open source

There are 2 posts tagged open source (this is page 1 of 1).

Running an air quality sensor for sensor.community

On MCH2022 I attended a talk about Sensor.Community a Global Open Environmental Data Platform. The platform is a nice example of citizen science, with a large network of self made sensors that measure air quality, temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure and if you build an extra fancy one, also sound pollution. Since it’s a nice project with clear instructions (Dutch, English), I ordered the parts when I still was at MCH2022.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I found the time to build the actual sensor. Assembly was super easy and this is definitely an nice project for beginners, with minimal soldering required.

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Liberating a couple of laptops

I like using free (as in freedom) and open source software as much as possible. But a truly open source computer, with open source bios and other firmware, is either very expensive or the models are very very old. Brands like Purism offer newer models (with a modern CPU etc) at high prices or you can buy a refurbished older laptop with all the open source bells and whistles from brands like Nitrokey also at a high price. Both were to expensive for my taste and I decided to take the DIY route.

Since I was interested in running Qubes OS and Debian I looked at hardware recommended by the Qubes project. The Lenovo X230 looked liked the most likely candidate since they are readily available on second-hand marketplaces or at websites that sell refurbished laptops.

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