European GNUstep Developer's Meeting

1st. "AlpenStep" / GNUstep EDM: What it is about

During FOSDEM 2007 it was felt that we need a separate GNUstep developer's meeting so that we all have the time to go through ideas, discuss, present, decide, plan future aspects without being in three places at the same time.

A thread started on the discussion list http://groups.google.de/group/gnu.gnustep.discuss/browse_frm/thread/852d2f0686d1e64e/cf6d877685630896 shows a lot of interest in such a meeting.

So, let's make nails with heads and have GSFun, GSHack and maybe GSHike!

GSLocation

Hotel des Marécottes, Les Marécottes, Valais,Switzerland

Getting there: http://www.marecottes.ch/acces.php?voir=&lang=eng

For late train arrivals Friday night, a pickup from Martigny with the minibus can be arranged. Contact geroldr at bluewin dot ch to make arrangements.

Workshop Hotel: http://www.hdm.ch/index-en.htm

Switzerland CH-1923 Les Marécottes

There is also a camping ground about ten to fifteen minutes easy walk from the hotel http://www.camping.ch/cgi/campsites/out.pl?code=9.14&lang=e which is just past the swimming pool.

Cost

We hope that we can keep accomodation cost low. 50 CHF per person for Friday night with breakfast (40 +10) 85 CHF per person with "demi pension" (breakfast and dinner) for workshop participants.

The accomodation is shared, but definitely better than the youth hostel. There is one apartment with four beds, two rooms with double beds and two singles available at this time.

This is a family run small hotel, which is well kept. The food is simple but good (large buffet breakfast). The hotel is 5 minutes walk from the narrow gauge railway station. It has ADSL internet connection (wireless) available for us to use. The breakfast room (bright north east mountain view) will be available for our workshop.

Food

There is a vegetarian restaurant (macrobiotic) for those interested which is a twenty minute walk away (flat). This might be a good idea for lunch: http://www.biohotels.info/e/15436/accomodation_bio

A gnustep cake of dark and white chocolate with marzipan (almond paste) will be invented for participants pleasure.

Partner program

For those interested in art, there is the Gianadda museum http://www.gianadda.ch/ in Martigny (thirty minutes by train) from the hotel. The exposition will be

Marc Chagall, Entre ciel et terre 6 July – 19 November 2007

They also have an automobile museum.

For those more outdoor oriented, there are lots of possibilities for hiking, canyoning as well as the train (goes to Chamonix).

We will also be a ten minutes walk from a fantastic swimming pool and local zoo. Some photos are here: http://www.marecottes.ch/galerie_sports.php so bring your bathing suit!

Travel

For train travel the following site in english helps you choose your connections (2 hours from Geneva): http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm

To reduce travel cost, we can try to do car sharing.

GSSponsors

A lot of sponsorship for accommodation support for students and other participants who have demand would be very welcome!

For those wanting to spend a day or two in Geneva either before or after the workshop, should contact Gerold Rupprecht at geroldr at bluewin dot ch

GSTimeInterval

The workshop is scheduled for

Saturday 1. September 15:00 - Sunday 2. September 15:00

GSParticipants

Everybody who thinks he/she can contribute to the development of GNUstep is welcome!

Note: development is more than coding - it includes bug reporting, documentation, etc.

Interest indicated

(Please add yourself or write a note to gnustep.discuss)

1. Fred Kiefer -confirmed
2. Gerold Rupprecht -confirmed
3. Gürkan Sengün -confirmed (2 persons)
4. Lars Sonchocky-Helldorf -confirmed
5. M J Ray - no reply
6. Nicolas Roard -confirmed
7. Nikolaus Schaller -confirmed
8. Quentin Mathé -confirmed
9. Riccardo Mottola -confirmed
10. Richard Frith-Macdonald - unavailable
11. Roland Schwingel - no reply
12. Sašo Kiselkov - no reply
13. Oliver Langer - unavailable

GSAgenda

1. Welcome
2. Collection of Topics to discuss and finally fix the GSAgenda based on wishes from the GSRealParticipants
3. Planning for FOSDEM 2008
4. Demonstrations, Talks, Discussions, Fun
5. Decisions

Topics from the mail discussion:

• how to make/plan/verify new releases
• news on Cairo backend
• SimpleWebKit status, issues, missing parts in GNUstep Base and GUI
• Etoile
• how to attract new developers and users?
• organization for FOSDEM 2008 + participation in other OSS / Linux events
• how to handle ObjC-2.0 and new features of OS X 10.5?
• GAP
• Hacking session(s)

If the selected location permits: private extension of the stay for e.g. hiking tours...

Photos 2007

Thanks to Nicolas Roard putting up some photos taken during this weekend during AlpenStep : http://www.flickr.com/gp/79878597@N00/8vU33A

This was Nicolas's first visit to Geneva, so you get some scenery during the 1.5 hours drive up to Les Maracottes and not just screenshots.

Hopefully more later from Lars and Ricardo...