Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
> Am I able to use Adobe Flash? A game I play needs flash to be able to join the chat. FWIW Mumble is an excellent free code program designed for in-game chat. The UX is similar to IRC, you join a server, which can can any number of channels/ rooms. Each room has a text chat box, and users in the same room can hear each other speak (assuming you mic is working, there is a good wizard for troubleshooting mic problems). There are free code Mumble clients for all major OS, and the GNU/Linux client can be installed from the Trisquel repos.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
Just a fix: freeware != free software.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
That is most likely due to it being proprietary though. Flash being proprietary makes it insecure I am sure. That being said, I think the adobe people should at least not have the gall to keep it proprietary for life.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
To be honest it was more of a curiosity. I did do a lot with freeware way back in the 90's, but I don't remember too much, those were my teenage years. I know just enough to be able to look at code and edit it with some reasearch and trial and error, but have no professional training other than C++, java and html courses taken way back in the early 2000s. I sort of moved away from that kind of stuff for years and then suddenly found myself working in IT about 8 years ago in an office enviroment because I know slightly more than your typical end user I guess lol. So frustration at the limitations of the Windows OS, along with a few interactions with "Linux" led me to looking into using it as an OS for my personal computer and learning more about it. As far as Trisquel, I ran across it researching what I needed to build myself a system and the idea of being able to use freeware exclusively caught my curiosity, so this machine (which I actually did buy not build) was a bit of an experiment for me you could say.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
You shouldn't really care as long as it respects the four freedoms (of which it does) or if you're a developer and want to link software from another license. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software#Definition Might I ask, what drew you to Trisquel specifically?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
On 9/20/19, xliang9...@live.cn wrote: > broken beyond repair. Ah, this is the phrase I am looking for to express proprietary software. I am not English native speaker so phrases are challenging for me. Thank you so much xliang.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
I see, yeah I knew Flash was soon to be obsolete. Funny how many people still use it though. I personally try to avoid it, I was just curious in this situation. I'm new to libre/free ware world and the GNU/Linux world, I'm learning what I can by searching this forum, if I can't find the answer I ask. I gave Trisquel a try a couple years ago, but didn't really use it much until I recently updated it to 8.0, I like it after the update. My job is mostly hardware and troubleshooting/fixing issues on Windows Enterprise machines but I'm really starting to dislike Windows OS as I learn how a GNU/Linux OS works. Thanks everyone for taking the time to answer my questions, I'll be asking tougher ones soon hopefully. :)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
Thanks, I only use the add/remove programs app or sudo apt install at this point, I figured that was safest until I know more.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
Gotcha, that makes sense, thanks. So, excuse my ignorance, but what does GPL3 licensed mean? I've been just reading over the forum trying to pick up on things, but wasn't quite sure on that.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
Thanks, I'll try that, he's pretty good at communicating and working with people playing the game.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
Sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
> It's your Freedom Zero, any free/libre operating system should not stop you from running Adobe Flash, even if it's broken beyond repair. I haven't used Parabola for a few years, but I recall they had a proprietary software blacklist. It wasn't truly stopping anyone from running non-free software, more of a road block to using pacman to install it if I recall.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
It's like running a game in an emulator. (actually, it's exactly like that) The Emulator itself is libre, but the game more than likely isn't. Though I have messed around with compiling test ps1 programs. If you want to support libre games, if you find them, send them some coin. This NES game is GPL3 licensed: https://novasquirrel.itch.io/nova-the-squirrel
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
I suppose unless you use it for reverse-engineering and figure out how that Actionscript worked. But yeah, the same has been said for Javascript.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
If you ask whether you are able to run Adobe Flash (or any other non-free software), the answer is "yes". It's your Freedom Zero, any free/libre operating system should not stop you from running Adobe Flash, even if it's broken beyond repair. Gnash is only compatible with very old Flash versions, so don't bother to try it. Here is a remainder: Flash will die in next year (Adobe will completely stop supporting it), and an important fact is that FSF no longer marks Gnash as a high-priority project. Finally, please say "GNU/Linux" if you refer to the operating system, rather than the kernel.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
