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Linux Beer Hike Goes to Ireland 190

Posted by michael from the stay-away-from-the-stout dept.
Jim Gleason sent us a notice of the upcoming Linux Beer Hike 2002: ""Linuxbierwanderung," a.k.a. The Linux Beer Hike or LBW for short, is an annual summer event in which Linux users from around the world meet in a region with a high density of brew pubs. The objectives are valorous - hike to the pub, drink beer and exchange ideas until closing time, then hack Linux through until it's morning again. Upwards of 100 people plan to rendez-vous on the west coast of Ireland to enjoy the fast bandwidth and attend one of the ad hoc technical seminars. Pints of local ale and traditional Irish music should only help foster a nourishing environment for a week's worth of serious Linux use. Funded by a small voluntary donation from each attendee, it is unclear if one can obtain a receipt. This sounds like a tax-deductible business trip to me."

The Linux Beer Hike Hits Ireland

Doolin, Ireland -- 23 July 2002 -- "Linuxbierwanderung," (also known as The Linux Beer Hike - LBW for short) will take place this year in the village of Doolin, August 24-31, 2002, on the west coast of Ireland. Now in its fourth year, LBW has travelled to Bavaria in Germany, the Lake District in England and the Ardennes in Belgium.

Upwards of 100 people have attended LBWs in the past, and even with above average rainfall in Ireland this year, no one is disheartened. The Russell Community Centre located near the Cliffs of Moher, has been confirmed as the base of operations for the event and where the weather is lacking, the fast connectivity and interplay of technological ideas (not to mention the "special recipe" brew being cooked up to commemorate the occasion) should more than compensate.

Funded by a small voluntary donation from each hiker, The Linux Beer Hike is a week-long, international summer event in which Linux users from around the world get together, exchange ideas, hack Linux, drink beer, take in a little local scenery and have a lot of fun. It is a great way for Linux users who correspond all year long via e-mail, to meet one another face-to-face. It is also a chance to work on Linux far into the night, compute with abandon, and conceive of the utterly cool. "It's the ultimate Linux users holiday" says Willem Konynenberg, a former organiser.

Planned events:
* technical seminars
* caving, golf, touring local castles and other sights
* having a pint in the local pub and listening to traditional Irish music

There is an active mailing list and information on how to join The Linux Beer Hike can be found on the main web page: http://www.lbw2002.draiocht.net.
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Linux Beer Hike Goes to Ireland More

Linux Beer Hike Goes to Ireland

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  • But.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Captain Pedantic ( 531610 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @07:28AM (#3950303) Homepage
    Will the beer be free?

  • ...because it didn't get to be the Emerald Isle for nothing, all that greenery needs rain!

    But the craic's great and the pubs are fine :-))

  • You're out when that happens where I come from!
    • For those not from Commonwealth countries, this is a cricketing term... Yes, that game Cricket, that Americans have heard of, but cannot fathom--it is not baseball.

      LBW [cricket.org] is a way you can get out. Basically its when you put your leg in the way of the stumps (aka wicket) to protect from a ball you could not hit. Debates have spanned years on whether this is an appropriate rule, and if it can ever be accurately ruled upon.

      Funny thing is, I am Australian, been to an LBW (Linux Beer Hike), but never noticed the correlation to the cricketing LBW...weird.

      • Us Americans don't "fathom" anything. Either we grock it or we don't!
      • > Yes, that game Cricket, that Americans have heard of, but cannot fathom--it is not baseball.

        For one thing - the World (Cup|Series) actually includes more than one country.
      • I am an American and at age four cricket was the first game I learned to play.

        Don't you know? All generalizations are false.
        • And I find baseball as equally boring as soccer. I prefer to watch events involving women scantily dressed. Not a bunch of men running around on a field chasing a ball. However playing sports like cricket, baseball, or whatever can all be fun.
  • Irish music, pints, 24 hours a day.

