Linux Demo Day - 9/18/99

Preparations
I guess it would have been better had the Mail Tribune printed the ad I sent them, but it chose not to. Probably because either the folks there hadn't a clue what Linux is, or there wasn't enough room because of all the other reeeealy important stuff going on technologically in the sleepy little Valley of the Rogue.
Robin and Loran and I set up three Linux machines Friday evening, as Doug fought with a cantankerous 486 with a wonky video board (we think). The 486 was conspicuously absent the next morning. We ended up with four machines demonstrating three distributions: RedHat 6.0, Linux Mandrake, and LinuxPPC. The process of creating a user/demo account on LinuxPPC managed somehow to crash Xauthority services to the point that it would not even permit root logins. I had misplaced the LinuxPPC CD so we just used the Mac as a telnet terminal logged on to one of the RedHat systems.

The Room
Connecting Point was a most gracious host. The "training room" they gave us provided a bright, clean, quiet and open demo area. They had arranged the computer tables in an "L" shape and connected power. Each table had a power strip and LAN cable. They also reserved five ethernet addresses on their LAN for us so, of course, Linux enabled us to quickly become part of their network and make use of their T1 internet services. The high speed access was deliciously impressive to us as well as to visitors. The store had a large-format printer and printed out a 36x60-inch banner that we hung up outside the front door.

Storefront:
Our Linux banner is in the entryway (middle-right)

We put up 11x17-inch screenshots of various desktops and applications. Each table also had Linux information sheets in plastic stand-up frames for visitors to read, and for us to reference as we explained what linux was, how it works and who's using it. I've put up PDFs of these here -->.

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Linux Demo Day - 9/18/99

Preparations I guess it would have been better had the Mail Tribune printed the ad I sent them, but it chose not to. Probably because either the folks there hadn't a clue what Linux is, or there wasn't enough room because of all the other reeeealy important stuff going on technologically in the sleepy little Valley of the Rogue. Robin and Loran and I set up three Linux machines Friday evening, as Doug fought with a cantankerous 486 with a wonky video board (we think). The 486 was conspicuously absent the next morning. We ended up with four machines demonstrating three distributions: RedHat 6.0, Linux Mandrake, and LinuxPPC. The process of creating a user/demo account on LinuxPPC managed somehow to crash Xauthority services to the point that it would not even permit root logins. I had misplaced the LinuxPPC CD so we just used the Mac as a telnet terminal logged on to one of the RedHat systems. The Room Connecting Point was a most gracious host. The "training room" they gave us provided a bright, clean, quiet and open demo area. They had arranged the computer tables in an "L" shape and connected power. Each table had a power strip and LAN cable. They also reserved five ethernet addresses on their LAN for us so, of course, Linux enabled us to quickly become part of their network and make use of their T1 internet services. The high speed access was deliciously impressive to us as well as to visitors. The store had a large-format printer and printed out a 36x60-inch banner that we hung up outside the front door. Storefront: Our Linux banner is in the entryway (middle-right) We put up 11x17-inch screenshots of various desktops and applications. Each table also had Linux information sheets in plastic stand-up frames for visitors to read, and for us to reference as we explained what linux was, how it works and who's using it. I've put up PDFs of these here -->.		Demo room: Jacek and Loran setting up. Networking Laughably easy! We plugged in the LAN addresses assigned to us by the store and were surfing, ftp-ing, telnetting, and webserving on four computers in less than five minutes (try that in Windoze!). Our Sony Mavica captured images to floppy which appeared in seconds on our screens in Gimp and Electric Eyes. Demo room: Jacek crashing LinuxPPC. As the store began to get customers, Robin would shill and steer them toward our room. When they noticed others wandering in and out, they realized something was going on, and gravitated toward us. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of visitors! We were so enthralled with entertaining the few we got, nobody thought to snap any. We gave away about a dozen SuSE trial distributions and rebate certificates to folks who hadn't tried Linux yet, but wanted to. All in all, it was a fun day. PDFs: LinuxOS Linux Operating Environment Games on Linux Why the Penguin?
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Linux Demo Day - 9/18/99

Networking