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[Fwd: GnuBee Personal Cloud Liquidation Sale]
by Ben Sturmfels 16 May '19

16 May '19

Hi Folks, If anyone is interested in a GnuBee NAS device, they're on sale see below. Email ldpinney(a)gmail.com to place an order. I own two and while it's been a bit of a rough ride in terms of support, these are now working under OpenWRT. I haven't had time to iron out all the rough edges with mine, but I am successfully using them for backup storage. I've written about that here: https://stumbles.id.au/getting-started-with-the-gnubee-personal-cloud-2 -or-1.html Regards, Ben -------- Forwarded Message -------- From: L. D. Pinney <ldpinney(a)gmail.com> To: Chairman Ping <xpinney(a)gmail.com> Subject: GnuBee Personal Cloud Liquidation Sale Date: Tue, 14 May 2019 10:01:47 -0500 Thank You for making the GnuBee Personal Cloud project a success! Now offering reduced pricing on the remaining Personal Cloud Stock. Personal Cloud One (PC1) 119 USD Personal Cloud Two (PC2) 149 USD Personal Cloud Units come with side plates, brackets and screws. Other items are available separately with an order : PC1 Power Supply 10 USD [very limited supply] PC2 Power Supply 18 USD USB to UART Adapter 5 USD [limited supply] Items are located in the U.S.A. Shipping is not included at these prices. Thanks! -- Ben Sturmfels Director at Sturm Software Engineering www.sturm.com.au +61 3 9024 2467

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Free-software tablet computer
by Ben Finney 16 May '19

16 May '19

Howdy all, My tablet computer has started to fail (Samsung products apparently just normally have crappy batteries) so I'm looking to replace it. When I chose this tablet computer, I did so by browsing the supported devices at <URL:https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/> and using the (small) list of product models as a shopping list. Now, over a year later, the set of devices supported by a current LineageOS release has *shrunk* and there don't appear to be any tablet computers younger than 2015 there! Am I screwed, and if so how badly? How do I get a tablet computer which will last a good number of years (implying the hardware must be quite recent) and runs a free-software operating system? -- \ “Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything | `\ that's even remotely true!” —Homer, _The Simpsons_ | _o__) | Ben Finney

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"Save Australian Tech" campaign
by abstractmonkey＠tutanota.com 15 May '19

15 May '19

I found out about this campaign called "Save Australian Tech" by Digital Rights Watch Australia. The campaign is asking for the stories of tech workers who are concerned about Australia's tech industry, right to privacy and a secure internet. Most of us at Free Software Melbourne would fall in this group I guess, but please feel free to share widely to anyone who may be interested. https://saveoztech.digitalrightswatch.org.au/ <https://saveoztech.digitalrightswatch.org.au/>

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EFA and DRW calling for help to start an IamAusTech campaign
by abstractmonkey＠tutanota.com 08 May '19

08 May '19

Hey All, EFA and DRW are calling upon people in tech to start an IamAusTech campaign that they want to get started ASAP. Erin from DRW will ask each participant some questions and write up some kind of story/profile. If you're interested in having a chat with them please contact Lyndsey, otherwise it might be good to share to people who may be interested. Lyndsey (@ok_lyndsey) on Twitter: > Help Wanted! We need some profiles of people in tech for an #IamAusTech campaign @efa_oz & @DRWaus are working on. Everyone will be able to share, but we need a few guinea pigs to get started. > You get to talk to the excellent Erin about what you do & care about. > If you can DM or email me chair(a)efa.org.au <mailto:chair@efa.org.au> and I'll get Erin to get in touch. Erin will do all the hard work, you just tell her stuff. So easy. https://twitter.com/ok_lyndsey/status/1125558150575247361 <https://twitter.com/ok_lyndsey/status/1125558150575247361> Koji

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Links from April FSM meetup
by PuZZleDucK 20 Apr '19

20 Apr '19

Hi all, I've compiled a list of links from the presentation for anyone interested. There are the slides themselves on GitHub, the List of Submissions I found, various statements about the bill made by companies and organizations (great stuff to quote with #aabill), and finally references to the independent review. Getting in touch with local senators and other groups was our next main plan along with reviewing the other submissions if we can and getting in touch with any local people. ~~ Ben Minerds Slides: https://free-software-melbourne.github.io/Assistance-and-Access-Bill/ Submissions: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Intelligence… Company Statements: Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/announcements/atlassian-urges-changes-to-aus… Paul Shetler (former government digital lead): https://www.innovationaus.com/2019/04/New-social-media-laws-pointless Amazon, Facebook, Google, Oath and Twitter: https://www.cio.com.au/article/646536/tech-giants-urge-govt-review-assistan… Microsoft: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/companies-no-longer-comfortable-sto… ProtonMail: https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/assistance-and-access-bill-spurned-by-s… Independent Review: https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2019/assistance-and-access-act-to-face-indepe… https://www.miragenews.com/intelligence-committee-refers-assistance-and-acc…

