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Issue 21 Bulletin November 2012

Contents

Thestakesarehigher 1 A bit about free 3 hardware Support free 4 this holiday season Where in the world is 5 ? LulzBot AO-100 3D 6 printer is certifiably fun GNU MediaGoblin and 9 being able to fix the printer was frus- FSF team up to trating, but this practical issue rose to crowdfund the future the level of an ethical problem when of media publishing he realized people had started to make GNU campaigns team 9 promises to the companies distribut- takes to the streets ing software that they wouldn’t share Why GPL compliance 10 the they had with any- work matters one else. Software companies were re- New LibrePlanet 11 quiring users to promise not to help gaming server running each other; to remain dependent only Minetest on them. People had to sell out their FSF buying guide: 11 friends and peers in order to get the holiday shopping with software they needed. values Because Stallman didn’t have the source code, his Xerox printer didn’t work as well as it could have. But The stakes are higher now, because we don’t have the source code, Amazon can delete copies of by John Sullivan our books from the reading devices Executive Director we hold in our hands, while we hold When Richard Stallman launched them in our hands. They can and the , it they do; in fact, they are so confident was because he couldn’t get the neces- that people will accept this exercise sary source code to a printer program of power that they remotely deleted with a problem he wanted to fix. Not

1 copies of one of the most powerful and the world of those around us. books ever written about totalitarian You wouldn’t know it from the ad- control — 1984. Beyond deleting in- vertising, of course. On October 25th, dividual books, Amazon can — and 2012, Windows 8 launched with an does — completely block readers’ ac- estimated $1.5 billion marketing bud- cess to their entire libraries, because get. If you’re in the US, you’ve been access to those libraries is controlled by seeing the incessant rapid-fire colorful and proprietary commercials. The same week, Apple formats. launched a heavy round of advertising Amazon is not the only company for a new (smaller) iPad. with this power — all of the current These commercials try to convey a ebook reading devices, including the sense of freedom and creativity. They Nook and the iPad, have the same focus on all of the new things the soft- problem. The result is that we are not ware will “let” you do. What the com- able to pass our books on to our chil- mercials don’t tell you is that many of dren, or loan them to friends, or donate the devices sold with Windows 8 — es- them to libraries, or sell them when we pecially tablets — will only be allowed are done, or re-read them ourselves in to run Windows. One of the major the future once the proprietary device- innovations in the new operating sys- of-the-year decides to stop understand- tem is not what it will empower you ing the format they are in. It means to do but what it stops you from do- that all of our reading habits can be ing. They don’t tell you that if you buy recorded, consolidated, and exploited. an iPad, you are only allowed to in- It’s not just books. Because we stall software pre-approved by Apple, don’t have the source code, we aren’t or that Apple can remotely disable this in control of the medical devices some software at any time. depend on to stay alive. Because we Everywhere around us we hear don’t have the source code, soon we these voices deceptively pushing pro- may not be able to drive freely, be- prietary software. Where are the cause proprietary car software will take voices for free software? the wheel. We may not be able to see The FSF has been a voice for free freely, because the electronic glasses we software for over twenty-seven years, wear will filter our vision. and we are building our capacity to The stakes are now much higher crank up the volume. We won’t com- than a printer jam, and they will con- pete by being a corporate marketing tinue to get higher. department designed to trick people We are fortunate Stallman recog- into buying our product. That isn’t nized that not having the source code necessary, because we have the truth was more than a mere inconvenience, on our side. Free software is just bet- and fortunate that others have realized ter for you. If we had $1.5 billion with this as well. The fact that only the which to make sure everyone heard companies have the source code keeps about free software, this would all be us ignorant of what they may actually over very quickly. be doing — and often are caught doing While we don’t have that kind of — and deprives us of a component crit- money (yet!), we do have many thou- ical to improving both our own world sands of supporters and independent

