FLOSS Manuals

A recent discovery of ours, FLOSS Manuals is a website dedicated to creating open source manuals for open source software. Or in their words ''a collection of manuals about free and open source software together with the tools used to create them and the community that uses those tools''.

The manuals on the website range from things as simple as using firefox and blogging websites to complex guides on how to use 3-d software, stream live over the internet or translate video subtitles, amongst other things. From what we can tell the project is funded by hard copies of the manuals that can be purchased from the website.

Also fascinating is the process by which the manuals are written- In what the website describes as 'Book Sprints'-''collaborative authoring in a short time (one week) with the express goal of having a publishable book at the end''.

Awesome stuff. Check back in the next few days for pictures of the first Modular living structures from one of our labs.
xxx

More PDFs

As promised, here is a link to another site where you can get pdfs on lots of different subjects http://www.publiccollectors.org/CompletePublications.htm . two of the ones we have been looking at are " Working Big: A Teacher's Guide to Environmental Sculpture" which is all about being able to make large scale sculptures using hardly any resources, and this one which is of the more modular variety, "How To Build Your Own Living Structures". Some of the language used is a bit outdated, however pretty much all of the information is still relevant. at the moment two people involved with temporary school are experimenting with some of the designs in this book, which will be documented and uploaded soon, all comments much appreciated.


Members have already printed out their own copies of the two pdfs and binded them for around £6 each, and some are interested in doing a limited run to spread the information offline as well. if you would be interested in this subproject please email us (email address is persons_unknown (at) hotmail .co.uk).

Urban Nomadics / The future of Temporary School

In ode to Simon McAndrew (our beloved forefarther/spiritual guru to DA!)

We set forth our future and attempt to reengineer the mechanics of the Temporary School. Since the early days of the school, meeting agendas were frequently punctuated by talk of modular living, nomadic furniture and the prospect of creating our own toolset/means of production. In seeking to grease the cogs, we came to the loose conclusion that we needed portable kitchens, plugin cinemas and nomadic libaries

After a long hiatus in which we took time to refuel from the exhaustion of living the high life in Mayfair, we continued to live alongside one another as a tight unit under modest conditions, we've come to the stage now where we want to once more offer something to the outside world, which has given us so much.

In the spirit of the Temporary School we turn from offline open source to virtual open source, this being only the first stage in preparation, for a wiki and online databank/library.

So where to start, here are some of the tools and books we've been analysing of late...

Tools:
In an attempt to design across borders and via email, we've begun using virtual workspace

Rhino - Highly professional 3d design studio, highly priced but available for free on the piratebay.

Sketch Up - Google's free and friendly alternative with the built in ability to share it in the online library


Books:
Nomadic Furniture - a seminal book written by James Hennessey in the 1970s, books 1 and 2 were consolidated and republished last year

Spacecraft - a survey of recent architectural endeavour

More to follow including free PDFs.