🔑 PlebWare.
Knowledge for Ordinary People!
PlebWare is an ecosystem built around a simple idea: technology, knowledge and creativity should remain accessible, understandable and connected to ordinary people.
But PlebWare is also the product of a life lived by ordinary people.
It was built by Otto Brinkmeier, a 63-year-old South African writer, developer and maker whose journey with technology began in 1982, when he first encountered computing on a Commodore VIC-20. He later began his working life as an artisan in the South African Railways, carrying that practical, hands-on approach into a lifelong fascination with technology, engineering, writing, research and problem-solving.
Along that journey, Otto became friends with a young man named Jullian de Villiers, who was then just 21 years old. Since 2006, Jullian — now his spiritual son, partner and fellow traveller — has been part of Otto’s journey through technology, creativity and the evolving idea that would eventually become PlebWare.
Their story is woven into the history of PlebWare itself.
In 2016, Jullian test-drove the first PlebMachine on his Windows 7 computer. That early PlebMachine was built around Rainmeter, long before the project evolved into the Linux-based system now being developed.
Today, Jullian is waiting with considerable anticipation for the Linux version of PlebMachine — a project whose roots reach back to 2016, and whose philosophy reaches back even further: technology should adapt itself to people, rather than forcing people to adapt themselves to technology.
PlebWare therefore isn’t simply a collection of articles, software and projects. It is the continuing record of a journey that began with Meccano, progressed through the Commodore VIC-20, passed through the practical world of railway engineering, grew through nearly two decades of friendship and collaboration, and ultimately became an attempt to make technology, knowledge and creativity more accessible to ordinary people.
⏣ PlebWare
Publishing & Learning Hub
📰 Recent Articles.
The PlebWare library is continually growing.
Here are the latest articles:
PlebMachine: From Desktop Experiment to Cognitive Linux Ecosystem..
28 August 2026
PlebMachine 1.0.0 Release Advisory: A Critical Bug Discovered.
27 August 2026
The Twelve Days of Strife — Fighting the Flu..
26 August 2026
Migrant Germs..
26 August 2026
Make PlebMachine Run on Your Debian.
26 August 2026
PlebMachine 1.0.0 Readme.
26 August 2026
The PlebWare Lexicon — A Language for the Human Behind the Terminal.
25 August 2026
Me and My Cat — Pleb Machine Live..
25 August 2026
📰 Latest PlebWare Update.
PlebMachine 1.0.0: The First Public Release.
25 August 2026
🔑 PlebMachine 1.0.0: Live At Last! Live At Last!.
Read the Latest PlebWare Update →
📊 PlebWare Library.
📚 299 Articles Published.
🎧 299 Articles Empowered by PlebVox.
👤 Plebware — The User.
. Plebware represents the ordinary human being.
Not a corporation. Not a technical abstraction. Not somebody who needs to be an expert before they are allowed to understand technology.
The Plebware philosophy starts with the person:
learn it - understand it - use it - improve it - make it your own.
🔑 PlebWare — The Ecosystem.
PlebWare is the name of the ecosystem and the brand.
It brings together the things we learn, write, research, design and build.
PlebWare encompasses:
- 📚 Knowledge and research.
- ✍️ Writing and publishing.
- 🛠️ Software and development.
- 🐧 Linux and open technology.
- 🎨 Graphics and creative work.
- 🎵 Music and audio.
- 🎬 Video and broadcasting.
- 🤖 Artificial intelligence.
- 🎓 Education and tuition.
- 💰 Accounting and practical life skills.
- 🎮 Leisure and entertainment.
- 👥 Community and collaboration.
👥 The Makers.
Otto, also known as, ‘Othello Cody Verrocchio’.
Writer, Researcher, Developer, Designer, and Maker.
Writing under Othello Cody Verrocchio, Otto brings together science fiction, journalism, Christian writing, technology, graphics and practical knowledge.
