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Think Penguin Interview
by Michael Verrenkamp 27 Jul '15

27 Jul '15

I came across this about 2 weeks back, it is Chris the CEO of Think pengin doing an interview with 'Freedoms Phoenix'. It shows how clear the message can be and he handles himself very well. The interview starts at about the 1 hour mark. It is completely worth it simply for the bigger than life, bombastic interviewer - he is something special in a very unique way. https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/Media-Files/001-0708110044-2015-07-08… -- jabjabs(a)fastmail.com.au

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Melb Django School
by Ben Sturmfels 20 Jul '15

20 Jul '15

Hi Folks, Bonnie wrote to say that Melb Django School began their first of 9 weeks of free-of-charge Django classes last Thursday. If you know a little Python, you might want to take a look at their website: http://www.meetup.com/MelbDjango/events/223096881/ Regards, Ben

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Gource
by Ben M 18 Jul '15

18 Jul '15

Also meant to mention if anyone wants to play with gource it's easier than it looks... just "sudo apt-get install gource" to install... then type "gource" in the root of an git repository... the monster command I used was just to make it fit in 3-5 minutes and record the video.

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JavaScript Frameworks
by Ben M 18 Jul '15

18 Jul '15

Hi all, I've just posted the JavaScript Framework slides to http://freesoftware.org.au/melbourne/past-meet-ups/ (un)Fortunately it's a small download at 149kb so the videos are available on a separate link. Cheers, Ben.

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Pump.io free software social network
by Ben Sturmfels 24 Jun '15

24 Jun '15

Hi Folks, Following Scott's talk on free software social networks, I'd like to encourage people to try Pump.io. http://pump.io/ I find it a great way to keep up with a range of people in the free software community. I use a desktop client called Pumpa. I'm stumbles(a)identi.ca. I don't run a server myself, but I'm glad to know that I could if I wanted to. Regards, Ben

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Gnews
by Ben M 23 Jun '15

23 Jun '15

Hi all, Links to the GNews for June are now up here: http://freesoftware.org.au/melbourne/past-meet-ups/ Not sure why my server balks if I call the file ".html" but if you save as ".html" and open with FireFox you should get the slide version... what's the emoticon for fingers crossed? :) Stay toasty all, Ben M.

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Death of the 100% free software graphics stack on x86 imminent
by Adam Bolte 12 Jun '15

12 Jun '15

Hi folks, As we know, since last year Nvidia has been locking all their new hardware down such that it requires signed code to operate, and only Nvidia has the signing key. Due to this, all development of free software drivers on new hardware has stalled. It's a shame as Nvidia GPUs were the most powerful that had a fully free software graphics stack (as far as what you need to install yourself). AMD have for a long time now had excellent free software drivers, and is something they are looking to improve even further for their next generation GPUs (to be announced next week), but for years these drivers have required proprietary microcode under a very restrictive license (basically free to redistribute unmodified and use for its intended purpose, but non-free in all other respects) in order to function. This is why almost all ThinkPenguin computers (both desktops and laptops) only support Intel graphics. The only exception is the Penguin Pro 5 GNU/Linux Desktop, which gives you the option of paying extra for an 8+ year old Nvidia graphics card (a Geforce 8400GS 1Gb PCIe 2.0). So its unfortunate that today I came across this Phoronix article: Intel Skylake & Broxton To Require Graphics Firmware Blobs https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-SKL-BXT-Firmware-… (where Skylake is the successor to Intel's Broadwell microarchitecture, and Broxton is for portable devices). The article is short, but here are some quotes: "This page also seems to indicate that these firmware blobs are required by the [Direct Rendering Manager] driver rather than being an optional add-on." "The license of these firmware blobs also indicate that redistribution is only allowed in binary form without modification. Beyond that, "no reverse engineering, decompilation, or disassembly of this software is permitted."" It's sad news. I'll be interested to see how people react. Will ThinkPenguin try to restrict their product line to older hardware? Will the FSF relax their position on microcode for free software distribution guidelines so distributions such as gNewSense will work properly on x86? Will these distributions decide to agree with the FSF stance (whichever they choose)? Or perhaps they'll start focusing primarily on non-x86 architectures? Perhaps I'm completely blowing this out of proportion and most people will be happy enough to ignore their GPU and use CPU/software-rendering going forward, and ThinkPenguin will just ship with a CPU-rendering configuration (ie. llvmpipe)? Time will tell. My hope is that we will see strong efforts to find a free software replacement for the the Intel and AMD microcode. However I worry that these companies could decide to counter the "threat" by switching drivers and GPUs to something very proprietary (as Nvidia did when their microcode was reverse-engineered). -Adam ps. In other (somewhat older) news, Windows 10 will not mandate an option to switch SecureBoot off in the UEFI. My guess is that some (primarily USA-based) laptop manufacturers will remove the option, but I don't think any of the big Taiwanese laptop manufacturers or any custom-built desktops will present an issue. Again, time will tell. 2015 is not shaping up to be a good year for new hardware.

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Video from Rock Your Emacs workshop at LibrePlanet
by Ben Sturmfels 06 Jun '15

06 Jun '15

Hi Folks, I forgot to post the link to the video of my Emacs workshop at LibrePlanet. Here it is if you're interested: http://stumbles.id.au/rock-your-emacs-video-from-libreplanet.html Cheers, Ben

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Re: [free-software-melb] Free-software-melb Digest, Vol 55, Issue 10
by Ben M 26 May '15

26 May '15

> As the Geelong site lead, more info; > > * Registration opens up for those who pre-register interest first. Sign > up to the list, you get first dibs at registration. Go to it! > * Normal registration for those who didn't pre-register interest happens > a week later. There might not be spots left. You better pre-register! Go > to it! > * Some sites (Melbourne and Geelong) are also having 'Meet the data > owner' events. Check individual site pages for more info; > > http://www.govhack.org > > Kind regards, > Kathy Thanks Kathy, I couldn't find the link at the time and thought registration was just about to open up. The mailing list is here: http://govhack.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=5d47f285eeb69b1126f0a3c41&id… > On 24/05/15 20:43, Matthew Cengia wrote: >> They're taking expressions of interest, and have a survey for people interested in child care during the weekend, but I don't have the links handy right now. Registration opens in a couple of weeks I think. Forgot about that one Matthew, found it here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/?sm=dPzC3jOgxasuxlGDc7%2bB9g%3d%3d > From: Michael Verrenkamp <jabjabs(a)fastmail.com.au> > GNU as Saas stand against everything it stands for. The links below > including the brilliant "press release" complete with Stallmans quote > compete with 'monetise' being used incorrectly. > Press Release - https://diafygi.github.io/gnu-pricing/website/ OMG I'm still giggling every time I type "ls" :)

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GNU as Saas
by Michael Verrenkamp 25 May '15

25 May '15

I was going to bring this up in the meeting this month but I figured it was best to keep the conversation rolling. This is easily one of the funnier concepts I have seen in a long while from the 'Stupid S*** No One needs & Terrible Idea Hackaton'. GNU as Saas stand against everything it stands for. The links below including the brilliant "press release" complete with Stallmans quote compete with 'monetise' being used incorrectly. Also check out the main website for links to some of the most ridiculous ideas, it is a very cool idea indeed. Github link - https://github.com/diafygi/gnu-pricing Press Release - https://diafygi.github.io/gnu-pricing/website/ Main website - http://www.stupidhackathon.com/ -- Sent from my GNU/Linux-Libre box. Run free. http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html Come Visit Free Software Australia - http://freesoftware.org.au/ jabjabs(a)fastmail.com.au

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