In 2018 we updated our list of free GNU/Linux distributions to add a "Historical" section. We retired BLAG Linux and GNU at that time, as it was no longer maintained. We are sad to announce today that Musix will also being moving to the Historical section, as it is likewise no longer maintained. Founded in 2004, Musix was on the list of free GNU/Linux distributions for over a decade. The list helps users to find operating systems that come with only free software and documentation, and that do not promote any nonfree software. Being added to the list means that a distribution has gone through a rigorous screening process, and is dedicated to diligently fixing any freedom issues that may arise.

Musix was maintained by a sole developer, Marcos Guglielmetti, as a volunteer effort, a truly impressive accomplishment. Maintaining a distribution is a difficult task. Dealing with technical and security issues across an entire system, as well as upholding the ethical standards required for inclusion on our list, takes a great deal of effort.

While it is sad that Musix will now reside in our Historical section, we can all still be thankful for the maintainer's work over the years, and for the fact that there are still many endorsed distributions available. Users of Musix should consider switching to another distro on our list to ensure that the security and freedom of their system is up to date.

Are you planning on joining us for LibrePlanet 2019, coming up this weekend, March 23-24, at the Stata Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)? If you haven't registered yet, there's still time -- registration is open through Tuesday, March 19 at 10:00 EDT, and we also welcome walk-ins (space permitting)! Remember, students and Free Software Foundation (FSF) associate members get in gratis.

We also hope you'll join us for the Friday night open house at the FSF office, here in Boston -- you can pick up your badge early to skip the line Saturday morning (more details below).

Here's your guide to maximum enjoyment of LibrePlanet:

• If you haven't seen it yet, the full conference program is now available.

• Badge pickup, registration, and coffee begin at 09:00 on Saturday at the conference site, the Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.

Social events

You're invited to social and community events happening before the conference and during the conference weekend. All ages are welcome at all social events, and we strongly recommend using public transportation.

• On Friday evening, the FSF is hosting an open house at the FSF office, 51 Franklin Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02110 from 17:00 to 19:30. The FSF office is a short walk from the Downtown Crossing, State, and Park Street MBTA stops. The FSF office is an accessible space. We will provide beverages and light refreshments.

• After the open house, all women, genderqueer, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people interested in free software are invited to the Welcome Dinner. This is a gratis meal with some great people in free software -- keep an eye on the social activities page for the details.

• We'll celebrate on Saturday, March 23rd, after the Free Software Awards, from 19:00 to 22:00, at Scholars Bistro, 25 School Street, Boston, MA 02108, near the FSF office. All ages are welcome until 21:00. Gratis snacks will be provided, and your first drink is on the FSF. A full dinner menu is also available for purchase. The venue is accessible.

• Prefer a quieter social space? The FSF office will be open late for hacking and hanging out on Saturday from 19:00 to 21:30. Snacks, beverages, and power are provided. This is an alcohol-free event.

• On Sunday afternoon, during the lunch break from 12:35-13:35, we'll be holding an FSF members meeting at the LibrePlanet site (room TBA), where you can join other associate members to discuss successes from the past year and what you'd like to see in the future of the FSF. Pizza and salad will be provided. Please RSVP at https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2019/sunday_members_lunch.

• On Sunday night, starting at 21:00, join us at Grendel's Den, a Cambridge pub that is popular with local free software and free culture folks, located at 89 Winthrop Street in Harvard Square. This afterparty is not an official conference event, but is a standing tradition of many years. There is elevator access upon request. Call 617-491-1160 to have someone from Grendel's assist you.

• Want to plan a group dinner or other social gathering during LibrePlanet? Use the wiki to plan an event or join someone else's event.

More at LibrePlanet

• We're continuing our popular five-minute lightning talks by conference attendees about their free software passions. Sign up to give one!

• We're hosting an exhibit hall for a select group of projects and businesses in the free software world. Come by from 09:00 until 18:00 on both days of the conference to check out tables from 3NWeb, CivicActions, FreedomBox Foundation, GNOME, MIT Libraries' Program on Information Science, Private Internet Access, Purism, Technoethical, ThinkPenguin, and the Tor Project.

• You can use the #libreplanet IRC channel on freenode (irc.freenode.org) to participate in the online discussion before, during, and after the conference. You can also use Mumble voice chat on the mumble server at mumble.fsf.org. We provide these resources, along with video streaming, so that free software supporters who are unable to travel to the US for economic and/or political reasons are still able to participate.