    Who has time for Linux?
  • I'll drink to that! Please be sure to take digital camera with you so that we, who can not participate can enjoy it too. It's fun to look at pictures of a lot of drunken penguins :)
  • It's once again one of those long german words, which will sound very, very funny, when spoken by a foreigner. Like "Fahrvergnügen". If I had some money left, I would go there, but it's all spent on an iBook. Hmm, that's not running Linux... So, I will announce an upcoming event for 2003. The "Apfelbierwanderung" or Apple Beer Hike. Look out. Maybe I can get some apple beer in Belgium, they already make some tasty cherry beer.
  • And in Doolin as well. Still, it's a lovely village, but sounds like the organisers have been conned by the Irish governments _comittment_ to being a global internet hub but sadly the implemenation is non-existent.
    • My guess is the center got involved in the Information Town thing in Ennis or something similar. I can't imagine it only has a Hi-Speed [eircom.ie] connection and it certainly doesn't have I-Stream in that part of the country!
      All I can say is I'm there! Doolin (and the surrounding area) is absolutely beautiful and a fabulous place to drink copious amounts of beer! Especially when you can find lots of great local (and less local) musicians playing in the pubs every night. If anyone out there would like to go to an LBW aswell as seeing some of the famed Irish hospitality and lifestyle then this is the trip for you! Hope I see you all there!
      • i'll definitely second that! i've been there twice now, once on a climbing trip 'cos there's some superb rock climbing on the sea cliffs just north of doolin; and once with my girlfriend and a fiddle, spending lots of time playing in the trad. music sessions there. really friendly people especially considering the number of tourists that must pass through.

        a fantastic place. as for accommodation, the first time i camped (windy and wet!), and the second stayed at the Rainbow Hostel, very friendly, and no problem with coming back in at god knows what hour of the morning!

        i can't say i saw anything resembling a computer when i was there though, so i can't speak for the bandwidth!

    • Just for any visitors. Doolin is also in the biggest caving region in Ireland.
      The caves are mainly horizontal so SRT isn't necessary.
      As usual local knowledge is necessary. For that http://www.ucd.ie/~caving or the Speleological Union of Ireland website is worth visiting.
      If your a cave diver 200m off Doolin peir is some of the best sea cave diving in the British isles, or so I hear.
      Enjoy McGann's and O'Connor's.
    • I'd say they were conned about the density of pubs too. It's a while since I've been to Doolin but I remember there being two (maybe three). Still, they make up for it in quality. One of my best memories is of sitting in O'Connell's watching the finals of the All Ireland Hurling Championship (it's a sport in which you club each other to death with wooden sticks) which County Clare won (Doolin is in County Clare).
    • Depends upon your definition of fast bandwidth. There is ISDN into the venue, which may be fast for those of us more used to dialup....(although admittedley, when shared between 100 users it ain't that much...)
      I hate to think how the whole six double power points are going to cope too...
  • Is this going to be like a beowulf cluster of drunk linux geeks? ;-)

    Sorry, couldn't resist...

  • Selling it to the Boss (Score:5, Funny)

    by MosesJones ( 55544 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @07:44AM (#3950332) Homepage

    You: I have to go to a conference on dynamic fluid-driven next generation systems. Its called the "LBW" which means "Leading Business through Webvolution".

    Boss: What benefits will we see ?

    You: Our servers will run quicker (note to self: disable SMP on the servers before I go), we'll be better prepared for Webservices (note to self: install the Apache Webservices stuff, ask someone in the pub which one to use). And of course we will be seen as leaders within this technical and business community

    Boss: If its business why are you going ?

    You: Remember at my last appraisal where you said I didn't understand the business drivers, I've learnt from your behaviour (Note: Vendor paid for Golf days) and think this would help me develop as you wanted me to.

    Boss: How much is it

    You: I've got a complimentary ticket, I just need the expenses signed off (Note: Can I pay for the admin in beer?)

    Boss: How come its compilmentary ?

    You: Because of the articles I've been writing on Webvolution (Note: Slashdot log counts doesn't it?)

    Boss: Oh, wow, I'll set a limit of (Note to self from Boss: Umm I'd blow 2k in a week, so..) £500.

    You: (Note to self: Ryanair, car hire, hotels, beer.. thats too little) Sure and I'll book the hotel via the department (Note: Therefore it will be on the massive budget sheet with all of your jollies)

    But remember to buy some naff toys and claim they are vendor gifts.
    • Actually the fun part goes on at the campingsite so you can save a lot of money and buy more neat toys/beer.
    • A simular type of group (beer, fun and exercise) is the Hash House Harriers. They call themselves "a drinking club with a running problem." They can be found in just about every city worldwide and always welcome visitors. A good introduction can be found at half mind [half-mind.com]. I've always been able to find a hash in any city I go to and it beats going back to the hotel and atching CNN.
  • /* drunk... fix later */

    Garg
  • PFY! Junket alert! Print off a couple of selections from the bosses' porn archive in case we need bargaining leverage!

  • Linux has not improved my quality of life (Score:3, Funny)

    by Mattygfunk ( 517948 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @07:56AM (#3950370) Homepage
    hike to the pub, drink beer and exchange ideas until closing time, then hack Linux through until it's morning again.

    There once was a time in my life that after going to the pub I wouldn't be coding, but going to the strippers with the rest of the boys.

    You lot have corrupted me.

