Posts published in “Community”

FSF turns 30, Italian Military Goes LO and ODF & More…

FSF turns 30, Italian Military Goes LO and ODF & More…

By Larry Cafiero on September 18, 2015 |

FOSS Week in Review

First things first: If you noticed the abscence of the clockwork-like timing of each of FOSS Force’s articles this week, it’s because our editor-in-chief Christine Hall lost a battle with gravity involving a staircase and spent some time recovering from a good banging-up. When you get a chance, wish her a speedy recovery.

Speaking of things as certain as gravity…

FSF Turns 30: Mark your calendars for Oct. 3. The Free Software Foundation — you know, the guys and gals who continue to tirelessly advocate for “free-as-in-freedom-and-beer” technology — is gearing up for its 30th birthday party. The party will feature an address by FSF founder and president Richard Stallman. You can learn more about the event on the celebration page and the RSVP form is open. If you so desire to use a hashtag on social media (though the FSF has this caveat about social media), knock yourself out with #FSF30.

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

Finding Linux & FOSS Where You Least Expect It

Finding Linux & FOSS Where You Least Expect It

By Juan Courville on September 14, 2015 |

Community

It wasn’t that long ago that being a Linux or FOSS user in Panama was a lonely experience. Like everywhere else, the country was an established Microsoft camp and you either bought proprietary software — Windows, Office and the like — or pirated what you needed. There were no other options.

Back in the days when the PC and the Internet were starting to change how work is done in Latin America, I was a project manager in small business finance. Even though I’m an industrial engineer by training, because I’m tech oriented I was asked questions about network security, wireless, storage, what sort of program we could use at the office…stuff like that. My conclusion? We were either going to have to buy expensive software licenses and new hardware or find another way.

In those days, “another way” was hard to find. Outside of certain tech circles, no one even knew what open source was. I had tried Red Hat, with poor results, and had seen an early version of Star Office (the granddaddy of LibreOffice, which I’m using to write this article), but didn’t care much for either and went back to proprietary for a while. Along the way I tried one of the first — if not the first — live distro’s around: Knoppix.

But as I said, life was pretty lonely for a FOSS user back then.

Juan Courville

Juan Courville resides in Panama City, Panama, where he lives with his wife of twenty years. When he’s not riding his bicycle or working with Linux and FOSS, he’s publishing the Spanish language websites Linux para Las Masas and Mccpanama.

Linux Foundation Scales, Raspberry Music Pi & More…

Linux Foundation Scales, Raspberry Music Pi & More…

By Larry Cafiero on September 11, 2015 |

Community, Hardware, News, Software and Web Apps

FOSS Week in Review

Back to school, back to work, back to just about everything else free and open source this week: The temperatures could be a little cooler in California, but there’s a modicum of cool to go with the heat.

Like the following items in this week’s wrap…

Tipping the Scales for Linux: Sean Michael Kerner over at Datamation wrote an article accompanying a video interview with Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin, who says, among other things, why the foundation is just going to keep growing.

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

Germany’s Homegrown NSA

By Christine Hall on September 10, 2015 |

Community, News and Politics

It’s somewhat amazing how much important news doesn’t reach us via the mainstream press. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t see photos or…

Looking Ahead to New Linux/FOSS Promotional Events

Looking Ahead to New Linux/FOSS Promotional Events

By Larry Cafiero on September 9, 2015 |

Community and Humor

While the FOSS/Linux expo season is winding down – Ohio Linux Fest, All Things Open and the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference (SeaGL) next month, and Fossetcon in November in sunny Florida, before we ramp up for the first-of-the-year 2016 event at SCALE 14x in January – thoughts wander to other events that could possibly take place sometime in the future, with a little imagination.

Back in 2008 when Ken Starks and I put together Lindependence to bring Linux to Felton, California, one of the things that I had hoped would come of it would be more Linux events. Not to say the current crop of Linux/FOSS events are lacking — on the contrary, espcially in the face of individual FOSS programs spinning off their own events, like PuppetConf and NGINX among a myriad of others — but the idea behind Lindependence was to not only get Linux in the hands of Feltoners, but also to hopefully inspire others to dream big in the day-to-day-use-of-Linux promotion arena.

