Oggcamp 10 Ubuntu Installfest

Ubuntu 10.04 was released on the 29th April 2010, and to celebrate the release I thought it would be really good to host an installfest at Oggcamp.

At an installfest users are encouraged to bring in their PC’s and install Ubuntu, or upgrade from a previous release.

What I also wanted to also do, was provide CDs and USB flash drives to users so they could take the distro home to try. Obviously I couldn’t fund the USB drives so I asked the attendees to bring a flash drive with them and we would copy the distro to their drives. Another “side project” was to provide support and guidance to attendees.

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In preparation for this activity I went out to the community, asking for help. Via the Ubuntuforums.org and Linuxoutlaws.com I gratefully received two volunteers. Stuart Ward and Aijaz (aka Gnu Doc on IRC). Both of these volunteers were brilliant, providing knowledge and support, as well as enthusiasm and energy. I could not have asked for finer volunteers.

I publicised the installfest via Ubuntu mailing lists, Twitter, identi.ca, IRC and via an announcement on the ideas.oggcamp.org website and Linux Outlaws podcast.

Day 1

On the day, Jaz, Stuart and myself arrived at the Blackie, in Liverpool at 8am, to set up our area. We worked with the crew to identify network connectivity, power and facilities, so we could ensure that health and safety laws were upheld, and visitors were comfortable in the area.

Once we were setup, we set to work burning off copies of the latest Ubuntu release. Ready for the 10am opening time.

10am soon came around, and suddenly we were swamped with people asking for CDs and copies of Ubuntu to their USB drives.

The most popular choice was Ubuntu 32bit, with Kubuntu 32bit a close second, Xubuntu came last I’m afraid.

We had four installs on the first day, and one netbook upgrade all successful.

I helped a chap out with DVD playback in Lucid, he had installed the codes from the software centre, but hadn’t run the script to install libdvdread https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

Jaz helped out a lad who wanted to get the best Ubuntu for his new laptop.

Stuart helped a gentleman out with bluetooth proximity detection, so that when you move away from your PC it locks the PC until you return. Clever!

Day 2

A later start today, and the stall was already setup, so we set to work burning more CDs.

The doors opened, and in they came, asking for CDs, flash drives and help.

We helped a couple choose the right version of Ubuntu to use on their PC, so that they could talk to family members cheaply.

We provided information on the Ubuntu philosophy.

We were set a challenge by defnetmedia ( http://twitter.com/Defnetmedia ) to restore two laptops to working order. These machines were old, 10yrs +, but we managed to get an alternate install of Ubuntu on one machine. Unfortuantly the second machine was beyond repair for us.

I upgraded a Dell Mini 9 from Karmic 9.10 to Lucid 10.04 using sudo do-release-upgrade , but this took a very long time, as there is a bug in dpkg it did work in the end though.

I provided help to a member of the St Johns Ambulance Service

We packed up early that day, so that we could watch the live show and then go home.

All in all it was a brilliant weekend, we worked hard, and none of it would of been possible without Jaz and Stuart.

For more pics, please take a look at my Flikr photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/45703688@N07/sets/72157623916771964/

For more Oggcamp 10 pics visit this link http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=oggcamp+10&m=text