Extra: Learning About Linux and Open Source
If the idea of learning more about open source sounds fun, you will probably want to learn more about the Linux operating system, especially if you feel drawn towards the open source community.
http://www.linux-tutorial.info/
If you’d like a little inspiration or just to take a break, check out this video from linux.com (see Figure 5.21). It’s about a cool open source project where users made a 100% open source, solar-powered Internet café, and deployed it in Kenya (see Figure 5.22), so it’s 100% sustainable. It requires no connection to an electrical grid. They download a VSat connection for Internet (satellite), and not only is the software open source, but so is the hardware. Philosophically, the idea is not to lock the technology up in proprietary systems. http://tinyurl.com/solarnet
Figure 5.22. An example of people installing part of the Solar Net One project in Kenya.
There’s more information at http://gnuveau.net. I think my favorite thing on the site is this quote:
“Governor Thomas was so pleased with the construction of this stove... that he offered to give me a patent for the sole vending of them for a term of years; but I declined it from a principle that was weighed with me on such occasions, viz., That, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.”
—Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography
Go open source!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source
(This link is kind of a joke—because Wikipedia, one of the most popular sites on the Internet, exists as a result of an open source content management system called Wikimedia—and you can have your own wiki through a quick install. Pretty cool.)