  • Fast bandwidth? (Score:3, Informative)

    by anticypher ( 48312 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [rehpycitna]> on Thursday July 25, 2002 @08:00AM (#3950384) Homepage
    the west coast of Ireland to enjoy the fast bandwidth

    Huh? The community centre has a single basic rate ISDN line, so max they'll have a 128kbps connection to the outside world. DSL? Not anytime soon. The LBW isn't about bandwidth, its about the beer, the exercise, and Linux.

    But assuming they install some 10/100 hubs in the centre, then locally they'll have a nice little LAN party.

    the AC
    • Heeheehee.

      Wait till ye all get over here. There ain't no broadband. ADSL is in 35 exchanges in Dublin, and has been stalled at that for 12 months. 128k isdn is all you're gonna get until you start paying thousands a month for E1s

      BUT... Gus O'Connor's is a great pub. I think there's some connection to the Irish Embassy bar in Boston - Same guy owns/owned them both, I think. I live in Clare, so Doolin is a regular haunt.

    • But assuming they install some 10/100 hubs in the centre, then locally they'll have a nice little LAN party.

      Yeah, and play all those linux games.

  • Never thought I'd see an event that combined 4 of my interests like that: Linux, beer, hiking and Ireland.

    -Karl

  • Pints of local ale? (Score:2, Informative)

    by aurelian ( 551052 )
    Pints of local ale and traditional Irish music

    No such thing as pints of 'local ale' in Ireland - a) because people don't drink ale there, mainly stout, and b) because there are pretty much no small breweries or 'brew pubs'. With very few exceptions, all the beer you'll find is brewed in Dublin or Cork.

    Pints of local ale are drunk in England.

    • Except that pints of local ale are available in County Clare - Biddy Early's Brewery [www.beb.ie] is in Inagh, about 20 miles away. Good stuff too.
    • Well, if you want to get technical, Stout is an Ale as it is brewed with Ale yeast. What makes it a stout is the amount of hops (for nose and bittering), malted barley, and in stouts, roasted non-malted barley used compaired to other ales and lagers.

      Being a homebrewer and as my wife calls me, a beer-bigot, I've learned there is much more to good beer than opening a can of BudMillCoors. It can be quite interesting and rewarding to brew your own beer, but I've found I can't drink just any beer now, as I know what taste better and what tastes a whole lot worse. Life is to short to drink bad beer.

      If anyone is interested in reading up on Brewing your own beer, a nice on-line resource is http://www.howtobrew.com/ a online version of the book "How to Brew" by John Palmer.

    • There are a smattering of brew pubs, some of them quite excellent. The rest are almost exclusively selling Guinness and Guinness-licenced brands. You can forget getting variety or cheap beer in Ireland.

      Cork does have some variety since it is the home turf of Beamish and Murphys, but nowhere in Ireland holds a candle to any town in the UK. The Guinness monopoly has had an extremely unhealthy effect on the quality of pubs in Ireland. It will be a good day indeed when the monopoly is broken.

    • There's the Porterhouse brew pub in Dublin (& one in Covent Garden in London). The beer there is wonderful. I'd especially recommend the Porterhouse Red. They also sell bottled beers from around the world. The Latvian porter (Porteris) is expensive but very, very good.

      HH
      --
    • There is a great micro-brewery pub about 15 miles from Doolin, on the road from Lahinch to Ennis. If you travel from Shannon or Limerick to Doolin, you will pass it, travelling through a small village called Inagh (pronounced Eye-nah). The name of this pub is Biddy Early's, and they do a great stout (Black Biddy's) and also a very good ale (Brown Biddy's).

      To those that are coming from abroad, please note, driving is on the left, and the roads in the countryside are narrow. Also please do not drink and drive, do have a driver and do enjoy yourselves.

  • Can not imagin a better way to spend a week !

  • Ahh...the Great British Beer Festival [gbbf.org] is on from August 6th to 10th, and then we have this.

    August is a fine month...
  • After hiking around the rim of the Grand Canyon and Bryce, I drank lemonade by the quart and water by the gallon. I'd say the last thing you want after a long hike is a pint. Even Guinness! Unless, of course, the "Hiking" part of the excursion is "Hiking" to the local pub...
    • Been there twice. Hiked the cliffs twice. Nothing beats Guinness after a long day o' hiking. Assuming you are smart and actually drink water through the day. Then trad music and dancing and Guinness after you get back... Key is to drink water during your hike, not AFTER.

  • Ireland - the Internet dirt track of Europe (Score:3, Informative)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Thursday July 25, 2002 @08:35AM (#3950493)
    It's sad to say, but Ireland has absolutely the worst internet service you're likely to find anywhere in Europe. ADSL is practically non-existent, wireless is non-existent and most "power-users" are still stuck using ISDN or 56k modems still. Some third world countries offer a better service!

