[clue-admin] beginners at installfest

Tue Feb 8 11:07:12 MST 2005

I would certainly be willing to help beginners since that is
basically what I am.  Tell her it would be helpful if the
students let us know they were coming and what they
wanted to do.

Gus

On Feb 8, 2005, at 8:18 AM, Crawford Rainwater wrote:

Folks:

I received this last evening.  I plan on responding to her to clarify
that InstallFests are meant for the novice/newbie to attend and try out
Linux to some degree.  However, I do see her point as well since
typically I have had myself and several Linux ETC members there to
assist people out with a 1:4 ratio sometimes of savvy/guru:newwbie.

Thoughts and comments are welcomed from CLUE.  I am guessing she has
attended the NCLUG InstallFests (though I honestly do not know when they
last had one) since her name does not ring a bell.

--- Crawford
CLUE-North Coordinator/Lackie ;-)

-------- Forwarded Message --------
> From: elizabeth boese <boese at CS.ColoState.EDU>
> To: crawford.rainwater at linux-etc.net
> Subject: Re: [NCLUG] CLUE InstallFest, 12 Feb 2005
> Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 20:28:37 -0700
>
> Hi,
> I've a question concerning installfests, as I've been to two install
> fests in the past.
>
>  I'm currently an instructor at CSU teaching intro to programming 
> courses.
> We have our students working on Fedora in the labs, and some students 
> get
> excited and want to know how to get linux installed on their home 
> machines.
> For the past couple of semesters, I've advertised about the installfest
> that comes around,
> though I dont know if many actually attend.
>
> My concern is that they're not welcome at these installfests.
> I shouldn't be advertising about your installfests if my students 
> aren't
> wanted guests!
> Neither you nor I want a situation like that!
>
> I realize that most of my students are either new to CS and/or linux 
> and
> don't necessarily know how to work the command line or understand the
> requirements
> of most of the linux installs (though I found mandrake really easy,
> debian was a nightmere).
> The installfests I've attended tend to be more
> "you're-on-your-own-unless-you-get-stuck"
> and 
> "if-you-want-to-know-that-you-gotta-hire-me-to-teach-a-course-to-you".
> (Though I must say I did have one or two people who really helped me 
> through
> both installfests.)
> However, I didn't get much help until I was absolutely exacerbated and
> pulled teeth to get some help.
> So I believe this is my fault, that I held a disillusionment of the
> purpose of the installfests.
> I honestly naively thought they were intended for those new to linux 
> who
> needed help
> getting their system installed, not just for gurus who want to play 
> with
> a couple of new flavors for fun.
>
> So this leads me to my request.
> You guys in CLUE and NCLUG are the gurus in Linux and seem to like 
> working
> on Linux systems.  Would it be possible to have an installfest where 
> the
> intentions
> are to help those who are flustered and frustrated or just don't know
> what to do?
> However, I get the impression that you cannot find enough helper-people
> for such an activity.
> What if one of my students attended one of your regular Tuesday
> meetings, would you help them install linux?
> I am not going to recommend the installfests anymore, since I don't 
> believe
> that it's intended for the novice.  But I would like to direct them
> somewhere to get help.
> Would you know of anything?  I can inform them about the e-mail list, 
> if
> they'd like to try
> to post their questions there (assuming that's okay with you).
>
> Thanks,
> -z
>
>
> Crawford Rainwater wrote:
>
>> Folks:
>>
>> CLUE will be holding an InstallFest on Saturday, 12 February from 10AM
>> to 4PM at DeVry University's Westminster Campus, 1870 West 122 Avenue
>> Westminster, CO 80234.
>>
>> DeVry has keyboads, mice, monitors, internet access (wired and 
>> wireless)
>> for people to use.
>>
>> I will make available SuSE 9.2 (5 discs), Knoppix 3.7 (1 disc), Ubuntu
>> 4.10 (1 disc for install, 1 for LiveCD), Fedora Core 3 (4 discs),
>> Mandrake 10.1 (3 discs), and Gentoo 2004.3 (1 disc, install, x86) on 
>> CD
>> (Dave Pitts, Gus, Joanne, and/or Rusty will have these discs) for 
>> others
>> to copy/burn.
>>
>> We tentatively have a few "Linux savvy gurus" attending to assist 
>> others
>> in their various needs, though the more, the merrier!
>>
>> Hope to see folks there!
>>
>> --- Crawford
>> CLUE-North Coordinator/Lackie ;-)
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
-- 
The Linux ETC Company
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Louisville, CO 80027 USA
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