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# Contact Details

















permacomputing
solar punk
social ecology
non-coercive only
dialectical materialism




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About

My name is Blair. Computers are one of my biggest passions. I am

currently studying computer science at Murdoch University.

Computer Literacy

The idea of **Friendly Computers** is one that I have had for a very

long time. I have been very worried about the level of understanding

that people have about computers. It is my belief that the level of

computer literacy in my community that people have is far too low. I

wanted to do something about that, so I created **Friendly

Computers**.

This small business of mine aims to be very humble. I do not want fame

or riches. All I want to do is provide reliable and safe

computers at a very low cost, and provide computer literacy lessons.

Making Old Computers Fast Again

I ask people in my community to donate unwanted computers to me, which

I refurbish and repair, and then repurpose to new homes at a nominal

fee. Many of these computers are old, but given the state of software

technology these days, this is no problem. I can make old computers

run fast again. I can do this because the bedrock, or fundamental

software--the "operating system"--that I install on my **Friendly

Computers** is called "Free Software", or "Open Source Software".

My Philosophy: 'Software Freedom'

philosophy](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html). It aims

to respect the freedom of the computer user. The [Free Software

Foundation](https://www.fsf.org/) defines free software as:

“Free software” means software that respects users' freedom and
community. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run,
copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software.

The operating systems that large industrial corporations (like

Microsoft and Apple) sell are *not* free software. I like to think of

their software products as like a "black box": you are permitted to

use their software if you purchase it, but they will not tell you how

it works, or how you yourself can change it, and, sometimes, even

configure it.

The point of software freedom is that you should be able to

interrogate your computer's inner workings, to whatever level of

mastery you feel comfortable. 'Free' software may be sold for

money--like Microsoft's or Apple's, I suppose--but the fundamental

difference is that its blueprints (the 'source code') must also be

given along with the product.

Zip. Nada. Zilch. Zero.

It is, however, common practice to provide 'free' software at no cost,

and this is what I do. All the software that you will be able to

access on a *Friendly Computer* will cost you nothing. This is a great

benefit, and will save you a lot of time and money.

I am able to do this because the software freedom movement is made up

of tens of thousands of volunteers, software engineers, and technical

writers. You are benefiting from the hard--and frequently unpaid--work

that so many of us do in order to make sure that computers remain

friendly, and not scary and dangerous.