Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Community”

Arch Linux Gets Reader’s Choice ‘Best Distro’ Award

By FOSS Force on January 16, 2016 |

Community, Distros, Operating Systems and Polls

Arch Linux Gets Reader’s Choice ‘Best Distro’ AwardArch Linux Best Linux Distro 2015

The FOSS Force Poll

The voting is all done for the second round of our poll to decide which GNU/Linux distro our readers would choose to receive our “Reader’s Choice Best Linux Distro” award for 2015. As in round one, Arch Linux won the day. The poll results are considered to be more a measure of a distro’s community support than any indication of a distro’s technical merits.

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us meet our absolute minimum daily goal of $9 so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track.**

The first round of our poll was a qualifying round, which Arch won as well, racking up 1,376 votes. The second round of voting was “winner take all,” and with the voting lighter than in the first round, Arch still managed to put together 592 votes. In all, 2,625 votes were cast in round two, which was active for seven days.

Continue readingArch Linux Gets Reader’s Choice ‘Best Distro’ Award

BSD Is Ready for SCALE 14X

By Larry Cafiero on January 14, 2016 |

Community and Operating Systems

SCALE 14x

Larry the BSD Guy

First things first: Were I to give an award for Best Presentation Title for SCALE 14X, it would clearly go to iX Systems’ Community Manager (and all-around BSD documentation queen) Dru Lavigne for “Doc Like an Egyptian” — she wins hands down, without question. Dru speaks at SCALE on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 3 p.m.

Speaking of SCALE, the first-of-the-year Linux/FOSS event for 2016 starts next week on Thursday and runs through Sunday. Next to the Rose Bowl and the Tournament of Roses Parade, both of which took place on New Year’s Day, SCALE is the third largest event in Pasadena this month.

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us reach our absolute minimum daily goal of $9 today so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track — any amount helps.**

BSD variants and a BSD certification exam highlight the presence of the Unix family at SCALE.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Continue readingBSD Is Ready for SCALE 14X
Raspberry Picademy USA Accepting ApplicationsPicademy USA logo

Raspberry Picademy USA Accepting Applications

By Isaac Carter on January 13, 2016 |

Community and Hardware

The Raspberry Pi Report

Are you an enthusiastic individual that is interested in using the Raspberry Pi in the classroom and in community education programs? Then get ready to fill out your application for Raspberry Picademy USA! This will be the first time ever that the Raspberry Pi Foundation will be offering a Picademy in the United States. If you haven’t ever heard of Picademy, or have and are looking to participate, then I’ll answer some basic questions for you on the ins and outs of Raspberry Picademy USA.

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us reach our absolute minimum daily goal of $9 today so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track — any amount helps.**

Picademy USA logoWhat is Picademy? Picademy is a two day series of classes taught by certified Raspberry Pi educators. These classes involve learning all hardware and software aspects of the Raspberry Pi. You will also be learning from some of the brightest minds that make up the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Isaac Carter

In addition to hosting a Raspberry Pi meetup in Washington D.C., Isaac Carter is a co-host on mintCast. He’s also a software engineer who enjoys working with Java, JavaScript, and GNU/Linux. When he’s not coding, you can find him reading on any number of subjects or on the golf course.

Continue readingRaspberry Picademy USA Accepting Applications
FOSS Rock Stars at SCALE 14xCory Doctorow

FOSS Rock Stars at SCALE 14x

By Christine Hall on January 11, 2016 |

Community

Sure you go to Linux expos such as SCALE to sharpen your coding skills and to learn about how to get your hands dirty going under the hood with you favorite open source applications. You might even go to learn a little bit about the business of open source. But you have to admit that an added attraction is just getting to see presentations from FOSS rock stars, the well known movers and shakers who have taken a big part in shaping the past, present and future of free and open source software. These are people whose presentations you’ll be tempted to attend no matter what the subject because…well, just because. Some of these are legends; some are not. But they’re all rock stars. And as usual, there’ll be an abundance of them at SCALE.

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us reach our absolute minimum daily goal of $9 today so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track — any amount helps.**
Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingFOSS Rock Stars at SCALE 14x
Arch Wins First of Two Round PollFavorite distro poll results graph

Arch Wins First of Two Round Poll

By FOSS Force on January 9, 2016 |

Community, Distros, Operating Systems and Polls

The FOSS Force Poll

The voting is over in the first round of our annual GNU/Linux distro poll, which sought an answer to the simple question, “What Linux distro do you currently use most?” The result was a complete surprise, at least to us. By a decisive margin, you voted for Arch Linux. The poll was certainly one for the record books. By the time it was closed to voting, a total of 5,784 of you had cast votes, more than double from any previous FOSS Force poll. The poll was online for approximately one week.

