Nils Bühler – Free and Open Source Software
This section of the blog covers Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) from the perspective of a humanities researcher: experiences with Linux, privacy-focused tools, digital sovereignty, and alternatives to proprietary software. I share practical tips and reflections on using free software in academic work.
All blog posts are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Latest FOSS Posts
Theses and Long Form Writing with Markdown
Many people are currently looking for alternatives to Microsoft Office Word. The most obvious option seems to be LibreOffice Writer – it does almost the same thing, but without the unnecessary (and surveillance-oriented) features and the licensing constraints of Word. For creating and formatting documents, adding citations, and inserting images, LibreOffice Writer is just as suitable as Microsoft's software. However, if you're already considering switching, why not also rethink your workflow? In this post, I want to present an alternative: Writing long form texts such as academic theses with the Markdown editor Zettlr.
Linux in the Humanities
I've been using Linux exclusively for about four years now. At first, this sometimes caused confusion, but things have changed. People now often ask me if I'm using Linux and how that is working out for me. Since the discussion around digital sovereignty has gained momentum, interest has only grown. In the coming weeks, I'll be sharing my experiences to give others a better sense of what switching to Linux entails. This post is a brief overview to hit things off.