From: Gerrit Hiddink Subject: [HAL2001-Announce] The HAL Newsletter issue 1 Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 11:28:15 +0200 (CEST) The HAL Newsletter, issue 1, Mon June 25th 2001 CONTENT ======= 1. Introduction 2. The Teams - Web Team - FHQ Team - Broadcast Team - Cashiers Team - Transport Team - Booklet Team - Infodesk Team - Stage Management - Bar Team 3. Ticket (Pre) Sales 4. General Update - Program - Volunteers - Women's Dorm Hall - HAL2001 maps of the UT Campus in AutoCAD - Bringing your own network equipment for the wired network 5. In Conclusion --..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..-- 1. INTRODUCTION =============== You are now facing the first issue of the HAL Newsletter. This newsletter will update you regularly on how things are going, what the organisation is doing at this moment, what the questions are we ask ourselves about the visitors of HAL and what we would like you to do. In this first newsletter we will introduce the different teams already active. After nagging them for a few days all team-leaders were willing to write a short introduction on their team. You can read these introductions in this newsletter. We still need you to make this event even better! --..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..-- 2. THE TEAMS ============ Web Team -------- The Web team is dedicated to building and maintaining a website which is informative, clear, and easy to use. We strive to achieve that other teams have less clutter and therefore function better. In plain English: we're going to build a damn good website. A site that makes people find answers, not more questions. We're well on our way but would very much like more people aboard. Our workload will increase tremendously in the coming weeks -- more hands make it a lot easier to keep the fun in. We already have a fine group and we welcome you! You don't have to be a guru, just basic HTML and/or database knowledge and fine ideas are good enough. This is a team effort. Together we have all the skills! On popular demand, the Web team is working on a carpool database. This will make it a lot easier to reduce your transport costs to the event. The work is done in close cooperation with the Transport team. Please apply: Miriam Jorna Team lead Web -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- FHQ Team -------- Are You A Nerd/Geek (girl)? Are You coming to HAL2001? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get online there? If you answer those 3 questions with Yes, then you are the person we need! FHQ (Field HeadQuarters) is looking for people who will help us with building/maintaining the network at HAL2001. We will build the greatest (1 Gb uplink) and biggest (3000+ people) outdoor network ever! We will have wireless coverage, streaming speaker sessions, big hard disks/servers and all the network equipment you can possibly dream of. If you want to give us a hand, subscribe to: http://www.hal2001.org/mailman/listinfo/hal-fhq AND email me at fenrir@hal2001.org with your name, email and what ever you want to tell/ask me. We are still in a great need of: - 3 Km of fiber in various lengths; - a very big router with lots of gbic's; - big storage systems. We already have a lot but if you can lend us any of the equipment above or even something I did not think of, mail me at: Aldert Hazenberg Chief Network Operations -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- Broadcast Team -------------- The Broadcast team will try to make sure that even if you can`t participate at HAL2001, you still will be able to get a grasp of the atmosphere. We will achieve this by recording the lectures, campsite and overall impressions (hopefully all of them) and stream this onto the Internet for your viewing pleasure. Besides that we hope to use the recorded material for something that will be viewable after the event! So, we will be the people pointing camera`s at speakers and trying to record the overall atmosphere of this cool event, but we can`t do this by ourselves and thus the Broadcast team is looking for more people to join us! Especially people who already have some experience with encoding or camera work are welcome. This doesn`t mean that you have to be a guru to be part of this team: just send us an email with your skills and what you would like to do, and we will work out what we can do for each other. You can send it to the Broadcast mailing-list with subject: "Volunteer". At the moment we are getting more into depth about what techniques should be used considering all the factors dominating streaming media, such as bandwidth, encoders, servers, camera`s etc. This is in a premature phase and we haven`t really decided yet how to implement this, but we will now try to sort this out with the help of the FHQ-team and the AVL team. Check out the Broadcast mailing-list for future info! Bjorn Wijers aka FREEQ Team lead Broadcast -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- Cashiers Team ------------- The volunteers in this team will be responsible for the various cash registers at the campsite. On Thursday and Friday several people will be necessary at the entrance. They will sell tickets and hand out the entrance bracelets. During the whole event some people will be needed to sell consumption tokens for the bar. This will happen near the main tent, so you will be right in the middle of all fun activities. No prior experience is necessary. However, because we will also be working with pinmachines and creditcards, experience is very welcome. If you want to join this team mail me or join the mailing-list: or make it yourself easy and visit http://www.hal2001.org/mailman/listinfo/cashiers Jacco Kwakkel Team lead Cashier -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.