What's an Installfest? The Linux Users' Group of Davis helps people install, configure, and fix Linux installations at this usually-(bi)monthly event, held on Saturdays or Sundays, historically at UC Davis. It's a free workshop to encourage community self help around open source software and the Linux operating system. Spectators are welcome and we are more than happy to discuss any relevant topics while we work.

Next Installfest scheduled for January 26th, 2013 ( PES 2005) For the details and to RSVP to bring your computer in go to http://www.lugod.org/if

What's the big deal?

  • Free Software
    • Including the freedom to modify it as you please ... (as if we are all hard core programmers)
  • Community Support
  • True customization:
    • Do you use a browser other than Internet Explorer?
    • Do you use any other open source Applications: Inkscape, GIMP, OpenOffice, Thunderbird, Filezilla?
    • Answered yes to any of the above, why not try an open source operating system too?
  • You can keep your current system working and share files between them with Dual Booting or Virtual Machines
  • We teach you how to make all the changes yourself.

What can I run linux on? We can help you with:

  • Laptops
  • Tablets
  • Desktops
  • Servers
  • Media Center PC
  • Wifi Routers (e.g. Tomato or DD-Wrt firmware)
  • Android cell phones (Rooting and running Open source variants like Cyanogenmod)
  • Rasberry Pi
  • Any other device you've heard it's possible to run linux on.

How can I help?

  • Volunteer at Installfests
  • Post a few flyers, usually available a few weeks in advance at http://www.lugod.org/documents/flyers/
  • Come to LUGOD events
  • Spread the word, and discs containing Free and Open Source Software

Topic Wishlist

(Please add your ideas here/ mark if you'd be willing to lead a workshop)

  • File sharing on a mixed network: Windows, Linux & Mac : Samba, NFS, NTFS, VFAT, SFTP, FTP, SCP, webdav... - who?
  • Media Servers + MythTV -
  • Wireless: -
  • 3D accelerated Graphical effects, dual displays -
  • Desktop Optimization: customizing your panels, keyboard and mouse -
  • Photography on Linux: Raw processing, batch resizing, photo editing -
  • Graphic Art on Linux: Inkscape, scribus, blender, etc -
  • Virtual Machines
  • Smartphones, Netbooks, and other super mobile linux devices.

Installed Distributions

Survey of Linux Distributions installed at each event: For more information on each distribution and links to download see http://distrowatch.com

RSVPs
4
3
3
5
2
3
?
4
5
9
4
3
4
Attendance
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
15
?
10
7
20+
14
12
10
Distro Fresh Installs
10/06/07
10/22/07
12/01/07
1/26/08
3/2/08
4/13/08
5/17/08
7/19/08
9/27/08
11/8/08
05/30/09
04/03/10
06/12/10
09/25/10
10/1/10
1/28/11
Ubuntu
3
3(7.10)
1
1
1(8.04),1(6.06)
1
2
3*
4
5
2
2
4
Kubuntu
1
1
Xubuntu
2
1
2
Fedora
1
1
Slackware
OpenSuse
Debian
1 (PPC)
Gentoo
2.5
2
1.5
* See Notes in the History

Available Distros

Distributions Available at Installfests (as of 01/20/10) (You can request others, jump over to Lugod's website and put it in your RSVP or send us an email)

  • Fedora Core 18 (i686/amd64)
  • Kubuntu 12.04,12.10 (i386/amd64)
  • OpenSuSE 11.2(i686)
  • Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10 (i386/AMD64) - Desktop,Server,Netbook remix
  • Linux Mint 14 (amd64)
  • Cyanogenmod (for Android phones/tablets)
  • Tomato (wifi router)
  • DD-Wrt (wifi router)

Archived Distros

With advanced notice almost any version of Linux can be brought for your install. We need at least 3 days notice before the installfest in order to find the disk in our archive or download a new copy. Below is a small list of common distributions that we are likely to have worked with before.

  • Debian family
    • Debian - any version, , optional PPC chips (Older Macs)
    • SimplyMepis
    • Kubuntu - any version
    • Ubuntu, - any versionoptional PPC chips (Older Macs)
    • Xubuntu - any version
    • Edubuntu
    • Mint
  • Redhat family
    • Fedora Core - any version
    • CentOS - any version
    • Oracle Unbreakable Linux
  • PCLinuxOS2007
  • Slackware family
    • Slackware
    • Zenwalk
  • Source driven family
    • Gentoo
    • ArchLinux

Non Linux

  • Haiku
  • FreeBSD 6.3 (i386)

History

(Reverse Order)

Sept '10

  • Gnome-ppp run via gksu to get cell modems working (might be supported in 10.04)

    • June '10

  • Virtual Machines are the hot thing these days, 25% of our installs.

