Ohio Linuxfest 2010: Here’s to the Hall Track

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Another Ohio LinuxFest has come and gone.  The friends of the penguin gathered at the Greater Columbus Convention Center for yet another year of great sessions, networking and lots of fun and merriment as friends meet to discuss what is new and interesting in Free and Open Source Software.

This is my second year working the booth with fellow members of the Linux Link Tech Show, and this year was a special one as we celebrated the relaunch of our website and the recording of Episode 366 which marks the start of season two.  In this show, we talked to a few of the speakers at OLF, including Kelly West of Lanville.org, a Linux specific LAN Party gaming group. We also spoke to Russ Woodman (K5TUX), of Linux in the Ham Shack. Linux in the Ham Shack is a podcast that covers how Amateur Radio Operators can use Linux in their stations.  I’ve since added this show to my personal list of podcasts, as well as Russ’s other show, the QSK Netcast.

The last person we spoke to on the podcast was Jeremy Sands, the speaker coordinator of the Southeast LinuxFest, about how they are going to make the 2011 show a better one.  We’ve also confirmed with the event chair, Dave Yates that the 2011 Southeast LinuxFest will again be at the Marriott at Renaissance Park in Spartanburg, SC.  I am totally stoked for that show, as last years event was a fantastic one.

Since I was working the booth most of the day, I was only able to attend one session at the Ohio LinuxFest, and that was the closing keynote.  The closing keynote was done by Christopher “Monty” Montgomery and it covered some of the history and the future of the Xiph project.  The Xiph Project brought us the Ogg Vorbis audio codec and the Ogg Theora video codec.  Ogg Voribis and Ogg Theora are completely open codecs that don’t have some of the patent pitfalls which can be problematic for open source software.  For more on Xiph, Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora, go to the Xiph Community Website.

Finally, the best speaker track at OLF isn’t one that shows up on any program.  I call it the Hall Track. This is the track that happens in the hall, in the hotel and at the dinner table. Of course I am talking about just being able to hang out with like minds in an informal setting, speaking with them about what we care about: Open Source Software.  I just love meeting listeners of the Tech Show and talking about all sorts of things that I just can’t talk about everyday and … I just love it.  Plus, it is really cool to send out a Facebook Update, Identi.ca Message or Tweet, and find that all of a sudden the restaurant which was empty when I got there is now full of friends.  This happened at least twice over the two days of the Ohio LinuxFest.  I can’t wait until next year!

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About the Author

Joel McLaughlin
Joel is a consultant in the IT field and is located in Columbus, OH. While he loves Linux and tends to use it more than anything else, he will stoop to running closed source if it is the best tool for the job. His techno passions are Linux, Android, netbooks, GPS, podcasting and Amateur Radio.

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