MythTV Installfest announcement

[Jon 'maddog' Hall]

Ben, Jarod, et. al.,

March 31st is rapidly approaching and I think we need to launch the
"pages" so that the gnhlug group and the students at the school have
enough time to order equipment at get started.

They barely have two weeks.  On the other hand, they have had advanced
warning and discussion.

These are the web pages that Ben (mostly Ben, with some input from
others) has put together:

http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/MythFest

http://www.gnhlug.org/forms/myth1.html

http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/MythTV

I recommend the entry point being the first page, which will take people
to the other two pages.  There are a couple of links on the "sign-up"
page that have no real linkage, and there may be one or two "linkages"
on the other pages that are also orphans.  Ben, maybe you can make those
linkages, or remove them as linkages.

Also, on the sign-up page are the statements that say that people should
make backup copies of their data and that they understand that the
computer will now be an appliance.  I recommend strengthening that
second statement and telling them in the first that "I understand all of
the data and programs on all disks of the system will be destroyed."

Ben, for this event, please add a field on the sign-up page for
"affiliation", whether it be GNHLUG or NHTI.  I would like a balanced
group in this next installfest, and do not want one group overwhelming
the other.  Future installfests can be truly NHTI, but I want to make
sure there is room for some of Sterling's faculty and staff....and
likewise for some GNHLUGers. :-)

Finally, when we talk about Zap2IT we typically point to the main page
of Zap2IT.  I would recommend pointing to the actual signup page.  It is
unclear from Zap2IT's pages where people are supposed to go to "sign
up".  If they are unsuccessful by the time of the Installfest, then we
can recover, but we need to make it as sure as possible.

http://www.zap2it.com/
https://www.zap2it.com/services/site/registration/show-createprofile.register

Jarod, I assume that you will have a little time to work on the web
pages that we used in the pilot, so they are more up-to-date by March
31st.  It is a goal of mine that you should be able to relax a bit more
at this event even if there are more people, and that by the final event
you should be in a rocking chair, with GNHLUG "angels" doing the real
work.

But for right now would:

o Ben take a final look at the linkages and data
o Jarod review all three pages
o everyone else read them for "understanding"

and when you think it is ready (hopefully in the next day or two) Ben
would you send out the announcement to the gnhlug-announce list and to
Sterling Hough at NHTI (Sterling Hough <shough at nhctc.edu>) with a copy
to Fred at Showtime computers in Hudson (fred at showtimepc.com) so Fred
will be aware of people who may want to buy components and what
components that they might want to buy?

Finally, we never had a decision what to do with the data from the
"signup".  For lack of a better solution, have it sent to me and I will
eye-ball it for completeness and odd hardware.  I will also count bodies
and 

I am in a series of outside meetings today, tomorrow and wednesday, and
as I said, I am getting worried that people will not have enough time to
get their components and plan for the day.  We should be "almost there",
and even if we aren't, perhaps it is time to let the little bird fly.

Thanks,

md