Posts published in “Software”

Mozilla Relents, Thunderbird Can Stay

By Christine Hall on May 11, 2017 |

After nearly a year and a half with an uncertain future, Mozilla tells Thunderbird it can stay and that its future is now certain — in a most uncertain way.

This is complicated. Mommy Mozilla has eased up about kicking her child Thunderbird out of the house. T-bird can stay, but must live in the basement or in the room above the garage or something — and no more free ride. From now on, it must pay its way and obey house rules.

I’m joking, of course. Well, not exactly.

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

Sex, Love & Software: History of Free Software, Linux and Open Source

Sex, Love & Software: History of Free Software, Linux and Open Source

By FOSS Force on May 5, 2017 |

Community, Operating Systems, Software and Video

Take a trip through the history of free software, Linux and open source, starting from the early days in the 1980s through 2001, when this film was made.

The Screening Room

A few weeks back, when we featured Brian Lunduke’s interview with Richard Stallman, we lamented the fact that most users who come to GNU/Linux these days seem to have little knowledge of the history of free software, Linux and open source. This is not good, for without a community of supporters, free tech cannot survive.

In the Depths of the Cloud, Open Source and Proprietary Leviathans Fight to the Death

In the Depths of the Cloud, Open Source and Proprietary Leviathans Fight to the Death

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on May 4, 2017 |

Business, Opinion and Software

Just because open source is winning in the enterprise, that doesn’t mean that the proprietary folks have given up their old tricks.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Do you think the operating system and software on your little laptop is important? It is to you, but when it comes to big business, what’s going on in the cloud is what counts, even though it’s invisible to most people.

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

Robin “Roblimo” Miller is a freelance writer and former editor-in-chief at Open Source Technology Group, the company that owned SourceForge, freshmeat, Linux.com, NewsForge, ThinkGeek and Slashdot, and until recently served as a video editor at Slashdot. Now he’s mostly retired, but still works part-time as an editorial consultant for Grid Dynamics, and (obviously) writes for FOSS Force.

Libreboot Wants Back Into GNU

By Christine Hall on April 22, 2017 |

Community, News and Software

The Libreboot saga isn’t over yet. Now the project wants back into GNU.

Early this morning, Libreboot’s lead developer Leah Rowe posted a notice to the project’s website and a much longer post to the project’s subreddit, indicating that she would like to submit (or resubmit, it’s not clear how that would work at this point) the project to “rejoin the GNU Project.”

Christine Hall

FOSSForce.com

Review of BeansBooks, Released Under ‘Open Code’ License

By Phil Shapiro on April 7, 2017 |

Software, Tutorial and Video

Before using BeansBooks, be sure to take a look at its “open code” license, which is a free software license but incompatible with the GPL and all GPL compatible licenses, whether “copyleft” or “permissive.”

The Screening Room

Open software often reduces the barrier to entry for small businesses. FOSS fans might well have heard of personal and small-business accounting software GnuCash, which is taught in the Penn Manor School District in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and described in Charlie Reisinger’s book The Open Schoolhouse. Less well known is BeanBooks, an “open code” SaaS accounting program created by the well-known folks at System76, which came onto my radar just recently. This screencast review of the software does a good job showing you its features.

Phil Shapiro

For the past 10 years, Phil has been working at a public library in the Washington D.C.-area, helping youth and adults use the 28 public Linux stations the library offers seven days a week. He also writes for MAKE magazine, Opensource.com and TechSoup Libraries. Suggest videos by contacting Phil on Twitter or at pshapiro@his.com.

Libreboot Reorganizes: Seeks to Make Amends

By Christine Hall on April 5, 2017 |

Community, News and Software

It appears the people developing Libreboot have done some of the hard work necessary to fix potentially toxic personal dynamics after last year’s controversy, when the project removed itself from the FSF and GNU.

You may remember, back in September FOSS Force reported that the open source project Libreboot announced it was withdrawing from the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project. Libreboot, which produces free, open source and blob-free software to replace proprietary BIOS firmware, had been endorsed by the FSF and became an official GNU project on May 14. The final removal of the project from GNU was made official in a public email from Richard Stallman on January 5.

Christine Hall

FOSSForce.com

Written Using Gnu Lilypond, Orchestrated in Linux MultiMedia Studio

By Phil Shapiro on March 31, 2017 |

Software and Video

Music written and created entirely using the FOSS apps Lilypond and Linux Multimedia Studio. Nothing else could be so beautiful, we think.

The Screening Room

Open source music software never seems to get the attention it deserves, so I was delighted to see this YouTube video created using GNU Lilypond.

Phil Shapiro

HospitalRun: Open Source Software for the Developing World

By Phil Shapiro on March 28, 2017 |

Community, Software and Video

Much open source software is being developed to help improve conditions throughout the world, such as this software developed by CURE International.

