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Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman [pdf]
- danShumway 9y agoGreedy question, is this available (for purchase or otherwise) as an epub? The FSF only seems to carry it physically. Essay collections are great to carry around on an e-reader and bust out whenever I have a tiny bit of free time, but my device really doesn't handle PDFs very well. Edit: I'm going to assume that the source is available online in some kind of pure-text format, although I'm having trouble locating it. I'm also going to go out on a limb and assume that this is permissively licensed. Assuming there's not an epub available, would there be any interest in me making one?
- j88439h84 9y agoI'm interested, multiple formats, ideally.
- Retroity 9y agoSomebody on GitHub made a epub version, which you can find here: https://github.com/pettarin/fsfs3 https://github.com/pettarin/fsfs3 In the releases tab you can find a download for a zip file containing both epub and mobi files.
- zingermc 9y agoYou can see the directory by editing the URL: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/fsfs/ https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/fsfs/ Looks like rms-essays.ps exists, and there are .texi files for individual essays (at least "Right to Read" and "Misinterpreting Copyrights").
- cocacola1 9y agoWouldn't converting this PDF to epub via Calibre work just as well?
- michaelmrose 9y agoOne would think but converting from pdf is pretty crappy and the results meh at best in my experience.
- danShumway 9y agoMy understanding is that PDFs are not layed out semantically, so the conversion experience is never going to get much better. I have nothing against people who rely on PDFs for layouts, but I kind of wish in general we would stop using the format, specifically for that reason. I consider most PDFs to be a downgrade from a pure text format. There's been a trend lately of technical authors publishing books as CSS/HTML, and I think that's a really good idea. But I get it - if someone isn't into the whole responsive design thing, or they're not worried about readers being able to change contrast/size/fonts, it's going to be a really hard sell to convince that person to use a format that makes it more difficult to do pixel-perfect layout.
- bigmanwalter 9y agoI have had good success converting PDF to mobile format with k2pdfopt http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/ http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/
- OskarS 9y agoI hope you're not reading this on a Kindle (or any other proprietary e-reader)! That would be some kind of insult to the great man, to read his selected papers on the most locked down and proprietary device imaginable! Buy a physical copy, support the FSF and then buy another copy for a library!
- danShumway 9y agoDRM-free epubs only, but unfortunately I can't do much about the hardware right now other than avoid Kindle like the plague. I really wish a company like Purism would make a good e-reader. You're not wrong though; I'll take the criticism. The e-reader ecosystem right now is complete crap, the proprietary hardware/software/formats are almost completely to blame, and I do regularly feel pretty guilty that I might be contributing to it.
- PaulHoule 9y agoand they publish it as a PDF file?
- LukeShu 9y agoThe PDF is output from Texinfo (the GNU documentation system), which the book was typeset in. The .texi source files are also published. Plus, it is primarily known as a dead-tree book, not as something published digitially.
- buttholesurfer 9y agoStallman is my man.
- DonHopkins 9y agoRMS is the Root Mean Square: always positive! ;) Have you installed VMRS? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vrms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vrms vrms (Virtual Richard M. Stallman) is a program that analyzes the set of currently-installed packages on a Debian-based system, and reports all of the packages from the non-free tree which are currently installed. Software gets placed in the non-free tree when it is agreed not to be too problematic for Debian to distribute but does not meet the Debian Free Software Guidelines and therefore cannot be included in their official distribution. For each program from "non-free" installed, vrms displays an explanation of why it is non-free, if one is available.
- e19293001 9y agoOne of the things that free software lacks strength is in EDA tools. There were people who created free software for hardware guys but with the lack of fund and volunteers, the development deteriorates. While hardware development is not easy compared to software development, I hope there will be a strong move in EDA tool development. Free software deserves the praise for saving everyone's ass.
- bb88 9y agoKicad is great, but suffers from the library system. There really needs to be a standard file format for a part in the electronics industry that has the symbol, pinout diagram, footprint, and 3d model in one file, to make it easy to integrate with existing products. So much time is wasted making your own symbols, pinouts, and footprints.
- zrobotics 9y agoDoes kicad really suffer though? Even with an altium license, I spent just as much time on footprints, there are too many variations for anything else. For instance, the last board of designed had a msp430 that was almost, bit not quite a standard SOIC-16 (wider pads needed). Personally, I wouldn't trust any library footprints at all. My major gripe is how slow the footprint editor is to pull up on stock formats, considering it has to check the repos each and every time.
- bb88 9y agoYeah, it really does. It will get better with KiCad 5.0 though which should be released soon.
- flowless 9y agoCare to explain what's new in 5.0 regarding library management? I'm considering rolling out a standalone library (package) management for Kicad re-using infrastructure from Haskell (stripped down Hackage + Stackage servers). This way there would be a versioned repository people could upload their libraries to and from your own project you can depend on these libraries. Stackage would then create a snapshots of these so even stuff built years ago can still find correct version of Kicad and libraries.
