This is my third install fest and I planned to write some check list that I compiled in these years. I can share this:

- make sure bring extension chords, and make sure you have enough fast wifi for all participants

- bring enough USB-s. Installation on older laptops can take time

- ventoy is useful

- for beginners stick to Fedora/Debian. Popular distros come and go, but these two are constant and will be supported for a long time

- don't give options to beginners if they don't ask for it. You will induce paralysis of choice

- automatic dual boot setup by Debian installer works very well. Partition shrinking on Windows isn't scary as I thought before

- sometimes you can't install BIOS/UEFI drivers without windows (on older devices). You maybe want to do that before installing Linux

- i think it is good to have a windows installation ready. At least for windows boot loader recovery if anything goes bad

- bitLocker can be PITA. Don't lock users device

- after installation update system

- write some material, what-to-do-after-installation guide, and give to participants. Maybe create group on some social network or messaging app

So .. if you want to keep it simple and reduce the chance of scaring away interested people for good because of failure, don't offer dual boot, unless you know all the tricks. Too many ways this can go wrong in my experience and if it goes right, it likely means they just continue using what they know - windows.

For a risk free just trying out, have linux live usb sticks prepared.

I have never been to one of these "fests" but wouldn't be easier to just bring a small PXE server with an SSD and 10G NIC with an 8-port switch for net booting/install? Are the machines so old they can't boot off the network? The PXE server could easily handle 5-6 install clients via the 10G NIC.

A 10G NIC is unnecessary. I've used iVentoy with a dozen laptops installing Linux simultaneously with no obvious slowdowns hosted from a Dell Optiplex Micro 7050 (7th gen i5, 1G NIC, SSD).

https://www.iventoy.com/en/index.html

Yes, I have used iVentoy very much in the past as well. However, running a dozen (+12) simultaneous installs of Linux seems a stretch for 1G NICs. Using a small PC with a 2.5G NIC could probably do just as well as the 10G one - just slightly less expensive. The 2.5G NIC hardware has really come down in price; you can get an 8-port 2.5G switch for $45, and many mini-PCs have 2.5G built-in.

Depends on what the main goals are.

First time users might appreciate seeing the USB drive method since that's probably what they'd attempt next time at home.

Yeah the USB stick enables the participants to replicate it more easily at home or with friends etc. Encouraging that the participants are in the driver seat also helps with this.

You know what? I removed that part. You are probably right, and there is no need to scare beginners :)

Check podcast https://radiostudent.si/druzba/tehno-klistir They talk about open source, linux, etc...

System from USB will feel sluggish. Users could get a feel for UI, but I think it would be inadequate for a long term usage.

That is something I accidentally discovered. TexInfo also uses @.

Texinfo ultimately gets the @ convention from Brian Reid's Scribe[1], as developed at Carnegie Mellon during the late 70s and commercialized by Unilogic[2,3] in the 80s. Coincidentally, there was a close derivative of Scribe called Mint[4], also developed at Carnegie Mellon in the early 80s for the PERQ (an early personal workstation competing in the category of things like the Sun-1 or Lisp Machines).

[1] https://bitsavers.org/pdf/cmu/scribe/Scribe_Introductory_Use... [2] https://bitsavers.org/pdf/unilogic/Scribe_Document_Productio... [3] https://bitsavers.org/pdf/unilogic/Scribe_Pocket_Reference.p... [4] http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/cmu/spice/Users_Manual_for_Mint...

I am reverse-engineering a PKCS#11 module for Gemalto smart cards and re-implementing it in Zig (https://github.com/ubavic/srb-id-pkcs11). The original module is published only for Windows, and my implementation targets *nix platforms. This is my first project in Zig, and I am very happy with the language.

I am currently working on a custom markup language called atex. It's syntax reminds of latex syntax, but with @ instead \ as a special character (very similar to the Lout language, if anyone remembers it). Also, the atex language hasn't any predefined commands. Instead, all commands are defined via schema specified in a separate YAML file. Schema defines commands that can be used and means of "rendering" those commands to different targets (HTML, Tex, Typst, whatever...)

Just today, I finished first working version of the new compiler (https://github.com/ubavic/mint). It is written in Go, and there are lot of things on the TODO list, but it works :)

This is actually the second compiler for the atex. The first one was written in Haskell and compiled fixed document schema. I used it for writing a book on Haskell (https://github.com/ubavic/programming-in-haskell).

This year marks 40 years of Galaksija, and the magazine PC Press with the author of the Galaksija Voja Antonic released a reprint of the original special issue which introduced Galaksija. Building kit is also available. More information is available on: https://racunari.com/

Not Pascal Pascal, but a spinoff: AL for Business Central (Microsoft's ERP system). It is a very old system, but Microsoft heavily develops it (every year new language and std lib features, first class VS Code integration). Userbase is pretty big (and seems like it is growing).

Thank you for this information!