Episode: 2287
Title: HPR2287: Desparately Seeking Saving RMS - Introduction
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2287/hpr2287.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-19 00:54:51

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This in HPR episode 2,287 entitled, Disparately Seeking Saving RMS Introduction.
It is hosted by Rodomy and in about 31 minutes long and can remain an explicit flag.
The summary is my attempt to start moving towards the RMS model.
This episode of HPR is brought to you by AnanasThost.com.
Get 15% discount on all shared hosting with the offer code HPR15, that's HPR15.
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Hello, this is D.O.D.D. dummy recording another episode for Hacker Public Radio.
The title of this episode is Disparately Seeking Saving RMS.
The reason I chose that title is, well for a long time, every since I first heard about
RMS or Richard Solomon actually, I always thought that his approach to software was an approach
I would like to take, but I never really thought I could.
But I always wanted to, I always felt bad that I didn't try really.
I only tried this to the extent to where I felt uncomfortable, and frankly that was pretty easy to make me feel uncomfortable.
So let's see, I started in pre-software around 1997 or 1998.
That's when I first heard about Linux, maybe 1999, it was before the year 2000 for sure.
And I really, the ideal appeal to me mostly because a lot of the things that I needed to do,
basic stuff in Windows, cost money, or was just so hard to do without paying it forward, it just was unmanageable.
I remember even a simple mounting tool, cost money, compilers, typically cost money, just lots of things that I just didn't have a lot of money.
So I couldn't pay even though nowadays it seems like it wouldn't been that much, but I just couldn't afford it.
And so there was a lot to me that appealed in pre-software around the time.
After I got more into it, then I don't really remember when, but somewhere pretty early on I read about
the pre-software movement and how it got started, and particularly about RMS and Linus and some other people.
And so I thought, well that's just great, but I gotta feed my family, I have to pay bills, and sometimes non-free software is just more easy, more convenient.
So I'll use in support free software where I can, but I'm not gonna be too religious about it.
And I hear a lot of people, oh I'm just practical, and that's where they have their line.
And I had my line, practical wasn't really yet, so I would, pretty much I would always do without my personal world.
But if for some reason I needed something for work, then not add work, I should clarify that work, and where it's doing something at home, but it was for work, or for something I would make money at work.
I've always used proprietary software, and I don't know that I would get away from that.
But so anyways, I had a line, it wasn't too like, for example, I would make, like I said, my attempt would be half-hearted, and some people's mind, it's pretty severe compared to other people that I know that are quote unquote in the free software community.
For example, I don't use Apple products, because I think they're much worse than Microsoft, which is the other main company that I would use.
And I think this would, I don't think this Apple would be, I think RMS would use Apple if you could have free software on it, but I wouldn't even do that.
I don't even like, tone Apple product.
For a long time, I've been playing free software games, at least I'm pretty sure I'm almost all of my gaming as free software.
This is way back from the days when the Linux game tone used to be, before it was resurrected, so in the olden days.
So I try to play mostly GPL games, and for my needs, that's fine, I never really had an issue with that.
And as far as I know, I don't play games that track you, I don't make it, it's never been a conscious ever, but I just typically don't like online games, I usually play offline games.
Let's see what else.
So even though I use Linux as my OS at home, really my only OS since about 2001, I do, I always have had one partition, or maybe more, with some version of Windows.
Like I said, in case I needed something, I really had to have one more.
Tell me put food on the table.
Right now I have one machine with Windows 7 on it.
I have a netbook with Windows 10, but Windows 10 really is now functional on that machine, so I'll probably take that off.
But normally I will, usually I'll do without something, and just use whatever is possible with pre-salt, rather than using, rather than using not pre-salt.
And I'm fucking applications.
So for example, I would never consider using a non-pre-video editor or audio editor, I just wouldn't do that.
Let's see.
Yeah, but lately, and like I said, I feel pretty good about that.
I do, I'm in the middle somewhere.
I heard someone say, everybody has it online.
And so my line I thought was pretty good, but truly not the real, I think I could do better.
And lately I've been feeling more and more uncomfortable with where my line is, and I want to try to move it closer to the, sort of the RMS goal or ideal.
And so I don't, I'm not an expert, and I don't even really, I'm not even real sure that I got RMS's position down.
So I'm not like a lot of quote unquote hackers in the, in as far as where they're really geeky on the details, and I'm really not that type of person.
So, so I'll be going through this over time.
My intention is to, this to be kind of a series where I walk through my, my attempt to become more and more following the RMS dream or the RMS dreams the wrong word, RMS model.
So we'll see, we'll see how that goes.
But so the point is, I could have some of these things could be incorrect, I could be understanding or misunderstanding RMS's position on some things.
So this is, this is the beginning of my effort to change.
I am, I will just see how it goes.
