The weekend has come and gone, and I have my new netbook.. woohoo!

I started this adventure in Germany... searching all over for a shop that would sell me a netbook with an English keyboard.  None would, with most giving the excuse that their distributors didn't have anything but German keyboard layouts.

Well... neighboring countries seem to have no problem with ordering netbooks with English keyboard layouts... so I did a quick roadtrip over the weekend to go pick up the netbook I ordered.

Due to a bit of a mixup, I ended up with the black EeePC 1005HA-H instead of the blue one, but that's a minor oops.  I also bought a 2GB SO-DIM as well, so I could bump the RAM up from the 1GB default to 2GB... an upgrade well worth the 30€ extra it cost.

This netbook only comes with Windows XP... yuck!!  So the very first thing I did on boot was repartition the hard drive and wipe that broken old OS off and install Linux.  I set up for dual boot, with Eeebuntu and openSUSE.... but how well does Linux actually work on a netbook? Was that a good idea?

The install of both Linux distros went smoothly.. .mostly.  A few bumps along the way.

The first install I did was Eeebuntu.  No issues at all to install.  I booted for a few seconds to test, and then moved on to openSUSE.  This install also went smoothly - except on reboot, I could no longer start up Eeebuntu.  Not sure why, and I didn't spend any time sorting it out.  I redid my installs (needed to change the partitioning layout anyway), and did openSUSE first, then Eeebuntu.  This order worked - the problem the first time around is something to do with how the openSUSE installed finds the existing Ubuntu install and sets up GRUB.  Maybe I'll revisit this later to sort it out... dunno.

Anyway.. booted up openSUSE, and bumped into the first big-ish issue... no network.  A little digging and I discover that the WiFi card drivers are in a newer kernel build.  ooops.  Sigh... switch over to Eeebuntu... same problem.. no WiFi, no wired network either.  Well.. that's annoying.  Ok, it's because I have a new netbook... new WiFi card etc... the older netbook (Eee 900) my friend has worked first try on Eeebuntu...

The solution to the network issue was fairly simple.  Find a newer kernel, copy the deb to a USB stick... copy to the new netbook, install the kernel and reboot.  Once I was running on the new kernel I could run the updates, which included the backports for the default kernel... which include the WiFi drivers.  Yay.  Boot to the updated stock kernel and I've got WiFi there too.  Remove the temp kernel... download and install the wired network card drivers and that's it... fully functioning netbook running Eeebuntu. 

I have to say... I'm impressed with the capabilities of this little computer too.  I've got a full desktop with Compiz running... it has no problems with the fancy animations etc.  The full OpenGL screensavers all work smoothly.  I've even installed a few games just to try it out, and so far... they all work.  Haha.. I'm almost temped to install World of Warcraft just to see if it'll work too

I still have a few things to sort out.  I want to get openSUSE working - I prefer it over Ubuntu anyday.  I also have to sort out the microphone.  There are apparently 2 microphones, one to the left and one to the right of the webcam.  They are noise cancellation/stereo mics, and Linux doesn't handle this particular setup very well... the result is that they end up canceling out all sound picked up by the mic.  There is a quick fix that I can use though... a tweak to the sound config that I plan to try later today.

Other than that... it was definitely a good idea to drop XP and install Linux. I'm a happy camper now

So, I've been spending far too much time lately trying to decide if I'll buy a Netbook, and what one to buy.  I've been fretting over models and colors... it's pretty sad really  

The first hurdle I faced, and probably the main thing that sent me into a downward spiral of reading reviews and compulsively reading Wikipedia etc. is the fact that I haven't yet found a single German computer store that will order me a laptop with an English keyboard - not even on special order.  I can have any keyboard layout I want, as long as it's German... which isn't much use when you want an English one. 

Someone kindly pointed me at a shop in Hannover (about 100km south of Hamburg) that refurbishes laptops, and many of the models they have available have English keyboards (I have to wonder though how they managed to get computers with English keyboards though).  They have a nice variety of laptops available, but none are netbook class machines... all are bigger, heavier laptops.  I decided to pass on them this time and focus on the netbook world - I will keep them in mind though.

So... options... I can order from the UK.. but.... prices.. oiy... it seems like the computer companies took the Euro price, and just changed the Euro sign for a Pound sign.  After exchange, the prices are considerably higher than buying here. 

The dilemna continues... what to do... buy in the UK at a high premium? Buy local and get a computer with the wrong keyboard layout?  Buy in a neighboring country?