Anything installed through the Add/Remove Programs app or 'Sudo apt install' will be from Trisquel repositories and theres nothing to worry about.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
Not just proprietary but also extremely insecure. Flash is probably responsible for more hacked systems than any other technology.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
Might want to ask your game's maintainers if there's another way you can join in the chat. Flash isn't a communication protocol, just a way that they have decided to show the graphical interaction of the chat. The actual chat itself may be occurring via an IRC channel or other communication protocol that the maintainers could give you access to. Most communication methods can be accessed via libre software.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
The files. <>
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
Thanks for the answer. I probably don't want to use it then, that would defeat the purpose of having Trisquel. I have a Windows laptop I can use instead if I really need to chat. Should I unistall what I tried to install? It looks like just the installer, not the actual flash? Do you mean Gnash is proprietary too? Even though it's provided? Or the swf files are?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
You have the ability to use Flash, but you will lose your freedom. It is proprietary. Even with Gnash. <> signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
[Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash
Am I able to use Adobe Flash? A game I play needs flash to be able to join the chat. I do have Gnash and Lightspark installed, but they don't do anything for this. "apt-cache search flash" did turn up these: flashplugin-installer - Adobe Flash Player plugin installer flashplugin-downloader - Adobe Flash Player plugin installer (transitional package) I tried to install them, but seem to be unsuccessful. I'm still learning linux, so not sure if I did it wrong or what.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe flash
Hope Adobe never ever been existed. They bloated and infected full internet with their Flash. They only program proprietary backd00red and spywared software.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe flash
THE most ubiquitous spyware ever invented (after the Redmond OS, of course). Yeah, let it rot.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe flash
This is very often true. Power corrupts. plain and simple. from the beginning to the end... alas I wish it weren't so. but it is.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe flash
Gnash works reasonably well and there is server side code. If you want to implement things with Flash, look at the Gnash project and Cygnal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnash_%28software%29 Let Adobe rot.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe flash
Maybe the software contains secrets other companies could benefit from. You could ask the same about hardware which has stopped to get manufactored. If a computer main board has stopped getting manufactored and sold, then why not make all source software available?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe flash
Amen- the free market does not free people. Unfortunately, unless manually corrected through strong democracy, it seems to consistently undermine itself in such a way that the people 'winning' at it keep getting more powerful, and vice versa.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe flash
That's capitalism for you, "screwing with people since the day it was born!" Attribution is fine and all, but copyright is a decadent beast. but I wish that companies in the world weren't so selfish. Anything abandoned for more than ten years should be at least public domain. and anything that has had copyright for more than fifteen years should be by default lose its patent. and this is at the very least. I think copyright should be banned in every country and every law like it should be dismissed as crap. With the exception of course of attribution. meaning you cannot steal someones idea and claim it as your own. That is the only part of copyright I think that ever made sense. Though at this point, it is dangerous even to allow that. Greedy people need to be silenced (not with weapons but with legislation and laws.) heh
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe flash
Firstly, there is one piece of sad news I need to break to you- Adobe Flash, unfortunately, isn't dead. It may not be the piece of web infrastructure it once was, but there is no shortage of functionality (games and legacy sites mostly) which demands it. Additionally considering Magic Banana's points above and the fact that Adobe recently revived their software for GNU/Linux, it's not as if Flash (Crash?) is yet a historical artifact. Regardless of that, keeping abandonware proprietary does seem to be an endemic problem. I suspect most companies simply don't even think about the possibility of freeing the code, or won't/can't because of licensing and the perception of software as a 'product', which can (like with vintage clothing and vinyl disks) go through revival phases where they once again become profitable. I honestly don't know- perhaps some companies would free their legacy code if we asked nicely?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe flash
I have thought exactly that about old video games. When they're not in retail anymore, why not release them as free software? If a company did that they would probably even benefit from it financially, as such a move would put them in the news.
