Posts published in “Hardware”

‘Freedom Penguin’ Takes Flight, Distro Count & More…

By Larry Cafiero on August 28, 2015 |

Distros, Hardware, Media, News and Operating Systems

‘Freedom Penguin’ Takes Flight, Distro Count & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Before we get rolling on the last FOSS Force item before the weekend, I’d like to welcome Hunter Banks to the FOSS Force team. Hunter is part of the FOSS-forward Banks family of Los Angeles — dad Phillip is a computer consultant and a long-time Southern California Linux Expo volunteer (along with brother Phillip Jr.), and sister Keila has been in both the FOSS and mainstream media on girls-in-tech issues — and he’s writing a Linux/FOSS gaming column.

Welcome to the team, Hunter!

Now, want to see something scary?

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero, a.k.a. Larry the Free Software Guy, is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate. He is involved in several FOSS projects and serves as the publicity chair for the Southern California Linux Expo. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Boycott <del>Novell</del> Lenovo?

Boycott Novell Lenovo?

By Ken Starks on August 25, 2015 |

Business and Hardware

It was in 2009. I possessed the best laptop that I had ever owned…to that point in time anyway. Small, but not cramped. A display that was beyond any adjective. “Dazzling” is what comes to mind, but many would probably categorize that as marketing hyperbole. That’s fine. That laptop lasted almost to the end of 2013 before the motherboard suffered catastrophic failure. I had received the machine already much used. I liked it so much I actually mourned my loss.

I never found one that was even close to the quality of my Lenovo X60s…until recently.

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/

Lenovo Announces New ThinkPad P50, P70 ‘Mobile Workstation’

Lenovo Announces New ThinkPad P50, P70 ‘Mobile Workstation’

By Larry Cafiero on August 12, 2015 |

Hardware and News

ThinkPad aficionados, are you ready?

While both bending the language and changing definitions of hardware on the fly, Lenovo announced on Tuesday the Lenovo ThinkPad P50 and P70, the new ThinkPad hardware to be available in Q4.

But first, let’s set things straight: The ThinkPad is no longer a laptop, according to the Lenovo press release. The first paragraph of the press release says the company “unveiled the beginning of a new family of mobile workstation innovations.” So I guess that’s what we’re calling them now – mobile workstations.

The Lenovo ThinkPad P70 should be out later this year.

Fine.

Anyway, the new ThinkPad P70 comes with the most memory and storage ever found in a laptop…sorry, a mobile workstation. Namely, maxing out at 64GB of DDR4 ECC memory and with the ability to handle up to four storage devices and up to a terabyte of SSD storage. It also utilizes the latest PCIe technology for speeds up to five times faster than current SATA technology. But wait, there’s more: The ThinkPad P70 “comes with two Intel ThunderboltTM 3 ports for ultra-fast connectivity and a 4K UHD display or optional FHD touch,” according to the release.

Larry Cafiero

Confusing Treasure for Junk in Linuxland

Confusing Treasure for Junk in Linuxland

By Ken Starks on August 11, 2015 |

Community and Hardware

Growing up in a rural farm and ranch environment, life was a bit different for us kids. Attending school outside the rural lifestyle was nothing if not uncomfortable. Often times, it was close to humiliating. We wore Levi 501s before it was cool to wear Levi 501s. They were considered “farmer pants” or “idiot jeans.” That reference was a jab at those who needed to button their pants because zippers were too complex to figure out. When we were old enough, we would drive our old pickup trucks to school. Everyone else was driving sleek or stylish cars. More than one farmer’s kid was suspended for dental displacement to someone who decided to make fun of their vehicle or choice of attire.

Loading hay — Photo courtesy Rootstock Corp.

But we knew those who made such remarks wouldn’t last ten minutes in our boots. Shoveling hay to feed livestock from the back of a slow moving pickup truck was tough. Doing so when it was twelve degrees was the norm for us. Breaking the ice in our stock tanks so the cattle could water was treacherous, to say the least, but most times a stick of well-placed dynamite was a better solution than walking onto the ice.

Ken Starks

linuxlock.blogspot.com/

OSCON: Purism Respects Your Rights & Freedom

OSCON: Purism Respects Your Rights & Freedom

By Larry Cafiero on July 23, 2015 |

Hardware, News, Security and Software

Your digital rights — do both your hardware and software respect them?

Because if they don’t, Purism might have the answer to this shortcoming.

At OSCON, Purism has on hand the Librem 13 and Librem 15 laptops – the numbers designating the screen size (13-inch and 15-inch, respectively) — which are both designed, chip-by-chip and line-by-line to respect your rights to privacy, security and freedom, which is Purism’s philosophy.

“We developed Purism so that users can have access to the highest quality computers without compromising these beliefs,” the Purism website states. “The founder of Purism developed the Philosophical Contract, that we all abide by, which was adopted from the Free Software Foundation, and expanded to include hardware manufacturing as it relates to software.”

Larry Cafiero

FSF, Canonical Breakthrough; OSCON & More…

By Larry Cafiero on July 17, 2015 |

Community, Copyright, Distros, Hardware, Media, News and Operating Systems

Editor’s note: FOSS Force will be offering live video streaming of all OSCON keynote addresses beginning Wednesday, July 22, 2015 at noon EDT.

