first software part for setup, fixes for first two posts

3 files changed, 17 insertions, 10 deletions

diff --git a/content/pages/setup.rst b/content/pages/setup.rst
index 5f65725..ff511b4 100644
--- a/content/pages/setup.rst
+++ b/content/pages/setup.rst
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ I'm always interested in what tools others are using to get their work done. On
 Hardware
 ########
 
-My laptop is a Thinkpad Edge E530. I was lucky to get it quite cheap without Windows preinstalled. I like about it that it did not yet fail on me over the last years. I replaced the crappy hard disk with a SSD to get some performance out of the otherwise not very powerful laptop. The screen is not that good, but the fact that it's a matte screen makes it quite usable in the sunlight. I removed the camera and microphone. `This guide <http://www.insidemylaptop.com/replace-screen-on-lenovo-e530-laptop/>`_ was quite helpful for that, although it's actually for replacing the screen. However, the same steps make it possible to access the camera and microphone module above the screen.
+My laptop is a Thinkpad Edge E530. I was lucky to get it quite cheaply without Windows preinstalled. I like about it that it did not yet fail on me over the last years. I replaced the crappy hard disk with a SSD to get some performance out of the otherwise not very powerful laptop. The screen is not that good, but the fact that it's a matte screen makes it quite usable in the sunlight. I removed the camera and microphone. `This guide <http://www.insidemylaptop.com/replace-screen-on-lenovo-e530-laptop/>`_ was quite helpful for that, although it's actually for replacing the screen. However, the same steps make it possible to access the camera and microphone module above the screen.
 
 I built my own PC after I had finished school and I still use it today. The CPU is an Intel Core i7-860 and runs overclocked at 3.4 GHz which is still enough for my performance needs. The processor is perfectly cooled by a `Scythe Mugen 2 Rev.B <http://www.overclock.net/products/scythe-scmg-2100-mugen-2-rev-b>`_ which is not only really huge but also very quiet. I added 8 GB of RAM and the motherboard is a `MSI P55-GD65 <https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/P55GD65.html>`_. I can't really say something positive about the motherboard as it made quite some issues over the years. The only bad purchase besides the motherboard was the GPU. I managed to buy a variant of the Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 from EVGA that has the fan always running at 100%. To keep the noise down, I replaced the fan with an `Alpenföhn Klara <http://www.alpenfoehn.de/auslaufmodelle/klara>`_. The power supply is from `bequiet! <http://www.bequiet.com/>`_ and everything is kept inside a nice Aluminium case from Lian Li that also has a side panel window. The only issue is the sometimes oscillating and thus noisy side panel.
 
@@ -19,4 +19,11 @@ Furthermore, I own two Samsung Galaxy S III phones. One of them is my daily driv
 Software
 ########
 
-Coming soon!
+`I try to use as much free software as possible <{filename}/why_free_software.rst>`_. Unfortunately, we are not yet at the point when we can buy almost any kind of hardware as use it exclusively with free software. My laptop and PC work fine with the free graphics drivers for Intel and Nvidia chips. On the operating system level, I don't depend on nonfree software in the case of the PC, home server and router. However, the laptop needs a nonfree firmware to make the Intel Wireless card work.
+
+My PC, laptop and home server need proprietary hardware initialization software. There isn't a free `BIOS <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS>`_ replacement available yet. I'd like to use hardware that is supported by `Libreboot <https://libreboot.org/>`_ or at least supported by `Coreboot <https://www.coreboot.org/>`_. The `Libreboot website <https://libreboot.org/>`_ explains why it's important that free software boots up your system. It also sums up why security and privacy is only possible on `Intel <https://libreboot.org/faq/#intel>`_ and `AMD <https://libreboot.org/faq/#amd>`_ hardware that is several years old.
+
+..
+   A nonfree BIOS causes several issues. Among others, many manufacturers use whitelists to only allow the usage of a certain hardware. This makes it difficult to replace parts of the hardware. The nonfree BIOS is often slow and bloated. It may contain backdoors Security issues are  
+
+More coming soon!
diff --git a/content/why_free_software.rst b/content/why_free_software.rst
index 16ca529..163b382 100644
--- a/content/why_free_software.rst
+++ b/content/why_free_software.rst
@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
 :title: Why I use free software and why it's important to me
 :date: 2016-08-14 20:20
-:modified: 2016-08-16 15:25
+:modified: 2016-08-22 23:15
 :tags: free software, security, privacy, sustainability, education
 :category: General
 :author: Wolfgang Wiedmeyer
 :status: published
 :summary: I try to use as much `free software <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>`_ as possible. I don't only do this for moral or philosophical reasons, but also because there are numerous practical benefits.
 
