Tag Archives: linux.conf.au

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LCA2011: Day 00

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Technically today isn’t an LCA day, but rather a “travel to LCA” day – figured since I won’t be tweeting as much, I should at least try to blog post every day on the events. If I’m really good, I may even upload my conference notes O_o

My trip started off with my first international flight via the new international terminal at Wellington – have to say, I really do like the architecture, although I think the lack of viewing spaces to look out onto the runway is a little sad. :-(

New Wellington international terminal

Sadly my flight wasn’t the best, it seems that during the process to move my flights from Thursday to Sunday 23rd, AirNZ had managed to completely forget that I was vegetarian.

I think it’s a pretty silly flaw in their system – seeing as I book all my flights with my AirNZ Airpoints ID, my basic preferences (such as diet) should really be set there.

The hostesses where pretty good and managed to find me some cheese and crackers, but they don’t carry additional extra vegetarian meals so couldn’t help me too much.

Other than that, the flight was uneventful and even the kids on the plane were reasonably well behaved.

Me crusing along on the AirTrain with a poorly adjusted camera. Note the Linux t-shirt to attract other fellow geeks at the airport.

After getting to Brisbane, I took the AirTrain from the Airport to South Bank Station for just $15 return using a special conference discount.

I’m actually extremly impressed with Brisbane’s public transport system! It’s how Wellington’s *should* be.

AirTrain:

  • The wait between trains is 25-30mins, I only had to wait a couple before it came.
  • It’s very smooth, fast and modern.
  • At $15 conference rate, it’s pretty affordable too, certainly beats taking a taxi.

Regulars Trains/Buses

  • Very, Very Cool.
  • Excellent use of RFID technologies – the “go cards” in use are plentiful and can be brought at vending machines around the place. Once purchased, you swipe on and off trains AND buses.
  • Brisbane has dedicated roads for buses, often running under ground which it runs natural gas powered buses along – almost like a bus-powered subway system.
  • Modern, fast, accurate timing and bus order displays.

And other stuff from today:

  • Caught up with a whole bunch of awesome friends again.
  • Had a bit of a scare that my 3G SIM was flawed, but after correcting the APN settings, the 3G on my laptop is now working with dodo.com.au :-D

Over all, a good start. :-)

OMG OMG LCA

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Well I’m still getting organised in a somewhat mad panic (not enough hours in the day!) for my linux.conf.au trip and associated AU-based holiday.

Key information is that I will be landing in Brisbane at 16:00 AU time on Sunday 23rd, I figure with customs and airtain travel time, I should be getting to Urbanest around 17:00-18:00, from where I will then be looking for awesome geeks to catch up with for beer and or delicious food.

I will be keeping my NZ mobile number, but will have an AU 3G SIM card with me for my laptop, so I’ll be online during the conference and whilst around Brisbane.

I should also be reachable via my NZ office number –  my Android mobile runs SIP, which runs via an OpenVPN tunnel, back to the Amberdms Asterisk server – which is a pretty cool way to get very cheap international calling when in a wifi hotspot :-D

Day 14 – Favourite computer conference?

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This post is part of my 30 days of geek challenge.

There are plenty of great conferences around in the NZ &  AU scene, however my favourite is clearly going to be linux.conf.au.

It’s a week long IT conference which is held in a different AU or NZ city ever year,  focusing on (obviously) Linux, but also open source and software freedom in general.

Probably one of the larger and most well known conferences around, it attracts around 700-1000 people every year (depending on venue size), ranging from web developers, application developers, system administrators and even kernel hackers.

There’s a huge amount of content, typically 5 days, with 5 streams running at any one time, always means that there will be plenty of great talks that will appeal to anyone – often the problem is trying to decide which talks to choose when there’s a clash!

Social communication in the geek herd (LCA 2006)

I’ve attended linux.conf.au every year since 2006, having been to Dunedin, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart (Tasmania) and having it in my home town (Wellington) in 2010. :-)

I’ll be attending again in January when it’s being held in Brisbane, can’t wait! :-D

LCA Squeeeeeeeee

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Registrations opened for linux.conf.au 2011 a couple of days ago, not wanting to miss out, I’ve quickly gone and registered for the conference, accommodation (well, I’ve sent the PDF form and am awaiting a response, blergh) as well as both international and domestic flights.

I’ve decided to use the opportunity of the trip as a chance to make some deters to see friends and have a bit of a relax in the Gold Coast, Tasmania and Melbourne before/after the conference.

I’ve booked all the flights now, my schedule is as follows:

20 JAN        Wellington -> Brisbane -> Gold Coast
FLIGHT       (AirNZ NZ0826 – 16:35 arrival at Brisbane)
21 JAN        Gold Coast
22 JAN        Gold Coast
23 JAN        Gold Coast -> Brisbane
TRAIN?      (aim to be in Brisbane early afternoon – train?)
24 JAN        linux.conf.au for entire week in Brisbane CBD
….
30 JAN        linux.conf.au -> Melbourne (1hr stop) -> Hobart
FLIGHT      (Virgin DJ334/DJ1332 – 15:00 departure)
31 JAN        Hobart
01 FEB        Hobart->Launceston
02 FEB        Launceston->Hobart -> Melbourne
FLIGHT       (Virgin DJ1325 – 13:45 departure)
03 FEB        Melbourne
04 FEB        Melbourne -> Wellington
FLIGHT      (AirNZ NZ0850 – 18:40 departure)
05 FEB        Sleep & Geekery

There’s still some stuff to work out, such as accommodation, travel in Hobart (might rent a car, I should have my full NZ license by then….) but the key bit – getting there – is all sorted now. :-)

The only other issue left is my credit card bill…. ;-)

If you’re in any of the locations above and I haven’t already mentioned meeting up with you, please drop me a line – I’m sure I have linux.conf.au or twitter friends in some of these cities who I don’t realise actually live there. ;-)