Linux.conf.au explained
linux.conf.au (often abbreviated as lca or LCA) is Australasia's regional Linux and open source conference. It is a roaming conference, held in a different Australian or New Zealand city every year, coordinated by Linux Australia and organised by local volunteers.
The conference is a non-profit event, with any surplus funds being used to seed the following year's conference and to support the Australian Linux and open source communities. The name is the conference's URL, using the uncommon second-level domain .conf.au.
Although several online events were ran post-COVID, since 2023 Linux Australia has instead auspiced Everything Open. This is a shorter three-day conference that follows a similar format - but without the additional two days of Miniconfs.
Conference history
In 1999, Linux kernel hacker Rusty Russell organised the Conference of Australian Linux Users in Melbourne. The first conference held under the linux.conf.au name was held two years later in Sydney. The conference is generally held in a different Australian city each time; although from 2006 onward, New Zealand cities have also been hosts.
| Event | Date | Venue and host city | Keynote Speakers | Resources |
|---|
| CALU 1999 | Jul 9 – Jul 11 1999 | | | 1999 |
| linux.conf.au 2001 | Jan 17 – Jan 20 2001 | | | 2001 |
| linux.conf.au 2002 | Feb 6 – Feb 9 2002 | | | 2002 |
| linux.conf.au 2003 | Jan 20 – Jan 25 2003 | | | 2003 |
| linux.conf.au 2004 | Jan 12 – Jan 17 2004 | | | 2004 |
| linux.conf.au 2005 | Apr 18 – Apr 23 2005 | | | 2005 |
| linux.conf.au 2006 | Jan 23 – Jan 28 2006 | | | 2006 |
| linux.conf.au 2007 | Jan 15 – Jan 20 2007 | | | 2007 |
| linux.conf.au 2008 | Jan 28 – Feb 2 2008 | | | 2008 |
| linux.conf.au 2009 | Jan 19 – Jan 24 2009 | University of Tasmania
Hobart
Tasmania[1] | | 2009 |
| linux.conf.au 2010 | Jan 18 – Jan 23 2010 | | | 2010 |
| linux.conf.au 2011 | Jan 24 – Jan 29 2011 | Queensland University of Technology,
Brisbane
Queensland[2] | | 2011 |
| linux.conf.au 2012 | Jan 16 – Jan 21 2012 | University of Ballarat,
Ballarat
Victoria[3] | | 2012 |
| linux.conf.au 2013 | Jan 28 – Feb 2 2013 | | | 2013 |
| linux.conf.au 2014 | Jan 6 – Jan 10 2014 | | | 2014 |
| linux.conf.au 2015 | Jan 12 – Jan 16 2015 | | | 2015 |
| linux.conf.au 2016 | Feb 1 – Feb 5 2016 | | Genevieve Bell,
Catarina Mota,
Jono Bacon,
George Fong | 2016 |
| linux.conf.au 2017 | Jan 16 – Jan 20 2017 | | Robert M. "r0ml" Lefkowitz,
Nadia Eghbal,
Pia Waugh,
Dan Callahan | 2017 |
| linux.conf.au 2018 | Jan 22 – Jan 26 2018 | | Karen Sandler,
Jess Frazelle,
Matthew H. Todd,
Hugh Blemings[4] | 2018 |
| linux.conf.au 2019 | Jan 21 – Jan 25 2019 | | | 2019 |
| linux.conf.au 2020 | Jan 13 – Jan 17 2020 | Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre
Gold Coast
Queensland | Dr Sean Brady,
Donna Benjamin,
A/Prof Vanessa Teague,
Lizzie O’Shea | 2020 |
| linux.conf.au 2021 | Jan 23- Jan 25 2021[5] | Virtual event | Limor Fried,
Omoju Miller,
Cory Doctorow | 2021 |
| linux.conf.au 2022 | Jan 14 – Jan 16 2022 | Virtual event | Liz Fong-Jones,
Jono Bacon,
Kathy Reid,
Brian Kernighan | 2022 | |
Highlights from past conferences include:
- 1999: CALU (Conference of Australian Linux Users) was conceived, bankrolled (via his personal credit card) and executed by Linux kernel hacker Rusty Russell. It laid the foundation for a successful, strongly technical, eclectic and fun conference series.
