[Fsuk-manchester] MFS Meeting. Tue, 15 Apr. GPG keysigning party and discussion: Novena, Windows XP end of support, RPi graphics, LibrePlanet conference

[Bob Ham]

Please feel free to forward this to those that would welcome it.

* Event: Manchester Free Software's April Meeting

* Date: Tuesday, 15th April 2014 (3rd Tuesday of the month)
* Start time: 19:00
* Finish time: 20:30 (and then on for drinks)

* Location: Madlab. (Manchester Digital Laboratory).
  - http://madlab.org.uk/
* Address: 36-40 Edge Street, Manchester. M4 1HN.
  - Opposite "Common" on Edge Street, Northern Quarter.
  - http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/53.48413/-2.23639

Details
-------
The purpose of Manchester Free Software is to promote the Free Software
philosophy.

This meeting will be, firstly, a GPG keysigning party (discussed
below) and secondly, a series of discussions on the Free Software
implications of the following:

* Novena free hardware computer
The Novena free hardware computer is now being offered in a
crowd-funding campaign by Andrew "bunnie" Huang, noted Xbox hacker,
and company.  The board's PCB designs are available under a free
license and it is intended for use by free hackers, using components
which enable user freedom.  For example the CPU's datasheet and
programming manual are available without an NDA and the board includes
an Atheros-based Wi-Fi module whose firmware is freely licensed.
http://www.wired.com/2014/04/novena/

* End of support for Windows XP
Microsoft are finally making a concerted effort to end support for
Windows XP.  Different organisations have responded to this in
different ways.  The Government of Tamil Nadu, a state in India, issued
a directive asking all their departments to install "Bharat Operating
System Solutions" (BOSS Linux), developed at the national Center for
Development of Advanced Computing.  The City of Munich, which has
converted its desktops from Microsoft to GNU/Linux, handed out 2000
GNU/Linux CDs to users of city libraries.  Meanwhile, our own
government has decided to pay Microsoft £5.5 million to extend Windows
XP support for the public sector for 12 months.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/04/tamil_nadus_xp_migration_plan_go_linux_like_a_boss/

* Raspberry Pi graphics
Broadcom released the video driver source code for a mobile phone chip
similar to the chip used in the Raspberry Pi.  Both chips use the same
graphics core.  The source drop provided hints for the reverse
engineering effort which hopes to create a free firmware to replace
the current proprietary blob required for booting the Raspberry Pi.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation offered a US$10000 bounty for porting the
driver to the Raspberry Pi and demonstrating it running Quake III, a
bounty which has since been claimed.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/quake-iii-bounty-we-have-a-winner/

* LibrePlanet 2014 conference
The FSF's LibrePlanet 2014 conference took place at MIT in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.  The programme included speakers from the FSF, the EFF,
Wikimedia, APRIL, Tor, Red Hat, Xiph, O'Reilly, Trisquel, and many
others.
http://libreplanet.org/2014/

Feel free to raise similar items in the meeting for discussion.


There will be an informal GPG keysigning party in order to widen the
Web of Trust.  Which is to say, we will be bringing photo ID and GPG
fingerprints to facilitate signing each other's keys.  If you would
like to participate, please bring some form of photo ID such as a
passport or photocard driver's license, together with your key's
fingerprint.  The script gpg-key2ps is useful for creating printable
slips containing your fingerprint:

  http://www.trilug.org/~jeremy/gpg-key2ps

The script is also part of the signing-party package in gNewSense and
Trisquel.  To create the slips, execute the following command,
substituting the email address for your own key's ID:

  $ gpg-key2ps -p a4 address@hidden > fingerprint-slips.ps

and then print the resulting fingerprint-slips.ps file.  Further
information on keysigning and keysigning parties is available here:

  http://www.cryptnet.net/fdp/crypto/keysigning_party/en/keysigning_party.html

If you are new to GPG and would like to participate, there is a primer
and tutorial here:

  http://www.dewinter.com/gnupg_howto/english/GPGMiniHowto.html


The meeting will be followed by informal discussion and socialising in
the bar opposite, Common <http://www.aplacecalledcommon.co.uk/>.


Location
--------
The meeting will take place at the usual venue of Madlab, details above.
The venue provides wifi.

Parking
-------
Around the venue there are parking meter bays that become zero
cost after 8pm on Tuesday so you will have to pay up until then and the
maximum stay is 2 hours BUT MAKE SURE YOU VERIFY ALL THIS on parking.

There are paid parking lots around the venue, they are marked by a blue
P in this OpenStreetMap centred on Madlab
<http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.4843/-2.2365>.  Most of those
parking lots are owned by NCP <http://www.ncp.co.uk/>.

If you can’t decide otherwise then park in Manchester Arndale
<http://www.manchesterarndale.com/directions.aspx>.

Public Transport
----------------
Manchester Victoria (MCV) train station, Shudehill tram and bus station,
and Manchester Piccadilly bus station are all fairly close to Madlab,
see OpenStreetMap centred on Madlab
<http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/53.4843/-2.2365>.

Manchester Piccadilly (MAN) train station and Manchester Central Coach
Station are not too far away either.

More Information
----------------
Information about Manchester Free Software can be found on the
Manchester Free Software pages on LibrePlanet
<http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Manchester>.

Regards,

Bob

--
Bob Ham <address@hidden>

for (;;) { ++pancakes; }

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