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Linuxfest Northwest

Posted by michael on from the fun-for-the-whole-family-except-your-parents-and-siblings dept.

An Yong Zheng writes "Linuxfest Northwest is being held on Saturday, April 26 at Bellingham Technical College in Bellingham, Washington. LFNW is a grassroots event put on by a coalition of Pacific Northwest Linux user groups to showcase what Northwest Linux users are doing with Linux and Open Source software. It features a keynote speech by Jon "maddog" Hall from Linux International, lots of great presentations and tutorials, displays of the various cool things that Linux can do, Free Stuff, etc. Click here for more information and here for the schedule of events!"

15 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Of course, for ultimate irony value... by JessLeah · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...they could have hosted it in Redmond...

    (DUCKS!) ;)

    --
    Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
  2. Why Bellingham? by Chokai · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Unless it's because of facility cost I can't see why. Bellingham is about a 2 hour drive from Seattle, where most of the Linux users in the Northwest are anyways!. I'd pay $10 to have it at some campus in the Seattle area rather than pay $15 in gas to get to Bellingham. Oh well.

    1. Re:Why Bellingham? by rotten_ · · Score: 2, Informative

      The reson why it is in Bellingham is because it was originally started by the Bellingham Linux Users Group, this is the fourth one.

      The reason it is still in Bellingham is because most of the folks that have been the most active in organizing it are in Bellingham, and we're familiar with the facilities. I wouldn't be suprised it if moves next year to a more accessible location.

    2. Re:Why Bellingham? by Doddster · · Score: 5, Informative

      There are a few reasons for Bellingham, not the least of which is facilities cost. Esentially, we get the venue and a phenomenal amount of on-site support in exchange for providing some publicity for the school. Also, most of the core organizers are Bellingham locals. This is a yearly thing and our first attempt at getting other LUG's involved. We've talked about moving to a more centralized location, but it depends on a lot of factors which include things like the level of interest of other lugs, the amount of vendor response, etc.

  3. Mono by AirLace · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've been tipped off that the Mono guys are going to be showing their latest hacks. Look out for Jackson Harper's presentation.

  4. Archives? by knightinshiningarmor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Will any of this event be broadcast live or recorded for later streaming? I'm guessing most of us don't live in the northwest..

    1. Re:Archives? by Doddster · · Score: 4, Funny

      We'll be recording Maddog's speech, and I'm sure there will be a few video cameras around. Someone will probably edit together a video of the event. I hear Windows Movie Maker is great for that kind of thing!

  5. displays of cool things by toddhunter · · Score: 2, Interesting

    But do they have a wall of 50 computer monitors running full-screen xeyes?

  6. Re:relevant? by toddhunter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    These sort of things are always good. If one person there announces a new feature or shows off something good then it is worth it for me. Would you rather 10 more articles on what pheonix is going to be called? ;)

  7. If you live more than 20 mile from Canada... by OwnerOfWhinyCat · · Score: 5, Informative

    Then you're probably going to come at Bellingham from the South.

    In which case, the best place to get great road snacks (fresh baked scones, muffins, bread, coffees) and non-greasy (no fryers in the place) food on the trip is probably going to be the Calico Cupboard in Mt. Vernon, near exit 226.

    I always find myself stopping there on the way to Seattle. Taking exit 226 and turning West on Kincaid street, you'll hit 1st street. Turning north onto 1st, you'll drive past a good pizza place, a great Thai restaurant and an outstanding (hippie, veganesque) food co-oop all on the right with substantial amounts of serv in food (I'd call it a deli, but I don't recall any meat there :) ). Just across Division, the large brick building on the left is CC, and there is a pretty decent bookstore attached (and accessible from the restaurant while your waiting).

    On the East side of the freeway a mile North is a decent sized mall with a many-screens movie theater (a Google-Plex?) and a See's Candies for any family members that will be bored to tears at a LinuxFest. Adjacent to those (to the South) is a largish outlet mall as well (for the shopping addicted).

    I hope this is of help to those whose families are not entirely composed of Penguinistas; Hope to see you there.

  8. Some local links for any out-of-towners by inkswamp · · Score: 3, Informative
    Just thought I'd post a few local links for anyone coming from out of town.

    bellingham.net -- slash-style local news and events site.

    bellingham.com -- general info.

    The Bellingham Herald -- local newspaper and its local entertainment and events site.

    Bar Stop -- should be self-explanatory. ;^) Bar Stop has a guide to places to stay and restaurants.

    City of Bellingham official site.

    --
    --Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
  9. Short notice. by kinema · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I live in the Northwest United States. I would have loved to have gone to this. I have never been attend a Linux/OSS conference because of my location. It just would have been nice to know a bit earlier. Three days seems like kind of short notice to me. A week would have been nice (my employer schedules a week in advance). Unfortunatly due to this "economy" (especially out here) I was forced to take a job that requires me to work most weekends. If I had a bit more notice I may have been able to get the day off. --adam P.S. Sorry about my ranting. I just hate always missing things like this.

  10. Irony: giving out free OSS/etc at the Fest by Brian+Hatch · · Score: 3, Interesting
    You want irony? We're going to be near the belly of the beast, and we're going to have all sorts of open source / free software related freebies and raffles. I know of at least the following:

    • Bill Wright (aka the "Hunter Gatherer Penguin") is the main raffle/freebie/swag organizer, and has some books donated by O'Reilly, as well as who knows what else.

    • I've gotten about 40 books (security, perl, linux, web dev, etc) from McGraw-Hill, Addison-Wesley, NewRiders, and Sams, as well as a few copies of EnGarde Linux by Guardian Digital, and possibly some swag from Gibraltar Software. I'll also have some of my books for raffle/signing/etc.

    • Jeremy Reed of ReedMedia will be giving out a boatload of FreeBSD cds. Or maybe that was NetBSD cds. I forget.

    • But, for the real irony, Lee Fisher will be providing some Microsoft .NET development CDs at the LinuxFest.

    There will undoubtably be plenty of freebies at the booths and presentations, so if you want to come and can't justify it to yourself, just think of it as a free Open Source swag shopping spree.

  11. Bus and Train schedules by dzelenka · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here's the Amtrak schedule:

    Service From To Departs Arrives
    510 SEA BEL 7:45am 9:52am
    516 SEA BEL 5:30pm 8:00pm

    Here's the local bus schedule from the Amtrak station to the Linuxfest site:

    http://www.ridewta.com/new_route23A.html
    or
    ht tp://www.ridewta.com/route50.html

    See you there!

    --
    Bah!
  12. Re:Why not Portland? by Blain · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Why not Portland?
    • Because Portland didn't do it. If you want to do it, get to work, and you can do it too.
    Why Bellingham?
    • Because Bellingham's already been doing it.
    • Because Bellingham is cooler than Portland.
    • Because the Cocoanut Grove is within walking distance from BTC (Portland can not say the same thing, btw).
    • Because Bellingham is much closer to Illiad.
    • Because Bellingham is much cooler than Tacoma (and safer if you're not packing heat). It even smells better since they closed the toxic waste incinerator.
    What has Bellngham got? I suppose you could make a list as long or interesting about Portland or Tacoma, and I could make one about Sedro-Woolley or Ferndale if you wanted. If those places want to do as much work and make this happen, I think that'd be okay too. In this case, they haven't yet.