Linux Symposium

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

I again encourage everyone to consider going to the Linux Symposium in 
Ottawa July 13-16.

It's a great conference.  I think that I've only missed two years, so I'm 
speaking from experience.

It's *not* a trade show.  No booths hawking snake-oil.  Lots of talks 
about Linux technology by the people who built it or want to improve it.

It's also great to get into informal discussions with these folks, 
speakers or not.  I've screwed up my courage on a few occasions to invite 
interesting people to share a meal.  Well worth the potential 
embarrassment.  Beer-drinking is a useful but not mandatory skill.

The conference proceeding (printed versions of talks) are available online 
for many previous years.  
<http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2010/archives.php>

Here's the web page: <http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2010/>
The best thing on that page is the sentence with my name :-)

Several TLUGers have gone in previous years but not as many as I would 
hope.  This year I know I'm going and so is Lennart.  Hey, there's a draw: 
almost none of you have met Lennart -- here's your chance!

It's great to support a local-ish venue like this.  The next best 
conference might be Linux Conference Australia, which is a lot less 
convenient for almost all of us (even when they hold it in New Zealand).

Hints (i.e. things that have worked for me):

- I like to go by train.  Carpool is good too.  RedFlag Deals has
  helped me find good Via Rail deals a few times.  I flew one year
  because of an amazing seat sale.

- OC Transpo is a reasonable bus system.  Some busses are particularly
  fast because they have dedicated rights-of-way.  I mostly use it to
  get from and to the train station.  Stupidity: you need tickets or
  exact change (I think) and yet they don't sell tickets at the train
  station.

- I like to stay in the University of Ottawa residence.  Rent a
  Suite because the regular rooms lack airconditioning and can be
  unbearable.  Ask for the conference rate.  You get two bedrooms and a
  kitchen, so room sharing is a good idea.  About $100 a night, split
  two ways, is quite reasonable.  A 10 or 15 minute walk to the
  conference.

- Others have found good rates with various hotel-booking websites.

- The youth hostel in the old jail is really close to the conference
  but it doesn't sound as attractive.

- Les Suites is good and close but more expensive.

So: who else is going?
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists