September 22, 2008
OpenSolaris, Sun
7 Comments
If you’re lucky enough to spot them and get your hands on one (they’re relatively rare, and not part of the free media program), these are the OpenSolaris Student Packs – referred to as ‘BTS’ or Back to School on the mailing lists. Essentially it’s a CD and DVD pack in a nice cardboard (printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks) case.
The CD is a re-spin of OpenSolaris 2008.05 to fix some of the bad package management bugs that were included in the May image. We’ve updated the download servers too, so you can download the ISO image from one of the increasing number of mirror sites (thank you!)
The DVD is slightly more interesting. It includes OpenOffice 2.4.1 (for Linux, Mac and Windows) and VirtualBox 1.6.4 (for Linux, Mac and Windows), though our timing on getting these printed misses out on the latest version 2.0.2 which, of course, you can download for free. But best of all, we also include Virtual Image of OpenSolaris where we’ve already downloaded some of the developer software from the network package repository (Java, Sun Studio, AMP, HPC). I like this idea a lot, because I think the virtual image (through VirtualBox or others) is becoming a better LiveCD allowing people to try out OpenSolaris with little or no commitment and enjoy some of the technology included.
I’ll send some out to the first 5 people who add a comment to this blog. Update: This is now closed, and the 7 lucky winners who managed to comment before I shut off the comments will get a student pack sent to them.
September 22, 2008
FOSS, NewZealand
1 Comment
Although I missed most of the lead up, the Unlimited Potential team (with awesome help from Brenda, Jethro, Chris, Don and others) rocked on hosting the most excellent Software Freedom Day. There was a pretty amazing turnout, as Brenda’s photos show and I think just about everyone who attended enjoyed the conversation that resulted.
The highlights for me were seeing the OpenSolaris Student Packs for the first time that I’ve been involved in over the last couple of months, a zsh(1) demo, and an excellent discussion about on NZOSS. I’ve been wanting to get more involved in NZOSS for a while, and keen to learn where I can contribute (outside a lot of the policy work they’ve already been doing). The Wellington Convention Center was a pretty great place to host the event (if a little expensive given that this sort of event boosts the visibility of the Wellington IT scene), and the Havana coffee was wonderful. Was good to catch up with Nat and Andrew over a rather spicy curry afterwards.
Thanks to all the sponsors, helpers and, in particular, my other half for making it such a rocking event!
September 4, 2008
Conference, FOSS, NewZealand
Comments Off on Software Freedom Day 08 – Wellington needs sponsors!
As time draws closer to Software Freedom Day, there’s still plenty of opportunity to register for the event.
More importantly, this event couldn’t be run without the support of sponsors. Unlimited Potential, CWA New Media, NZOSS, SuperHappyDevHouse, WellyLug, Catalyst IT and Sun have all kindly stepped forward to help in some way, but unfortunately we still need some more financial support to help run this event and provide food to our hungry barcampers and hackers! If you know of someone who would be interested, please send them my way to (glynn . foster @ sun . com).