- Transport Team -------------- This is the update about how and when we will have the cars. It's as follows. At first there will be 2 moving vans (you know, the kind of trucks you can drive with a Dutch B driver's license or an international one). These two will be rented in Amsterdam on Friday August 3rd. They will be fitted with hydraulic cargo lifts, so they can be used like a forklift. Then there will be 2 transporters (7m^3) and 2 person transporters for up to 9 people rented on Monday August 6th in Enschede. We will need people to be ready to drive the two vans on Friday. These volunteers need to be in Amsterdam during that day to reduce the kilometers and costs on the van. Also, most of the stuff will come from Amsterdam. After picking up the materials/equipment the van can be parked (no unloading!!) in a secured building in Amsterdam. After HAL the vans will return to Amsterdam on Tuesday August 14th or Wednesday August 15th. The person transporters will be driving between the campus site and the train station Drienerloo (in Enschede), a 5 minute ride. During HAL we will have a luggage transport service on the terrain. At the moment we are in search of suitable transport vehicles. We would like to arrange golf cards or trikes with a trailer behind them. HAL is build by volunteers: in relation to this we would like to ask whether you, or someone you know, can arrange these vehicles. Otherwise we want to use busses to do this job. Furthermore, I would like to ask people that come in busses to coordinate this through me. You can contact me at . You can also join the mailing-list at: http://www.hal2001.org/mailman/listinfo/transport Tom Gerritsen aka jabba Team lead Transport -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.- Booklet Team ------------ The booklet team is responsible for creating an informative booklet to answer most (if not all) of the questions a visitor of the conference may have (program, various costs, location information and other questions). Currently we are still in the preliminary phase in that we are collecting information for the booklet (which is dependent on other teams) and making sure we will get a booklet that is as complete as possible. We still need a person who has experience with layout and a program such as Quark-Xpress or something simular. We have a very generic idea on how the booklet should look and what is possible with respect to the number of pages and colours, but some (professional) help on this terrain is certainly welcome. You can find our mailing-list at: http://www.hal2001.org/mailman/listinfo/booklet Sander aka Thrill Team lead Booklet -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- Infodesk Team -------------- The infodesk team is responsible for the infodesk at the HAL itself. We know where to find the information people want to have and what's not in the booklet or on the web. Since we really want to have at least one person at the desk the 24 hours/day, we really need more people to join us! That way everyone also has the time to listen to the speakers and do other things. So if you like to be organized and want to give people the information they need, please get yourself on the info list: http://www.hal2001.org/mailman/listinfo/hal-info Yolanda van Meel aka Akasha & Miriam Petschy aka mir Duo-team lead Infodesk -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- Stage Management ---------------- Stage Management means that everything goes smoothly for all the speakers and other sessions at HAL. Specifically, the stage managers will: - Meet with each speaker immediately before his/her session to make sure all needs are identified; - Make sure equipment is working for the speaker (e.g., AV, computer, network); - Coordinate with other groups as needed if there are problems; - Stay on hand throughout the session, and address any problems that occur (such as going over-time, lighting or heating problems, etc.). By mid-July, the program committee will have a draft list of session times and locations for each speaker. The Stage Management group will get an overview of the session needs from each speaker, and work with other groups to confirm these needs will be met. Stage Management will help unscheduled sessions as resources allow. For example, someone may wish to do an open tutorial in one of the tents, and desire some help getting set up. The first priority for stage management is the scheduled sessions, but we'll help other activities in whatever way possible. The Stage Management group will coordinate tightly with these groups, and others are appropriate: AVL, Broadcast, Info, Network, Power and Standby. For mailing lists, visit http://www.hal2001.org/mailman/listinfo. To contact the stage management coordinator, email Greg Newby at . Greg Newby Stage Management -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- Bar Team -------- A campsite within easy reach of Almere in the burning sun, 1997. Temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius. The ideal weather to work with a computer. Until late at night with a laptop at the campfire. In the early morning in the warm shelter of a phoneboot-block hired from KPN Events (and locked badly) or, in some cases, in a camper or tent. In one word: idyllic. But, with an advice from the first aid team to drink 2 liters a day, there was one problem left: Where could you get something to drink? The HIP bar was open 24 hours a day. Liters of Jolt, coke of a less known brand, Spa, juice and Grolsch were sold day and night. Gallons of Coke, beertables with beer, Kamikazes in shakers by the dozen. Some interesting new ways of distribution and transport have been developed during HIP '97. Probably the least anyone expected, taking into account the super-abundant testing of alcoholic products, appears to be possible. The same people, organizing the bar in 1997, will take a shot to put up an even bigger, better, more insane and freaky bar. We hope to welcome Jetse, the cabinet-maker who saved our asses with building the bar at HIP. We are very happy to re-announce Mickey Mouse Mike, for keeping a strict watch at the timetables and do the necessary trouble shooting. We are very glad of the fact that Better Booze Bouke can't make it to HAL and only will help us out with the preparations (this will really make a _large_ difference in the overall margin of profit). We can live with the fact that Yawny Yawp Yitsan aka Mattijs J. will probably be present to annoy the barpersonal for hours with talking rubbish and playing the wrong hitsingles on the stereo. NUNC EST BIBENDUM! If you feel you could help us tapping beer and pouring drinks, please feel free to contact . Mattijs aka Yitsan Team lead Bar --..