New England InstallFest

mel at melchua.com mel at melchua.com
Tue Aug 21 17:20:04 BST 2007 

Trying to remember which room was E51... will we need a lot of extension 
cords? Is there a projector available (for demos and "hey, your screen 
should look like this" things) or can we bring some in? Is the 
traffic/noise-level there manageable enough that people can concentrate 
on their installs, and that simultaneous conversations can happen in the 
space without it getting too physically or auditorily crowded? If yes, 
I'd say go for it.

Alternate location, albeit a little more out of the way: Andy Barry's 
(finally) starting up an LUG at Olin College and could probably easily 
grab a classroom or two anytime (takes approx. 5 minutes to reserve a 
room at Olin from "hey, we should get a room!" to "we have a room!") if 
he filed it under a club event.

Main academic building is right by the parking lot; if that's not close 
enough there's a ramp around back you can pull up to that gets you 
directly into the second floor. Campus is ridiculously wired; in 
addition to Ridiculous Amounts Of Wireless, about half the classrooms 
have ethernet & power ports coming from either the ceiling or the floor 
every 3-4 feet. Can easily fit 30-40+ people. Moveable chairs & tables. 
Projectors. All it lacks for an installfest is people, really.

Disadvantage: 2 miles from the nearest public transport stop (needham 
center and/or wellesley hills, iirc, Eliot is the closest Green Line 
stop). 1000 Olin Way, Needham MA 02492 if you want to look it up on a 
map - about 30 min driving from MIT on a normal day. I think they've 
hosted a Python talk (by Allen Downey) on campus before, along with some 
other Boston tech events (math conferences, robotics symposiums, etc) so 
it's not an utterly unreachable place, but takes more effort for most 
than, say, getting to MIT. Advantage: once people arrive, they're more 
or less there for the evening; location tends to promote longer stays 
and less drifting in & out at random times.

Thought I'd toss that out there, in case reserving a room somewhere else 
gets tricky. But MIT sounds like a great (and logical, and more central) 
place to hold it.

