Ubuntu Wiki

Please can you add any updates to this to the [EventsGlobal] section so we have all the relevant Ubuntu events on one page. Feel free to put all the relevant detail here, as long as we have at least a line mentioning the event....

Summary

The conference in Mataró has now come and gone. That said, this page is a good resource for people who want to look over the BOFs from the notes and see what happened. If you have photographs, you should post a link to those here over at MataroConferenceGalleries.

The old page is preserved below.

Canonical is pleased to announce that it will be organizing and hosting a conference and hack-session for Ubuntu. The Secretaria de Telecomunicacions_ i Societat de la Informació de la Generalitat de Catalunya is co-sponsoring the event. Here are the essential details:

What: The Mataró Sessions

Where: Hotel NH Ciutat de Mataró, Mataró (near Barcelona), Catalonia, Europe

When: 5th - 18th December 2004

Who: Open to the Public

Announcements

• (03 Dec) Agenda of the Ubuntu Open Source Forum on 17 December, with Alfons Cornella

• (03 Dec) If you want to participate in the keysigning party (don't worry about the date at all) you should read the keysigning party instructions and then email your key to ksp-mataro@yukidoke.org **on or before December 3**. Sorry for the short notice!

• (02 Dec) Spreadsheet with [RoomsRev4.sxc room assignments] (version 4)

• (02 Dec) A press release (in Catalan). Please see MataroPressRelease.

• (01 Dec) A draft conference schedule has been posted - Please see the ConfAgenda.

• (26 Nov) Canonical is pleased to announce that in association with Hispalinux and the Secretaria de Telecomunicacions i Societat de la Informació de la Generalitat de Catalunya we will sponsor a series of workshops to be held on Saturday, 11 December. The focus of these workshops will internationalistation and custom distributions. Additional information can be found at MataroSessionsWorkshops.

• (26 Nov) Please note that conference attendees will be responsible for their own belongings at all times. That means that if you are attending you should make sure you have insurance for your laptop, your own travel insurance, and/or any other precautions you think will be necessary to ensure the safety of your belongings. Because this conference is open to the public, neither Canonical nor any organisation associated with the conference can assume any liability or responsibility for theft or any other damage.

Dates

The conference will be held between 5-18 December 2004.

If you intend to come for the full conference, plan to arrive into Barcelona on December 5 and out again on December 18th. It is alright to come for only part of the conference and many people are doing so.

How to Attend

All Canonical employees will be in attendance and anyone else who is interested or involved in Ubuntu is welcome to attend as well.

While the conference is open, we do need to have an idea of who is going to be coming. Please fill in your information at ConferenceAttendees if you plan on attending. If you are no longer attending, please update the page.

Goals and Agenda

There is an initial sketch of ConferenceGoals online. The draft conference agenda can be found here : ConfAgenda - it's WIP, and more BOFs will be added this week.

We may have a few more organized talks although the current plan is to focus on less formal "Birds of a Feather" (BOF) meetings. We want to try to organize these so that each BOF leaves with something. It might be a plan, a piece of code, etc. In each case, each BOF should terminate with a written report of the BOF, the conclusions, and the action items (and who they were assigned).

Feel free to suggest BOFs here: ConferenceBOFs

Conference Venue

UPDATE

The conference will be in Mataró, which is just outside of Barcelona. We will be holding the working sessions at the Hotel NH Ciutat de Mataró There should be sufficient bandwidth available, although we still may have to set up our own wireless network for convenience.

* Address: Hotel NH Ciutat de Mataró, Camí Ral, 648 - Esq. San Valentin, 08302 Mataro - Barcelona, Spain * Hotel phone number: +34 93 7575522 * Location map - please see: ConferenceMaps

Languages

The first language of Catalonia is Catalan, not Spanish (also known as Castillian). Almost everybody who speaks Catalan also speaks Spanish, but many menus, road signs, etc. are in Catalan. Speakers of any romance language will probably be able to read Catalan at a basic level. If you speak no Spanish or Catalan you will have few if any problems, as many people also speak English (and French), and are incredibly helpful.

Accommodations

The Canonical Employees will be staying at the Hotel called called Hotel NH Ciutat de Mataró.

Address: Camí Ral, 648 - Esq. San Valentin, 08302 Mataro - Barcelona, Spain

• Hotel NH Ciutat de Mataró, located near the city center. This is

  • where Canonical employees will be staying. We don't yet have an exact price but it should be in the range of 80-90€ per night for a double room.

UPDATE: A lower rate has been negotiated for conference attendees. When making a reservation, mention that you are attending the Canonical Conference and you will be eligible for a rate of 57€ + 7% VAT for a double (twin) room. Apparently, this rate does not include breakfast.

Hotel phone number is +34 93 7575522

• Hotel Colon, located near the city center
  • It costs 80,39€ daily (but the Ciutat de Mataro may be nicer). The rate includes breakfast.
• Hotel Castell de Mata, located 2 km from the city center. It costs 72,70€
  • daily (breakfast included) but is really only accessible by taxi or car. That said, taxis are readily available and cheap.

