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Discord at Libreboot Over GNU Withdrawal

By Christine Hall on September 18, 2016 |

Community, News, Politics and Software

Discord at Libreboot Over GNU WithdrawalFSF logo

A member of the Libreboot development team has painted a picture of a lead developer who is out-of-control.

It will probably not come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following the news about Libreboot’s sudden withdrawal from the GNU Project that not everyone connected with the Libreboot project is in agreement with project lead Leah Rowe’s recent actions.

FSF logoIf you need catching up, the story began on Friday when Rowe posted a notice to the GNU mailing list removing Libreboot — a project that produces free, open source and blob-free software to replace proprietary BIOS firmware — as a GNU project, which it had been since May. The reason, she said, was that an unnamed friend employed by the Free Software Foundation had been dismissed on the basis of her trangendered status.

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Nextcloud’s $79 Box, Vim Gets an Update & More…Nextcloud Box

Nextcloud’s $79 Box, Vim Gets an Update & More…

By Christine Hall on September 18, 2016 |

Business, Community, Distros, Hardware, News, Politics, Software and Web Apps

Also included: Libreboot leaves GNU, municipal broadband law proposed, Linux’s second 25th birthday, a new distro release, Vim and Emacs both get upgrades, Google’s hack challenge and Oracle can’t catch a break.

FOSS Week in Review

Yesterday I got a look at some decidedly old tech: Rope beds, pewter being made by hand, ceramic wood burning stoves, a bit of blacksmithing — all at Bethabara, which is a preserved 18th century village that had been established by German Moravians, who were the first settlers around these parts. Fascinating. The event was the annual Apple Fest, with plenty of local orchards offering every variety of apple imaginable, as well as about any kind of food prepared with apples.

Nextcloud Box
The Nextcloud Box is designed to be an easy way for consumers to use a Raspberry Pi for DIY cloud storage.
The biggest story in FOSS this week was really something of a nonstory about Libreboot suddenly leaving the GNU project. We’ve already covered the initial story, as well as responses by both RMS and the FSF, so no need to flog this horse again.

Continue readingNextcloud’s $79 Box, Vim Gets an Update & More…
FSF Says Firing Wasn’t DiscrimatoryFSF logo

FSF Says Firing Wasn’t Discrimatory

By Christine Hall on September 17, 2016 |

Community and News

Both Richard Stallman and John Sullivan have issued statements concerning the allegations made against the FSF by Libreboot’s lead developer.

On Friday we reported that Libreboot’s lead developer, Leah Rowe, had posted a notice to a GNU mailing list, removing her project from GNU. The reason she gave was that a friend employed by the Free Software Foundation, had been dismissed for discriminatory reasons. “The Free Software Foundation recently fired a transgendered employee of the FSF, just for being trans…,” she wrote. “I’m declaring here and now to the whole world that Libreboot is no longer part of the GNU project.”

FSF logoFriday afternoon after we published our report, Richard Stallman, founder and president of FSF, posted a brief, unofficial statement in an email to the thread around Rowe’s email. “The dismissal of the staff person was not because of her gender,” he said. “Her gender now is the same as it was when we hired her. It was not an issue then, and it is not an issue now.”

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Libreboot Leaves GNU Claiming Gender Identity Discrimination by FSFFSF logo

Libreboot Leaves GNU Claiming Gender Identity Discrimination by FSF

By Christine Hall on September 16, 2016 |

Community, News and Software

So far, this entire story is summed up by the above headline. Until we know more, that’s all we know.

A disturbing story broke this morning concerning the sudden action by the Libreboot project to leave the GNU project. I started to write “potentially disturbing,” until it occurred to me that no matter how this plays out, the news is disturbing.

FSF logoLibreboot is a project that produces free, open source and blob-free software to replace proprietary BIOS firmware that performs only the tasks necessary to load and run an operating system. The project is endorsed by the Free Software Foundation and was an official part of the GNU Project from May 14 until today. This morning Libreboot’s main developer, Leah Rowe, announced in an email to the GNU mailing list that she is pulling Libreboot from the GNU Project.