FOSS Week in Review

I was ready to pack my bags for OSCON on Friday with a pretty quiet week, and a quick roundup which would allow me to hit the road and head north to Portland. No such luck. We have OSCON coverage coming next week — more on this later — but some of the more scintillating stories of the week include the following:

FSF, Canonical Makes Progress on Licensing: The $140,000-plus in donations is still missing, but that’s not the biggest news coming from Canonical this week. After two years of wrangling between the Free Software Foundation and Canonical — with a little help from the Software Freedom Conservancy — the FSF announced that they have made some progress on updated licensing terms for, as the FSF calls it, “Ubuntu GNU/Linux.”

Larry Cafiero

Laptops, PCs: Not Quite Dead Yet

Laptops, PCs: Not Quite Dead Yet

By Larry Cafiero on July 16, 2015 |

Hardware

About six months ago, I placed tongue firmly in cheek and wrote satirically in FOSS Force about how we are entering the “pre-post-PC era” in technology. Depending on whom I’m talking to about this topic, sometimes I bring it up just to watch their eyes glaze over.

But for all intents and purposes, I unequivocally believe that all the talk about desktops and laptops being obsolete is hilariously misguided nonsense.

Larry Cafiero

Ubuntu on a Stick, Cascadia’s Best & More…

By Larry Cafiero on July 3, 2015 |

Community, Distros, Hardware, News, Operating Systems and Software

FOSS Week in Review

It inspires awe how quickly Friday comes along — one minute I’m talking stories for publication with my colleagues Ken Starks and Christine Hall, and the next thing I know, deadlines are poking me in the shoulder and saying, “Well…?”

So while I am reminded by my astute daughter that pirates, too, would also prefer to program in C because, well, that’s where they sail (thank you, Mimi), let’s take a look at the week in FOSS.

Larry Cafiero

Dell Bets On Ubuntu

Inspiron 14 3000 Series Laptop Ubuntu Edition

Dell Bets On Ubuntu

By Christine Hall on June 1, 2015 |

Distros, Hardware, News and Operating Systems

Every time we run a story on FOSS Force touching on Canonical’s financial health, such as Larry Cafiero’s notice a week or so ago about Shuttleworth’s musings on a potential IPO, the Ubuntu naysayers come up from their basements to express the opinion that Shuttleworth is finally getting tired of flushing money down the toilet and is getting ready to put a padlock on the door and go home.

That’s not going to happen, because that would be snapping defeat out of the arms of victory. Shuttleworth knows the smell of victory — that’s how he came to be worth $500 million — and Ubuntu finally seems to be primed for success.

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

Symple PC’s Gift to Reglue

Symple PC’s Gift to Reglue

By Ken Starks on May 12, 2015 |

Community, Hardware and Operating Systems

Many of you may recall that two weeks ago I was lamenting our loss at Reglue of a valuable hardware donation source. The computers donated by this firm were a bit older, but we had little to do to make them ready. We just installed our KDE Mint respin and sent them out the door. The company had been generous with money donations as well. Depending upon the year’s profits, they either matched employee donations by 100% or else donated $1,000. Losing this asset was a kick in the stomach.

Rick, who supervises the company’s four man tech support team in Austin, emailed me and said I could get an appointment to see some big shot VP in charge of corporate giving if I wanted to plead my case. I set up the appointment for that Friday.

We were torpedoed before I walked through the door.

The CIO had already released a memo to all tech support chiefs, stating that all retiring hardware should be placed on pallets for pick up by a soon-to-be-named reclamation and recycling vendor. The real kick? They’re paying big money to have their stuff picked up and parted out for profit — all in the name of “responsible recycling.” Rick quietly shared with me that the CIO was miffed because we were repurposing their donated computers with GNU/Linux. Because we were removing Windows, he thought the donated hardware was being wasted.

Ken Starks

linuxlock.blogspot.com/

The Short History of OSWALD

By Larry Cafiero on April 29, 2015 |

Hardware

It was not exactly a clandestine handoff, as you would see in a spy movie. Emily Dunham told me she’d bring it with her to LinuxFest Northwest and, when we met in the hallway at Bellingham Technical College, I asked her, “did you bring it?”

After exchanging pleasantries and quickly catching up, she handed it to me: an OSWALD.

And now, a short history lesson.

Larry Cafiero

Spacewalk 2025

FOSDEM 2025

SCALE 22x (Southern California Linux Expo)

Early Adopter Tech Summit

All Things Open AI

Posts published in “Hardware”

‘Freedom Penguin’ Takes Flight, Distro Count & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Boycott Novell Lenovo?

Lenovo Announces New ThinkPad P50, P70 ‘Mobile Workstation’

Confusing Treasure for Junk in Linuxland

OSCON: Purism Respects Your Rights & Freedom

FSF, Canonical Breakthrough; OSCON & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Laptops, PCs: Not Quite Dead Yet

Ubuntu on a Stick, Cascadia’s Best & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Dell Bets On Ubuntu

Symple PC’s Gift to Reglue

The Short History of OSWALD