[Trisquel-users] Adobe flash
Hi, I have a cuestion: if Adobe Flash is dead (or almost it is), and probably no one want to buy licences of this crap, so why they should not to release it as free software?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I think that you are exaggerating some points about what he said. He only said that you shouldn't be unethical, so, like a lot of people that don't have money and/or work, you don't see them robbing (yes this is some other sort of unethical stuff but it is unethical too in this kind of vision). You see them finding another job and not being against what they are, what they love, and freedom itself. I can even use those heavy words to explain by saying that, if you don't find a way to win money with software being unethical (like only selling free software), then you can find another job that pays your bills and still doing Free Software. And (for me at least) the important thing of the speech (beside the fact that Lunduke is one of the stupidest Gnu/Linux developers I've seen in a while... and I don't even know if he is a Gnu/Linux user at all since he asked people for donation to buy mac computers after asking them 4000€ a month in order to release software that at this day (almost 7 months past if my memory is right) continue to not being released under github even knowing that they are GPL), is that you have always 2 kind of people in this situation... Those who want to understand and what do listen and learn, with this people we can talk and maybe find a solution (but if you to remember that RMS and the FSF are not and enterprise to find people jobs in Free Software department), and you have people that will never want to even listen to this, and so we just let those people feel free about themselves and as we are educated and civilized, we go away to someone that is interested and want to listen, letting do this last one what he wants to do with is life knowing that it is (mostly) against his own Freedom. But maybe I misinterpreted what he said... but at last this is what I think.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Update: My math professor suddenly sent an E-mail which basically said that I must use WebAssign or forfeit the grade (citing that I have been able to do my homework at this point... I knew that would bite me in the butt). He then referred me to another professor. I'm guessing he was told that working around the system is impossible, or otherwise assured that he has no obligation to help me. I have replied by saying that if that is the case, I would like to talk about migrating out of using WebAssign in the long term, and I have asked who is responsible for making the decision to use WebAssign. If he doesn't respond or the response is too vague before Thursday (which is when his office hours are), I will talk to him directly. I'm not letting him off the hook that easy. For now, at least, I'll do my homework, or at least the parts that require Flash to answer, on a live CD or on university computers. Just a note before it is suggested: I don't think threatening to drop the class can help, since it's not possible to get a refund on my tuition anymore (for that, you need to drop in the first couple of weeks). Is there a way that students dropping classes affects professors which I don't know about, which would still make dropping the class a meaningful threat? Should I contact WebAssign now, or should I wait? Any other advice to push for a long-term change?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
It is a complicate situation and I'm sorry to know that you got to that point. Dropping a class isn't a solution because the only person that would suffer from this would be you and no one else (that could be a solution only if a lot of people, more than 50%, would stop doing their assignment on WebAssign at the same time, you can call this a boycott). If I was you I would : -- Send and email to every math teacher on the university talking about the problem and a possible solution -- Talk about this issue to other students in order to make them do the same (sending the same email or signing a petition) -- Send an email to WebAssign talking about your problem But since you don't have any other solution, you need to do it, I feel horrible for saying that but it is preferable for you, as a student, to do this using a LiveCD than loosing your class (and the money by the same occasion). A lot of people may not agree with me (and I don't agree with myself either), but (for me) it is better than just saying OK I Will do what you want !. I had the same problem with Cisco Packet Tracer (where there is no alternative for doing what they want), but I am discussing about that and I maybe found a solution, because the teachers can actually listen to the students (not all, but it is better than no one at all). The best you could do, is to find a professor that agrees with you and would be likely to send an email do WebAssign with the same problem, that could make WebAssign change a little bit the way they work. Hope it helps.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I'd say go talk to the (wo)man in person. Explain briefly what free software is all about and your position. tell her/him you're facing an ethical issue and ask for help. Kudos to you for seizing the opportunity to explain to the professor what free software is. If only more people did it.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
The problem with talking to the other students is none of them care, as far as I can tell. I mentioned before that the culture (for lack of a better word) of this university is terrible; nobody cares. I once mentioned the topic of free software to one of my classmates outside of class; I suggested she try LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office, and all she had to say was that it would go over her head (something like when I get home, I'm going to be thinking, 'what was that thing he was talking about?'). Most importantly, I really have no clue how to talk to many people (preferably all 20-30 students in my class, at least) about the issue effectively, so that some people will think about it. As far as I'm aware, I have no way to know their E-mail addresses or even their names without asking them personally, and at that point I might as well explain free software to everyone individually, especially considering how weird it looks to ask someone for their E-mail address so randomly. There is a short amount of time before the teacher comes in when most people are in the classroom, but I can't think of any way to take advantage of that. I can send an E-mail to every professor, though, and I intend to do that. What exactly I say depends on my professor's answer to my question (about who makes the decision to use WebAssign; professors, or some single authority).
