The March Manchester FSFE Fellowship meeting will take place on Thursday
29th at 19.00 in MadLab.
Bob Ham, GNU/Linux audio developer and coordinator of Liverpool Linux User
Group, will introduce and explain the JACK Audio Connection Kit - a
professional Free Software sound server for audio recording, mixing, editing,
and more.
JACK is at the cutting edge of professional media software, and powers the
most powerful Free Software applications in the field, including:
- Ardour: http://ardour.org/
- Hydrogen: http://www.hydrogen-music.org
- Blender: http://www.blender.org/
- VLC: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
- PureData: http://puredata.info/
JACK does things that the most expensive proprietary software cannot, as was
originally funded and still developed by British programmer Paul Davis.
Bob's description:
> A short history and discussion of the JACK Audio Connection Kit, its
> operating principles, design and implementation
>
> * A short history of JACK
> * Some sound card basics
> * The JACK system
> * Demonstration
>
> The talk is a bit technical and contains phrases like "sound card buffer" and
> "callback".
There will also be discussion about recent news from the politics of Free
Software, and a report from Document Freedom Day, which takes place the day
before. Please bring your own topics for discussion with you, and present them
to the group.
How to find MadLab: http://madlab.org.uk/contact/
See you there!
Sam.
--
Sam Tuke
British Team Coordinator
Free Software Foundation Europe
IM : samtuke(a)jabber.fsfe.org
Latest UK Free Software news: uk.fsfe.org
Is freedom important to you? Join the fellowship.fsfe.org
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.
Hello all, this Saturday Free Software activists will determine the easiest
ways of chatting using Free Software audio and video programs. We'll be
testing out a variety of applications, including Pidgin, Empathy, and Kopete.
The core group of testers will be in Madlab Hackerspace in Manchester, but
*anyone can participate* - join the #FSFE IRC channel on Freenode to find
people to test chatting with, and see what still needs testing (email
manchester(a)lists.fsfe.org if you need help getting access to IRC).
The aim is to publish the results as a compatibility chart that will show at a
glance the easiest way to chat. As many Free Software users still use Skype
due to confusion surrounding Free Software alternatives, our research will
hopefully be very useful to a variety of individuals and organisations.
*Activity outline*
- Testing takes place on 15.09.12 at 14.00-17.00 UK time (15.00-18.00 CEST)
- Use a grid of Free Software chat programs for collecting our findings
- Test as many chat clients as possible (eg. Pidgin, Psi)
- For each combination of programs test whether voice chat and video
works (people without webcams can still test voice chat)
*Optional additional tests*
- Try connecting to other people at madlab, and also try
connecting to people in other countries
- Test the Free Software clients with different operating
systems if people bring them installed on laptops
- Test different versions of chat clients (not just the latest release)
*Requirements*
- Bring your own laptop (some older laptops will be available to borrow)
- Your laptop should have either a built in microphone, a separate microphone,
or mic headset
*Optional Requirements*
- Built in, or stand-alone webcam
Three separate Free Software and GNU/Linux groups will be meeting in MadLab on
Saturday: Manchester FSFE Fellowship Group, Manchester Free Software, and
ManLUG. Other activities will likely be available in addition to chat testing,
so feel free to come along and see what you fancy.
MadLab event page: http://madlab.org.uk/content/fsfe-manchester-free-software-
and-manlug/
"See" you there (one way or another :) ),
Sam.
--
Sam Tuke
Campaign Manager
Free Software Foundation Europe
IM : samtuke(a)jabber.fsfe.org
Latest UK Free Software news: uk.fsfe.org
Is freedom important to you? Join the fellowship.fsfe.org