New Libreboot release soon.
Posts
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New Libreboot release soon. -
I've been informed that a popular PlayStation emulator, called DuckStation, became proprietary software (was GPLv3, now PolyForm Strict 1.0.0 which restricts non-commercial usage and modification).I've been informed that a popular PlayStation emulator, called DuckStation, became proprietary software (was GPLv3, now PolyForm Strict 1.0.0 which restricts non-commercial usage and modification).
DuckStation was Free Software. I've decided to archive DuckStation from before the license change. Please see:
duckstation
duckstation - duckstation, but archived from the revision just before upstream changed it to a proprietary software project. this version is the libre one.
Codeberg.org (codeberg.org)
If you were using it, please ask the devs to change it back to GPL.
Hardware preservation matters, as is preserving that preservation in a free-as-in-freedom way.
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I watched this excellent speech today, though it was made in 2019:I watched this excellent speech today, though it was made in 2019:
The Future of Internet Regulation at the European Parliament
A brief write-up of my talk at the EU Parliament last week with embedded videos of my talk and a link to my slides.
Aral Balkan (ar.al)
In it, @aral makes the case in favour of smaller, more federated communication infrastructure within Europe, making use of p2p protocols like ActivityPub (which mastodon uses). He's talking to representatives within the EU parliament, on the issue of how best to fund investment in communication technology, warning against funding companies like FaceBook.
The points he makes there are still true in 2024.
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict So the question is either: How can we afford it, or how can we not afford it?
Scrimp on a few other budgets and reduce waste in a lot of other areas to all but cover the cost. Don't forget many people already get welfare hence 780 billion becoming more like 150 billion.
The cost of administration in welfare would also reduce quite dramatically, if it's automatic; no more DWP assessments. Most people are on PAYE too so the government knows how much money you make. UBI can be automated.
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict It would probably increase productivity in most workforces too, especially ones with lots of people on low wage. if you're no longer stressed about money, you can focus on your job better, whatever job that is.
so like, i think 200billion per year is a reasonable figure as to how much UBI would cost in practise, but even then you would probably phase it in; some people get it first and gradually everyone does.
the cost quickly becomes structural in nature. just more efficient welfare.
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict I mention healthcare because it's a huge percentage of government spending, in fact it's even been on the news recently. With UBI, more people would live at a higher standard, especially in terms of diet and exercise, which would result in fewer illnesses in the first place.
You could probably implement UBI without even increasing taxes at all, if I'm being honest, but any such rises would be temporary; a lot of people already get certain benefits anyway (in-work e.g. child tax credit)
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict 150billion if wages go up a lot. Otherwise I'd say UBI would probably cost about 200-250 billion annually at first, in the UK.
For reference, current government income is about £1 trillion. Some taxes would go up at first, but we can expect more people would start businesses if they have more time / less stress due to the support. So GDP goes up.
The rest of the money can be found be increasing productivity in the public sector, especially healthcare.
UBI is quite feasible in the UK.
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict 40 million adults of working age in UK * £18,000 per year (elderly already get state pension):
£720 billion
Taper it, like how universal credit (welfare system in the UK) already works; as people start earning more, their UBI reduces.
Given current median wages, and expected wage growth, you could probably knock the UBI bill to ~150 billion.
Universal credit already exists; make it opt-out instead of opt-in. Auto-enroll everyone. The infrastructure for UBI already exists, in the UK.
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@andre @onepict @NGIZero @baldur Now look outside of the single market.@onepict @andre @NGIZero @baldur Of course, it's also true that large-scale government funding is the reason much of our technology exists today. The internet, computers and much of early computer science was funded by governments for military/academia; later commercialisation and privatisation, backed by further government subsidising, gave it to more people and development accelerated rapidly. This video that I recently watched provides an excellent summary of history:
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict I would agree with you that a negative income tax, also known as universal basic income, would be an effective means of funding free software. It would facilitate all kinds of creativity by allowing otherwise intelligent and passionate people to fully use their skill to work on many new projects of social and scientific benefit.