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I'm not so sure giving in is the answer. Continuing the class may not be the right answer. I would probably drop the class.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I really don't think dropping the class would help. Like I said, it's too late to get the tuition refunded, so all that would look like to them me giving up. In other words, lots of harm to me, no message delivered to the school. However, I do intend (once my professor has answered who is responsible for choosing WebAssign) to threaten to leave this university after this term (or year, if that proves to be impossible) for another one, and if I see no indication of change, I will carry out that threat gladly.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 4:59 PM, onp...@gmail.com wrote: I really don't think dropping the class would help. Like I said, it's too late to get the tuition refunded, so all that would look like to them me giving up. In other words, lots of harm to me, no message delivered to the school. However, I do intend (once my professor has answered who is responsible for choosing WebAssign) to threaten to leave this university after this term (or year, if that proves to be impossible) for another one, and if I see no indication of change, I will carry out that threat gladly. I understand your point. You should try to build some sort of critical mass to make yourself heard. Maybe your in your university there are students rights' associations or other offices of that sort that may help you. Good luck, -- Stefano
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Maybe you could change the curriculum? For example I studied electrical engineering and computer engineering instead of software engineering and managed to avoid with that every single windows programming shit. Missed some programming courses, for what they would had been worth, but learned a lot of hardware, which I found very interesting. It is nice to know the basics how for example computers work. It is really fascinating, I can say.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Hm, I don't see any organizations like that. There is a Linux (sic) User Group, which hilariously proclaims its purpose as to support and promote the use of Linux (sic), UNIX and other Open Source technologies. I'll try talking to them, looks like there's an IRC channel. Maybe there's a couple free software supporters there.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Hmm, heh, nice suggestion, but I can say from experience that most of those students rigths associations are mostly interested of the next Wednesday and booze or next student party and booze. If they are not interested of that, they are interested of how to get more funds for administration of student association needed for free refreshment trips exclusively to the board xD At times they can be interested of something else if it means they can talk shit with officials of the school in some very important meeting, and most of all, try show to the officials of the school how intelligent people they are. If you tell them about Free Software they say oh, but I can get Windows for free, I don't need Free Software. After that you can try to explain about the Four Freedoms and why they are good and important just to see that they don't give a shit. So, in the end the only thing you can do is pick most powerful of them (because then you can say later that we (name) chose to install GNU/Linux) and talk enthusiastically how cool linux is and that it should be installed on the machines of the office of student organization. They say yeah because they say practically to anything yeah if they think it is socially acceptable (the only exception to this is politics, but I think you would not want to talk hours and hours about it with them so you better avoid that topic, remember they are politician wannabees). Then you just install GNU/Linux on every machine you can and when they see that and are like one helluva big WTF??? you just smile and say this is GNU/Linux, this is totally awesome, one moment, let me show you, here is Firefox and here is torrent file sharing program. File sharing program is a little bit different but still very easy to use! And don't even think about not installing flash. They can use GNU/Linux but if there is no flash they will get very mad. The end result will be that the most hippy student will begin to really use GNU/Linux and enjoy of it. She might be a good wife candidate too, so you should seriously consider to ask her for a date. (This is humour you might not comprehend and everything said has happened in real, and much more. I was very active in different student organizations.)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
That sounds very promising. I would go talk with them and maybe try start things with Linux Installation Feast or Tux Party. Professors would not care of you but you might be able to have some fun and spread linux awareness.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I would not expect dropping the class to make a difference. I would do it because I believe what they were asking is unethical. I'd prefer not to hurt myself or others. It may not help others. It will on the other hand still be doing yourself a favor.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I chose to do whatever possible to avoid windows programming courses because I could not imagine ever programming something proprieatary stuff on windows. So unless you go for a career where you program proprieatary stuff for Windows I can't really see much point in doing windows programming courses. There are certainly ways to chose some other courses instead. Whatever from management and economics for example will be much better. I took quite some of those courses and don't regret it a bit. There must be a way how you can get shit courses replaced with courses actually giving value to you.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
If you allow me to ask this question even if it doesn't have (almost) anything to do with this post. But... Do anyone here work as a programmer ? And if yes do you only work on free software or sometimes with proprietary software (working with or creating them). Thanks in Advance (and sorry for this little hijack).
