Chinese company by the name Lemote produced a few batches of FSF endorsed laptops called Lemote Yeeloong back in 2010 – 2012. First Yeeloong was the model 8089B with a 8.9″ screen, followed by 8101B with a 10.1″ screen size. These laptops are now out of sale and only obtainable on a second hand market. If you happen to know the information where these laptops would still be obtainable from or you have one available from second hand yourself and are willing to sell it, please contact me on my e-mail (or just use the comment section in the blog form). I would be interested to order one for my personal use. Regarding the shipping, I live in Slovenia, Europe. Regarding the payment we could discuss various possibilities. Thank you !
Category: Amazing
libreCMC
libreCMC is a FSF endorsed embedded GNU/Linux distribution replacement for your wireless router which does not contain non-free software or binary blobs. The project’s goal is to provide an embedded distro that respects user freedoms and allows users to control what their hardware does. Since libreCMC is 100% free software, it allows the user to use supported platforms as a way to host their own services, like email, chat or file sharing; learn about how the device works. libreCMC is designed for users who would like to run 100% free software on their embedded device (routers) or would like to have more control over what their embedded device does. Future uses will expand to servers and HPC applications in a few years.
Currently supported (wireless) devices are :
- TP-LINK TL-MR3010 v1
- TP-LINK TL-WR741ND
- TP-LINK TL-WR841ND
- NETGEAR WNDR3800
- XBURST BEN NANONOTE
20 years on the Internet
It was around the year 1994, when my mother brought her business PC Atari XT 8086 home, which I was able to use. It had a Microsoft Windows DOS System installed. I managed to obtain the 2400 bps modem and install it into the computer. Because the internet wasn’t commercial at that time in Slovenia yet, my parents obtained Internet access through non-profit Academic and Research Network of Slovenia (ARNES). The modem was able to dial-up over telephone line into ARNES network and from there on friends of ours provided a terminal access to one of the UNIX computers at university, where I was capable to use E-mail and IRC. I spent many days on IRC chatting with people who were already able to access the Internet. Around that time Jonas showed us how Internet and IRC works in his popular TV show “Videošpon“.
Computing that benefits humanity
I am a long time member of the World Community Grid (WCG) an effort to create the world’s largest public computing grid to tackle scientific research projects that benefit humanity. Launched on November 16, 2004, it is funded and operated by IBM with client software currently available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and FreeBSD operating systems. Using the idle time of computers around the world, World Community Grid’s research projects have analyzed aspects of the human genome, HIV, dengue, muscular dystrophy, cancer, influenza, rice crop yields, and clean energy. The organization has so far partnered with over 400 other companies and organizations to assist in its work and has over 73,000 active registered users as of June 2013. If you access a computer system which doesn’t process anything while you aren’t working on it, you could donate idle time to this project. If this might sound complicated for you to begin with, I will be glad to assist you with some guidance.
iPhone handcuffs
Apple has launched a new model in their iPhone line called iPhone 5S on 20th of September 2013. The newly implemented functions of 5S are:
- Touch ID, a fingerprint recognition system built directly into the home button which can be used to unlock the phone and authenticate App Store and iTunes Store purchases, and an updated camera with a larger aperture and a dual-LED flash optimized for different color temperatures. It also introduced the 64-bit A7 processor (which Apple claimed was the first 64-bit processor to be used on a smartphone), accompanied by the M7 “motion co-processor”, a dedicated processor for processing motion data from its accelerometer and gyroscopes without requiring the attention of the main processor.
Now think twice before buying this product.
Previous models of iPhones already introduced a non-removable battery. A simple understanding of electronics will reveal you that a mobile phone software controls the phone hardware, and while iOS mobile operating system is a proprietary one, none of the users really knows how it operates. For example, you can power off your phone in the software, but you cannot remove the battery, so in theory it would mean that the phone is still under power and allows “someone” to trigger remote surveillance. Now look at the new “handcuffs” implemented with 5S. While it might sound convenient not having to type in the PIN code each time you use your phone, it can also have negative consequences. Imagine you have your iPhone 5S or whatever similar “Touch ID” device in your pocket and it has your Apple account and fingerprint lock, so obviously the hash of your fingerprint is stored. Then you play with the iPad Air in the store and it sends you a notification in your pocket giving you an offer to get 10% off if you buy an USB charger with it. And don’t forget the integrated GPS system that allows remote tracking.
So what can you do to avoid this type of tracking methods is to simply avoid using these type of devices. Or at least avoid using a smartphone that has all possible add-ons and use a “plain” mobile phone instead that can only be used for making and receiving calls. If you cannot avoid the need for a smartphone, you can use Replicant which is a fully free Android distribution and runs on several smartphone and tablet devices. You can read more about the iBad and anti-DRM campaign on Defective by Design website . Please also consider making a monetary donation to support freedom to the Replicant campaign or the Free Software Foundation.
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Libreink
Libreink is a future project that will feature a fully free GNU/Linux distribution for eBook reading devices, using e-Paper and other high-latency, bi-stable screens. It will be based on LibreWRT and backported from the pre-existing open source project Openinkpot. Target devices with the proper platform are still being evaluated. The main goal will be to use only free software and support freely available eBook formats, without Digital Restrictions Management. Developers are welcome to join the discussion channel #libreink on Freenode.
GNU 30th anniversary
The GNU project was started 30 years ago by Mr. Richard Matthew Stallman with it’s primary goal to distribute completely free (free as in freedom) software. It includes more than 80% of the code shared by todays popular systems often mistakenly called Linux (Linux is just a kernel, which was the missing part at that time, when GNU existed and was developed by Mr. Linus Torvalds in 1991), so the proper name for operational system is GNU+Linux. GNU/Linux is being used worldwide today with various distributions and in professional setups on Mobile phones, Embedded systems, PDA’s, Notebooks, PC’s, Servers and Mainframes and has already gained a large recognition. Congratulations to all the people involved and mostly to Mr. Stallman for striving so hard through the years for the recognition of the system.
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Richard M. Stallman inducted into the 2013 Internet Hall of Fame
Free Software Foundation founder Richard M. Stallman today joins the ranks of notable individuals who have been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame for their significant contributions to the advancement of the global Internet.
Links to official articles:
Congratulations !
Raspberry Pi
In early September I bought Raspberry Pi (RPI). RPI is a credit card sized single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of stimulating the teaching of basic computer science in schools. I have installed Raspbian distribution on it which is a fork of Debian GNU/Linux. Additionally I installed XBMC a free and open source media player application which is a substitute for the home cinema system. It is working very well and supports smooth playback of video streams for up to 1080p resolution. Because the basic RPI device comes in the shape of a chip-plated board I ordered a chasis/shell for it from ModMyPi. I also ordered the codec licenses for MPEG2 and VC-1 decoding from the Raspberry Pi store, which are required for smooth playback. It is really an amazing device, which is capable to process a lot for such a small price.
Richard M. Stallman in Ljubljana
On Saturday 21th of April, Richard M. Stallman, the founder of Free Software Foundation visited Slovenia and held an excellent lecture about “Copyright versus Community in the Age of Computer Networks” (videorecording here) at the Museum of Modern Art. I admire/respect the work that he has done over so many years in promoting and battling for the Free Software against the giant corporations, which try to limit the user rights and privacy. It was a great honour for me to be able to attend his lecture and speak a few words with him.