• You can pre-order your LibrePlanet 2019 T-shirt until Wednesday, March 20, at midnight EDT -- or, just wait and buy yours at the GNU Press table at the conference!

Resources

• Logistics info, including transportation, accommodations, and restaurants, is available to make it easy for you to figure out travel and choose lodging near the conference.

• The libreplanet-discuss mailing list is great for planning ride-shares or social events during the conference weekend, and also for participating in the year-round conversation about free software events and issues.

• Are there two LibrePlanet sessions you want to see, and they're at the same time? Fear not, recordings will be available after the conference at https://media.libreplanet.org.

Win a raffle prize!

This year LibrePlanet will be having another awesome raffle. Buy tickets to support free software while also getting a chance to win:

• Hosting, routers, and gift certificates from Vikings GmBH;

• A LulzBot Mini 2 3D printer from Aleph Objects;

• An S3 smartphone with Replicant and a Respects Your Freedom-certified T400s laptop from Technoethical;

• A gift certificate to ThinkPenguin;

• Subscriptions to JMP;

• ChaosKeys from Altus Metrum, LLC; and more!

All attendees get a gratis raffle ticket, FSF associate members get a second gratis ticket, and everyone can buy more chances to win at the GNU Press table during LibrePlanet, as well as at the Friday open house and Saturday evening social events! Buy one ticket for $2, 3 tickets for $5, one arm's length for $20, cash or credit. FSF staff and board members are not eligible to participate in the raffle.

Weather

Keep an eye on the weather and dress accordingly.

Thank you to our sponsors!

LibrePlanet 2019 is supported by several generous sponsors. Big thanks to Red Hat and Private Internet Access!

LibrePlanet 2019 is coming up in only two weeks, and it's finally time to talk about... talks! The official schedule is now live, and we've got so many exciting presentations in store, addressing the social, ethical, legal, and technological past, present, and future of free software. Together, we'll explore the theme of "Trailblazing Free Software," asking the question, "How will free software continue to bring to life trailblazing, principled new technologies and new approaches to the world?"

If you're not already registered to attend LibrePlanet 2019, happening on March 23-24 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, MA, register here! Free Software Foundation (FSF) members and students can attend gratis!

This year's schedule is packed with important project reports, debates, and discussions on the future of software freedom. Along with keynote speeches by Bdale Garbee, Micky Metts, Tarek Loubani, and Richard Stallman, you can choose from LibrePlanet talks that include:

• "Computational symbiosis: Methods that meld mind and machine," with Mike Gerwitz;
• "The Tor Project: State of the Onion," with Stephanie Whited and other members of the Tor Project;
• "Hackerspace Rancho Electrónico," with Martha Esperilla and Stefania Acevedo Ortega;
• "The secret battle of encryption algorithms," with Amanda Sopkin;
• "Right to Repair and the DMCA," a panel moderated by Jim Garrett; and more!

On a lighter note, we're also looking forward to hearing Adam Monsen's talk on "Free software for safe and happy chickens." And of course, LibrePlanet 2019 will include the usual social events, with the traditional Friday evening social at the FSF office, and the Saturday night party in downtown Boston, location to be announced.

Pre-order your LibrePlanet 2019 T-shirt!

This year's T-shirt design imagines this year’s theme, “Trailblazing Free Software,” as a space journey to unexplored frontiers, featuring a cute little spaceship zooming out of a wormhole filled with eerie green planetoids. The space journey design is printed on a bold purple T-shirt made of soft, high-quality cotton.

You can pre-order yours before Wednesday, March 20, at midnight, EDT, to collect at the conference: just place the order for your shirt here; on the order page, you'll find a coupon code to reserve your shirt for pick-up at the GNU Press booth at the conference with no shipping fee. If you're not attending, you can still preorder, and we will ship you your shirt after the conference (in April). Either way, you wind up with an eye-catching limited edition tee that is sure to start conversations about the universe of possibilities presented by free software.

Last call for sponsors, exhibitors, and raffle prizes

Join LibrePlanet partner Red Hat and other free software supporters by becoming a LibrePlanet sponsor! Email us at campaigns@fsf.org if you'd like a booth in our lively exhibit hall. The deadline for sponsor and exhibitor registration is March 10.

