How to use Free Software

12th February 2017

Free Software is software that gives it's users the rights to study, modify and redistribute. It is important for society so that we can audit and maintain the software we use, and be in control of our computers.

Step 1: Engage with the Free Software community

You need a community to be part of. Here are some examples:

• There may be a local Free Software community in your country or city. For example in the UK we have Manchester Free Software. I tried to start a web-forum Free Software UK but no-one uses it yet.
• Sometimes Free Software operating systems have a community forum or mailing list, such as Trisquel's. So if you have an idea what operating system you want to use, try them.
• For instant messaging you can use IRC. Try the #fsf or #fsfe channels on FreeNode. These are the channels of the FSF (Free Software Foundation) and FSFE (FSF Europe), and they should be able to help you with simple practical/philosophical questions.

I also recommend you read some of the philosophical essays on the GNU website, as this gives you a basic education in Free Software.

And check out LWN and Tux Machines for a glimpse of how the Free Software community works.

Step 2: Get compatible hardware

Hardware vendors are usually apathetic towards Free Software, and some hardware supports Free Software better than others. It's wise to take advice from someone when buying a computer for Free Software, but here I give a few tips to get you started:

• Avoid anything Apple. Apple deliberately handicaps their devices to only run Apple software (which is proprietary).
• H-node is helpful. Though not comprehensive, H-node lists some hardware that is known to work well with Free Software.
• As a supplement to H-node, I made a platform to publish Free Software success stories! Hopefully you can learn from reading about other people's successful builds: Freed Computer.
• Wireless is often problematic with laptops, desktops. A lot of laptops & desktops on the market work fine with Free Software except for the wireless, so be careful of this. You can get compatible wireless cards and dongles from ThinkPenguin.
• For phones, tablets, plan to run LineageOS. Although there are various initiatives to run 100% Free Software on phones, most are impractical, so I recommend the mostly-Free LineageOS. Find a phone that LineageOS supports, by looking at the downloads page. Otherwise consider Relicant.
• There are shops for Free Software friendly hardware. If you don't want to make the effort to choose hardware yourself:
  • Ministry of Freedom. Their stuff is very free since it has a Free Software BIOS.
  • ThinkPenguin. I've not bought a computer from them but they seem good.
  • Vikings. I think they're in Germany, looks good to me.
  • Local Shops. There may be a local seller in your country. (If you know of any shops in your country, please tell me so I can list them here).
  • Check this page on the GNU website for more options.

Step 3: Install a Free Software operating system

The Free Software foundation provides a list of Free Software operating systems. My favourite, Debian, is not listed there due to some political squabbling.

I hesitate to provide a recommendation but I can comment on some that I know:

• Debian. My personal favourite, read the article I wrote about it.
• Trisquel. It's easy to install so some recommend it for beginners. I personally am not a fan of the UI (user-interface).
• Parabola. Good if you really want to learn the intimate inner workings of a GNU/Linux OS. This is not an easy option but you will learn a lot!

You will need to use the instructions provided by the Operating System you've chosen. Once it's installed, expect a big learning curve, because getting used to a new operating system takes time.

Step 4: Get Free Apps

You need to get out of the Windows mindset of downloading programs from random websites. You will get most of your software from vetted repositories of Free Software.

For example Debian provides a repository of 43000 software packages. This repository is part of the Debian project and the OS has built-in functionality to download, install and update these packages. Furthermore Debian promises to maintain them if the original author neglects to do so.

For phones you will use F-Droid, as an alternative to the Google Play store.

If you want to download software from anywhere other than a repository, you can check it's Free Software by seeing if it's licensed under one of the FSF's list of approved licences, or looking at the Free Software directory.

Step 5: Pay for your Free Software

If you have the money, donate to any Free Software projects that are important to you. For example I donate to Mozilla and F-Droid.

You also might consider membership of the FSF or FSFE.

I subscribe to LWN too.

Use Free Software and have fun!