I'm not so sure about that. Using a LiveCD does avoid the "hey, your CD screwed up my computer - come fix it" problems. But it doesn't get around the "how do I get on the Wireless network and check my EMail and edit my Word documents using this thing" questions and the "why can't I burn a DVD or write to my Windows partition or play my favorite video game with this thing" problems.
You need to re-evaluate your target audience. If you're handing out CD's to people who have expressed an interest in Linux (perhaps people who have enough interest to stop by a "Linux" table at some event), that's one thing. These people will likely have a desire to give Linux a chance and they might be willing to try to figure it out on their own. However, the vast majority of people in the dorms don't necessarily care about Linux - they just want to check their EMail, chat on AIM, and do their homework. They're not going to be willing to figure it out on their own. Someone will have to show them (and probably at the "this is called a mouse - you usually want to click the left button" kinda level). So, if you're just handing out CD's to anyone and everyone, you should be prepared to walk them through the basics. If you don't walk them through the basics, chances are handing out CD's in the dorms will do more harm than good. The average person will put it in their computer, boot into Linux, not know how to do anything, get frustrated, and throw it in the trash. Then the next time someone mentions Linux to them, they'll say "Yeah, I tried that once - it was really annoying and I couldn't get it to do anything, so I never want to use it again". And I think out of the population in the dorms, a TINY fraction of people will be interested in the CD and make use of it, and the vast majority of people will fall into this category and will never use Linux again because we gave them a CD without any support to get them started. I'm slightly exaggerating some of these points, of course, but you get the idea... -Paul On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 12:27:43PM -0400, Christopher Conroy wrote: > Although if we distribute livecds, such as knoppix, these headaches are > avoided. > > On 4/25/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Before you go handing out CD's to the general population of campus, you > > should consider the technical support impact this will have. > > > > The average person, if they manage to figure out what to do with the CD at > > all, will almost certainly have problems and questions, and they will need > > someone to go to for help. And, depending on how many CDs you hand out, you > > should be prepared for a fairly significant influx of technical support > > issues. > > > > I highly doubt you will be able to convince OIT to hand out such > > CD's. Not because OIT is anti-Linux or anything like that. But because OIT > > must be prepared to provide technical support for anything they are going to > > hand out. And I'm fairly certain the OIT Help Desk is not equipped for any > > significant level of Linux technical support. > > > > I don't want to discourage you from fighting the good fight, but if you > > want to do something like this, I'd suggest you be prepared to spend many an > > hour in people's dorm rooms during the first couple weeks of the semester > > helping them through simple problems. > > > > At the very least, I'd strongly suggest putting together a VERY > > dumbed-down tutorial which describes how to use the CD and basic things you > > can do with it, and passing that out with the CD. > > > > -Paul > > > > On Mon, Apr 24, 2006 at 08:13:36PM -0400, John Demme wrote: > > > We've been discussing getting boot CDs out to incoming freshmen when > > > they move into the dorms. If we can do this, we could put an > > > installfest date and location for people who like it. > > > > > > ~John > > > > > > On 4/24/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > It might be better to hold something like this at the beginning of the > > > > semester when new students are arriving and getting their PCs set up. > > > > Maybe include some special information on things like how to connect > > to > > > > the campus network and useful tricks for courses, such as how to run > > > > Matlab remotely. > > > > > > > > Wasn't there some talk about passing out CDs of free software that > > would > > > > be useful to students, or maybe getting OIT to hand them out? > > > > > > > > -Derek > > > > > > > > > After attempting to schedule Revolution OS with the Hoff theater > > for- > > > > > literally- months, I've given up, and moved the money elsewhere. > > > > > > > > > > Unfortunately attemping this scheduling for this semseter has held > > up > > > > > scheduling for an installfest to go along with it. We can still > > hold > > > > > an installfest in early May if people are interested, otherwise we > > > > > will hold one early next semester. > > > > > > > > > > Thoughts? > > > > > > > > > > ~John Demme > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Christopher Conroy
