!!!! Thanks to all of you for your help, dedication, and patience. As you all know, event organization is a learning process :) so I hope that GUC (and I) overcome our problems next time to plan more properly, anyway thank you very much, it was very successful.
We need a fixed date. Right now, we're aiming for the beginning of the academic term in 5th September 2006. I suggest to make it 2 weeks after everyone's back, so there's time to advertise it in the GUC.
16th September has been decided on.
Let's not call it an Install Fest. It's a free open source software (FOSS) awareness event. Some people have expressed objections about it being a free and non-free open source event. I don't have anything against non-free open source software, like cedega for example. Ideas people?
We had the idea of organising the event into booths, each booth will not have one volunteer but actually a group of volunteers. They will advocate some particular idea or concept they believe in. They are free to choose what they want to talk about, and they will be totally be responsible for providing the materials they need; stickers, posters, hardware, software, CDs, pamphlets. This way people will contribute to something they believe in and at the same time we will have some competition between teams. However the teams must be formed before hand and they should write their idea here, and organize properly with the general volunteer groups, so we don't have duplication of efforts.also, would give the advantage to the lecturer to have prepared well and made sure that everything was ok, finally, will take the load off having to ask for more computer to demonstrate things on.
Some of the volunteers who don't have a certain idea to attach to can oversee the general organization, and manage the resources globally.
Good ?
Phaeronix and I went to the GUC this morning, things will be a little bit difficult.. just a little bit.. because the university isn't very willing to provide more than the place itself (things are still being approved). So what I am asking from all of us is not to depend on any outer resources (as we do not have sponsors, yet). If we need something we will have to get it ourselves and if there are problems we will need to work them out ourselves.
Volunteers should read this carefully: If they would like to demonstrate something not discussed here, just add it. Official Demo list is the table below in "Demos" section, make sure you add yourself there. This is just a space for ideas and organization.
''(Added by thewizardofoz): I'll try to explain as good as I can what I am trying to deliver. If you have anything you would like to see being discussed then cool :) Note that these points are wri(Will still consider)tten out of personal experience and point of view: Points are grouped, so if you are interested in discussing a certain "group", add at the end of it the tag (TAKEN) and copy it into the list below along with your name, the distro (if any needed) you will be using to demonstrate the points, and if you have a laptop or not. If you don't own a laptop but will be needing one, please mention it so we work out.''
(Added by thewizardofoz): I think having our laptops with us would make things much easier, as of whoever could use the distro they want (of course as long as they get to show what they are supposed in a good way), also, would give the advantage to the lecturer to have prepared well and made sure that everything was ok, finally, will take the load off having to ask for more computer to demonstrate things on.
I suggest the following categories of activities:
| Who | Demo | Distro | HasLaptop? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phaeornix | XGL on ubuntu or phaeronix. Could be generalized into the linux desktop state. | ... | ... | |
| Mnabil | programming Languages IDE's (anjuta,Kdevelop,eclipse,Mono). | Ubuntu | yes | |
| Diaa Radwan | Fedora Core (administration/development perspective), Free and Open source talks. | ... | ... | |
| thewizardofoz | WINE, general desktop demos, also ftp/http server, ssh/scp/etc and vnc, dpkg, apt-get, apt-cache, apt-build, etc..., also can take over: installation (explaining it and comparing it to Windows maybe?), also can take over general information/introduction about Linux usage (user management, root, etc...) | Ubuntu | Yes | |
| CVirus | KDE Tour | Kubuntu | Yes | |
| Michael | Java FOSS thing, mysql quick start | OpenSUSE | Yes | |
| Khaled Hosny | X dm's & wm's | ... | ... | |
| Bassist | The Linux command line | Ubuntu | Yes | |
| DarKnesS_WolF | From Zero To drupal CMS | ubuntu | Yes |
At the GUC campus. We need to settle where inside, since it's large. Then we get pictures of the location and post them here.
