Richmond Open Source Community - Open Source

Try Open Source

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 13:16:31 -0500

These are starting for people around Richmond, Indiana who are ready to try
open source software.

There are lot of options.

Screencasts. Screencasts are movies, usually about two minutes along, that you can watch right in browser. It's not really "using" Linux yourself, but you can get feel what's it is like to to experience a Linux desktop immediately. See LinClips for Linux desktop screencasts. There will be many options. "Mandriva" is recommended! ubuntuclips.org and UbuntuVideo.com have even more Linux video clips.

Job Posting: open source Sysadmin and Web Hosting Tech Support Rep

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:16:12 -0400

Summersault, LLC is a small website development firm based in Richmond, Indiana, and we provide web hosting and co-location services for our clients. We seek to hire a qualified UNIX system administrator and technical support representative to manage and secure our hosting infrastructure, resolve technical support requests from clients, while incorporating a passion for Summersault’s particular mission and vision.

Mono Now Does Visual Basic

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 23:06:15 -0500

I know what most of you are thinking What is Mono? Well...

"Mono provides the necessary software to develop and run .NET client and server applications on Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, Windows, and Unix. Sponsored by Novell (http://www.novell.com), the Mono open source project has an active and enthusiastic contributing community and is positioned to become the leading choice for development of Linux applications." - http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page

What this allows you to do is run programs written in the various languages that are part of the .Net package and run them in a non-Windows environment. I have the link to download the package and I also went step by step on how to install it on any Linux distribution on my website threethirty.us. If anyone would like me to repost that here I have no problem doing so.

Thunderbird 2.0b1 review: tagging needs more work

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 07:00:37 -0500

Tagging update: Ho Hum.

As a a power user of Thunderbird 1.5, I evaluated the first beta release of Thunderbird 2.0 today. I was most looking forward to better tagging. More than five tags are now allowed, but the use the implementation is not compelling. First, you can't easily add multiple tags at the same time, like you can with del.icio.us. This makes the use of tagging slower than it needs to be. Second, there is no visible keyboard shortcut to add a tag to a message, beyond the first 10 defined. Finally, tagging simply doesn't scale well this way. As you can see in the screenshot, Thunderbird just keeps adding new tags to a linear list, which will eventually start to scroll of the screen. Unwieldy.

Open Source Totem Beats RealPlayer with RealAudio stream

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 08:26:10 -0500

I was disappointed that Realplayer 10 wouldn't play this RealAudio stream I made several years ago, using official Real-branded tools as I recall. Instead, the message returned is:

The content you are trying to play uses an audio codec that is obsolete and no longer supported. Please contact the content provider about using a supported codec.

It appears Real quit supporting their own format. However, the open source totem player had no problem with it.

Free Open Source CDs available

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:01:39 -0400

Thanks to Ray Ontko and Ubuntu, we now have dozens of CDs with open source software to give away.

These CDs not only contain great software for free, but they are multi-functional. You can:

Install open source software for Windows, including OpenOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird.
Boot directly into a memory test program, to confirm if you have any bad memory.
Easily boot directly off the cd into a completely functional Ubuntu Linux desktop. This is an easy and risk-free way to evaluate Linux-- your hard drive will not be touched.
Finally, you can use the CD to install Linux to your hard drive if you like it, possibly alongside or replacing Windows.

If you'd like one of these CDs and live around Wayne County, Indiana, contact Mark Stosberg to get one.

If you live elsewhere, you can contact Ubuntu directly, and they'll mail CDs to you.

Open Source Values and Culture Presented at Local Church

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 22:15:37 -0400

I recently gave a presentation about the culture and values of open source at the Richmond Church of the Brethren.

I roughly covered the following bullet points, and have presented them here with some links to provide some context about what I might have been talking about.

