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Using SlideWiki for OpenCourseWare

By Phil Shapiro on April 18, 2017 |

Community, Tutorial and Video

Open source is about much more than free (as in beer and speech) software and hardware designs. It’s being harnessed to do things like bring free or affordable health care to undeveloped nations, and as the underpinning for free education.

The Screening Room

Collaborative teaching and learning can theoretically occur via a text wiki, but SlideWiki looks like it goes far beyond text wikis. This Google Hangout explains the rich feature set of SlideWiki, including machine translated versions of your digital presentations.

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It’s Windows Time in Linux Land AgainLinux Tux smashing Windows

It’s Windows Time in Linux Land Again

By Christine Hall on April 17, 2017 |

Humor and Operating Systems

Using Windows. What a horrible thing to ask a Linux user to do.

Linux Tux smashing Windows

Every year at this time I have to scramble to boot into a Windows partition to do my taxes. I could do them online, safe and secure in my Linux comfort zone, but I do taxes for three people and all the online services want to charge extra for each and every return. If I download and install the software onto my own machine, there’s no extra charge. Trouble is, none of the big three tax programs supports Linux. Tax Act, the cheapo bottom of the barrel one that I use, doesn’t even support Mac.This means that every April I get a reminder of what a pain Windows can be.

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The Future of Desktop UbuntuUbuntu logo

The Future of Desktop Ubuntu

By Christine Hall on April 15, 2017 |

Business, Desktops, Distros, Operating Systems and Opinion

With all the changes happening at Canonical, you might wonder what this means for the future of desktop Ubuntu, besides the return to the GNOME desktop.

Ubuntu logo

There hasn’t been this much news about a single Linux distro in like forever. Well, maybe when Caldera, operating under the name SCO, sued IBM for a cool billion, but other than that…nada. One thing’s for sure, the announcements that have been coming out of the Isle of Man for the last couple of weeks mean that Canonical has forever changed its course.

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Dealing With Real-Life, Everyday Security Threatssecurity

Dealing With Real-Life, Everyday Security Threats

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on April 13, 2017 |

Humor and Security

No one has ever been shot by a hacker who was breaking into their computer through the Internet. Not so for thieves coming in through the back door.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

security

I wrote a piece titled No, Evil Hackers Aren’t After You, and promptly had 17 zillion readers (by actual count) get mad at me for not taking their security concerns seriously. I still think the idea of a giant robot eyeball on a flexible stalk growing out of your microwave oven is still a little silly, and I believe there are many simple, down-to-Earth security problems to worry about before you try to spot rogue CIA agents watching your house from a grassy knoll in Dallas.

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Open Source Adapted Bicycle Pedal Comes to the RescueBicycle

Open Source Adapted Bicycle Pedal Comes to the Rescue

By Phil Shapiro on April 11, 2017 |

Accessibility and Video

Accessibility has always been important to designers of open source software. Now that open source has come to design, that’s more true than ever, as demonstrated with this open source bicycle pedal.

The Screening Room

Bicycle

Smart engineering students at Brigham Young University have devised an open source solution that extends the joy of bicycle riding to some who otherwise would not experience that joy. Watch this heartwarming story in this short video.

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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.

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Libreboot Reorganizes: Seeks to Make AmendsLibreboot logo

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.

Libreboot logo

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.

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Cheap Arm Project: Affordable, Open Source DIY RoboticsCHAP Cheap Arm Project

Cheap Arm Project: Affordable, Open Source DIY Robotics

By Phil Shapiro on April 4, 2017 |

Maker Movement and Video

Not so long ago, when we mentioned “open source,” we were nearly always talking about software. These days, open source can refer to almost anything — like this affordable DIY robot from “Cheap Arm Project.”

The Screening Room

CHAP Cheap Arm Project

When someone creates a new GitHub repository for a project that could help people around the world extend the reach of their limbs, I get a lump in my throat. The YouTube description of this open source hardware/software project describes the project in much better ways than I ever could.

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“The video shows first design of teleoperated mobile robotic manipulator produced in the Cheap Arm Project (CHAP). It costs less than $2,000, uses easily available parts and can be assembled by anybody with basic technical skills. The manipulator can reach objects from floor-level up to shelves at a height of 170cm using a new low-cost arm design. Teleoperation is done using a tablet, smartphone or browser. The cost could be further reduced by using different servomotors. The design and assembly instructions are made available on the open-source repository GitHub, with the hope that the community will build and improve the design.

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The Linux Foundation: Not a Friend of Desktop Linux, the GPL, or OpennessLinux Foundation Linux.com screenshot

The Linux Foundation: Not a Friend of Desktop Linux, the GPL, or Openness

By Christine Hall on April 3, 2017 |

Business, Community, Media, News, Operating Systems and Opinion

After stirring up a ruckus by using words like “restrictive” and “virus” to describe the GPL in a Linux.com article, the Linux Foundation responds by quietly removing the post from the website.

Linux Foundation Linux.com screenshot

The Linux Foundation has no respect for FOSS. Nor does it seem care about any users of Linux who aren’t connected with the enterprise. It’s been that way since the beginning. It now appears that the Foundation also has little respect for the GPL…you know, Linux’s license. Nor does it appear to be much of a believer in the notion of transparency.

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