[IndiChix] [LinuxChix India][XX-POST][ANNOUNCE]Installfest on 27th and 28th February

[Easwar Hariharan]

Hello all,

I intended to hold a demonstration and installfest of
Ubuntu at my college a few months ago,which didn't work out because
the projector
was unavailable.I plan to do the fest again,this time successfully, on
27th and 28th Feb,with the demo on 27th and installfest on 28th respectively.

This demo+installfest is being held in conjunction with a technical
fest organised by six engineering college student branches of the
IEEE(http://www.ieee.org) Bombay Section called IEEE 360
Degrees(http://www.ieee360.com).The fest is called FOSSCan in the
spirit of Barack Obama's "We Can" philosophy,to demonstrate that FOSS
can be a drop in replacement for proprietary solutions in the desktop
arena.

My (more) fleshed out plan follows,please tell me what you think of it. :)

Demonstration:

On 27th,I plan to set up 4-5 machines with Ubuntu 8.04[LTS] installed
with eye candy and requisite non-free codecs and to attract people
with compiz effects and natural curiosity and explain to them the
various replacements for applications they use on Windows(TM).As Mehul
has helpfully provided,we need to show them reasons to switch,which
will be parallels for the applications they use on Windows(TM)

Explain the features vis-a-vis Windows,career possibilities and use of
GNU/Linux in universities and companies abroad.We organize an install
fest next day for those interested.

Installfest:

I have 28 odd Ubuntu 8.04 32 bit CDs.I plan to install for those who
bring their boxes and hand them a CD.If people can't bring their
machines,ask them to check out the installation procedure(which will
be a presentation),and hand out
CDs.

Also,planning to provide Fedora 10 installs for those who wish to try
out a different distro.Need help here,RedHat family is an "alien" to me. :P :)

If I run out of CDs,I ask them [previous day]to bring their flash
stick and create a bootable image on them,provided their boxes have
USB boot capabilities.Also planning to keep a CD Writer handy.

Where I need help in this plan is to arrange for the machines for the
first day.I have presently arranged for 3 desktop machines,but a wide
range of hardware is preferable.

Hence,if anyone can get along laptops pre-installed with Linux or
VM machine, that'll be of help to me during the demonstration,because I
would be sure all the hardware works with Linux(or at least know which
hardware to skirt) and there will be no "Eh,this thing should have
been working" moments.Ideally,I plan to have a range of specifications
from low power to highly powered rigs.

I also need experienced people to lend their expertise in framing how
to speak to people who drop in to check out the machines on the first
day.
Therefore I invite willing members of LCIN to speak about
GNU/Linux to people who are interested in finding out more after
experiencing the Operating System.
And,last but not least,I need to be pointed out holes in the plan,and
help with patching them.

Location:
Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology
DY Patil Campus(aka Vidyanagari)
Nerul
New Bombay

Infrastructure:
A classroom big enough to fit at least 80 people,a projector,and lots
of nooks and crannies to sit down for an intense discussion or two for
the philosophically inclined. :)
Seating is standard classroom benches (quite comfortable).

Timing:
On 27th,Friday:Through the day,for maximum exposure time.Primetime would
be between 12:30pm to 02:30 pm,when people leave for lunch break,and
in the evening at around 3:30pm to 5:30pm,when people start leaving
for home.

28th,Saturday:12:00 pm onwards,end time depending upon number of participants
who register previous day.

Also like to emphasise that the install fest is open to all,and not
just students of the college,having pulled off a minor coup with
people from outside being allowed to attend and organise the fest.

Regards,
Easwar
Registered Linux user #442065