Project : Outreach

[Debbie]

Are there any takers for the Cogan computer show in Enfield on Sunday July 22 in Enfield? There is also a show in Meriden on July 21, but I have to work at my regular job that day. I know that is a bit of a drive for me, and probably others, but I want to try to attend as many shows as possible so they will continue to save a table for Linux.

Other news: My friend in Hartford who has used and complained about Windows for years but has not been willing to try anything else finally got a virus on his XP that trashed the os. He could not fix it with the restore CD, so yesterday he installed Feisty from a CD I had given him. Now I hope I can finally get some regular feedback from an ordinary home user regarding questions and problems in transitioning from Windows to Linux. That should be good for a FAQ.

[scot524]

Debbie,

I would love to attend! I have sort of checked out of the Ubuntu user's group for the past month or so .... work and kid issues abound. I can bring two laptops running feisty and as many desktops as you need ... perhaps an old pc running XUbuntu tricked out would be cool. K/Ubuntu are cool in their own right. However, XUbuntu saves tons of Win 95/98/2K computers from the landfill.

Shoot me a mail and I'll be there!

Regards,

Scot
scot.flewelling@gmail.com

[Dragonbite]

So..? How did it go? What happened?

[Debbie]

Well, it was another very slow show, with me. myself, and I handing out seven CDs. At least Scot emailed me to say he could not make it. Maybe things will pick up in the fall. I don't know.

[Debbie]

I don't know how many people still read this forum because it has been so slow, but I am posting anyway. I just received an email tonight from Cogan Computer Fairs. They would like to have a Linux table at their show on Saturday August 25th in Hartford. I cannot go because I expect to be out of state all weekend. Would anyone here be willing and able to go in my place? I do not know how long Cogans will keep offering a free table if no one shows up at the fairs to man it. I cannot do this all by myself. Hartford is supposed to be their biggest show of the year.

[BruceLerner]

Two Loco members, Deb and I, staffed a table at the Cogan Fair at the Ct Expo Center on Saturday. We displayed Ubuntu and Kubuntu on 3 systems, (one that was running Kanotix for a while until we wrestled Feisty on it). I left a little after 1pm. We'd handed out `15 CDs (supplied by Deb) and ~40 business cards with the loco wiki link. Deb can let us know if there was more traffic in the afternoon. We met a number of members of the Danbury Area Computer Society (dacs.org). I had a good time actually seeing another LoCo member, meeting other Linux users, talking to those not ready for it and connecting with people who wandered in from my past. The Cogan Fair people were supportive. I'd recommend a turn at the table to any of you.





After the show, I made my way down to the SCOSUG picnic to re-introduce myself and see if there might be an opportunity to share our experiences and leverage our memberships. It seems like there is an opportunity here, especially if we could offer a short presentation. The SCOSUG meeting location has changed and is still under construction, but it sounds like there could be a meeting in October. We should plan to meet up there (Wallingford). It gives us a couple of months to organize.

Props to Deb for sticking with the Cogan activity and especially for spending some vacation time there.

If there are others ready to step up this activity, please get involved in the conversation.

Bruce
brucelerner.com
bruce.lerner at
gmail.com

[Debbie]

The rest of the afternoon at the Cogan show was pretty slow, but people still came by to chat and ask questions. All together, we gave out 24 CDs.

A presentation at a SCOSUG meeting sounds good, but I would also look into a presentation at a DACS meeting. That group is made up of general computer users, and as far as I know, it has been several years since they had any presentation on Linux. We should probably try to make it a joint effort with the Linux special interest group that is already active there.

[Dragonbite]

Great Job Debie and Bruce! And making it to SCOSUG picnic! You ROCK !!

First off I want to say Thank you for your persistence with the Cogan Fairs, Debbie. You've stuck with it even when the response has been less than desired. You are a great asset to the Loco team and I think everybody should recognize the work you've put into it. =D>

Connecting with existing groups is a great idea. DACS is a good organization I've been a member of for a few years now, and I had heard of but don't know anything about SCOSUG.

The DACS Linux SIG is small at this point, with 3 of us regularly attending and 2-4+ irregular attendees. It has been kinda floating since the original leader, Bill Keane (who did the last presentation on Linux) left.

Currently we are trying to find a direction to focus on with a variety of ideas being tossed around but nothing focused on yet.

So far I've gotten 2 people who attend there to use Ubuntu/Kubuntu and they are putting an older version of Ubuntu (Dapper) on a server to fool around with a LAMP server, SSH and possibly Terminal Services.

If anybody is interested, DACS meets the first Tuesday of every month (the next meeting is Tuesday September 4th) and it is open to the public.

From the DACS website
DACS meetings are held at the Danbury Hospital auditorium. (Click here for directions.) Activities begin at 6:30 p.m. with registration and casual networking. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with a discussion of what’s new in technology (What's News) followed by a general question and answer period (Ask DACS), announcements and a short break. The featured evening presentation begins at 8:00. As a reminder, our General Meetings are free and open to the public so invite anyone you know who would be interested in this topic.

If anybody is going to attend, shoot me an email or PM. I usually get there closer to 8pm, just in time for the feature presentation, because my wife gets out of class somewhere after 7:30 and it takes time to get there. Most of the time I sit on the left-side of the auditorium.

They don't mention that there is a meeting-after-the-meeting called the "Pig SIG" afterwards where people (~12) get together at Chili's in Danbury to talk over Beer, Wings and food.

One idea I've tossed around, and could probably get approved, is doing a presentation at a General Meeting demonstrating Linux. An angle I thought of was "If you bought a new Dell with Ubuntu pre-installed *this* is what you'd get" and go over the features and how to do things in Ubuntu (install, update, multimedia, etc.), demonstrate the capabilities (goodies and eye-candy), introduce to the Community and how to use it (forums, wiki, Connecticut Loco Team plug) and pass out CDs. I've recently gotten hardware (Dell) capable of handling Ubuntu smoothly (including Beryl) so it's feasible for me now. If anybody is interested in helping (technical, outline, information, etc.) PM or email me.

[Debbie]

Well, it looks like Cogans have just scheduled four shows for September. Are there any volunteers or does anyone have ideas on how to improve the table to generate more interest?

[pmasiar]

I burned couple Feisty CDs, I better give them out before Gutsy is out!

To generate interest, I was thinking about making big origami of penguin: http://dev.origami.com/images_pdf/pe...grebenicek.pdf but to be impressive we need a paper at least 3-4 feet wide.