[PSNUG.org News] Linux Fest North West - OLPC and XO

Brandon Fouts brando.fouts at gmail.com
Sun Feb 17 19:28:16 PST 2008 

just a heads up on one of the activities in the works for LFNW:

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Today's Topics:

  1. LFNW08: Announcement of OLPC -One Laptop Per Child-  XO Laptop
presentation track, vendor table, dedicated presentation/learning lab area.
     (Iain (FreeGeek) Davidson)

From: "Iain (FreeGeek) Davidson" <iain at freegeek.org>

(  I wanted to officially announce some news for  LinuxFest Northwest 2008
)

I have been working diligently behind the scenes to help the presence of

            One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and XO Laptops

 at this year's upcoming

          LinuxFest Northwest 2008 -- http://LinuxFestNorthWest.org/

Carrying forward from last year's Jessie's excellent (and very well
attended) Red Hat / OLPC presentation [1] ,  momentum and awareness of  OLPC
has increased exponentially.  With the initial public release in November of
the XO Laptop to mass production.  Limited fund raising event of the Give 1
Get 1 [2] program from November to December, created over 80,000 orders in 6
weeks. Which in turn started sending 'gift' XO Laptop first round
installations into countries (and children's hands) such as *Mongolia,
Haiti, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cambodia,* and *Afghanistan. *

Online resources for OLPC / XO Laptop is also growing quickly, with great
overviews on http://laptop.org , and 5000+ pages of information on *
http://wiki.laptop.org*  including specific pages for support related
questions via http://support.laptop.org .

Huge growing XO Laptop presence in Seattle [3] and other Pacific Northwest
areas, volunteer community based support and repair shops popping up in
several locations throughout Washington and Oregon, and the rest of the
nation.

Exciting stuff to be sure, especially in the realm of Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS),  XO Laptop focus is 100% open source [4] ! ! !

In respect to the* Linuxfest Northwest 2008 conference*, several things. . .
.

So far there has been enough presenters and volunteers stepping forward,
   that the LFNW event organizers have given a green light and background
support for...

o  A specific OLPC / XO Laptop presentation track !
o  A dedicated vendors table for OLPC information and XO Laptop
demonstration
o  A specific dedicated room for presentations, discussions, and learning
lab environment.
o  Special coordination with Robotics and Solar/alternative energy
presentation tracks with locations nearby !

Several special and very active OLPC community supporters have confirmed
attendance too. . .

* Mel Chua (mchua) - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Mchua
           OLPC Jam organizer [5], Google Summer of Code receiptent for
2007, XO Laptop repair shop coordinator, Wiki editor, IRC support, etc
           (A tip-of-the-hat to Candela Technologies Inc
http://www.candelatech.com , for covering the costs to fly her in from
the *eastcoast *area)

* Seth Woodworth (isforinsects) -
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Sethwoodworth
  OLPC organizer of public documents/media, learning materials, images, and
other resources, also developer, support volunteer. Weekly Zine editor

* Iain Davidson (ixo) - (oh, that's me:) http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Ixo
           OLPC Grassroots, support volunteer, wiki editor, Weekly Zine
founder, IRC support, Activity developer, and volunteer XO repair shop.

BTW,   the interest by LFNW08 for OLPC/XO Laptop has also helped to create
another OLPC Health Jam [6] event as part of the Health conference in
Seattle !

  (And hope to see the results of this event, presented at LFNW too ! )

We still have many *opportunities still available* for LFNW volunteers, and
hoping to increase presence and awareness even further.

*  Presentations about OLPC / XO Laptop experiences
  * Implementation
  * Development
  * Hardware
  * Software
  * Personal experiences with developing countries and what can be done to
help.
  * Alternative methods for powering equipment (solar, wind, generator,
etc...)
*  A conference vendor to run a XS Server or centralized 'OLPC jabberd'
server for special conference networking, mesh, or sharing demonstrations.
*  Help assist with learning lab environment, and presentations
*  Offering other items for the auction, or encourage vendors to exhibit !

Please visit the LinuxFest Northwest 2008, website for further information,
or check out the starting OLPC wiki page for the latest....
  ( http://wiki.laptop.org/go/LinuxFest_Northwest_2008 )

Especially, please *bring OLPC / XO Laptops* to the conference, to help
demonstrate the power of mesh networking and sharing activities !
 (Many free WiFi hotspots throughout Bellingham, and (likely) during the
conference.... even several T-Mobile locations :)

I am very excited to see this come to fruition, hope to see you and many XO
Laptops there !

-Iain Davidson
(aka ixo , on OLPC support-gang, irc  #olpc-help , #olpc and email lists:
grassroots, support-gang, developer, help etc.)

p.s. Sorry, I was unable to swing a deal for a special group-purchase of XO
Laptop equipment in time for the conference.  Support your local school
system, in doing a community group "Give Many Get Many" for your local area.

NOTES:
[1] Jessie's OLPC Presentation link: http://linuxfestnorthwest.org/2007.html
[2] G1G1 Program: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Give1Get1
[3] Seattle XO user group:  http://www.seaxo.com/
[4] Runs a "lite version" of Red Hat Fedora Core 7 , python is primary
programming language !
[5] OLPC Jams: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Jams
[6] Health Jam Seattle: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Health_Jam
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