Do you know that you can learn how to easily graph functions with the FREE and open-source LabPlot in less than 5 minutes?

@labplot@lemmy.kde.social

➡️ https://labplot.kde.org/download

👉 Just watch this short video tutorial
👉 Like, Comment, Share and Subscribe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMmQmExjbU8

#FOSS #FLOSS #OpenSource #FreeSoftware #LibreSoftware #GNU #KDE #Software #Graph #Plot #Math #Function #Visualization #STEM #Education #Tutorial

@mez yeah, fyi.org.nz is a very cool (and #LibreSoftware) service! I wish I knew more about the person who wrote it (and, presumably, maintains it)... will need to investigate again (I did years back, but can't remember the details)

For anyone underwhelmed by their current digital note-taking app... (many are hard to trust), here's a most amusing video about #LibreSoftware note taking apps, in which the commentator finds the perfect match for his needs...

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=XRpHIa-2XCE or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRpHIa-2XCE

@topher I agree that they *shouldn't* be seen as ancillary - the point is that in many cases they currently are. People can produce software without those specialist skills, but it's rarely great ir even good. (And that's true whether it's #LibreSoftware or proprietary) @david_megginson @nhan

@mpesce It'd be really cool if, when you're interviewed on RNZ, you talked bit more about what #LibreSoftware (like Audacity & the Fediverse) communities have achieved, with *almost no resources* compared to the depraved stuff from corporate/VC-funded tech which is all that gets discussed (and hands wrung over) by RNZ tech pundits (except, of course, @billbennett ). Seems to me there's a wealth of otherwise rare tech 'good news' stories in that vein.

@david_megginson and to be fair, I don't want "corporate" or VC-funded #opensource to prevail. I want community-&-small-business-run #LibreSoftware projects to become the focus.

@david_megginson not long ago, I stood down from the leadership of a national charitable #LibreSoftware advocacy organisation I'd led for 9 years because I wanted to give opportunities to others, especially those not like me. The org's more or less folded. We can't compel more diverse people to take part. They have to see value in it. It's a really dilemma: if we (non-diverse) folk drop the ball, the whole thing'll be usurped by the proprietary vultures & it'll be too late.

@AnneleiseHall are any others from the Degrowth group (besides you and me) in the Fediverse? Seems like a natural fit. I've also offered them the use of lots of #LibreSoftware tools like BigBlueButton (instead of Zoom) and Matrix (instead of Slack/MS Teams/Discord)... I'm hoping they'll recognise the discordance of framing all communication with corporate controlled platforms and take me up on the offers...

@david_megginson for what it's worth, I'm fortunate to be able to make a living producing & using exclusively #LibreSoftware - that said, I've also sacrificed a lot of self-interest to get to that point. I also spend an substantial amount of time on advocacy a& supporting FOSS systems & users without compensation. I have a pretty dark view of the global digital structural status quo. I characterise it like this: https://davelane.nz/darkage @Jgmeadows @nhan

@david_megginson I was trying to say that because of the gratis nature of #LibreSoftware, any obligation can only reasonable be taken on by the obliged, not imposed by the expectation of others. For example: if you pay me to do something, I am accepting an obligation to fulfil our arrangement. If not, I'll do it if I feel like it. There can be no legitimate 'obligation' imposed from without on a FOSS developer. @Jgmeadows @nhan

Today, I came into possession of someone's old Intel iMac. Intel Core2Duo 2.4GHz with 2 GB (lol) of RAM. The last person who used it complained it was slow and clunky and basically a glorified web surfing machine.

The first thing I did was install Ubuntu on it. It runs pretty okay now, given the dated specs.
#linux #opensource #libresoftware

@marcusgreen a technologist who's got demonstrable skills (#LibreSoftware is great when you're trying to build a portfolio 😎 - not an NDA in sight) with well known FOSS tools/toolchains, a good work ethic, and a personable, honest manner, I think it's quite possible - even easy - to be a busy consultant. The big problem is that few businesses understand digital tech. They know they need something but seldom know what. If you can solve their problems with FOSS, they'll pay you to do it.

@Jgmeadows but, like I said, many #LibreSoftware projects have superb documentation, because the developers genuinely want their software to be useful to anyone. In fact tools like DOxygen, Sphinx, and a bunch of others I can't remember the names of were developed by FOSS devs to make framing up documentation much easier, and far less trouble to maintain! The proprietary software world adopted them real quick, like they did 'git'. Because it was better than what they had. @david_megginson @nhan

@Jgmeadows heh heh. Well, keep in mind that the motivations for people writing #LibreSoftware are many and varied. I've seen abysmal documentation for FOSS projects, as well as peerless quality. I've found the same is true for proprietary software. Few people enjoy writing documentation, especially if they're just writing the software for their own use (most FOSS projects). People usually require payment for drudgery, which many consider writing documentation to be @david_megginson @nhan

@Azih heh - I avoid them both (and Discord, too). I've made a point of never using MS Teams (I only run Linux, on principle & happily so), but then again, I run my own Matrix servers (& a few NextCloud & BigBlueButton instances), so why would I bother? I disliked Slack from the start, esp for #LibreSoftware communities because of this: https://davelane.nz/notslack @david_megginson @nhan

@marcusgreen I've been a free software dev for the past 29 years (see https://davelane.nz/my-open-history), 14 of which running a bespoke fully #LibreSoftware dev shop, and the last 8 of which doing this: https://tech.oeru.org/democratising-higher-education-oers-foss - so it's my career and personal mission.

@david_megginson @nhan you're right that many ancillary services surrounding software are under represented in #LibreSoftware... but I think that's a lot to do with the sorts of people who tend to develop software & take on those other roles. Software is fun for its own sake, like tinkering. Some of those other skills less so. And yes, FOSS can go much faster, because it's got different motivations. And a small FOSS team can often out develop a 100 person proprietary dev shop.

@marcusgreen because, so far as I can see, nobody actually uses it. Most of the few people who care about #LibreSoftware comfort themselves with the fact that it exists, but they just use VSCode because it's 'easier' & they get the extra bits MS puts in there to entice them. Not unlike Chrome vs. Chromium. People are lazy and most don't hold principle very dear.

@marcusgreen simple: the fact that it's Microsoft, who've never shown good faith to #LibreSoftware they couldn't exploit (weakly licensed), the fact that VSCode is proprietary, not 'open source' (as it's often mistakenly described), that it's 'telemetry' could be pretty much anything MSFT wants, and that it takes attention away from actual LibreSoftware community efforts. It hands MS the power of mediating and framing all our activities. They are not our friend or ally.

@T @dznz yup. It's not viable for someone like me to offer a service like "retrofit your device with a (nearly) fully #LibreSoftware OS" that is kept up-to-date by a community of interested users (not your device's OEM, who loses interest as soon as their next model comes out) because a) doing that voids the warranty on the devices (anti-user capitalist force) & takes me time & risk because the OEM actively makes it hard to 'unlock' your device, forcing me to exploit a known security vuln.