November 2016 - Free-software-melb - lists.softwarefreedom.com.au

expanding Europe's Linux Presentation Day to Australia
by Hauke Laging 30 Nov '16

30 Nov '16

Hello, in May 2015 Berlin's Linux user group (BeLUG) has started a new type of event which has spread quickly all over Europe: the Linux Presentation Day (LPD) 2015.1: Berlin only 2015.2: 72 cities in three countries 2016.1: 110 cities in 10 countries 2016.2: 150+ cities in 14 countries (on October, 22nd) I contact you because we intend to expand the LPD beyond Europe next year and you are obviously interested in Linux and probably in a larger propagation of Linux, too. The aim of the LPD towards the general public is to provide biannual and comprehensive information events about Linux for private users who would like to get a first impression of Linux. The aim towards the media is to make the event so big (both nationally and internationally) that the nationwide non-IT media cover it regularly. The aim towards the Linux community is that an LPD event can be so small and easy to organize (even without costs) that really everyone can try to organize an event with good chances of success. The local organizers decide on their own what their event shall be like; we just make suggestions and offer support. You can find a longer description of the concept here: http://www.linux-presentation-day.org/idea/ Are you interested in participating in the LPD somehow i.e. organize an event or help us find other organizers? Best regards, (Mr.) Hauke Laging -- http://www.linux-presentation-day.org/ International phone contact for the Linux Presentation Day: tel:+49-30-55579620 (13:00–23:00, German and English) XMPP (Chat with OTR): linux-presentation-day(a)jabber.ccc.de OTR: 91626899 1C06F2BD 75EC2441 35C696CE 38F75997

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2016 - FOSS Show and Tell wrapup
by Ben M 28 Nov '16

28 Nov '16

Hello Freedom Lovers, Earlier this month we had our "Free Software Show and Tell" session at FSM. As usual there was a bunch of really great software on show and just I wanted to put together a post wrapping up some of the highlights for "Best FOSS Software of 2016" First off the blocks we had L.D.A.P. <http://www.openldap.org/> or the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol which had helped a business integrate new (or was it old) hardware into an existing infrastructure with a mixture of Windows and Linux software I mentioned that HtTrack <https://www.httrack.com/> was my best hope for empowering government with a tool for web scraping on account of it having an Android client and the departmental restrictions on software is less strict for the time being Ben S. talked about Riot <https://riot.im/> which is a team based communications platform built on Matrix <https://matrix.org/>. Apart from all the usual benefits of a team communications platform, Riot has the added benefit of allowing connections to an old school IRC chat but with all the added benefits of persistence we have come to expect with IRC bouncers <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNC_%28software%29> and modern web apps Ben S. also mentioned an often missed benefit of OwnCloud/NextCloud <https://nextcloud.com/> which is the ability to use it as a data store for large email attachments. Just install the ThunderBird add-on <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/owncloud-for-filelink/> and the next time you try to email a large file Thunderbird/NextCloud will offer you the opportunity to upload the file to NextDrive and include a link in the message Michael showed us a website he's been passionately working on over the past weeks: Boycot Amazon <https://boycottamazonaustralia.com/>, take a look if you want to support local businesses and tell this conglomorate "Not here!". You could even support local growers <http://www.ceresfairfood.org.au/> by buying local too Damien <https://github.com/zamaudio?tab=repositories> demoed a new tool he's been working on to create a very specific kind of binary image. He's been developing and utilising this tool to create binary images based on templates specifying which bits should be set. The software is still in development but Damien is planning on releasing it once it's up to snuff and will be of use to others Paul also noted that SQLAlchemy <http://www.sqlalchemy.org/> had been of great use to himself and someone mentioned a friendly tutorial <http://pythoncentral.io/introductory-tutorial-python-sqlalchemy/> that was available. I'll have to take the readme at it's word when it says that it's "suite of well known persistence patterns, designed for efficient and high-performing database access, adapted into a simple and Pythonic domain language". Which I think is the long way of saying "It makes databases behave like Python" and in Pauls case this translates to shareable and reproducible results in scientific research You can also check out the Gnews presentation <http://freesoftware.org.au/static/media/uploads/gnews/gnews-2016-11-17.html> to look closer at any of the issues we discussed at the meetup or SIGN the PETITIONS! Hope I haven't missed anyone out almost as much as I hope to see you all in a couple of weeks for our December Holiday Dinner