I have raised this issue with Mr.Motaz , and I am expecting the answer soon. Basically we have the GUC students, other people by invitation, or we could make it open for everyone. We are used to leaving this event open, but circumstances are different this year, so let's wait and see the answer. The answer was that, making it open is difficult due to security and transportation issues. It is possible to allow the known list of volunteers to bring along upto 3 extra visitors. Also we can encourage the GUC students to bring along their friends too. I think this is better than closing down the event to a certain group of people.
We need two things:
Here's where we commit ourselves to this event. Please add yourself to the list.
Anyone else interesd ? Please add your name. People already in the list please try to say what you are interested in doing.
List of needed resource. Some will be provided by the GUC, others will be pledged by us.
| Item | Number |
|---|---|
| Computers | 2 |
| Network Switch | |
| Power cables | |
| Network cables | |
| Wireless access | |
| Webcam | 1 |
| Microphone | 2 |
This will depend on what we're doing. Each person responsible for an area will be responsible for defining needs. phaeron will be responsible for reviewing people's requirements.
here is a good article about streaming a conference. Will somebody interested jump on this?
This is page is here to start organization of the GUC install fest in coordination with our contact from GUC, Mr.Motaz
I have taken initiative on this one.
I took the contact's data from Youssef. His name is Mr.Motaz and I spoke to him today. The offer is still valid.
He will be joining us on the wiki page to organize from the GUC's side.
We need at least two months for this. One month for preparing and one month freeze for executing things physically. According tothe GUC that would mean waiting for the summer courses or the beginning of next academic year, so that we have a reasonable amount of attendees (mainly GUC students).
I am in the middle of talking with a gnome developer who might happen to be in Egypt around the time of the install fest. We can have him as an open source figure to give a speech or something.
We have some ideas about the stuff we can demo.
The GUC needs: an exact list of thing that will be done, things that will be needed, and people involved.
Youssef has provided the following : 1. Agree on venue 2. Post photos of venue 3. Agree from what time to what time 4. Agree on getting GUC transportation for volunteers 5. Format; random demos? Presentation? What? 6. How many hours? More than one day?
Most immediately: We have a rough date range, pinpoint please. As soon as we have that, we need a sticky across the front page and a spam to our members.
Next we will make a list of physical resources needed, communicate it to the GUC so they decide on what they will provide, and we start covering the deficit with pledges.
Right now we also need MORE INPUT people !
dilemma : all veteran eglug event organizers are missing. Most of the volunteer team are first timers.
results : 200+ attendees and 50+ installations in my estimate. Quite good for a closed event.
People were very interested in XGL, desktop and programming.
We had surprise appearances of :
Mr. Tamer .. our new friend from Germany. He gave a short php/zend intro in the end. Mr. Enzo and Mr. Alex .. from itsynergy dropped in to have a look.
problems faced :
Delayed response of GUC people to our requests.
Very limited internet connectivity, due to the "security" constrains.
Incompetence of GUC drivers and transportation supervisor which lead to loss of one volunteer ( he returned home ) and the late arrival of three other volunteers. We owe them an apology. improper preparation of extra and custom packages.
NTFS partitions are still difficult to deal with. Data loss in one laptop due to repeated trials of resizing an ntfs partition. The guy was very frustrated and we owe him an apology. We need to investigate when to recommend NOT to resize partitions. One of the attendees had partition magic, but it also failed to resize an ntfs partition on another laptop.
We managed to use the hall we were assigned in a useful way. But i think the down side was that the sound reverberated badly making it impossible to have group discussions and the main presentations at the same time.
It felt like we needed more volunteers but I think we held up good.
I broke Cvirus's mouse. I also broke my own mobile charger.
Remaining issues :
Calculate how much the volunteers spent and try to spread it out evenly in a friendly way.
In the future :
We need more of these small scale events in other places. Better cooperation with the GUC.