Wild & Wired West Virginia
Software you control is software you own.
A one day Linux and free software festival, hosted by the University of Charleston COSC, DASC and MATH Department. You can come having never installed Linux and leave with it running on the laptop you brought.
free registration. tickets are handled by hi.events, self hosted by the university.
sudo apt install libreofficeReading package lists... DoneSetting up libreoffice (24.8.4)that is the whole trick. plain commands, and someone sitting next to you.
Fully Transitioning to Linux: A Privacy and Ownership Story
One person, one machine, and the year they stopped renting their own computer. What actually broke, what turned out to be easier, and what it took to move a working life off software that reports back. This is the argument the rest of the day is built on, so it runs early and everything else follows from it.
No prior experience assumed. Nothing is installed during the talk.
Three ways in
Say where you actually are and the site takes you to the part of the day that fits. You can change your mind at the door.
You have never installed it
Start at the Liberation Lab. It is a guided install session using Linux Mint, which is the version most people should start with. Bring your laptop or use one of ours.
-> workshopsYou want the competitions
Ten contests, the returning Ethernet speed wire competition with a live leaderboard, a hardware swap table, and a room full of people to argue with in good faith.
-> competitionsYou want out of the subscription
De-clouding, running your own media and file services at home, self hosted email, and what actually protects you. You do not have to think of yourself as technical.
-> talksFifteen activities, sorted
Talks you sit and listen to. Workshops where you leave having done something. Competitions you win or lose. Exhibits you walk up to at any time.
Beginner to deep, in that order through the day. Plus the /dev/random lightning track.
- Fully Transitioning to Linux
- Self hosted email, honestly
Hands on, with a working result at the end. Both run more than once.
- Liberation Lab: install your first Linux
- Self hosting clinic
Entry is free with your ticket. Spectators are welcome at all of them.
- Ethernet speed wire
- Desktop customisation contest
Open all day along the north wall. No sign up, no schedule to catch.
- Distro tasting bar
- Old hardware, new life
Linux, pressed onto discs that cannot be changed
Everyone who comes can take a disc. We press full installable Linux distributions onto DVD-R and CD-R, which are write once media. Once the data is burned it is physically fixed. Nobody can patch it, revoke it, expire it, or move it behind a subscription, including us.
A download can be taken away from you. A disc in a drawer is yours in ten years whether the project still exists or not. That is the argument the whole festival is making, in a form you can hold.
One room, one Saturday
Sponsors and supporters
Free entry, free workshops and a pressed disc for every attendee are paid for by the people below.
Sponsor the day
Money goes to discs, media, refurbishing parts and prizes, in that order. Sponsors are named here and on the signage in the ballroom. There is no vendor hall and no sponsored talk slot, so support is support rather than stage time.
Come on the 14th. Bring the laptop you already own.
Registration is free and takes about a minute. It tells us how many discs to press and how many install helpers to have on the floor.