> From: Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay wrote: > > Surendra Singhi wrote: > > > Install fests have an implicit understanding on part of the person who > is getting his/her machine down that there are folks out there who will > help out in case the machine borks. This would be complicated when you > will be looking at enabling dual boots.
Enabling dual boot, getting all the device drivers working is sure a little complicated, and requires some expertise. I was in US for two years, and inspite of the all the ease associated with installing Linux, almost all of the LUGs have atleast one install fest per month. It is not that installing Linux, is tough rather it is the fear of this being complicated which hinders people from doing this. I have been here in Calcutta for almost a month now, and most people I have met and computer vendors hardly seem to be aware of Linux, and open source. Most of the people still use Internet Explorer and hardly know about Firefox/Mozilla. Whereas in US I remember a bus driver while asking me about firewalls, was boasting that spywares cannot infect his machine as he uses Firefox. Also, awareness of other open source tools like Open Office, Thunderbird, Gimp, is pretty low. Most people aren't even aware that most of the softwares which are installed on their machines are pirated. > but there are some basic ground rules you will have to put > in place before hitting the ground running. sure, there should be a disclaimer in bold about the LUG and the volunteers not being responsible if anything goes wrong. > > > This idea was meant for people who already do so or want to (and not for > > everyone). > > The LUG should encourage and help people in such activities, I don't > > think teaching > > is feasible. > > By that premise you are really shrugging off the heavy lifting that is > required to start off the project. I don't know how much positive your > experience of the current crop of CS students has been, mine has been > that there is a good amount of coaching/mentoring/teaching that is > required to be done. If you consider only people *who want to* who talks > to the people *who wanted to know all about FLOSS but were afraid to ask* ? > > Would you be able to provide any input on the mailing list as to > defining the scope of help the LUG can provide and the activities > required thereof ? > I had something of this sort in mind. I don't know how feasible is my this idea. http://www.svlug.org/events/hacksoc.shtml Cheers. -- Surendra Singhi http://ssinghi.kreeti.com,http://www.kreeti.com See the Latest news at - http://news.kreeti.com -- To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the body "unsubscribe ilug-cal" and an empty subject line. FAQ: http://www.ilug-cal.org/node.php?id=3
