Ohio Linuxfest 2008: The Community Gathers Once Again
Posted on 12 October 2008, at 3:18 am, by Joel McLaughlin
It’s hard to believe that a year has gone by. A lot has happened in the Linux world. While the economy is in the crapper, Linux is growing in both the easy of use and the strength of its community.
Ubuntu was at the show this year and had machines from System 76 showing off Hardy and giving out CD’s. There were at least 5-6 different CD’s they were handing out in this booth alone. This includes, Ubuntu Desktop and Server in 32 and 64 bit versions. They also had Kubuntu in both 32 and 64 bit versions as well as a remix of Kubuntu with the shiney KDE 4 Desktop. That doesn’t cover the myriad of other Ubuntu based remixes out there. Ubuntu has firmly entrenched itself as THE Linux distro that is in everyone’s bag.
Fedora also had a booth show casing Fedora 9 and the OLPC or XO PC. For those who don’t know, the default OS on the OLPC is Fedora at its core with the Sugar UI providing a very kid friendly interface. I also heard through the grapevine that the XO will be having a give one get one sale again this holiday season and this time, it’s going to be on Amazon.com. So if your still pinging to get one of these weird, but cool looking machines, November 17th is your chance!
One thing that has been made clear to me is the sheer popularity of netbooks in the Linux community. There were many netbooks being carried by the community. You could not turn the corner without seeing a Eee PC, a Acer Aspire One or HP Mini-Note. They are the IN machine of the Linux community. There was a mix of Xandros, Ubuntu, Open Suse or Eeebuntu running on many of these machines in the booths or being carried by conference goers. I even saw the grandaddy itty bitty notebook, a Toshiba Libretto 50 being carried by a guy at the pre party. If it’s small and can run Linux, we like it.
My Eee PC 701 with the Toshiba Libretto
Up close and personal, I got to play with Linc’s Acer for a little while and now am pretty much sure I want one.
I also got to see a Eee PC 1000H up close and personal and I have to say that Asus is winning in the race to produce the best looking netbook class machine. The 1000H is almost a fullsize laptop, but it still is very light and very portable. I keep hoping that Asus will send me one of these to check out. Can you Asus? Pretty please? 
Next up is Zenoss. Zenoss is a Open Source Application, Systems and Network monitoring application. You can try it out with this VM Ware appliance. Application and network monitoring promises to take the hassle out of making sure your application is up and running. I am hoping to look at trying this out at work to give us a more robust way to monitor the applications we rely on. Also, it helps to have a cool free t-shirt for both Luke and myself and a chance at winning a Chumby.
Luke, my Son and a Linux User
I don’t remember this from last year, but OLF featured a movie room where they showed movies like Revolution OS, Big Buck Bunny and the tech behind Madagascar (Dreamworks used Linux if you didn’t know). They even had free popcorn so you could kick back and relax and enjoy the software!
Lastly, no Linux conference is complete without lots of socializing and copius amounts of Beer being consumed. While I passed on the beer, I met up with my friends from the Linux Link Tech Show and we headed down to BD’s Mongolian Barbeque for some awesome stir fry. Joining us was monsterb, klattu and threethirty from the Linux Cranks, Dave Yates from the Lotta Linux Links, and Aaron Newcomb from the source and many others. We packed 15-20 people around big long table and had a blast. From there, we headed over to the pre-party at Barley’s Ale House No 1 where Kangaroo Box was giving out free t-shirts. A great time was had by all or in the words of my friend Dave Yates, we had a big time!
I also got to meet Jono Bacon from LUGRadio and also the Ubuntu Community Manager. Jono was there to give the final keynote and was passing out stickers for his band Severed Fifth. Jono is totally as nice as everyone says. He’s a awesome guy! I just wish I was able to chat with him a bit more.
Jono Bacon, Unbuntu Community Manager on the Left with Dann Washko, The Linux Link Tech Show on the Right
Overall, OLF seemed to be a bit down in the sheer number of tables in the Expo areas, but maybe this is because the moved to a new location in the convention center where they occupied rooms on two floors. Still, Ohio Linux Fest was a fantastic show and it’s well worth coming to see lumaries like Jon “maddog” Hall and Jono Bacon.
Related posts:
