Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
Yeah but I think the the former is sometimes a bit too synonymous with the latter.
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
great post http://tom.preston-werner.com/2011/11/22/open-source-everything.html "Have you ever written an amazing library or tool at one job and then left to join another company only to rewrite that code or remain miserable in its absence? [...] By getting code out in the public we can drastically reduce duplication of effort." "Don't open source anything that represents core business value."
Re: [Trisquel-users] A question about Thinkpenguin's Data Storage Devices.
The USB drives are always formatted to fat32. The problem with other formats is one of compatibility, licensing, and/or permissions.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Chris from Think Penguin LAS interview in case you missed it
Posted it to the ThinkPenguin blog: http://thinkpenguin.com/blog
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
Tom Preston-Warner represents the open source world. In the open source world, open source code exists so that proprietary software developers can build their proprietary software on top of collaboratively maintained libraries and frameworks. That's why his mantra is "open source almost everything." "Almost everything" is all libraries, frameworks, infrastructure stuff. That is why his vision of "freedom" includes the right to use the code in proprietary products. That is the world he comes from.
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
>I looked at choosealicense.com, and found out that this page uses the word "content" that one should avoid. Another reason to avoid using the site is that it leaves "No license" on the table as a legitimate option. If you send people to choosealicense.com, they may decide to go the no license route. (Of course, they are not legally obliged to license their code, but this actively encourages it.)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Blag Gnu and Linux
Thanks for the tips. purchase twitter packages thailand holiday villas
[Trisquel-users] Trisquel GNU/Linux installs in legacy/CSM/BIOS (but not EFI) mode but does NOT boot.
Hello Trisquel GNU/Linux community, I'm in the process of liberating a new laptop (Asus X451) from Windows 8. (Just in case this may help someone later, the WiFi chip in this computer is by Atheros and works with Linux-libre kernel). The computer in question has (U)EFI but allows the so-called legacy/CSM/BIOS mode to be enabled and also Restricted Boot (or "Secure Boot" as Micro$oft calls it) to be disabled. Release notes for Trisquel 6.0.1 mention that it works with (U)EFI. So after wiping all the Windows partitions and dd'ing the Trisquel 6.0.1 image (the Gnome Desktop option) to a USB flash disk, I tried booting up from the flash disk with CSM disabled, which means that we are in EFI mode and the efi kernel modules must be loaded if things work. But the system does not recognize the image on the flash disk and does NOT boot at all. With CSM enabled, Trisquel boots up and I can try/install it without any problems, except that the installed system does not boot up. In a normal install, I have usually used a three-partition setup: one for /, one for /home and one for swap. That's what I did for this sytem too. I tried rewriting the MBR (Master Boot Record) using grub (after mounting the necessary devices on the installed system chrooting) but that didn't solve the problem, neighter did "boot-repair" which is basically a GUI for doing what I did manually. I also tried a four-partition setup with the extra partition being the first one and flagged as bios_grub in gparted. This did NOT boot either. Here are my questions: - Why is it that I cannot boot into the Trisquel flash disk in EFI mode? - How can I get the installed system to boot up? I don't care about EFI and I'm happy with BIOS/CSM mode for now. I'm out of ideas. - A flash disk with an image of the spyware distro Ubuntu 14.04 boots up in EFI mode just fine. I read on their website that images for 12.04.02 and later work in EFI mode. Does Trisquel 6.0.1 correspond to 12.04.01 or 12.04.02?
Re: [Trisquel-users] A question about Thinkpenguin's Data Storage Devices.
Thank you for answer, but that was not what I was asking. I know I can always reformat the device, but I want to know the defaults from Thinkpenguin in order to have a reference for my learning.
Re: [Trisquel-users] A question about Thinkpenguin's Data Storage Devices.
You can always reformat them, so it shouldn't really matter.
[Trisquel-users] A question about Thinkpenguin's Data Storage Devices.
Greetings ladies and gentlemen. I've been doing research about File Systems and I want to ask what File System type have, the Thinkpenguin's Storage Devices, by default. Thank you.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Chris from Think Penguin LAS interview in case you missed it
So, that is why I found it strange; they have cutted the interview. I think the other companies do not find funny what smaller competitors are doing to counter-attack their deceitful behavior (generalization). you where great on that interview Chris. Thank you for your consideration t3g. PD: I've noticed your FSF shirt Chris :).
Re: [Trisquel-users] So is this true about AMD on Trisquel?
At least the ME microcode for R600 (and probably earlier CP microcode) is simple code with separate instructions for reading or writing registers, Rob Clark of Freedreno partially reverse engineered the instruction format. Newer Radeons have different ISAs. (ME is microengine, CP is control processor which has e.g. ME; it's not related to the Intel management engine used for AMT.) Lack of existing free compilers is not an issue here: it needs a very simple assembler and some ISA documentation. It's not like CPU microcode or FPGA data. Some time-consuming work is needed to reverse engineer the ISA and replace the microcode, all interested people that I know have other projects and do not have enough free time to do this. (There was an important kernel change regarding microcode dependency: now modesetting won't work on recent Radeons without the microcode, since the driver uses features that require it. I don't know the details of these changes.)
