Who are we?
Dr. Chris Zimmermann is a FOSS fanatic, communist (sometimes) and expert on esoteric software aspects how to configure Mail Transfer Agents while not carving in to insanity, troubleshoot computer networks without the use of recreational drugs and the advanced enjoyment of craft beverages. He mostly lives in Frankfurt, Germany. In contrast to Mr. Visser the size of his brain has a reverse correlation to the size of his head.
Martin Visser is a slightly less egocentric (actually far from egocentric) computer scientist and engineer, non-communist from Birmingham, UK. In contrast to Dr. Zimmermann, he has human interaction and social protocols down to a fine art.
Why another FOSS podcast?
For those who use any means of transport on a regular basis it is a great way to stimulate the brain.
Others have come before us, tried and failed to achieve this level.
What's in it for me?
Great entertainment
Invaluable tech tips helping with aspects of everday life including the proper recital of Vogon poetry in that worst-case scenario that Brexit finally shadows the Vogons’ landing and how to take care of the proper biological foundation for recreational drugs
A chance to feedback your comments. Glowing ones will be published, others ignored.
The opportunity to request expert knowledge and discussion on a topic of your choice!
What's in it for the Inlaws?
The impending fame and successful broadcasting careers (Martin’s vision) play a small part in this decision.
Which is of course totally overshadowed by the reason of world domination. Donations are encouraged. Ideally in liquid wheat brew format (of course rye, barley, spelt and other assorted grains go as well).
How to get up and running?
(this is how we do it, your mileage may vary)
- Pick an open source operating system of choice that features a decent package management system (unless you’re really technical and know what you’re doing) and is Posix-compliant. In this instance Ubuntu 19.10 was the preferred candidate
- Don't worry about Mumble. Many have tried, most have failed to use this piece of
software for synchronous podcast recording
- Get some really cool music licensed under CC-BY(-SA) from places like Jamendo
- Install a Synapse server on a publicly accessible server and use Riot-Web as a front-end for this instance
- Get Audacity and tty-clock (if you really want to accurate synchronise your system clock with an NTP server)
- Using Audacity and tty-clock, record your friendly podcast locally using Riot-Web's audio call feature to synchronise the hosts and guests
- For the post-production, simply mix the individual streams together and edit to your
heart's content.
- Stick to mono when producing the final ogg or mp3 file, adding music and other content as appropriate
- Upload the audio file to HPR
- Create associated website using some cool HTML/CSS framework
- Watch it go viral (the important bit!)
The kit?
- One home server running Ubuntu 19.10 with mumble-server and Synapse (a reference implementation) of the federated protocol known as Matrix for comms
- One cheap bit of kit running somewhere in Germany at a snails pace (Martin’s opinion before the D-Wave upgrade - little did he know :-)) => much patience is required attempting to use this
- Two laptops for remote access, running a Murmur client (typically Mumble itself), Audacity and various text editors in addition to riot-web or another Matrix / Synapse client
- One MPow USB headset and one interim Logitech 2 Pro (thank you MPow for the countless hours of debugging x-talk issues - we learned a lot! :-)
The Episodes
All episodes are hosted on the Internet Archive.
The following only represents the last ten episodes, you find the
full backcatalog of all episodes released so far here.
- S02E07: OpenWrt
In this episode Martin and Chris take a closer look at OpenWrt, a Linux distro aimed at routers and other embedded devices. If you ever wondered about how to free your router from proprietary crap (aka vendor-issued router firmware), you don't want to miss this episode.
Links:
- S02E06: XMPP
This episode is host to the XMPP Foundation. Eddie Maurer and Matthew Wild spill the beans on what the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (formerly known as Jabber) really is (and what it's not), its history, future and current state. So if you want to know on what protocol popular apps such WhatsApp (yes indeed), Grindr, Jitsi, Prosody and Zoom (to name but a few) rely under the hood for real-time communication, you don't want to miss this episode!
Links:
- S02E05: Update on the five year plan
Now in its fourth year, this podcast has seen it all: The rise and demise of whole empires, the beloved competition fade into distant memory and a glorious appearance at last year's FOSDEM (Europe's biggest gathering of FLOSS enthusiasts), where actually more than five people showed up (thanks again to the ones attended on that Saturday afternoon in Ixelles - our hearts go out to you!). So it's once again time for an update of the five year plan (true to this beloved tradition going back to the olden days of communist Russia back in the last century) and how our ageing two heroes are doing on world domination, supporting the FLOSS community and recreational drugs (confined to legal ones course :-). Among other things. Such as all the gory details about Amish adult entertainment websites. Don't miss this (even if you're not into Amish entertainment websites - adult or otherwise)!
