OxLUG > OxLUGInstallFest > OxLUGInstallFest260502 > OxLUGInstallFest260502PostMortem
OxLUG InstallFest 26/05/02 post mortem
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In general things went well. We helped about 10-15 people, at a rough guess. We even covered our costs (thanks mainly to Alasdair!).
The biggest problem I think was the power cut and the related worries over it happening again. I'm not sure what we can do about this short of moving to a different venue and/or possibly having an ammeter(s) somewhere convenient.
Better record keeping might have been nice, especially for planning future publicity.
It would probably have been useful to have had some leaflets at the door for people to pick up, explaining what was going on, with some blurb about OxLUG and the series of talks following on. Also information for helpers (possibly on a separate leaflet) might have been good.
New versions of KDE etc are just too bloated for old slow computers. We need to pick an older version of something for that kind of thing.
Having some blank 3.5" disks might have been useful.
-- Ganesh
I did intend that for older machines something like debian potato could be installed -- it was certainly available, so this points mostly towards having some guidelines for helpers on what's available
-- Dom
I think it would have been useful to have the "infrastructure" information more clearly to hand for the helpers as well. Something like "You can connect to the wireless network on 192.168.0.x, gateway 192.168.0.1, etc." It would have saved a bit of shuttling to and fro and bugging other helpers. Perhaps other resources could be included as well, such as spare temporary disk space over the network. I suppose this could all be put onto the leaflet Ganesh talked about, or could be put up around the wall.
-- Peter (D)
Apart from above, more tables. My O'Reilly books were used but could have benefitted from some table space! In general I thought it was great. Whilst I personnally enjoyed the organic nature, I think it might have been a bit intimidating to walk in and not know anyone or where to go to do what or what was going on at each station. Some organisation might have streamlined some of the solutions, as Dom mentions above.
It was great to see the full multimedia system that adrian(?) brought in.
I was surprised not to have seen more people there, but car parking would have become an issue with more cars? But those that came seemed very happy and stayed for a long time. And it was a long day!
It was interesting to see hear what the PS2 distro is about. I hope she brings some freebies next time!
maybe a (my) kvm would have been useful. It certainly would have made collecting/returning (and working on)boxes easier. Which leads me to noticing that actually getting the kit to and from venue was an issue for some and maybe a dedicated vehicle/team would smooth that process. many of us choose oxford for its low(!) car use and choose not to run a car.
I am bitterly disappointed not to win a distro or even a beer mat. Nevertheless I will bring my solar powered lappie to the next one.
thanks for a great day, and i am looking forward to the lectures.
hamish