Setting The Stage

Our first SupportSaturday held on Saturday December 5th 2009 was a major success.

Events like these really help put Ubuntu Vancouver on the map and are a great way to spread Ubuntu all across the city by showing people that great software is indeed made better with great community. People come for help and leave feeling the Ubuntu spirit. Problems solved with a friendly smile. People come for demos and information and leave feeling enthusiastic about Ubuntu!

Let's get an even bigger crew together, and even better organization this time and make our next event even more amazing.

Cheers,
Randall
Ubuntu Vancouver Buzz Generator

Planning Info

If you are planning to help organize the event and/or be at the event as a helper, then add your name to the list below. Also please subscribe to this page. VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT!! Click here to do that https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CanadianTeam/Vancouver/SupportSaturdays/Planning/Session2?action=subscribe

Please add your notes and information. In general, it's better to add comments and information that clarify what's already here.

This page can be a template for future SupportSaturdays, if we make it detailed!

Our second SupportSaturday is scheduled for Jan. 30th 10am - 2:30pm. (The crew will begin set-up at 9am. The venue will open to the public that has RSVP'd at 10am. Others will be admitted at 11am (the time posted on the public signs/flyers). Support activities need to be fully concluded by 2:30pm to allow tear-down and clean up.)

There will be a "dress rehearsal" on Saturday Jan 23rd, regular meeting place. We'll use that time ensure we haven't forgotten anything.

Venue

The venue location is Room 219G in Building B of the VCC Broadway Campus (1155 East Broadway). Building B is the brand new building on campus that faces the north parking lot (on 7th). For those who drive to the campus and park in the lot, just walk through the front entrance and go past the Bookstore and elevators to the back end of the building. 219G is just to the left.

For those who enter the campus from Broadway, please walk all the way to Building B and go to the ground floor of the building. Turn to the back of the building and find 219G.

The VCC website has a map of the campus location: http://www.vcc.ca/about-vcc/contact-us.cfm

The room is a classroom with an U-shaped table setup. The size is 9m x 6m (roughly estimated!). It has:

• chairs for min. 20 people,
• around 9 to 10 tables (each big enough for 4 chairs and a workstation),
• an LCD projector with a screen (~1.5sqm),
• 2x2 power points are on the left and right side of the room in a distance of ~2m,
• One ethernet RJ-45 wall plug (Kim has tested and reports live Internet connection.). The room is reported to have wireless internet access using a captive portal. Randall and Stefan have the account info. One option would be to bring a computer with two network interfaces and establish wired/wireless routing.
• one desk (is that including the tables?), whiteboards, corkboard
• TODO: Stefan, can you add a sketch of the room and locations of things here? That will help with the count of the cords, cables. Also we should map out how we want to reconfigure the room.

ToDo

• Find volunteers in ubuntu-vancouver

• () Marketing: Create flyers
• () Marketing: Create 10 more signs
• () Marketing: Create 10 more arrows for signs
• () Marketing: Nag the ubuntu-vancouver list at least 3 times for RSVP's
• () Marketing: meetup postings
• Marketing: Word of mouth
• Marketing: Direct search for people having issues in Vancouver (use Google, Launchpad, Ubuntu forums)
• Create order of events (checklist/flight-check)
• Prepare an Ubuntu 9.10 mirror and a PXE (network installation) for all 9.10 flavours (Not as much fun but much easier to install from CD. KK) ... are we going to support all flavours, or should we focus on the "standard Ubuntu" to keep our support cases simple(r)?
• Gather needed equipment (identify who will supply) We may be able to borrow some from Free Geek.
  • KK Request for equipment send to Free Geek for pick up Nov 28. Requested: (1)16 port switch, (12)network cables(2 long), (1)wireless access point, (2)CRT monitors, (2)keyboards, (2)mice, (2)computers
  • KK Picked up a carload of equipment from Free Geek this afternoon (Nov. 28).
    • (3) 24 port network switches
    • (12) network cables, two long ones
    • (1) wireless access point
    • (4) CRT monitors
    • (5) USB keyboards
    • (5) USB mice
    • (2) computers (1024MB, 80GB, 2.8GHz P4) and (512MB, 40GB, 2.4GHz Athlon)
    • (11) power cords256
• Set up servers
  • First Server (Stefan T.)
    • PXE (network boot server)/TFTP/DHCP/DNS
    • Ubuntu package mirror
    • Router to Internet if access required.
  • Second Server (Kim K)
    • NFS, Samba, FTP for system backups
• Slide presentation and Compiz Videos

  • (JL) compiled about 65 slides into OpenOffice Impress presentation; demos Ubuntu desktop, compiz, various software and games

  • (JL) obtained a collection of compiz videos (flv, some converted to avi); however videos do not scale well to full-screen, blurry

Lessons Learned

Please document any lessons learned from prior support events (e.g. Windowless Wednesdays, install-fests, etc.). We'll use that information to make SupportSaturdays stronger. No need to repeat mistakes.