I opted to buy in the Netherlands where I can easily get a computer with an English keyboard layout.  In fact I ordered the machine last night (an Asus Eee 1005HA-H in blue), and it's already there, waiting for me to pick it up.

Keyboard issues aside, why all the bother about it?  I want a netbok that will run on Linux.  in fact I've been trying hard to find one that comes with Linux preinstalled.  Seems that none of the retailers here carry the Linux machines anymore... only with XP Home...   Funny thing is, all that I asked so far said they don't carry Linux machines, and they are not sure why since so many people buying them are asking for Linux ones.  One shop I talked to got so tired of it that they now provide a printout of info on where to go to get some of the more popular Linux builds for netbooks they sell... so the customer can remove the unwanted XP and install the OS they requested in the first place.  Ha... funny how that works   Sadly... no one I've talked to has managed to get a refund for the unwanted XP license which they were forced to pay for.  That won't stop me from trying though.

I am a rebel... I live life on the edge... I tear the labels off pillows... I drink outdated milk.  Look out world... errr.. no wait.. ummm.. right... ummm

So this weekend was a super exciting adventure.  Did I go bungee jumping?  Nope.  Skydiving?  Nope.  Well.. how about... hmmm.. OK... I stayed in as usual, and... can you guess?  Yah, if you know me, you know exactly what I was doing.  Sigh.

I added another hard drive to my computer.  Wow eh?  Will the excitement ever end?  Ha.  I'm now up to 3 terrabytes of disk space, and already thinking... I should have bought 2 new drives instead of just one.

Adding a new drive gave me the perfect opportunity to re-install Linux and get a clean start.  You know, you'd think I'd learn... it's never easy no matter what OS you pick and I spent most of teh weekend futzing with installs and configuring and reinstalling and reconfiguring...  My main OS is as usual, openSUSE.  I installed openSUSE 11.1 with KDE 4.3 and the latest openSUSE 11.2 Milestone (aka Alpha).  I also tried to install Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha as well... but that one won't boot for some reason.  The main problems from this weekend's adventures seem to be related to my custom partition layout, and the new ext4 filesystem format I started tinkering with on this install... openSUSE 11.1 doesn't speak ext4 by default (although I can enable experimental support for it if I'm really daring).

The update to KDE4.3 in openSUSE 11.1 went very smoothly this time around.  My previous install had a lot of debris left around from all the incremental upgrades I did from the initial 4.0.3 to 4.3.  This debris caused all sorts of interesting probelms... nothing catastrophic, but annoying at times.

So... up and running again.. and only 1 terrabyte of data left to sort through... eeep!

If anyone is interested in what KDE4.3 looks like (you know.. you guys who think Windows is the ONLY way to operate a computer), take a look at these links:

ZDNet Australia - a video made by some guys at ZDNet Australia where they showed KDE4 to some unsuspecting people, telling them it was Windows 7 and asking their opinions.

YouTube video 1 - A short video that just shows a little of what the desktop looks like

YouTube video 2 - A longer video demoing some of the features in detail

Well, OK, I'm not really Steve, but I did recompile my 2.6.27 Linux kernel this weekend.  That should count for something

Long ago back in the prehistoric days of Linux... say... around 10 years ago, I used to recompile my kernels on a regular basis.  Ha, it was almost mandatory just to get sound working back then since the default kernel with most Linux distributions didn't have that part of the kernel working either as part of the kernel or as a kernel module.... at least on my computer hardware at the time

Since then though... I've become lazy... or is it my comfortable rut haunting me again?  Whatever it is, I haven't rebuilt my Linux kernels for years... I've just used whatever was shipped with the Linux distribution I happened to install.  Funny thing is... it wasn't hard to do at all.  A quick reminder on the Wiki page about building kernels... a few short command line steps, a nice menu editor for the kernel options I wanted to enable, and an hour later I was running on my own custom kernel.

Why though did I do this?  Why did I make an attempt at being Steve?  Well... you see, I'm an avid gamer (yes Virginia, there are games in Linux), and on the latest openSUSE release, game performance took a real dive.  After lots of digging and asking questions, it came down to a couple of options that I needed to change in the default openSUSE kernel.. specifically  setting the Preemption Model to Preemptible Kernel (Low-Latency Desktop) (this is set to off in the openSUSE kernel shipped with openSUSE 11.1) and Timer frequency to 1000Hz (this is set to 300Hz in the openSUSE kernel shipped with openSUSE 11.1).

