Southern California Linux Expo
Encyclopedia
The Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) is an annual Linux, Open-Source, and Free Software conference held in Los Angeles, CA. SCALE grew out of a series of LUGFests put on by the Simi Conejo Linux Users Group in the late 90s. There were four of them, held every 6 months at the Nortel development facility in Simi Valley, California. They ended when Nortel closed that facility in 2001. Subsequently, members from SCLUG, USCLUG and UCLALUG organized to create a more regional event, which they named the Southern California Linux Expo.
SCALE is one of five community run Open-source software
events in the United States
, as of Spring 2011. It attempts to maintain a balance between commercial and non-profit organizations. SCALE has been held annually since 2002, and is a volunteer-run event.
The event features an expo floor with both commercial and .org / non-profit exhibitors, as well as 3 days of seminars on the topic of Linux
and Open Source software.
In spite of having Linux in the name, SCALE welcomes all Open Source operating systems and software. In the past, Netbsd
, Freebsd
, Pcbsd, Openbsd
, Reactos
, Rockbox
, and the Haiku
operating system have all been represented at SCALE.
Other past exhibitors have included: IBM
, HP, Sharp
, MySQL
, Debian
, Gentoo Linux
, the Fedora Project
, KDE
, GNOME
, Postgresql
, Fluxbox
, the Software Freedom Law Center
, Cacert, Openstreetmap
, NSLU2
-linux, The Document Foundation
, the Electronic Frontier Foundation
, Google
, MythTV
, Drupal
, Django (web framework), WebOS-internals, Inkscape
, Facebook
, eHarmony
and others.
SCALE is one of five community run Open-source software
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
events in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as of Spring 2011. It attempts to maintain a balance between commercial and non-profit organizations. SCALE has been held annually since 2002, and is a volunteer-run event.
The event features an expo floor with both commercial and .org / non-profit exhibitors, as well as 3 days of seminars on the topic of Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and Open Source software.
In spite of having Linux in the name, SCALE welcomes all Open Source operating systems and software. In the past, Netbsd
NetBSD
NetBSD is a freely available open source version of the Berkeley Software Distribution Unix operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. The NetBSD project is primarily focused on high quality design,...
, Freebsd
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
, Pcbsd, Openbsd
OpenBSD
OpenBSD is a Unix-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It was forked from NetBSD by project leader Theo de Raadt in late 1995...
, Reactos
ReactOS
ReactOS is an open source computer operating system intended to be binary compatible with application software and device drivers made for Microsoft Windows NT versions 5.x and up...
, Rockbox
Rockbox
Rockbox is a replacement for the standard firmware in various forms of digital audio players . It offers an alternative to the player's operating system, in many cases without removing the original firmware, which provides a plug-in architecture for adding various enhancements and functions...
, and the Haiku
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
operating system have all been represented at SCALE.
Other past exhibitors have included: IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, HP, Sharp
Sharp
Sharp or SHARP may refer to:*Sharp *Sharp , a flour made from hard wheat*Sharp , Canadian magazine*Sharp Daily, a free newspaper published in Taiwan and Hong Kong*Sharp...
, MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
, Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
, Gentoo Linux
Gentoo Linux
Gentoo Linux is a computer operating system built on top of the Linux kernel and based on the Portage package management system. It is distributed as free and open source software. Unlike a conventional software distribution, the user compiles the source code locally according to their chosen...
, the Fedora Project
Fedora Project
The Fedora Project is an endeavor sponsored by Red Hat to co-ordinate the development of the Fedora operating system. Founded on September 2003 as a result of a merger between the Red Hat Linux and old Fedora Linux projects...
, KDE
KDE
KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
, GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
, Postgresql
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational database management system available for many platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, MS Windows and Mac OS X. It is released under the PostgreSQL License, which is an MIT-style license, and is thus free and open source software...
, Fluxbox
Fluxbox
Fluxbox is a stacking window manager for the X Window System, which started as a fork of Blackbox 0.61.1, with the same aim to be lightweight. Its user interface has only a taskbar, a pop-up menu accessible by right-clicking on the desktop, and minimal support for graphical icons...
, the Software Freedom Law Center
Software Freedom Law Center
The Software Freedom Law Center is an organization that provides pro bono legal representation and related services to not-for-profit developers of free software/open source software. It was launched in February 2005 with Eben Moglen as Chairman. Initial funding of US$4 million was pledged by...
, Cacert, Openstreetmap
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. Two major driving forces behind the establishment and growth of OSM have been restrictions on use or availability of map information across much of the world and the advent of inexpensive portable GPS devices.The...
, NSLU2
NSLU2
The NSLU2 is a Network-attached storage device made by Linksys introduced in 2004 and discontinued in 2008. It makes USB Flash memory and hard disks accessible over a network using the SMB protocol...
-linux, The Document Foundation
The Document Foundation
The Document Foundation is an open-source software organization. It was created by members of the OpenOffice.org community to manage and develop a fork called LibreOffice. The goal is to produce a vendor-independent office suite with ODF support and without any copyright assignment requirements...
, the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, MythTV
MythTV
MythTV is a free and open source home entertainment application with a simplified "10-foot user interface" design for the living-room TV, and turns a computer with the necessary hardware into a network streaming digital video recorder, a digital multimedia home entertainment system, or home theater...
, Drupal
Drupal
Drupal is a free and open-source content management system and content management framework written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is used as a back-end system for at least 1.5% of all websites worldwide ranging from personal blogs to corporate, political, and...
, Django (web framework), WebOS-internals, Inkscape
Inkscape
Inkscape is a free software vector graphics editor, licensed under the GNU General Public License. Its goal is to implement full support for the Scalable Vector Graphics 1.1 standard....
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, eHarmony
EHarmony
eHarmony is an online dating website grounded in relationship science that matches single men and women for long-term relationships. To optimize the matching process, eHarmony operates eHarmony Labs, a relationship research facility, and publishes eHarmony Advice, a relationship advice site...
and others.
Locations and Dates
| Event | Year | Date | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCALE 1x | 2002 | December 2 | University of Southern California University of Southern California The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university... Davidson Conference Center |
| SCALE 2x | 2003 | November 22 | Los Angeles Convention Center Los Angeles Convention Center The Los Angeles Convention Center is a convention center in the southwest portion of downtown Los Angeles. The LACC hosts annual events such as the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show and Anime Expo, and is best known to video games fans as host to E3... |
| SCALE 3x | 2005 | February 12–13 | Los Angeles Convention Center Los Angeles Convention Center The Los Angeles Convention Center is a convention center in the southwest portion of downtown Los Angeles. The LACC hosts annual events such as the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show and Anime Expo, and is best known to video games fans as host to E3... |
| SCALE 4x | 2006 | February 10–12 | Radisson Hotel Los Angeles Airport |
| SCALE 5x | 2007 | February 9–11 | Westin Los Angeles Airport |
| SCALE 6x | 2008 | February 8–10 | Westin Los Angeles Airport |
| SCALE 7x | 2009 | February 20–22 | Westin Los Angeles Airport |
| SCALE 8x | 2010 | February 19–21 | Westin Los Angeles Airport |
| SCALE 9x | 2011 | February 25–27 | Hilton Los Angeles Airport |
| SCALE 10x | 2012 | January 20-22 | HIlton Los Angeles Airport |