Announcements
Brief items
FSFE: Support FSFE’s work in 2015
The Free Software Foundation Europe is seeking donations for its work in 2015. "The best way to support the FSFE's work is to become a Fellow (a sustaining member of the FSFE). All Fellowship contributions directly benefit the FSFE’s work towards a free society. Fellows receive a state- of-the-art Fellowship smartcard which, together with the free GnuPG encryption software and a card reader, can be used to sign and encrypt e-mails, to secure SSH keys, to securely log into a computer from a potentially insecure machine, or to store the user’s hard disk encryption keys. Since the encryption key is stored on the card itself, it is almost impossible to steal."
Articles of interest
Free Software Supporter - Issue 80
The Free Software Foundation's newsletter for November is out. Topics include FSF is hiring, organize a Giving Guide Giveaway, ThinkPenguin router that respects your freedom, copyleft.org, lobbyists pushing forward on TPP agreements, GNU Tools Cauldron 2014 videos posted, LibrePlanet, and much more.Mapping the world with open source (Opensource.com)
Opensource.com talks with Paul Ramsey, senior strategist at the open source company Boundless. "Boundless is the “Red Hat of geospatial”, which says a bit about our business model, but doesn’t really explain our technology. GIS professionals and IT professionals (and, really, anyone with a custom mapping problem) use our tools to store their data, in a spatial SQL database (PostGIS), publish maps and data over the web (GeoServer), and view or edit data in web browsers (OpenLayers) or on the desktop (QGIS). Basically, our tools let developers build web applications that understand and can attractively visualize location. We help people take spatial data out of the GIS department and use it to improve workflows and make decisions anywhere in the organization. This is part of what we see as a move towards what we call Spatial IT, where spatial data is used to empower decision-making across an enterprise."
The Impact of the Linux Philosophy (Opensource.com)
Starting with the premise that all operating systems have a philosophy, this article on Opensource.com looks at the Linux philosophy and how it differs from other operating systems. "Imagine for a moment the chaos and frustration that would result from attempting to use a nail gun that asked you if you really wanted to shoot that nail and would not allow you to pull the trigger until you said the word “yes” aloud. Linux allows you to use the nail gun as you choose. Other operating systems let you know that you can use nails but don't tell you what tool is used to insert the nails let alone allow you to put your own finger on the trigger."
New Books
Black Hat Python -- New from No Starch Press
No Starch Press has released "Black Hat Python" by Justin Seitz.JavaScript for Kids -- New from No Starch Press
No Starch Press has released "JavaScript for Kids" by Nick Morgan.
Calls for Presentations
LCA2015 Debian Miniconf & NZ2015 mini-DebConf
There will be a New Zealand mini-DebConf preceding linux.conf.au, on January 10-11, 2015. That will be followed by the Debian Miniconf at LCA, on January 12. The call for presentations is open until December 21.Prague PostgreSQL Developer Day 2015 call for papers
Prague PostgreSQL Developer Day 2015 will be held February 12, with some additional activities on February 11, in Prague, Czech Republic. The call for papers ends January 5. Most talks will be in Czech, but a few talks in English are welcome.Embedded Linux Conference 2015 - Call for Participation
The Embedded Linux Conference will be held March 23-25 in San Jose, California. The theme for this year is "Drones, Things and Automobiles". The call for papers deadline is January 9. "Presentations should be of a technical nature, covering topics related to use of Linux in embedded systems. Topics related to consumer electronics are particularly encouraged, but any proposals about Linux that are of general relevance to most embedded developers are welcome."
Announcing netdev 0.1
"Netdev" is a new conference aimed at networking developers; it will be held February 14 to 17 in balmy Ottawa, Canada. The call for papers is open now, with a submission deadline of January 10. "Netdev 0.1 (year 0, conference 1) is a community-driven conference geared towards Linux netheads. Linux kernel networking and user space utilization of the interfaces to the Linux kernel networking subsystem are the focus. If you are using Linux as a boot system for proprietary networking, then this conference may not be for you."
Update: the conference organizers have posted more information on the CFP and the types of proposals they are looking for.