• What Worked Well?

  • If doing a demo for a group a screen or HUGE monitor works well so that people don't get facedown into a
    • screen and miss stuff that is being demo'd
  • Lots of time to track down and fix problems, do little tweaks, talk about computers, etc.

• What Didn't Work Well?

  • Not matching best helper to each situation
  • Not having a good sense of the issue before trying things
  • Trying to support weird corner cases (strange situations with partitions, Windows multi-boot, etc.) stealing time from other people.
  • Chaos

Equipment List

• Please initial each item you will bring and indicate quantity.

• (qty) laptops (to look things up, to compare, to submit bug reports etc.)
  • KK - I'll bring my laptop. Loaded with ISOs.
  • RA - I'll bring a Sony Vaio VGN-Z555DN and an Acer Aspire One
  • IR - I'll bring a Toshiba Satellite 9.10 64bit and a eeePC loaded with UNR9.10 for demos.
    • - A 4x5 Wacom tablet. - 17 inch LCD Monitor - Couple of longer network cables - At least 2 power bars - A D-Link DI-604 Router (4 port)
  • JL - Thinkpad X60 9.10 installed
• (qty) network switch, number of ports
  • Free Geek - 24 port switch
• (qty) network cables (lengths)
  • KK - one 50' ethernet cable.
  • RA - 8 6' ethernet cables.
  • Free Geek - 12 cables, 2 long ones.
• (qty) screens/monitors (for those that bring in desktops/towers) (optional)
  • RA - One 12" LCD
  • Free Geek - 2 16" CRT monitors.
• (qty) keyboards (for those that bring in desktops/towers) (optional)
  • RA - One
  • Free Geek - 3 USB keyboards
• (qty) mice (for those that bring in desktops/towers) (optional)
  • RA - one usb and on ps2
  • Free Geek - three PS/2 mice
• (qty) power bars
  • KK - one power bar (maybe two)
  • RA - one 6-outlet and three 3-outlets
  • JL - one 4-outlet power bar
• (qty) extension cords
  • KK - two 30' extension cords
• (qty) (capacity GB) external USB drive (Something to back up peoples' data before hacking at them.)
  • JL - one external USB CD-r/DVD-r drive
• (qty) (capacity GB) external firewire drive (Something to back up peoples' data before hacking at them.)
• (qty) (capacity GB) external SATA drive (Something to back up peoples' data before hacking at them.)
• (qty) Ubuntu Server running: NFS, Samba, FTP, and DNS (for repository redirection) services with (size GB) hard drive
  • KK - one 500GB hard drive for backup server
  • RA - one 500GB USB hard for backupserver
• (further discussion needed) Router, or Ubuntu machine to act as router.
  • RA - one 4-port wireless Router
  • Free Geek - computer configured as router
• (qty) extra USB wireless dongles (in case built-in wifi doesn't work for people)

• Question for Kim: Can we leverage our O'Reilly relationship and get review (free/cheap) copies of "The Official Ubuntu Book"?

  • KK - This book is not in the O'Reilly catalog. It was published by Prentice Hall. I do have the Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference in PDF form which is freely distributable.

Materials List

• Please initial each item you will bring and indicate quantity.

• 50 x 9.10 Karmic Koala install CD's (to do live-boot testing, and as take aways) - RR
  • RA - I'll bring bootable usb sticks, both live and install. but I don't like CDs because they become obsolete in 6 months and turn to environment waste. (RR: note costs and potential BIOS issues booting USB. We can also consider CD-RW.)
• (qty) colour dry-erase markers for the white board
• (qty) masking tape (for labeling people's equipment)
  • KK - one roll of masking tape
• (qty) pens (for labeling people's equipment)
  • KK black marker for writing labels.
  • I'll bring a set of colored IKEA labeling markers
• 30 x "Powered by Ubuntu" stickers (for new people, or conversions) - RR
• 1 x sign-in sheet on clipboard, so we know who came, and can follow-up if necessary - RR

• A short guide to "getting help with Ubuntu" as a take-away. A few pages of tips printed for easy reference, especially where to get help afterward (i.e. Launchpad, not Google!)... teaching people "How to Fish." (see next section)

A Short Guide to Getting Help

Here are some topics to cover:

The goal is to provide a concise and well-edited guide for people as a take-away. It should stress Vancouver-specific advice, getting involved in the Loco, and community participation. It should be aimed at teaching people "How to Fish", and not aimed at "selling fish."

