Category: Linux.conf.au

Just one day till the start of [linux.conf.au 2008](http://linux.conf.au) so
I thought I should do a few posts. This one was supposed to out yesterday
(Saturday) but I ended up getting distracted. So just pretend this was
posted 12 hours ago.

For the rest of this week I’ll be in Melbourne attended linux.conf.au and
related events. If you are new to LCA then see the [main site](http://linux.conf.au) or
read the [First timers](http://www.darkmere.gen.nz/2007/0129.html) that I
wrote a few months ago.

The Main event I am looking forward to is the [System Administration Miniconf](http://
sysadmin.miniconf.org) on Tuesday which I am helping to organise. The programme
is online [here](http://sysadmin.miniconf.org/programme08.html) although there
might be a last minute change or two.

Monday is the first day of the Miniconfs with Community Wireless, Debian,
Education, Embedded, Fedora and Multimedia, Security and Virtualisation all
happening. I’ll probably spend most of the day at the virtualisation Miniconf
but I have to do a detailed check of the other miniconf’s schedules to spot
cool talks elsewhere.

On Monday night an informal dinner has been arranged at a local Italian place
for the the Sysadmin Miniconf and anyone else who wants to attended. Details
are here

Miniconfs and LCA

A few weeks ago the SysAdmin Minconf got accepted
for linux.conf.au
and we posted the Call for
Presentations . Since then we have got several proposals (with more to come) so I am really hopeful about having a sucessful miniconf in
January. This year the miniconf is only one day long due
to lots of
competition from other miniconfs which will probably mean a
few proposals will have to be rejected but raises the average quality
hopefully. We’ll see how it goes and there is nearly two months before
the close of submissions.

Asus Eee PC

A few weeks ago
href=”http://www.the-monkey.net”>Morgan told me about (and

posted about) the ASUS Eee PC
. Since then I’ve been read about it and keeping an eye on
www.eeeuser.com which is the best
site for news.

The Eee PC is a small notebook, with flash based storage but otherwise
standard (but fairly low speced) components (including USB, VGA out,
Wifi and Ethernet) with what is initually announced as a target price of
$US 199. Recently the price seems to have gone up and the spec of the
bottom end models has gone down ( just 2G of flash and 256MB of RAM) but
nothing has been finalised even though it is supposed to be released in
September or October 2007.

I’m still very hopeful about the Eee PC though. Currently I don’t have a
laptop computer since the weight, lack of power and price combinations
don’t seem to work for me. However if the Eee PC ends up delivering then
I will be able to get something that will:

• be small enough to fit in my existing bag and carry about all the
  time.
• be powerful enough to run standard apps linux Firefox, Openoffce and
  mplayer.
• be cheap enough ( perhaps $300 – 400 NZ) that I can but it for
  myself as a Christmas present without having to worry too much if I
  don’t use it.

Daft Punk’s Electroma

While browsing around youtube I came across a few clips from
Daft Punk’s Electroma made the members of the music group
Daft Punk . The movie
itself isn’t very mainstream but interesting enough somebody has posted
a version to youtube that shows “the full movie, but in 170 odd frames
to save you 70 minutes” which works quite well.

A clip I really liked from the very end of the movie and titled “The
Burning Man”.

Links here and
here if the above
doesn’t work.

END

I’ve been a little slack posting about my trip to LCA2007
in Sydney. So anyway.

Saturday and Sunday

I caught an early flight ( 05:45 ) from Auckland so I only got about an hours sleep
on Friday night. For some reason the plane sat on the ground in Auckland for
a good 45 minutes but we ended up on time. I sat next to a woman who was going
over to Perth to meeting a guy she had been in a LDR with (for 3 months) for
the first time, hope that went well, she seemed nice.

Landed in Sydney and caught a Taxi ( by myself, I saw a couple of guys in
Gnome shirts at the taxi stand but didn’t feel up to asking them to share) to
Shalom College where I wa
staying. Got my room okay but there was only one other guy from LCA there.
I headed on the bus into the city ( ended up
seeing Julien Goodwin on the bus
and chatting a little to him ) to see Ed , Brent and Brent’s family for lunch etc. Nice few hours
wandering around Sydney, eating Pizza and chatting. I got back to Shalom around about
5pm and I was so tired I just went to sleep.

On Sunday I got up, had some nice Kosher breakfast and wandered up with a couple of
people to look around the venue. There was a cricket match going on the the Oval
just outside my window, all very nice. We wandered up to the venue but it was
empty and nobody was around.

Around 1pm I caught a bus into town and then the Manly Ferry to go see my brother
at his work. After that I looked around Manly I caught the Ferry back into town
for the Sunday LCA dinner at the Lowenbrau Keller in The Rocks. Good fun and nice
food. Everyone then caught a bus back home and chatted for a bit before bed.

More later. My Photo gallery should show up here .

END