The Linux Brochure Project [LWN.net]

The first stable version (1.0.0) of the Linux Brochure Project, an application that is used for the generation of Brochures, has been announced.

Our overall goal is simple; document essential Linux information on the two sides of a single letter-sized sheet of paper which is Z-folded into six mini-pages of a brochure that LUGs and other Linux organizations can use for publicity. The LBP data and scripts required to build the brochure are released under the GPL which means the information collected and organized here cannot be hijacked by proprietary interests.

The project was conceived by a small group of developers working with the Victoria Linux Users Group (VLUG). The group needed to build and maintain a Linux Information Brochure, and decided to package and release their efforts.

The LBP is composed of a collection of existing open-source packages: "The software consists of LaTeX and pdfLaTeX scripts; Sketch input files; and a Makefile to keep the brochure build organized."

The project documentation also mentions the use of ps2eps, pstops from the ps-utils package, and montage from the ImageMagick suite. In other words, LBP is an example of a solution to a specific task that is built from a collection of general purpose open-source tools.

A few example brochures exist, more are apparently on the way.

The Linux Brochure Project has been released under the GPL, the code is available here.

to post comments

typos: "brocure" -> "brochure"

Posted Oct 9, 2003 9:41 UTC (Thu) by aglet (guest, #1334) [Link] (2 responses)

You've missplet brochure in a couple of places...

typos: "brocure" -> "brochure"

Posted Oct 10, 2003 0:34 UTC (Fri) by barbara (guest, #3014) [Link] (1 responses)

Spelling errors really bug me so I hunted all over the LBP site for this misspelling of
"brochure" and couldn't find them. Please post where you found them so we can
correct these errors.

Barbara

typos: "brocure" -> "brochure"

Posted Oct 10, 2003 2:14 UTC (Fri) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link]

The typos were on the LWN side; we fixed them this morning.

The Linux Brochure Project

Posted Oct 9, 2003 12:30 UTC (Thu) by alspnost (guest, #2763) [Link] (1 responses)

Nice idea - I hadn't heard of this project before. I was thinking about something like this myself. Most people in the street have no idea about free(dom) software, or even that there are betters programs available than the ones they use. I'd love to print out 1,000,000 copies of something like this, load them into the back of a C130, and release them over London at 10,000ft. But I suppose there are some reasons not to do this ;-)

The Linux Brochure Project

Posted Oct 9, 2003 14:06 UTC (Thu) by chalsall (guest, #400) [Link]

> ...and release them over London at 10,000ft.

Actually, this was kinda the point of the project. But instead of someone with access to a large cargo plane, we were thinking more along the lines of street geeks handing out brochures one-by-one to people, dropping them off at libraries, churches and community centers, etc.

Microsoft and IBM have the planes (read: advertising budget). We've got a resistance force of guerilla marketers... 8-)

The Linux Brochure Project

Posted Oct 9, 2003 15:33 UTC (Thu) by proski (guest, #104) [Link] (2 responses)

From the text of the brochure:

Linux is an operating system initially created in 1991 as a hobby project by a young student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki in Finland, and then released to the Internet as an Open Source project.

I don't normally participate in the Linux vs. GNU/Linux debate, but I think that such wording is offensive to those who worked on the parts of the operating system other than the kernel, especially on the compiler. It's not just a naming issue. It's a misrepresentation of facts. An operating system is not something that can be created in one year by one person.

I'd prefer free software to be advocated by honest people who know the facts rather than by zealots of the new religion, preaching to the allmighty Linus.

The Linux Brochure Project

Posted Oct 9, 2003 17:12 UTC (Thu) by tlewis (guest, #4195) [Link]

"such wording is offensive to those who worked on the parts of the operating system other than the kernel"

Boo hoo. Linux was started in 1991; that's just a fact. For people who worked on things other than Linux, perhaps you shouldn't be so covetous of its notoriety.

The Linux Brochure Project

Posted Oct 9, 2003 20:14 UTC (Thu) by chalsall (guest, #400) [Link]

> I'd prefer free software to be advocated by honest people who know the facts rather than by zealots of the new religion, preaching to the allmighty Linus.

I'd hardly consider the developer team to be zealots.

But... If you don't like the language included by default, we welcome (in fact, encourage) alternative brochure sets to be produced and contributed back to the project for distribution. Want a GNU/Linux brochure? Great -- make one; we've given you all the tools you need.