Re: [Trisquel-users] So is this true about AMD on Trisquel?
I have a Replicant tablet with PowerVR. I really hope someone reverse engineers it. BTW, the Raspberry Pi's GPU blob was actually freed by Broadcom. :) https://libv.livejournal.com/26434.html
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
Freedom 0 means that you can use the program in whatever way you want, not that you can do whatever you want with it.
[Trisquel-users] Can't block a subdomain in /etc/hosts
Hello guys, I have some problems blocking a facebook subdomain in /etc/hosts. I am able to block facebook.com but I cannot block a subdomain called ro-ro.facebook.com. I'm typing everything as I should but it just doesn't work, it's very weird. Did anyone met with this problem, with facebook subdomains and knows how to solve it ? In case you ask yoursels why I'm trying to do that, the reason is that I want to cure a friend from this disease called facebook. Thanks in advance. Best regards,
Re: [Trisquel-users] Unfortunatly I need to try to get flash player installed on triquel for an algebra course.
Whoops, should've known better about the linking part!
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
Some time ago I heard that github is not "Open Source", so I decided to use gitorius insted which is copylefted free software under the AGPL. At this time I was a Mac User but I know that "if something is not open source, it is certainly not free software." [RMS] When I browse github, I still find lots of code that does not have a licence. People who do care about freedom, know that you have to select a free license to give the users freedom. It does not have to be the GPL, you can use the LGPL, Apache License, or the MIT licence. As long the licence is compatible with the GPL the choice of the licence is OK. Using a free licence that is incompatible limits the use with GNU so this should not be done. Recently Apple begin relicencing some components of Mac OS X under the Apache Licence, so I can use them together with GNUstep. I looked at choosealicense.com, and found out that this page uses the word "content" that one should avoid. I think you can use the GPL for other data which is not code, even if the data is only avialable in binary format.
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
No, that's a permissive license. Incidentally, since this anti-GPL FUD includes complaints that the GPL is long, it doesn't work to support the Apache License, itself being lengthy.
Re: [Trisquel-users] So is this true about AMD on Trisquel?
Some time ago when I did not care about freedom, I was using AMD CPUs. When I switched to Trisquel I realized that AMD does not want users to have freedom. AMD could easly solve the problem by burning the firmware into a ROM or hardwiring the command processor. I think releasing the source code would not help here in this specific case, as there is no free compiler that handles hardware description languages and works with real hardware. I also learned how to reverse engineer the nonfree firmware that drives the Yamaha FB-01. In this case the nonfree program was burned into a ROM, so that old device is not a problematic one. The CPU is a well known one, and free disassembly tools are avialable. I also know how to design a CPU, which can be implemented on an FPGA. I know that there is a reverse engineering project that tries to replace the nonfree tools required to program an FPGA. Recently I baught a refurbished OpenPandora. First I deleted all nonfree firmwares, and installed the free firmware for the TPE-N150USB. Now I can use the wireless network without giving up my freedom. I think the hardest part here is GPU, as there are no free drivers and no free fireware for the GPU. There is a reverse engineering project at[1], but this seems to be dead. But I can play some games such as Wesnoth and Tetris without using nonfree software. Unlike the Raspberry Pi no nonfree startup software is required, instead a boot-ROM is used instead. I think using a ROM for the boot firmware is the best solution as it prevents the user from accidently bricking the computer. Currently I do not have time to reverse engineer the GPU as I'm working on a free software replacement for the mbrola speech synthesizer. I can do so without reverse engineering, as the algorithms used by mbrola are well documented. Reverse engineering would be needed if you want to use mbrola voices with a free program. However the licence of the mbrola project does not allow to use of the voices with a different program than mbrola itself. [1] https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/new-high-priority-project-powervr-drivers
Re: [Trisquel-users] Chris from Think Penguin LAS interview in case you missed it
This was only a small part of the interview. Unfortunately the choice of words in the beginning was poor, but it wouldn't have been so bad had they actually kept the part where I went into what free software was and how Linux Mint, Ubuntu, etc were not totally free. I was very conscious of my initial wording, but on the spot interviews can be challenging. Particularly when your trying to communicate both freedom and compatibility at the same time. Essentially the reason I included Linux Mint was I wanted to make clear we're not solely compatible with 100% free software distributions and that you don't have to use a 100% free distribution to gain some of the advantages of 100% free software friendly hardware. What we don't want is people buying hardware dependent on non-free components. That would just increase the amount of non-free software actively being used as well as make it more difficult to more away from distributions with lots of non-free software. In any event I think it could have been much worse. Overall I think it came out better than I expected. It also probably didn't help that System76 sponsors the show (or did). I think I made a distinction between us, System76, Dell, and other companies in the space. That might have been why they cut out the rest of the interview.