Freespire Beta Released: A new option for new Linux users

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 23:24:03 -0400

The people behind Lindows, and now known as Linspire, have come out with a free community project they have called Freespire. Freespire Beta 1 Build 0.0.69 as they call it the first operating system with the freedom of choice. It is targeted at beginning computer users. It is almost a clone of Linspire, and even bundles its CNR (Click n Run) software in there, as well as bundling proprietary codecs and drivers.

You can see the install here: http://osvids.com/vids/0006/vid_0006.html

Five Power Tips for Thunderbird

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 21:05:36 -0400

As an internet professional, I use e-mail constantly. Mutt, a popular e-mail client for command line geeks had been wearing on me. I found Thunderbird 1.5 a capable replacement for my needs, and have since cut the average size of my Inbox in half.

Over at the Summersault blog, I've posted five tips to get the most productivity out of Thunderbird.

Welcome, Picasa for Linux

Sat, 27 May 2006 16:04:06 -0400

Google has released Picasa for Linux. Picasa is a free photo management and light editing tool comparable to iPhoto or Digikam. Previously it was only supported on Windows.

The release of Picasa for Linux is significant for a number reasons. First, the lack of Picasa for Linux had been a reason to hold back on a Linux switch. Multiple people had cited cited the ease of use and the ability to make non-destructive edits. With that feature, Picasa allowed you recover the original version of a photo if you were unhappy with your changes for any reason.

LyX: An excellent tool for math notation

Fri, 05 May 2006 12:57:06 -0400

Math teachers need software than can efficiently produce a lot of mathmatical notation. It's possible to use math formulas directly in word processors like OpenOffice. OpenOffice is fine when you need an occassional math formula, but it requires too many clicks to be efficient for math heavy documents.

For math-intense documents, the free, open source LyX is an excellent choice.
Available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows, LyX excels at working with math formulas. The edge it provides is direct shortcuts to enter common math notations, as well as beautiful output.

Glabels: An Excellent label making program

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 21:32:33 -0400

Glabels 2 is an an excellent, free, open source Linux program for creating labels and business cards.

It was a snap to use it to create ROSCo business cards. Without having used the software before, I was able to create what I wanted in just a few minutes. Not only does Glabels provide tools to design labels, it has built-in templates for hundreds of standard label-type designs, such as the business card sheets you can buy for home label printing.

My favorite browser: Firefox

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 21:48:30 -0400

As a professional website developer and geek, I spend a lot of time in a front of a web browser. As an efficiency freak, I care a lot a about how well it performs for me.

My current favorite browser is Firefox. It's easy to use for novice web users, while housing advanced features that demanding folks will appreciate as well.

Firefox launches quickly. This is a basic but important quality. The larger Mozilla suite that Firefox is descended from does not have this trait.

It runs on Mac OS X, Linux, Windows and Linux. This consistency across platforms helps minimize frustrations when switching computers. For people considering trying out Linux, running open source software like Firefox and OpenOffice can ease the transition.

Wikis: A training ground for social change.

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 19:51:41 -0500

Wikis and “wiki style collaboration” are increasing trend on the net. You can listen my experimental audio posting on how this model works and the changed expectations it cultivates about interactions in the physical world.

Visiting the Foreign Land of Windows XP

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 19:45:48 -0500

I'd seen Windows XP from a distance, but I hadn't really visited until last night. Sure, I'd been a tourist, browsing on a Internet Explorer to see how it rendered, but I'd never stayed long enough to have a meaningful experience, like installing a new applications for myself, or trying to get a new piece of hardware to work with it.

So last night I had the chance to visit the land of Windows XP, helping setup a laptop to be more functional and secure. There were some pleasant sights to see: XP has a bit of eye-candy built-in, with dropshows here and there, and menus that fade in and out.

Soon I saw the signs that as a resident of Linuxland, I was in a different culture. It's a bit like having visited Europe and noticing the that cars are smaller, the washing machines are smaller and by golly, some of the beaches are really different.

So was my experience with Windows XP.