Announced last October by the Linux Foundation (LF), LinuxCon aims to fill the gap between end-user and core-developer events, bringing the two groups together to meet and collaborate, along with administrators, community managers, and industry experts. The show is being co-located with the annual Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC), which slightly overlaps on Sept. 23-25, and which is more exclusively targeted at core Linux developers.

LinuxCon keynotes (left to right): Joe Brockmeier (OpenSUSE), Bdale Garbee (HP), Mark Shuttleworth (Ubuntu founder), Imad Sousou (Intel), and Bob Sutor (IBM)

Amanda McPherson (pictured at right), VP of Marketing and Developer Programs at the Linux Foundation, has published a blog on the show, and the LinuxCon site itself is now packed with details. In addition to McPherson's highlights listed below, she mentions a track devoted to SUSE and other Novell technology, as well as a series of presentations on Moblin. Enterprise customers, meanwhile, should be interested in sessions on cloud computing, virtualization, containers, the Kernel Report, and the keynote from IBM's Bob Sutor, writes McPherson.

While LinuxCon primarily covers enterprise and core Linux development issues, there are several sessions with a specific embedded focus. These include, but are not limited to:

• New Connection Manager for embedded Linux systems – Intel's Marcel Holtmann discusses ConnMan (Connection Manager), the new generic infrastructure for creating networking connections, found in Moblin.
  
  
• Best practices for embedded Linux development -- Grant Likely of Secret Lab offers a overview for embedded Linux newbies on running a successful project.
  
  
• Requeue PI: Real-time condition variables -- IBM's Darren Hart discusses the latest in real-time Linux, and descries the addition of "Requeue PI futex" support to the Linux kernel. This is said to enable "highly threaded applications to make use of pthread condition variables while still maintaining the real-time behavior provided by priority-inheritance-aware pthread mutexes." (If that seems just a bit dense, Hart adds, "A simple application will illustrate the results.")
  
  
• Why you want Linux on your motherboard -- Ronald G. Minnich of Sandia National Laboratories will discuss Coreboot and explain why it's better to "interact with a standard shell, backed by Linux, instead of the inscrutable BIOS setup screens." Minnich will then describe Department of Energy implementations of such technology on systems ranging in size from 128 to 2048 nodes.

Linux Kernel Roundtable panelists (left to right): James Bottomley (SCSI subsystem maintainer), Jon Corbet (LWN.net), Greg Kroah-Hartman (USB subsystem maintainer), Linus Torvalds (man behind the curtain), Arjan Van de Ven (Intel), and Chris Wright (Linux tree maintainer)

Here is an edited version of McPherson's top "can't miss" sessions, events, and features of LinuxCon:

• The Linux Kernel Roundtable: Straight from the source -- Linus Torvalds tops the list of leading kernel maintainers in this panel moderated by James Bottomley (see panelists in caption above). McPherson advises attendees to "get there early."
  
  
• A musical guide to the future of Linux -- Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier leads this interactive presentation subtitled "Why is Linux like the Ramones? Can Linux be the Beatles instead?"
  
  
• Implementing enterprise Linux on x86 servers: Benefits, challenges, and things you don't know that may hurt you -- Vinod Kutty of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange explains how Linux helps run one of the world's largest exchanges, supporting high data volume, high performance, and highly mission critical infrastructure.
  
  
• Bowling for penguins -- Bowl, drink, and actually help save real penguins.
  
  
• Write a real, working Linux driver -- Greg Kroah-Hartman of the Linux Driver Project hosts this in-depth tutorial on how to write a driver for Linux.
  
  
• The Online LinuxCon Community -- This special service enables registrants to create a personalized schedule, and schedule meetings with other attendees ahead of time.
  
  
• Keeping open source open -- LF executive director Jim Zemlin and OIN's Keith Bergelt discuss fighting patent trolls, and how to deal with certain large companies that threaten Linux with their patent portfolios. (This may be where you'd hear about the latest on the future of the FAT filesystem or alternatives thereof.)
  
  
• The LinuxCon Wellness Lounge -- Massage, yoga, and other health services will be made available to attendees, which McPherson says will be "especially useful for those continuing on to Plumbers!"

Availability

The first annual LinuxCon event will be held from Sept. 21 to 23 at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront, in Portland, Oregon. Early registration ($400) is available until August 15, at which time the fee changes to $500. The student price is $200.

More information and registration forms may be found here. Amanda McPherson's blog on the show may be found here.

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