The Screening Room

When open source software is used for global health and global relief work, its benefits shine bright. The benefits of open source become very clear when human health and human lives are on the line. In this YouTube video, hear Harrisburg, Pennsylvania software developer Joel Worrall explain about HospitalRun software – open source cloud-based software used at developing world healthcare facilities.

Phil Shapiro

Four Things a New Linux User Should Know

By Christine Hall on March 27, 2017 |

Desktops, Distros, Operating Systems, Software and Tutorial

When you move from “that other operating system” to Linux, you’re going to find that in most ways you’ll be in familiar territory. However, that’s not always the case. We sometimes do things a little differently around here.

If you’re making the move from Windows or Mac (or even from Android or iOS), welcome to our world.

These days, using Linux for doing everyday computer tasks isn’t that much different than using other operating systems — meaning the learning curve is only slight. In fact, my colleague Phil Shapiro works at a library that uses Linux on the computers its patrons use and says that hardly anyone even notices they’re not using Windows. It’s that easy.

However, there are some things about using Linux that are quite a bit different — and we think better — than with the other brands. Here’s a brief heads up on some things that might be good for you to know before you cross the bridge from you-don’t-realy-own-it Windows to free-open-and-yours Linux.

Christine Hall

FOSSForce.com

iCub the Open Source Robot

By Phil Shapiro on March 21, 2017 |

Hardware, Maker Movement, Software and Video

It occurs to us that the iCub might be the perfect companion for an only child. Probably cheaper in the long run than a little brother or sister, and it can be turned off at night.

The Screening Room

Apparently, the iCub open-source robot can be taught anything a 4-year-old can learn. I wonder if it can be taught to whine annoyingly, be unkind to its little sister, refuse to go to bed at night, wake up its parents too early in the morning, etc.

Phil Shapiro

WordGrinder: Distraction-Free Writing From the Command Line

WordGrinder: Distraction-Free Writing From the Command Line

By Christine Hall on March 20, 2017 |

Reviews and Software

WordGrinder is an old fashioned command line program that doesn’t try to do a lot of things. Its purpose is to get the job done, and stay out of the user’s way while doing it.

A few months back while perusing the latest news from the open source media, I came across an article listing five favorite command line tools, or some such nonsense. It turned out that one of the items on the list was a command line “word processor,” WordGrinder, which the article’s writer claimed to be an uber-easy way to write from the command line.

As it happened, I’d been looking for that very thing, so I immediately looked in the Mint/Ubuntu repositories, found it, installed it and took a look. Unfortunately, at the time I was busy, facing a couple of deadlines, so when I couldn’t figure the first thing out about it in five seconds or less, I closed the terminal and went to Bluefish to finish an article I was writing, while vowing to return to look further into WordGrinder as soon as I finished.

Christine Hall

FOSSForce.com

Early Adopter Tech Summit

All Things Open AI

The Linux Foundation Member Summit

Open Networking and Edge Summit

RIoT Developer Day

Posts published in “Software”

Mozilla Relents, Thunderbird Can Stay

After nearly a year and a half with an uncertain future, Mozilla tells Thunderbird it can stay and that its future is now certain — in a most uncertain way.

Sex, Love & Software: History of Free Software, Linux and Open Source

Take a trip through the history of free software, Linux and open source, starting from the early days in the 1980s through 2001, when this film was made.

The Screening Room

In the Depths of the Cloud, Open Source and Proprietary Leviathans Fight to the Death

Just because open source is winning in the enterprise, that doesn’t mean that the proprietary folks have given up their old tricks.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Libreboot Wants Back Into GNU

The Libreboot saga isn’t over yet. Now the project wants back into GNU.

Review of BeansBooks, Released Under ‘Open Code’ License

Before using BeansBooks, be sure to take a look at its “open code” license, which is a free software license but incompatible with the GPL and all GPL compatible licenses, whether “copyleft” or “permissive.”

The Screening Room

Libreboot Reorganizes: Seeks to Make Amends

It appears the people developing Libreboot have done some of the hard work necessary to fix potentially toxic personal dynamics after last year’s controversy, when the project removed itself from the FSF and GNU.

Written Using Gnu Lilypond, Orchestrated in Linux MultiMedia Studio

Music written and created entirely using the FOSS apps Lilypond and Linux Multimedia Studio. Nothing else could be so beautiful, we think.

The Screening Room

HospitalRun: Open Source Software for the Developing World

Much open source software is being developed to help improve conditions throughout the world, such as this software developed by CURE International.

The Screening Room

Four Things a New Linux User Should Know

When you move from “that other operating system” to Linux, you’re going to find that in most ways you’ll be in familiar territory. However, that’s not always the case. We sometimes do things a little differently around here.

iCub the Open Source Robot

It occurs to us that the iCub might be the perfect companion for an only child. Probably cheaper in the long run than a little brother or sister, and it can be turned off at night.

The Screening Room

WordGrinder: Distraction-Free Writing From the Command Line

WordGrinder is an old fashioned command line program that doesn’t try to do a lot of things. Its purpose is to get the job done, and stay out of the user’s way while doing it.