[vox] Installfest? should be Wouldntitbecooliffest
Brian E. Lavender
brian at brie.com
Fri Oct 7 16:01:07 PDT 2016
Back in the day when Installfests were fun, most of us struggled
to get things working: sound, video, web server, partitioning, hardware
support, you name it.
Those challenges no longer exist!
I propose installfest turns into a "Wouldn't it be cool if" fest. So,
I propose that we turn it into that, a "wouldntitbecooliffest". No need
to have people provide their installation challenges, cause there are
none. No need to ask attendees what type of hardware they have: cause
if it doesn't work, it probably still won't work!
Promote it as big ideas on GNU/Linux!
Here is how to create a bootable thumb drive
We should get the thumb drives and load them up and sell them for ten bucks
a pop as a fundraiser!
https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows
LiveCDCustomization
Create an Ubuntu Live customized CD
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCDCustomization
OLSR Mesh
Mesh networks self-arrange and auto-configure themselves
https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/mesh.olsr
OpenWRT (and bring a router that works! no POS and nothing you are afraid to brick or open up to
debrick!) I debricked the Linksys WRT1900AC, and it was pretty cool!
https://openwrt.org/
Ruby on Rails - Web Application Framework
Turnkey live CD
https://www.turnkeylinux.org/rails
Put Debian Xen on the NUC with Openvswitch
https://wiki.debian.org/Xen
https://packages.debian.org/jessie/openvswitch-common
Ubuntu Server Cookbook
Print ISBN-13: 978-1-78588-306-4
Working with Containers
Zimbra install
OpenVPN
etc.
ZoneMinder
https://zoneminder.com/
Mythbuntu
http://www.mythbuntu.org/
On Fri, Oct 07, 2016 at 04:01:05AM -0700, Timothy D Thatcher wrote:
> Haha, yeah, I guess that's the flipside of it, huh? I've never really
> done an installfest before, so I fully admit that may have
> misperceptions as to the reality of it. :) I'm sure there's somewhat of
> a line between "i have this older machine I'd like to resurrect and I
> would like some help" and "this needs professional help and/or tossed
> in the bin."Â Nobody wants to get caught up in a case of the latter,
> certainly. That's not only unproductive, but unfun, too.
> I super love the idea of the installfest server. That's much, much
> tidier than messing with a stock of physical media. Think a raspi would
> be up for the challenge? I've got one or two laying around not doing
> too much...
> That being said, personally I do like giving things away, too. :)
> Having a stack of physical media on the side seems like it at least
> could be helpful to have on hand. Maybe have some of those
> aforementioned cheap USB drives also, even if only as on-site loaners.
> Generally speaking, I just think it seems nice to send at least some
> people away with something tangible, be it a CD, USB drive, or even
> just a sticker or two, along with some useful print info.
> What I was really trying to think of was a way to maybe make the whole
> idea of an installfest a little more relevant, since many people have
> broadband and can just download a distro pretty easily at home. The
> thought I had was to make it into a sort of sneakernet hub where people
> come and either try some out on-site, or quickly pick up a whole pile
> of distros in at least marginally less time/hassle than it would take
> to download every single one at home. They maybe try one or two
> on-site, talk to other people who have tried at least some of those
> distros, and go home with one or more to try at their leisure. I
> especially like the idea of having some options that aren't just
> redhat/debian/ubuntu available. But again, I haven't done an
> installfest before, so maybe I'm a bit off-base. It's certainly more
> work and adds expense, too, which are both definitely valid concerns.
> Just thinking about it out loud, at any rate. Don't take me too
> seriously. :)
>
> Tim
> On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 1:44 AM, Rick Moen <[1]rick at linuxmafia.com>
> wrote:
>
> Quoting Timothy D Thatcher ([2]daniel.thatcher at gmail.com):
> > > They heard that Linux runs on old hardware and they have nothing
> to
> > > lose bringing their old junky hardware with the hopes we might
> be
> > > able to spin up something interesting.
> >
> > Errr, I always thought that was kind of the point of an
> installfest?
> I believe you may have just volunteered to be the person at the
> installfest who handles all broken PCs. ;->
> Personally at the CABAL/BALUG installfests, I found I had to be very
> up-front about 'No, we're not a free-of-charge computer repair
> shop.'
> Otherwise, you spend all your time doing that, _and_ you end up
> trying
> to limp back into operation the most dismal components that really
> ought
> to achieve their best and highest purpoee as landfill.
> And these are _exactly_ the sorts of situation where such users
> don't
> value your time and trouble, because they're getting for free what
> they'd have to pay real money for at the local whitebox vendor.
> > I've been thinking about installfests since they keep getting
> brought up,
> > too, and having one as a "physical media distribution fest"
> actually
> > doesn't sound like a terrible idea. Maybe prep some isos of a
> variety of
> > more- and lesser-known distributions, bring a machine with a
> CD/DVD burner
> > and fire them off made-to-order, and/or make a DVD with a variety
> of isos
> > that people can take home and burn off onto their own media.
> I'd suggest going totally the other way. Have an installfest
> server
> with a Web daemon, dhcpd, pxelinux (kickstart server), connected up
> to a
> local wifi network and ethernet. Stock the server's Web pages with
> some
> informational pages, and offer download of distro ISOs _and_ also
> over-the-network installation or running of those same distros.Â
> (When I
> say 'running', I mean like netbooting a live-CD distro via PXEboot.)
> This way, the LUG can scale the installfest up to helping large
> numbers
> of people simultaneously, the LUG doesn't need to provide visitors
> with
> any supplies whatsoever (not even CDRs/DVD-Rs or flash drives),
> there's
> absolutely no contention over resources, _and_ everything runs at
> network speeds, _and_ you furnish a prime real-world demonstration
> of
> what Linux can do.
> For extra points, make the installfest server a ludicrously small
> one,
> like maybe an Intel NUC.
>
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> References
>
> 1. mailto:rick at linuxmafia.com
> 2. mailto:daniel.thatcher at gmail.com
> 3. mailto:vox at lists.lugod.org
> 4. http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox
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--
Brian Lavender
http://www.brie.com/brian/
"There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to
make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other
way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies."
Professor C. A. R. Hoare
The 1980 Turing award lecture
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