Picn*x XVI - The Linux 16th Anniversary Picnic
August 11, 2007

The Linux 16th Anniversary Picnic, or "Picn*x 16", was held on August 11, 2007.

This is a celebration of all the accomplishments of Open Source Software since the release of the first Linux kernel in August 1991. Participants and enthusiasts of Open Source software, not just Linux, are welcome.

The Sunnyvale, California (Silicon Valley) picnic is usually scheduled for the Saturday following the LinuxWorld Expo in San Francisco.

See the picnic update announcement mail from Aug 7 and the final reminder mail on Aug 11.

Celebrating 16 years!

Each year is an achievement not just for Linux but also for whole the Open Source community. For Linux, it started with the first people who sent patches to Linus Torvalds after he posted his experimental OS kernel in 1991. Though Linux wasn't the first to use this idea, it was the first to elevate Open Source Software, before it even had that name, to a level of worldwide importance. Today there are heavily-studied processes about how to use Open Source as a software engineering methodology. We have a lot to celebrate and even more look forward to. Anyone from the Open Source community should consider themselves welcome.

Did you come to Picn*x 16?

If you post your photos on the web, please send your link.

Let's all thank the sponsors for covering the cost of the food (for those who RSVP'ed so we could plan for it.) See you there!

Privacy note: the picnic only uses your registration for the picnic, such as to send you a reminder, print "hello my name is" stickers, get food and t-shirts, etc. We might use it to let everyone know if we need more volunteers, if necessary. Your private info will not be made available to third parties.

Photos of Picn*x 16

We'll add more links as they're sent to us. Photos by...

• Brad Douglas
• Ian Kluft
• Jorge Mare - developers of Haiku OS gather at Picn*x 16
• Dave Sanabria - emphasis on park scenery and children at the picnic
• Heather Stern
• Michael Summers - developers of Haiku OS gather at Picn*x 16
• Peter Thoeny

Open Source Project Developer Gatherings

The Open Source HaikuOS project held their developer gathering at Picn*x. See more info and their online video at HaikuFalterCon2007.

This was a great idea. It worked well in two ways. The HaikuOS crew had a free venue to hold their meeting. And they got a lot of exposure among the Open Source enthusiasts at the picnic.

We hope this precedent will be expanded next year if more Open Source projects would like to hold their developer gatherings at Picn*x.

Previous Years' Picnics

The annual Linux Picnic started with the "Linux10" Linux 10th anniversary celebration on August 25, 2001, on the day of the 10th anniversary of Linus Torvalds' announcement that he was opening his experimental OS kernel project to the world.

Since then, the Linux Picnic in the Bay Area has been held on the weekend following the LinuxWorld Expo held in San Francisco. That gives people travelling to the Bay Area from around the world the chance to catch both events. As long as the LinuxWorld Expo in the Bay Area is held during August, we expect to continue this plan.

The Linux Picnic has always been held at Sunnyvale Baylands Park.

You may also see the archived web site from Picn*x 15 which was held August 19, 2006.

Wi-Fi at the Picnic!

The Silicon Valley Wireless Users & Experimenters (SVWUX) organized wireless Internet connectivity for Picn*x15 in 2006. A lot of volunteer effort went into planning the locations of antennas and Wi-Fi repeaters to cover the whole picnic area.

SVWUX did the same thing this year.

Volunteers

The Linux Picnic is looking for volunteers! You can sign up to help out with Coordination and Administration, Food Purchasing, Cooking, Setup and Breakdown, First Aid, Communications, Welcome Table, Drivers, and Gopher (primary task is making sure that the Volunteers have enough water).

Picnic Volunteers mail lists

The picnic volunteers mail list is the primary communications method for the picnic volunteers.

You may subscribe to the announce-only mail list if you don't have time for all the discussion and only want to receive announcements about the picnic.

Overall info about the mail lists is on the mail list etiquette page.

Picnic Volunteers IRC Channel

The IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel is one place you can expect to find some volunteers there monitoring for questions and new volunteers. Sometimes (usually in the weeks before the picnic) you'll find work getting done too.

Point your IRC client to chat.us.freenode.net on port 8001 and join #linuxpicnic - users outside North America see freenode.net's list of servers for one on your continent.

Amateur Radio frequencies

Ham Radio Operators - bring your mobile and/or handheld radios. While it's usually a hobby and lots of fun, you know how you can be called upon for emergency communications too.

On-site radios will use 446.5 simplex. Mobile talk-in and transit shuttle dispatch will be on the Charlie Repeater 147.855- 100pl.

Link to linuxpicnic.org from your web site

Anyone can help with this. Link to linuxpicnic.org from your personal or organizational web site.

Add a link to linuxpicnic.org on your web site.

How to Use the Wiki

A "wiki" is a user-editable web site. For an introduction about the concepts and traditions of wiki sites, see the article about wikis on Wikipedia.

Our wiki site has a restriction that you must be subscribed to one of the Linux Picnic's mail lists in order to work on it. Please see the UsingThePicnxWiki page.

There is a Frequently Asked Questions and Tutorial online if you need them.

Open Source Partner Organizations for 2007

The following organizations (listed in alphabetical order) provided volunteers to make Picn*x 16 happen.

• BayLISA - Bay Area Large Installation System Administrators
• Haiku OS - Open Source OS based on BeOS
• LUGOD - Linux User Group of Davis
• sbay.org - South Bay Community Network
• Smaug - Santa Cruz Microsoft-Alternative User Group
• SVWUX - Silicon Valley Wireless Users & Experimenters

Sponsors

Special thanks to the following sponsors of Picn*x XVI

Platinum Level Sponsors
Gold Level Sponsors
Bronze Level Sponsors
BayLISA
GroundWork Open Source
Untangle
Linux-Consulting.Com
USENIX
Prizes and Give-aways
No Starch Press

Note: a surplus from Picn*x XV in 2006 has been brought forward to Picn*x XVI. So an ongoing thanks also goes to the 2006 sponsors.

Would you like to be a sponsor of the Linux Picnic?
Please see the SponsorInfo page.
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