[clue-admin] [Fwd: Re: [NCLUG] CLUE InstallFest, 12 Feb 2005]

[CineEngineer at cs.com]

The InstallFest held at DeVry on Feb 12 was a booming success -- Lab 341 was 
filled with Linux enthusiasts.  The hosting and assistance were facilitated by 
Dusty, Dave, and Gus.  From my point of view, as I took a break from work, 
dashing in, then out of the lab with a bunch of snacks for the crowd, all 
participants appeared to be content, productive, having fun, and communicating.
Joanne Y.

In a message dated 2/12/2005 10:23:33 PM Mountain Standard Time, 
crichey at gmail.com writes: 
> 
> On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 21:27:43 -0700, David Anselmi <anselmi at anselmi.us> 
> wrote:
> >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.
> >
> >I know Liz from one of the CLUE installfests (years ago).  Here are my
> >thoughts.
> >
> 
> [ snips ]
> 
> >Perhaps for her students, CSU could do a HOWTO that gets them the same
> >system as they use in the lab.  
> >
> >Perhaps the people who set up the CSU lab can do their own installfest
> >around that theme (during work hours if they aren't motivated enough to
> >give back to Linux).  Or they could come with students to our
> >installfest and help bridge the gap between what we do and what they
> >want.  I'd be happy to help students follow the CSU lab HOWTO.
> >
> >Perhaps CLUE or NCLUG can sit down with Liz and/or a few students and
> >see how we can align our skills and their needs.  
> >Perhaps her students need some kind of instruction in this.  I've
> >thought in the past about teaching an intro to Linux class (more than a
> >day long)--maybe this is the audience for it.
> >
> >Perhaps Liz should recommend (for extra credit?) reading a sysadmin book
> 
> >
> >To me "help a newbie get Linux installed" is problematic.  What then?
> >Can they get anything useful done with it?  Can they keep it running
> >(patches, install new software, fix config issues when they come up)?
> >(Shoot, my minimalist, open community preferences probably don't fit
> >very well with most newbies, much as I wish it were otherwise.)
> >
> >I'll be interested to see what others say, and I'm really interested in
> >continuing the discussion.
> >
> 
> Lots of good suggestions, but we're all speculating about the nature
> of Liz's problem, and I would like to hear what exactly prompted her
> complaint.
> 
> Just some random comments on Dave's post:
> 
> 1. I have yet to encounter anyone at an installfest who was not
> willing to learn and who had not made some attempts on his/her own.
> 
> 2. Most newbies appear to be thankful for the help and capable of
> persuing Linux on their own with a certain amount of handholding.
> 
> 3. Nothing wrong with walking a newbie through a Debian install. I had
> perfectly good results doing a gentoo install with a newbie who later
> installed a half-dozen other distros on his own, and at today's
> installfest he was working his way through Debian after his SUSE
> turned up with unusable media.
> 
> 4. Nothing wrong with a minimalist system if that's what the newbie
> prefers. OTOH, nothing wrong with KDE or GNOME either.
> 
> 5. Typically there are enough gurus or wanabes at an installfest to
> cover topics like "my printer won't work."
> 
> A little OT here. I worked with a user at today's installfest who came
> with Linspire installed and wanted help getting a modem to work. We
> made some progress, but no phone line was available, so he left with a
> homework asignment. Meanwhile, I was shocked to learn that Linspire
> does not install man!!! I guess Windows refugees only want to push
> buttons and don't care about learning commands.
> 
> 6. An Intro to Linux class offered on a recurring basis is not a bad
> idea, Dave. I'm sure others would be willing to help if you put
> together something.
> 
> -- 
> Collins
> _______
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