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Wow, I honestly wish you earn a lot from doing what you do, so that the time spent in what you do is well compensated.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I am software developer by trade. I use a Trisquel box for all of my development. The project that I work on is a mix of free and non-free components/code. The company at which I work is very much a supporter of free software and is home to many of the core developers for the Freeswitch project, Cacti (or it was last I checked), the Psi jabber client, and contributes to many other free software projects (clamav among others).
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Ok now I am jealous. Don't you need more workers ;D Seriously though, I don't think I could become a good programmer. One needs skillz and attitude for that.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Actually, yes: https://www.barracudanetworks.com/company/careers
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Just out of curiosity is there any carrers (don't know if this is the right term) in other countries in Europe other than Germany ?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Innsbruck, Austria Vienna, Austria Basingstoke, England There are posted sales jobs elsewhere in Europe, but not engineering jobs.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Thank you for the answer :D
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Hmm, I highly approve Barracuda Networks and think it is a very interesting company. I am just wondering how to sneak in :D
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Just noticed that you have written updates. This forum where you can inject messages between messages is confusing. I am very sorry and pissed to hear what happened after your great success. I probably would drop the class without even giving it a second thought (after negotiating with the teacher and telling him that alright, I will take FAIL as a grade if I must use the Flash thingy). The thing just is that I am an reckless idiot xD If the subject you are studying is worthwhile to you I could recommend you to just keep going, and keep the flag high. You did great job.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
If you ever meet Richard Stallman you may not want to bring up what you do.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Indeed xD
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Remember to speak slowly ! He has problems listening to people talking fast, OH and be careful with your feet... just saying xD
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Stallman would probably say that software is more important than your children so you should quit your job and let them starve so you can start a one man free software project and panhandle to feed yourself. Otherwise you are being unethical and ruining the entire universe. Eventually you can't pay your mortgage or utility bills and you lose your power and therefore the ability to code in the Stallman ideal. Your wife then calls you a deadbeat and threatens to leave you unless you send out your resume and get a real job with a software company. Your old company takes you back (after you beg like an animal), you pay your bills again like a good citizen, and the government doesn't take away your kids.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Your logical fallacy is [http://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/strawman strawman]: You misrepresented someone's argument to make it easier to attack.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Not sure what is easiest. I found that writing Tex equatitions (in Texinfo) was very easy. Using Open Office equation editor was on the other hand just pain. Not so long time ago I took a look at Lyx and after fiddling with it for some time I uninstalled it. Was too confusing to use and did not want to invest time on learning yet another clickety click editor. I agree on that thougt that LaTeX makes much more beautiful equatitions than LibreOffice editor, but not just equations, the document as a whole can look better. It takes time to learn to write LaTeX, but it can be worth it if you have to do many academical documents.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I don't use Lyx either (although I did in the past), but for someone who has never used LaTeX before it is in my opinion the easiest method for creating math formulas and professional looking academic documents.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I don't really understand, how could it be for worse?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Thanks for the mention. I suggested in a follow-up E-mail I sent today that he look into migrating to Moodle sometime in the future.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Actually, the cool thing is he thought about that. When I talked to him, he mentioned that there might be others like me, and that for fairness he would like to accommodate them too.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
:) Awesome. Maybe this was for better then.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
You mean WebAssign?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I think that you as a student should complain to booth parts, the teacher and the Service (WebAssign). But once again, as a student (and knowing that it is a tool especially made for teachers) won't have much power so your teacher should talk to other teachers and send a collective message to this platform. It is just an idea. I had in the idea to send an email to the teacher in top of all teacher (I don't really know the english technical term for this), to talk about the JavaFX problem, but I finished by sending a message to all teachers, and now I will have to wait for an answers and see what will happen, but if it works then I should be able to change no only my class but every class that use JavaFX.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