Now my current, like obvious things that I do that are, would be against the RMS's behavior model or I use Facebook.
I, I don't post a lot, but I read a lot from Facebook. I use Gmail.
I use many websites that track you.
My wife is in another country and we use Skype all the time.
We did try to use Jitsi and I'm always looking for new, new free ways.
And free I guess is, I should stop using that word.
What does he call it now?
Not using products and services that do your harm.
But so, so we tried Jitsi and so my, let's say my wife is not exactly her line as a way, way far, farther towards the not free world in my mind is.
So we tried using Jitsi, but the issue with Jitsi was that it didn't have good echo cancellation.
So typically we use Skype with no headphones on.
And Skype works really well with that. There's no echo.
But when you use Jitsi, get all kinds of echo. If you have headphones on, it's better.
So I, as a compromise, because she just would, and she's not very patient.
So to give you an example, when I first started using Linux at home, I couldn't get my printer installed or a joystick.
And I ran Linux back then. I really, really tried. It was when I was first starting Linux and Linux and Windows.
And I was really trying not to use Windows.
And so I just did without a printer and a joystick for two years before I finally was able to get either one installed.
And that was back when I don't remember. Now either it was when the way that you installed modules changed.
I don't know if that was the 2.2 to 2.4 or the 2.4 to 2.6 kernel chains. I don't remember.
I didn't really enter when the wait. You didn't. So what I found was, I didn't know anyone who ran Linux.
So I didn't have anybody in person help.
And I think back at that time I wasn't really in chat rooms back before I had DSL.
So I really had access, pretty limited access to information or people that could help.
And I think my problem was I kept getting mixed information with the old way and the new way.
And I just wasn't sharpened up to discern between two.
But anyway, the point is, I was patient enough that I ran Linux for two years without a printer or a joystick.
So that's just to give you an idea. But my wife, she's not that patient.
When we tried just, she got frustrated after just a few minutes because of the echo cancellation.
So anyway, we're still using Skype.
So that would be a good challenge if I can give my wife to use something else.
And so those are the ones that, those are the things, obvious things to me that come up.
Now I don't have, I run Deb be in but I don't run it with, I run it with Contrib and non-free enabled.
So I guess I could change that.
I don't do any serious, I don't think I do anything where I need graphics.
Preparatory graphics drivers, even though I use them.
So I could probably do without that.
I don't know that I have any machines that you could use, or that Libra Boot or Core Boot supports.
So I'm going to leave that as of something to tackle later.
And let's see, I want to try, generally on my hardware.
I've been buying the very cheapest that I can buy and normally everything secondhand.
I would say most of my laptops and my computers in general, close to 10 years old, at least five.
I have one laptop that's an i5.
Everything else is core 2 Duo I think, maybe.
I think I have one pinion for it but I bought that just for fun to mess around with DOS.
And this DOS or free DOS.
So having an older machine is not an issue for me.
But if I have to pay a premium for it so that it'll support Libra Core Boot, that'll be something I'll have to figure out.
And let's see.
So part of this, a part of what made me really decide to try was lately...
I don't know, a couple weeks ago, I watched a...
I went out of a YouTube spree which I think YouTube might be one of the trackers.
Anyway, so I watched a lot of Richard Stalman YouTube videos on YouTube.
And then I also, the Brian London, he had a harmless one.
And I don't know, a combination of all that just made me think, well, all right, let's do better.
So the side from free software, which I think is important.
There's other three things that I'm going to take away or at least use some guidelines here to start off with.
And in the London interview, he said, there's three ways that they companies can harm you.
One, and in all, another thing you should know.
As a general matter, or general, the general case is, as I said before, I'm not really usually real good with the details.
So it could be that I miss cool people here.
So take everything that I say as a paraphrase.
And as I specifically say, I'm quoting, I'm really paraphrasing and retelling.
It could be, I got things totally wrong.
So just keep that in mind.
But anyway, he said there's three ways that they can harm you.
One is tracking.
So you have to be able to not be tracked if it's going to be the company.
I think he harmed you.
He called it abusing.
Like in the interview, he said, hey, Facebook doesn't have users.
It's got used people that Facebook use.
You don't use Facebook. They use you.
This is a big one because everybody now seems to want to track you.
So that will be pretty challenging.
The Yula. So you shouldn't have to sign a Yula.
I guess if the Yula basically says you have all the freedom you want.
I guess that would be acceptable for Yula.
And then three is DRM.
Now, the one thing he did say that it's only ethical way to use DRM as if you have the means to break the DRM at hand.
So he pointed out that it's not legal in the U.S.
And he has enemies.
So he does not own anything that's DRM.
But he said it's, and I agree, he said it's not an ethical to break DRM.
It just might be illegal depending on where you live and the loss in your country.
