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Linux.conf.au Coming Soon

Posted by Hemos on Mon Feb 28, 2005 08:27 PM
from the best-show-ever dept.
Software Announcements Linux
One of my most favorite Linux-centric shows of all time, Linux.conf.au is gearing up in their latest location - Canberra. The registration is still open; I highly, highly recommend attending the show.
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  • OOo Regicon Australia (Score:4, Informative)

    by oldosadmin (759103) on Monday February 28 2005, @08:29PM (#11808875) Homepage
    I believe this will also include the first ever OpenOffice.org RegiCon Australia.
  • But, since the topics include :

    # Debian Miniconf
    # OpenOffice.org Miniconf
    # Gnome.conf.au Miniconf

    Shoudln't the conference be called GNU.conf.au or GNU/Linux.conf.au?

    Names are important, that's why we use them in the first place. Calling it Unix.conf.au would be misleading. Calling it Linux.conf.au is misleading too ...
    • Names are important, that's why we use them in the first place
      And I think the name I'm looking for is "dumbass".

    • Names are important, that's why we use them in the first place. Calling it Unix.conf.au would be misleading. Calling it Linux.conf.au is misleading too ...

      Indeed. And since MOST people know the GNU/Linux distributions, collectively, as "Linux", referring to them that way will be the least confusing method. Holy wars over naming do NOT attract new users to Linux, or GNU/Linux, or Not Windows, or whatever it is that you call it. Speak the way your audience is familiar with. Don't say "security", say "does

      • That depends on your goals, i don't want more people joining the GNU userbase, i want more poeple understanding what Free Software is, and then, using GNU. If you just want many users, then having more users is a success. If you want more people understanding why Free Software exists, agreeing with it, helping with it, and using it, calling it Linux won't help, because you are killing the whole meaning of Free Software, and replacing it with marketing.

        • I see your point, but must respectfully disagree. I think that once more people use and are satisfied with F/OSS solutions, they will be more interested in learning about them, but you've got to get the foot in the door first. And that means not confusing the hell out of them, because the biggest barrier to entry to GNU/Linux currently is the fact that people DON'T UNDERSTAND IT. They know Windows "Just Works(TM)", and they like the automagic, easy way that it does. If you can convince them that Linux is NO

      • You mean you don't refer to your system as GNU/BSD/Mozilla/PublicDomain/OpenGroup/Apache/ Artistic/Linux? Goodness me, credit where credit is due, boy!

        (-:
    • ...because next year it'd have to be gnu.linux.conf.nz, and kiwiland doesn't have a "conf" 2LD.

      It was originally called CALU [svana.org], Conference of Australian Linux Users.

      I want to call it Colloquy of Linux in Australia and New Zealand (CLANZ) but nobody's listening. (-:

      We're (the royal we're) also idly toying with the idea of separate per-state user Colloquia.

      Either way, LCA is top stuff. I hope we get Linus again this year. He likes to come along because of the low-profile, relaxed and informative ambience (y

  • Oh! That kind of show (Score:3, Funny)

    by kitty tape (442039) on Monday February 28 2005, @08:33PM (#11808911) Journal
    I'm not sure I would even watch a TV show about Linux.

  • Not Worth it (Score:3, Informative)

    by moofdaddy (570503) on Monday February 28 2005, @08:36PM (#11808935) Homepage
    I went to the show last year and found it to be a complete waste of my time. The speakers were dull and unprofessional and the whole show in general had the feeling of a low rent high school play.
    • I had a mixed bag.

      A session on profiling web apps was poor. Yes, I *would* expect a web-mail app to spend a lot of time in regexs, that's how you look for injected content. Another session was thinly disguised corporate promotion.

      The Postgres dudes were really good, the session on "Authentication Stone Soup" (something like that) was really excellent. The GStreamer demo was an eye-opener. Any talk by Rusty or Tridge is a must see.

      Whilst I could have read about other things (like Perl 6), it was nice to
      • A session on profiling web apps was poor. Yes, I *would* expect a web-mail app to spend a lot of time in regexs, that's how you look for injected content.