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Free Software Melbourne meeting, Thursday, 18 April, Assistance and Access Act + Gnews
by Les Kitchen 11 Apr '19

11 Apr '19

Next meeting of Free Software Melbourne When: Thursday, 18 April 2019, 6.30-8.00pm (doors open at 6pm) Where: Electron Workshop, 31 Arden Street, North Melbourne (See below for how to get there.) What: Work together on Assistance and Access Act As you are probably aware, what is commonly called the Assistance and Access Act was rushed through Federal Parliament just before Christmas last year. The Opposition went along with it, but on the condition that the act be reviewed. That review is now happening, so we have a second chance to advocate for the repeal of this act, or at least for amendments to ameliorate its worst effects. This act has given the Government unprecedented powers to break encryption, with too little accountability. In addition to the obvious threat to the legitimate privacy of ordinary citizens, the act is inflicting collateral damage on the Australian tech industry, as Australian companies and Australian employees are perceived globally as untrustworthy, being too easily subject to secret government orders to break encryption of customers and employers. So, please come along to our next FSM meeting, find out what you can do about this act, and as you can help us with our campaign. As well as making a submission to the review, it could involve contacting politicians, and coordinating with like-minded groups. Your ideas welcome. Have your say! And there'll be lots of delicious Gnews, as gnusual. This is a non-technical event and all are welcome. Afterwards we will have our customary dinner in North Melbourne, and we can continue any discussion that will have arisen. Thanks to the good people of Electron Workshop for providing us our meeting venue. Electron Workshop have a map: https://www.electronworkshop.com.au/map/ They suggest the #57 tram. Get off at the Errol Street / Queensberry Street intersection, walk down the hill along Errol Street, and turn right into Arden Street. The #402 bus and the #58 and #59 trams also pass reasonably close. See you there! — Les Kitchen, on behalf of the FSM committee.

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Classic ThinkPad chassis, modern components
by Ben Finney 22 Mar '19

22 Mar '19

Howdy all, Many in the free-software community know that a ThinkPad (made while they were still IBM's design and standards) were a good choice for both hardware quality and software freedom. That's been less true for a long time now; the actual freedom-respecting ThinkPads are now ageing and relatively low-powered. What if modern components got installed into a ThinkPad chassis? This article reviews a “ThinkPad X210”, an unofficial model name that means “a ThinkPad X201 chassis with modern components”. (An earlier model from the same vendor is named the “ThinkPad X62” because it is in a ThinkPad X61 chassis.) Linux worked out of the box. I had to install non-free drivers for the Broadcom wireless card, then tweak a few module options to get better power saving. […] I managed to get PC7 idle by upgrading my kernel to 4.18 and replacing the r8168 module with r8169. Battery life has increased significantly. I now get 6 hours with the flush battery and 10 hours with the extended battery. […] The X210 isn’t perfect. It’s made by a group of enthusiasts, not a big company. With that comes some disadvantages: […] <URL:https://geoff.greer.fm/2019/03/04/thinkpad-x210/> It's a damned shame that we still can't get freedom-respecting Bluetooth on a modern motherboard. Does anyone know of any other issues with software freedom in these computers? -- \ “It is always a silly thing to give advice, but to give good | `\ advice is absolutely fatal.” —Oscar Wilde, _The Portrait of Mr. | _o__) W. H._, 1889-07 | Ben Finney

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"Australian Free" Software
by Michael Verrenkamp 01 Mar '19

01 Mar '19

Good day, A very interesting development in relation to how people are reacting to the Assistance and Access Bill. In the release notes for an API being produced by Intel they put a little note in there stating they are "now Australian-free". Part joke, part statement on what is going on. It is in the second paragraph of the release. https://branchfree.org/2019/02/28/paper-hyperscan-a-fast-multi-pattern-rege… Cheers Michael -- Committe Member Free Software Australia/Melbourne Advocating for freedom in computer software. www.freesoftware.org.au

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Purism Librem 5 update: Unexpected good news!
by Ben Finney 27 Feb '19

27 Feb '19

Howdy all, The free-software handheld product from Purism, the Librem 5, is on track for delivery again after an unexpected resolution of the heat issues they were experiencing. […] So a lot of research was made, and our development team started evaluating the i.MXM8 Mini to see if it could be used within our requirements–free software only, no binary blobs, mainline based software stacks. And then the month of February began, and something else unexpectedly happened: NXP released a new software stack for our first CPU choice, the i.MX 8M–and all of the power consumption and heating issues suddenly disappeared! <URL:https://puri.sm/posts/massive-progress-exact-cpu-selected-minor-shipping-adjustment/> The post also gives a good progress update and a video of a hardware prototype. Looking forward to receiving a handheld designed with modern hardware, entirely free drivers, and full communication features! -- \ “Faith, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who | `\ speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.” —Ambrose | _o__) Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_, 1906 | Ben Finney

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Sorry, just testing again
by Tatiana Lenz 22 Feb '19

22 Feb '19

Sorry, just testing our email redirection again

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