Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Hardware”

FSF, Canonical Breakthrough; OSCON & More…

By Larry Cafiero on July 17, 2015 |

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

FSF, Canonical Breakthrough; OSCON & More…FSF logo

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.”

Continue readingFSF, Canonical Breakthrough; OSCON & More…
Laptops, PCs: Not Quite Dead YetPersonal Computer

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.

Personal Computer

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 readingLaptops, PCs: Not Quite Dead Yet

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

antiX logoIt 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

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 readingUbuntu on a Stick, Cascadia’s Best & More…
Dell Bets On UbuntuInspiron 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.

Inspiron 14 3000 Series Laptop Ubuntu Edition
Dell labels this on its website as “Inspiron 14 3000 Series Laptop Ubuntu Edition.”
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
Continue readingDell Bets On Ubuntu
Symple PC’s Gift to ReglueSymple workshop

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.

Symple workshop
You’d be excused for thinking this to be one of Ken’s Reglue kids. It’s actually Jason Spisak’s daughter helping her father in his workshop.
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

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 readingSymple PC’s Gift to Reglue
The Short History of OSWALDOSWALD

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.

OSWALD
The Oregon State Wireless Active Learning Device, or OSWALD, was provided to OSU computer science students for their studies.
And now, a short history lesson.

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 readingThe Short History of OSWALD
FOSS Is Everywhere, Dell’s New Linux Try & More…It's full of FOSS

FOSS Is Everywhere, Dell’s New Linux Try & More…

By Larry Cafiero on April 17, 2015 |

Business, Distros, Hardware, News and Operating Systems

FOSS Week in Review

Death and taxes: I avoided the first and completed the second. Metric tons of thanks to Christine Hall for standing in for me while I was recovering from what seemed for awhile there to be a terminal case of the flu as well as an appointment to do paperwork for our friendly Internal Revenue Service.

It's full of FOSSThe best news of the week, of course, is that we’re everywhere. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols wrote a story in ZDNet yesterday reporting on the results of the ninth annual Future of Open Source Survey. There’s an upside and a downside, as Steven reports: Enterprise is adopting open source like crazy, but they’re not managing it worth a darn.

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 readingFOSS Is Everywhere, Dell’s New Linux Try & More…
Kicking the Tires on an $89 Symple PCRear view Symple PC

Kicking the Tires on an $89 Symple PC

By Christine Hall on April 16, 2015 |

Distros, Hardware, Operating Systems and Reviews

About six weeks ago I told you about Symple PC, the new $89 PC preinstalled with Ubuntu. Now I’ve had a chance to take one for a test drive. The verdict? Just like I figured, it’s a good deal. After all, the price is nothing if not sweet, especially considering that these machines come with a one year full replacement warranty.

Symple PC
Excuse our mess – some things never change. Our Symple PC, set up and ready to take on a test drive.
Before I turn into Siskel and Ebert and give this computer two thumbs up, perhaps I’d better explain a few things first. On its own terms, the machine certainly would deserve the upturned thumbs, and maybe even a gold star on your refrigerator door. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s necessarily a drop in replacement for the latest top-of-the-line offering from HP or Lenovo — even though for many uses it could be.

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 readingKicking the Tires on an $89 Symple PC
Windows Last StandWindows XP

Windows Last Stand

By Christine Hall on April 6, 2015 |

Hardware and Operating Systems

I have an ancient box with Windows XP as its only operating system gathering cobwebs in a space under my desk, right where it was the last time I used it. That was back in April of last year, on the day that Microsoft quit supporting XP. Up until then, it’d been used mainly to process credit card orders from an online store I manage. The bank’s required software for processing won’t run on anything but Windows, so I kept it around for that purpose.

Windows XP
A look at Windows systems use on my old machine, first as Firefox is loaded, then as Thunderbird loads. This is after AV had finished updating.
When I took it out of commission, I decided I was through with Windows for good. No more dual booting. No more keeping a Windows machine running all day just to process plastic. No more blue screens. No more rebooting for no apparent reason except that’s what Windows wants.

I cancelled my deal with the bank, switched the site to taking PayPal only and shut down the box for good.

Until today, that is.

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 readingWindows Last Stand
Latest Articles