$25 computer to make Canadian public debut at Seneca College’s Free Software and Open Source Symposium

Toronto, October 26, 2011 – Seneca College’s tenth annual Free Software and Open Source Symposium (FSOSS) will feature the Canadian public debut of a $25 computer to be available by the end of the year.

The device, based on an ARM chip, was created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation whose mission is to promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school. ARM designs chips known for combining a high level of functionality with extremely low power consumption.

“Seneca College’s FSOSS has always been about bringing together the great minds of the open source community to share best practices in teaching and learning open source,” said Seneca College President David Agnew. “This year we have partnered with Linuxfest 2011 to bring another element to the mix and continue to provide our students with the opportunity to learn from those who are changing computing as we know it.”

By combining FSOSS with Linuxfest, this year’s symposium will provide a forum to share the latest trends in open source from October 27 to 29 at the Seneca@York Campus (70 The Pond Road, Toronto).

“The Raspberry Pi Foundation is very excited to be attending this year's FSOSS event. As a free-software-based platform, we're very dependent on Linux and the open source community at large to provide our users with a working environment complete with programming languages, productivity applications and educational software,” said Director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and FSOSS presenter Eben Upton. “We're very much looking forward to reaching out to other developers, and spreading the word about the work we've been doing.”

The event will be broken into three sections:
•    October 27 will feature workshops
•    October 28 and the morning of October 29 will feature presentations
•    Saturday afternoon will be an ‘unconference’ for attendees to share their knowledge and learn from their peers

“With the opportunities to network and the potential job prospects, FSOSS is incredibly valuable to students because we get to meet people who are very passionate about what they do and are working in the field,” said Seneca College Software Development degree student and FSOSS presenter Andor Salga.

To find out more about the symposium, visit http://fsoss.senecac.on.ca/2011/.

With 10 campuses across the Greater Toronto Area, Seneca offers degrees, diplomas and graduate certificates renowned for their quality and respected by employers. Combining the highest academic standards with practical, hands-on learning, expert teaching faculty and the latest technology ensures Seneca graduates are career-ready.

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Seneca College Media Relations
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