Jullian, also known as, ‘Juelz’ (Boy Mist).
Creator, Developer, Musician and Maker.
Jullian’s work contributes to the creative, technical and community sides of the ecosystem.
Together, we explore what happens when ordinary people use technology to create rather than merely consume.
🤝 PlebWare Contributors.
PlebWare is built by people who contribute ideas, code, research, writing and creativity.
The contributor list below is generated automatically from the PlebWare GitHub repository. Each contributor’s GitHub avatar is displayed alongside their contribution count.
🔄 Loading contributors...
🧠 Explore the Knowledge.
PlebWare currently contains 12 knowledge modes, covering hundreds of articles and a growing collection of practical information.
| Mode. | Explore. |
|---|---|
| 🏠 Everyday. | Practical living, housekeeping, personal care and daily life. |
| ✍️ Author. | Fiction, non-fiction, devotionals, journalism, poetry and books. |
| 🎓 Study. | Tuition, writing, theology, web design and life skills. |
| 🔬 Research. | Technology, Linux, Christian research, sustainability and more. |
| 🎨 Graphics. | GIMP, Inkscape, design, AI art, cartoons and diagrams. |
| 🎵 Music. | Audio production, music software, sounds and music projects. |
| 🎬 Video. | Editing, recording, subtitles and video creation. |
| 📡 Broadcast. | Podcasts, videocasts, PlebCasts and broadcasting. |
| 🤖 AI Helpers. | AI tools, prompting, writing, coding, research and local AI. |
| 💻 Developer. | Linux, GitHub, scripting, automation and PlebMachine. |
| 💰 Accounting. | Budgeting, spreadsheets, GNUCash, tax and financial organisation. |
| 🎮 Leisure. | Games, entertainment, cooking, gardening and recreation. |
Explore the knowledge modes using the navigation above.
🛠️ What We’re Building.
PlebWare isn’t only a publishing project.
It is also a workshop.
🐧 PlebMachine.
A modular productivity layer for Linux designed around the idea that a desktop environment should be useful, understandable and configurable without locking the user into somebody else’s workflow.
🎧 PlebVox.
PlebVox is the developing Read Aloud system for PlebWare.
PlebVox turns selected sections of PlebWare articles into spoken content directly in the browser, making the knowledge library more accessible across different devices and platforms.
PlebVox is deliberately opt-in. Articles without PlebVox markers remain completely unchanged.
💻 PlebWare Development.
The PlebWare ecosystem also includes experiments and development in:
- Linux.
- GitHub Pages.
- JavaScript.
- HTML/CSS.
- automation.
- artificial intelligence.
- browser tools.
- graphics.
- media production.
👥 Community.
PlebWare is not intended to exist in isolation.
The wider ecosystem includes PlebWave Frontier and The Circle, bringing together people, ideas, creativity and collaboration.
The technology is only one part of the picture.
People are the reason it exists.
📖 The PlebWare Lexicon.
PlebWare contains its own growing vocabulary.
The PlebWare Lexicon explains the names, concepts and relationships that make up the ecosystem — including the deliberate distinction between:
Plebware — the user. (Distinguished by a small ‘w’.)
PlebWare — the ecosystem and brand. (Distinguished by a Capital ‘W’.)
This vocabulary is important because the names describe relationships, not merely products.
Explore the PlebWare Lexicon →
🔎 Find Something Useful.
With hundreds of articles covering technology, creativity, practical life, writing, research, education and entertainment, there is plenty to explore.
Use the navigation above or search the library.
🔑 The Idea Behind PlebWare.
Technology should not make ordinary people feel stupid.
Knowledge should not be hidden behind unnecessary complexity.
Software should serve the person using it.
And creativity should not belong exclusively to people with expensive equipment, expensive software or professional titles.
PlebWare is our attempt to put those ideas into practice.
Technology should remain connected to humanity.
Welcome to PlebWare.
💬 Comments.