• Why Ubuntu is different: Community.
• If you have a Question: How to use Launchpad to ask for help from people in Vancouver
• If you think you have a Bug: How to use Launchpad to check and report it
• If you want to learn about Ubuntu in a clear way, without sifting through countless websites?
• What are the (3) definitive sources of Ubuntu information for the new user. (Must be 9.10 Karmic Koala)
• Why it's important to come to meetings
• How to get a real Ubuntu system, preloaded and certified with Ubuntu.
• General recommendations from the "school of Hard Knox"

Questions to Ask "Helpees"

• these are in the meetup.com RSVP questions. We can also do a more detailed survey if necessary . We can (and should) also follow-up directly by email where applicable). If you follow-up, please inform the group so we're not 'peppering' the same person with questions.
  

1. Are you coming for assistance? If so, please tell us briefly what services you need.
2. Please tell us about your computer. What hardware is it? (Make, model, RAM, CPU, disk space)
3. Are you currently running Ubuntu on this hardware? If so, which version?
4. Do you have a recent backup of your personal data? (If not, we highly recommend that you copy all data to an eternal disk. If you need help doing this, please let us know here)
5. Please specify your email address. This will only be used if we need to gather more information in order to prepare to help you.

Dress Rehearsal

There will be a "dress rehearsal" on Thursday Dec 3rd at 6:00pm, regular meeting place. We'll use that time to test the plan, the equipment, and to ensure we haven't forgot anything.

The Crew

Event Marketing

We have essentially three things going on at the session: 1) A support/install event (the focus) 2) One-on-one demos 3) A slide-show, with light presentation material

Our marketing should consist of poster(s), web postings, and emails.

The first thrust will be to get as many people as possible in the Ubuntu Vancouver Loco signed up for the event (in the spirit of fixing our own group and making it stronger so we can help more people at future events). Randall will email the group at least 3-4 times to encourage everyone to come and get their issues fixed. Scheduled mailings: 11/24, 11/25, 11/26.
** update 11/26/2009: Low RSVP rate inside the LoCo. Only 4 people RSVP'd with requests for help/installs. We should likely open the install/support event to the public after 11am. (This will give internal support requests a head-start, and priority.

• this could mean that Ubuntu is so easy to install that help is needed only is special circumstances like hardware/service integration. (RR: or possibly it means that there is reluctance to step forward with issues. All but one of the RSVP's was for tweaks/troubleshooting)

Once we've got our own group signed up, we'll begin the marketing thrust to the public.
** update 11/28/2009: Flyer artwork is done, and is posted here: support_saturday.pdf
Please print as many as you can and post them in public places. (Coffee shops, grocery stores, Community centres, libraries, colleges, universities... everywhere!)

Ubuntu: The world's most popular free operating system. In a word: Amazing! Ubuntu Vancouver cordially invites you to a public support session. Skilled Ubuntu enthusiasts will be on hand to answer questions, demonstrate Ubuntu's diverse capabilities, help you install it, fix issues, and to upgrade to the latest version of Ubuntu: 9.10 Karmic Koala.

Got issues? Bring your computer. We'll do the rest. Just want a demo? Bring yourself! We'll show you Ubuntu's magic.

** This event is FREE, just like Ubuntu. Donations are gladly accepted, if you feel the urge.**

Here is the <proposed> text that will appear regarding the demos/presentation:

Ubuntu: The world's most popular free operating system. In a word: Amazing! Ubuntu Vancouver cordially invites you to information session and demonstration about Ubuntu! Skilled Ubuntu enthusiasts will be on hand to answer questions and to demonstrate Ubuntu's diverse capabilities.

Plan to drop in! We'll show you Ubuntu's magic.

** This event is FREE, just like Ubuntu. Donations are gladly accepted, if you feel the urge.**

Incoming Support Issues

Goal: Help as many people as possible with the highest quality possible. Avoid "try-this-try-that" method of troubleshooting on-site, to maintain credibility.

Terminology:
"Support Hero": A volunteer who is attending the event to offer assistance, or has been part of the planning process.
Requestor: A person that has RSVP'd "yes" for the event and has indicated that they need assistance.

Suggested Help Procedure (pre-event):
1) "Support Hero" reaches out to Requestor via email, acknowledging the request and asking the Requestor to quickly scan a list of bug reports, if applicable.
2) Requestor responds with more info. This could be a bug number, or more descriptive information about the issue.
3) "Support Hero" asks Requestor if s/he would be comfortable filing a Launchpad Question. If so, Requestor submits question to: If so, skip to step 5. If not, skip to step 4 below.
4) "Support Hero" submits a Launchpad Question describing the issue on Requestor's behalf.
5) "Support Hero" monitors Launchpad responses to question, and conducts further research.

Suggested Help Procedure (at event):

• Refer to the main SupportSaturdays page. Stefan has some great ideas documented there on how to maintain flow, and how to match the best help to each situation.

This is a collection of the RSVP responses from people who are coming for specific help:

Issue #1: