Natick FOSS - Demos

http://millermicro.com/FOSSUserGroupNatick.html

Dick and Jill Miller of Miller Microcomputer Services lead a happy group of Free Open Source Software (FOSS) explorers on the first Thursday of the month (starting March 2012). The monthly meetings run from 3:00 to 5:00 (play time may follow to 7:00pm).
The meetings offer information for computer beginners, serious users, and explorers.

For continuing information, e-mail to TheMillers@millermicro.com, "Please subscribe me to your FOSS/Linux e-mail list."

I hope to be a regular participant at the meetings. From time to time, I'll do a demo about something. My goal is to provide a handout to everyone there. If we succeed in gaining members and begin to flow out of our meeting room into the halls, there won't be enough copies on hand. Anything I hand out will be posted here, generally as a PDF document, but also often a "source" document which you can easily modify to your needs. My documents will typically be produced using a Creative Commons license, either CC-BY which requests you acknowledge the original author, or CC-Zero which places the material into the public domain and doesn't ask you anything [1].

Natick FOSS Meeting "Demos"

February 1, 2012: Charting with Spreadsheets (Final Wednesday Meeting before the change to Thursdays)
Handout - PDF - ODT (Practice Files this time, too)

January 4, 2012: Alternate Desktops
Handout - PDF - ODT

September 7, 2011: A Brief Peek at Inkscape
Handout - PDF - ODT

August 3, 2011: Earthquake Detector with Arduino
Handout - PDF - ODT

July 6, 2011: Scratch - A programming experience for almost everyone.
Demo Handout - PDF - ODT [2]
"Can't Catch Me" Car program Scratch file (will only be fully useful if you also have the Lego kit 9580 from Lego Education.)

	This button is for use on a Web site. It could also be made into an actual physical button or sticker to wear at your next meeting. PNG - SVG
	Logo for the group PNG - SVG
	This button is also for use on a Web site, but might also be a button to make physically to wear around town.
	Another version of a Web site button. More like the standard Web site "button" design. Right click and "Save As" for this image will give you the PNG version 300px wide Left click will give you the SVG image for the whole "page" and "Save page" will download the SVG.

Business Card to print and distribute around town (Ask for some at the next meeting).

Front
image: postcard metrowest

Back

Please also explore the other parts of this website for articles and tips not presented specifically at the Natick FOSS meetings.

Note [1]: Creative Commons is an organization whose purpose it is to make clear definitions for document sharing. It is a complement to copyright, which typically confers (reserves) all rights to the document's author(s). Standard copyright prevents you from making copies or creating a derivative work based on the expression of the original document. Creative Commons has several licenses working from the most liberal, CC0 to licenses like the CC-BY-NC-ND which limits you to making copies but not incorporating the work into commercial projects, not making changes and acknowledging the original author.

Note [2]: ODT stands for the open document text format. It is similar to seeing a file with the .DOC extension. Files with the .DOC extension are in a format created by the Microsoft Corporation and used in their popular word processor, MSWord. ODT files are designed to be opened by any program which recognizes the formats of the Open Document Format (OASIS). Though I currently use LibreOffice for my word processor, ODT files should be openable by OpenOffice, Calligra, and other word processors. Recent versions of Microsoft Word do open ODT files, apparently (limits). A list of ODF compliant software is available on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument

Note [3]: SVG is a vector graphic format. SVG is an emerging standard for doing images which are size-independent and focused on non-photo images. GIF/PNG/BMP/JPG/JPEG are not going to show up well if you change their size, becoming blocky or losing detail. Some files from demo materials may be best provided in SVG format.
image: SVG vs. Bitmap

[image from Wikimedia Commons user: Yug]

SVG files are intended to redraw within the dimensions chosen, doing the best possible image for the size requested. SVG files are generated by programs like Inkscape, which is one I frequently use. Wikipedia has an extensive list of SVG editors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vector_graphics_editors.