[TriLUG] Triangle Open Source Lab meeting 5/24 from 7 PM until 9 PM - RSVP

[Steve Litt]

On Wednesday 16 May 2007 10:50, Israel J. Pattison wrote:
> I think the Installfests, taken as their name suggests, are outdated.  I
> don't hear many calls for help installing Linux any more.  And that was
> exactly the excuse I got the last time I asked about an Installfest.

IMHO "Installfest" is a name, discriptive in the prior century, applied to 
something new this century.

I think around the turn of the century, "installfests" kept their name but 
really became "hackfests", where everyone would gather in one room and do 
whatever task they needed to do, confident that when they ran into trouble, 
there would be many other experts in the room.

Installfests are also social, where everyone can gather and it's not rude to 
talk over the speaker, because there's no speaker. It's a freeform 
celebration of geekdom, and half the people go home with some new capability.

There are always people who come to an Installfest boxless. They come to 
observe, talk, and have a good time.

It's hard to find a good place for an installfest. Ideally there's lots of 
table space, lots of power outlets, broadband, and NO EXISTING COMPUTERS TO 
GET IN THE WAY. It must be a place that doesn't freak out when people wheel 
in computer equipment on handtrucks.

IMHO Installfests must be long -- start at 9am, go til at least 4pm -- we're 
talking Saturdays here, because it takes considerable time to compile a 
kernel, or download and install a distro, or whatever. 

Most Orlando LUGs have a "meeting after the meeting" at a restaurant, where 
several of us brag and bs, after which talk veers off into wide ranging 
topics, often non-geek. Then there's the "meeting after the meeting after the 
meeting" in the restaurant's parking lot, where the bs somehow returns to 
Geek topics. People slowly drift away from the "meeting after the meeting 
after the meeting", and generally when the number gets down to 3, the thing 
disbands, although I've participated right down to 2.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware
http://www.troubleshooters.com/