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us meet our absolute minimum daily goal of $9 so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track.**
Continue readingArch Wins First of Two Round Poll
Shuttleworth at SCALE, Google Rolls Over & More…Soyuz Rocket Shuttleworth

Shuttleworth at SCALE, Google Rolls Over & More…

By Christine Hall on January 8, 2016 |

Business, Community, Distros, Mobile, News and Operating Systems

FOSS Week in Review

Wow. It certainly didn’t take long after the holidays for the FOSS news wire to heat up again. It’s like all the newsmakers have been chomping at the bit to get back to work doing what they do best, which would be, well, making news. Let’s start with some breaking news concerning a well known FOSS personality…

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us reach our absolute minimum daily goal of $9 today so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track — any amount helps.**

Soyuz Rocket Shuttleworth
Mark Shuttleworth, rocket man and founder of Canonical/Ubuntu will be a keynote speaker at SCALE 14X in Pasadena, Calif. Presumably, he’ll arrive using a conventional mode of transportation.
To SCALE or not to SCALE: If you live somewhere within driving distance of Southern California and you’ve been sitting on the fence trying to decide whether to attend SCALE 14X (that’s the Southern California Linux Expo for the jargon impaired), then we’re about to give you a tidbit that might help you make up your mind.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingShuttleworth at SCALE, Google Rolls Over & More…

FreeBSD Foundation Takes Right Steps

By Larry Cafiero on January 7, 2016 |

Community, Operating Systems and Politics

Larry the BSD Guy

First things first: I’m the new kid on the BSD block. While in the process of still figuring things out on PC-BSD — dang that Synaptics! — and finding a place to contribute in the community, I have no real handle on the nuances of the inner workings of the wider BSD community. To my self-promoting credit, I am a quick study and the learning curve is not as difficult as I imagined. On the whole, I like what I see in those contributing to BSD, especially in the way of eagerness to help new users.

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us reach our absolute minimum daily goal of $9 today so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track — any amount helps.**

However, when Randi Harper decided to bail on participation in FreeBSD as she outlined in her blog, it raises the question, “Where have we seen this before?” Taking a step back, it raises the question, “Why does this keep happening in FOSS communities?”

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Continue readingFreeBSD Foundation Takes Right Steps

Raspberry Pi Closes December on Up Note

By Isaac Carter on January 6, 2016 |

Community, Distros, Hardware and News

The Raspberry Pi Report

Pi Wars Logo - Raspberry PiWith the holidays and all, the month of December wasn’t as action packed as some of the past months have been concerning the Raspberry Pi, but there were still some interesting stories that occurred. Let’s take a minute to reflect back on the Raspberry Pi and December.

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us meet our absolute minimum daily goal of $9 so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track.**

Pi Wars: The second annual Pi Wars competition occurred in Cambridge this past December, and just like the year before it was a complete success.

Isaac Carter

In addition to hosting a Raspberry Pi meetup in Washington D.C., Isaac Carter is a co-host on mintCast. He’s also a software engineer who enjoys working with Java, JavaScript, and GNU/Linux. When he’s not coding, you can find him reading on any number of subjects or on the golf course.

Continue readingRaspberry Pi Closes December on Up Note
The Year Ahead for Regluerocketmail technology

The Year Ahead for Reglue

By Ken Starks on January 5, 2016 |

Community

The Heart of Linux

I’ve never been a big believer in luck. Some of us believe that in some cases some sort of predetermination takes place: one thing happening to allow another thing to happen that in turn produces something significant in one or more lives. Not all the time, but often enough to make it something to ponder when we’re in a position to ponder such things. But I don’t make predictions, whether for a new year or a new place or a new time. I simply no longer predict anything. I’ve been wrong too many times.

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us meet our absolute minimum daily goal of $9 so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track.**
Ken Starks

Ken Starks is the founder of the Helios Project and Reglue, which for 20 years provided refurbished older computers running Linux to disadvantaged school kids, as well as providing digital help for senior citizens, in the Austin, Texas area. He was a columnist for FOSS Force from 2013-2016, and remains part of our family. Follow him on Twitter: @Reglue

linuxlock.blogspot.com/
Continue readingThe Year Ahead for Reglue

It’s Time for ‘What’s Your Distro’ Round One

By FOSS Force on January 4, 2016 |

Community, Distros, Operating Systems and Polls

FOSS Force Best Distro 2015

The FOSS Force Poll

It’s time for our annual “What’s Your Distro” poll, to determine who gets the FOSS Force Best Distro Award for 2015. This year we’re pulling out all the stops. We want this one to be a metaphoric old fashioned slug fest that will be played until only one distro is standing.

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us meet our absolute minimum daily goal of $9 so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track.**
Continue readingIt’s Time for ‘What’s Your Distro’ Round One