#Open Source Software

[river-taxbird]

Have YOU got an old Windows PC Microsoft has told you can't run Windows 11? It's time to give it a new life!

How to install Windows 11 on unsupported PC Hardware using Rufus. You can also disable some other Windows 11 bullshit like data harvesting and needing a Microsoft account.

It has been in the news a lot lately that Windows 11 isn't allowed to be installed on PCs without certain requirements, including the TPM 2.0, a chip that was only included in PCs made in 2018 or later. This means that once Windows 10 stops receiving security updates, those PCs will not be able to (officially) run a safe, updated version of Windows anymore. This has led to an estimated 240 million PCs bound for the landfill. Thanks Microsoft! I get you don't want to be seen as the insecure one, but creating this much waste can't be the solution.

(I know nerds, Linux is a thing. I love you but we are not having that conversation. If you want to use Linux on an old PC you are already doing it and you don't need to tell me about it. People need Windows for all sorts of reasons that Linux won't cut.)

So lately I have been helping some under privileged teens get set up with PCs. Their school was giving away their old lab computers, and these kids would usually have no chance to afford even a basic computer. They had their hard drives pulled so I have been setting them up with SSDs, but the question was, what to do about the operating system? So I looked into it and I found out there IS actually a way to bypass Microsoft's system requirement and put Windows 11 on PCs as old as 2010.

You will need: Rufus: An open source ISO burning tool.

A Windows 11 ISO: Available from Microsoft.

A USB Flash Drive, at least 16GB.

A working PC to make the ISO, and a PC from 2018 or older you want to install Windows 11 on.

Here is the guide I used, but I will put it in my own words as well.

Download your Windows 11 ISO, and plug in your USB drive. It will be erased, so don't have anything valuable on it. Run Rufus, select your USB drive in the Device window, and select your Windows 11 ISO with the Select button. (There is supposed to be a feature in Rufus to download your ISO but I couldn't get it to work.?

Choose standard windows installation, and follow the screenshot for your settings. Once you are done that, press Start, and then the magic happens. Another window pops up allowing you to remove the system requirements, the need for a microsoft account, and turn off data collecting. Just click the options you want, and press ok to write your iso to a drive.

From there you just need to use the USB drive to install windows. I won't go into details here, but here are some resources if you don't know how to do it.

Boot your PC from a USB Drive

Install Windows 11 from USB Drive

If you had a licensed copy of Windows 10, Windows 11 will already be licensed. If you don't, then perhaps you can use some kind of... Activation Scripts for Microsoft software, that will allow you to activate them. Of course I cannot link such tools here. So there you go, now you can save a PC made from before 2018 from the landfill, and maybe give it to a deserving teen in the process. The more we can extend the lives of technology and keep it out of the trash, the better.

Additional note: This removes the requirement for having 4GB Minimum of RAM, but I think that requirement should honestly be higher. Windows 11 will be unusable slow on any system with below 8GB of RAM. 8GB is the minimum I think you should have before trying this but it still really not enough for modern use outside of light web and office work. I wouldn't recommend trying this on anything with 4GB or less. I am honestly shocked they are still selling brand new Windows 11 PCs with 4GB of ram. If you're not sure how much RAM you have, you can find out in the performance tab of Task Manager in Windows, if you click the More Details icon on the bottom right. If you don't have enough, RAM for old systems is super cheap and widely available so it would definitely be worth upgrading if you have a ram starved machine you'd like to give a new life.

[bynux]

/* Filename: Discipline.scala */ for (i <- 1 to 1000) { println( f"$i%4d: I will not use code to cheat." ); } // >:3

[wild-raven-and-crow]

If you hate capitalism, or just really like free stuff that's cool, check this out:

Have any of your gotten frustrated by Google's Play store? If so, check out F-Droid

It's a store that has open source apps which are described honestly by their creators because they're not trying to sell you something. It actually lists "anti-features" of apps right after the "features" list so you know all the flaws too.

I found the Saber notes app on it, which is actually also on Google Play but is drowned out there by all the other more annoying less functional apps.

[ezomind-the-other-one]

@rosewind2007 here's the promised fanart for https://archiveofourown.org/works/47718772

@ everyone else, I can explain:

-> the fic linked above is about Murderbot discovering that people made fanfics of the documentary by Dr Bharadwaj, and they ship it with Gurathin

(Made with Gephi by desecrating the airports database provided in the examples. Layout algorithm is Force Atlas.)

[thoughtportal]

Twitter rival Mastodon has rejected more than five investment offers from Silicon Valley venture capital firms in recent months, as its founder pledged to protect the fast-growing social media platform’s non-profit status.

