We ran a survey last month among those people who have downloaded Zenoss but haven’t been successful. We see there are two themes: Installation and Documentation. We know that installing Zenoss on some platforms is less than painless. We have a plan for this and are working on improving our support for additional operating systems and other installation and configuration issues (We are adding some additional resources to improve our installation and hiring some more additional code monkeys and support folks. Check out our Zenoss Careers page if you think you can help.)

The other part is documentation, this is something that our whole community can get involved in and help everyone better monitor their network with Zenoss.

That’s why I am announcing the Submit A Tip: Win a Laptop Contest.

In the interest of helping others in the community we are trying to drive additional Documentation for Zenoss Core on our wiki.

So what’s a tip?

A tip is anything that helps other users install, configure, or use Zenoss. It could be instructions for installing Zenoss that are more detailed than our user manual. It could be instructions for creating a report. It could be your solution for fixing an error you personally ran into. It doesn’t have to be overly complex but it should be useful to other users.

The Rules

1. Write up a tip and Submit It to the Zenoss Wiki in the Tips and Tricks folder. (What constitutes a valid tip is at the discretion of the judges).
2. Send an email to community@zenoss.com with the title “Submit a Tip Contest”  include your name and a link to your tip
3. Submissions for the Zenoss Submit a Tip: Win a Laptop are open until April 15th at which time we will draw randomly from all entries.
4. Multiple entries are allowed and encouraged. You will get one entry for each tip submitted.
5. Special Bonus: If you have a blog and you post your Zenoss tip with a link back to the Zenoss wiki we will enter your tip in the drawing twice (Please be sure to include the comment in your email submission and include the trackback link for this post in your blog entry.)
6. The contest will be open until April 15th at which time we will draw randomly from all entries and will announce the winners shortly thereafter.

The Prize

The prize is the very cool Asus Eee 4G pictured above.

Description of the AsusEEE Ultra-Compact Linux Laptop

Get the power of a full-sized laptop in the ultra-compact ASUS Eee PC 4G, which offers a full QWERTY keyboard, 7-inch screen, and preinstalled Linux operating system. (This laptop is also compatible with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system.) You’ll be able to stay connected to email and the Internet easily thanks to the Wi-Fi LAN (802.11b/g), and communicate via video chat and VoIP with the Webcam integrated into the display’s bezel. Because it uses flash memory instead of a hard drive (with 4 GB of storage), the Eee PC is optimal for weathering rough handling and sharing space in overstuffed bags.

For the professional, the Eee PC comes with a powerful selection of software to maximize personal productivity–over 40 built-in applications. The Open Office suite of software enables the user to open, edit and create documents, presentations, spreadsheets and databases that are compatible with Microsoft Office. For journalists, photographers and other professionals who need to use a computer in the field to create, to communicate and to collaborate with other colleagues, the Eee PC’s combinati on of power, extreme portability and rugged build makes it the ideal computing solution.It’s also a great choice for young students, with a built-in Dictionary that’s great for homework, and it includes two modes of intuitive graphic user interface design to accommodate both experienced and inexperienced PC users. The Eee PC also handles your digital images, movies, and music as well as Internet radio.

Compact and highly portable at just 32 ounces, the Eee PC 4G has a 7-inch wide color TFT LCD with an 800 x 480-pixel resolution (WXGA). Under the hood is a 900 MHz Intel Mobile CPU with integrated Intel graphics processor, 512 MB of RAM (not expandable), and 4 GB of solid-state flash memory. With the dependable solid-state disk, you get unparalleled shock-protection and reliability. In addition to its wireless LAN, it also offers wired Fast Ethernet connectivity and a 56K modem. The Eee PC includes software for Web browsing (Firefox), email, OpenOffice 2.0 for creating and editing word processing documents and spreadsheets, and a suite of other productivity software to help keep you on track.

You get three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA output for connecting to external monitors, headphone and microphone jacks, and a Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot. The Eee PC measures 8.9 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches, and it weighs 32 ounces. The 4-cell, 5200 mAh battery provides up to 3.5 hours of battery life (depending on usage).