Was it worth it?  Well... in a word YES.  I ran a test on the default kernel - a timedemo in Call of Duty 4 running in Cedega 7.0.0 with all graphics options on max including AA on 4x.  I booted to the new kernel and ran the same timedemo with the same settings... and saw a 37% increase in frame rates.  That is a pretty substantial improvement between the default kernel and my rebuilt one.

Does this make me a Steve?  Naah.. probably not... I mean, there were no cyber goats or fembots involved at any stage of the process.

PS, in case you were wondering what the heck I'm talking about with this Steve thing and cybergoats... take a look here: http://www.ubergeek.tv/article.php?pid=54

I am a creature of habit... or maybe I just get easily stuck in ruts?  I have long resisted moving over to a 64-bit OS because of troubles I've encountered the last time I tried it.

A couple of years ago, I accidentally installed a 64-bit Linux distro.  It correctly identified I had an AMD64 CPU and quietly selected the right kernel for my hardware.  I never noticed that it had done this until I wanted to add multimedia support and a few browser plugins.  Then.. the chaos of mixed architectures began.  It was messy... I didn't like it... I reformatted my root partition and went back to 32-bit and have been there ever since, carefully selecting the 32-bit kernel with each OS upgrade/reinstall.

Recently someone brought it to my attention that the specific objections I had from past experiences are long fixed, and it should be no issue at all to install 64-bit. 

Hmmm do I dare leap out of my 32-bit rut?  I already have my 64-bit install DVD ready to go.. just have to suck it up and go for it I guess.

Someone once pointed out that the reason he couldn't or wouldn't use Linux is because there are no games available.  What he really meant is the new release game that he bought because of overhyped advertisements on TV isn't available in Linux.

Linux has a HUGE selection of games available.  OK, some are rather dated and simplistic, but there are a lot that are excellent games, and for all kinds of players.  Just to mention a couple....

• An excellent Online Multiplayer game is Savage.  This game has a native Linux client, and is free to play online.  You can set up your own server, and have a go at it, or join an existing server.  The game play is something like a cross between World Of Warcraft and... Rome Total War.  Well not really... but a game somewhere inbetween those game types.  It's a game with loads of Player vs Player (pvp) battles, interspersed with building up your bases and resources, and defending.  The webpage is: http://www.notforidiots.com/SFE/
• A Tale In The Desert III is a much more low key online game that focuses on co-operation, resource gathering, etc.  There is no battle or pvp element.  This is a commercial game and you have to pay to play online.  There is a native Linux client.  The website is:  http://www.atitd.com/
  
• If you like a little humor, then On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness might appeal to you.  The humor is slightly adult, but very well done.  This also has a native Linux client, and it's very playable for all levels of gamers.  The website is: http://www.rainslick.com/
  
• Runesoft has released some of their games for Linux.  Not the latest and greatest, but still a nice little selection.  The website is: http://www.rune-soft.com
• Linux Game Publishing ports Windows games over to Linux.  I have been working with them as a Beta tester for several years, and at first the games were... simplistic and not the type that would appeal to the mass market.  Upcoming games though should be  worth looking at.  X3 is in Beta now ( 3D space exploration and battle game), as is Bandits Pheonix Rising (a fun shooter game where you fight from a car in a Mad Max like world) , and Sacred Gold was just recently announced.  The website is: http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/
• Neverwinter Nights has an official Linux client available from  http://nwn.bioware.com/downloads/linuxclient.html
  

OK those were some specifics.... what about other games.. what about fully open source games.  Well a simple browse of the Linux Game Tome will show you literally hundreds of games that are out there... some are very much A+ level games that rival some of the best fully commercial Windows only games.  The website is http://www.happypenguin.org/

If you are a a Flight Sim fan (I know, flight sims are not technically games, but I included this here anyway), then I would highly recommend X-Plane.  It is a commercial game and released on Windows, OSX, and Linux.  The quality of this flight sim is stunning.  Version 9 was recently released, and.. well.. you have to see it to appreciate it.  This is the most realistic flight sim I have ever used.  There is also a vibrant community around it creating pay and free addons from new aircraft to elaborate scenery overlays.  The main website is http://www.x-plane.com  and the community site is http://www.x-plane.org   and both are well worth checking out.

Other Linux game resources:

• http://www.linux-gamers.net
  
• http://www.games4linux.eu/en/
  
• http://www.linuxgames.com/
  
• http://www.tuxgames.com/
  
• http://www.liflg.org/
  
• http://www.cedega.com/
  

 So... no games on Linux is just an excuse.  There are loads of games.  This list only brushes the surface of what is out there.  Yes Linux does not have the latest release from Rockstar or Blizzard, but it does have a large selection of other games... a selection worth looking into.