Mastodon, an open-source microblogging site founded in 2016 by German software developer Eugen Rochko, has seen a surge in users since Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October amid concerns over the billionaire’s running of the social media platform.

Rochko told the Financial Times he had received offers from more than five US-based investors to invest “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in backing the product, following its fast growth.

But he said the platform’s non-profit status was “untouchable,” adding that Mastodon’s independence and the choice of moderation styles across its servers were part of its attraction.

“Mastodon will not turn into everything you hate about Twitter,” said Rochko. “The fact that it can be sold to a controversial billionaire, the fact that it can be shut down, go bankrupt and so on. It’s the difference in paradigms [between the platforms].”

This month, Twitter temporarily suspended the accounts of Mastodon and several journalists, after they shared content about the flight path of Musk’s private jet. Twitter also suggested it would ban links to rival social media platforms including Mastodon but later reversed course on the policy.

In a blog post in response, Rochko said this was a “stark reminder that centralized platforms can impose arbitrary and unfair limits on what you can and can’t say,” adding that monthly active users of Mastodon increased from 300,000 to 2.5 million between October and November.

Daily downloads of Mastodon rose from 6,000 on October 27, the day Musk acquired Twitter, to a peak of 243,000 on November 18, according to data from Sensor Tower. Usage of other smaller rival sites, such as Tumblr, has also rocketed.

Mastodon has similar features to Twitter but is made up of many decentralized, independently moderated servers. Users join one server but can connect with people on other servers throughout the so-called “federated” system.

Rochko is Mastodon’s sole shareholder and, according to its 2021 annual report, he paid himself €2,400 per month last year, a figure he said has since risen by €500.

Mastodon will continue to rely on donations to fund the platform. The site has more than 8,500 donors on the membership platform Patreon, through which it is raising over £25,000 a month. This compares with total earnings of just over €55,000 in the six months from June to December 2021.

According to data from Sensor Tower, the initial wave of new joiners slowed to 6,000 new daily downloads on December 9 but rebounded to 64,000 on December 18, when Musk restricted links to other social media sites on Twitter.

New users have encountered problems, with some servers struggling to cope with the increased level of activity and confusion over moderation policies on different servers.

Josh Cowls, a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, said Mastodon could evolve into a “satellite” platform to Twitter, “seeing greater use at times when Twitter is down, as well as in response to further Musk-related outrages.”

Rochko said his long-term ambition for Mastodon was to replace Twitter and other commercial social networks. “It’s a long road ahead but at the same time, it’s bigger than it ever has been.”

[gleefulsketch]

Am I crazy for wanting to switch from my main art and animation setup to a FOSS/Linux one in terms of software?

[frog707]

Please hold

The project to convert my buildscripts to Kotlin is on hold because I have an EXCITING NEW PROJECT.

Earlier this month (June 2024) Mazhar Akbar drew my attention to his performance comparison between JMonkeyEngine and Godot on a physics-intensive workload. The comparison favored Godot by a large margin. I was skeptical at first, but gradually I became convinced that, in order to level the field, JMonkeyEngine needs a new physics engine, one based on Jolt Physics instead of Bullet.

So now I'm coding all-new JVM bindings for Jolt. Jolt is an open-source software project of some complexity (about 100,000 lines of C++ code), so this could take awhile. Please hold. But not your breath.

I'm having a blast!

[forestal-ramblings]

Trying to learn about Linux and open source software because my 2014 MacBook air is struggling and I feel like I need a computer science degree to get a basic OS installed in this machine.

[drprawedha]

26/366

Apa yang mungkin membuat desainer meninggalkan sebuah proyek OSS (Open-Source Software)?

Desainer dari studi harian menghadapi banyak tantangan, terutama berkaitan dengan komunikasi, delegasi, manajemen proyek/produk, dan nilai dari pekerjaan mereka dibandingkan dengan waktu yang diinvestasikan oleh mereka.

Desainer sering kali menyatakan kekecewaan ketika semua waktu mereka dihabiskan untuk mengomentari detail khusus dari artefak atau dokumen desain (misalnya, tombol ini di UI melakukan X, studi kelayakan ini berarti kita tahu X tentang pengguna, dll.) atau membenarkan mengapa desain harus dilakukan dalam OSS.

Pekerjaan desain dilakukan dan terus dilakukan dalam perangkat lunak desain terbuka (bukan perangkat lunak tertutup seperti Adobe). Namun, alat desain sumber terbuka ini dianggap "tidak sebaik alat tertutup."

Desain ditinggalkan agar orang lain dapat mengerti dan melanjutkannya.