        You're right, I did a pretty crappy job of doing that presentation. I was stressed, I had lots of trouble getting my laptop to work with the projector, I got the timing wrong, it all just fell in a heap. Oh well, sometimes that happens. At least I learned from my mistakes and revised the presentation: I've since done an extended version of it at 3 other
  • I hope the Canberra weather isn't too cold for another great dunking [lwn.net]

  • linux.conf.au 2006 (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 28 2005, @08:42PM (#11808973)
    For those of you who are wondering where linux.conf.au 2006 is going to be, it will be held [linux.org.au] in Dunedin, New Zealand [wikipedia.org]
  • I doubt I will attend, but for those that do you may wish to take a small side trip to the Honeysuckle Creek tracking station. It and Parkes Observatory are what brought the first Apollo 11 moon walk Live to the world, being the only dishes of suitable power in proper position to receive the signal. Here is a link [questacon.edu.au] to some more info. You could also rent the little known, but well made movie "The Dish" [yahoo.com]

    • Just keep in mind that if you do go to Honeysuckle Creek don't expect to find a tracking station anymore. I went there to do astrophotography once as it's outside of the city a bit and was disapointed to find that the tracking station was just a few concrete slabs :p.

      Link [honeysucklecreek.net].
      • Wow, how sad, I know this was largely an American event, but to just demolish this piece of history seems unconscionable, regardless if its scientific use had come to an end. Too bad the movie didn't come out till 2001. Maybe more people would have known and cared. I'm sure the American government would have pitched in dollars if the American public had known what was to be lost.

        With the connectivity of the web these days, hopefully what seems obscure to some will find the wide audience needed to take

  • For those who are attending the conference there will also be a programming competition [linux.org.au] run during the conference.

    Lots of fun was had by participants and observers at last year's competition [linux.org.au].

  • For a Minute... (Score:3, Funny)

    by eno2001 (527078) on Monday February 28 2005, @09:57PM (#11809328) Homepage Journal
    ...I thought that I should go to /etc and look for linux.conf.au and then I realized that this was something completely different. I need to get out more. ;P

  • Webcasts? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kinema (630983) on Monday February 28 2005, @10:21PM (#11809483)
    Will the presentations [linux.conf.au] be webcast?

  • Don't forget the penguins (Score:3, Informative)

    by child_of_mercy (168861) <johnboy&the-riotact,com> on Monday February 28 2005, @10:33PM (#11809552) Homepage
    And remember the penguin which bit Linus lives at the National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra.
  • you missed last year conference?
    Download best 2004 videos from Linux.Conf.Au 2004 Videos Information & Downloads Webpage [linux.org.au]


    ___________________________
    Bridge - Linux Ethernet bridging [sourceforge.net]
  • Dont complain about the options... but what about all of us who don't live in Europe?

    • Re:Wait a minute (Score:4, Funny)

      by NoGuffCheck (746638) on Monday February 28 2005, @08:41PM (#11808967)
      the reason australia was setup as a penal colony was that the US refused to take anymore convicts and thus Britain needed an alternative.

      1. steal a loaf of bread

      2. sentenced to 200 years on a paradise island..

      sounds good to me.

      • Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Funny)

        by chimpo13 (471212) <gorn@nokilli.com> on Monday February 28 2005, @09:03PM (#11809095) Homepage Journal
        The paradise island is New Zealand.

        Australia has something like 7/10 of the most poisonous snakes and spiders. Plus there's crocodiles (both salt and fresh water), and jelly fish that can kill if you figure you'll just go swimming in the ocean. People die of the heat and dehydration in the outback. Driving at night angers the Kangaroo God so he smites your car with them. There's also a Cattle God, a Sheep God, a Wombat God and a Roadtrain God. None are happy.

        Not to mention they eat things like Musk Flavored Lifesavers and Vegemite. The heat, combined with US and Europe hiding the ozone layer makes it hard on people so they age badly. Crocodile Dundee is only 22.

        But it was a nice country with great people, and I'll be back to ride from Cape York to Uluru (Ayers Rock) to Tasmania.

        • Re:Wait a minute (Score:4, Informative)

          by mgv (198488) <Nospam.01.slash2 ... minus herbivore> on Monday February 28 2005, @09:34PM (#11809228) Homepage Journal
          More likely

          1. Steal a loaf of bread

          2. Get sentenced to 7 years in a place where the seasons were the wrong way round, you were thousands of miles from England and the guards were the dregs of the British army.

          Australia was only a paradise island for a little while, now we're becoming Mini-US.

          Commentry for the majority of /. who live elsewhere:

          Nah, it is paradise here. I've been to a few places, and its good in Oz. The fact that we posess alot of similarities to both the US and the UK doesn't make it bad here.

          In fact, its part of why its good (eg democracy, separation of powers with independentent judiciary).

          The seasons are just fine the way they are here.

          Having said that, Canberra's weather is pretty poor ... Too far inland, it gets very cold in winter and way too hot in summer.