No, wait until you have something more before going to WebAssign. A complaint can be ignored. A community of users isn't ignorable. Ultimately you should contact them either way. When teachers/schools are actively making a decision to discontinue use of the software due to this issue that will be something that gets WebAssigns attention.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Alright, will do. :) Thanks for the advice.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I agree with you, the real problem here is the fact that we have a software without any free (functional) replacement. We have GNS3 but it requires the Firmware from the Cisco router in order to work (since it emulates it). And therefor there is no solution here at all. I have a little bit of luck since we only use this software in class for some labs and after this we use Wireshark, SSH and Apache, but it is still a problem, when I personally just couldn't accept the EULA License so I just stopped using the software.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
That is a very good text, however I strongly recommend to go talk face to face with the teacher/professor instead of sending email. He can just trash that email but he can't ignore you as easily.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Well, it can't hurt to send the E-mail first, then talk in person. I sent my professor an E-mail based on that and he basically said OK, you can talk to me in my office at the usual time. So I'll be talking to him today, hopefully he'll be understanding! :)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I based my email on yours, and add a little bit of information like the license that I don't agree (Oracle License in this case), and send it to all of the teachers in school teaching this technologie... I will do the same for every other software with the same problem. Just need to find a solution to Packet Tracer (by Cisco) before sending and email about this software. Even if I'm not the one who asked for help I would like to say thank you :D
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
No problem. I was hoping other people could get some use out of it, too. Like I said, this problem seems to come up fairly frequently here.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
The fewer people who have flash installed (including gnash) the better. The reason companies can get away with this is because everybody has it installed. You might want to complaint, call technical support, etc. The more i costs them the less likely it'll be used in the future.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Wow, that's the same as my university. We have to use Cisco Packet Tracer in an exam but it makes it difficult to study because I can't study at home. I've been in contact with the unit coordinator, with no luck. However, I'm going to see if some of my friends will complain about it as well. Fortunately none of my friends can install it on their own computers as well, because it requires some special registration (and acceptance to draconian EULAs, no doubt) and the unit I'm doing isn't part of Cisco's special units. So, I'm hoping that more complaints might make the unit coordinator rethink making an exam based on Cisco Packet Tracer. IMHO the university should not have based a unit on proprietary software with no free replacements.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
If anybody has a complain start blogging about it. Name the schools, professors, and let others know not to apply/transfer to them. Bad publicity might actually make a difference.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
A small update on my issue: I talked to my professor earlier today about this, and although he doesn't seem like he really understands the issue of free software vs. nonfree software (he didn't read the link that explains free software, and of course assumed that I meant free of cost when we first started talking), he has basically said that he is willing to see about other options. The only suggestion I could come up with was for me to turn in my homework the traditional way (on paper), or at least do that for the homework problems that require Flash to submit the answer; although WebAssign does not work with Gnash, its presence fools the site into thinking I have Flash installed (and therefore lets me see the problems), so this will work out OK (and I need to go to WebAssign to read the problems anyway; the numbers in the problems are randomly changed on a per-person basis, so I can't just use the book). My professor asked if he could forward the E-mail I sent him to the math department so he could ask them for ideas, to which I of course said go ahead. Time will tell if they'll be of any help. My professor seems to mainly have two concerns: the first concern he is having is that my turning in homework the more traditional way would mean more work for him. To make this less than a burden, I have set my acceptance threshold to submitting any answers which don't require Flash (i.e. the ones that either are multiple-choice or use standard textboxes) so that he only needs to check those that do require Flash. His second concern is fairness; he has it set so that on WebAssign, we get to keep trying to submit answers to problems until we get it right. I have said that I don't mind this slight disadvantage (and that's true), but he was insistent that it needs to be fair (i.e. my ability to get the points on the homework needs to be essentially equal to those who use WebAssign on all of the problems). When I was talking to him, the only solution I could think of was to give him the answers to the problems on paper. Though it's not much different, I can also use LibreOffice Math to enter the answer and then use LibreOffice Writer to embed it into an ODT (if Microsoft Word can read ODT files with formulae in them, since that is the program he would likely be using) or PDF file; I'll mention that possibility to him as well. Does anyone have any other ideas?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
