Picn*x 19 - The Linux 19th Anniversary Picnic
August 21, 2010

The Linux 19th Anniversary Picnic, or "Picn*x 19", will be held on Saturday, August 21, 2010

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, more than just Linux, are welcome.

The Sunnyvale, California (Silicon Valley) picnic has usually been scheduled each year for the Saturday following the LinuxWorld/!OpenSourceWorld Expo in San Francisco. We don't yet know if IDG will organize its convention in SF in August. When the time came that we had to make the reservation, we selected the weekend prior to the anniversary of Linus' Linux kernel announcement, which was August 25, 1991.

Let us know if you're organizing a Linux Picnic in your area - we'll link to your event!

Celebrating 19 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.

Are you coming to Picn*x 19? Please RSVP!

Expect the RSVP database to be opened by late Spring 2010.

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

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 sites from Picn*x 15 (2006), Picn*x 16 (2007), Picn*x 17 (2008) and Picn*x 18 (2009).

Wi-Fi at the Picnic!

The Silicon Valley Wireless Users & Experimenters (SVWUX) has organized wireless Internet connectivity for the West Coast Picn*x since 2006. A lot of volunteer effort goes into planning the locations of antennas and Wi-Fi repeaters to cover the whole picnic area. Please consider supporting SVWUX if you can!

Tech/project demos at the Linux Picnic

The West Coast Linux Picnic will have technology and Open Source project demo stations at various tables. We ask that you sign up ahead of time so we can plan where to arrange them.

• (let us know and we'll add your Open Source or related technical-interest project here)

Please let us know if you have additions for the list.

Visiting from out of town?

Have a look at various tourist attractions in Silicon Valley while you're here. We'll also have our shuttle volunteers able to take you to and back from the nearby WeirdStuff Warehouse.

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. Amateur Radio at the Linux Picnic is always at least a technical talking point, but also stand-by emergency communications in case it's needed.

On-site radios will use 446.5 simplex. Mobile talk-in and transit shuttle dispatch have in the past been on the *Charlie Repeater 147.855- 100pl. (We need to confirm with the repeater owner each year.)

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.

This web site is publicly-readable. To modify this wiki site, you need an SBAY Web Account.

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

Open Source Partner Organizations for 2010

The following organizations (listed in alphabetical order) are the Open Source Partner Organizations participating in Picn*x 19. (Let us know if your organization should be added to the list!)

• BayLISA - Bay Area Large Installation System Administrators
• 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 19

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