Philosophy of Harv's Hamshack Hack CD

Reprinted here is the philosophy of Harv's (AI9NL) Hamshack Hack

There should be hundreds ... thousands ... of CD's like this one available in the Amateur Radio community. Each and every interest group ... homebrewers to DX'ers, Antenna modelers to EmComm ... should have there own collections of software and systems. We are quickly approaching the era when the greater part of our radios will be built at the keyboard. Solder splatters on the floor and the smell of burning rosin in the air are quickly fading into memories.

LINUX is soooo Ham! You can take it apart, rebuild it, add to it, or subtract from it. You can engineer, re-engineer, or reverse-engineer the entire system. No one will say stop, but many will lend a hand to your effort. The guys we used to call "Elmer's" are now known as "gurus". They are equally knowledgeable, resourceful, and obliging. The big problem for many older hams is that these "gurus" may be only 12 years old! LINUX provides an exceptionally wide range of tools to help you complete your project. At its very roots, Linux is a sharing, co-operative, community effort ... the very basis of things "Ham".

The future of our hobby, regardless the course and meanders it eventually follows, will be bound to our computers. Your next "transceiver" may very likely be a PCI plugin card. If we greet the need to learn how to manipulate new tools as an imposition, rather than a creative opportunity, then we deserve to loose our bands to BPL ... or whatever the next outrageous corporate exploitation proposes.

Barack Obama - The First Open Source President?

Alex Castellanos, a CNN Analyst, discusses future President Obama's acceptance speech in relation to the definitive essay "The Cathedral and The Bazaar". He raises the question "Will Obama introduce a bottom-up government for the communication age versus the old top-down government of the industrial age?"

Interesting to me was hearing about the FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) paradigm shift in a political, government leadership role by someone far outside the software world.

View the video on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-4afdMalVA


The Cathedral and The Bazaar essay is available for free viewing at
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/

Version 08.10 of the OpenDisc and OpenEducationDisc Release

The new versions have just been released. I blogged about the OpenDisc and the OpenEducation Disc here. These discs are a great introduction to the world of FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software).

Learn more at theopendisc.com

One Million Laptops for Venezuela School Children

Oil rich Venezuela will buy a million Classmate notebooks for school children, based on Intel's reference design.

According to the BBC, the $3 billion deal is part of a bilateral trade agreement with Portugal. The machines will be built in Portugal and use the Atom cut down microprocessor and will come with broadband connections and digicams.

Full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7642985.stm

Open Life: The Philosophy of Open Source

The recently published 'Open Life: The Philosophy of Open Source' introduces readers to many entertaining and thought-provoking ideas, such as “Are all nerds courageous? Is laziness a virtue? Why did Stephen King leave a horror story unfinished?”. The author answers some and leaves others open for reflection after our journey into the Open Life.

The Philosophy of Open Source is currently a highly discussed and not yet understood concept in the computer and IT worlds. However, the philosophy is impacting many both inside and outside the technological realm. Almost everyone has been exposed to it and has been impacted by it. This book defines terms, clarifies ideas and introduces leaders within the Open Source Movement. A portion of the book is devoted to explaining how Open Source is being applied in non-technical areas.

According to author Henrik Ingo, "There is currently a strong trend of Open Source methods being applied in all kinds of fields, and I wanted to write in a style understandable to everyone, yet interesting enough also to people who already know a lot about Open Source would like to read it too".

In keeping with Free Software and Internet trends, the book is available to read or download online for free or can be purchased in real paper-print format. Donations can be made to the author who shares part of that donation with others. Either way, 'Open Life: The Philosophy of Open Source' is sure to entertain and enlighten.

Here is the link to learn more: http://www.openlife.cc/

Mark Shuttleworth Interview About Ubuntu

Interview with Mark Shuttleworth, who funds the development of Ubuntu, a Linux distribution based on Debian, through his company Canonical Ltd.

OpenDisc and OpenEducationDisc

Dear to my heart is the OpenDisc (and the closely related OpenEducationDisc) project which aims to introduce Windows-users to the many benefits of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS). Dozens of high-quality programs are available for easy distribution via a single CD (or simple download from the OpenDisc website). On the disc is a screenshot and description of each program so you get a feel for each program before installing.

Programs are included for office productivity, internet, photo-editing, instant messaging, drawing, multi-media, games, mind-mapping, and more. The programs have been carefully selected for quality, ease of us, stability, and appropriateness for home and small office users. All programs install and uninstall cleanly. The disc is intended as an introduction into the exciting world of FLOSS.

All the programs are distributed under an Open Source License (OSI-approved) and thus can be installed on many computers, not just yours but your friends and your families also. The programs can even be modified with the freely available source code. The disc can be freely copied and handed out.

Last week, the latest version (08.05) of the OpenEducationDisc was released. The OpenEducationDisc is an extension of the the OpenDisc with additional programs deemed especially useful for students and for teachers. This version includes updated versions of all included programs and has added some newer programs from the previous disc.

To learn more, visit the OpenDisc website -- http://theopendisc.com/ --

As mentioned, the disc as well as all the programs can be freely downloaded from the Internet. If you do not have Internet access but would like the OpenEducationDisc (for free), please contact this blogger.