Viewing posts for the category News
Hey Freedom Fans,
This month at Free Software Melbourne we're going to be talking AMD, Installfests and the rising importance of privacy and security in modern life.
We'll kick things off at 6:30pm by having a read through the final draft of the AMD submission (and quickly fixing any typos we find) before preparing to send it to AMD and publish it on our website.
We're also going to discuss what we might need to do to run an installfest as part of a FSM event later in the year. We'll take a look at the documentation available and consider a few case studies of installfests. We'll discuss what kind of approach we might take and what the important factors to consider are. If time allows we might also run through the process in some virtual manner. We're also super lucky to have Linux Users Victoria run a Debian 9 launch party on Saturday the 17th (just two days later) that will probably involve an installfest so if you've ever wanted to run or participate in an installfest then this is your month.
We'll then have our regular Gnews segment hosted by Tatiana this month. I've been warned that we'll be focusing heavily on the current security and privacy issues that have been becoming ever more prevalent in these troubled times. What role can Free and Open Software play in this emerging landscape and how is this being reported in the wild? What can we do to make progress and better communicate the message of FOSS? So if you were hoping for more of Ben rattling off release dates then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.
As usual we plan to finish up about 8:30pm and head down to Errol st for continued conversation and tasty cuisine.
See you all there!
Thursday 15th June, 6:30-8:30pm
Electron Workshop - 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 0419 390 496
Hey there Free Software Melbourne, we're kicking off a new year with a bit of serious fun, we'll be joined by Rosie Williams from the Little Bird Network. Rosie is an Open Data Consultant, programmer and one of the new generation of journalists covering issues like #CensusFail and #NotMyDebt
SnitchHunt is a game that teaches the public about metadata: what it is and how it can be used to identify and track individuals. Come and test the open source beta version of SnitchHunt with Free Software Melbourne so the developer can see how different people handle the game. Numbers will be limited. Please bring your own laptop & internet connection to play although some may be accommodated by teaming up with others. https://whistleblower.network/snitch/index.php
After our playtest of SnitchHunt we'll be having our regular Gnews review of the last couple of months. Hope to see you at 6:30PM on Thursday 16th at Electron Workshop (31 Arden Street, North Melbourne) for the monthly Free software Melbourne meetup followed by our usual stroll down Errol st to find somewhere for dinner and continued chatter
Event details
Thursday 16th Feb, 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
Running late or can't find us? Call Ben on 0419 390 496
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. 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 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 which is a team based communications platform built on Matrix. 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 and modern web apps
Ben S. also mentioned an often missed benefit of OwnCloud/NextCloud which is the ability to use it as a data store for large email attachments. Just install the ThunderBird add-on 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, take a look if you want to support local businesses and tell this conglomorate "Not here!". You could even support local growers by buying local too
Damien 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 had been of great use to himself and someone mentioned a friendly tutorial 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 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
It is that time of the month again! 6:30PM on Thursday 20th at The Electron Workshop (31 Arden Street, North Melbourne) it is time for the monthly Free software Melbourne meet up
It doesn't matter how much you directly participate in software
freedom or what operating system you run, all that matters is that you
would like to live in a world of software freedom where every
individual can control the code that runs on their computer and the
conditions under which it executes. It's that time of the year for all
of us who compute to celebrate our freedoms in technology and indulge
in the finer details of keeping our increasingly digital lives under
our direct control.
Free Software Melbourne, in conjunction with Linux Users Victoria, is
celebrating the 13th annual Software Freedom Day. With a variety of
talks and workshops helping everyone to get the most out of the
Free/Libre and Open Source communities and the free software they make
available
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Venue
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Our gracious hosts this year are:
Electron Workshop co-working space
31 Arden Street, North Melbourne
Map: https://www.openstreetmap.org/
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Time Table
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A (data) array of wonderful talkers have been so kind as to help
spread the word or just give you a tour of some great programs that
respect you.
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