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Carla Schroder: On Farming and LinuxCarla Shroder

Carla Schroder: On Farming and Linux

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on September 15, 2016 |

Interview, Operating Systems and Video

One of the many things we like about Ms. Schroder is that she makes difficult technology easy to understand. She’s also fun to read. And as you’ll discover in this interview, she’s also a quick wit who won’t be backed into a corner.

The FOSS Force Video Interview

Carla Schroder sometimes describes herself as an “Ace Linux guru,” which is as good a way to tell you who she is as any — at least in the Linux context. She’s written so much, in so many places, that it’s easier to give you a single Google link to her work than to list a whole stack of articles, plus three O’Reilly books. The single article I’ll point you to on its own is one Schroder wrote for Opensource.com in July, 2016, titled I’ve Been Linuxing Since Before You Were Born.

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Ghost Blogging With a PiGhost logo

Ghost Blogging With a Pi

By Isaac Carter on September 14, 2016 |

Hardware, Software and Tutorial

Even you could become a world famous blogger. The lightweight blogging platform Ghost and a Raspberry Pi is all it takes.

The Raspberry Pi Report

I’ve read that a fun and easy thing to do with a Raspberry Pi is to set it up as a dedicated blog server. I’ve never really had my own blog, so I decided I would give this project a shot. I hope that this article serves as a guide for those of you who would like to start a blog or who have a Raspberry Pi that’s not doing anything and are looking for a worthy project.

Ghost logoHardware: I’m using a Raspberry Pi Model 2 B with a 32-bit SanDisk micro SD card. The reason for using the Model 2 B is because I happened to have one that wasn’t currently being used. Also, I wouldn’t need any of the extras, like Wi-Fi. that the Raspberry Pi 3 brings to the table since it will be connected via Ethernet and SSH.

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Just Because It Says ‘Open Source Hardware’ Doesn’t Mean It Really IsOpen Source Hardware logo

Just Because It Says ‘Open Source Hardware’ Doesn’t Mean It Really Is

By Phil Shapiro on September 13, 2016 |

Community, Copyright, Hardware, Maker Movement, Patents and Video

Is it “organic,” or just merely “natural?” Is it really “open source hardware,” or merely hardware with a degree of openess? David Jones explains the problem in identifying which is which and who is whom.

The Video Screening Room

David L. Jones, an electronics design engineer based in Sydney Australia, explains his pragmatic solution to the use of the open source hardware logo — inspired by the varying gradations of the Creative Commons licenses.

Continue readingJust Because It Says ‘Open Source Hardware’ Doesn’t Mean It Really Is

HPE Boosts SUSE, Rootkit Targets Linux & More…

By Christine Hall on September 10, 2016 |

News

Also included: Creative Commons wins in Austria, two new distro releases, a new version for Solus’s Budgie, KDE goes Wayland and Mageia supports DNF.

FOSS Week in Review

Damn if the days aren’t already getting too short for this old soul who no longer feels comfortable driving after dark. This is made worse by the fact I live way out in the country — miles from nowhere, as they say — meaning I’m pretty much stuck in the house at night. The good news is, this means that these days I’m getting a lot of writing done.

Now on to this weeks FOSS news…

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Krita 3.01 Beta ReleasedKrita logo

Krita 3.01 Beta Released

By Phil Shapiro on September 9, 2016 |

Software, Tutorial and Video

Around since 2005, and with its Kiki the Cyber Squirrel mascot since 2012, Krita is a free and open source raster graphics editor designed to be a digital painting application similar to Corel Painter.

The Video Screening Room

The popular Krita painting program keeps getting even better. This new beta release of 3.01 includes features added from Google Summer of Code programmers. This screencast does a very good job explaining the new features, including new animation tools.

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