[clue-tech] Fall and penguins.

[David L. Anselmi]

The next installfest date is now set for the 20th of September in the
DTC.  http://cluedenver.org/display.php?node=installfest

(Sorry, you thought this might be interesting when you read the subject.)

(The following is long.  Trim your posts if you reply.)

(The bottom line: can we do anything at installfest to let regular 
people know that there's an alternative to Mac and Vista?  Not that they 
*should* switch but that they *can* switch.)

It occurs to me, after conversations with different people, that 
installing Linux isn't really that tricky anymore.  So I wonder whether 
we can adapt what we do to meet a broader audience.

I've suggested in the past that new users might like to hear about the 
history of UNIX/Linux, or be introduced to the command line, or learn 
the basics of networking.  So we could give some talks on those--sort of 
a mega-KISS for those who remember those meetings.  There never seemed 
to be much interest so we've never done such a thing.

Now I hear that new users don't really want a lot of detail on how to 
partition, or build a kernel, or even necessarily how to find the right 
driver for their wifi card.  (They don't mind the latter but would 
rather have it taken care of.)  What they want is how to do the things 
they think computers are useful for.  In some cases they may really want 
a Mac, but we're not here to help Mac users.

The CLUE goal: "we advocate the GNU/Linux operating system" (maybe goal 
is the wrong word for that statement).  So what could we provide that 
would make installfest more interesting to those who don't care how 
computers work but rather how to use them?  (Sort of a drivers ed class 
rather than engine repair.)  Anyone want to bring their non-technical 
family to experiment on?

I've heard people say, "I don't know Linux well enough to teach anyone." 
  Of course that's not true for anyone who uses Linux, but maybe there 
are people who know how to play commercial DVDs (you know, the CSS 
protected kind), or rip DVDs so you can play them from a hard drive, or 
make cool logos with the GIMP, or heck, I don't know.  Anyone like that 
want to come and do demos?

Here's a few things we've solved at installfest lately:

- which is the right wifi driver for my card (Ubuntu didn't detect it, 
or if it did, didn't download the firmware blob needed).

- difficulties due to using a live CD installer on marginal hardware 
(whether because the hardware was old/underpowered or new/not well 
supported)

- impatience when a PII or older takes forever to install packages

- how to port an app to WINE

- getting Windows to coexist with Linux

So the first is a tech support issue--we can provide that to anyone who 
wants to come.  I once was at an Apple store (pre-genius bar era) and 
the techs weren't able to help much beyond reformat/reinstall.  I was 
tempted to put up a sign, "Mac answers $10" because I'd be willing to 
troubleshoot a litte, which was all that was really necessary.

Should we offer quick fixes for people who just want to run in and out? 
  Maybe even to non-Linux users (and perhaps charge for those?)  It 
would take a lot of word of mouth to get anyone to come but we might be 
swamped if we did well.  (Maybe we'd have to put a penguin sticker on 
machines we fixed.  I have a Sun shirt that says, "no, I won't fix your 
computer".  That old "I do this for a living, leave me alone when I'm 
not at work" attitude.  Which doesn't fit the Linux community that I know.)

The next 3 are really geek problems.  Regular users aren't likely to try 
to resurrect old hardware and such.  We have those covered pretty well.

The last, well, that should be built in to a distro like Ubuntu.  Or 
you're talking about a Windows network, which isn't exactly easy even in 
Windows.

Maybe Linux isn't quite ready for this kind of thing but I don't think 
it's too early to start working on it.  A year or two ago wifi cards 
meant ndis wrapper magic.  Now I've gotten 3 different cards to work for 
people without any magic beyond installing the right package (those are 
the ones with proprietary pieces--the all free ones are easy).  I think 
Linux gets better faster than people find new uses for computers (not 
gamers, people :-)

So can we do anything to attract a broader audience?  What do you think?

Dave