Barcamp Blackpool 2011
Posted: February 12, 2012 Filed under: barcamp blackpool | Tags: dick turpin, proprietary applications, using linux Leave a comment »
The third Barcamp Blackpool took place on the 15th October, and I can honestly say that this event gets better every year. A fun, casual and informative event, with a mixed audience from the diverse IT community. As you may know, a barcamp allows anyone to host a talk, on any subject.
There were talks covering Arduino / kinect hacking (including controlling a RC helicopter using hand movements), computing in schools, and the most popular talk, error messages. The error messages talk was a comedy routine that covered error messages from Spectrum to Windows 8. (I didn’t see any Linux errors in there 
)
A theme present on the day was the state of IT education in the UK, with it being made clear that children are no longer being taught the theory of computing, rather they are taught to use proprietary applications. It is important that children are taught Computer Science, but at the same time we must also show that you can use a computer for more than just programming and spreadsheets.
What was refreshing, was the strong Linux presence, with Blackpool LUG hosting a live demo of Ubuntu 11.10, Linux podcasters Dan Lynch and Pete Cannon (aka Dick Turpin), and a few Ubuntu users hosting presentations. Barcamps are normally populated by Macs, so it’s great to see people using Linux in their workflows.
What I enjoyed most about this event was the diversity, in talks, attendees, and even sponsors. There was a considerable number of people who had never attended a barcamp before, and looking at the hashtag on twitter #bcblackpool they will be going to a lot more in the future.
Barcamp Blackpool is a rare treat, a barcamp that provides interesting talks, and is relaxed and informal to attend. Roll on 2012.
All of my pictures are available from my flickr account
Skip to the end…11th July 2010
Posted: July 11, 2010 Filed under: barcamp blackpool, linux, Operating Systems, Ubuntu, Uncategorized | Tags: blackpool, linux, LUG, skip to the end, ubuntu Leave a comment »Overall this week I have been really busy doing…
- Advertising / Promotion work for Barcamp Nottingham
- Literally looking into what can be done, whats right and whats wrong.
- Lessons learnt from previous Barcamps
- Drawing up plans for Software Freedom Day on the 18th September
- Working with Manchester Free Software to run an Ubuntu Demo Area at the event.
- Wrote a new CV, just because you never know what might happen.
- Posted some T-Shirts to my hardworking mates
- @gnudoc
- @stuartward
- To say thanks for helping me at Oggcamp!
- Fixed Inkscape issue
- When launching inkscape, I would click on a tool, then use it on the page. An error was presented “an internal error occurred, Inkscape will now close”. After some investigation it turns out that there was a DBUS error, more spcifically with DBUS and GTK. So I went to the Synaptic Package Manager and removed appmenu-gtk. Now everything seems ok.
- I also updated the kernel to the latest available for Ubuntu, and reinstalled appmenu-gtk. Everything is now back to normal.
- I wrote some emails to
- Linux Format, to say thank-you for their piece on Barcamp Blackpool.
- Ubuntu UK podcast, they asked their listeners to tell they what they do with their jogglers. I use mine as a video ad for Ubuntu at events.
- Attended Blackpool Linux User Group
- Investigated problems with a members laptop.
- Devised a new structure for weekly meetings, to focus the meetings and get as much as we can from the time that we have.
- See if we can have a few cross LUG meets in the next few weeks.
- Would allow anyone on a LAN to connect up and download the latest updates.
Wow what a busy week, and I’m sure next week will be even busier!
Bye for now.
Barcamp Blackpool 2010
Posted: July 7, 2010 Filed under: barcamp blackpool, linux, Uncategorized 5 Comments »Wow what an event, it gets better every year!!!
When: 3rd July 2010
Where: Blackpool Pleasure Beach Casino
Cost: Free!
This is the second Barcamp Blackpool to be held, and this event is proof that grass roots events are increasing in popularity. This is a fantastic event and draws a really rich and mixed demographic.
I attended the first Barcamp Blackpool in October 2009, and I was truly amazed at what was accomplished, 40 like minded people attended, all sharing their knowledge.
Fast forward to 2010 and attendance had increased by 300%, 120+ people, more sponsors onboard, and lots more talks to attend.
The basic premise of a barcamp is that there are no scheduled talks, anyone that would like to host a talk can put their name on the schedule, and talk about any topic.
This year, I decided that I would like to give something back to the event, as the previous event had sparked my interest in tech conferences. So I decided to run an Ubuntu Demo Area in a similar vein to my Ubuntu Installfest that I ran at Oggcamp( http://oggcamp.org/ and my Flickr photostream http://bit.ly/agDUO5)
With the help of my friends from Blackpool Linux User Group http://www.pcrecycler.co.uk/club/ we created a fantastic demo area.
We had two laptops running Ubuntu 10.04, ready for people to try Ubuntu. We used a demo video running on an O2 Joggler (which itself was running Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix)
and loads of CDs kindly donated by Canonical to set up our pitch,
<Picture Kindly provided by @djgraham http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidistesting/>
plus the famous Oggcamp Banner
The day started quickly, lots of interest early on, CDs flying off the stall. People asking for USB pendrives preloaded with Ubuntu. There were two people who wanted to install Ubuntu on their laptop there and then. So we kindly obliged.
<Picture Kindly provided by @djgraham http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidistesting/>
Dino, came along and had some questions about Evolution email application and Wine, the Windows abstration layer for Linux. Which were quickly solved. On the day we even saw someone using Ubuntu on their Mac, albeit in a Virtual Machine (Courtesy of Parallels)
Our demo area was exceptionally busy all morning, meaning that we missed a few talks, but it was worth it as we helped so many people.
Heed (http://identi.ca/heeed) popped over to see us, and showed us his IBM laptop with a P166mhz CPU and 48mb RAM running Damn Small Linux perfectly
http://heeed.net/2010/07/blackpool-barcamp-shennanigans/
Lunchtime
Well free pie and peas is a real bonus, especially for a serial pie eater like me. NOMNOM!
Afternoon
Another busy schedule, more questions, more CDs!!! It was great.
<Picture Kindly provided by @djgraham http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidistesting/>
Dan Lynch, of Linux Outlaws fame (linuxoutlaws.com) popped in to say hi and have a pie. It was great to catch up with Dan, and we even installed Ubuntu 10.04 on his Dell 1330 laptop. (Celebrity Endorsement!!!)
I managed to sneak into a talk, hosted by Jon “The Nice Guy” Spriggs. He was talking about his fantastic application, Campfire Manager. An app that can organise you conference. This app shows great promise, and I wish jon lots of luck with it.
The day was rounded off by a closing talk, chaired by ruby_gem http://twitter.com/ruby_gem
All in all it was a great day, and I am sure that Barcamp Blackpool 2011 will be an even bigger success.
Lastly, a big thank-you to all these important people
-
Gemma Cameron (Ruby_Gem) for organising the event
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Tony Hughes &
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Rick Vause &
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Rob McLellan for their help in organising the Ubuntu Demo Area Massive thanks lads, top job!!
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Heed (Michael Rimicans) for flashing my HTC Hero to 2.1 and providing top notch tech support on a Dell 1525 with Broadcom WIFI chip.
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Dan Lynch, for turning up and having fun.
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Jack for putting up with four lads pawing your laptop while we install Ubuntu on it.