The economics are solid; if more people can start businesses, GDP goes up and the size of the state as a percentage will decrease over time (i.e. lower taxes).
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict I wouldn't say that this is possible with a lot of projects though. A lot of free software projects do not have an intrinsic financial value, and can't be monetized, but are still essential.
For example, libpng is used everywhere but do you see libpng being shrink-wrapped and sold to paying customers, and do you see libpng adverts on Google ads? No, and you don't see reviews of it.
It's like that Guy from Nebraska meme: https://xkcd.com/2347/
NGI is for Nebraska guy, not Libreboot.
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict Libreboot's funding model is uncommon in FOSS; I run my own business selling it on hardware, at a relatively high profit margin, on limited hours (I don't work full-time but I make fulltime wage).
When I need more money, I just drop my prices a bit and go on a marketing blitz or idk do a Libreboot release to shore up the numbers.
I'm also the BDFL of the Libreboot project; 100% of the spending of it comes from my own pocket, and I do a lot of work myself.
It's a small project though.
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@andre @onepict @NGIZero @baldur Now look outside of the single market.@andre @onepict @NGIZero @baldur Now look outside of the single market. It's easier to do business from outside the EU with most countries in the world than with the EU. If you're in the EU, you can trade with your neighbours easily.
Common customs regime is inflexible and regularly makes importing from outside the EU very expensive; the cost of doing business becomes higher.
I don't see the single market as a requirement for free trade; it removes the latter, and gives it back to a small few.
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict See, prior to NGI, my guess is that a lot of people just didn't think they deserved better; what we had was all that there would ever be.
Enter NGI. Everyone thinks it's so amazing, all that money coming in, a lot of cool shit gets made.
Then NGI goes away, but it's too late: we know what we're missing. We're losing something, instead of never having it.
I'm basically hoping NGI isn't restored, for this reason. It will force us to help ourselves, and we'll probably be better for it.
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict @NGIZero @nlnet NLnet is great, and they've existed since the 90s if I'm not mistaken. I would argue for the creation of a body similar in concept to, say, the W3C, but geared to free software, open source hardware and right to repair. Member-led, fully democratic and transparent.
What NGI actually does is amazing but we can't trust the Commission. The fact that NGI isn't on Horizon 2025's budget proves this fact even if it's later added to the budget; the EC can still cancel it later.
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict @NGIZero Until something better exists, I would suggest that NGI funding must continue for the forseeable future, but I always have in mind the fact that citizens do not control the Commission.
The reason the Commission created NGI was because of our lobbying and due to geopolitical instability around the world, so they want Europe to be more self-sufficient; their reasoning has nothing to do with actual software freedom even if we benefit from NGI in the meantime.
NGI is a liability.
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At a time when The EU is seeking to cut FOSS funding to funds like @NGIZero@onepict @NGIZero A better question is: do we want critical funding for a large number of free software projects to be subject to the whims of the European Commission, who are not directly elected by citizens and whom our adversaries have much more sway over?
I think it should be national governments paying into a consortium that we control, diversifying the fund; national government is more accountable.
NGI is great but the EC is a huge single point of failure, and the EU has been fracturing.
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I was really bored, and wanted to do something really low-effort to mildly amuse myself, so I made these low-effort Libreboot memes.I was really bored, and wanted to do something really low-effort to mildly amuse myself, so I made these low-effort Libreboot memes.
Like I said, very low effort, as is customary for any good meme. Enjoy!
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PSA: Gitea should be avoided at all costs. There's a fork of it called Forgejo, which you can find here:PSA: Gitea should be avoided at all costs. There's a fork of it called Forgejo, which you can find here:
Repo: https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo
I was waiting for Gitea to finish work on federated issues / pull requests. Now I know why Gitea hasn't done it. The community working on Gitea forked it into Forgejo, for opsec purpose: https://gitea-open-letter.coding.social/
Context:
https://forgefriends.org/blog/2022/06/30/2022-06-state-forge-federation/
I'm waiting for Forgejo to be federated; until then, I'll use notabug and cgit like always.