You are getting much farther than I would have expected. For better or worse.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Quick suggestion: you can enter formulae into LibreOffice Writer directly, using Insert Object Formula. I used to use Microsoft Office last year (before using Trisquel), and formulae from LO import fine. I think I may have had to use .doc to make it work, but I can't remember. PDF is probably the best solution though, if editing isn't required. I recommend PDF/A as it is probably the most widely supported version of PDF.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
For math, LaTeX creates much more professional looking equations than LibreOffice. The easiest way to use it is via a graphical editor such as Lyx which either produces its own format or lets you export to LaTeX or lets you export to PDF. If you plan on sharing source files in LaTeX format with other people who might use other templates and other LaTeX editors (or even just older versions of Lyx which cannot always open newer Lyx files) then a proper LaTeX editor such as Gummi or Emacs with Auctex is preferred.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Will do, thanks for the suggestion.
[Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Hi guys, this isn't directly related to Trisquel, but I don't know of any more general free software community forums or mailing lists. I hope you don't mind. So, here's my problem: my Math teacher at the university I go to requires us to use a website called WebAssign (webassign.net) to do our homework assignments. WebAssign is basically a site which allows professors to not have to grade the homework. Even though this site is an example of software as a service, since all it entails is grading math problems, I don't have a huge ethical problem with using it to submit my homework in and of itself. What I do have a huge problem with is WebAssign routinely requires the use of Flash for many of the problems (basically, any non-multiple-choice problem with an answer more complex than a simple fraction requires a special box for entering formulas which uses Flash, and graphs also have to be plotted with some Flash thing), and it is incompatible with Gnash (requires Flash 10). The class syllabus does not speak of any alternative methods for submitting homework, though it doesn't explicitly say that the professor is unwilling to accept an alternative grading method. It simply says that [we] will be using the WebAssign homework system. Now, I want to approach my Math professor to ask about this, but I'm worried about some obstacles: First off, the university I go to is extremely terrible at software freedom (though I don't know if it's terrible in comparison to other universities). Use of proprietary software, including Windows, Microsoft Office, and iOS is actively encouraged, as is the use of E-books which are in a proprietary format, and the atmosphere in general is extremely supportive of proprietary software, where it seems (though it is not the case, as at least I am an exception) that no student or teacher on the entire campus uses anything other than Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, or Android. There doesn't even seem to be any awareness here that free software exists; I once experienced a mixture of amusement and sadness when a classmate claimed that Microsoft Office is the only office suite choice. The wording of my math class's syllabus is another example of this; the fact that WebAssign is used is just mentioned as something completely uncontroversial, as if it's a given that everyone can use it with no problems, and the fact that it uses Flash is completely ignored. Second, I've been giving in and using WebAssign regardless up to this point (by doing my work on Windows, since I still refuse to install Flash on Trisquel), so it is plainly obvious that I am /able/ to do it. What can I possibly tell my professor? Given the general culture of my university, if I tell him that I have an ethical issue with using Flash, even though it is true, I don't know if he'll believe it, especially when it's so sudden. Third, as far as I can tell, I don't have any leverage in this; if I refuse to do the work on WebAssign, he just gives me an F. It seems I'm entirely dependent on the goodwill of the professor. Do any of you have any suggestions for how I could deal with this problem? Namely, what should I say to my professor? Would it be more effective to talk to him in person, or to send him an E-mail? And hopefully this will not be the case, but if it turns out that my professor is completely unwilling to accept another method for doing my homework, or at least the parts of it that require Flash on WebAssign, what should I do then?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