2 free software users around the world. You are reading this because you are one of those supporters. The FSF exists largely to amplify your voice, and to make sure you and the rest of the free software movement are repre- sented in every context where software is mentioned, in any language, any- where. In order for us to do that, we need you to speak up first. That’s why we often ask you to make public commit- ments — to sign pledges and petitions, and to firmly state your support for free software ideals to any company News Alert! LulzBot AO-100 3D printer that restricts users. now FSF-certified to respect your freedom It’s why we’ve asked you to state on the record that you won’t buy any A bit about free hard- computer that tries to prevent you from changing the , ware at http://fsf.org/sb. Over 37,000 people have added their name, and by Joshua Gay more are doing it every day. Licensing and Compliance It’s why we’ve asked you to pledge Manager to help a friend or family member move In October we awarded our first Re- to GNU/ instead of Windows 8, spects Your Freedom (RYF) certi- at http://fsf.org/windows8. fication to the LulzBot AO-100 3D No matter how much amplification Printer sold by Aleph Objects, Inc. we do, the essence of this movement The RYF certification mark means is these individual conversations with that the product meets the FSF’s stan- the people around you, and the way dards in regard to users’ freedom, con- you share your commitment with oth- trol over the software that runs on ers. Keeping these conversations and the product, and privacy. The free these public commitments going is the software community and the public only way to keep our books from get- have been very supportive of and ex- ting burned, and to make our partic- cited about the RYF certification pro- ipation in a technologically advanced gram, and are eager to see more com- society truly free. The stakes are high puter devices ship with RYF certifica- and getting higher. What you are do- tion marks. ing is very important, and we need you A small number of people have to keep it up. Unless you can give us asked us if we could add more require- $1.5 billion. ments to the RYF certification process, specifically, whether or not we can cer- tify that the hardware itself — not just the software that ships on the device — can be considered free hardware.

3 While following-up with free hard- hardware products from being able to ware advocates, I found very cool and have RYF certification is the fact that growing nascent communities. They hardware makers are shipping propri- ranged from individuals building ana- etary software for their Graphics Pro- log devices to those trying to fab their cessing Units (GPUs). In many cases, own chips. But, the one thing I found this is because they are selling func- in common with almost all of these tionality — that is they will sell differ- communities was their commitment to ent proprietary software that is that is free software. able to unlock different graphics func- So while we don’t currently have tionality on the same hardware. plans to expand our certification to If you want more GPUs that re- include more free hardware require- spect your freedom, I urge you to help ments, I did in the process learn a fair a GPU reverse engineering project.2 bit about free hardware design. There are many aspects to designing hard- ware, including mechanical drawings, schematics, PCB layout data, HDL source code, and integrated circuit lay- out data. And there is also a fair amount of free software for doing elec- tronic design automation and simula- New! FSF Knife and Cybertool shop. tion, including , KiCad, Qucs, fsf.org and XCircuit. Another thing I learned while re- searching and talking to people in the Support free software free hardware community is just how important it is for developers to be cre- this holiday season ating more free formats and low-level free software. It really is a high prior- by Chrissie Himes ity! And in fact, some projects can be Operations Assistant found on the FSF High Priority Proj- Don’t forget to visit our shop shop. ects (HPP) list. fsf.org as you do your holiday In terms of free formats, we have shopping. This year we proudly un- the replacement for OpenDWG li- veiled a number of new items, such braries on our HPP list. OpenDWG as the GNU Reference mugs is a collection of CAD files, a speci- — which is in such high demand that fication for CAD format, and propri- we’ve had to reorder several times. etary software tools for creating and We also introduced large and small manipulating CAD files. If you want versions of the GNU/FSF logo cyber- to help replace OpenDWG with a free tool/knife. We are working on several format and free software tools, consid- new items for the store as well, like an ered helping LibreDWG.1 updated Emacs manual and GNU bea- But, perhaps the biggest bottle- nies. To get all the latest news and up- neck right now that is preventing more dates from the FSF shop, please join 2 1www..org/software/libredwg www.fsf.org/campaigns/ priority-projects/reverse-engineering