Links:
- S02E04: The Software Freedom Conservancy
This episode introduces the Software Freedom Conservancy featuring Karen Sandler and Bradley Kuhn. Many people probably know the SFC from its FLOSS license verification (especially copyleft licenses) work but there's much more to this non-profit. Without stealing too much thunder - listen to the episode for the details!
Links:
- S02E03: Real-time Linux
In this episode our two heroes shed light on real-time Linux and its applications. Due to the nature of the topic, the episode might sound a little bit more technical than our usual content but as we do cater for all audiences this also includes the geeks and nerd interested in the nitty-gritty details. So enjoy this episode at your own risk or cannot get to sleep otherwise...
Links:
- S02E02: Redhat, EPEL and much more
An important part of the Redhat ecosystem are the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL). In this episode Martin and Chris talk to Carl and Julia, two Redhat people looking after EPEL among other things. So if you are interested in Redhat Linux, CentOS.* or even Fedora, you don't want to miss this episode. Plus as bonus content: a short intro into Fedora, Redhat and CentOS.*. Never mind all the gory details of the history of these projects. The VERY gory details of the projects.
Links:
- S02E01: The Document Foundation
In this episode Martin and Chris host Florian Effensberger and Mike Saunders from The Documentation Foundation, home of the well-known office software known as LibreOffice.
Links:
- S01E99: The anniversary episode
We made it. If you're reading this on your podcast player, you are listening to the 100 episode of your beloved podcast called Linux Inlaws. In this bumper episode, Martin and Chris will look back at almost four years of LI history, recount the highlights (and lowlights!) and shed some light things to come for the next 100 episode. Maybe. Plus a very special greeting from an even more special BDfL (you don't want to miss this if Linux even just remotely rings a bell).
Links:
- S01E98: FLOSS and venture capital
This episode is host to Alex Hochgarten, a venture capitalist focussing on FLOSS start-ups among other things. Even if you're not a start-up looking for cash right now, you will find this episode more than interesting as it gives an overview of the venture capital funding process apart from other black magic; the chances, risks, ins and outs of these issues and what to look out for when going after this sort of investment for your next contraband smuggling operation, drug counterfeit outfit or weapons wholesale boutique (hint: stay on the legal side to begin with). Plus juicy details about our cash position (if you're interested in that sort of thing :-).
Due to some alien interference (in the literal sense, apparently Chris forgot to pay his contribution to the widows and orphans fund of a species called Vogons, normally known for their excellent taste in poetry and other fine literature), the audio quality of this episode has suffered a little bit, a circumstance for which the Inlaws would like to extend their sincerest apologies (Chris has replenished his cash stash once again so contributions to Vogons and other alien races looking for hard cold cash should be flowing without interruptions in the future).
Links:
- S01E97: The one about the public sector
This show is all about the public sector. Yes, that money pit where all of your taxes vanish into for the greater good, mediocre services and fat pay checks for politicians. Or so it seems. But despair not, there's a silver lining at the horizon: Martin and Chris dive into the use of FLOSS in this area, shedding light on the good, the bad and the ugly. Plus: Additional juice on the only communist distribution on the planet (spoiler: yes, it does come from North Korea).
Links:
All content licensed under
The DarkSide Tech Support (DSTS)
The DSTS is loosely inspired by the Bastard Operator From Hell,
where a somewhat misguided support specialist tends to break all hell loose on innocent callers who expect help
and guidance on various computer problems. In contrast to this purely fictional prototype, the DSTS deals with
real-world problems such as rewriting history aided by computers, how American presidents tackle virus issues and
how an ancient Egyptian pharaoh tries to remedy the seven plagues inflicted on his empire by talking to God herself.
More episodes in the making - stay tuned!
Similar to other parts of the show, DSTS welcomes listeners' suggestion about topics they would like
to see covered. So if you have a plague you cannot get rid of or need divine intervention otherwise, don't
hesitate to send us a mail.
Contact
Joking aside, we do appreciate feedback. So please email us at feedback@linuxinlaws.eu
Or you can follow us on Mastodon (fosstodon.org)
Or talk to us at various open source events!