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Free Software Law & Policy mini-conf at LCA, proposals wanted!
by Deb Nicholson 20 Nov '16

20 Nov '16

Hi, We want your talk ideas! Please consider submitting a talk to the Free Software Law and Policy mini-conf at LCA this year. https://www.linux.conf.au/schedule/presentation/11/ The call for proposals is open for a just a few more days. If you have a partly formed idea, please feel free to email me or Donna and we'll help you hash it out. Thanks! Deb

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FSM 17th Nov - Free Software Show and Tell night
by Ben M 11 Nov '16

11 Nov '16

Hi Software Freedom Lovers It's that time of the year when we look back and think about the Free Software that has improved our lives and given us all so much joy. So join us this Thursday November the 17th at Electron Workshop (31 Arden Street) <https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2556615434#map=19/-37.80118/144.95071> for our last meetup in the usual place this year for a "Free Software Show and Tell". We'll each go round and talk for a few minutes about the one or two pieces of Free and Open Source Software that has made a big impact on us this year It can be something you've just heared about and it sparked your interest or something you've come to rely upon day in and day out If you're stuck for ideas you can always review some of the release sections of our gnews (conveniently linked below) or resort to just ranting about Stallman and Torvalds for a bit for that matter. Or maybe it was a video discussing the concepts of FLOSS that caught your attention this year At 6:30 Michael Verrenkamp will kick us off with call to action on a campaign he's supporting and then we'll get into the show and tells. When we finish those we'll celebrate the last meetup of the year with pizza for dinner and finish the night off with our usual Gnews and Discussion and aim to wrap up around 8:00 I know I picked up a few new tools last year at the show and tell and it's always a fun night, so I'm cracking to see you all there on the 17th! Event details Thursday 17th Nov, 6:30-8:00pm 31 Arden St, North Melbourne, Victoria, 3051 Map: http://osm.org/go/uG4HWyqEz?m=&node=2556615434 Travel tips by Electron Workshop: http://www.electronworkshop.com.au/map/ Running late or can't find us? Call Ben on 0419 390 496. Notable FOSS releases of the year: http://freesoftware.org.au/static/media/uploads/gnews-jan-2016.html#(6) http://freesoftware.org.au/static/media/uploads/gnews-mar-2016.html#(6) http://freesoftware.org.au/static/media/uploads/gnews-apr-2016.html#(6) http://freesoftware.org.au/static/media/uploads/gnews-may-2016.html#(10) http://freesoftware.org.au/static/media/uploads/gnews-2016-07-21.html#(8) http://freesoftware.org.au/static/media/uploads/gnews-2016-10-20.html#(6)

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FSM Working Group meeting 6:00pm ~ 8:00pm on the 3rd November
by Ben M 02 Nov '16

02 Nov '16

Hi all, The FSM working group meetup is (to my suprise) upon us again and as the weather turns to spring I figured this is a good opportunity to do a touch of spring cleaning on the FSM website and wiki. We'll also trial integrating Mumble and EtherPad into the mix, so if you know the FSM mumble chanel you can join us in spirit ... so come along or tune in to have your say on what will go and what will stay FSM Working Group meeting 6:00pm ~ 8:00pm on the 3rd November There is a minor change of venue, we'll be at level 2 (not level 1) at TeamSquare (520 Bourke st, Melbourne) and as usual snacks, soft drinks and coffee will be in abundance https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4271393497 ~~ Ben M

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