- 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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CuBox
by Sven＠GMX 28 Jun '13

28 Jun '13

http://solid-run.com/ claims to be an Open Source development platform. So we can assume all hardware is Open Source as well, isn't it? I recently came across Embedded Pi, an interfacing board to use Arduino shields on the Raspberry Pi, which is one of the use cases. But in order to programm the Embedded Pi you need to install CoocoxIDE, which is free to use but neither Open Source nor does it run on an Open Source system such as Linux. No, you need to have the proprietary OS MS Windows installed/ W.I.N.E. (seems to work here) in order to run that IDE and develop/ write code for an Open Source platform/ Arduino shield. What are your thoughts? -- Sven (Andriske)/ VK3SIX, DJ5AND

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Promotional materials for not-for-profit groups
by Ben Finney 27 Jun '13

27 Jun '13

Howdy all, Does anyone have good leads for a decent vendor that can make badges, stickers, or other promotional items that members can wear/carry prominently? One of the recurring desires we've had for Free software Melbourne is to promote awareness of the issues of software freedom. A good start is to identify as a member of this group, in order for casual interest to lead to a conversation about the topic. So one idea is to take a simple design and put it on a badge or pendant or sticker, and make that visible at things like events or workplaces. As treasurer, I would be remiss if I were to omit that we have no budget for this currently :-) -- \ “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a | `\ good example.” —Mark Twain, _Pudd'n'head Wilson_ | _o__) | Ben Finney

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Re: [free-software-melb] Recommendations for XMPP servers (Benet Hitchcock)
by Benet Hitchcock 24 Jun '13

24 Jun '13

I set-up an account at http://www.jabber.org/ and from what I remember it was a simple enough process.

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Discussion group and committee election next Thursday 20 June
by Ben Sturmfels 24 Jun '13

24 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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June meet-up summary
by Adam Bolte 22 Jun '13

22 Jun '13

Hi all, Thanks to everyone who was able to make it to our Thursday meet-up. It turned out to be a great night, with so much to talk about that some discussion ideas were skipped and we still ran over time! == Topics covered == Main discussion topics of the night included: * Committee election * H-Node http://h-node.org/ * Think Penguin https://www.thinkpenguin.com/ * Raster Storage Engine https://github.com/vpac/rsa * Software Freedom Day http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/ More on the wiki (see below). == Meeting notes now on our Wiki == I'd like to announce that going forward, I will try to post meeting notes on our wiki. This will make for easy reference going forward, as well as allow for edits by anyone with more information in case I missed something or made an error. Ben has put a lot of work into setting it up and keeping it spam-free, so it would be a shame not to make the most of his efforts. I have added the June meeting notes page here: http://wiki.freesoftware.asn.au/meetingNotes/20130620 == Committee elections == Perhaps the most important discussions for the night related to planning how the committee would work (such as questioning the number of committee members required), identifying and assigning responsibilities, and ultimately deciding who would be on the committee by way of election. It was decided that committee members will hold their position for a six month period, at which time elections will once again be held. This short period was partly agreed upon to be fairer for those who were unable to attend the night and missed the opportunity to vote or request nominations. Those elected, and the positions of those elected, include: President: Alex Fraser Vice President: Ben Sturmfels Secretary: Adam Bolte Treasurer: Ben Finney Responsibilities that these roles entail will also be added to the wiki shortly. Cheers, Adam

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Recommendations for XMPP servers
by Ben Finney 21 Jun '13

21 Jun '13

Howdy all, What are good recommendations for people to set up a hosted XMPP account? XMPP <URL:http://xmpp.org/> is an open-specified, federated, standard <URL:http://xmpp.org/xsf/press/2004-10-04.shtml> real-time messaging protocol. Consequently there are numerous free-software XMPP services and clients that can talk with each other. As we discussed briefly at this month's Free Software Melbourne meeting (2013-06-20), Google Talk uses XMPP. But existing accounts are now <URL:https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/google-abandons-open-standards-in…> being migrated from Google Talk to Google Hangout, which uses a proprietary non-standard protocol and operates only on Google servers. There are no free-software clients, and obviously no services provided by anyone other than Google. So in order for XMPP to continue we need to have clear recommendations for good servers to switch to. What servers are good to recommend to our friends who are Google Talk refugees? -- \ “Why should I care about posterity? What's posterity ever done | `\ for me?” —Groucho Marx | _o__) | Ben Finney

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Re: [free-software-melb] [free-software-melb-announce] Reminder of Free Software Melbourne tomorrow evening (Thu 20 June)
by Chris Samuel 20 Jun '13

20 Jun '13

On 20/06/13 16:09, Andrew Pam wrote: > You saw that this was just a build error and MariaDB did not report it > to Oracle before publicising it? Nope, not come across that, phew! Thanks.. -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC

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Software freedom discussion on 3RRR Byte Into It, 2013-06-12
by Ben Finney 13 Jun '13

13 Jun '13

Howdy all, On Melbourne's 3RRR radio show Byte Into It last night (2013-06-12), we had quite a lot of discussion about software freedom and other internet freedom topics. * An international coalition has been formed, aiming to get a fair deal out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. * It appears Microsoft have begun monitoring users' Skype communications. Disappointing? Yes. Surprising? Well... * The US Government is under intense pressure, after it was revealed that the National Security Agency has been monitoring worldwide online communications: * The program, known as PRISM, taps into the servers of Google, Apple and Facebook among others. * The NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has fled to Hong Kong, and doesn't expect to see his family again. Some see him as a hero. Others don't. * Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr believes that this is nothing to worry about, while Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Ludlam have voiced concerns. * In the end though, is it possible to exist online without casting a digital shadow? * Bookings open for the 2013 Intelligence Squared debates: "Copyright is Dead: Long Live the Pirates" - The Wheeler Centre, Tuesday September 24, 6:30pm. Audio is at <URL:http://rrrfm.libsyn.com/byte-into-it-12-june-2013>. -- \ “Members of the general public commonly find copyright rules | `\ implausible, and simply disbelieve them.” —Jessica Litman, | _o__) _Digital Copyright_ | Ben Finney

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Software freedom discussion on 3RRR Byte Into It, 2013-05-29
by Ben Finney 12 Jun '13

12 Jun '13

Howdy all, The audio download for the 2013-05-29 show of the Melbourne 3RRR radio show Byte Into It has finally gone online. We discussed some topics relevant to software freedom, including: * The Australian Government Information Management Office has decided to standardise its office documents to the Open Document format. * Interesting developments in the world of software patenting: * The New Zealand government has declared that a computer program is not an invention, and is not patentable. * The US state of Vermont is legislating against software "patent trolls". * The German parliament has resolved that patents on software restricted developers' rights, and that software is best covered by copyrights rather than patents. * Dominic Spill joins the team to discuss his work in open network security, and his projects Ubertooth and Daisho. The episode is at <URL:http://rrrfm.libsyn.com/byte-into-it-29-may-2013>. -- \ “Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?” “Well, I think | `\ so, Brain, but ‘apply North Pole’ to what?” —_Pinky and The | _o__) Brain_ | Ben Finney

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