If you were wondering where I was gone for the last months, here is an update.

In 2021, when I was thinking about which training course I would like to attend next year, I chose the Open Source Summit Europe(OSS). I had already attended this event for my last employer and had very good experiences there. At the OSS, users and developers of open source software meet. Since we are currently running several Linux-based projects in my department, at Carl Cloos Schweisstechnik GmbH, I expected to meet like-minded people there.

The Open Source Summit is being run by the Linux Foundation, a largely industry-funded foundation that owns the trademark rights to Linux and employs Linus Torvalds, among others.

When the first information about the event came out at the beginning of the year, I became aware of the possibility of giving a lecture there. Last year we carried out a study in our department on the operation of our robot controller under Linux. I think that’s a very exciting topic, which is why I applied for a lecture. At the beginning of July the decisions were announced and indeed my entry was selected. Then it was time to prepare a forty-minute presentation in English, which I had a lot of fun with.

On September 12th we started from Frankfurt. After checking in at the hotel, I went to the obligatory “Fish and Chips” stand to get in the mood. The next morning I was able to enjoy beautiful Dublin as I made my way along the River Liffey to the Convention Centre.

River Liffey and Samuel Beckett Bridge

The Open Source Summit is excellently organized. Several conferences on different topics such as embedded Linux, containers, cloud or security run smoothly in parallel there, sometimes with several presentations at the same time.

Auditorium (©Linux Foundation)

For planning purposes, you can put together your timetable online in advance and will be informed about all changes there. All lectures will be streamed and will be available for viewing on the online portal and later also publicly on YouTube. This year, 1,500 participants were on site, and a further 800 took part via the Internet.

I primarily listened to lectures from the field of Embedded Linux. But the talk by Linux godfather Linus Torvalds and the “Kernel Report” by Jonathan Corbet were also on my agenda.

Linus Torvalds (©Linux Foundation)

I was able to learn a lot of new and useful things there, and some questions from our ongoing projects have already been answered.

In my 40-minute presentation on Thursday, I had the opportunity to present Cloos and report on our progress in porting the robot controller to Linux. After that there was an opportunity to ask questions. Later some listeners approached me and we had good conversations.

The personal encounters, which are finally possible again, are just as important as the lectures. Safety was ensured: During the entire congress, masks were compulsory, proof of vaccination or a negative corona test had to be provided.

I was able to exchange ideas with many developers and users. There was ample opportunity for this in the breaks between the lectures. At various evening events there was time for longer discussions. A highlight was Tuesday evening, when the Guinness Storehouse was reserved for conference participants. Then there was the “Sponsor Showcase”, a kind of in-house exhibition during the congress. There you actually met developers at the stands and could talk about deep technical topics.

Me at the sponsor showcase (©Linux Foundation)

I bring a lot of ideas and new contacts with me from the congress. I found insights into the working methods of other companies to be inspiring and valuable. Dublin itself is a beautiful city that I highly recommend visiting. The conference was well organized. I am very grateful for this broader perspective and the opportunity to speak at an international conference.