mandriva, SUSE 9.2 and Ubuntu systems for people to try, and there was
someone using at least one every time I checked. Thanks to all the Luggites who
wandered through this area to help & answer questions. This will be a must have
at future events.

Special thanks to Jethro, for his CD burning support (and help in other areas).
Just as well his CDRW drive has water cooled bearings. Also Peter for those
ever so useful labels. It makes things so much easier for people when they can
easily sort out the helpers from the helpees. And Kris, for his early work
getting the flyers done and out there. I heard mentioned it was his flyer stuck
up by someone in a workplace tea room that got them interested in attending,
and I'm sure that applied to more than just one!

Thanks also to the rest of you who turned up and helped on the day, stuck
fliers up around the place, and generally contributed how you could. It's all
much appreciated.

By my count there were 14 Wellylug members who showed up. Even if only for
Silicon's food and prize :-)  (sorry if I've missed some of you) 


And last but by no means least, the sponsors.

Having taken enough books from Dymocks shelves to cover two trestle tables, you
could barely see a gap on their shelves. A great range of OS related computer
books on display, though sales were down on previous years, interest was still
high.

DSE passed out flyers and helped advertise, asd also provided 100 of their Open
Office CD's to give away. We appreciate their support for the fest, and also
for Linux in NZ generally. 

Novell's SUSE Pro sets proved very popular. Getting these sets with such
comprehensive printed user and admin guides, as well as the software on CD &
DVD was great. I felt they helped us raise the profile of OS & Linux, showing
the professional as well as the community side of the OS movement.

And, again, special thanks to Silicon & Liam. A great venue, wonderful support
and sponsorship, from lending a laptop to run a promo on, to donating the 19"
screen as a prize (drawn tomorrow), providing a great spread for the Luggites
there (not that I really need it!), and the behind the scenes time & effort
involved to clear out their assembly areas so we can use them just for a day.
Fantastic support for the Installfest & Wellylug. Greatly appreciated!


So thanks to all involved, our third 'fest at Silicon. Hopefully the tradition
will continue next year, but it's not something I really want to think about
right now :-)



Thanks everyone,

   great job, done well!


          Brent