- Free-software-melb-announce - lists.softwarefreedom.com.au

Free Software Melb casual dinner next Thu 19 Dec
by Ben Sturmfels 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

Hi Free Software Lovers, Please join us next Thursday for a casual dinner celebrating another great year in Free Software. Last year's casual dinner was great fun, so look forward to seeing you there. Details below, please RSVP so we can advise the restaurant. In other news, Avaaz's petition against the problematic TPP agreement has hit 1.5 MILLION signatures. Is your name on it? http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_champagne_for_monsanto_loc/ We'll be taking a break over January, so the first gathering for 2014 is likely to be a barbeque on 20 Feb. If we don't see you before then, have a merry Christmas and a very happy GNU year! Regards, Ben Free Software Melbourne casual dinner ------------------------------------- Date: Thursday 19 December Time: 6pm RSVP to ben(a)sturm.com.au so we can advise the restaurant of numbers Location: Big Mamas (tasty Korean food) 466 Swanston Street (just up from Victoria Street) Map: http://osm.org/go/uG4HZ47~R-?m A map is on the website: http://www.freesoftware.asn.au/melb/

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Re: [free-software-melb-announce] [free-software-melb] Free Software Melbourne Gaming Event - Thur 21st Nov
by Alex Fraser 21 Nov '13

21 Nov '13

On 21 November 2013 14:16, Brian May <brian(a)microcomaustralia.com.au> wrote: > If travelling by train, be warned that Melbourne Central station has been > closed all day, with no word yet on when it is going to reopen. Thanks for pointing this out. According to Metro, it is currently open again: http://www.metrotrains.com.au/ But I heard a rumour that it is only open for peak hour, whatever that means. Apparently they still haven't found the water leak, and they have only been able to reopen the station because the shop owners above have agreed to close for a while. Cheers, Alex

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Free Software Melbourne Gaming Event - Thur 21st Nov
by Adam Bolte 17 Nov '13

17 Nov '13

Greetings all, As you may be aware, we have a very special Free Software Melbourne meet-up scheduled for Thursday night. It's time to get your game face on! :) We're going to be playing a variety of free software games, including old favourites such as OpenArena, Teeworlds and even Super Tux Kart. Additionally, we'll be putting the projector to good use and taking Alex's new Cargo game for a spin. I assure you, it's quite entertaining. So if you have a laptop or netbook, make sure to bring it (and perhaps your mouse and power adapter too). If you have a USB game-pad you'd like to try any of the games with, make sure you bring that along as well. Even PS2 and Xbox game-pads can generally work quite easily (so long as you have a USB adapter). Dinner sponsorship is yet to be confirmed, however we are planning to order pizzas. If you're interested and have any special dietary requirements, please let Alex know in advance to make sure we have you covered. If you don't already have the games, installer files or packages will be provided on the night (as well as the source code, naturally)! The meet-up will be held at our usual VPAC time and location: Date: Thursday 21st November Time: 6-9pm Location: VPAC Head Office Training Room Level 1, Building 91, 110 Victoria Street However if you can't make the location, fear not! This time we're prepared to try hosting external dedicated servers for the night so people that live too far away can still join in the fun. If this sounds like something you want to see, please post to the free-software-melb list to express interest. For everyone else, see you Thursday! Cheers, Adam

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Free software discussion group this Thursday 17th October
by Adam Bolte 14 Oct '13

14 Oct '13

Hi everybody, It feels like it's been a long time coming but it's almost here - the next Melbourne free software discussion meet-up is this Thursday 17th. We have some interesting topics lined up too, including: * Alex's Cargo game release. If you enjoy computer games but don't know what this is about, learn about one of the most interesting free software game releases this year. We want to get the word out, so we will be discussing ways in which we can promote this great software, as well as free software projects in general. * The Cloud is great, but what about freedom? Getting up and running with software is easier than ever thanks to "cloud" technologies such as SaaS (or SaaSS!), but does it respect your privacy? Do you have the ability to change the way it works, install it on your own computers, or give a custom version to your friends? How can we protect our freedom? * Volunteer burnout Organizing conferences based around free software (and in general!) is usually a lot of work, and Bianca will briefly discuss the problem of burnout. Burnout isn't limited to conferences however, and being a major contributor to a popular free software project can be a lot of work as well. This should make for an interesting discussion topic. Pizzas will be generously provided by VPAC Innovations! It should be a fun and interesting night, so don't forget to mark it on your calendar if you have not already. Date: Thursday 17 October Time: 6-9pm Location: VPAC Head Office Training Room Level 1, Building 91, 110 Victoria Street A map is on the website: http://www.freesoftware.asn.au/melb/ If you've not come along to one of these meet-ups before, I encourage you to swing by see what it's all about. To everyone else, I hope to see you all there! Cheers, Adam

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GNU 30th Birthday celebration, Saturday 2013-09-28
by Alex Fraser 22 Sep '13

22 Sep '13

(re-posting to announce list on behalf of Ben Finney) Howdy all, Free Software Melbourne invites you to join us to celebrate 30 years of the GNU operating system, which sparked the free software movement. Come join us for lunch on Saturday, 2013-09-28. We'll meet 12:15 for a meal at 12:30, at Classic Curry Restaurant: Classic Curry Restaurant <URL:http://www.classiccurry.com/> 597 Elizabeth Street (Corner of Queensberry St) North Melbourne <URL:http://www.openstreetmap.org/?node=2274622026> Partners and children are welcome. Please do let us know if you plan to come or cancel; while not essential, the restaurant staff will appreciate a reliable expectation of how many we will be. RSVP to Ben Finney or secretary Adam Bolte ahead of the day: ben+freesoftware(a)benfinney.id.au abolte(a)systemsaviour.com Bring a stuffed GNU or any GNU-related toys you might have! We hope to get some fun photos. Read about the GNU operating system, its history, and worldwide 30th birthday celebrations, at <URL:https://www.gnu.org/gnu30/>.