4 the GNU Press mailing list: ur1.ca/ 9hkqk. If you have any suggestions for GNU Press, don’t hesitate to add them to our ideas page at libreplanet. org/wiki/Group:FSF/Ideas. Another great way to show your support to the FSF is to volunteer with us. We are always looking for vol- unteers of all skill levels to help us out with small tasks and larger proj- ects. Projects include updating the Free Software Directory directory. Richard Stallman on the balcony where fsf.org, stuffing envelopes, writing San Martin proclaimed Peru’s indepen- a blog post, and helping to answer dence users’ questions on licensing and soft- ware. To get started as a volunteer, Where in the world is check out the volunteer page at www. fsf.org/volunteer, send a message Richard Stallman? to [email protected], or if you live in by Jeanne Rasata the Boston area, stop by the office. Assistant to the President ver the past six months, Richard OStallman has continued advocat- ing for the protection of computer- user rights to government and school authorities, developers, students, ac- tivists, and members of the general public, delivering 56 speeches in 41 cities across 12 countries. His visit to Peru this past August took him from Chiclayo, in the north, to Tacna, in the south, through Tru- jillo, Ayacucho, Huacho, Callao, and Lima. In Chiclayo, his speech calling for a free digital society was the main at- traction at the eighth national confer- ence of students of system and com- puter engineering (CONEISC), Peru’s The FSF Associate Membership Card most important technological event, member.fsf.org where he appealed to students and en- gineers to devote their energies to cre- ating a free and just — rather than an amoral all-inclusive — digital world. He was awarded an honorary pro- fessorship in Trujillo, where he called

5 for schools to fulfill their roles of form- bers of San Marcux, the student group ing and educating good members of so- at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de ciety by using only free software, and San Marcos, in Lima, were continuing honorary doctorates by universities in to train as free software speakers. Tacna and Huacho, where he spoke You can see photographic excerpts about the goals and philosophy of the of some of Richard Stallman’s re- free software movement, and under- cent appearances on his blog at fsf. scored the need to focus more on com- org/blogs/rms, and hear those of his puter users’ freedom to cooperate and speeches for which we have record- control their own computing. ings at audio-video.gnu.org. Please At the national office for electronic write to [email protected] with and computing government (ONGEI), any photographs you would like to in Lima, he met with the state’s top of- share or to extend an invitation for ficials in charge of computing, to make Richard to come speak. recommendations and present the ad- vantages of using free software in pub- lic institutions, citing as an example ’s experience in fully transi- tioning state agencies to an exclusive use of free software. In Lima, at the Universidad Inca Garcilosa de la Vega, school officials highlighted the work of COSOLIG, the university’s free software group, which is the first community in Peru to be part of an international network to promote free software nationally and The Lulzbot AO-100 throughout . The Universidad Nacional del Cal- lao’s free software group, UNACINUX, which we thank for having organized LulzBot AO-100 3D and coordinated the entire visit, com- printer is certifiably fun mented on its site that Stallman’s speech there raised awareness of the by Nico Cesar, Peter (Peabo) importance of free software’s social as- Olson, and Ward Vandewege pect and the fact that not all tech- Systems Administration Team nological change is good. The free e already covered the importance software movement has come a long Wof having a free hardware cer- way in Peru, and Stallman was pleased tification in previous articles in this to note that the people who invited bulletin. The good thing about do- him run a Latin American free soft- ing a hardware certification of a 3D ware install fest that, unlike most other printer is that you get to play with FLISOL events, promotes completely one of them!3 The LulzBot AO-100 free distros exclusively, and vigorously 3D printer melts plastic filament and upholds the values of the movement. 3 He was also happy to see that the mem- ur1.ca/aiix2