We are also still looking for prizes to raffle off at this year's conference. If you or your company have a prize you would like to donate, please email campaigns@fsf.org. Examples of past LibrePlanet raffle prizes include a 3D printer running free software, a laptop with free BIOS and free GNU/Linux distro, and DRM-free eBook gift certificates.

Supporting LibrePlanet is a great way to support software freedom while engaging the diverse audience who attends the conference. Thanks to sponsors, exhibitors, and raffle prize donors, we can offer free admission to students, travel scholarships, welcoming event space and social activities, and refreshments for attendees and volunteers. Your generosity also enables LibrePlanet to run on free software infrastructure, including livestreaming and session recordings. Supporters receive acknowledgment on the Web, via social media, in the program book, and at the conference.

Whether you're exhibiting, sponsoring, or just attending, please spread the word about LibrePlanet 2019: blog or microblog to let people know that you'll be there, using the hashtag #libreplanet.

LibrePlanet needs volunteers -- maybe you!

In ten years, LibrePlanet has grown in size and scope -- and its continued success is thanks to dozens of volunteers who help prepare for and run the conference. Volunteering is a great way to meet fellow community members and contribute to the conference, even if you can't attend in person! If you are interested in volunteering for LibrePlanet 2019, email resources@fsf.org. We thank all of our volunteers by offering them gratis conference admission, lunch, and a LibrePlanet T-shirt.

I have had the opportunity to collaborate and participate in many projects and events in many schools and universities, primarily in Brazil, but also other countries such as South Africa, Spain, Argentina, Peru, Cuba, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, China and USA.

I majored in Social Communication, with a specialization in free software development, and I am currently an ESL student at the Cambridge School. In 2005, I worked on the implementation of laboratories with Linux Terminal Server Project GNU/Linux systems as a digital inclusion initiative in more than 230 municipalities in the state of Bahia, in Brazil. Between 2009 and 2011, I worked at the Federal University of Bahia, teaching free software to public school teachers.

I collaborated with the creation of the Brazilian Free Technologies Cooperative (COLIVRE), which uses Noosfero to develop free social media Web sites. In the period from 2012 to 2016, I was a consultant in the federal government of Brazil, working on the adoption and development of free technologies for social participation, open data, information security, and digital inclusion projects.

At the Free Software Foundation, I will be collaborating with the tech team on the streaming and recording of LibrePlanet 2019. I will also be working on preparing laptops to be used in workshops at public schools to introduce free software and programming to students. I hope to contribute to the development of internal projects and FSF campaigns as well. I am grateful to be part of this important FSF internship program, and hope to collaborate and learn a lot with the tech team.

I invite you to come to LibrePlanet, or we can meet at another free software event somewhere around the planet!

Every year the Free Software Foundation creates a new collectible T-shirt to celebrate another LibrePlanet conference, and this space-themed tee is one you won’t want to miss. The LibrePlanet 2019 conference T-shirt design imagines this year’s theme, “Trailblazing Free Software,” as a space journey to unexplored frontiers, featuring a cute little spaceship zooming out of a wormhole filled with eerie green planetoids. Like this intrepid explorer, we have many new worlds of technology to discover, and we hope you’ll join us on this very important voyage! (Not registered for LibrePlanet 2019 yet? Register now!)

The space journey design is printed on a bold purple T-shirt made of soft, high-quality cotton. You can pre-order yours before Wednesday, March 20, at midnight, EDT, to collect at the conference: just place the order for your shirt here; on the order page, you'll find a coupon code to reserve your shirt for pick-up at the GNU Press booth at the conference with no shipping fee. If you're not attending, you can still preorder, and we will ship you your shirt after the conference (in April). Either way, you wind up with an eye-catching limited edition tee that is sure to start conversations about the universe of possibilities presented by free software.

LibrePlanet needs volunteers -- maybe you!

LibrePlanet’s continued success is thanks to dozens of volunteers who help prepare for and run the conference. Volunteering is a great way to meet fellow community members and contribute to LibrePlanet, even if you can't attend in person! If you are interested in volunteering for LibrePlanet 2019, email resources@fsf.org. We thank all of our volunteers by offering them gratis conference admission, lunch, and a LibrePlanet T-shirt.

We're also still seeking sponsors and exhibitors for LibrePlanet 2019 -- for information on how your company can sponsor LibrePlanet or have a table in our exhibit hall, email campaigns@fsf.org.