Meninggalkan OSS dalam "keadaan yang lebih baik" dari segi desain (hal ini akan bersifat unik dan spesifik untuk setiap OSS).

Memastikan bahwa pemelihara OSS mengetahui cara dan apa yang telah dilakukan, dan proyek diserahkan secara perlahan dan hati-hati. Jangan "menghilang" dan bantu agar pengetahuan tetap terjaga.

Mengetahui bahwa desain akan berubah setelah Anda pergi. OSS adalah tentang berbagi dan bersedia menerima perubahan.

Merencanakan struktur OSS untuk tidak hanya mengakui kontribusi desain tetapi juga mendokumentasikannya dengan baik.

Menginspirasi desainer untuk terlibat dalam OSS.

Sebagian besar desainer menyatakan keinginan untuk tidak pernah sepenuhnya meninggalkan proyek OSS dan mereka idealnya ingin tetap berperan sebagai penasihat dan dapat menjawab pertanyaan saat dibutuhkan. Bagi banyak orang, partisipasi dalam OSS adalah alasan etis atau sosial.

Rekomendasi Mendesak

Sebagai proyek OSS yang tertarik menerima kontribusi desain, tinjau dan perhatikan cara-cara di mana desainer memutuskan apakah akan menawarkan desain untuk proyek OSS. Beberapa indikator ini untuk desainer mencakup 'Apakah proyek ini jelas mengenai masalah apa yang ingin mereka selesaikan oleh desainer?' dan 'Apakah OSS ini proyek satu orang dan masih aktif?' Lihat bagian 'Bagaimana desainer memutuskan apakah mereka ingin berkontribusi atau bekerja pada proyek OSS?'

Disarikan dari :

@erioldoesdesign eriol@superbloom.designgithub.com/sprblm/Diary-Studies-Designers-in-OSS

[strawberrielove]

Day 22 of Freetober - Knight - Freetober is a month-long art challenge dedicated to creating art in open source programs during October (like Inktober :)) started by the Creative Freedom Summit team. I drew this in Krita, I would love to accumulate the skills to create in Blender or even vector art in Inkscape. But alas I'm still learning. If you're looking for a free easy art program to render, paint or just do lineart like this, Krita might be for you ;)

The drawing is referenced from the fantasy cosplayer Honeyswordcosplay on Instagram!

[theexodvs]

Mom: How do I avoid viruses and hackers?

Me: Try to seek out FOSS when you need to download a new program, use Firefox and/or Brave when browsing, use a VPN, disable pop-ups…

Mom: I know! Pathological avoidance of the EXE extension!

[bynux]

[emuanon34]

Reminder that Gadot is a free and open source engine, be sure to donate to help fund this product so that it can be the best engine it can be!

[bpod-bpod]

Imaging Bootcamp

Imaging blood vessels is a part of research into all sorts of conditions, from stroke to Alzheimer’s. Analysing these data requires a process called blood vessel segmentation where blood vessels are identified from non-vessel tissue. With large volumes of imaging data, segmentation needs to be automated using computer algorithms. For this to be effective, algorithms first need to be trained on existing data. This currently relies on proprietary software where training data isn’t openly available or open-source software where training data isn't comprehensively labelled with what's what. Researchers now present MiniVess, a dataset of 70 3D image volumes of rodent brain blood vessels (a selection is pictured), imaged using two-photon fluorescence microscopy and labelled in detail. This was created using U-Net, a type of deep learning called a convolutional neural network. It is publicly available and will help train algorithms to analyse future blood vessel imaging data in brain research.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Image from work by Charissa Poon and colleagues

Sunnybrook Research Institute, Physical Sciences Platform, Toronto, Canada

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Scientific Data, March 2023

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[thoughtportal]

use the RGBA brushes in Krita to paint an impasto textured still life

[thursdayisbetterthanfriday]

OpenStreetMap - An open source online street map

Google Maps is incredibly useful - but did you know there's an open source equivalent? OpenStreetMap has been running for quite some time, and is a community driven replacement for Google, Bing and Apple maps. https://www.openstreetmap.org/

It's accessible via website, but there's also an app version which you can get for your phone which can be used similarly to Google Maps. The sat-nav functions aren't as good as other company-based products, but it does contain very good local-level information.

I've personally used it when hiking, visiting foreign cities in Europe and to create personal maps for tourist attractions, bookshops and good rock collecting spots. You can also download map data which can be used offline even if you don't have mobile signal.

They also have a community stories part of their website dedicated to the people who have used the project: https://www.openstreetmap.org/diary

If you want to support community led, open source, mapping software - do take a look at the funding page at: https://supporting.openstreetmap.org/