January 2013 - Free-software-melb - lists.softwarefreedom.com.au

Chipping in for an Ouya console?
by Ben Sturmfels 30 Jun '13

30 Jun '13

Hi Folks, At the last meeting I mentioned that I might be interested in chipping in for one of the Ouya [1] consoles as a way to support the development of the project. A console with 4 controllers shipped to Australia would be $209 USD [2]. I see they've already raised $8M in pre-sales though, so perhaps there are other free software organisations that would benefit more from a donation right now. I'm thinking instead of buying a video card from Think Penguin [3]. Ben [1] http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-cons… [2] http://www.ouya.tv/buyouya/ [3] https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/geforce-9500gt-1gb-pci-express-20-vi…

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GNU Media Goblin crowd-funding campaign
by Ben Sturmfels 13 Apr '13

13 Apr '13

Hi Folks, GNU MediaGoblin is a free software media publishing system for images, video, and audio. I've found it very useful for hosting my own photos. The goblins are running a crowd-funding campaign to add some advanced features like decentralisation as well as simpler installation and administration. I've just made a donation and thought you might like to to: http://mediagoblin.org/pages/campaign.html Christopher Allan Webber, the project lead was recently interview on Free as In Freedom. Definitely worth a listen: http://faif.us/cast/2012/sep/14/0x31/ Regards, Ben

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Re: [free-software-melb] Successful BBQ!
by Mark Street ( Farad'n ) PPAu 30 Jan '13

30 Jan '13

Hi Folks, Just wanted to say it was great to meet and chat with you all. Was some tasty food on offer and some great conversations about the issues of Software patents and Copyrights. I'm glad we were able to contribute to your donation! For those who are interested in the Pirate Party Australia and our policies, you might be interested to know that we are now formally registered to participate in the upcoming Federal election in September ( http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/Party_Registration/Regist…) Our current policy platform can be found here : ( http://www.piratepary.org.au <http://www.piratepary.org.au/wiki/Platform> ) and we will be adding to and revising it in the coming months. We hold regular meetings in Melbourne and you can find the details here: ( http://www.meetup.com/The-Melbourne-Pirate-Party-Crew/ ) Best Regards, Mark Street ( -=Farad'n=- ) Victorian Coordinator Pirate Party Australia T: @PPAU_Melbourne fb: http://www.facebook.com/groups/ppauv http://www.meetup.com/The-Melbourne-Pirate-Party-Crew/

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November meeting and audio recordings
by Ben Sturmfels 29 Jan '13

29 Jan '13

Hi Folks, Back on the 15 November, we had two great talks by Adam Bolte and Ben Finney on running free software network services from home and privacy on the web respectively. Thanks very much to Adam and Ben. As an experiment to allow us to reach a wider audience, we recorded both the audio and video from these talks. I've edited the audio recordings and uploaded them here: http://archive.org/details/NetworkServicesFromHome http://archive.org/details/PrivacyOnTheWeb The videos and slides may also be available at these URLs shortly, just working out some logistics. We also had a gold-coin donation to Software in the Public Interest <http://spi-inc.org>. We collected $14. I've rounded the donation up to $20 and transferred to SPI via credit card. As you may have read, we ended up postponing the December barbeque and instead having a casual dinner. Despite the late notice, we ended up with around 10 people there, which was great. Plenty of interesting discussion was had (as well as some tasty Korean food). The postponed BBQ will now be held on 17 January 2013. We'll send details later this week. The games night will be held in February. Regards, Ben

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Re: [free-software-melb] [free-software-melb-announce] linux.conf.au free software conference this month
by Sven＠GMX 25 Jan '13

25 Jan '13

On 07/01/13 13:42, Ben Sturmfels wrote: > Hi Folks, > > Just a quick reminder that in a few weeks, Canberra will be hosting > linux.conf.au, Australia's community free software conference. > > linux.conf.au > 28 January to 2 February 2013 > http://www.linux.conf.au/ > Does anyone have an idea what the newcomer briefing on the Sunday b4 LCA starts will cover? Don't remember any briefings before the "LinuxTag" conferences in Germany. Sven, VK3SIX

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Successful BBQ!
by Alex Fraser 23 Jan '13