-I try to use as much `free software <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>`_ as possible. You may have heard the term "open source" for what I call free software. `Others <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html>`_ and I don't use this term as it only puts the emphasis on one property of the software and not the part that is most important to me: freedom. Free software means that you can use the software for any purpose, modify it and share the software, either in unmodified or modified form. I don't only use free software for moral or philosophical reasons, but also because there are numerous practical benefits. I may have some disadvantages or inconveniences by trying to not use proprietary or nonfree software. It may even prevent me from using certain hardware if it's not possible at all to use that hardware with free software. But many of the problems turn out to be issues only at first sight or are way outweighed by the advantages of their free counterparts. You can check for yourself if the software you are using is free software. Check the license it was published under. It should be one of the `free licences <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html#SoftwareLicenses>`_. 
+I try to use as much `free software <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>`_ as possible. You may have heard the term "open source" for what I call free software. `Others <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html>`_ and I don't use that term as it only puts the emphasis on one property of the software and not the part that is most important to me: freedom. Free software means that you can use the software for any purpose, modify it and share the software, either in unmodified or modified form. I don't only use free software for moral or philosophical reasons, but also because there are numerous practical benefits. I may have some disadvantages or inconveniences by trying to not use proprietary or nonfree software. It may even prevent me from using certain hardware if it's not possible at all to use that hardware with free software. But many of the problems turn out to be issues only at first sight or are outweighed by the advantages of their free counterparts. You can check for yourself if the software you are using is free software. Check the license it was published under. It should be one of the `free licences <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html#SoftwareLicenses>`_. 
 
 
 Giants
 ######
 
-Free software is the future. There are thousands of free software developers around the world and you are really standing on the shoulders of giants when you are using free software. Companies or individuals that produce proprietary software cannot remotely compete in the long run with these development efforts of a sharing and cooperating community. I use `Debian <https://www.debian.org/>`_ as the operating system on my PC, laptop and servers. Debian has `around a thousand developers <https://www.debian.org/intro/about>`_. Nearly all of these developers don't actually develop the software they maintain, but they fix issues here and there and make sure that everything works together nicely. Debian does not only offer you the base system like Windows or Mac OS does, but it already includes nearly all the software you need, more than `43.000 individual software packages in total <https://www.debian.org/intro/about>`_. A common myth is that free software is only based on the efforts of hobbyists, but in fact a lot of free software developers are professionals that make a living from creating free software and there are quite some companies that make money from developing free software or providing support for it. For example, more than `eighty percent of the several thousand Linux kernel developers get paid for their work on the kernel <https://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2015/02/linux-foundation-releases-linux-development-report>`_. The Linux kernel is the core of a GNU/Linux operating system like the one that is offered by Debian.
+Free software is the future. There are thousands of free software developers around the world and you are really standing on the shoulders of giants when you are using free software. Companies or individuals that produce proprietary software cannot compete in the long run with these development efforts of a sharing and cooperating community. I use `Debian <https://www.debian.org/>`_ as the operating system on my PC, laptop and servers. Debian has `around a thousand developers <https://www.debian.org/intro/about>`_. Nearly all of these developers don't actually develop the software they maintain, but they fix issues here and there and make sure that everything works together nicely. Debian does not only offer you the base system like Windows or Mac OS does, but it already includes nearly all the software you need, more than `43.000 individual software packages in total <https://www.debian.org/intro/about>`_. A common myth is that free software is only based on the efforts of hobbyists, but in fact a lot of free software developers are professionals that make a living by creating free software and there are quite some companies that make money from developing free software or providing support for it. For example, more than `eighty percent of the several thousand Linux kernel developers get paid for their work on the kernel <https://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2015/02/linux-foundation-releases-linux-development-report>`_. The Linux kernel is the core of a GNU/Linux operating system like the one that is offered by Debian.
 
