Regular readers will be aware of the existence of Tux, the Linux kernel mascot (news passim) and now if you live in the United States, you’ll be able to show your commitment to free and open source software by carrying a Tux-branded Visa credit card, courtesy of the Linux Foundation, the non-profit organisation dedicated to […]
Our old friend John Palfrey has emailed us with an update and picture of his Linux Lounge bus, which is gradually coming together as a showcase for open source IT and green energy technologies. The bus is a 1984 MCW Mk11 Metrobus, 9.5m in length and is powered by a 10.5L 6 cylinder Gardner engine. […]
Are you doing or have just done your A Levels and want to do practical technical computing? As we previously reported (news passim), Bristol’s University of the West of England is staging its Linux Boot Camp from Monday 29th June to Wednesday 1st July. The event will involve two and a half days of technical […]
About a week ago I wrote a piece (news passim) when the forward crew for Hacktionlab were about to depart to site, since when a discreet silence has been maintained. A partial excuse for such taciturnity was your scribe’s duties on the woodpile for the event – hard physical graft for someone used to tickling […]
I had an email from fellow Bristol Wireless volunteer Mike last night asking if I could fiddle with the order of posts on the site to bring the last post on Hacktionlab (news passim) to the top of the BW news page. After some thought, I decided to write this post instead. For those who […]
Yesterday Jules, our Bristol Wireless treasurer, took delivery of a brand new Eee PC. Needless to say, Jules chose a model with Linux – a proper operating system. Moreover, ever since he bought it he has had his nose stuck in reference materials and been hacking it around to customise it to meet his needs. […]
vnunet.com reports that almost 2 years after the WEEE disposal rules came into force, the UK is still lagging behind the rest of Western Europe in recycling electrical goods. Research by Dell found that 13 per cent of UK consumers do not recycle electrical goods at all – more than four times the figure in […]
Being on a low income it’s virtually impossible to find the money needed to gain access to the latest computer operating systems and software. Many times I’ve found myself angry at being denied access to software simply because of my economic status. I was therefore presented with two options: the first being to use pirated […]
Sitting on the desk before your correspondent is page 15 from Linux Format edition 119 for June 2009. This is a page entitled ‘Events radar’ and features Linux & open source events from around the world. Looking at June there’s one in particular that caught my eye – Bristol Wireless Linux Bootcamp, Bristol UK, particularly […]
Following on from the two successful gatherings to date – a rural hack meeting in the Wye Valley in June 2008 (news passim) and an urban one in Leeds in October 2008 – HacktionLab is pleased to announce its next rural gathering will be taking place between Thursday 11th and Sunday 14th June 2009 and […]
If any one is interested in trying out a bit of digital Djing I would highly recommend Mixxx. I stumbled across it a few months ago whilst having a browse through the Synaptic package manager and to be honest with you, I love IT. It’s quite a simple application to use and the graphical features […]
In the Bristol area (and other less favoured parts of the 3rd planet of a lowly star on the end of an unfashionable arm of the galaxy), Bristol Wireless has built up a fair reputation as übergeeks. We’ve also done some work beyond Bristol too. Building on the latter, Bristol Wireless now wishes to extend […]
Your scribe discovered yesterday that today has been designated Ada Lovelace Day by Pledgebank and is intended to promote the role of women in technology. The Pledgebank pledge for Ada Lovelace Day is: “I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 […]
Opening my inbox this morning revealed the arrival of news from Europe (Not Brussels though; no need to shudder and fear the worst! Ed.😉 ). Yesterday, 11th March, saw the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) celebrating its 2^3 (eighth) birthday. Over that time, the FSFE has been working for basic rights and freedoms in a […]
OSOR reports that the French Gendarmerie‘s gradual migration to a completely open source desktop and web applications has saved millions of euro. “This year the IT budget will be reduced by 70 per cent. This will not affect our IT systems,” says Lieutenant-Colonel Xavier Guimard. This Thursday, Guimard gave a presentation in Utrecht in the […]
Earlier today Bristol Wireless volunteer Sam alerted the co-op to the launch of Whitehall’s action plan for open source, including support for ODF. The action plan has a foreword by Digital Engagement Minister Tom Watson MP, which starts: Open Source has been one of the most significant cultural developments in IT and beyond over the […]
Ben, our server admin, has just announced the update of the Bristol Wireless Debian repositories. As a preface, Ben wrote: Debian 5.0 “Lenny” was released on Valentine’s Day, how sweet. I suspect that this has caused many break-ups as enthusiastic Debian Sys Admins rushed from candle-lit dinners to attend to their servers.* Anyway, Ben informs […]
The Wireless Community Weekend (WCW) hosted annually by Freifunk is taking place at the end of May (22.-24.05.2009) and will be staged once again at c-base in Berlin. The event programme has not been firmed up yet and will be arranged by participants. Proposals for the programme can be submitted before the event. Further details […]
Pete, the Chair of Bristol Wireless, has posted details to our daily mailing list of a petition on the 10 Downing Street website, requesting the British Prime Minister to promote greater use of open source software in UK schools. At present, use of free and open source software in schools is very much a minor […]
Users of open source and free software are very familiar with open licences such as the GNU General Public License (GPL). Indeed all the content of this site is available under it (we’re still on version 2; the GPL itself is on 3.0 now. Damn techies. Ed.). One piece of news that may have been […]