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..-- 3. TICKET (PRE) SALES ===================== The online presales of HAL entrance tickets is going very well. Actually we sold eight times more tickets so far, compared to the HIP 1997 presales. We will close the online ticketsales around July 15th. If you didn't pay for your ticket yet, maybe this is the time to do so. Go to your chequebook and pay us. There are advantages in prepaying and you will always be able to enter even if we have to close the gates because the maximum amount of visitors has been reached. http://www.hal2001.org/hal/01Home/register/ If you want to pay with your creditcard follow the link to the 2600 webshop on this page. 2600 magazine accepts all major credit cards for HAL ticket payments. Otherwise you have the option to register and transfer the fee to our Dutch bankaccount. Follow one of the ticket links offered on that page. (The blue paragraph headings are links.) German visitors can pay to a German bankaccount to save costs. We also may open a PayPal account one of these days. The costs for international banktransfers are ridiculous: where is that one European market? Still we encourage all visitors to register and pay beforehand: you will help our financial planning a lot by pre-paying. All volunteers are also expected to pay the entrance fee. We feel bad asking this, however HAL is a low budget event and we simply cannot do without the entrance payment of every visitor. There are some other rewards though, especially for those volunteers helping before and after the event. Check the 'volunteer teams' section on the website. As soon as your payment has arrived we will send a confirmation email. Contact if you have questions related to your registration or payment. --..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..-- 4. GENERAL UPDATE ================= Program ------- Several speakers have been added to the list of confirmed speakers: Harald Welte - Linux 2.4 firewalling with netfilter/iptables Sharad Popli - Security & Privacy (an introduction to some interesting concepts) Tille - Unix basics for absolute newbies Noir - Writing exploit PAYLOAD for RISC based architectures If you have a good idea for a presentation: please take a look at our Call for Participation here: http://www.hal2001.org/hal/03Topics/07CFP Also, the list of interesting subevents is growing each week! New this week are: Kim Cascone - Dust Theories performance (computer music) Mathilde Mupe - Power Pong "various artists" - Slackers' Salon Solaris The full lists can be found on the website: presentations - http://www.hal2001.org/hal/03Topics/06program subevents - http://www.hal2001.org/hal/04Participate/03subevents/ Volunteers ---------- For about 3/4 of the teams we have the minimum required to get everything running. Undermanned/womanned teams are: Security, Power, Parking, Sanitary, Stage Management, AVL. So if you find yourself in need of a good passtime during the buildup days: take a glance at the list of teams at this URL: http://www.hal2001.org/hal/04Participate/04volday and try to find something suitable. If you're planning to extend your leadership capabilities, then the following teams may provide opportunities for just this: Parking and Sanitary crew. We also need First Aid people! If you are qualified to do First Aid and you want to volunteer at the HAL, please be so kind to send an email to . We really need you to be available! Women's Dorm Hall ----------------- We are planning a mixed gender dorm hall, but we have also had some requests for a women's only dorm. In order to get an idea for the size of the room required, we need an indication for the number of women that would be interested in making use of this facility. So please drop a mail if you're interested! Gerrit Hiddink aka Grit -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- HAL 2001 Maps of the UT Campus in AutoCAD ----------------------------------------- The University Twente (UT) has provided maps of its campus in AutoCAD format. Since many teams need information that can be derived from those maps we're in dire need for someone who's 'fluent' in AutoCAD. In AutoCAD different maps need to made. Beside a map needed by the Fire Department Enschede, we need maps for the Hal 2001 booklet, the tent builders, the sanitary team, the power team, the cable teams etc. So, if you're an AutoCAD 'expert' and willing to 'donate' some time on creating those maps please contact Eric at or phone him at +31(0)6 5475 0080. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- Bringing your own network equipment for the wired network --------------------------------------------------------- First of all: do bring a 10 or 100 mbit UTP network card. There may be some available, but it'll work a lot better if you provide your own network card. The network team will set up network access points (Datenklo) on each field where UTP can be plugged into the network switches to get you on-line. Long UTP cables will be available. All network connections will be UTP. Here is your opportunity to make international friends! If you have a switch (preferred) or hub you can bring along for your tent then you can connect your neighbors as well (or the second computer you brought along). --..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..-- 5. IN CONCLUSION ================ So this is where we stand now. You've read about lots of things already done, and about the things that still need to be done. If you can make yourself useful somewhere, please do so! You can also find more info on http://www.hal2001.org/hal/04Participate/04volday. It's not only useful, it's also going to be a lot of fun! Tell all your friends about us, we really want to see a lot of people. We have only 48 days to go before HAL! If you feel like you want to help creating more issues of the HAL newsletter, please feel free to contact mir at . The Newsletter Crew _______________________________________________ Announce mailing list Announce@hal2001.org http://www.hal2001.org/mailman/listinfo/announce