The Freedom Toaster
Jason Hudson (previously of the Shuttleworth Foundation and now a director of Breadbin Interactive) realised that while ‘open source’ represents the future of software, South Africans face significant barriers in terms of its distribution due to the high cost of bandwidth in this country. The fact is that there seems little point in offering freely available alternatives to proprietary software, when they cost too much in bandwidth to distribute or download.
Some serious out of the box thinking ultimately delivered a revolutionary and innovative new concept “the Freedom Toaster” This crazy name may put some of our readers off reading the article – don’t, read on! It is a fascinating story of real innovation.
The Freedom Toaster is a self-contained computer kiosk that allows anyone to burn open source software and operating systems onto blank CDs. It makes use of specialised software that allows users to burn multiple CDs at once; so one could, for example, burn the four CDs needed for a Mandriva Linux installation in the few minutes that would be required to burn one CD conventionally.
But why it such a bizarre name? Looking at the rationale behind the name ‘freedom toaster’, it is actually is a great name. “It is derived from the fact that open source software is free and that Linux users refer to burning CDs as ‘toasting’; hence The Freedom Toaster”, said Brett Simpson, a Breadbin Interactive partner.
Toaster kiosk
The user makes his or her selection on the Freedom Toaster’s touch-screen and then inserts the required amount of blank CDs to burn their selection.
The official Freedom Toaster is moved around to convenient locations and events where anyone is welcome to choose from the variety of software available and burn their own CDs. But the plans and software for the Freedom Toaster are also freely available, allowing anyone, anywhere, to build their own Freedom Toaster and make open source software available in their community.
The Freedom Toaster delivers open source software in a dynamic and empowering way. Open source software has traditionally been available via download from the internet or on pre-prepared CDs that are either handed out or bought.
These traditional forms of distribution have been great for the most part, but have also been problematic for some users, especially those in developing countries where open source can be used to make a big impact. Internet connectivity is challenging in these regions and makes it difficult, and in many cases impossible, for software to be downloaded.
Free CDs are a good option, but they subtract from the choice so important to the open source software model. The end user has had no input as to what is on these pre-prepared CDs.
The Freedom Toaster solves these problems by allowing people to choose the software and operating systems that they want and burn them onto CDs, without the need for an internet connection. In this way, The Freedom Toaster delivers open source software to people who would have otherwise not been able to acquire it.
But the Freedom Toaster is also a fun source of open source software for anybody and a good place to get information on the applications and operating systems it contains.
“We started with the idea at the Science Centre in Cape Town”, said Brett Simpson. “But it became so popular that it went to another level and 30 units were created with a touch screen interface. The original idea started when we worked for the Shuttleworth Foundation.”
The Foundation supports innovation for three years and once projects become viable and mature the foundation looks for opportunities to commercialise.
“I took on the project some18 months ago while Jason joined the company in August 2008. We have taken the original concept, maintained the ethos and built on it. The units are now made more robust, using industrial grade hardware. We have upgraded the software to make it easier to use with increased reliability and new software offers 10 times more features. The content has been greatly enhanced and now includes video and music. We have just added the full school curriculum, and sell the unit and source open-source content for the client. Our biggest client is UNISA with 70 units which offer the full curricula, study material and open text books.
“On registration students can have all the course material on a CD. We fit the units with 3G cards which allows us to remotely manage the Freedom Toasters and upgrade content. Where owners have a corporate network it could replace the 3G connection.”
EngineerIT
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