[GLLUG] more Penguicon thoughts

[Richard Houser]

Marshal Newrock wrote:
> Overall, the computer lounge was a success.  I think that we should
> begin planning for next year now, to avoid the last minute rush.  If
> the first meeting of each month is dedicated to penguicon, that should
> be sufficient.
> 
> So, my thoughts:
> 
> 1) Terminal server.  Once it was up and running, it was working great.
> However, right before the con, it was updated (just updated, not
> upgraded to the latest version of ubuntu), which broke it and took
> several hours of valiant work by Jeff to fix it.
> 
> On a related subject, does anyone know of anything like the load
> monitor in gkrellm, except multi-column, so we can have nice large
> graphs of load for each CPU?  If we'd had that, we could have displayed
> that on the projector.  After all, the terminal server has 8 logical
> CPU's.

If I can get enough people to bring medium range (1.8GHz+, 1GB RAM) 
gaming machines (I even have a spare video card), we could run the 
projector off the display of one of the faster machines.  I would have 
done it this time, but we didn't have any video cables long enough to reach.

> 2) Terminals and related hardware.  More is better.  I'd like a 10%
> surplus for next year.  If need be, extras can be stored in rooms.  I
> also wouldn't mind seeing better cabling.  A few seconds tying cables
> to shorten them would prevent the rat's nest that was at the center of
> every quad.  It would also make it easier to quickly remove terminals
> to make room for other machines during installfest if need be.

> 5) Gaming Station.  There was only one computer there, and it tended to
> be a babysitting machine.  I'd like to suggest that next year, if we do
> anything with computer gaming, it's not in the computer lounge.
> Instead, we could probably get an empty panel room late at night,
> similar to what Ars Technica got.  If we have 3 or 4 gaming machines,
> possibly with scheduled games and/or talks on gaming on Linux (both
> commercial with and without wine, and open-source), I think this would
> work out a lot better.  Computer gaming would have to be staffed during
> the entire time that it's open, of course.

I'm willing to take over the gaming machines for next year, but I 
personally feel that not keeping them in the lounge would be a disaster 
and would not really want to participate.  The security aspect is one of 
the bigger parts of it.  In general, the game machines are going to be 
the more expensive towers that we will have there.  They also tend to be 
larger and heavier (mine is about as big as they go, but few are easy to 
lug around, take down, and lock up mid-con).  The gaming machines could 
easily double as more terminals if you want to restrict the times gaming 
was offered.

I agree that the gaming machine, and to a lesser degree the MythTV 
machine, ended up being a babysitters.  Personally, I would prefer we 
implement a rule of no unattended children under 13 (the attending adult 
would need to be 21+) in the lounge, period.  I had no clue there would 
be that many little kids, especially with how inappropriate much of the 
content at the convention was and the warnings during registration. 
Frankly, I wasn't expecting to see more than a few couple kids, and I 
was expecting those to be with parents.

> We could use the space that would be otherwise taken up by Computer
> Gaming to have more terminals or more "bring your own computer" space.
> 
> 6) MythTV.  I think this suffered from lack of attention.  It was just
> kind of sitting there.  Occasional demos/talks would be good.  Due to
> its need for a CATV connection, it would have to be done in the
> Computer Lounge.  Stan, do you think you'd be up to this next year?

I'd like to drop my computer lounge hours down from about 14 to 6-8 next 
year, but I'd also like to pick up a panel or two.  Stan, any interest 
in doing a 30-60 minute MythTV panel with me?

> 7) Installfest.  More successful than we expected.  Made me dislike
> Ubuntu.  It was very crowded and difficult to identify the techs.  We
> also had a lack of available table space.  Not having Gaming in the
> computer lounge, as well as being able to quickly remove terminals,
> could help with this.

I think the identification problem was more lack of any visible 
uniform/badges than having too many people around.  We had more techs 
than we had tech penguin badges, and those are small enough you can't 
always see them from a distance.  I'd be interested in a GLLUG T-shirt, 
would anyone else?

Also, I think we might have the potential to spread out the intensity of 
the installfest if we hold a 30-minute panel on Friday night to talk 
about the strengths and weaknesses of some of the distributions so that 
potential users have an idea what distros they would like to try.  This 
would basically be a "getting started with Linux" session.  We could use 
this as an opportunity to get an estimate of distro popularity and try 
to schedule time-slots for distro installs to ensure the correct people 
are present during those times and speed up the process.  I would of 
course volunteer for the panel, but we really would need some differing 
viewpoints from some other distributions to balance it out.

> One thing we may want to do next year is have a stash of snacks and
> drinks available for techs, and to have the front desk be manned by a
> tech, with as much rotation as possible.  Running around like a chicken
> with your head cut off is exhausting.

Yay snacks!  Boo caffeine and pop :(.  Seriously though, I think we 
could pull this one off with just one big cooler, one small handheld 
cooler, and a small tote for snacks.  Really, all we need to do is get 
an L2 cache nearby so the techs don't always need to go all the way out 
to main storage (consuites) and take the latency hit just to replace the 
L1 cache in their hand.....  All a tech needs to do is fill the small 
cooler with snacks, drinks, and ice and move it to the big one at the 
start of his shift.

> 8) Staffing.  This is going to be a perpetual problem, and I don't have
> any quick solutions for this.  Chick did his best, but there was
> insufficient resources (aka people) and too many random factors (aka
> too much fun to be had at the con, and subsequent mental crispiness).
> This will likely be a topic for several Penguicon meetings.  I think we
> should start asking for volunteers through Penguicon at large.

I would prefer to have at least one of our guys present at all times, 
but I agree soliciting help is a very good idea.  Another LUG relieving 
just one of the security/tech positions in a pair for a few times a day 
would go a long ways towards giving our members the break they need. 
I'd be willing to pitch in for some "Lounging Around" badges for our 
volunteers as well.