-Mel

Joshua McGinnis wrote:
> Thoughts everyone (@mailinglist)?
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jerry Feldman [mailto:gaf at blu.org] 
> Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 11:55 AM
> To: stevenj at math.mit.edu
> Cc: stevenj at fftw.org; Joshua McGinnis; John Abreau; mako at atdot.cc;
> doctormo at gmail.com; mel at melchua.com
> Subject: Re: New England InstallFest
> 
> The 3rd floor of E51 has a large lounge area outside of the rooms we
> used last spring, 376. Additionally there are plenty of tables in the
> hallway outside of the rooms we currently use. 
> 
> 
> The classrooms are not really good for installfests except for room 061
> that has regular tables and chairs. 
> 
> Additionally, building E51 has the front parking area with the
> wheelchair ramp and elevator. None of the other buildings on campus are
> really accessible from a parking lot except maybe building 66 from the
> east parking lot. 
> 
> 
> On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 10:33:20 -0400 (EDT)
> "Steven G. Johnson" <stevenj at fftw.org> wrote:
> 
>> I would suggest one of the 3rd floor rooms in the MIT Student Center. 
>> They are big enough for 30-40 people, easily, and have the huge
> advantage 
>> of being easy to find for non-MIT people.
>>
>> (Something to check: The whole campus has wireless, but I'm not sure 
>> offhand if those rooms have ethernet drops.)
>>
>> On Tue, 21 Aug 2007, Joshua McGinnis wrote:
>>
>>> Hi John,
>>>
>>> We're fine with doing a joint event. Let's proceed.
>>>
>>> As for dates, the team has decided that it we'd like to shoot for
>>> holding the event on October 13th. That'll give us some room for
>>> preparation.
>>>
>>> We're anticipating 30 - 40 people and we'd like to hold the event
> from
>>> 9am to 5pm. I don't personally know the campus well enough to
> specify a
>>> building and room preference. As long as the room is accessible, has
>>> internet access, and enough room, we'd be fine with whatever you
> choose.
>>>
>>> Our team leader is CC'd on this e-mail, so I'll let him chime in if
> he
>>> has any thoughts.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your help John,
>>>
>>> Joshua
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: John Abreau [mailto:jabr at blu.org]
>>> Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 5:40 PM
>>> To: Joshua McGinnis
>>> Cc: stevenj at math.mit.edu; morzinski at mit.edu; gaf at blu.org;
>>> stevenj at fftw.org; mako at atdot.cc; doctormo at gmail.com
>>> Subject: RE: New England InstallFest
>>>
>>> Hi, Joshua.
>>>
>>> It looks like MIT Scheduling is saying that I can ask for a room
>>> if the event is a joint BLU/Ubunutu event. That's fine with me;
>>> let me know if you want to proceed on that basis.
>>>
>>> Less than a week's notice may be difficult, and before I ask,
>>> I need to know how big a room the event will need. The room we use
>>> for the BLU Installfests has space for about 10 PCs at a time, so I
>>> don't want to ask for that room unless you confirm that this is
>>> enough space.
>>>
>>> Did you already have a specific building and room in mind?
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, August 20, 2007 11:10 am, n42site at MIT.EDU said:
>>>> Hi Joshua
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunately we are unable to reserve space for groups without an
> MIT
>>>> sponsor.  If John wants to take this meeting and make it his
>>>> responsibility
>>>> and a part of his group that is fine however since John is not an
> MIT
>>>> affiliate he cannot sponsor you.
>>>
>>> On Mon, August 20, 2007 7:44 am, Joshua McGinnis said:
>>>> Thanks Steven for the contact.
>>>>
>>>> I've added a couple of other folks to this e-mail in hopes of
> reaching
>>>> the right party.
>>>>
>>>> @Jacob, John, and Jerry: I'm trying to organize an Ubuntu
> InstallFest
>>>> for the Ubuntu Massachusetts Team. After speaking with some of the
>>>> faculty, it seems that in order for MIT to let use their facilities
>>> for
>>>> our event, we need to be associated with an existing MIT group or
>>>> organization.
>>>>
>>>> Would you guys be at all interested in helping us reserve and hold
> the
>>>> event at the campus?
>>>>
>>>> Joshua McGinnis
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Steven G. Johnson [mailto:stevenj at fftw.org]
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 1:29 PM
>>>> To: Samuel Klein
>>>> Cc: Joshua McGinnis; Steven G Johnson; Benj Mako Hill;
>>> morzinski at mit.edu
>>>> Subject: RE: New England InstallFest
>>>>
>>>> I could probably reserve a room, but I think you'd be much better
> off
>>>> (from both a logistical and a publicity standpoint) coordinating
> this
>>>> with
>>>> one or more of the computing groups at MIT.  I'm cc-ing Jacob
>>> Morzinski
>>>> (morzinski at mit.edu), an friend of mine who works in Academic
>>> Computing,
>>>> as
>>>> a possible contact.
>>>>
>>>> Perhaps the primary people to coordinate with, however, would be
> the
>>>> Boston Linux & Unix user group:
>>>>  	http://www.blu.org/
>>>> I notice from their web page that they are already holding an
>>>> installfest
>>>> this Saturday (18 August) at MIT in E51-063.
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Steven G. Johnson
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, 15 Aug 2007, Samuel Klein wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Joshua,
>>>>>
>>>>> This sounds like fun.  Steven, can we reserve an MIT room for an
>>>> Ubuntu
>>>>> installation party?  Mako could be an MIT-affiliate to look after
> the
>>>>> event... it's coming up in two Saturdays.
>>>>>
>>>>> Peace,
>>>>> SJ
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, 15 Aug 2007, Joshua McGinnis wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hey SJ,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I hope you'll be able to make it. It should be quite fun.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I don't know if you caught this in my original message, but we're
>>>> still
>>>>>> hoping to hold the event on the MIT campus. You mentioned that
> you
>>>> could
>>>>>> help with reserving a room/place for the event.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Would you still be able to help with that?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/2007-newenglandinstallfest01
>>>>>> MailingList (we'll be using the MATeam group mailing list for
>>>> updates:
>>>>>> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-ma)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: Samuel Klein [mailto:sj at laptop.org]
>>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 1:56 AM
>>>>>> To: Joshua McGinnis
>>>>>> Cc: Samuel Klein; mako at atdot.cc; mel at melchua.com
>>>>>> Subject: Re: New England InstallFest
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Awesome.  A saturday, hmm... I'll be moving that day, but will
> try
>>> to
>>>>>> come
>>>>>> by.  Do you have a mailing list for it?  Sounds like fun to me. I
>>>> have a
>>>>>> few machines that need a RE-install of some sort since they keep
>>>> causing
>>>>>> trouble...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Mako : I have boxes of books for you, and some bookcases!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> SJ
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Mon, 13 Aug 2007, Joshua McGinnis wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> How's everyone?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I just wanted to shoot this e-mail out to some folks I had
> talked
>>>> with
>>>>>>> about putting together the first New England Area wide
> InstallFest.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> We've chosen a date: 8/25 (alternative: 9/1). Now, I need some
>>> help!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> SJ, you mentioned that you would be able to book a room for us
> at
>>>> the
>>>>>>> MIT campus? Is that still possible? We are anticipating 40 ish
> or
>>> so
>>>>>>> people.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> @Mako: Hi Mako. A couple of folks from the Mass Ubuntu team
> asked
>>> me
>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> shoot you an e-mail. We are in need of some official live cd's
> and
>>>>>> they
>>>>>>> heard you might have some. I also heard that you might be able
> to
>>>>>>> contribute some of the Ubuntu books to the InstallFest. Would
> you
>>> be
>>>>>>> able to offer any assistance in those areas?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Lastly, everyone involved would love for someone from OLPC to
>>>> attend,
>>>>>>> bring an XO, or participate in some way. Would someone be
>>>> interested?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks all,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Joshua
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>> --
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>>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
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>>> IM: jabr at jabber.blu.org / abreauj at AIM / abreauj at Yahoo /
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>>>
>> -- 
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