We were in Brno over the weekend for the OpenAlt conference, with a stand, coffee and our own programme.
OpenAlt is the other big Linux event after LinuxDays, and we couldn't miss it. As usual, we set up our own stand, handed out leaflets, chatted with people and discussed the pitfalls of administering Linux servers.
I must thank Tomáš Laštůvka, who volunteered to work at the OpenAlt stand because he'd enjoyed LinuxDays. He helped with absolutely everything and had technically knowledgeable discussions with visitors.
Next to our stand, we teamed up with Penerini Coffee to set up an improvised café serving excellent espresso, cappuccino, filter coffee and tea to all attendees. Two very friendly young women operated the coffee machine, and conference visitors were full of praise for the drinks.
Věroš Kaplan joined us on Sunday, bringing a sticker cutter and making lots of stickers with our association's logo. We put them on our laptops, and even the big silver coffee machine didn't escape. They suit it too.
We also contributed to the conference programme. I ran a workshop on operating Linux VPSes, though in the end I mainly demonstrated our web administration and a few related things. More than 20 people attended, and 16 created a trial VPS with us. We already know that two will definitely stay on as members.
Petr Krčmář also gave a talk, demonstrating Debian installation with debootstrap. Using two VPSes on our playground, he installed a basic Debian system into the second VPS from a running CentOS distribution, then booted it.
From our perspective, OpenAlt went well, even though attendees spread across eight rooms that looked rather empty. That's the price of the conference's rapid growth. If you're near Brno, come next year; we'll be there.
For more photos, see our gallery.