- cocacola1 9y agoWell this is going to be a fun read. For anyone that wants a physical copy. Not from Amazon, of course: https://shop.fsf.org/books-docs/free-software-free-society-selected-essays-richard-m-stallman-3rd-edition https://shop.fsf.org/books-docs/free-software-free-society-s...
- acehw 9y agoIs this the first edition? There is a third edition, so why not post it instead? https://www.gnu.org/doc/fsfs3-hardcover.pdf https://www.gnu.org/doc/fsfs3-hardcover.pdf
- confounded 9y agoOne guess might be that the forward for the third edition was provided by Jacob Appelbaum, who turned out to be not such a cool guy. I’m glad the version with the Lessig forward was posted (though I should probably read the new essays, too).
- acehw 9y agoIdk. Maybe make a 3.001 or something like that with a different forward? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- M_Bakhtiari 9y agoOr maybe a backward.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- thecatspaw 9y ago> who turned out to be not such a cool guy all I could find was allegations of sexual assault which could not be proven? Or was that comment about something else?
- hoistbypetard 9y agoIt's got _The Right to Read_. I think that does a better job explaining why we should care about the freedoms he's spent his life trying to advance than perhaps the entire collection of his other writings. I just re-read it, and for some reason it made me think of this old science fiction story from some 1950s pulp zine that I only learned about because of a Neil Gaiman essay: _Business As Usual, During Alterations_[1]. The story made my bookmarks. The Gaiman essay did not :-) [1](http://www.vb-tech.co.za/ebooks/Williams%20Ralph%20-%20Business%20as%20Usual%20During%20Alterations%20-%20SF.txt http://www.vb-tech.co.za/ebooks/Williams%20Ralph%20-%20Busin...)
- rbanffy 9y agoSomeone should adapt it for TV. It'd be a great episode for a Black Mirror or something similar (and, at least, it'd have a happy ending, which is rare in BM)
- jasonkostempski 9y ago"Business as usual, eh, while Rome bums. " I think this version is from a faulty replicator.
- gsich 9y agohttps://rms.sexy https://rms.sexy
- booleandilemma 9y agoWhoa, NSFW warning please! ;)
- jasonkostempski 9y agoAt least he's wearing a laptop in all the pictures.
- tomcam 9y agoCool! Shows him sitting proudly next to a picture of gay-murdering, political prisoner-killing Che Guevara! Right on, man!
- dang 9y agoPlease don't do this here.
- therein 9y agoThis is amazing. I hope RMS ends up reading this thread one way or another. I want him to know how truly appreciated he is.
- nvr219 9y agoI love rms
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- tjpnz 9y agoJoin us now and share the software....
- jrauser 9y agoWow, the close of Lessig's introduction is powerful. We have indeed not earned that freedom yet. > I don’t know Stallman well. I know him well enough to know he is a hard man to like. He is driven, often impatient. His anger can flare at friend as easily as foe. > He is uncompromising and persistent; patient in both. Yet when our world finally comes to understand the power and danger of code — when it finally sees that code, like laws, or like government, must be transparent to be free—then we will look back at this uncompromising and persistent programmer and recognize the vision he has fought to make real: the vision of a world where freedom and knowledge survives the compiler. And we will come to see that no man, through his deeds or words, has done as much to make possible the freedom that this next society could have. > We have not earned that freedom yet. We may well fail in securing it. But whether we succeed or fail, in these essays is a picture of what that freedom could be. And in the life that produced these words and works, there is inspiration for anyone who would, like Stallman, fight to create this freedom.
- jrauser 9y agoA followup: The GNU project was born while I was in junior high, gcc started when I was a senior in high school. Linux was started when I was in college. Stallman, in a very real sense, made my entire career possible. Likely yours too.
- rileymat2 9y agoThat is a jump, software may have eaten the world without free software and been more lucrative. It is impossible to know.
- omeid2 9y agoUnlikely, software is eating the world in large because it is extremely accessible unlike most other industries. Consider Git vs BitKeeper, for growth difference of libre and closed source software.
- jrauser 9y agoCould I have made a lot of money in software had the free software movement never started? Sure. Could I have had my particular career? Nope. Could the current world of a zillion startups enabled by cloud computing exist without the GNU project or something like it? Seems unlikely to me, but perhaps my imagination is limited.
