resources
With a wealth of experience you gain a lot of insight, knowledge and tips. We've collated some of it here in a series of guides, help documents and How-tos. There's also some downloadable resources in the shape of regular presentations given at various free software events over the years.
Note that unless noted otherwise, these are provided under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike licence.
The beginners section is mostly introduction guides and articles. There is also material written with beginners in mind in the how-to section.
beginners' guides
New to free software? Looking for a plain-english way through the jargon? Look no further. These guides and introductions are written with the beginner in mind.
- guide to free software
- What is free software? Should you care and if so, why and what does it have to do with cakes and my mother? Read on...
- why voluntary orgs should use free software
- and it's not why you think. Read on...
- return of the bespoke database
- Custom-made databases created by a "friend of a friend" have often scuppered VCS organisations. This article originally written for Free Software Magazine looks at why and how free software can provide a real and lasting bespoke solution which grows with you. Read on...
How-to's and tutorials
Here at Equitas we're keen to see people getting the most out of free and open source software. Here we've included some useful guides and how to's we've written.
- create a realistic ribbon with inkscape
- Inkscape is a powerful vector drawing application. It enables you to create scalable drawings in a variety of formats. Here we demonstrate how to quickly create a realistic flowing ribbon with depth. No previous Inkscape experience required.
- network servers with free software
- This is an article written for Free Software Magazine. It explains the different methods and levels of using free software on a typical office server: including reusing an old PC with a downloadable CD to create one in minutes. (links to an external site).
Downloads
The following are documents and other resources that you may find helpful in choosing or using free software.
Unless noted otherwise all these are released under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 Licence. Where possible documents are available as both ODP (OpenOffice.org) and PDF files
Presentations
- foss in use
- This presentation was given by Ryan at the FOSSbox free software day on 28 Nov 2008 in London. It talks about using free software in the real world at a National UK charity Contact a Family whom I was working for at the time. It also referenced a case study which also available here.
- Target audience: non-techie VCS users and managers
- Presentation: ODP (117KB), PDF (304KB)
- Case Study : PDF (276KB)
- Note that the case study is Copyright (c) Contact a Family and is used with permission here. It is released under a CC-BY-NC-SA licence.
- setting up a linux server
- This presentation was given by Ryan at the SocialSource free software day, Nov 2005 in London. It describes the process and discussion required when considering deploying a server based upon GNU/Linux.
Software additions
- Ktuberling playgrounds
-
Ktuberling, also known as the increasingly inappropriate "Potato Guy" is a popular piece of free software aimed at children. Less of a structured game and more of a fun pastime it presents the user with a background (or playground) with various objects they can place on it to make a picture. Originally it came with a single background of a potato guy (hence the name) with eyes, mouths, hats etc. to place on him.Recent versions increased the range and scope of the playgrounds so that Ktuberling itself was more akin to the "Fuzzy felt" range of children's games than "Mr Potato Head".
Following prompting (read "nagging") from my own children I recently designed two new playgrounds for it. I've submitted them to the KDE project and they were included in v0.6 (for KDE4) onwards. Just grab the program from your repositories or download it from its homepage.
These playgrounds are released under the same licence as Ktuberling itself, the GNU General Public Licence v2.0
Robot workshop: Build your own robot from the various parts.-

- Butterflies: Make a butterfly from the colourful bodies, wings and shapes available.

-
- This website will be blacked out 18 Jan 2012
-
17 Jan 2012
|
Category: General
As part of the protest against SOPA this website will be blacked out tomorrow ( 18 Jan 2012 ) GMT. Full details of why i am taking this step can be foun din my personal blog here Read on...
- Encouraging the next generation of hackers
-
19 Dec 2011
|
Category: Free software magazine
My latest article is now available at Free Software magazine. This is about the need to encourage the next generation of computer hackers (by which I mean programmers not criminals).
Read on... - New client website - Keswalls
-
12 Dec 2011
|
Category: General
I'm pleased to announce a new client website has just gone live. Keswalls are an established fishing tackle shop who have revitalised their online presence with a brand new store. Read on...