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No FSM meet-up in September, SFD instead
by Adam Bolte 12 Sep '13

12 Sep '13

Hi all, I've got some bad news, and some good news. The bad news: There won't be any Free Software Melbourne meet-up this month. The good news: Instead, we'll be busy preparing for Software Freedom Day! This is on Saturday, 21 September, 09:30-17:00, at the Melbourne Unitarian Church hall in East Melbourne. More details on this event can be found in the following links: http://luv.asn.au/2013/09/21 http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2013/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/SFD It should be an exciting day, so I hope you all can make it! There has also been the suggestion of perhaps doing an informal hacking day to celebrate GNU's 30th birthday. Stay tuned to the free-software-melb mailing list if this interests you, and feel free to suggest a venue if anyone has any ideas. https://www.gnu.org/gnu30/ Cheers, Adam

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Free software discussion group this Thursday 15 August
by Adam Bolte 11 Aug '13

11 Aug '13

Hi everyone, The time of our next monthly meet-up is approaching. Take a look at what we've got lined up: * Ben McGinnes of Pirate Party Australia Ben will be discussing the Pirate Party's take on copyright, patents and privacy. This had to be postponed by a month due to a last minute emergency, but it will be on this Thursday to be sure! * Intro to GnuPG, followed by keysigning The revelations of the PRISM program have made everyone rethink what they are exposing online, and GnuPG is perhaps one of the best tools to help protect yourself. We will walk you though the basics of how it works, and how to get started. Additionally, we will be holding Free Software Melbourne's first ever official keysigning event, helping you put that GPG knowledge to immediate use! If this interests you, don't forget to bring along sufficient proof of ID. Ideally 2 forms of government issued photo ID should be used. If you are already a GnuPG user and are interested in participating in the keysigning, it would be helpful if you could print out up to 20 small strips of paper with the output of the following command on each: gpg --fingerprint KeyID Also note on the strip if you want your signed key returned to you or published directly to a public keyserver. More details on all of this is here: http://keysigning.org/methods/adhoc * Followed by dinner at a nearby restaurant We haven't decided on a place for dinner yet, but we're always open to suggestions. Don't forget to mark the event on your calendar - Date: Thursday 15 August Time: 6-9pm Location: VPAC Head Office Training Room Level 1, Building 91, 110 Victoria Street A map is on the website: http://www.freesoftware.asn.au/melb/ Hope to see you there! Cheers, Adam

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Free software discussion group this Thursday 18 July
by Adam Bolte 13 Jul '13

13 Jul '13

Hi everyone, Our next monthly meet-up will soon be upon us, and we've got a great line-up of talks and discussions prepared, including: * Pirate Party's take on copyright, patent and privacy (Ben McGinnes, Pirate Party) * Ouya game console: Does Ouya respect your freedom? (Adam Bolte) * Alex's free software release: Raster Storage Archive (Alex Fraser) * Followed by dinner at a nearby restaurant Don't forget to mark it on your calendar - Date: Thursday 18 July Time: 6-9pm Location: VPAC Head Office Training Room Level 1, Building 91, 110 Victoria Street A map is on the website: http://www.freesoftware.asn.au/melb/ New faces are always welcome. Hope to see you all there! Cheers, Adam

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Discussion group and committee election next Thursday 20 June
by Ben Sturmfels 19 Jun '13

19 Jun '13

Hi Free Software Lovers, I'm looking forward to seeing you again next Thursday 20 June for our discussion group. This month we'll be looking at some hardware purpose-designed for compatibility with free software. Yay! We'll also be discussing the H-Node hardware database (details below). I'm delighted with the way our little group has grown and gathered momentum over the past 3 years. It's a real pleasure to turn up each month for interesting free software chatter and to get to know such a friendly and enthusiastic bunch of people. As I mentioned in April, I'd like to keep this momentum going by electing a committee to involve and recognise the work others do in keeping the group running. Next Thursday I'd like us to elect the following annual positions: - President - Vice-President - Secretary - Treasurer I'm certainly happy to stay on as defacto-President, though would welcome anyone else interested in taking on the role. Alex tell me he feels the same about his role as defacto-Vice President. If you're interested in nominating for any position but can't make it to the meeting, please let me know. Hopefully the committee can take advantage of the recent breakthroughs in free software video-conferencing to hook up once a month for a brief virtual meeting. See you Thursday! Regards, Ben ---------------------------------------- Free Software Melbourne discussion group ---------------------------------------- Thursday 20 June, 6-9pm VPAC Head Office Training Room Level 1, Building 91, 110 Victoria Street http://www.freesoftware.asn.au/melb/ Agenda: - Freedom compatible hardware from Think Penguin (discussion) - H-Node hardware compatibility database (discussion) - Election of Free Software Melbourne committee - Tasty dinner at nearby restaurant

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Free software dinner this Thursday 16 May, 6pm
by Ben Sturmfels 14 May '13

14 May '13

Hi Folks, This month's gathering will be dinner at Classic Curry, so hope to see you there! Again, sorry for the late notice. Regards, Ben ------------------------------ Free Software Melbourne Dinner ------------------------------ Thursday 16 May, 6-9pm Classic Curry Restaurant 597 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=-37.80484&mlon=144.958256&zoom=16 Informal dinner and discussion has been very popular in the past, especially since some people don't have the chance to stick around after discussion group meetings. Classic Curry has delicious North Indian food and a wide range of vegetarian and vegan options.

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