Debian @ LinuxTag 2002

– June 6th - 9th, 2002 –
– Karlsruhe, Germany –

Main Topics

Plans for the booth
Giveaway CD's
Debian Conference
Responsibilities

LinuxTag is coming closer and closer, so it's time to make some general decisions with regard to Debian.

Do we want to have a booth?
IMHO (Roland Rosenfeld) this is a "must have". What's a LinuxTag without a Debian booth? Several other people replied that they would like to have a booth, so there should be one...
1. What do we want to demonstrate?
  It may be a good idea to show as many architectures as possible, at least the 11 architectures of Woody (plus Hurd etc.). But this depends on the size of the booth.
  Russell Coker would like to demonstrate SE Linux. He thinks that a demo of SE Debian might interest some people. AFAIK even the NSA haven't given such a demo at a conference... I would like to demonstrate the operation of SE Linux once or twice a day depending on demand. Also when not attending a session I will be available in a fixed location where visitors can be referred to me.
  Woody, PGI, different architectures
  Jörg Jaspert: Have one (or more) system around and show the Install of Debian. Let the User install Debian and give help, so they can walk through a complete Setup of Debian and if they have Problems they can ask for help. So they can go home with a little knowledge about the Installer.
  grisu: We can show a Debian installation if we get a forum or beamer at the booth. Maybe we can show something at the debianday, but imho a show at the booth is better.
  Thimo Neubauer: Maybe we should also show other great and characteristic things, like:
  1. show how easy a regular update with apt is (we just have to create a slightly old harddisk image so we can show it again). We could also show the power of apt-cache search and aptitude
  2. a demonstration of pppconfig to show that getting into the net is very easy even with Debian :)
  3. DSL is of course a hot topic, unfortunately a demonstration of pppoeconf has to remain theoretical...
  4. Of course installation. Letting a user do it is a nice idea but we have to try this first. If there are too much problems/questions it'll be quite boring for the visitors.
  5. Using gnupg is interesting too, creating keys, uploading them, signing, web of trust, ... Let's annoy the secret services ;-)
  6. Mention the Linux-cluster in Heidelberg, which consists of 512 Athlon based Debian boxes.
  David Welten: As far as pure looks, I think he is right. People could care less about a Linux that runs on a Trinary-based processor if it looks like an ordinary PC... They get excited, though, when they see a Mac in console mode, or an old amiga, or a Netwinder...
  Arne Wichmann: Laptop installation through network or wlan. Network games (like freeciv, crossfire, xpilot, doom)
2. How are we going to solve the staff-visitor ratio? (so it's less than 10 Debian people for one visitor)
  Roland hopes, that there will be a great congress program, so some of us could leave the booth to visit the talks
3. What kind of hardware will be required?
  1. What about hardware that we don't own?
  2. Shall we create large signs? (posters) To explain that it is not a conventional PC which is running the OS in front of the visitor?
4. Who is going to provide which hardware?
5. Who is going to plan the booth, including size requirements, furniture, computers etc.
  Thimo Neubauer volunteered.
6. Will there be scheduled demonstrations each day?
  If we can get a beamer we can provide demonstrations for visitor at the booth, scheduled daily. Proposed demos include:
  - Russell Coker: SE Linux/Debian
  - Jörg Jaspert: The installation of Debian (with visitors)
  - Thimo Neubauer: Debian on Laptops
  - Michael Bramer: The Package-Managment
  This requires a schedule, announcements and signs (i.e. posters and handouts etc.) and maybe a large (paper) clock.
7. Do we want/need (new) posters?
  - World Map (we need all/new coordinates)
  - General Information
  - Heidelberg High Performance Cluster
  - Existing posters (source)
8. Anything else?[1]
What about CD's?
1. What ought to be on the CD? Remember, there's Knoppix as well.
  Proposals: Knoppix, Woody, PGI and Woody, Woody and Knoppix merged, but without non-free and Knoppix-specific packages, reduced to one CD.
2. Who is going to master the CD?
  Stefan Gybas offered help with a Knoppix CD, Jörg Jaspert offered help with a Woody CD.
3. Who is going to help with mastering?
  Arne Wichmann offered general assistance.
4. Who is going to make test installations etc?
5. Who will negotiate with a pressing company etc.?
6. Who will acquire donations and negotiate with sponsors?
7. Who will produce the artwork for the cover and CD?
8. What about a DVD instead?
9. What does DVD production cost us?
Do we want to have a conference of our own?
1. Who will give a talk about what topic?
2. On which day(s) shall the conference take place?
3. How and where should it be promoted?
  grisu: dwn, debian-announce, debian-user-german
Who will be responsible for the Debian presence?
That's usually my part, but since I'm organizing LinuxTag already, I will probably not have enough time to organize the Debian presence entirely as well. Hence, there is need for at least one assistant, or one person who maintains it on his own entirely. Anyway, this person needs to communicate with me closely.

If you haven't been to last years LinuxTag shows, please check the pages from last year to get an idea of what it's all about.

Request for Help: I could use some people who help me with implementing a web based management system for all projects at LinuxTag. If you're interested, check this mail and contact .

[1] I'll take flyers and mugs with me. We're going to have some 50 general Debian-oriented t-shirts and I'd like to have special Debian/Woody t-shirts, so creative people should give a helping hand. Grisu has some 40 t-shirts left over as well.