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
GPL gives total freedom to the user, but restricted freedom to the developer. Permissive gives total freedom to the user and developer, but then allows other developers to change the intention of the original developer by making proprietary or bundling it with other proprietary software.
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
I'm not Tom Preston-Wener, so therefore I didn't give the speech in question. Direct your anger towards him.
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
Doesn't Apache 2.0 fix this?
Re: [Trisquel-users] So is this true about AMD on Trisquel?
That's just what not valuing freedom leads to. You've got people thinking it's fine because of where the proprietary firmware is being run, and it doesn't help that the main distribution of the kernel Linux includes these proprietary blobs. For example, one of the people responsible for the OpenPandora once justified proprietary firmware as "more open" than proprietary drivers because you can get the firmware to work with any OS. If all you value is "openness", this makes sense. If you value freedom, a proprietary firmware requirement is no better than a proprietary driver requirement. Indeed, using an old Nvidia card (that works with Nouveau) is the best choice. I don't think there's even an active reverse-engineering effort for Radeon cards, so you can expect them to be essentially pieces of junk forever.
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
Exactly.
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
Not quite. Writing proprietary software is more like offering somebody to become a slave at free will. It's like raising the question: "who wants to become my slave voluntarily?". It's similar but not the same like enslaving people directly since they are free to choose whether they want to use it or not.
Re: [Trisquel-users] So is this true about AMD on Trisquel?
Well then why the heck do they even celebrate these drivers like a win for GNU/Linux users? You can't even use them wihtout proprietary code! I don't understand supposed "Linux enthusiasts" writers that are doing this then... I mean if anything it'll get current Free software users to accidently convert to closed code. At least that's how it's worked for me, lol. I sadly don't have an Intel chipset, I prefer AMD (don't ask why, I just do, lol). I use a high end ASUS motherboard as well, so it can use four videocards at once, but doesn't contain an integrated video card. This kinda stinks! So my only hope of 3D acceleration in Trisquel is using Intel integrated graphics (NOT my prefered choice) or antique Nvidia cards like the 9500GT? Thanks for your respose by the way.
[Trisquel-users] Re : So is this true about AMD on Trisquel?
Radeon cards work on Trisquel. But because of the proprietary firmware you mentioned (and that remains proprietary until now), some features do not work. That includes 3D acceleration. If your computer has an Intel graphical chipset (the case for all Intel processors, for many years), you had better removed the Radeon card and enjoy the perfect support of this chipset by the Linux-libre kernel (that all free GNU/Linux distributions, including Trisquel, use). You would save energy in this way too.
[Trisquel-users] Re : "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
* Enough protection is offered to be relatively sure you won't sue me if something goes wrong when you use my code. Using my code in proprietary software is "something that goes wrong". And something permissive licenses do not protect from (by definition).
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
Actually the GPL sin't focused on "total" (any better words?) freedom as it basically says "Don't tell the world that it's your writing since it wasn't, and don't you dare to re-release a version of this software that is not *free* ", while non-copyleft lincences simply say "Don't tell the world it's your writing since it's actually mine" Free is defined by the 4 software freedoms (though I disagree with RMS in that I think freedom 0 should be "To use a programme, for any purpose *that doesn't deprive the programme's consumers from freedoms 1, 2, and 3* ")
[Trisquel-users] So is this true about AMD on Trisquel?
I was very excited to learn and start using AMD graphics cards on GNU/Linux with the "open source" graphics drivers, but I'm not sure what the future looks like for these drivers? I've been biting at the bit to be a full Trisquel user but have been too unsuccessful in the past due to the older kernels/versions. I'm waiting on Trisquel 7 and a newer Kernel (I have used Lubuntu 14.04 so I could try the 3.13 kernel with the OSS Drivers). I'm really impressed with the performance of the Xorg drivers for AMD, but here's the big question now. I'm now reading in some places that the AMD OSS drivers won't even work with Trisquel because of 'micro-code issues'. Is this true? I mean has this been resolved with the newer kernels (no micro-code needed)? It seems that some people use the terms 'driver' and 'micro-code' and 'firmware' interchangably, so I'm wondering if this is true or that people are confusing each other by using different terms and referencing older kernels without the newer Xorg drivers. Anyways, I was hoping someone on here had an answer for me. Thanks.
Re: [Trisquel-users] "Why the GPL doesnt focus on freedom" keynote from OSCON
I'd like to add that the logic used here would also work for justifying the legalization of slavery. You could say, "We want workers to have the freedom to choose how they want to work, and that's why permitting people to sell themselves into slavery is the best way." (It's not the same, mind you, but this does show how absurd the logic is.)
