The first Ohio LinuxFest in 2003 was held in Dresse Labs of The Ohio State University campus. In subsequent years, we moved to hotels in downtown Columbus. We are excited to announce that for 2026, we are coming back to where it all started! Friday November 20 and Saturday November 21, 2026.
Explore Dreese Labs at 2015 Neil Avenue.
Thanks to the collaboration of the Open Source Club and OSU Cyber we have been able to reserve space at OSU’s Dreese Laboratories auditorium and lobby along with two 2nd floor classrooms. Running a conference in an academic setting may look a bit different with new and familiar authoritative speakers for an amazing program. We are kicking off a new track entitled “Welcome to OSU” on Friday night at 5:15pm with three talks from OSU faculty: Alex Bandar, Roland Kreml, and Chris Orban to cover engineering, cybersecurity and open source topics. Concurrently, we are excited for the return of the Friday night Birds of a Feather sessions. On Saturday morning, we will open with Ben Cotton, Director of the Security Consultancy of the Linux Foundation, to discuss the software supply chain. We will continue with two tracks of talks on information security and free software and everything in between. Of course we are thrilled regarding the return of Jon ‘Maddog’ Hall for his footnote entitled “No one ever buys a computer.”
Registration is continues to roll in for 2026 Ohio LinuxFest. We are welcoming students and professionals alike to attend. If you want to join us in the lobby for the Friday school day, register for the OSU Preview Pass for free. Also, the Enthusiast Pass is back, at its classic gratis price point, and ideal for those who will join us starting on Friday evening for “Welcome to OSU” presentations by faculty. Of course, if you wish to help fund OLF, you can buy the Supporter Pass. The Supporter Pass includes attendance at both the Friday and Saturday night parties – those can be purchased as add-ons if you register with the Enthusiast Pass.
A t-shirt is not included with any ticket. While the deadline to pre-order t-shirts for event pickup has passed, we have opened an opportunity to purchase for home delivery. The link below will let you buy one (or more) souvenir shirts. Note it is highly unlikely that t-shirts ordered at this time would arrive at your home prior to the start of Ohio LinuxFest, November 20 and 21, 2026.
Also we are looking forward to the annual Friday and Saturday parties. To keep social options separate from the conference programming, we are working with a local pizza bar, The O on Lane, to be the Friday party destination with pizza, wings, and salad. The Saturday party will be at the Blackwell Inn, which is a banquet hotel across the street from Dreese Labs for a nachos, cake, and cash bar.
Book a room at the Blackwell Inn
If you plan to arrive at campus by car, it is important to note that The Ohio State University is one of the nation’s largest campuses. If you are planning on being dropped off, use the address of 2015 Neil Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43210. If you plan to park, navigate to 2050 Tuttle Park Pl, Columbus, OH 43210 for the Tuttle Park Place Garage.
Hope to see you there!