2003.10_Ukuug Developers' Conference Edinburgh.pdf

COMMUNITY

UKUUG Conference 2003, Edinburgh

Linux Developers’ Conference 2003 in Edinburgh

O ye’ll tak’ the high road…

T he organizers could not have

… and I’ll tak’ the low road, and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye. A total of 200

picked a better place and time with

the conference starting on the

same weekend as the Edinburgh Fringe.

Of course, many conference attendees

took some extra time out to explore Scot-

land after the Linux meeting – and I

must admit, it was a pleasant experience

to see one or two geek t-shirts and famil-

iar faces amongst the masses of tourists.

George Watson’s College itself has a spe-

cial charm with its high ceilings and old

paintings, which contrasted nicely with

the modern technology.

As with last year (Bristol), this year’s

event started with tutorials on Thursday,

with Stephen Tweedie taking a look

“Inside the Kernel”, and John Pinner and

David Chan presenting an introduction

to “Python for Programmers”. Two pre-

sentation tracks on Friday provided

interesting talks on topics such as

“Extreme Linux Programming – A Con-

tinuum” (Jon ‘maddog’ Hall), “Free and

Open Source Software in the Health Ser-

vice” (Dr Anand Ramkissoon) and “XFS”

(Christoph Hellwig).

The talk on “New Breakthroughs in

Linux Supercomputing” had nice ani-

mated slides, although it was slightly

strange to see someone at a Linux con-

ference using a Power Point presentation

running on Windows, but there is no

accounting for taste.

My personal highlight was the Sweep

[2] talk on Friday afternoon. Conrad

Parker turned the auditorium into some-

thing in between a recording studio and

visitors made the trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, for this year’s UKUUG Linux

Developers’ Conference [1], which took place between July 31 and August 3

at George Watson’s College. BY HEIKE JURZIK

Figure 2: Live DJing with Conrad Parker

tastes, from the latest KDE development

news, through a Bash workshop, to an

introduction to computer forensics.

Gian Filippo Pinzari introduced NoMa-

chine’s NX Server and Client (see

Software News on p. 8–9). This was one

of the more technical presentations, and

provided a lot of background informa-

tion. It was a pity though that the

audience could not really experience the

speed of the remote X connection, as the

link to the Italian test server looked like a

local connection. You simply have to try

NX out for yourself to discover how

unbelievably efficient the tool is.

On Saturday evening everyone headed

off to the conference dinner at Dynamic

Earth, which provided ample opportu-

nity for geek small talk in a jungle and

ice age atmosphere. After the meal ‘mad-

dog’, who had donned a kilt to celebrate

the occasion, explained the connection

between player pianos (pianolas) and

Linux, using a Sgian Dubh – black

(dubh) dagger or knife (sgian) – instead

of a laser pointer. Despite the fact that it

was received with gales of laughter,

‘maddog’ managed to get several serious

points across.

If you ask me, the UKUUG Linux

Developers’ Conference 2003 in Edin-

burgh was an all round success: well

organized with interesting talks, friendly

attendees and exhibitors – something not

to miss for next year!

a disco, and really put Sweep through its

paces: multichannel editing, recording,

and interactive scrubbing.

A lot has happened since Pixar Anima-

tion Studios started to take an interest in

the Open Source editor for digital audio

in 2002, and began supporting develop-

ment activities. One thing that is new to

the current release is the implementation

of “scrubbing” (including modeling the

physics of a turntable for playing vinyl

records) and considerable enhancements

to visual synchronization. Interactive

scrubbing in a digital editor helps to find

specific points in a sound file by provid-

ing direct feedback – that sounds just

like working with a good old tape

recorder. The audience were treated to a

wide-ranging soundscape and a perfect

show based on a collection of Sweep fil-

ters and effects, and an excellent

selection of sound clips.

Linux Medley

On the evening of the first day, and

accompanied by the sound of pipes, the

conference attendees headed off for a

Scottish buffet supper, with Haggis on

the menu, of course. On Saturday again

there were a lot of interesting lectures to

attend. There was something for all

INFO

Figure 1: LAN on the lawn

[1] Conference Info: http://http://www.

ukuug.org/events/linux2003/

[2] Sweep Homepage:

http://sweep.sourceforge.net/

[3] The Fringe: http://www.edfringe.com/

October 2003

www.linux-magazine.com

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: