Stuff, things

Foss.in is now over. Painfully left Seemant at the airport this morning. It’s been such a blast hanging out with him.

Apps to US done. Foss.in done. GATE prep starts in earnest. Sigh.

But in the mean time, obligatory Foss.in report followeth…

So I couldn’t actually join the initial organizing, what with a bucketload of crap to do. and I picked Seemant up from the airport (some amount of stupidity on our parts caused delay). I went to work, and eventually joined the festivities about T-10 hours (read 10 p.m. on Day 0). This was after dvb and fox2mike had done Herculean things to get most of the 60 boxes up that were dumped on them near the last minute. Too much needed doing, and there weren’t nearly enough people. The small number of people involved just could not keep track of all that needed to be done. But they did. Big big standing ovation to all involved (I’m afraid to start naming people because I might forget somebody – you know who you guys are). Anyway, stayed up all night, ran home to pick up a crimping tool at 3 a.m., crimped stuff up that the network. Ran around, and tried to figure out the network topology (couldn’t). Also did assorted things to get other stuff in place (I can’t even remember what). It still tickles me that the network guy didn’t bring his own crimping tool.

Day 1, registration server is brought up late. taken to the desk. We’ve got all new folks to do registration, so people in the queues are pissed off. After we got more registration machines up, and once yours truly, a 2-time registration veteran, chipped in, things started clearing up. Ran around more that day at the halls. Eventually, around 3 p.m., I crashed on the bed (== 2 boxes in which the servers arrived). Woke up refreshed at 6. Tried to help a little more. Went home, slept so sound that I made logs look fidgety. Woke up around 6:30 (?) the next morning, got to the palace, did stuff. The story continues this way, till all steam is lost (think hyperbola) around day 4 evening. I attended the Gentoo track, and half of Till Adams’ Kolab talk. Period.

Met a lot of people. It was good. Gentoo stall was, I think, one of the most active Foss stalls around. Enjoyed it immensely. I hope we made people aware of another option, and what it can mean.

The Gentoo track had a good turnout. I expected more from myself in my talk. It was disgustingly disconnected. But it is terribly nice that there were 3 people who actually asked for a demo of ebuild-writing. What more could I ask for? Will put up the updated slides on my website today or something.

Much like the BLUG, I think the event needs a much larger degree of formalism in structure and running. I don’t think this is possible right now, in part because there just aren’t that many people around who are willing to devote the amount of time and effort it takes (I have my excuses, but that makes me no less guilty of this). Volunteering for this kind of stuff is a thankless job. But if you do it to be thanked, you shouldn’t be there anyway. But you know what – making a large contribution to this big event which focuses on something you are deeply passionate about is pure joy in itself. You don’t need people to affirm it for you. Not one person. Okay just one – you.

took some scary-looking photos of moi – will watch out for them.