The number of independent projects taking part has now risen to more than 70, further underlining the importance of LinuxTag. Messe Berlin supports non-commercial exhibitors at LinuxTag by providing extra display space for independent projects which, in line with the philosophy of LinuxTag, are represented in the same halls as commercial exhibitors. The fair is sub-divided into individual “theme“ islands, which highlight the synergies between independent projects and company presentations, providing visitors with a clearer overview. The key topics this year are data protection, multimedia applications and free maps.
Visitors can find about the latest data initiatives to promote data protection on the stand of FoeBuD e.V., the organisers of the Big Brother Award. Only as recently as late March the association filed a constitutional complaint challenging ELENA, a law stipulating that the earnings of all individuals in jobs requiring social insurance be kept on file.
Those interested in computer games can test the Flightgear flight simulator inside a cockpit-like environment. The simulator runs on almost every operating system, e.g. Windows, Linux and Mac OS. As this game is based on an open source program, further development for private, scientific or commercial use is expressly desired. Flightgear also uses data from OpenStreetMap, a free mapping project, whose aim is to provide free use of digital maps.
The Navit project, which is represented at LinuxTag for the first time, also makes use of OpenStreetMap data. Brandenburg police forces have been testing open source navigation software since March 2010 in a bid to streamline the planning of police car availability in rural areas.
A society called c-base combines questions on how to shape the future in positive ways with technological ideas, while also introducing an artistic element. c-base spin-offs are the c-base Open Moon- and c-rove projects which as part of their involvement in the Google Lunar X Prize contest have both dedicated their efforts to landing a lunar vehicle on the moon and transmitting back data after the landing.
List of new exhibitors
Navit (on the stand of OpenStreetMap):
Route planner with augmented reality
Cream Desktop Environment: alternative user interface
Linux-Messtechnik: Active Noise Control using JACK from the TU Berlin
PC-BSD: open source operating system with an optimised user interface for new users and desktop users
Perl, along with the Perl projects Mojolicious, Padre, Rakudo
Software distributors M23
Hackable Devices: a community with a focus on open hardware.
c-rove Open Moon: a project which plans to send a vehicle to the moon assisted by Linux.
About LinuxTag
LinuxTag is Europe's leading event on Linux and free software. The four-day event has been taking place annually on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds since 2007. It offers the very latest information for professional users, decision-makers, developers, beginners and the community. In addition to the programme of papers and a separate Business & Public Authorities Conference, LinuxTag traditionally includes an exhibition featuring projects and companies associated with the Open Source sector. A total of 10,780 visitors from around the world attended LinuxTag 2009. Verein LinuxTag e.V. is the non-commercial organiser of the event, which is staged jointly with Messe Berlin GmbH. More details can be found at www.linuxtag.org