Last Minute Notice of Ohio Linux Fest
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I realize that this is last minute, but I wanted to make people aware of Ohio Linux Fest, which is happening this weekend (Sept. 28 - 30) in Columbus, OH USA.
I will be attending, and if any other Trisquel community members are there, I would very much like to meet up for a drink and to put a face with a name.
You can read more about OhioLinuxFest at its website: OhioLinux.org
According to reddit the FSF will have a booth. I won't be there but it might be a good place to meet.
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If I didn't have to drive the whole way I'd go. It's an 8 1/2 hour drive from where I am in NJ.
Are you DTF when cruisin' the shore?
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For anyone who is interested I'll be attending along with one of our new employees Tom.
We won't have a booth or anything and will be there Friday late. My guesstimate is sometime after 9PM since we won't be leaving until Friday @ 9AM or so.
If you want to meet up send me an email (click on my name for contact). Saturday later in the day or Sunday are probably best. I'll be wayy tired after 9 hours of driving. I might be doing all the driving too.
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For those who wished they could have made it here are some pictures:
One of the packed presentations (on different desktop environments for GNU/Linux)
Freegeek Booth (recycles computers /w GNU/Linux although not free)
Free Software Booth
It was a great event and the free software booth passed out some of the GNU, GNU/Linux, and Trisquel case badges as well as the little tux key stickers.
I noticed the free geek booth has a 1984 Macintosh. Did they attempt to run Linux on the thing and if so, how was it?
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The computers pictured are models sold prior to GNU/Linux existing in an installable form. It probably wasn't the ideal systems to have on display at a GNU/Linux conference although I think the idea is to promote recycling. Showing a really old computer is just a representative of that.
"Free Geek’s mission is to recycle technology and provide access to computers, the internet, education and job skills in exchange for community service."
They do that primarily through the utilization of free software. The systems they sold/or donated to schools and other non-profit organizations early on had Debian on them. Later they moved to Ubuntu.
They are dealing with a very sticky situation. They get systems to refurbish from the masses. These are primarily systems designed for old versions of Microsoft Windows. Many/most don't/can't run Microsoft Windows well- especially new versions.
For those who aren't aware Microsoft Windows users face the same issue with non-free software that GNU/Linux users face. After some point the hardware stops working as the manufacturers stop supporting the non-free drivers firmware users are dependent on.
This is a nightmare situation for support. The systems Freegeek gets for recycling are donated by the masses and there isn't much they can do beyond education. Unfortunately the people Freegeek is targeting are not the ones with the power to change the situation. They aren't buying new systems.
If I recall they had/have a policy on refusing to teach classes on WINE. I believe that is/was due to its primary usefulness as a means to install non-free software.
It would be great if they started testing hardware with Trisquel instead of Ubuntu. Then disposed of hardware dependent on non-free software in an environmentally friendly manor. I believe this would work as the amount of hardware received greatly exceeds the amount of hardware which can be sold/donated.
They do receive and refurbish Mac systems. They are loaded with GNU/Linux when sold/donated. There policy is one of supporting GNU/Linux only.
The main Freegeek is in Portland Oregon:
This Freegeek here is the one in Columbus, Ohio.
Note: I'm not familiar with Freegeek Columbus and the above is at least true of Freegeek Portland.
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Hello! I'm the guy in the picture at the FSF booth. The Trisquel case stickers (along with the GNU and GNU/Linux case stickers) and the Penguin keyboard stickers, were awesomely donated to us by ThinkPenguin! (just want to give credit where credit is due).
And also I was dd'ing trisquel 5.5 ISO's on to people's usb thumb drives with my laptop for people interested in using Trisquel and pointing them to trisquel.info.
Awesome.
Keep up the good work!
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:) The key to success is cooperation amongst supporters of free software. Alone things don't move forward. Together we are something to be reckoned with!
Even though I didn't say it at the conference your work is greatly appreciated too!
Every recommendation is also greatly appropriated. I'm not sure I mentioned this at the conference although every sale helps us to improve the availability of free software compatible hardware. We donate 25% of the profits from users who purchase through libre.thinkpenguin.com to the Trisquel project. We also donate 10% (of the purchase price) of our sales which are made through eBay to the Free Software Foundation.
“Linux compatible” doesn't mean much when the hardware isn't freedom friendly. Non-free software leaves users with crummy to no support. The GNU/Linux community needs to step up and demand freedom both on a hardware level and a software level. With it comes properly supported hardware/software.
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