  • The proper broadcom in ubuntu is the STA option in restricted drivers

  • USB sticks with GRUB and a selection of ISO files work well for most installs.

  • If a netbook(with older SSD) won't take GRUB install, zero out the drive and try a fresh install.

    • May '10

  • Windows Vista and potentially Windows 7 are troublesome to configure dual boots because they tend to place system files really far back on the drive which makes it hard to create a large enough partition for Linux. There are methods to move the files but they take a lot of time and are not 100% (Often requiring a windows disk to repair), Virtual Machines and WUBI installs are recommended if the user doesn't want to do a clean install.

    • May '09

  • Topic: How to choose a distro without starting a fight.

  • Included one netbook install using the new Ubuntu Netbook Remix from a usb flash drive, and one WUBI

  • New room worked well, wired access was very useful.

  • 3 Installs, about 3-6 spectators/helpers were there at various times

    • Sept '08

  • Topic Discussed - Partitioning, Dual Boots vs. Virtual Machines

  • We did 2 Vista/Ubuntu dual boots, using Vista to shrink the partitions to create space for the Ubuntu installer. Grub worked fine.

    • May '08

    Wireless is now improved in the Zinfandel Lounge in the South Silo thanks to the GSA for putting in a new moobilenet access point.

  • 2 fresh installs, one on cir. 1998 laptop - note we used the 6.06 LTS(needed older cd drivers) which installed no X initially then added XFCE, Xorg, GDM, abiword, gnumeric, firefox and gedit oh and hal which seemed to make the ethernet card work again; for a fast and simple machine. Other fresh install was on dual boot Vista, seemed to work ok using Vista to change the partitions(was done before arriving).

  • For those who didn't come you missed a chance to tinker with an OLPC while we waited for packages to download.

  • If you're having issues running OpenGL apps, try turning off Beryl.

  • If X breaks on a dist-upgrade, finish the upgrade via command line then run a dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg.

  • New fedora releases have a lag before community packages get built. ie. ndisgtk isn't available yet

  • Keep some good older distros around for older machines.

    • April 08

    We tested out the new location of the Zinfandel Lounge in the South Silo. Wireless proved to be a bit spotty as thought, although a moobilenet router may be installed close by soon.

    March 08

    While we only did 2 installs, 1 was a custom live cd of Xubuntu which we installed on a bootable usb flash drive. Also the crowd of spectators/discussion participants was quite large, 7-8 of us.

    Past

    Back in the day, and apparently still on a server the CS Club and LUGOD had a great idea to help people learn about Free and Open Source software.

    Coordinators

    • 1999? - 2003? : Rusty Minden
    • 2003? - 2005 : Jonathan Stickel
    • 2005 - 2006 : Seth Nagao (co-coordinator)
    • 2005 - 2008 : Chris McKenzie (co-coordinator)
    • 2006 - present : Alex Mandel (co-coordinator)
    • present - future : Could be you

    Volunteers

    A thank you to all those who come to help out. Nick S., ct, Mike, Tony, Chris T. ...

    Gotchas

    Things we figure out and sometimes forget.

    • In a standard U(Ku)(Xu)buntu install network manager sometimes causes problems, notably you can't save the location profiles, the nm-applet doesn't indicate signal strength.
      • Reinstall from the Ubuntu alternate disc (even on a Xubuntu system) or try wicd which has to be downloaded from sourceforge. If that doesn't work try wlassistant with either wicd or network-manager installed.
    • ndisgtk a new gui for config of ndiswrapper, real easy.
    • For some older machines if installing a U(K)(X)buntu flavor you may need to go with and older version or the minimal CD, note option 2 here only works if you have a wired connection.

    If you have been to an installfest, please write about your experience

    Comments:

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    2007-12-30 15:07:14   Rusty Minden helped me install Debian Woody on my 486, thanks very much! —NickSchmalenberger

    2008-03-05 11:10:31   iPod Linux too? —CarlMcCabe

    Sure, RSVP for the next one and we'll give it a shot. I've done a Familiar install on an Ipaq PDA and imagine it's similar in some respects. —AlexMandel

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