 
 Security and privacy
@@ -23,13 +23,13 @@ Real security and privacy is only possible with free software. Free software is
 
 You don't have to be a software developer or a security expert. Alongside the free software developer community comes a huge community of very nice people that will help you with numerous tutorials and documentation. You will most certainly also find someone who answers your questions directly. Even if you have no interest in any of the technical details, you will find plenty of support to use your computer securely and retain your privacy.
 
-My understanding of privacy is that I can decide what information I share with whom. My goal is not to run around as a huge question mark, my goal is to be in control of my own data and in the greater sense of my own destiny. Only free software has the possibility to guarantee you this control in the digital age of computers. Even if you don't value your own security or privacy for whatever reason, you should acknowledge the need of others. If someone asks you for a private conversation, you will probably step aside, lower you voice and listen to what the other one has to say. The same goes for mail exchange, the chat software you use with your friends or the online service you use to exchange files with others. If some of your peers care for their privacy or security, then you should respect that. It won't hurt you to do something to increase the level of your privacy and security, at least for the sake of others.
+My understanding of privacy is that I can decide what information I share with whom. My goal is not to run around as a huge question mark, my goal is to be in control of my own data and in the greater sense of my own destiny. Only free software has the possibility to guarantee this control in the digital age of computers. Even if you don't value your own security or privacy for whatever reason, you should acknowledge the need of others. If someone asks you for a private conversation, you will probably step aside, lower your voice and listen to what the other one has to say. The same goes for mail exchange, the chat software you use with your friends or the online service you use to exchange files with others. If some of your peers care for their privacy or security, then you should respect that. It won't hurt you to do something to increase the level of your privacy and security, at least for the sake of others.
    
 There is a technological area where I especially want to see the use of free software: medical devices. If my well-being depends on the well-functioning of a device like a pacemaker or a operational tool of a surgeon, then I want to have a look at the source code that runs on that device. I want to show the source code to experts and they should be able to tell me if the software works correctly. If there is a way to update the software on the device and if the software running on the device needs to be improved, then I should have the right to let someone do the update. Companies that produce medical devices should be held to the highest possible standards of quality assurance. Publishing the software for the medical devices as free software should be a prerequisite of the quality assurance. We can't solely trust the companies because the interests of the customers is not always aligned with the business interests of the companies. If source code is not published under a free software licence because certain persons in charge think that this may decrease their revenue, then the well-being of the patient is neglected for the sole possibility that someone gets more money.
 
-Our devices are getting more and more powerful. And the need for security actually grows at an even faster rate. A few years back, we were wondering if someone could access our files and manipulate the software on our PC if we connect our PC to the internet. Then we feared that we were watched through our webcam. After that, smartphones became a thing and we started to carry wiretap devices around at all times that can also track our locations. As security is more and more lacking on these devices, the gap between increased abilities of these devices and the need to secure the devices is becoming bigger and bigger. Especially on mobile devices, the lack of security updates or of any effort to make them remotely trustworthy is sometimes outright horrifying. This is one reason why I try to contribute to the `Replicant  project <http://www.replicant.us/>`_.
+Our devices are getting more and more powerful. And the need for security actually grows at an even faster rate. A few years back, we were wondering if someone could access our files and manipulate the software on our PC if we connect our PC to the internet. Then we feared that we were watched through our webcam. After that, smartphones became a thing and we started to carry wiretap devices around at all times that can also track our locations. As security is more and more lacking on these devices, the gap between increased abilities of these devices and the need to secure the devices is becoming bigger and bigger. Especially on mobile devices, the lack of security updates or of any effort to make them trustworthy is sometimes outright horrifying. This is one reason why I try to contribute to the `Replicant  project <http://www.replicant.us/>`_.
 
