Don't Forget to FOSS

Robin Monks

Love trying out great new free apps and tools? Join Robin every week to discuss what he’s uncovered in the Free and Open Source Software ecosystem, what you need to know about open source, and what the community is talking about!

Episodes

  1. Hot Open Source Summer

    AUG 26

    Hot Open Source Summer

    A look back to see if Summer 2025 was the summer of open. We track social’s shift to open standards (AT Protocol vs. ActivityPub), bridges like Bridgy Fed and their new Bounce, Europe’s push for sovereign OSS, and open-mapping. Plus: Windows 10’s looming EOL and Windows 11’s Recall concerns spark a Linux revival with End of 10! Ice Cubes App Mastodon apps BlueSky Registered Users Count BlueSky Self-hosting Bridgy Fed Bounce Mastodon Migration End of 10 Microsoft’s 1 Year Update Extension for Windows 10 massgrave.dev wiki on 3 year support Linux Mint Ubuntu [Asahi Linux for M# macs] [OpenStreetMaps] Overture Maps CoMaps Organic Maps The music for the show is by Bohdan Kuzmin. Don’t forget to FOSS is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Email, Toot, or Skeet me with new episode ideas!

    9 min
  2. FLOSS Game Remakes

    AUG 12 · BONUS

    FLOSS Game Remakes

    This week, another short one where I talk about the open sourcing of my favorite childhood game, SimCity; as well as more open source remakes of beloved 90s titles. Links: micropolis original source code One Laptop Per Child micropolis Java micropolis Unity WiNTown micropolisJS DOSBox and DOSBox-X 86Box and MacBox OpenTTD OpenRCT2 OpenRCS Vanilla Conquer Email, Toot, or Skeet me with new episode ideas!

    6 min
  3. Open Weather

    AUG 5

    Open Weather

    This week in a shorter summer episode, we explore how open-source tools can turn you into a neighborhood “weatherman.” We start with rtl-433 and a budget RTL-SDR dongle to read data from backyard weather stations (and more), then show how WeeWX builds beautiful dashboards and archives, and wrap with FediMeteo—a Fediverse weather project that scales globally on tiny infrastructure with snac and Open-Meteo. rtl-433 package Using FOSS to read backyard weather stations WeeWX Home Assistant with Cheap Flood Sensors ESPhome Sensors Meshtastic sensors ESP32 devices for building your own sensors FediMeteo: How a Tiny €4 FreeBSD VPS Became a Global Weather Service for Thousands Open-Meteo Email, Toot, or Skeet me with new episode ideas!

    7 min
  4. Open Technology in Healthcare

    JUL 29

    Open Technology in Healthcare

    This week while I’m travelling, I’m sharing the webinar I got to host last week at HIStalk on the importance of adopting open technology in the US healthcare system. It’s not quite our typical fare, but I hope you’ll find it interesting! Next week, we’re back to regular episodes! Email, Toot, or Skeet me with new episode ideas!

    53 min
  5. Deeper on Open Source

    JUL 15

    Deeper on Open Source

    This week on Don’t Forget to FOSS, I’m digging into how I got started in open source, what kept me involved, and how you can get started too with no coding required. I also break down different open license types, reflect on the culture of open initiatives, and share some thoughts on the sustainability of FOSS. Plus, I give updates on snac, Komo.do, and a new proposal to relicense PHP under BSD-3. Komo.do snac PHP RFC for BSD Linux Magazine Linux Format Knoppix OpenSource.com Survey GitHub 2024 Open Source Survey Drupal’s Novice System Email, Toot, or Skeet me with new episode ideas!

    12 min
  6. Proxmox, Portainer, and IRC in 2025

    JUL 8

    Proxmox, Portainer, and IRC in 2025

    Robin’s homelab edition: first a quick follow-up on snac, then we dive into Proxmox for reviving old PCs, Portainer for hassle-free Docker management, and the best 2025 IRC stack (Soju bouncer + Halloy desktop + Goguma mobile) and using Libera.chat as a community hub. Tools I’m using for this podcast (sadly mostly not FOSS, yet) snac the micro-fedi server Proxmox Community install scripts Post-install script Portainer Soju IRC Bouncer Halloy Desktop IRC Client Halloy Themes (I’m using Zenburn and sunset) Goguma Libera.chat Choosing an IRC Client Email, Toot, or Skeet me with new episode ideas!

    14 min
  7. Episode 2: Hollo, Lunar, Lyon, and PewDiePie

    JUL 1

    Episode 2: Hollo, Lunar, Lyon, and PewDiePie

    Welcome to the second episode of Don’t Forget to FOSS! Hollo Mastohost Lunar Lunar Mac Brightness Manager Lunar Source The FOSS Sustainability Problem Lyon ditches $MSFT Lyon Leaving Microsoft Danish Government Dumps Microsoft Danish Cities Drop Microsoft Over Trump Policies and Financial Concerns Germany’s northernmost state ditches Windows OnlyOffice Email, Toot, or Skeet me with new episode ideas!

    10 min
  8. Ep. 1: Harper, FrankenPHP, Mastodon.social, Element and Matrix

    JUN 25

    Ep. 1: Harper, FrankenPHP, Mastodon.social, Element and Matrix

    Welcome to episode 1 of Don’t Forget to FOSS! Software Harper, a FOSS Grammarly replacement FrankenPHP, a PHP Web Server written in Go Quick Start examples News Mastodon.social Terms of Service Drama Cory Doctorow’s Toot Update from Mastodon.social The Matrix/Element situation Matrix is cooked by alexia on June 15 Wire’s Matrix Is Not Safe For EU Data Privacy post on June 18 Element’s response on June 20 Matrix.org’s response on June 20 Wire’s follow up response on June 23. Email, Toot, or Skeet me with new episode ideas!

    8 min
  • 8 Episodes

About

Love trying out great new free apps and tools? Join Robin every week to discuss what he’s uncovered in the Free and Open Source Software ecosystem, what you need to know about open source, and what the community is talking about!

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