If he is a non ethical person :o. One of these open source practical only inhumans. Say it's a legal issue. You broke the licence agreement by using it when you don't agree to it. You committed a crime (?) :P. On 03/10/12 14:02, onp...@yahoo.com wrote: Second, I've been giving in and using WebAssign regardless up to this point (by doing my work on Windows, since I still refuse to install Flash on Trisquel), so it is plainly obvious that I am /able/ to do it. What can I possibly tell my professor? Given the general culture of my university, if I tell him that I have an ethical issue with using Flash, even though it is true, I don't know if he'll believe it, especially when it's so sudden.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
In the worst case, you could just use the school's computers to do your homework. That way you wouldn't have to install Flash on your computer.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
I think the biggest issue is that your teacher is relying on a 3rd party service to grade and do all the work for him. What is the school paying for if he is offloading the work to someone else? That is sad. Especially when I went to a university with 40,000 students and the professors in each class made the time to grade each paper or math assignment.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Also, I'd suggest that you try and connect to their web service from a web browser that does not have Flash installed (again, get more people to do that too) so that they will log the fact that you - as a user - don't have Flash. That's not possible. If the site knows that you don't have Flash, it just refuses to let you see the homework and (IIRC) redirects you to the Flash download page. I might as well send an E-mail to WebAssign, but I don't think pressure from students will ever convince them to do anything differently. They charge students ridiculous fees, but their real customers are the teachers.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
On Wed, 3 Oct 2012 19:09:57 +0200 (CEST) onp...@gmail.com wrote: That's not possible. If the site knows that you don't have Flash, it just refuses to let you see the homework and (IIRC) redirects you to the Flash download page. Yeah, that's my point. The more connections get redirected (and they should not that from their logs), the more pressure they will get. I might as well send an E-mail to WebAssign, but I don't think pressure from students will ever convince them to do anything differently. Maybe it's worth trying anyway, at least they will know it. They charge students ridiculous fees, but their real customers are the teachers. Wow, students have to pay to have their homework graded? That's outrageous! Good luck with that, -- Stefano Fortune of the day: Tomorrow, this will be part of the unchangeable past but fortunately, it can still be changed today. signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
It's very unfair, as if you were force to use a 'bic' pen and not any other kind of pen to do your homework. Try to complain about that, but I'm afraid you'll have to use flash in other pc or from a live CD.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
The issue of professors requiring the use of proprietary software, and how best to address it seems to come up here fairly often. I've written up something that could be used as a template for an email to a professor about this issue.Dear (Professor):My name is (Name), and I am a student in your (course name) course. I'd like to talk to you about a problem I am having in your class.As a personal matter, I only install and run free software on my computer. Free software is software that respects its users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve it. The complete definition of free software can be found at https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.Software freedom is very important to me, especially with regard to education, so I was disappointed to find out that the use of (non-free program) is required in your class.I'd like to discuss this issue with you in greater depth. Hopefully we can reach a solution that is acceptable to both of us.Sincerely,(Name)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
You can try the latest development version (0.8.11). [1] https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnash/0.8.11~git20120629-1ubuntu1 [2] http://wiki.gnashdev.org/Release_0.8.11
Re: [Trisquel-users] Adobe Flash required by math professor; how to confront him?
Thanks for the replies, everyone. :) akirashinigami, thank you for the template. I have sent a message using that as a base (but modified to more perfectly fit my situation, of course) to my professor, and I am now waiting for the response. Try to complain about that, but I'm afraid you'll have to use flash in other pc or from a live CD. That sounds like a brilliant suggestion. I still have live DVDs for a few recent versions of Linux Mint, too, so they'll work perfectly for that. Wow, students have to pay to have their homework graded? That's outrageous! Correction: students have to pay to /do/ the problems. Specifically, WebAssign requires each student to open an account and pay a fee of IIRC $75 each term. From what I've read, it's especially devious because teachers don't have to pay anything at all. But in terms of cost, it really isn't much different from the more regular practice of barely changing a textbook every year just enough so that you need to buy the latest one to do the homework problems, paying $100 for a new book instead of $20 for a used book. You can try the latest development version (0.8.11). I have 0.8.10, and it doesn't look like much has changed with the latest version (not better compatibility, anyway).