LSF/MM 2015 Call For Proposals
The 2015 Linux Storage, Filesystem, and Memory Management summit will be held March 9 and 10 in Boston. The call for agenda proposals has gone out, with a deadline of January 16. Attendance will be capped to facilitate discussions, so developers who are interested in attending this event might want to get their proposals in soon.CFP Deadlines: December 4, 2014 to February 2, 2015
The following listing of CFP deadlines is taken from the LWN.net CFP Calendar.
| Deadline | Event Dates | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 7 | January 31 February 1 |
FOSDEM'15 Distribution Devroom/Miniconf | Brussels, Belgium |
| December 8 | February 18 February 20 |
Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit | Santa Rosa, CA, USA |
| December 10 | February 19 February 22 |
Southern California Linux Expo | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| December 14 | January 12 | LCA Kernel miniconf | Auckland, New Zealand |
| December 17 | March 25 March 27 |
PGConf US 2015 | New York City, NY, USA |
| December 21 | January 10 January 11 |
NZ2015 mini-DebConf | Auckland, New Zealand |
| December 21 | January 12 | LCA2015 Debian Miniconf | Auckland, New Zealand |
| December 23 | March 13 March 15 |
FOSSASIA | Singapore |
| December 31 | March 17 March 19 |
OpenPOWER Summit | San Jose, CA, USA |
| January 1 | March 21 March 22 |
Kansas Linux Fest | Lawrence, Kansas, USA |
| January 2 | May 21 May 22 |
ScilabTEC 2015 | Paris, France |
| January 5 | January 12 | Linux.conf.au 2015 Multimedia and Music Miniconf | Auckland, New Zealand |
| January 5 | March 23 March 25 |
Android Builders Summit | San Jose, CA, USA |
| January 5 | February 11 February 12 |
Prague PostgreSQL Developer Days 2015 | Prague, Czech Republic |
| January 9 | March 23 March 25 |
Embedded Linux Conference | San Jose, CA, USA |
| January 10 | May 16 May 17 |
11th Intl. Conf. on Open Source Systems | Florence, Italy |
| January 11 | March 12 March 14 |
Studencki Festiwal Informatyczny / Academic IT Festival | Cracow, Poland |
| January 11 | March 11 | Nordic PostgreSQL Day 2015 | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| January 16 | March 9 March 10 |
Linux Storage, Filesystem, and Memory Management Summit | Boston, MA, USA |
| January 19 | June 16 June 20 |
PGCon | Ottawa, Canada |
| January 19 | June 10 June 13 |
BSDCan | Ottawa, Canada |
| January 24 | February 14 February 17 |
Netdev 0.1 | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| January 30 | April 25 April 26 |
LinuxFest Northwest | Bellingham, WA, USA |
| February 1 | April 13 April 17 |
ApacheCon North America | Austin, TX, USA |
| February 1 | April 29 May 2 |
Libre Graphics Meeting 2015 | Toronto, Canada |
If the CFP deadline for your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.
Upcoming Events
LCA 2015 and InternetNZ Diversity Program
LCA 2015 and InternetNZ are supporting diversity at linux.conf.au. "The InternetNZ Diversity Programme is one of the many ways we ensure that the LCA 2015 continues to be an open and welcoming conference for everyone. Together with InternetNZ this program has been created to assist under-represented delegates who contribute to the Open Source community but, without financial assistance, would not be able to attend LCA 2015."
Linux Foundation Announces 2015 Events Schedule
The Linux Foundation has announced the schedule for all their 2015 conferences. The announcement contains links to all the conferences, as well as call for participation deadlines.Events: December 4, 2014 to February 2, 2015
The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.
| Date(s) | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| December 5 December 7 |
SciPy India | Bombay, India |
| December 27 December 30 |
31st Chaos Communication Congress | Hamburg, Germany |
| January 10 January 11 |
NZ2015 mini-DebConf | Auckland, New Zealand |
| January 12 | Linux.conf.au 2015 Multimedia and Music Miniconf | Auckland, New Zealand |
| January 12 January 16 |
linux.conf.au 2015 | Auckland, New Zealand |
| January 12 | LCA Kernel miniconf | Auckland, New Zealand |
| January 12 | LCA2015 Debian Miniconf | Auckland, New Zealand |
| January 13 | Linux.Conf.Au 2015 Systems Administration Miniconf | Auckland, New Zealand |
| January 23 | Open Source in the Legal Field | Santa Clara, CA, USA |
| January 31 February 1 |
FOSDEM'15 Distribution Devroom/Miniconf | Brussels, Belgium |
| January 31 February 1 |
FOSDEM 2015 | Brussels, Belgium |
If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol