Over at Sphere of Networks, I published a text that tries to give a simple overview of the workings of information production in the age of the internet, covering everything from free software to free culture. This article is a slightly modified version of a chapter of this text. I will show how peer-to-peer file-sharing networks work and how Big Media tries to prevent this sharing by means of random lawsuits and by using DRM. What does this copyright war mean for consumers and for our culture as a whole?
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Information technology, 'piracy' and DRM
The copyright war and its implications
Power up | EasyBy Mauro Bieg
Online on: recently published
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Tips and Tricks
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Online on: recently published
This is a collection of tips&tricks written by Andrew Min and Gary Richmond. In this article:
- How to create a GNU/Linux live USB stick with SLAX (Andrew)—see below
- How to use Quake-style terminals on GNU/Linux (Andrew)
- How to take screenshots with Scrot (Gary)
- How to back up your Master Boot Record (MBR) (Gary)
No budget learning with free software
The Guus Kieft School
Power up | EasyBy Alan Berg
Online on: 2007-09-03
This article describes the work in progress of applying Ubuntu Linux sensibly within an underfunded school, and as part of a wider well thought out and alternative educational structure. I shall emphasise best practices and try my best not to dwell too much on the underlying technologies.
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Tips and Tricks
Power up | Easy
Online on: 2007-08-27
This is a collection of tips&tricks written by Gary Richmond and Andrew Min. In this article:
- How to get the best out of the history command in GNU/Linux (Gary)
- How to close down GNU/Linux safely after a system freeze with the SysRq key (Gary)
- How to find .debs (even if you think they don't exist) (Andrew)
- How to kill processes (Andrew)
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Free as in free milk
Microsoft's business practices in developing countries
Power up | EasyOnline on: 2007-08-13
A first draft of this article has been sitting for months in my hard disk. I decided to finish it after reading that Microsoft will offer its operating system and office suite for $3 per machine to developing countries. That made me think of the way the giant software company “helps” these countries by giving licenses of its proprietary software almost for free, and that in turn made me think of free milk. Let me tell you about it.
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Sun Ultra 20 M2 review
A powerful workstation from a mainstream vendor for a reasonable price
Power up | EasyBy Martin Brown
Online on: 2007-06-06
When you are looking for a workstation or new desktop there are a seemingly infinite number of potential solutions available. So where do you start? Well if you are after a powerful AMD based computer then you might want to take a look at the Sun Ultra 20 M2, a workstation based around AMD Opteron 1200 dual-core CPU, and available at a surprisingly reasonable price.
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Free software philosophy in business
Are they compatible?
Power up | EasyBy Mark D. Roe
Online on: 2007-05-25
When we enter the world of “free and open source software”, most of us will choose one or the other philosophy. This choice is usually made easy by the people that guide us when we enter this world. We are at a point where the philosophies behind free software, which have been heralded by Richard M. Stallman and others, are threatened; as more people make the jump away from proprietary operating systems, less of them know about these philosophies. Fewer people will weigh the decision for themselves.
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Interview with Rob Fraser
Free software increasingly a benefit to business IT
Power up | EasyBy Mark Rais
Online on: 2007-04-27
This article provides a real world perspective into why businesses move to and stick with free software. In this interview, Rob Fraser, from the premiere New Zealand open solutions company Egressive Limited (egressive.com), shares insights into why free software can benefit any business. The interview briefly covers: VPNs, spam filtration and risk mitigation, among other topics.
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The seven sins of programmers
Fixing bugs in the coder, not the code
Power up | EasyOnline on: 2007-04-11
Programmers. The system administrators worship their bit twiddling capabilities. The users exchange vast quantities of beer for new features and tools. And the project managers sell their souls when they make the magic work. But inside the average programmer’s psyche are several demons that need exorcising.
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Freeing an old game
Relicensing UMoria
Power up | IntermediateOnline on: 2007-03-12
Do you remember that old game that you used to play all the time? Do you still play it? It probably isn’t free software. Do you wish it was? Sometimes writing a clone of a game is a lot of work compared to the amount of work it takes to relicense one. Here is a story about how one group of people are going about freeing the game known as “Moria”.
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Involving the community: my podcast experience
Community and freedom
Power up | EasyOnline on: 2007-02-21
I recently started a new podcast where people like you and me have the chance to put questions to key people in our community. While doing that I discovered some aspects of our community that I feel are often over looked in the drive to find new users.
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Having your cake and eating it
A beginner’s guide to understanding free software
Power up | EasyOnline on: 2006-12-20
What is free software? Should you care and if so, why and what does it have to do with cakes and my mother?
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Free software and politics in Yankeetown
How free software tools helped to turn the tide against big development in a small Florida town
Power up | EasyBy Andrew Seely
Online on: 2006-12-15
The picturesque village of Yankeetown on Florida’s Nature Coast has been the recent target of a large time-sharing resort condominium development proposal. Several townsfolk looked into the development and discovered what appeared to be corrupt practices in the town government. A loosely organized group of citizens decided to coordinate and share information via a web presence. Beyond any expectations, the picture albums, message boards, and mailing lists they used have been the catalyst for gaining state-wide attention and have led to direct intervention from the Governor’s office. This article describes the technical implementation and evolution of this grassroots movement, showing how a variety of basic free software tools were assembled to create a tool for political change.
GNU/Linux and WiFi
WiFi maniac needs aspirin and emotional support.
Power up | EasyBy Alan Berg
Online on: 2006-11-01
The idea was simple: why not build my own little GNU/Linux based wireless network in a spare five minutes?
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Interview with Simon Peter, creator of klik
Klik is a fantastic system which allows users to install an application without worrying about dependencies and without being root. I was lucky enough to talk to its author.
Power up | EasyBy Tony Mobily
Online on: 2006-04-07
It's the year 2006, and installing applications in GNU/Linux can still be a nightmare (especially if they are not available in your distribution's repository). Simon Peter is the developer of klik, a piece of software that tries to resolve this problem. Simon kindly accepted to answer a few questions for FSM.
What’s free about free software?
Computing and the American West
Power up | EasyBy John Locke
Online on: 2006-02-17
Computer history has some interesting parallels with the history of the American West. After the initial forays of Lewis and Clark and the first set of explorers, early settlers crossed the plains in covered wagons. But the West wasn’t accessible to most Americans until the age of the railroads, when the Union Pacific Railroad put tracks across the continent and started running a regular passenger service.
Interview with Patrick Luby
Tony interviews Patrick Luby, the person behind OpenOffice for Macintosh
Power up | EasyBy Tony Mobily
Online on: 2005-11-30
Patrick Luby wrote the software layer which allows OpenOffice to run on Macintosh computers without running an X server. This way, OpenOffice also looks like a native application. Since OpenOffice is one of the most relevant free software projects out there, the importance of his work cannot be underestimated. Patrick agreed on answering a few questions for Free Software Magazine.
Book review: Degunking Linux by Roderick W Smith
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By Martin Brown
Online on: 2005-11-04
Over the course of a typical computer’s lifetime you will probably create all sorts of files, temporarily install software and generate lots of information and data that you don’t really want to keep. Unfortunately, computers tend to have a terrible habit of keeping these files and information about. In Degunking Linux by Roderick W Smith you’ll find hints on how to clean and, as the title suggests, degunk your Linux installation to help free up disk space, CPU time and help optimize your machine. You’d be amazed how much of a difference degunking your machine can make. Not only do you get more disk space but you also have the potential to speed up your machine and make it more stable.
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Book review: Randal Schwartz’s Perls of Wisdom by Randal L Schwartz
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By Martin Brown
Online on: 2005-11-03
Ask for some key figures in the world of Perl and it wont be long before the name Randal L Schwartz appears. Randal has, at one time or another, been a trainer of Perl, the Pumpking (responsible for managing the development of Perl), as well as a prolific writer and speaker on Perl techniques and materials. In Perls of Wisdom (Apress) he gathers together many of his talks and articles into a single book, expanding, correcting and extending them as necessary.
Interview with Roberto Vacca
Gianluca interviews Roberto Vacca, the Italian engineer, who is known as a “futurologist” because of his sharp forecasts and provisional models
Power up | EasyOnline on: 2005-10-28
Roberto Vacca is a Doctor of Computer Science and an electrical engineer. He is very well known in Italy because of his forecasts, mathematical and provisional models, his books (which he sells through his site www.printandread.com) and articles. Since his forecasts, as well as his points of view, are always very sharp and are so clearly expressed, I decided to talk with him about his activity and free software world.
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