          Canberra is a city thats a compromise in location because they couldn't decide whether to make Sydney or Melbourne the capital, so they built a whole city in a paddock between the two and dug out an artificial lake to make it look pretty. (Ok, it does look pretty, but its still a man made lake).

          Hopefully the weather won't be too bad at the conference, because the whole linuxconf thing has really taken off. I'm sure that this will be alot bigger than the 2003 one in Perth that I went to.

          Michael
          • Question from New Zealand:

            What are those 'seasons' you're talking about?

          • they built a whole city in a paddock between the two and dug out an artificial lake to make it look pretty
            We've got the terrorist target thing worked out properly too. From the air you can see a series of roads in concentric rings with parliment house as the centre of those rings - just like a big archery target.

    • Re:distance (Score:5, Funny)

      by InvisibleCola (780691) on Monday February 28 2005, @09:19PM (#11809160)
      Firstly, I live in Canberra so I am 24 hours from everywhere else.........you insensitve clod:) International flights are available from London, Rome, Athens etc. to both Sydney and Melbourne. International flights to/from Europe do not stop over in Indonesia but some do stop for a couple of hours in either Sinagapore or Bangkok. Sydney is a 40 minute flight from Canberra and Melbourne is about 1 hour 15 minutes. You can drive from Sydney to Canberra in under 3 hours, if you drive on the left. Add another three hours for weaving through oncoming traffic if you drive on the right.
      • You can drive from Sydney to Canberra in under 3 hours, if you drive on the left. Add another three hours for weaving through oncoming traffic if you drive on the right.
        Those drive left signs are pretty hard to ignore :) (And yes, I've been driving in Australia and it wasn't so hard for someone using the right side under "normal" cicumstances)
      • "Firstly, I live in Canberra"

        And here I thought I was the only one on here! :(

        I dont feel special any more
    • I'm sorry, but I'm not in the mood of another 24 hours spend in a plane.

      You could say the same about any destination in Australia), so why even bother posting in a Linux.conf.au discussion?
      • Yes, I was a little insensitive here. It just bugged me that the poster "highly recommend[s] attending the show". After all going to Canberra is terribly expensive/inconvenient for anybody not living in Australia or the region of Asia. (You might also take into account that we Europeans are not used to such distances. Some of us are astonished if they are still on the same globe after 8 hours of flight ;) )
        • Well there are plenty of mentions of Linuxworlds in New York and San Francisco, etc.. that's pretty damn inconvenient to attend for us. 20+ hours on a flight. Not to mention KDE Konferences in Germany, GNOME conferences in the US, etc etc.

          And yes I've flown to Europe from Australia, and it was the longest day of my life. 8 hours to singapore, 13 hours to france, 45 minutes to london (+ airport wait times of about 5-9 hours, can't remember now)...

          So yeah, stop complaining. It's about time we had something
        • we Europeans are not used to such distances

          What distances? My office lies right between the Linux.conf.au stomping grounds and the local Apple Center, both all of 50 meters away. *And* I'm a European, you insensitive clod! :-)
    • If you're on a budget you'll get a bus to Canberra from Sydney.

      Yhe trip is shorter than to many cities from "their" airport. (I'm looking at you Narita)

      But Qantas run damn near an air-bridge Sydney Canberra. The flights leave every 30 mins and only take half an hour (including all the fiddling around)

      And the weather at this time of year is glorious.

      • But Qantas run damn near an air-bridge Sydney Canberra. The flights leave every 30 mins and only take half an hour (including all the fiddling around)

        If you do get a choice, go through Melbourne when flying in from overseas. Yes you'll spend half an hour longer on the plane, but immigration and changeover from international to domestic in Melbourne are *so* much more relaxed and easy. In Sydney you can have long lines at immigration, then to get to domestic they make you take a fricking bus that leaves th
      • There usually is a stop in Singapore or Indonesia involved, so it will be London (most common) -> Kuala Lumpur (for example) -> Sydney | Adelaide | Melbourne | ... -> Canberra. Might add up to 30 hours. I'm not ranting, since I've been to Australia several times and I always enjoyed my stay (especially Melbourne and the Whitsunday Islands and the region above Cairns and...). However, the tickets are not cheap and the flight is a royal pain in the ass regardless of the class you are flying.

      • The fact that the moderator doesn't understand C++ Doesn't make the post offtopic

        Or it could be that the moderator doesn't see jabs at using a wrong word to be on the topic of the thread. I don't, although I probably wouldn't care enough to use a modpoint on it.

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