tobias_platen's blog
Tobias Alexandra Platen's software freedom blog
The weekend after I ♥ Free Software Day 2025 – Saturday
Yesterday I contributed to the Free Software Directory, unfortunately I did not have enough time to write my intended blog post. So I am doing that now. #ilovefs
Free Software is a matter of freedom, not price. A program is free software if the program’s users have the four essential freedoms:
🖤 The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0).
💜 The freedom to study how the program works and to make changes (freedom 1).
🤍 The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others (freedom 2).
💛 The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3).
I have been developing free software both professionally and as a hobby for long times. Recently I came out as genderqueer (also known as non-binary) at the first
meeting of a GNU/Linux user group I cofounded. On the weekend before I was at FOSDEM where I met many trans and non-binary individuals, some of them at the Guix Days fringe event.
I also have used software written by trans and non-binary contributors. This includes the FPGA toolchain based on yosys and nextpnr, GNU MediaGoblin, SlimeVR and Monado to just name a few. For an upcoming hardware project (A Lighthouse tracked VR headset with RYF in mind), I will be using an ICE40 FPGA. For GNU MediaGoblin, I plan to setup my own instance again. I spefifically backed SlimeVR because the software is portable and can be used on a Freedom RespectingTalos II. When I saw the BLÅHAJ in the SlimeVR video I immediately recognized it is part of the Transgender culture. I also saw more than one BLÅHAJ at FOSDEM. Finally there is Monado, where one of the lead developers and some other contributors do identify as non-binary and/or transgender. Many of those persons were not out when I started using the software. Over the time, I realized that I am trans too, more specifically non-binary.
Part II of the blog post will be done tomorrow.