Manchester Free Software

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 19th August, 2008.

Are you interested in finding out how free software is really making a difference to people in Manchester? Well, Mick Fuzz from the Zion Arts Centre, will be talking about the Free Space Manchester project, which is providing young people in Hulme with free (in both senses of the word!) access to GNU/Linux computers.

Free Space Manchester is a new project, which has used LTSP to give new life to a cluster of old PCs, in an on going initiative to provide disadvantaged young people with computing and internet access. The group’s future aims include setting up an audio and video editing suite using free software.

The meeting will take place at 19:00 in the Manchester Digital Development Agency on Portland Street. More about the meetings and venue can be found on our meetings page.

If you’re coming, feel free to add yourself to the FSF Groups wiki page or sign up on the Upcoming event page. If you would like five minutes to tell us about something, please add yourself to the wiki or contact us.

Richard Rothwell from M6-IT Community Interest Company will be talking about about sustainable education solutions.

Schools and students have been caught up in a cycle of computer replacement and upgrade for the past two decades. The development of free software solutions offers a route out of this cycle. The talk will cover potential free software solutions for schools and families to setup sustainable solutions that will enable them to concentrate on their key purpose - that of educating the individual. The applicability of these solutions for community organisations will be discussed.

Two key projects will be covered in detail: the installation of an extensive LTSP system at Handsworth Grammar School and the Families On-Line project in Nottingham, where the regeneration funding is being used to provide computers, with free software, and an Internet connection to socially excluded families. Mention will also be made of the Birmingham Friends of the Earth smaller LTSP network.

We will be meeting on Tuesday 20th May, 19:00 at the Manchester Digital Development Agency on Portland Street (directions).

If you’re coming, feel free to add yourself to the FSF Groups wiki page, or let yourself be known on the Upcoming event page.