Linux - Where do you want to go tomorrow?

The Small Linux Users Group of Vermont (Slug-VT) is proud to announce its first

Installfest!

Of course, the real name for it is the

SLUGFest!

It'll be held on Saturday, April 17th at the Hill associates office in Colchester, VT.  Here are the details.  By the way, the temporary site for updated versions of this page is http://slartibartfast.pa.net (http://slartibartfast.pa.net).  Its permanent home will be at http://www.slug-vt.org.  I strongly suggest you check back on this page a few days before the event and recheck that you have everything.

Who:

While anyone can attend the installfest, we're giving first time installers priority.  The event is designed to help you over the first hurdle of a Linux system; getting the operating system installed.
 

How much:

Free. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
The event is free and the Linux cdrom is free.  There are even free prizes - but you'll have to attend to find out what!
 

Where to go:

Hill Associates is on the border between Winooski and Colchester. From Burlington/Winooski,go up main St. as if you're going to the on-ramp for I-89 North.  When you get to the light with Mcdonalds on the right, turn left up the twisted road to Libby's diner. From I-89 South of exit 16, take 89 North to exit 16.  Take a left at the end of the off-ramp and drive less than 1/4 mile to the light with McDonald's on your left.  Take a right there and drive up the Libbys diner road. From 89 North of exit 16, take 89 South to 16, take a right at the end of the off-ramp and drive less than 1/4 mile to the light with McDonald's on your left.  Take a right there and drive up the Libbys diner road.

At the top of the short road, turn right and drive down to the end of the parking area; Hill Associates is the glass building on your right.  Go in the main door and walk downstairs or take the elevator to the bottom floor.  The lab we'll be using is at the end of the hall on the right.
 

When:

There will be a pre-Installfest breakfast at 7:45 at Libbys next door.  Anyone is welcome to attend.  The discussion will be on organizational details and deciding on who handles what tasks.  All volunteers are encouraged to attend.  At 8:30 we'll head over to set up the room.
Doors open at 9am.  It'll take a little while to get your machine checked in and set up, so we'll start installing by 9:30 sharp.  The installs will go until noon or so.  If your install is taking a little longer than normal, someone will be there to help you until 1pm; those that finish early can take a break for lunch.  There are quite a few restaurants within walking distance.
At 1PM there will be an organizational meeting for Slug-VT.  Feel free to attend either event.
 

Getting ready:

- You'll need to sign up ahead of time - we only have space for 16 computers.  Send email to Bill Stearns, [email protected] .  Those spots are currently full but we are starting a waiting list for any spots that open up, and you'll get first shot at the next Installfest. Please note that everyone is still welcome to attend the Users group Meeting at 1pm! The room will hold more once we clear out the tables. We'd still appreciate knowing that you're coming, though.
- Make a full backup of everything on your PC.  Make two!  While we'll do our best to leave your existing files untouched, we don't want to be playing with your sole copy of anything.
- Either buy a new hard drive on which to install Linux, or decide which partition on your existing drive can be deleted.  Make sure you've moved all your files off that partition.  While a basic install of Linux can be made in 200M, 600M to 1G of free drive space give you a much richer environment.  If you want to try to use the free space on an existing dos drive, we'll try to help you do that.  You'll need to be ready right at 9am because we need some extra time to get that set up.  Defragment your drive on the Friday night before you pack up.  You must have a backup of this data or we'll refuse to try.
- Your system must have a 3.5" floppy drive.
- We need to get the Linux files onto your system.  You'll need either a cdrom drive, a 10baseT Ethernet card, or a 10/100 Ethernet card.  We'll supply the actual CDROM, the network cables, the hub, and the server with another copy of the files.  If you have neither an Ethernet card nor a CDROM drive, you must contact Bill ahead of time to reserve a loaner card.
- Write down the details about the hardware in your computer:

What to bring:

Almost everything!
You'll need to bring the following:
 

Here's what you can leave at home:


What to expect:

When you leave, the odds are really good that you'll have a working Linux computer!  A few may have suboptimal video, some sound cards and printers may not be fully supported, but on the whole, most of the working environment should be ready to go!
 
 

Organizational details:

    If you're interested in helping others install Linux, we can really use your help.  Please come to the pre-Installfest breakfast at 7:45 at Libby's next door.
    Here's what we need and who's handling it so far:
 
What Who State
25 CDROMS Ben Done
Hubs Ben and Hill Associates Done
Room, tables, and chairs Hill Associates Done
Internet Connection Hill Associates Available if needed
10 ISA NICS Rob Mount, Bill, Ben, other? Done
Coax cables, T's and terminators Clem Yonkers
Power strips and power cables Clem, Bill Done
1 or 2 PCMCIA NICs Ben, Bill Done
Stickers and Post-it notes to indentify equipment Bill Done
Juices and Soda Bill Done
Bagels and cream cheese Bill
Installfest invitation letter Bill Done and mailed
Installfest details page Bill You're reading it!
Floppies Bill and others All bought, not loaded yet.
Installfest signs Erik Wheeler In process
HOWTO printouts Chris Brenton and Ben Deliduka
Installation reference printout Chris Brenton Done
FTP server Ben
NFS Server Todd
8 10baseT cables Rob Mount Done
Gifts Bill All ordered or arrived
Digital camera Clem Yonkers

 
 

Jobs:

 
Job Who
Checking in and carrying equipment, placing stickers
Setting up cabling
Handing out CD's, getting user information for giveaways
Handing out folders and documentation
Mentoring, helping identify equipment, answering questions during the install. Ben, John, Todd, Chris, James, Clem, Erik, Steve?
Main install walk through Bill Stearns
First time user login and what to do Chris Gay
Xwindows configuration John Wagner
Sound card configuration
Printer configuration
Internet access configuration Chris Brenton?
Cleanup Everyone!

 

Contact information:

Temporary web site: http://slartibartfast.pa.net

Bill Stearns, unofficial Installfest instigator: [email protected] , daytime phone 802-655-4831 (9:30am-10:30pm M-F), pager 802-351-2538 (useful for "Bill screwed up the directions, how do we get there?" type questions :-)

Ben Deliduka, President of SLUG-VT , [email protected] .