Well, another LinuxTag is over and done.  OK, I admit, this was only the second one I've attended, but I already felt kinda at home.  Oh man, I am such a nerd and those of you reading this who know me personally, you can stop nodding your heads in agreement... no stop it, I mean it...

I was only there at the convention for Friday.  I wish now I had arranged time to spend two days instead so I could have spent a little more time chatting and meeting with people - maybe next year.

A few highlights... 

• OpenMoko are almost ready to release their cool new open source phone/PDA/toy/kitchen sink.  http://openmoko.com/
  
• Linux4Afrika are still going strong - I really admire what these guys are doing and wish I could get involved... maybe one day soon I'll be in a position to pitch in.  They are really working hard, and are in the process of training a few people from Tanzania to be the network admins for the schools that are being fitted with the thin client and server hardware http://www.linux4afrika.de/
  
• YaCy (a web search engine) seems to be growing bigger and bigger every time I bump into them  http://yacy.de/
• KDE4.1 was on demo, and was looking a lot more usable than any of the previous releases.
• OpenSolaris and OpenOffice.org had large teams there, and there seemed to always be a small crowd gathered around - especially to check out the demos of OpenOffice.org 3.0.
• I didn't see a Google booth this year... I wonder why?
• The Open Graphics Project video card was looking like it could actually be used soon.  They are taking pre-orders   http://wiki.opengraphics.org/tiki-index.php
• The Linux Gamers had a nice booth set up with several games available for people to play.  Whoever says there are no games for Linux is simply not looking.  There are literally hundreds of games available and many (especially recent releases) are very very good.  http://www.linux-gamers.net   (hmmmm maybe I should do a blog entry on a few of the very cool native Linux games I have)

There was loads more at the conference, but... well.. next year, you should go too...

Well, LinuxTag 2008 has started.  I am traveling to Berlin tomorrow (Friday) morning.. . an early start, and a packed day.  I have to be at the central train station in Hamburg before 08:00.  I arrive in Berlin at the conference at 10:00 (you have to love the super fast trains in Germany).  I am scheduled to give a presentation from 12:00 to 13:00, and then I have to make the rounds of all the booths, meet with someone from the German language doc community, and still make it on time to my return train which leaves at 17:00.

Phew.... I'm getting tired just thinking about it.

I attended LinuxTag last May (2007) in Berlin, and it was brilliant.  Well... brilliant if you're as big of a nerd as I am.    I'm glad I am going again this year.  There was loads to see last year, and there is supposed to be even more this year.  Even if you're still in the Dark Ages of computers and stuck using that horribly broken OS that comes on every PC you buy these days, you can still learn a lot from an event like LinuxTag.... it's not all just about Linux.... it also is a chance for loads of other open source projects to showcase their products.  There is a lot of cool stuff happening... and so much is missed by people who are locked into expensive proprietary OSes and proprietary applications.

Ummm.. right... 

When I moved to Germany,  I discovered one of the many little known quirks of life in Germany... the availability of cable television in a rental apartment is only available if the landlord sees fit to provide a connection.  Where I live, cable television is not available.  There is a cable television connection in the living room wall, but it's not connected to anything.

There are other options... satellite, TV over IP, and DVB-T.  Satellite isn't a real option for me though because I would have to place the dish on the street side of the building, and I am on the ground floor.  I tried TV over IP, but the quality of the broadcast was poor, and it cut deeply into my available internet bandwidth if I had the television turned on.  That left DVB-T.  I tried it once, and couldn't get a decent signal, so I decided enough, and went without television for the past year.

Anyway, I'm getting to my point... this week I decided to have another go at getting DVB-T working.  I bought a Hauppauge USB DVB-T tuner (the HVT-900-H) which promptly didn't work.  I did some digging and discovered I had bought the wrong one.  Ooops.  The 900-H is based on a new chipset that is not yet supported in Linux.  That will teach me not to do my research first.

A little pre-purchase research later I discovered that I could probably get the Hauppauge Nova-T USB DVB-T tuner and it should... in theory.. work in Linux.  So, I wander down to the local electronics store and pick up a Hauppauge Nove-T-Lite USB DVB-T tuner (same as the Nova-T, but without the IR remote control). 