- wiz21c 9y agoStallman has been my man for more than twenty years (the first time I heard him). I still 100% agree with his core values. But a while ago, he explained that mobile phones were closed/proprietary/spying and, in the very same talk, explained that if he had to give a call, then he'd use someone else's phone. That sounded wrong to me. I told it to him but the answer was not clear... So to me, he's mostly perfect, but that makes him a bit more of a human being, which I like too :-)
- jasonkostempski 9y agoHe talked about the cell phone thing in some video I saw and that answer bugged me a bit too. At first it seems like that line of reasoning could be used to justify using all proprietary things. But I think that cell phones are proprietary spying tools is one issue, a reason not to register one in your name due to maintaining anonymity, as well as a reason not to do personal computing on, because who knows what the hell it's doing in the interest of the proprietor. On the other hand, making a few phone calls through someone else's phone is basically the same level of risk as using a pay phone. So both points are about cell phones but one is about cell phone as a computer/gps and the other is about the cell phone as a phone. If he had said he'd use someone else's phone to check his email, I'd be worried about his line of reasoning :)
- Digital-Citizen 9y agoI doubt he explained anything proprietary as being "closed". He spends considerable time correcting people when they summarize his views and use that term because (as he also explains) that's a reference to open source, a group founded over a decade after the free software movement which ostensibly promotes a development methodology purpose-built to remove the ethical underpinning of free software. See https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Closed https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Closed for more on this. In practice, open source philosophy is disposed of in the face of powerful, reliable proprietary software ("How can I get a copy [of that proprietary program]?") and that's why proprietary software businesses like open source and don't care to discuss anything in terms of software freedom. But software freedom is far better for computer users in cases where the two philosophies conflict or diverge. See the section named "Different Values Can Lead to Similar Conclusions…but Not Always" of https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.... for how this plays out in practice. As to using someone else's tracker (tracking is what those devices do most of the time, so why not acknowledge that's what they chiefly are by calling them by their rightful name?): this is right in line with understanding that software freedom concerns control of one's own computer. Remote services (such as /., Hacker News, Google mail, and more) might run on nonfree software. That's a bad choice for the computer owner (all computer owners deserve software freedom) but it doesn't say much about use of the service because service users don't have a say about someone else's computer. By the same token, those that choose to own and keep trackers on their person have already divulged the location of the tracker (and thus themselves), and that choice was never Stallman's to make. So the choice for Stallman (or someone using someone else's tracker) comes down to making the call or not.
- mark_l_watson 9y agoThanks for posting this, just added to my digital library. Like many others here, I am a huge fan and his work positively impacts me every day.
- stiangrindvoll 9y agoDecided to buy a copy, plus some other cool stuff!
- walkingolof 9y agoFrom the first essay, a word that should be reclaimed. "The use of “hacker” to mean “security breaker” is a confusion on the part of the mass media. We hackers refuse to recognize that meaning, and continue using the word to mean, “Someone who loves to program and enjoys being clever about it
- piahoo 9y agoI would say that hacker is a person, who enjoy doing hard and complex stuff just for fun. Spending hundreds of hours, just to tune your car engine a little bit, is pretty close to hacking for me. I think that hacker is a curious person with deep knowledge in some areas, more or less involved in DIY projects
- throw2016 9y agoMost people don't believe in idealism but the open source movement is living proof of it. This is a society that worships 'wealth creators' and is skeptical of altruism and has no way to understand or value their work. Stallman, Torvalds and thousands of others have undeniably added immeasurable value to society and have directly and indirectly enabled thousands of startups and tons of jobs. Yet they are not thought of as 'wealth creators' and 'job creators' and its those who use their work for profit who get these self-congratulatory titles. Stallman was particularly prescient but it does not look like the values that powered the generation that created and grew the open source movement will persist. Those who work for and defend the surveillance economy can hardly claim them. The communities that were more open source focused have more of less died and a lot of that tech traffic spills here but HN itself is not focused on open source but how best to use it for profit - not that that is a bad thing. But now its a side effect of efforts to make money.
- severine 9y agoThere's a very good spanish translation of the same 2002 edition here: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/fsfs/free_software2.es.pdf https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/fsfs/free_software2.es.pdf
- DonHopkins 9y agohttp://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/emacs/rms-came-to-town.txt http://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/emacs/rms-came-to-tow... >So, what is this thing called Richard Stallman? Quirky, yes. Dedicated, yes. How much fun can it be to tell the same story hundreds of times, and get the same old questions hundreds of times. Is he arrogant or paranoid? No. Everything he said was warmly said, and said to motivate. He spreads a message he deeply believes in, and encourages others to believe just as deeply. >Richard Stallman is not a madman. He is not the enemy. He has a simple and logical story to tell, about individual and collective freedom, and communities of cooperating individuals. You might conclude that his dream can never be fulfilled, but I believe that you should listen to his message, and consider how you can improve your own life by improving everyone's life. I respect him, and I respect what he has to say. >Stephen McKay 1999-05-11
- _zachs 9y agoReading this seems like a big undertaking, can someone here recommend specific essays for me to read, or are they all compelling enough for me to read them all?