The Alternative

We are students of ETH who help you with linux
at our events and in our office. For free!

Because we love Open Source and Free Software
and want to help you to get started (here's why).

course materials | guides: bash git

tux, the linux mascot

Course Cancellation

Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, ETH decided to close all buildings until the end of the semester.
All of our courses are cancelled. You can find all our course material here.

cancelled

Stammtisch

Thu 02.04.2020 18:00 - 22:00 | Katholische Hochschulgemeinde Zürich AKI, 2nd floor, Hirschengraben 86, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland

All classroom teaching has been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

We meet in a casual atmosphere, have a beer and discuss upcoming technical trends. Come join us!
If you have troubles with Linux, bring your Laptop and we will be glad to help.

cancelled

Console Toolkit - Part 1

Fri 03.04.2020 17:15 - 19:00 | ETH Zürich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland, HG F 7 | register

All classroom teaching has been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Now that you have your Linux system up and running, it's time to make the best out of it. Learn how to utilize the console and work towards mastering it in this two-part course. We will start with the basics, and present you some useful terminal applications designed to simplify your workflow. Furthermore, you may directly solidify the abilities you learn by solving short exercises.

This way, you will feel comfortable with using the console in no time!

cancelled

Console Toolkit - Part 2

Mon 06.04.2020 17:15 - 19:00 | ETH Zürich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland, F 7 | register

All classroom teaching has been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Now that you have your Linux system up and running, it's time to make the best out of it. Learn how to utilize the console and work towards mastering it in this two-part course. We will start with the basics, and present you some useful terminal applications designed to simplify your workflow. Furthermore, you may directly solidify the abilities you learn by solving short exercises.

This way, you will feel comfortable with using the console in no time!

cancelled

Bash Scripting Workshop

Wed 08.04.2020 17:15 - 19:00 | ETH Zürich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland, HG E 5 | register

All classroom teaching has been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Take your new abilities a step further: Learn how you can use Bash to program simple scripts that can save you a lot of work. Bash is a scripting language that is designed to interact with other programs and your system easily. Whether you want to backup your newest files to a hard drive or quickly download a lot of PDFs—with Bash, you can do it at a keystroke.

Note that we highly recommend visiting "The Console Toolkit" if you have no prior experience with the Linux terminal.

cancelled

Spotlight 2 - The Proprietary Firmware beneath the Surface

Tue 21.04.2020 17:15 - 19:00 | ETH Zürich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland, HG E 5 | register

All classroom teaching has been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

If you have a modern computer, it is impossible to run only free software on it. Hidden from plain sight, management engines and service processors are running and firmware needs to be flashed, all of whose operating systems and programs can only be distributed as binary blobs by the hardware vendors. This talk shines a light into this world dominated by closed-source software.

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alex

President
Alexander Schoch

nicolas

Vice-President
Nicolas König

nils

Events
Nils Leuzinger

florian

Sponsoring
Florian Moser

The Alternative
CAB E14
Universitätsstrasse 6
8092 Zürich

github | gitlab

a part of SSC

Open Source

The term "open source" refers to something people can modify and share because its design is publicly accessible.

opensource.com

Open Source software encourages others to understand how something works exactly because the inner workings of the program are published. Depending on the exact license used, the user may also be allowed to run, modify and distribute the work.

Using Open Source, you can check that the program does not execute something on your device you do not want; like surveilling your activities or stealing your computational power for its own purposes. However, when software is advertised as Open Source, it does not necessarily guarantee the rights to modify and distribute the work.

Examples include Firefox and Python.

Free Software

Free software developers guarantee [...] [that] any user can study the source code, modify it, and share the program.

fsf.org

Free Software guarantees the rights to run, modify and distribute the work. Depending on the exact license used, it may be enforced that all derivative software must also grant the same rights (this is called Copyleft).

Using Free Software, you are allowed to adapt it to your needs; like adding functionality critical to your workflows. If you decide to use a Copyleft license, you can additionally be sure your work will benefit all future users of the software in the same way.

Examples include VLC Media Player and Linux.

Proprietary Software

Only the original authors of proprietary software can legally copy, inspect, and alter that software. To use proprietary software, computer users must agree (...) that they will not do anything with the software that the software's authors have not expressly permitted.

opensource.com

Proprietary Software severely restricts how users can interact with the software running on their device and does not allow them to read, modify or distribute its source code.

Using Proprietary Software, you are in danger to lose functionality critical to your workflow (because the owner chose not to provide it anymore), to no longer being able to open your files (because the filetype is no longer supported) or to pay excessive license fees (because there are no comparable alternatives).

Examples include Windows and Adobe Reader.

Privacy

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation.

Article 12 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Privacy is fundamental to protect yourself and those around you from manipulation.

Most webpages and programs track anything you do or click. Use Open Source Software and Adblockers to be reasonably sure that you are not a victim of surveillance. Make anonymity the default to avoid making those stand out, who must stay anonymous.

Facebook reveals more about your personality than your friends could [Paper]; imagine what your browser history tells about you.
A firm called Cambridge Analytica (and probably many others) use this technique to influence outcomes of elections [Tagesanzeiger]
Edward Snowden used an anonymity service that relies on many "normal" people using the system to avoid suspicion [Twitter].