This tuner doesn't work without a little tinkering... but the tinkering amounts to very little.  Basically I had to download the latest v4l source, su to root, and then type make, and make install.  This all went smoothly.  I plugged in the tuner.. still nothing.  dmesg had a clue though... the tuner was found, and the system attempted to start it up but was missing some firmware.  A quick look in the firmware directory of the v4l source, and there it was.  I copied it over to /lib/firmware, and plugged the tuner back in.  Whiz bang it works!

Ten minutes of tinkering in the MythTV setup to tell it there was now a tuner connected, and to tell it to go scan for available channels and I was up and running.  MythTV has loads of nice little functions like downloading the channel icons, providing on screen programming guides and so one.  Very nice.

So... after a year without television (and not really missing it) I am back in couch potato land.  Hmmmm was I better off without television?

I have been using Linux for 10 years now.  At first it was only as a diversion from using Windows for day-to-day work.  I would boot it up, and spend hours learning how it all worked, figuring out how to recompile the kernel to get sound working, tweaking here, adjusting there... basically playing.  When the real work had to be done I would boot back to Windows.

As time went on, I became less and less dependent on Windows, and used Linux more.  Why?  well, simply because I had to do less and less twiddling in Linux to get it to work.   Linux matured and it actually became easier to use than Windows for most things.  A couple of years ago, I dropped Windows altogether and am 100% Linux on my home computers... with no feeling that I am compromising anything at all.

Over the past 10 years I've tested out a lot of different Linux distributions... SUSE, PCLinuxOS, PuppyLinux, DSL, RedHat, Gentoo,  Ubuntu/Kubuntu, Knoppix, Slackware, etc etc.  Each distribution had its finer points, but I was always drawn back to SUSE.  There was something I liked about it... it was well polished, professional, and worked well compared to its peers. 

Sometime around the release of openSUSE 10.0 things started to go awry.  It's not any one thing, but a combination of things... with the result that I am now starting to do a little experimenting outside the openSUSE world, looking for something else... something that suits how I use my computer... as a home desktop, but also as a webserver (serving web pages, Wiki pages, multimedia , and mythweb), an entertainment center (with MythTV managing my movies, and TV tuner), and for playing games (I am a self confessed World of Warcraft addict)... as well as all this it should provide decent administration tools (eg in openSUSE, there is YaST).

What fits all that?  Tough to say really. 

In the past few days I have started looking at Ubuntu again... particularly the latest 8.04 Beta.  I have previously avoided Ubuntu partially because of all the hype around it.  It is just another Linux distribution after all.  I have used it in the past... one former employer used it on all the software developer's computers.... I had it installed on my home system for about 4 months... but I was always underwhelmed when I compared it to openSUSE.  That opinion has changed though.  When I fired up Ubuntu 8.04, I was rather surprised.  That rickety "training wheels" feeling was gone.  In its place... a well thought out, easy to install, easy to use version of Linux.  You might say I am quite impressed with this new release...

It is difficult to pull myself out of my distribution rut though... do I hang in there and see if the upcoming openSUSE 11.0 release is equally as good as the soon to be released Ubuntu 8.04?  Or do I take a deep breath, back up my MySQL databases and webserver and move over to Kubuntu (I prefer KDE over Gnome, especially KDE 4)?  It's a tough call...

I had some time this weekend to do a little tinkering with my Nokia n800 Internet Tablet.  Where most people would maybe install a new application via the n800 software installer... I tinker and read, and find a way to install KDE 3.5.8 instead.

Ok, technically I cheated... I followed the easy instructions here: http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14680&highlight=kde

The steps outlined above basically install KDE so that it can be launched from within the n800 GUI.  I was pleasantly surprised when KDE booted up and... it looks almost exactly like the KDE I use on my home computer.... even the default KDE startup sound played at the appropriate time.

Why would anyone want to do this?  Well, the default GUI and apps for the n800 are really lacking in certain places.  With KDE, I get KMail, Konqueror, KOffice (which can open and edit ODF documents), and a whack of other KDE applications that fill up the gaps in the application lineup for the default n800/n810 environment.  There is a trade-off though... KDE is not (yet?) set up for touch screen interaction, so your limited to using only the stylus for navigation.  For me this is not a huge loss.  Finger navigation in the default interface is only useful to a point after which you are forced to use the stylus anyway.   Another issue is that the n800 does not have a hardware keyboard - you have to either use the on-screen keyboard, or an external Bluetooth (or USB keyboard).  This makes it quite hard to do some actions that are easy in a normal computing environment.. like Ctrl+click Alt+click (or even Right-click).