6 builds up a three dimensional object printer will execute, or GCode. The out of thin extruded layers. Two STL to GCode conversion is done by commonly used plastics are ABS and Slic3r.7 In this transformation there PLA.4 When I first read about these are many parameters to tweak, like the kinds of printers I got really excited width of the filament, printing speed, about the possibilities, but I thought and the fill pattern. It is also pos- it would be a challenge to get it work- sible to merge several STL files into ing. Luckily, I was proven wrong. The one GCode file. This allows for print- LulzBot makes it quite easy to materi- ing multiple copies of an object in one alize creations in 3D. batch. When Slic3r has done its con- version, it prints out an estimate of the The setup and software amount of raw material the print job will take. It also estimates the time The printer has 2 thermal components: required for the job. The GCode file the heater and the bed. The heater needs to be sent to the printer. Pron- needs to reach 230 Celsius (446 Fahren- terface is the software that handles the heit) for ABS plastic to melt. The bed physical controls of the printer. It has needs to heat up to 110 Celsius (230 X/Y/Z axis buttons that can be used Fahrenheit). It takes about 10 minutes to move the print head around. It for the bed to be heated up sufficiently shows the head and bed temperature. to start printing - the heater warms up It also has a “Load” button to load more quickly. The heated bed prevents the GCode file. With the “Print” but- distortion of the object which might ton, GCode can bring your creations to otherwise occur if it cools down too (static) life. Pronterface also allows ex- quickly. The extruder contains a mech- ploring of the layers of the GCode file, anism which pulls the plastic filament where the quality of the print may vary into the melting area, and pushes it out according to what direction the print through a small diameter nozzle, allow- head is moving, especially close to the ing for very fine features to be printed. edges of the object. Also, the printer As it extrudes each layer, the extru- generally uses an open cross-hatch pat- sion head moves to the right and left, tern for interior sections of the object, and the bed moves forward and back- to minimize the amount of plastic used ward. When each layer is finished, the (and hence optimize the print time) extruder moves a little higher to posi- without impairing the structural sta- tion itself for the next layer. bility of the object. Objects to be printed are de- scribed by StereoLithography (STL) The hardware and the project files that can be imported/exported from free software such as Blender5 or One of the most impressive aspects of FreeCAD.6 There are also repositories 3D printers is that many of the parts of STL files available online. The file can be produced by a 3D printer. If has to be translated to code that the a part of a 3D printer breaks, it is of- 4www.lulzbot.com/en/3d-printer/ ten possible to print out a replacement 153-ao-100.html part to fix the printer. The LulzBot 5 www..org 7 6directory.fsf.org/wiki/FreeCAD slic3r.org

7 AO-100 seems very robust. The heated work. There are some design limita- extruder is responsible for the X and tions to keep in mind when printing Z axis movement. The bed provides 3D objects as well. It is important the Y axis movement. About the elec- not to make overhangs which might tronics you can read in their homepage: sag while the plastic is still soft. This “The Tosduino MEGA 2560 micro- may require an object to be printed in controller board is an Arduino MEGA more than one section and then glued clone made by Tinyos.8 The Mega is together, or might require some extra used in the RepRap community with supporting struts to be printed which RAMPS electronics and also widely are later cut away. A mixture of ace- used in the hacker and DIY commu- tone and ABS makes a very good glue nity.” for ABS objects, since the bonds it If you are buying a 3D printer, you makes are like welds that are as strong probably have a project in mind. At as the rest of the object. This mixture the FSF we have a messy server room can also be used to refine the surface (who doesn’t?). We have many cables appearance of the object, so that the that need to be organized better. Us- layers are less visible. ing the Lulzbot, we are printing cable The low-cost 3D printing revolu- holders and cable wrappers so that we tion is just beginning. For sure, there can get the cables to fit into boxes and is a lot of room for improvement on shelves.9 There is an ongoing effort the technical level, but the current re- done by the MediaGoblin crew to pro- sults are quite impressive for a low vide a federated repository of 3D cre- budget start. As users we have to ations ready to print.10 You can do- make sure that we are on the right path nate to MediaGoblin at mediagoblin. and that our freedom is guaranteed. org to support this project. The LulzBot AO-100 3D printer allows us to generate 3D objects in freedom. Problems and solutions Recommended! Early on, we saw some glitches on the first printed layer. This was due to the slightly slippery bed surface. We used acetone mixed with some ABS to make the bed stickier, spreading it out on the bed as it heated up. Once started, the printing process should not be left unattended, because if the filament gets stuck it will mess up the printing. Luckily, the printing process is fun to look at and the stepper mo- tors make almost musical tones as they

