What is an Installfest?

installfest(n):

[Linux community since c.1998] Common portmanteau word for "installation festival"; Linux user groups frequently run these. Computer users are invited to bring their machines to have Linux installed on their machines. The idea is to get them painlessly over the biggest hump in migrating to Linux, which is initially installing and configuring it for the user's machine.
-- Jargon File 4.3.1

installation (n): The act of installing something
festival (n): A time of feasting and celebration

Also known as an installation party and one of the webmaster's favorites, install feast (Ruben I. Safir).  

Huh? (You say)

Yes. It's true. An installfest is a gathering, usually held by a Linux User's Group (LUG) or other Free Software Group (FSG), where you bring in your computer, and people will help you get GNU/Linux/(Free,Net,Open)BSD running on it.  People sometimes bring in exotic hardware for the challenge, but you should never bring exotic hardware to an installfest without letting the organizers know about it beforehand.

The folks at an installfest vary from beginners to experts,  it works when everyone gives of themselves to the best of their ability.  Installfests often need things like power strips, mice, keyboards, and monitors.  There can never be too many distribution discs. Bringing these items is a valuable contribution to an installfest.  Again, you should confer with the installfest organizers to make sure there aren't ten people bringing power strips and no one bringing distro discs.

The typical installfest involves more than just the installation of a free OS.  It is a social event, often involving food.  An installfest down in the financial district of Manhattan this past summer started on a Sunday around noon, and ended around 11pm. The youngest in attendance was three years old.

Important to know...

Everyone who holds an installfest is entitled to have any ground rules they like.  Please make a careful note of the following things:

• Start and end time: Please respect the limits of the host.  Times are often very firm, for various reasons.
• Operating systems allowed: You should expect that proprietary, non-free operating systems will not be permitted. You may find that even some Linux groups only allow Linux, or some BSD groups only allow BSD.  We encourage all who hold an installfest to be tolerant of all free software. The New York Installfest Cabal follows the mantra "All free software welcome! We do not discriminate among free kernels based upon the first letter of their names. We shall install as many free systems on as many machines and on as many different kinds of machines as possible. We shall install both Linux kerneled and free *BSD kerneled systems." (Jay Sulzberger)
• Equipment allowed: Not all hardware can be accommodated at every installfest.
• Security policies: This includes getting your stuff in and out of buildings, pre-registering when necessary, and bringing photo ID when necessary.  Especially in New York City, meetings and events that used to be "free and open to the public" are now "free and open to the public as long as they've pre-registered".  If you're not sure you can go, it's usually better to pre-register anyway, and let the host know you're not sure you'll be able to make it when you do.  It's no trouble if everyone on the list doesn't show up, but it's often trouble to add at the very last moment.