-But smartphones are not the end. We are more and more entering the reality of the buzzword of nightmares: the internet of things. Why not connect everything to the internet? At some point in the future, almost every car will have some sort of remote control. There's a real possibility that you will buy a robot for your parents that will help them in the household when they get older. So the thread of being passively watched, listened to or tracked will be extended by the thread of being actively physically harmed. There are already numerous reports of the lack of software security in cars and security researchers were able to remotely control cars. I don't want to live in a world where some madman can sit on his bed, sip on a cup of coffee and occasionally crash my car or choke my parents to death with the robot I bought for them. With free software, we can be able so see what functionality the devices have, how its security can be improved or more simple: We would be able disable a certain functionality like remote control if it's just ridiculous to have that functionality in the first place.
+But smartphones are not the end. We are more and more entering the reality of the buzzword of nightmares: the internet of things. Why not connect everything to the internet? At some point in the future, almost every car will have some sort of remote control. There's a real possibility that you will buy a robot for your parents that will help them in the household when they get older. So the thread of being passively watched, listened to or tracked will be extended by the thread of being actively physically harmed. There are already numerous reports of the lack of software security in cars and security researchers were able to remotely control cars. I don't want to live in a world where some madman can sit on his bed, sip on a cup of coffee and occasionally crash my car or choke my parents to death with the robot I bought for them. With free software, we can be able so see what functionality the devices have, how its security can be improved or more simple: We would be able to disable a certain functionality like remote control if it's just ridiculous to have that functionality in the first place.
 
 Our world and our society is not getting improved by people who say that everything is alright. People who call out the issues at hand and nag us about them are doing the first step to change something for the better. Actually doing something about our problems is the next step. Activists are doing all of this. Whistleblowers provide us with the information. Investigative journalists research the issues. All of these groups highly depend on free software as their daily tools. Free software makes it possible for them to evade surveillance of authoritarian or corrupt governments. For some of them, security or privacy issues in the software they use can cost them their lives. I see the striving for more transparency and the opposition to censorship as one of the biggest tasks of our generation. If we all use free software, then it would be really difficult for the evil organizations to even single out the activists or whistleblowers among us. But doctors and lawyers should demand free software, too. How should they be able to guarantee the privacy of their clients otherwise?
 
diff --git a/content/why_segregated_society.rst b/content/why_segregated_society.rst
index 164b5cc..fc1bae1 100644
--- a/content/why_segregated_society.rst
+++ b/content/why_segregated_society.rst
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 :title: Why is our society so segregated?
 :date: 2016-08-16 23:12
-:modified: 2016-08-17 10:02
+:modified: 2016-08-22 23:10
 :tags: society, segregation, Internet, politics, press
 :category: General
 :author: Wolfgang Wiedmeyer
 :status: published
 :summary: It's 2016 and not much seems to have changed over the last decades when looking at the big picture. Very few people are getting richer and richer while the rest has less and less. There are many violent conflicts around the world. People are divided by religion, race, ...
 
-It's 2016 and not much seems to have changed over the last decades when looking at the big picture. Very few people are getting richer and richer while the rest has less and less. There are many violent conflicts around the world. People are divided by religion, race, line of descent and social standing. People don't even understand the concerns of others and often, political discussions cannot even be started because one side already feels offended when the other side disagrees with them. I had thought that further improvements to our political systems, a free press and the Internet would change a lot for the better, so we as a society could work together on deciding what issues matter most and get rid of them one after the other. But there are many negative developments that slow down the process and they could even invert a lot of positive change.
+It's 2016 and not much seems to have changed over the last decades when looking at the big picture. Very few people are getting richer and richer while the rest has less and less. There are many violent conflicts around the world. People are divided by religion, race, line of descent and social standing. People don't even understand the concerns of others and often political discussions cannot even be started because one side already feels offended when the other side disagrees with them. I thought that further improvements to our political systems, a free press and the Internet would change a lot for the better, so we as a society could work together on deciding what issues matter most and get rid of them one after the other. But there are many negative developments that slow down the process and they could even invert a lot of positive change.
 
 I blame a lot on the bad political elite we currently have almost everywhere. Most people are not even interested in politics anymore and they don't see themselves represented. They rather spend they spare time with various distractions. I consider the biggest achievement of chancellor Merkel that now a whole young generation in Germany is completely disenchanted with politics. If people are going to vote, they are not passionately casting their vote for their favorite candidate but for the candidate that will probably cause less damage than the others. The politicians in power won't change anything about this because this is exactly how they want it. A disinterested population is the best population for a ruling party in a democracy and they can do what they want: either nothing or that what the currently highest bidder wants. However, they should bring the population together and cause progress.