I dedicate any and all copyright interest in this software to the public domain. I make this dedication for the benefit of the public at large and to the detriment of my heirs and successors. I intend this dedication to be an overt act of relinquishment in perpetuity of all present and future rights to this software under copyright law.

Suggested commit signature for The Unlicense.

The open source community is a unique place where people come together in order to improve the world, without expecting anything in return. It’s a place where anyone with a desire to help can contribute to software development, regardless of their background or experience. It’s a place where projects large and small can bring together strangers into tight-knit communities. And perhaps most importantly, it’s an escape from the dominance of big tech. It’s the best way to achieve privacy, security, and ownership of your hardware in a world increasingly driven by microtransactions and tracking.

This is a community I’ve fallen in love with because its values of freedom and openness align strongly with my own. While proprietary software and commercialization will always have a place in the digital world, the open source community is one of humanity’s greatest successes, and I try my best to support it in any way possible.

How I Use Open Source Software

There’s a common misconception that the only way to contribute to open source is writing lines of code. The reality is that even just using open source alternatives to near-universal proprietary software can motivate further development and raise awareness that alternatives do exist and are worth learning about. By raising awareness among others about open source services, anyone can contribute to the community. Thus raising awareness is a primary focus of how I choose to use open source software.

Escaping Commercialization

The central goal of all proprietary software is to make money for the developers. That goal can be achieved in various ways, such as advertising, subscriptions, licensing, or a flat fee, but it’s always achieved at the user’s expense. This has always bothered me because my technology should be working for me, not for some third party. And I know the constant ads and paywalls bother others around me too because people are constantly complaining about them.

So from the very beginning, I’ve been interested in open source as a way to escape commercialization. Ad blocker extensions for Chrome were my first steps; from there, switching browsers entirely to Firefox. Once I started doing basic image editing, I didn’t want to pay for Photoshop’s expensive subscription and got tired of its freemium alternatives with all their watermarks and restrictions, so I found my way to GIMP (oh, how I love and hate thee…). I got tired of ads in my music, so I ditched Spotify for YouTube with some… helpful open source modifications.

But aside from making my own life easier, using these open source services in front of others drew significant interest in projects that otherwise would’ve remained in the shadows. I’ve convinced more than a few people to start using ad blockers and ditch Chrome for Firefox. This more social approach to open source contributions is what helps my favorite projects grow, so I try to show off free software as much as possible.

Enhancing Productivity

I can’t even imagine what my life would be like without open source software like Git, Vim, and Vimium that streamline my productivity. I spend far less time making my computer do what I want and far more time making high-level decisions about code architecture because of these tools. Daily-driving Linux offers even more customization and power on x86 PCs, but Apple’s unique hardware in M1-family Macs isn’t supported by many existing distributions and the Asahi Linux project still has a long way to go, so for now I don’t have this option.

Taking Control of My Hardware

Perhaps the best way I’ve used open source software is to free my hardware from Windows’ walled garden. In a series of posts on my Instagram, I share how I converted a worthless old laptop into a functional secure server. Reducing e-waste and escaping from Windows’ planned obsolescence are just two of the many reasons I love Linux.

How I Contribute Directly to Open Source Software

At the time of writing, I’m in a transitional phase from open source user to open source developer. I’m slowly starting to get involved in projects both large and small, with the intent to assist development in any way I can. Using open source software and raising awareness can only go so far; I want to contribute something concrete.

pfs-rewrite

The GitHub repository for TJ REVERB’s flight software is fully open source, and represents my first significant contribution to the open source community. This was no small feat; it’s comprised of thousands of lines of code handling every aspect of satellite operation, from the driver level to the CONOPS level. While I don’t anticipate anyone forking this repo and using our code directly, it serves as a guide for CubeSat software design and demonstrates the creation of hardware drivers in pure Python.

pacmc

pacmc is a package manager (in the style of apt and pacman) for Minecraft mods. It’s something simple that I came across while researching a better way to install mods for the game, but I quickly fell in love with the project and its community. pacmc was where I made my first open source contribution to a project that I didn’t start, so it’ll always be somewhat special to me.

smartshell

My smartshell implementation is completely open source. A more detailed explanation of what exactly this is and how it works is available on the GitHub and on the posts page. Also check out this very unprofessional demo.