    Anyone coming the beer hike better realise this. The only saving grace as far as visitors are concerned is there are several "free" ISPs, i.e. no subscription, you just pay for the phone call.

  • You know :-), to quite literally millions of people, the LBW is the Lutheran Book of Worship.

    I guess that means the Linux Beer Hikers should drink boldly [oldlutheran.com]!
    • The OS's one foundation
      is Linus Torvald's code;
      She is his new creation
      by semaphores bestrode.
      In Finland Linus wrote her,
      his macro-kernel core;
      With GPL he gave her,
      that we might pay no more.

      Input from every nation,
      yet one o'er all the earth;
      Her message: revolution,
      open source proves its worth!
      No profit-mad excesses,
      she charges us no fee,
      And to this hope she presses,
      that software will be free.

      --to the tune of The Church's One Foundation [cgmusic.com]
      also here [caltech.edu]
  • I have taken two trips to Ireland, and both time have stayed for a couple nights in Doolin. This is GREAT... check out my Cliffs of Moher [summitpost.com] page for pics and info about the cliffs just outside Doolin.

    When in Doolin go to McDermotts!!! It is THE BEST pub in Doolin, and maybe all of Ireland. They have the absolute best trad music I have ever heard. I have links to maps and info about McDermotts on the above link

    Oh yea, Linux rules too!! I would love to see a penguin hiking up the cliffs...
  • Ok. Let me get this straight. Linux is the goddess. Linux programmers/worshippers live for hacking and games. Now, tell me again why there are so blockbuster Linux games?

    MadDad32
  • I time it perfectly: Study in Germany for 8 weeks that coincide with the Linuxbierwanderung and maybe pick up a little German (or two) while I'm there...

    ...Then they move it to Ireland. Why, oh, why did my ancestors migrate to America?!
  • I was in Doolin on Good Friday this year. The only day of the year the pubs are closed!!!!
  • Is it really a good idea to have Linux contributions coming from exhausted, sleep deprived, beer addled coders?
  • I read the header and I thought that this would be a fun thing to do!

    But I've been thinking lately about how big the world is, and what I should do, and where I should go.

    Graduation's looming.

    And I realized how lame this all sounds. They're going to get drunk and then program. Think about it. They're going to "Enjoy the bandwidth" - what does that mean, really? They're going to LOVE lower ping times, and LOVE the fact that things download SLIGHTLY FASTER.

    My friends, we truly are an insular community of fools.

    --R
  • Too bad the Linux Beer Hike isn't coming to Seattle, or I could serve up some homebrew Doppelbock Beer. At least the label is appropriate.

    http://www.nwlink.com/~kaf/doppelbock_small.jpg

  • man, if i'd only known about this i would have rescheduled my trip!

    seriously, ireland is an awesome place for this... the best hiking and beer you'll ever find, plus friendly friendly people.

    p.s. the accent is really good out west... they say they talk so fast 'cause there's so much to say! be sure to ask for directions before going anywhere, well worth it.

  • Avoid!!! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by KingSchlong ( 314483 )
    Hate to say it, but Doolin is a fucking hole.
    It's basically just a long road with some shops, guest houses and two or three pubs, and that's it, and the only reason it exists is as a place to stay for people who want to visit the Cliffs of Moher. Oh, and the tapwater is brown. Bring cash, cause there isn't an ATM for a couple of miles.
    Have fun (snicker).
  • I've been to Doolin (years ago) and can honestly say say it was one of the coolest weekends of my life. [If you've ever seen the movie Ryan's Daughter, it was filned there.]

    Be sure to take the morning boat across to the small island of Inishsheer (phonetically - can't remember the Irish spelling). If you're lucky, dolphins will swim alongside the boat. Check out the beach - you'd swear it was right out of a caribbean travel catalogue (the Gulf Stream ends at Ireland - there are actually Palm trees in some parts!). Right near it is an ancient church sunk into th hill. There was also a small cottage/restaurant flying a pirate flag. Totally organic. Fish caught hours before. Only a little salt added. Incredible. How food used to taste, I guess.

    Two main pubs in town. O'Conner's and Murphy's. The former has the better food, and the latter had better music. Can't really go wrong - so check them both out!

    The music. Pubs have "musicians' corner" where you can sit and start playing if you have talent. Whoever shows up: guitar, singer, fiddle - whatever. They may never have met, but they all know common songs and add their own twists to it. Sometime the whole whole pub will just stop talking and listen - knowing that that combination will never happen again. Magic.

    Crawling back to my B&B, I looked to my right:
    A full moon was silhouetting a castle.

    Fscking incredible.

    Rory.

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