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Article for LJ
Hi, everyone.
After the show, I mailed the editor of the Linux Journal about
writing an article about our group and about Computax. He agreed
to the idea and began writing. I have finished what seems to be
a rough draft of an article. Please take a look at it and send me
any comments. Please note that the article is probably already about twice
as long as they expect, so I cannot add sections.
BEGIN LJ ARTICLE
Working and playing with Linux can be fun, but it's less fun
to do so alone. It was for this reason that I was thrilled to hear
that a group of people calling themselves a "Linux User's Group" was about
to meet the following Friday morning. Up until then, I had heard stories
about the amazing development cooperation and electronic support between
Linux users, but it was distant. All I knew was my home 386 could run
Unix, and for then that was enough.
The meeting turned out to be about 20 people in a room which the Hebrew
University's Computer Sciences Institute donated to the cause (well, with
a bit of influence from a group member). We discussed general issues about
Linux, and some specific ideas like Hebrew support for Linux and possibly
more future meetings. Being a newbie, I was silent throughout the meeting.
The Israeli Linux Users' Group (ILUG) has changed since then. In our
third meeting, which took place a year ago, there were over 50 people.
It might be misleading to think of us as people who get together once
in a while to talk Linux; Almost all communication is conducted via
our mailing list (which, in fact, existed before the first physical
meeting). Our list currently has over 150(??) members, and is usually
an intensive one (especially around group events). In our list we discuss
issues ranging from help to newbies and installation tips, to how to get
that SCSI adapter working, or installing Hebrew fonts under X.
We have had five meetings up to now. Most were organized into two parts -
during the first, members would lecture about cool things in Linux, while
in the second part we would discuss and argue about Linux "current events".
This includes shows, meetings, ideas, and just about anything that might
be related.
We have been in two shows up to now - Computax95 and Computax96 (despite
the name, this annual event fortunately has nothing to do with taxes).
The Computax event is mainly aimed at the general crowd, and does specialize
in any specific field. This meant we had to concentrate more on Doom,
DosEMU, X-Windows and the idea of a free OS, rather than firewalls, kernels,
and the rest of the more "advanced" technical Linux topics.
Our bold group had learned of the show about two weeks before its opening
date. This called for a rush meeting (url), which rated a very high
attendance. After several lectures, the group enthusiastically attacked
the idea of being in the show. The main barriers were financial and
organizational. People graciously donated money (xxx NIS, which are
the equivalent of xxx$ were collected!), but also voluteered their
equipment and time.
Computax95 turned out to be a success. We received a corner booth in
the multimedia building, but we had Doom and several LARGE speakers
to fire back with. At least we weren't in the same building as Micro$oft's
altar. The big words "Free Unix Operating System" attracted many users,
and while most were normal everyday people (i.e. using Windoze) we got
the attention of several key industry men walking by. We had a few problems -
Due to the lack of time, we were unable to get any CDs, so it turned
out we had nothing to sell. That surprised people a bit, and I think we
might have covered booth expenses had we sold, but we were content at
handing flyers, slapping "Linux Inside" stickers on people and generally
infecting them with the fever. Soon after the show many users joined
our list, and brought the hardships of newbies with them - questions asked
before reading proper documentation. But it was definitely worth it.
Computax96, which took place x, was a success as well. Although we still
didn't manage to get organized in time, we did have the experience of
Computax95 to help us along. This time
we turned to Digital for support, and got it. About half of the cost of
the booth was donated by Digital, along with two Alphas and several
Pentiums. In return, the booth was designed by them, and naturally had
the big Digital logo and advertisements for the Alpha. The other half
of the money came, as usual, from group members (about xxx$). While
we succeeded in running Linux on the Alphas, they were supplied with
a non-standard TGA card which we couldn't get to run X. But there was
still a lot to show off.
A member offered to order CDs from abroad, and after some looking around, we
bought one-CD Slackware 3.0.0s from Cheapbytes (http://www.cheapbytes.com).
The CDs arrived in time, and sold well - about 90. However, due to a wrong
estimate of sells, the person was left with quite a few CDs to sell.
Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to order other CD packages,
such as Infomagic's.
While being successful, we had a multitude of problems when organizing
both shows. Linux-il is not an organization in the legal sense of
the term (NPO). This meant that no stores were willing to agree to a special
deal, such as returning the goods not sold in the show. As we funded
most of the show from our own meagre pockets, this meant that lots of
Linux-related items could not have been sold (books, high-priced CD
distribtions, etc). The lack of sponsorship also had a bad effect on
group spirit - many donated 50$ or more, but this situation has to be
resolved.
Overall, our activities have been fruitful. Linux is widely known and
used in Israel, and not just in educational institutes - Linux is
penetrating the commercial sector as well. I think it is very important
for each area to have a LUG in order to keep up the Linux spirit and
conduct these activities. We get more and more recruits all the time,
and provide valuable support (and sometimes even manpower) for those
who need it. I think I can safely boast that our group is continually
fulfilling its goals, and that a bright future is unfolding with
Linux Users' Groups.
END LJ ARTICLE
I also thought about putting a bit of advice for LUGs wanting to appear
in a show:
--------------------------------------
Five golden rules for being in a show:
1. Find out what the show is about and its spirit. Plan your demonstrations
according to the expected type of crowd. Do not attempt to demonstrate
firewalling to someone who barely knows anything about networking.
2. Get organized quickly. This means you should be ready at least a month
in advance. Getting organized early will leave you lots of spare time to
plan your demonstrations and discuss other aspects.
3. Try to reach a deal with one of the Linux support companies. Whether
a full or partial sponsorship, or some agreement concerning selling
various Linux items,
4. Set up a mailing list and a web site if you don't already have them.
Distribute their addresses on fliers in the show - lots of people
will want to get in touch with you.
5. Capture the enthusiastic spirit. One of the reasons our booth did well
was that the people were mostly young, enthusiastic students trying
to infect others, rather than boring, trained salesmen doing their jobs.
--------------------------------------
Shay
--
Shay Rojansky, roji@cs.huji.ac.il Finger for PGP public key