Re: [Flightgear-devel] Linux convention

[Curtis L. O. <cu...@fl...>]

BERNDT, JON S. (JON) (JSC-EX) (LM) writes:
> Are you back, then, from SF? How did it go?

It went very well.  I got there right after everything was set up, and
managed to leave before the show was over, managing to avoid any of
the setup or take down work. :-)

Because of that I must first stand on the roof tops and shout a *HUGE*
"THANK YOU!!!" to Alex, Trisha, and Jim for doing pretty much all the
work of setting up the booth.  Also a big thanks to Sandra and Robert
for paying my airfare out there and putting me up for both nights and
a big thanks to Mark (hope I got the name right) for making a
FlightGear video which we had playing 24/7.

We had two machines set up running FlightGear.  Jim brought his
"heavy" yoke, rudder pedals, and throttle for one machine and we had a
USB joystick for the other.  We had a third machine running the Atlas
moving map which was synced to the second fgfs machine.  We also had a
TV/VCR playing a video of various flightgear flying scenes.  And
finally we had the walls covered in posters, pictures, and other
information.

We literally had a steady stream of traffic from morning to evening
with *very* few times when there wasn't at least one or two people
there looking and flying.  Quite often we were approaching mob levels,
and I found myself either getting stuck way in the back of the booth,
or outside the booth unable to get back in.  The time flies by
literally and it is quite fun to spend the entire day talking about
FlightGear. :-)

I met lots of interesting people, and heard lots of interesting
comments and questions.

Judging from questions and comments, many people would like to see a
larger variety of well modeled aircraft.  I'd guess that the first
question for more than 50% of the people was which aircraft we
modeled.

People seemed very impressed:

a) That a flight simulator existed for linux

b) That we quite obviously have a serious stab at a quality flight
simulator well in progress.

c) That it was free (this was probably the 2nd most often asked
question ... how much does this cost/how do you make money on this.)
We eventuall posted a sign that said, "Yes, it is free!"

d) For those that have seen flightgear at previous shows, many were
impressed with the progress we have made in the last year.

e) Many who have experience with other PC simulators were impressed
with the smoothness of our instrument motion.

f) Quite a few real pilots came along to try it out and it was fun to
watch the ones that knew the area navigate around and find their way
from place to place.

The compaq booth had a hang glider "hanging" from the ceiling.
Another booth was giving away cheap balsa gliders with their logo on
the wing.  Next year I think we need to have an X-15 hanging from the
ceiling, and we need to be the one's giving away balsa gliders.  I
think I also want one of those fancy 2 story booths.  I want to be
able to fire up the X-15 engine a couple times a day as well.  Our
booth definitely didn't make as much noise as some of the others so we
didn't attract all the attention we otherwise could have.

Getting equipment in and out of the show was a significant problem.
Given the schedule I could negotiate with my wife this time around, I
was not helpful at all in this respect.  Next time, we *need* to have
more hands to help with this, or probably live with less toys in the
booth (which would be a shame.)

I survived two bouts with SFO public transportation, and if you plan
ahead for airfare and hotel, you can do it pretty cheaply.  There's
never a time to eat, so you don't have to worry about spending money
on food.  Also, each project gets a few session passes so there are
opportunities to do a couple of those for people that are interested.

I'm starting the negotiations with my wife to see if I can go to the
NY show this winter ... we'll see how that goes. :-) I'm taking
donations for the "Buy Curt's wife a really big diamond so she let's
him go to NY for a week fund."

Curt.
-- 
Curtis Olson   Human Factors Research Lab       FlightGear Project
Twin Cities    cu...@hf...                cu...@fl...
Minnesota      http://www.menet.umn.edu/~curt   http://www.flightgear.org