23 Jan '13

Hi all, Thanks for a great evening last Thursday. We had a good turnout, with 15 people coming along despite the heat. In addition to those from FSM, four members of the Pirate Party joined in, and it was good to talk about how our interests overlap. We collected a whopping $290 from the attendees. All up the food cost just over $150, leaving $140 for the nominated charity. So tonight I donated 150USD* on behalf of the group to the Free Software Foundation's End Software Patents Coalition Fund[1]. Thanks, everyone, for contributing! As an aside, I asked for the donation to be made public, but I can't see where the FSF lists donations. Does anyone know? I guess it might not come through for a day or two, anyway. See you next month, Alex [1] https://my.fsf.org/donate/directed-donations/esp * ~141.95AUD

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Barbeque this Thursday at Birrarung Marr
by Ben Sturmfels 17 Jan '13

17 Jan '13

Hi Folks, This Thursday we're holding our Free Software Melbourne barbeque. Everyone is welcome, especially if you haven't been along before. Look forward to seeing you! Regards, Ben -------------------------------- Free Software Melbourne barbeque -------------------------------- Thur 17 Jan 2013, 6pm at Birrarung Marr public barbeques http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=-37.819999&mlon=144.974934&zoom=17&layer… We'll provide the meal including meat, a vegan and vegetarian alternative, salad, plates, cutlery and soft drink. Please feel free to bring any other drinks you'd like. The event costs $20 (full) or $10 (student/concession). This covers food and a donation to the international End Software Patents project run by Ciarán O'Riordan. Please RSVP by email ben(a)sturm.com.au by 5pm Thursday. Please mention any dietary requirements. We'll be using a permanent gas barbeque so aren't affected by a total fire ban.

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Fwd: [MLUG] Sir Tim Berners-Lee Down Under
by Bianca Gibson 16 Jan '13

16 Jan '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Jafaruddin Lie" <jafaruddin.lie(a)gmail.com> Date: 3 Jan 2013 16:33 Subject: [MLUG] Sir Tim Berners-Lee Down Under To: <mlug-au(a)googlegroups.com> Cc: Thought you guys might be interested: > > Free event, from the event site: > > The Melbourne public event is being hosted by the University of > Melbourne. This event is scheduled for Monday the 4th February from > 6pm till 8pm. Full details will be emailed to you by January 14th. > Registrations are limited to 4 tickets per person. > > http://tbldownunder.eventbrite.com/ > > -- > Registered Linux user no. 384430 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "mlug-au" group. > To post to this group, send email to mlug-au(a)googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > mlug-au+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/mlug-au?hl=en. > >

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Software freedom activist Aaron Swartz dies at 26
by Ben Finney 15 Jan '13

15 Jan '13

Howdy all, Today I am saddened to learn that the prolific young activist for software freedom, Aaron Swartz <URL:http://www.aaronsw.com/>, was found dead on 2013-01-11. His death is reported as a suicide. Aaron was a co-founder of what became Reddit. He released as free software the web framework ‘web.py’, and the framework of the Open Library project. He was influential in the early years of Wikipedia <URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:RIP#Aaron_Swartz_.28AaronSw.29>, Creative Commons <URL:https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36298>, and notably the Demand Progress site <URL:http://demandprogress.org/>. His friends Cory Doctorow <URL:http://boingboing.net/2013/01/12/rip-aaron-swartz.html> and Lawrence Lessig <URL:http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bully> are vocal about the role in Aaron's suicide of the US government in their overbearing prosecution of him as a felon on 13 charges, with US$4 million in fines, and over 50 years imprisonment. The stakes are high in the struggle for software freedom, and sometimes in the face of unchecked power wielded by the unscrupulous, the young and the bright burn out early. They pass the flame to us to carry on in their stead. -- \ “My girlfriend has a queen sized bed; I have a court jester | `\ sized bed. It's red and green and has bells on it, and the ends | _o__) curl up.” —Steven Wright | Ben Finney

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Re: [free-software-melb] [free-software-melb-announce] linux.conf.au free software conference this month
by Sven＠GMX 10 Jan '13

10 Jan '13

On 07/01/13 13:42, Ben Sturmfels wrote: > If you can afford the time and cost, I'd definitely recommend attending. > Get your registration in quick though, tickets are nearly sold out. > All organized (I think as early as October last year ;-) and ready to go. I will fly in Friday after work to make the most of the w/e. I booked accommodation at the YHA which I think is quite reasonable and of good quality. Has anyone else organized to go yet? Sven

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