Boston Linux group to install Linux on machines tomorrow

If you’ve wanted to ditch Windows and experiment with Linux but are intimated by the prospect of going it alone, tomorrow’s your chance. The Boston Linux & Unix Users Group has organized its 30th Installfest, which takes place between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16, at MIT to help users install it on their laptops. Copies of Fedora 9, OpenSuse 11.0, Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 and Debian are available. Installfest will take place at MIT Building E-51, Room 61, 2 Amherst St., Cambridge, Mass. Bring your computer, monitor, distros to be installed, a power strip and some bucks. Although the volunteer-run service is free, a $25 donation is encouraged.

Volunteer Sellam Ismail of Livermore, Calif., helped repair donated computers and install Linux operating systems on hundreds of machines recently during LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco (see below). The machines were donated to local schools.