Hi This is my first draft of the text about Sarajevo, please point out mistakes to fix. I dont have a "Questions" Section (here and in the Edinburgh report), as stockholm has that already, and there is not much use of two of them. Note that in addition to the pictures we also got a Video-DVD from the Hotel Terme. Its mostly advertising and talking about their medical things, but you also see some parts of the Hotel. If you want you can take a look here: http://ftp.acc.umu.se/pub/debian-meetings/2007/debconf7-venue-preview/terme-001.ogg Sarajevo ======== All pictures are available behind https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue - Im only linking the few ones here in this text that help to understand it, to not make it too unreadable. Option 1 - Hotel Terme ====================== Overview -------- Hotel[1] Terme[2] is located around 20 minutes (by tram) away from Sarajevo City Center, the tram station is only 5 minutes walk away from the Hotel. [1] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2928 [2] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2929 It is a hotel that has a medical part included and is as such completly accessible[3] for disabled[4] persons having ramps everywhere (instead of stairs to go up/down a floor) and of course also weelchair enabled rooms. We could not go into one of these because all of them were used at the time of our visit, but we did saw some people in weelchairs, and all the rest of the installations. [3] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2930 [4] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2931 The reception[5] is on the left side of the entrance hall, on the other side is the restaurant[6] located (note that this picture only shows a third of it, its larger). In the middle, behind the ramps going up to the other floors you find the bar[7] of the Hotel. There are multiple conference[8] rooms[9] of different[10] sizes[11][12], some behind the reception, some behind the restaurant and others located at the first floor, which we can use, including their equipment[13] (there is more). [5] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2932 [6] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2933 [7] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2934 [8] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2935 [9] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2937 [10] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2938 [11] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2939 [12] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2945 [13] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2940 The hotel has 3 floors (not including basement) with rooms[14] of "standard"[15] quality[16] in the first and second floor, the third floor[17] has the "comfort"[18] rooms[19] which have more space. The weelchair-enabled rooms are all located in the first floor. [14] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2949 [15] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2950 [16] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2951 [17] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2953 [18] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2955 [19] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2956 The top floor has the rooms with added comfort, like more space and a seperated bedroom, so we can host those people that normally dont use the same accomodation there, and not somewhere outside. In the cellar are medical applications[20] and also the pools[21] and the gym[22]. [20] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2959 [21] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2961 [22] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2964 Offers ------ The Hotel offered to help us with various things. First we can use their equipment in the conference rooms, like projectors and video and audio stuff. They also said they can take most of our info-desk, including handing out bags to new people arriving (if we mark them with a name or so), working with our list for the room assignements, etc. The reception is open 24hours. There is no internet in the rooms yet, but the Hotel is planning to have it, and we suggested to interact with the LUG in Sarajevo. But as far as I understood it we are also free to get up our own network, which would be simple, as there is no big area to cover with looong cables. As this Hotel is used for conferences from ambassadors and the business in Sarajevo they have contracts with, they are used to having conferences. Sure not used to a DebConf, but there is no location that is. Option 2 - Student Dormitory together with Cultural Centre ========================================================== Overview -------- The student dormitory[23] is located around 15 minutes away from Sarajevo City Center with the tram, next tram station is also only 5 minutes away. it is really big and able to host 900 persons, so way more than we ever need. It has some[24] preparations for disabled people, including lifts[25], but unfortunately 2 of 3, including the only one suitable for a weelchari, were out of order during our visit. [23] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2965 [24] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2968 [25] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2969 There are a few smaller[26] rooms that could be used as hacklabs and a restaurant[27] which fits about 150 people at a time. In the basement is a cafe[28] that can hold abouot 100 people. [26] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2971 [27] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2972 [28] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2966 The rooms are available as 2-bed[29] rooms and 3-bed rooms. A disabled person needs a 3-bed room, but the bathrooms[30] are in no way usable for weelchairs. [29] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2975 [30] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2977 On the way to the Arabic culture center[31] is a small BP Hotel[32] located, which could be used for those people not wanting to stay in the dormitory. It has 12 rooms with 24 beds, but is not prepared for disabled persons. [31] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2985 [32] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2978 The culture center is located around 7 or 8 minutes of walking with an average speed away. It has a auditorium[33] that fits around 280 persons, has the latest and greatest bits of technic built in, including extra places for live translations and press, has an own canteen[34] and also rooms[35] that could be used as hacklabs. [33] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2997 [34] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2994 [35] https://gallery.debconf.org/jjsjjvenue/dscn2990 When we visited the center there was a strict entrance policy, we needed to hand in our passports (or some form of identification) to receive visitors badgets. This is of course not doable for a DebConf, we need to dig this out if we chose this. Conclusion ========== The student dormitory together with the culture centre would be the cheapest option for DebConf7, if we only look at the price, as the dormitory itself is only 19EUR/person/day, and the culture centre would be for free. My problem with this solution is the distance between those two locations and that the dormitory isnt fit for disabled persons. And we would also separate the people who want a "real" hotel, at least in the nearby BP hotel, but most probably even further away, as that one is really small. For the distance - it is a 7 minute walk for the average DebConf attendee to get from the dormitory to the culture center, where the talks should be. And also having a hacklab there means that we seperate the Conference in two parts, which isnt the goal. The hotel on the other hand has everything in one place, so no big way between rooms, talks and food. It is completly accessible for disabled persons, has experience with conferences (even if thats not DebConf it helps a bit). The price is a bit above the dormitory option, with 33EUR/person/day, but I think it is worth it and will present a very good DebConf. So from the two Sarajevo options the only one I think is possible for a DebConf is the Hotel. I dislike the dormitory/culture center option just too much, as the price may be nice, but the disadvantages are too big to get ignored. -- bye Joerg Some NM: Essential packages are required to provide all of their core functionality even when unconfigured, hence they cannot require libc. Libc therefore is not an essential package.
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