The next step is to try and take some screen shots.  Then I plan to flash a clean copy of the default interface (to clean up everything from all my messing around)  and I will try out the more difficult step of setting up the n800 to boot from the SD card.  This means I should be able to run KDE natively instead of on top of the existing GUI.  I'm hoping that this will make it slightly faster and free up a little more RAM for KDE.

It's little things like this that make Linux very cool.  

Well.... Rwanda is now a memory.

The last weekend in Kigali was a bit hectic as I rushed around trying to tie up some proverbial loose ends.  I ended up with some great contacts in RITA (the Rwandan IT Authority) as well as email addresses and phone numbers of several other influential people in the local IT industry... and the entertainment industry as well.  All of them said I need to go back to live in Kigali and teach English and IT skills to the Rwandans.  Hmmm sounds good to me.

The trip back to Europe was rather nice.  Ethiopian Airlines took me all the way to Brussels.  Since it was New Year's eve, the flights were only about half full... everyone could stretch out and get comfortable.  It also helps that EA flies with older 757 and 767s which means a LOT more leg and hip room.  They are very comfortable, albeit tired (in need of some maintenance on the interior), old aircraft.

The airport in Addis Ababa was moderately busy.  It's not exactly an airport you want to spend a long time waiting around in though.. not much to see or do.  The flight from Addis to Paris was kinda strange... well not the flight itself, but the passengers... almost all were French nationals (Caucasians) who had at least one if not two or three small African babies with them... I assume they were all in Africa as a group to adopt these children.  It seemed that way.  I didn't ask though.

There was also more than the usual complement of numpties on the flight.  Even before the flight left the numpties were out in full force.  When you fly, you have to go through a metal detector... the same process in almost any airport in the world.  You remove your belt, keys, coins, mobile phones etc etc.  You step through... you collect your stuff.  Well... these numpties were all standing in line.  They would step through, set off the metal detector.  Step back.. remove a handful of coins from a pocket... step through again... set off the metal detector... back.. remove some keys from another pocket... set off the detector again... remove a phone.. again... remove more coins... again... and on and on.  Finally they would make it through without setting off the metal detector.  Time for the next guy in line to have a go at it.  Now this guy had been standing there watching the previous guy go through the process of setting off the alarm and removing metal things from his pockets over and over... you would think that this would spark some part of his brain and he would think ahead and remove all the metal things... right?  Nope.  Same process... beeep... remove coins... beeep... remove keys... beeep... and so on.  These people had to have known that they needed to remove all metal.  They flew from Paris to Addis at some point to get there to pick up the children they were taking back to France... they had to have gone through a metal detector to leave France...

Their numptiness was further demonstrated on the flight... particularly as we were coming in to land in Paris.  The announcement was made for everyone to take their seats, put on the seatbelts and return the chairs to the upright position in preparation for landing.  Normally that is your cue to.. ummm.. sit down right?  Well, the Africans, myself, and a few others did as instructed... the numpties though took this as a signal that they should get up and start walking around, collecting their luggage, chatting with friends collecting the children from various parts of the aircraft and so on.  They continued this right through the approach and during the actual touch down.  Credit goes to the pilot who set down the 767 with a feather touch on the runway.  It was the smoothest landing I've ever experienced, and what basically saved these numpties from falling down as they continued collecting their luggage from the overhead bins as we touched down and slowed on the runway.  They were ready to get off the airplane.. queued up at the doors before we even reached the end of the runway!

I continued on to Brussels and then since all the flights from Brussels to Hamburg were canceled due to lack of interest, I took the train back to Hamburg.  Reality slowly settling into my consciousness... the cold seeping into my joints... my tan fading back to my usual pasty white with a tinge of blue...

So, we are half way through day 1 of the conference.  So far it has been mostly general presentations... a keynote address by Louis (the OOo Community Manager), and a formal meeting and presentation from the Catalan leaders.  I missed the beginning of the presentation, so I don't know if they were government officials, University officials or what...

The next presentation was really interesting.... the presentation from the Chinese delegation from RedOffice.  It was presented in Chinese with a running translation.  One of the key things I picked out of the presentation was how different the Chinese software needs are compared to the "western" software needs.  This was really emphasized in the slides.

Anyway, more presentations and meetings coming up this afternoon.

It might all seem boring, but it isn't.  The people involved here really are passionate about OpenOffice, and you can really see it in their presentations.

More later... if anyone is readding this