A couple of events I’d like to see sometime in the future – near or distant – include:

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

Happy Birthday Chrome, a New Elementary & More…

Happy Birthday Chrome, a New Elementary & More…

By Christine Hall on September 4, 2015 |

Browsers, Community, Distros, News and Operating Systems

FOSS Week in Review

While Larry’s on the West Coast, where it’s never too hot nor too cold, on a brief educational sabbatical, burning the midnight oil while cramming to increase his Linux skills, I’m in North Carolina where it’s not often too cold — at least in my part of the state — but where in summer heat and humidity conspire to make life miserable for homo sapiens. Thankfully, September has arrived, so we’re hopeful that the temps and moisture will soon drop to tolerable levels.

Meanwhile, in the world of free tech…

Elementary OS steps up: Not quite four months after the release of version 0.3.0 Freya, the folks at elementary have announced the release of 0.3.1. Although this is officially a minor point release, it does come packed with changes that should make it a must-install for elementary users. Included in the update: Version 14.04.3 of Ubuntu’s Hardware Enablement stack, improvements to the interface in Files, and the latest and greatest version 0.5.11 of the Midori browser.

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

Hello, Columbus: Ohio LinuxFest Up Next Oct. 2-3

By Larry Cafiero on September 2, 2015 |

Community and News

Ohio LinuxFest logo Next up on Brother FOSS’s Traveling Salvation Show — pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone go — brings the proverbial tent and revival show to Columbus, Ohio, at the beginning of next month.

The 13th annual Ohio LinuxFest will be held Oct. 2-3 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus. Hosting authoritative speakers and a large expo hall, the OLF welcomes all free and open source software professionals, enthusiasts, and everyone interested in learning more about free and open source software.

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

As Fate & Linux Would Have It

As Fate & Linux Would Have It

By Ken Starks on September 1, 2015 |

Community and Operating Systems

Tell you what…

Go get yourself a beverage of choice, maybe two. I am going to share some things about me that you do not know. Some of them are deeply personal, but they are shared so that the whole story is understood.

I want to tell you a story…a story that has several on and off ramps throughout the coming paragraphs. There are some tight lean-in curves, along with open throttle straightaways. But in the end, this will conjoin nicely. We should all arrive at our destination at the same time. This is a story about family, love and the most amazing twist-of-fate reunions you will never see on Oprah. How does this tie into Linux? Stay with me and you will see.

My oldest daughter is my child from the most intense relationship I could ever imagine. While many would construe that as a good thing, I will remind you that there are two poles to every magnet. Should one be of greater strength or impact than the other, theoretically anyway, havoc will reign. Trust me…we proved that theory without doubt. Unfortunately, and by my own hand and taking full responsibility; that relationship imploded, which in itself is ironic, since my military occupational specialty was precision-drop demolitions. We separated and she did the smart thing by returning to Germany. My life had become emotionally unstable, to the point of being chaotic, so she took our baby home and I lost contact with her. Along with that, I lost contact with my oldest daughter. She was less than two years old the last time I saw her.

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/

Kickin’ Back at Texas Linux Fest

By Ken Starks on August 27, 2015 |

Community and Operating Systems

It’s the one show I am most certain to make in a year’s time. The Texas Linux Fest (TLF). The only one I’ve missed was held in San Antonio, and being in the worst part of both chemo and radiation therapy, I wasn’t in the mood to travel across the street that year, not to mention to take a two hour drive each way.

But this year was okay as far as travel went. It was held in San Marcos Texas, the home of Texas State University. You can’t get more “in between” Austin and San Antonio than that. Personally, I think the miracle-working staff for TLF should think about making this their permanent home. Being between two of the four largest cities in Texas, people from each don’t think twice about making the drive, as opposed to those that would have to drive to Dallas or the Metroplex.