A young man showed up first. He just came to see what he could do to help. Brought in a System76 laptop that he runs Mint on.
System Testing and Friendly Reports, as suggested by cprofitt, would be the route for newcomers that wanted to know how they could help.
I had burned cd's and made some Beta 1 usb sticks so we were ready.
Right about the time the System Testing was completed, attendee #2 came in.
After brief introductions, it became apparent that he wanted to work on the biggest bug of all, and we were more than glad to assist. The third attendee arrived just to watch. The fourth attendee, Peejay from Hive76, did some System Testing with his laptop.
After we completed the new install, a little training session ensued. I was more than willing to help, especially after he said, "I really want to learn the command line stuff."
The final 3 hours were Linux Bootcamp. I had a blast (always do). Met new people. Linux people.
I realized that we need to go back to basics to keep attracting people to try Ubuntu. The attendee came in with 2 Ubuntu distros that he runs off of live usb stick. He had been doing so for a while. He was a little unsure of how to install on his hard drive; so he didn't. He took the opportunity of this event to have it done with others around.
We have come so far, especially with the ease of installation that we have disregarded the totally new. Well, at least around here. Heck, it's been 4 or 5 years since we've had a proper installfest.
Thank you all for reminding me of stuff I take for granted.
Even better; later that night they were in IRC.
Next up: Release Party, followed by an LTS Installfest.