• Youth hostel Can Soleret located far from the city center. There are buses

  • to go there. The price is approx 16€/day, breakfast included, but they only accept group reservations from at least 15 members.

• You can find more hostels located more or less near to the city center at Hostelworld.com. At some

  • places there are even some 1-bed private rooms available. Should be an option for everyone, who can't afford a hotel room and can't be considered for sponsoring. Prices start at around 20€/day for 1-bed private room or 14€/day for a bed in a mixed dorm. Can be booked by Internet.

Flying In

There are several airports you can fly into: Barcelona (BCN), Girona (GRO), and Rheus (REU). Barcelona will be the easiest in terms of logistics, though you might find cheaper flights to Rheus or Girona.

If you fly to Barcelona airport (also known as El Prat) you can take a train from the airport to Mataró. See further info below.

You could also fly to Girona or Reus. Ryan Air serves both cities. Girona is closer (75Km, about 50 minutes by car) to Mataro than Reus (140Km, about 1:20 minutes by car). Ryan Air offers busses connecting Girona (11€/19€) and Reus (?€/?€) to Barcelona (PDF). The bus will drop you off in Barcelona, from there you must connect to Mataró - the easiest way being the train. The directions are the same as the train from Barcelona Airport, except you will get on the train at Plaza Catalunya.

From The Netherlands, the best way is probably a http://www.basiqair.nl/ Basiqair] flight from Schiphol to Barcelona, they cost around 110€ for a return ticket, including taxes. You can also fly from Rotterdam to Girona, but those flights seem to start at 60€ (ex. tax) one-way.

From Paris, Brussels, Roma, Milan, Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Madrid and Bilbao, there are cheap flights with Vueling, which lands at Barceloan Airport. You can get a one way ticket from 20€.

For those flying to the conference, you might want to donate a tree via Future Forests (or a similar online service) to offset C02 emmisions from your flight.

Train to Mataro from Barcelona

Upon leaving the Barcelona airport, take the overhead walkway to the train, and buy a ticket to Mataró. It takes 1 hour and costs 2.25€ one way. If you plan to travel from Mataró to Barcelona several times during your stay, do not purchase a one way, instead buy a 'T-10 Zone 3' at the airport. A T-10 offers 10 one-way trips, and costs 16.60€. There is only one train that leaves the airport, and all stop at Mataró, so you can't get on the wrong one. Train leaves every half hour, 06:13-22:00.

The Conference is at the Hotel NH Ciutat de Mataró and the hotel is 5-10 minutes away from the train station, walking. Taxis are available all the time at 2-3€.

Travel from Mataro to Barcelona

To travel from Mataró to Barcelona, your Zone 3 T-10 will let you get off at any point along the light rail in Barcelona. A T-10 also allows transfers to other forms of transport (bus, metro, tram) within 1:45 of the first journey. T-10's are multipersonal, meaning you may legally share them among people, even using one for 10 people at one time.

Trains leave Mataro every 10 to 15 minutes, including the twice hourly train to the airport, which also allows you to disembark in Barcelona. Most will want to exit at Plaza Catalunya, situated in the heart of Barcelona. Wikipedia has an iformative page on Barcelona.

Uphill from Plaza Catanlunya is the Eixample, and it's main street Passeig de Gracia, which feature many shops, resaurants, and stores, as well as famous architecture including the Manzana de Discord. Running downhill from P. Catalunya is las Ramblas, which everyone should walk at least once. While walking down las Ramblas, turning left at any point will lead you into the charming and winding streets of Barri Gòtic, the oldest part of Barcelona. Please keep in mind that while Barcelona is a very safe city, pick-pockets are a problem, and wallets/cameras/laptops are frequent targets.

Lonely Planet has a basic map which you can print, which covers most of the area you will want to see as a tourist.

Map of Barcelona Light Rail.

What to Bring

• a visa for Spain, if you need it. List of Spanish Embassies or Consulates

• your laptop with wireless capability

• power adaptor for Spanish power, plug is Zype C or Type F, power is 230V at 50 Hz. This is the same as most of Europe (notable exclusions are Great Britain and Switzerland)

Recreation/Excursions

• Rock-climbers can enjoy an artificial wall in one of Mataró's Parks (20 x 3 meters). Montjuic, in Barcelona, has more free rock-climing, considered by some to be the best in Europe. Tucked behind Poble Espanol on Montjuic, it offers natural rock faces, artificial rock, and a converted road tunnel covered with holds, all of which have bolts to clip into. A bus map will help you find it; it is located to the left of "Camp de Rugbe". The map shows a stub of a road that almost connects to the roundabout - this leads into the tunnel. The roundabout is actually above the tunnel, so as you walk along the road make sure you are not above it or pass it by. Look for cars and scooters outside the tunnel.

• Runners may find the Spanish roads crowded and hazardous, but the beach is just minutes away from the center of town, where you can run without risk of being run over.
• A marina is located next to the Mataró train station, where people will be able to find charter boats.
• France is surprisingly close (1.5 hours by car), as is Andorra (2 hours); a rental car may be a good option one weekend.

Questions

If you have questions, please email BenjaminMakoHill mako@canonical.com>

[RoomsRev4.sxc]

CategoryUbuntuConferences