8www.lulzbot.com/en/ 83-arduino-mega-2560.html Gavroche the MediaGoblin needs your 9www.thingiverse.com/thing:28696, support www.thingiverse.com/thing:10219 10mediagoblin.org/news/3d-support

8 GNU MediaGoblin and people know the FSF doesn’t support FSF team up to just anything, and that means Medi- aGoblin is Serious Business. crowdfund the future We’ve got a ton of work ahead to of media publishing make the world’s most beautiful me- dia hosting future come true. We’re by Chris Webber off to a good start, and with this cam- GNU MediaGoblin Developer paign wrapping up, we’ll be able to he last couple of months have put some focus into things. But this Tbeen intense. I’m the lead devel- project needs a lot of help; we encour- oper of GNU MediaGoblin, and about age you to check out mediagoblin.org a month ago we launched a crowd- and join our community. The future of funding campaign we’ve been running media publishing is powered by you! hosted on FSF infrastructure. At the time of writing, we have a little bit less than a week left. It’s not clear if we’ll make the full goal, but it is clear that the project has been a success, and I’m thrilled that we’ve had the chance to jump in and do it. MediaGoblin is a decentralized me- dia publishing system for the web for images, audio, video, and more. You can think of it as a free as in freedom alternative to proprietary web services Libby, Zak and a GNU at the Windows 8 like , YouTube, SoundCloud, and launch more. The crowdfunding campaign we did was done in a style similar to those GNU campaigns team that are becoming popular on sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, except we takes to the streets are running on the FSF’s infrastruc- ture. This is the first campaign to be by Libby Reinish launched on this kind of scale with the Campaigns Manager FSF’s systems (and as far as I know, The FSF has a new campaigns team, the first to be launched in this style and we’ve wasted no time in hit- under any nonprofit’s infrastructure). ting the streets to advocate for free But we’re happy with how it’s gone: software. it’s great to work with an organization Campaigns managers Libby Rein- that’s directly aligned with our ideals, ish (that’s me) and Zak Rogoff took to know that the infrastructure hosting our GNU mascot to do a little early it is all free software, and to know that trick-or-treating at the Windows 8 the overhead goes to supporting a non- launch in NYC this October. We profit with directly aligned ideals. And handed copies of Trisquel out to folks it’s been great for our messaging too: standing in line to get a glimpse of Mi- crosoft’s new Frankenstein monster, a

9 truly scary operating system that will active license enforcement is an impor- keep users subjugated. tant part of the service that we provide Our trick-or-treat action is just the for the community. beginning for us. Zak, K˙yra and I have At heart, compliance work mat- big plans to expand the FSF’s ability ters for the same reasons that copy- to reach beyond our base and engage left matters: we want to make sure more people than ever before in the that the software always remains free. free software movement. We are re- Sometimes it makes sense to license a imagining how the FSF can support work under a permissive license. Un- people who want to switch to free soft- der those circumstances, adding ad- ware, planning new ways to get our ditional conditions won’t really bene- boots on the ground to distribute free fit the free software community, but software, and scheming fresh tactics to would add some extra work. When stop DRM and protect user freedom. those circumstances don’t exist, and a We want to hear your ideas for license like the GPL is neces- promoting free software and stand- sary to preserve user freedom, license ing up to companies that control enforcement should play an important their customers with proprietary soft- role. A copyleft license that is not en- ware. So please, shoot us an email at forced, after all, offers no more protec- [email protected] and tell us what tion than a simple permissive license. campaigns you think we should focus A lack of license enforcement has the on next. perverse consequence of letting those who do not care about free software use a work without condition, while The Free Software good community members will still go Supporter through the time and effort of making sure they fully comply. That is why the FSF is dedicated to providing enforcement services for Sign up today to receive our the community. Active enforcement is monthly newsletter, a difficult process. It involves investi- fsf.org/fss gating violations where information is purposefully hidden, understanding in minute detail the requirements of vari- Why GPL compliance ous free software licenses, and doggedly following up with potential violators work matters in order to ensure their compliance. By handling these issues for the GNU by Donald Robertson, III Project, and offering assistance for all Copyright and Licensing free software packages, the FSF hopes Associate to free up developers so they can focus The ex- on their code. panded our licensing team this The GPL is a promise that the soft- year, in large part to increase our com- ware will always be free, and enforcing pliance efforts. In addition to the ed- on its terms is one way that the Free ucational materials we make available, Software Foundation helps to keep that

