[clue-tech] Installfest hotwash.

[David L. Anselmi]

Here's the rundown from yesterday.  We had about 15 people show up and 
the new location worked out pretty well.  The DeVry staff were very 
gracious hosts.  Thanks to them and to Joanne for setting us up!

I didn't bring distros and the network seemed to be running less than 
256k.  But Ubuntu showed up, and Mepis, so we were OK.

There were several Ubuntu installs and again the live CD didn't work so 
well.  In once case it couldn't display the desktop on a box with 2 
video cards.  In another it couldn't display on an X30 laptop, and it 
didn't recognize a SATA drive that KNOPPIX had no trouble with.

We had a server CD and that worked fine, but it doesn't have KDE or 
GNOME packages and the network was too slow to get them.  After a server 
install, getting KDE is as easy as aptitude install kubuntu-desktop. 
But it would have been nice to have the alternate CDs for *buntu.  None 
the less, there were a couple of successful Ubuntu installs.

I didn't have any luck getting wireless going.  I could associate with 
the AP just fine but then DHCP would give up on an address after 45s. 
Mike Farnsworth did get wireless working, so I'm thinking that network 
manager isn't so robust.  Or I need to figure out how it works better. 
I really ought to try Sean Reifschneider's package[1].

Next time I'll try to get to the site during the week and test that out 
with the network guys there to make sure the kinks aren't on their end.

There was one Mandrake system there with a long list of TODOs but since 
we didn't have any Mandrake wizards we didn't make much progress.  We 
also didn't have a printer or modem, which were two of the TODOs.  I'll 
make a note to encourage people to send their projects to the list so we 
can make sure we're prepared for them.

It seemed difficult to figure out how to get Mandrake software.  We 
didn't find a list of mirrors for updates and the couple of packages 
that we found didn't install.  I wasn't that focused, so maybe it's 
easier than I think but I've had better luck with Fedora (which is 
nowhere near as easy as Debian or Ubuntu).

Sean LeBlanc did a mythdora[2] install that looked nice (once he got 
working CDs).  I'll be interested to hear how it works when he gets 
cable plugged in.

Sean also brought donuts (Krispy Kreme) so we didn't need to get pizza. 
  They went well with the coffee that DeVry made for us.

The facility worked out very well.  We were allowed to stay until 4pm 
even though they close at 1pm.  Since both the building and atrium doors 
lock, getting things out to the car was tricky if you had to make more 
than one trip.  Perhaps we can find a back door that's easier, and we 
need to make sure everyone knows how to call us if they're coming late.

DeVry really made us feel at home, beyond what they needed to do.  I 
appreciate they're help and if you know anyone looking to take classes, 
have them check out DeVry.

The next installfest will be up north in July.  I'll announce dates as 
soon as I can confirm them.

Dave

  1. http://www.tummy.com/Community/software/wifiroamd/
  2. http://swik.net/MythDora