🇺🇦BerkeleyLUG

One of the most fundamental reasons why the Internet has succeeded is that it is a level playing field. I’m seeing from many sources this is being challenged. Ray Lin on campus describes net neutrality for a class project. Wikipedia has a good article on it. The EFF, ACLU have been active for a long time and others like save the Internet have been active created. An active group in SF posted about InternetYourNeed.com. My friend Christian posted to sf-lug.org providing this link.

Quite a bit started after the Verizon vs. FCC ruling prompting for petitions from moveone.org with almost 16,000 signatures among others.

Here is the current fcc.gov/guides/open-internet.

We meet on the second and fourth Sundays of each month from noon to three in Berkeley near the Downtown Berkeley BART station near the corner of University & Shattuck. We hope you join us at Bobby G’s Pizzeria and/or join the discussion on our email list.

Those of you who may be either interested in a very basic Introduction to Linux class intended for computer newbies that you know of or else interested in reviewing such a class for yourselves, might be very interested in an announcement that was released just over two weeks ago. The announcement article is ‘Linux Foundation to Build Massive Open Online Course Program with edX, Increase Access to Linux Training for All'[1].

This announcement in essence is that the Linux Foundation and edX are partnering to develop a MOOC(*) program that will help address the effort to meet an increasing demand for Linux professionals and to grow the pool of Linux technical talent worldwide by making basic Linux training materials available to all for free. Previously a $2,400 course, Introduction to Linux will be the first class available as a MOOC and will be free to anyone, anywhere.

Bulleted points worth mentioning:

• (*)MOOC == Massive Open Online Course
• Further description of edX’s LFS101x ‘Introduction to Linux’ course goals are at the link here[2]. Note that this MOOC is free, is 100% self-paced, and is specifically designed for “computer users who have limited or no previous exposure to Linux”.
• The LFS101x ‘Introduction to Linux’ MOOC is officially slated to begin sometime this Summer of 2014. Current estimates are that it will begin closer to late Summertime.
• edX registration for LFS101x has already begun through their online Registration form at the link [3] and more specifically at [4].
• Carefully note from their FAQ[5] that while edX courses are free for everyone to audit, some courses have a fee for ID verified certificates of achievement. Indeed, edX seems to be “nudging” course-registrants toward this paid certification of achievement via their TOS[6]. In addition, verification for their paid certification mandates that registrants provide identity authentication through webcam photos of themselves, as well as to provide photos of “an acceptable form of photo ID”. You can skip edX’s paid certification “nudge” and the authentication requirement by going to the lower part of the ‘Register + Account Creation’ screen that follows edX’s initial online registration forms [3] or [4]. You would wish to solely audit the LFS101x course.
• Newbie computer users everywhere are welcome to register for this MOOC now, and in the long interim period before the LFS101x course officially starts, can gain some familiarity with computers and common software, such as would be had from daily computer use, e.g., using the Berkeley Public Library’s publicly reservable computers[7].

Again, the key announcement is ‘Linux Foundation to Build Massive Open Online Course Program with edX, Increase Access to Linux Training for All’ at the webpage here[1]

Please feel free to pass along and share this information with others.
And of course, please feel free to comment on how great (or not) you think this MOOC will be, and the same on mentioning any good alternatives!

References:
=========
[1]http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2014/03/linux-foundation-build-massive-open-online-course-program-edx
[2]https://www.edx.org/course/linuxfoundationx/linuxfoundationx-lfs101x-introduction-1621
[3]https://courses.edx.org/register
[4]https://courses.edx.org/register?course_id=LinuxFoundationX/LFS101x/2T2014&enrollment_action=enroll
[5]https://www.edx.org/student-faq#
[6]https://www.edx.org/edx-terms-service
[7]http://www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org/library/reserve-computer

 

Does your laptop or mobile battery last as long as you need it to? Mine do OK but longer is better. Here’s a Tech News Today show from this week that talks about solar power as a future solution as the technologies get better all the time.

We meet on the second and fourth Sundays of each month from noon to three in Berkeley near the Downtown Berkeley BART station near the corner of University & Shattuck. We hope you join us at Bobby G’s Pizzeria and/or join the discussion on our list.

Congratulations to our friends at badvoltage.org on launching and keeping their latest podcast adventure going strong for four months. Their most recent episode 1×08 talks about the timid topic of gun control which has relevance to some 3d-printer (1×06) enthusiasts. Let us know what you think here and/or post on their forums community.badvoltage.org powered by Discourse (1×05).

We meet on the second and fourth Sundays of each month from noon to three in Berkeley near the Downtown Berkeley BART station near the corner of University & Shattuck. We hope you join us at Bobby G’s Pizzeria and/or join the discussion on our list.

I got interested by this article tweeted by @darmesh about the declining use of the specialized statistical R-project.org environment and the increasing use of the Python language (overview) for big data scientific applications despite needing some work.

What types of code are you writing and what languages do you prefer these days?

Chris Peeples forwarded an article to our email list after mentioning it during our last Sunday meeting. “Auto Correct: Has the self-driving car at last arrived?” by Burkhard Bilger in The New Yorker. Google is improving on the technology every week, meeting for status updates each Monday at 11:30AM. They and others would like to eliminate the 1.24 million car accident fatalities each year worldwide and reduce the fifty million more that are injured.

We meet on the second and fourth Sundays of each month in Berkeley near the Downtown Berkeley BART station. We hope you join us at Bobby G’s Pizzeria.