10 promise. That is why the FSF has ex- what you can find! panded our compliance efforts. Please give a big thanks to Mark Holmquist (MarkTraceur) for volun- teering to set up and administer the New LibrePlanet gaming server. If you’d like to help ad- gaming server running minister the server, please get in touch on the mailing list or IRC channel. If Minetest you would like to get involved in the Minetest project, you should join the by K˙yra #minetest IRC channel and ask about Campaigns Organizer how to get started. You could also join he initial announcement of the Li- #minetest-mods and ask about how to TbrePlanet Gaming Collective gar- add features to the game. nered a lot of excitement and enthusi- asm, and the most requested activity since then has been to host and play free games as a group. We are now excited to announce this new service to the community: a communal ser- ver for the LibrePlanet Gaming Collec- tive! We have installed Minetest, the free software replacement, as the first game, and we will expand to others soon. To accompany this, we are opening up a separate mailing list and IRC channel for the team, and we’re excited to have you join us! The IRC channel is #libreplanet-gaming on freenode and you can subscribe to the list at: lists.libreplanet.org/ mailman/listinfo/gaming. To connect you’ll need the Minetest 0.4.3 client (see minetest.net for download and install instructions), and the server can be reached at games. libreplanet.org over port 30000. FSF buying guide: You’ll need to ask for interact privi- holiday shopping with leges, but we should be able to accom- modate your request quickly. If no- free software values body is on the server, you can enquire by Zak Rogoff on the mailing list or the IRC channel. Campaigns Manager The server is running several sim- n previous Novembers, you may ple mods, including the moreores Ihave seen the FSF’s holiday buy- by Calinou, the farming mod by ing guides, which we created to make PilzAdam, the bags mod by corner- it simple to support free software val- note, and a few others. Explore to see ues with your holiday shopping. We’re

11 bringing the guide back this year, but Published twice yearly by the Free taking a different tack. We’re going to Software Foundation, 51 Franklin Street, do our best to add more individual rec- 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 ommendations in addition to the broad (617)542-5942 principles we focused on before. [email protected] My favorite idea so far is to mimic http://www.fsf.org/ the format of the popular book series Eat This, Not That. Working from this idea, an entry in the guide would look something like the above image. We plan for the guide to cover au- dio, video and ebooks as well as all How to Contribute kinds of computers and software. To get all this information together, we need your help. If you have a sug- Associate Membership: gestion for a product to include (ei- Become an associate member of ther as a “Buy This” or as a “Not the FSF. Members will receive That”), please post it at fsf.org/ a bootable USB card and e-mail buyingguide. forwarding. To sign-up or get Thanks for helping your fellow FSF more information, visit member. members make ethical choices this hol- fsf.org or write to membership@ iday season. Happy holidays! fsf.org. Online: Use your credit card or PayPal account to make a dona- Get 10% off! tion at donate.fsf.org or con- tact [email protected] for more information on supporting the Visit shop.fsf.org and apply FSF. coupon code: BulletinNov12 for a discount on your next Jobs: List your job offers on our purchase! jobs page. See fsf.org/jobs for details. Free Software Directory: Copyright c 2012 Browse and download from thou- Free Software Foundation, Inc sands of different free software The articles in this bulletin are indi- projects! directory.fsf.org vidually licensed under the Attribution No Deriva- Volunteer: To learn more, visit tive Works 3.0 United States Li- fsf.org/volunteer. cense. To view a copy of this license, LibrePlanet: Find local groups visit http://creativecommons.org/ in your area or start your own at licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/ or send a libreplanet.org! letter to Creative Commons, 171 Sec- ond Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

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