- 2001: the first conference held under the linux.conf.au name.
- 2004: a major highlight was the dunking of Linus Torvalds for charity.[6]
- 2006: the first conference to be held outside Australia, recognising the importance of the New Zealand Linux community.
- 2007: a new feature was an Open Day for non-conference attendees, in which community groups, interest groups and Linux businesses held stands and demonstrations.
- 2008: the second time the conference was held in Melbourne. 100 OLPC machines were distributed to random attendees to encourage development.[7] The Speakers dinner was held at St Paul's Cathedral Chapter House, and the Penguin Dinner was held in conjunction with Melbourne's Night Market, playing on the title of Eric Raymond's book, The Cathedral and the Bazaar.
- 2009: during the Penguin Dinner, a substantial sum of money was raised for the Save Tasmanian Devils fund – and a pledge made to replace the Tux Logo with the conference mascot, Tuz, to help raise awareness.[8]
- 2010: over $33,000 raised for Wellington Lifeflight Helicopter Ambulance service.[9]
- 2011: the event was almost washed out by the floods that devastated southern Queensland.[10]
- 2016: preparations almost derailed by a massive storm just before the conference opened.[11]
- 2020: $24,342 raised and donated to Red Cross for Australian Bush-fire relief
- 2021: in May 2020 Linux Australia announced that the planned 2021 conference in Canberra was postponed until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a lightweight virtual conference would be held in 2021 instead.[5]
Miniconfs
Since 2002, a key feature of the conference are the associated "miniconfs". These are half – 2 days streamed gatherings run before the main conference. They have their own programme, but are open for any conference attendee to participate in.
The first event to have a miniconf was in 2002, with the Debian Miniconf, organised by James Bromberger. This was based upon the idea that DebConf 1 in Bordeaux was a "mini-conf" of the French Libre Software Meeting. The concept grew in 2004, with the Open-Source in Government (ossig) miniconf, EducationaLinux, Debian Miniconf and GNOME.conf.au. In 2010 the Arduino Miniconf was introduced by Jonathan Oxer, the author of Practical Arduino.
Miniconfs have included those devoted to computer programming, education, security, multimedia, arduino and system administration.
See also
External links
Notes and References
- News: Hobart to host 2009 Linux conference. ITWire. 2008-02-01. 2008-02-01. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080201215657/http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16418/1090/. 2008-02-01.
- News: LCA2011 – Follow The Flow!. 2010-01-22. 2010-01-22. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080201215657/http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16418/1090/. 2008-02-01.
- News: Ballarat wins Linux.conf.au 2012 bid. 2011-01-28. 2011-01-29.
- Web site: linux.conf.au 2018 News. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180127143316/http://lca2018.linux.org.au/news/ . 27 January 2018 .
- Web site: Sae Ra. Germaine. Linux Australia Community Update & LCA2021 Information. 2020-05-06. 2020-05-10. Linux Australia.
- News: Jonathan. Corbet. The great dunking . 22 December 2018 . LWN.net . 17 January 2004.
- News: A moment from LCA2008. LWN.net. 30 January 2008. Jonathan. Corbet.
- http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/blogs/browse/2009/03/kernel-gets-new-mascot Kernel gets a new mascot
- http://www.lifeflight.org.nz/linux_enthusiasts_raise_over_33000_to_help_save_lives.php Linux Enthusiasts raises over $33,000 to help save lives
- News: LCA 2011 Replanning shows importance of backup plans. Angus. Kidman. Lifehacker. 24 January 2011.
- Web site: Flash floods, hail and damage as wild weather batters Geelong. Geelong Advertiser. Courtney. Crane. 27 January 2016.