So those are the three things I'm going to kind of guide me, I guess, or things I'm going to strive for.
And as I go along, I'll be reading more.
And as I take these things kind of one at a time, I'll be researching them and following along with what I get to.
And I'm not totally against not using products that are not free.
I'll just see how I get to them.
And I'm going to extrapolate a little bit.
And he, like I said, I don't know RMS might not be okay with any of these things that I do.
But one of the things he said, and there is, and one of these interviews, is that the FSS, F, F, F, F, they endorse distributions, I think it was, he said.
And the understanding is that if the distribution, or if it's, it's not known that they have non-free software, that they will make an effort to get rid of it because, or they not make an effort, but they will get rid of it once it's known.
And the point he made was it's hard to know everything.
So, you know, if things get slip, you just have to be willing to correct that.
And so that's kind of the way I'm going to treat this.
That, as I go along, not just be correcting things that I do that are in the spirit of using software, free software, and, or products and services that don't respect my freedom.
So, those are, anyway, those are kind of the guiding things that I'm going to strive for.
Now, going in, here are some things, well, aside from the things I mentioned before, Facebook, Gmail, it's not being tracked, sites are tracking me, and Skype, and using Skype.
These are some other things that I would like to change.
Now, these are really goals, I don't know, like I have here, use Libra Boot or Core Boot.
As I said, I don't think any of my machines now could use either one of these.
But, as I get new machines, and I maybe will convert some machines to machines that they have, but I'll definitely keep that in mind as I get new machines.
So, hardware that supports free software, or which free software supports currently are up to now.
When I buy hardware, I don't really, I don't really do much in way of checking to see if it's supported with Linux or free drivers.
I just kind of buy whatever is cheapest.
For printers, for example, for printers, I usually only get HP, because HP usually seems to work pretty well with Linux.
Or, well, I only use HP, if I were to buy another printer, I'd probably look it up to see if it was supported.
And so, yeah, those are two other things I'd like to strive for.
So, that's kind of where I'm at now.
I don't feel comfortable with my current practices.
And so, hopefully we'll see. I'll try to change.
And I think the one thing that I hear people all the time, and like I said, I have a line that's not perfect, but I kind of make fun of, or look down upon, I think, is the right word, or feel sorry for people who have their line closer to the proprietary world.
And so, the one phrase that gets on my sticks and my claws, I'm just pragmatic, man.
I just use whatever is the best tool for the job.
And I really think that that, I think that's the wrong way to look at it.
And if everybody does that, then I don't think we make, really make real progress.
And so, at the same time, I know that people, with their line closer to the free side, can look at me and say the same thing.
So, I've been trying not to feel that way, but that's still my inclination.
And whenever I hear someone say, oh, well, yeah, I used, like I just heard, the guy from Pac-5 just watching episode there, and he's like, oh, well, yeah, I use Adobe, because Adobe is just the best thing, and I can't do it.
And so, in my mind, well, it's probably never going to change if we don't try and make the effort.
So, like I said, I don't want to be too harsh, because I'm definitely not perfect, but I want to move towards it that way.
So, I'm going to take some things on my list and see if I can do better.
And yeah, and we'll see enough, anybody else, you know, having to advice, wants to share in the effort, then that'd be great too.
So, what I'm going to try to do first, is I think I'm going to look at two things first.
Well, one I'm just going to get off of Facebook, I can do that pretty easily.
Everyone who needs to get ahold of me using Facebook as other ways.
And I'm going to see what I can do about not being tracked online, and look where a better email solution.
I'm going to try those things between now and whenever I create another episode, and we'll see how that goes.
And one thing that is, I don't know what I'll ever be able to do.
I work on the mainframe, and traditionally the mainframe is the opposite of our free.
It's pretty proprietary.
I know IBM has really been made a push to start and move towards using Linux, but it's still the traditional OS is not Linux.
And they have lots of non-free stuff, so that'll be something to see what I can do about that.
I've made a couple of attempts to get a job in the free software world, and the salary is just too much lower.
I guess one thing is I don't really have a work history, much of a work history when free software.
But I really haven't been able to get any offers that were close to what I would make now, so that'll be something.
But at least in my personal world, I should be able to make some significant strides in my personal world.
Well, I guess that's enough rambling for now, and I maybe should have said this up front, but I'm not the kind of person who will strive for production quality or any of that kind of stuff.
So hopefully this will be good enough that you can understand or hear, and if you happen to be interested in the topic, at least you can suffer through it.
But I'm not going to make any kind of apologies for quality or any kind of schedule or anything along those lines.
And worst comes the worst, maybe I'm setting a bar low enough that people who say, I don't have anything we're talking about that everybody will feel like they do.
So that's it for now, and if you got, well, even if you don't when you do topics that hackers would be interested in, grab yourself a recording device and make yourself an episode.
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