Results...
29 Jan
Got mail from the Linux Professionals' Institute that I passed the LPI 101 exam I took at Idlelo. Also heard back from the Africa Source organisers that they received my application. It was suggested that my flight may cost a bit more than I expected - will have to check with a travel agent.
Daily log
28 Jan
Too many small things: My colleague Simon Cross walked our editorial department through using The Gimp, as they're switching to it soon. I sent in my Africa Source application form (wondering how I'm going to afford it though...). Decided I'd give DragonFlyBSD a shot (since I'm taking a hiatus from FreeBSD for a bit).
SLUG kicks in the new year
26 Jan
While I was sleeping off my bug, SLUG was off installing their first Linux labs of 2004 in three schools in the Western Cape on Saturday. They were John Ramsay Secondary, Montevideo Primary, and RR Franks Primary, with some help from some HP South Africa managers. Hilton from TSF reports that the HP group enjoyed the event, which hopefully means good word-of-mouth about SLUG. SLUG is repeating a triple this coming Saturday too.
Lost (last) week
24 Jan
Been recovering from conference burnout and, I suspect, some nasty tiring disease. In between sleeping and work, I've been reading my Arcana Unearthed and other roleplaying books which arrived during the conference. I'm really impressed with the quality of Monte Cook's work on Arcana Unearthed and Diamond Throne, and at how a strong community is building up around these systems. Am going to set up a once-off adventure sometime soon, but still lots of preparation required. (And players...)
End of Idlelo
16 Jan
Yesterday Idlelo came to a close, everyone hopefully off to either continue what they're doing, or to start doing what they talked about. FOSSFA's closing statement describes what Idlelo means for Open Source in Africa: the first coherent Open Source activity in Africa. The good news: Idlelo 2 is already planned, and is scheduled to be held in February 2006 in Addis Ababa. Attached is a report-back I sent to the local Linux Users' Groups.
LPI exam
16 Jan
I took an LPI exam offered for only R125 by Evan Leibovitch at the Idlelo conference. Only two others wrote with me - one from Western Cape Linux Users' Group and one from Schools' Linux Users Group. (Evan seemed a bit surprised at how fast I finished...)
On the 14th, Wendy Seltzer opened the inaugural ISOC meeting in Cape Town on the topic of the EFF's efforts to fight the diminishing of privacy in our age. About 80 people joined the meeting and agreed to form an ISOC chapter in Cape Town for outreach and activism. Alan Levin called for us not to pay for our membership with money, but rather with our time and efforts.
More Idlelo
14 Jan
Absolutely drained from having my brain engaged by the Idlelo conference attendees the past two days, and hence no posting. Yesterday focussed on Intellectual Property, including a spokesperson from WIPO. While a topic I'm really interested in and excellently presented, the trip to Moyo at Spier stole the day (I'll write about that later, hopefully). Today I followed the development (programming) track, and continued to learn about what's happening with Open Source in Real World Africa. One more day to go, and my ``Development Good Practise using Open Source Software" is ready to roll for 10am.
Africa Source
14 Jan
Before I forget myself, Africa Source is a conference in Namibia for Open Source developers in Africa. Applications close on 30th January. One thing that really stands out is this question on the application form: ``All Africa Source participants are expected to teach as well as to learn. What tutorials, development sessions or discussions would you like to lead''
More from the Idlelo conferenece in Cape Town.