Hier ----- Forwarded message from Gerrit Hiddink <grit@dnd.utwente.nl> ----- From: Gerrit Hiddink <grit@dnd.utwente.nl> To: announce@hal2001.org Subject: [HAL2001-Announce] update Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2001 11:41:55 +0100 (CET) Hi folks, some of you have asked questions about how to help, what to do, how's organizing things going. To give you an idea of what has been done so far and what still has to be done, I'll give you an update of the organizational activities and then indicate how you can help. Note: prices I mention will be in US dollars. One dollar is 1.08 Euro. CAMPSITE The campsite will consist of one large area and a few smaller ones. If you take a look at this map: http://www.hal2001.org/ut/UT-zoomed.gif The entrance is to the south of the campus. A road "drienerlolaan" runs from the entrance to the north. The area to the left and to the right will be the main camping, including some fields north of the "BB gebouw". This area is not only grass but there are also small to large areas with trees. So it may be needed to use some other fields. There will be a camper lane. Cars will have to be parked on the parking lots all over the campus (there's no single large parking lot). A parking crew will direct arriving cars to vacant parking lots (we'll not use 100% of their capacity because there will have to be space for UT employees on thursday and friday). There will be means to get your heavy stuff to the campsite, we're thinking about hiring trikes & quads & carriages (or another Hal Transportation Device) that drive a fixed route. You can unload your stuff & wait for the HTD to arrive, throw your stuff onto it (please take care to miss the driver) and follow it to the campsite. REGISTRATION A preliminary registration form will be online soon (within about two weeks). This form will allow you to register *if* you pay in advance via bank transfer. We are working on credit card registrations, more news on this later. FACILITIES The swimming pool can be used by HAL participants! Tickets are 3,50 guilders ($1.5). The opening times are limited because of other activities (swimming lessons, waterpolo training) but I'll try to get as many opening hours as possible. If there is sufficient demand, we can arrange a dormitory with space for several hundreds of people. I'm still negotiating, but it may be needed to ask a small fee from you for this facility (approx $4 per night). There's a slight chance, however, that due to new security regulations it may not be possible to provide this facility at all... There are approx. 100 showers in the sports centre for us to use. The sports ppl assured me that the waterheating unit has sufficient capacity. The "openlucht theater" (to the north) is a amphi-type open air theatre that can be used for public (art) performances or other activities. The HAL networking guys (FHQ) are already very active and have a complete network design. The university will provide a 1Gbit/s uplink, at least. FHQ is still in need of heavy duty switches, lower-duty end switches, and a backup router. FHQ has chosen a leader, the Chief Network Operations: Aldert Hazenberg. Contact him if you know where to find spare equipment at fenrir@hal2001.org. FHQ will try to provide 100Mbit/s connections where possible. There will also be some wireless base stations, so bring your wireless card and leave your microwave at home ;) There will be at least 1.5 MW power from power generators and/or the UT power grid. FOOD UT Catering will provide hot meals for a reasonable price (approx. $6.5). These may contain meat, but there will also be a good vegetarian alternative. These meals are served in a HAL feeding tent. You can also go to the students' mensa where you can get a cheaper meal: approx $4. The lower price does have consequences on the quality of the food, but it's still edible. The mensa also has vegetarian alternatives. There will also be a pizzabakery, and a french fries & hamburger & other greasy stuff dude. We're still looking for a good one near Enschede; if you know good quality guys, please send us a mail. UT Catering will probably also provide breakfast. COMPUTER SHOP The Campus' computer shop will have extra stock for CDR's (extra superplus stock), power cables, UTP cables and power distribution thingies. There'll be a moderate supply of hubs and networking cards. It is advisable to bring your own cards and hubs as much as possible. The shop is located in the TW building and will have limited opening hours. When the shop is closed, you can buy stuff at the HAL main tent. Main tent? MAIN TENT Yes there will be a main tent with chairs & tables for approx 400 people, a bar, chairs & tables for relaxation purposes, the HAL shop, music, video screens, and other perceptory input feeds. Loudspeakers are not allowed in this tent. The info desk and HAL shop will be manned/womanned 24hrs/day. PUBLICITY A press release announcing the coming of HAL has been sent out yesterday. If you know news channels, mailing lists, underground magazines, contact persons or other means through which we can make HAL known to the right people, then please notify me so that we can send them the press release. Of course you can also cut & paste (parts of) the website. No we have not been on slashdot yet, my submissions got rejected. Perhaps my contribution was not juicy enough. Anybody else care to try? We are preparing a selection of banners for you to put whereever you think is appropriate. We're also preparing a pile of flyers; if you know of a good event to spread some, please drop us a line. ACTIVITIES Please notify us if you have ideas, suggestions, or questions about activities during HAL. HAL is a "do it yourself" event: you have to organise your own HAL. We will try to facilitate your activities and provide you with anything you need: electricity, network, space, PA, equipment, etc. But to do so, we need you to inform us what you're planning to do. If you have special electricity needs, *this* is the time to tell us because we're currently designing the electricity plan. Also, if you need a lot of space please inform us so that we can take this into account when making the campsite plan. It's better to know these things in advance... PROGRAMME Now that HAL is on, the programme needs attention. As "Content Encryption" is a development that needs our attention (under the DMCA you're not allowed to use LiViD to view your legitimately bought DVD disc, or to make a backup copy) we're thinking about doing some presentations on this subject; we already have some good people in mind for doing a talk. SPONSORS Our basic financial needs are covered by sponsorships, but of course if we can raise more funds we can do more activities that would otherwise be too costly. So please keep looking for fundraising opportunities and inform us if you've found one :) EQUIPMENT There are some things that we're going to need during HAL. If you know to find a certain piece of equipment, then please contact us. This is the stuff we currently need: * 10 kms of UTP cable * 2 kms of glassfiber * video camera's * several MPEG video encoder boards (PC) or standalone devices * video projectors * a Huge Fileserver for storing the videostreams * networking equipment * and of course tents, toilets, generators, etcetera. We will have to hire the stuff we cannot obtain otherwise.. so please be on the lookout for these gadgets. VOLUNTEERS I've written a few times "there will be a ... crew" and "will be manned". This is a promise that only has meaning if there are sufficient people willing to help us out before and during HAL. On the short term, you can help us with the following: * help building the website (we're going to use a Content Management System so only basic HTML knowledge is needed: basic text formatting & simple tables). * finding equipment and money.. * notify us if you know people that have a good and important story to tell regarding the subjects mentioned in the programme * think of neat activities or subevents that you & your friends can organize * think of more neat activities or subevents DISCLAIMER As HAL is still five months away, many things can change. So please note that what you have read above is *not* written in stone; if we have good reasons to do things differently, we will :) Hey this mail suspiciously looks like a newsletter. You know what, I'm gonna call it "Newsletter 1". So there. Take care & see you on HAL, Grit _______________________________________________ Announce mailing list Announce@hal2001.org http://www.hal2001.org/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Florian Lohoff flo@rfc822.org +49-5201-669912 Why is it called "common sense" when nobody seems to have any?