Berlin, 26 May 2008 ? Once again this year's LinuxTag (www.linuxtag.org) is one of the leading international meeting places for developers and users of the free operating system Linux and of open source software. The organisers of LinuxTag e. V. and Messe Berlin are expecting 500 developers from around the world representing the free software movement.
From 28 to 31 May representatives of over 100 projects from Germany, Europe and abroad will be visiting the Berlin Exhibition Grounds (entrance at Hall 7). The organisers have invited over 80 open source projects to exhibit at Europe?s open source event. Around 10,000 visitors from more than 30 countries are expected to attend during the four days of the fair.
Marko Jung, the board member of LinuxTag responsible for independent projects: "The overwhelming support of the international community of developers has made it possible for us to present the wide variety of both new and established software projects at LinuxTag 2008." Wolfgang Drotschmann, also on the board of LinuxTag e.V., added: "We are grateful to all those who have given their active support, to the sponsors and Messe Berlin, whose commitment has made it possible to realise this diversity."
Highlights for a digital lifestyle
The new multimedia distribution LinuxMCE will be celebrating its European debut at LinuxTag 2008 (Hall 7.2b, Stand 108). At the open lecture programme project founder Daniel Kristjansson will present his idea of an intelligent home that integrates Linux (Digital Lifestyle Track ). The projects MythTV (Hall 7.2a, Stand 117) and Video Disk Recorder (Hall 7.2a, Stand 102) will also be showing exhibits for multimedia living rooms. iTunes competitor Amarok?s latest Version 2.0 offers personalised charts, music recommendations, song lyrics and integration of mobile devices and online services (Hall 7.2b, Stand 124).
Mobile devices soon the hottest new item
This year the Mobile + Embedded Area is the meeting place for pervasive computing. obiCO, the first open source computer for bicycles, will be celebrating its debut in Berlin. Other exciting projects include OpenMobile, a tool for developing mobile distribution, MyStep/embedded GNUStep - a development environment for mobile user interfaces, and Jalimo - a complete Java version for mobile devices. Nokia will also be showing the latest from its maemo.org project. The Mobile + Embedded Area is sponsored by tarent.
OLPC competition ? in search of new ideas
OLPC Deutschland e. V. is launching a competition in Berlin for developers to find new ideas for One Laptop per Child. An XO laptop will be awarded to those who have the most interesting suggestions for new OLPC applications. The project promotes the use of computers as a versatile learning tool suitable for children. Together with Skolelinux and DebianEdu, OLPC Deutschland will set up a virtual classroom in the fair halls and will be demonstrating the use of free software during class (Hall 7.2b, Stand 115).
Free workshops in 2008
This is the first time that a two-day series of workshops will be taking place at LinuxTag on the subject of computer typography with TeX/LaTeX. Experienced developers will be on hand with advice and practical tips for creating texts (Thursday, 29 May and Friday, 30 May, Workshop Room 1). A wealth of expert knowledge will be available to users from developers at this wide-ranging programme of workshop events. Topics include creating reports using the ERP application Adempiere (Thursday, 29 May, Workshop Room 2), developing embedded code with Beagle Bord (Friday, 30 May, Workshop Room 2) and secure home banking with Prof. Walter Roth from Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (Saturday, 31 May, Workshop Room 1). Finally, on Friday afternoon, the traditional key signing party will take place (2 p.m., Workshop Room 1).
Details of the full workshop programme are available online at http://www.linuxtag.org/2008/de/community/workshops.html
Linux distribution updates
This year, users and all those interested will again be able to find all the popular Linux distributions in one place. Community versions include the BSD derivatives DesktopBSD 1.6, FreeBSD 7.0, FreeSBIE 2.0.1, NetBSD 4.0 and OpenBSD 4.3 (Hall 7.2a, Stand 108), Debian GNU/Linux 4.0r3 (Hall 7.2b, Stand 121), Fedora 9 (Hall 7.2a, Stand 210), openSUSE in the upcoming version 11.0 (Hall 7.2b, Stand 210), Sidux sidux-2008-02 (Hall 7.2a, Stand 123) and the Ubuntu family (Hall 7.2b, Stand 124 and 125).
A list of all projects exhibiting at the fair can be found at http://www.linuxtag.org/2008/de/besucher/hotels-reisespecials.html.
14th International LinuxTag in Berlin LinuxTag 2008 will be taking place on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds from 28 to 31 May 2008. LinuxTag is Europe?s leading event for Linux and free software, and a joint platform for open source projects and companies in German-speaking countries, in Europe and overseas. This four-day event brings together producers, supporters, software products and communities. LinuxTag Berlin is organised by Messe Berlin GmbH in association with LinuxTag e. V. Additional information is available on the internet at www.linuxtag.org. IBM Germany and Sun Microsystems are the official sponsors of LinuxTag 2008.