Fsf-friends September 2004

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

26 participants
44 discussions

Re: [Fsf-friends] Basics...
by Joe Steeve 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

> All through these phases, not a single person gains anything in > terms of money (Im not in favor of minting money, per se). So, our Hmm.. You can sell the software. Who is stopping you from it. Even software production houses can make software and distribute the software under a non-restrictive license., I mean can sell the software. Many establishments ask for "support service". You can provide them support and hence charge for that. In fact when your company develops a Free Software the production is high. You dont have to start from scratch. You'll definitely have a project to start with. And the community will do the testing for you. > develop their own s/w for customers. Is this the essence of Free > Software in a nut shell? No. This is a business model. But it is not the essence of Free Software. Its not the only way to raise funds. Companies can do really well by producing Free Software. Cheers, Joe -- A proud GNU user. Homepage: http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/ GMX ProMail mit bestem Virenschutz http://www.gmx.net/de/go/mail +++ Empfehlung der Redaktion +++ Internet Professionell 10/04 +++ -- Free the code; Free the user [Copying allowed under GFDL (C) Vijaykumar] Homepage: http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/ +++ GMX DSL Premiumtarife 3 Monate gratis* + WLAN-Router 0,- EUR* +++ Clevere DSL-Nutzer wechseln jetzt zu GMX: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/dsl

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Continuation....of Basics......
by Joe Steeve 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

> 2. With non-free softwares, you can be sure of what features are present > and what are not and what are the known bugs (as the company producing > it is bound to make those details available to its customers). But with Really? Please check your facts. Almost every bug with the Windows Operating System is patched after some one writes a exploit virus for it. (Melissa, w32Blaster, Sazzer,..) > free s/w, Careless developers might not feel the same responsibility to Free software is not developed by careless developers. It is developed by volunteers. Volunteers who love to program. Who love computing. These volunteers cannot be compared with regular programmers employed in software production houses. Here, the programmers are usually forced to do something that they probably dont like. One of my friends working in Infosys hates computers (He is a EEE engineer). He is programming today for a living. Please note., there is a difference in programming for a living and programming for passion. A passionate programmer puts his best effort to make beautiful programs. He knows the trade very well. Have you ever used gcc + binutils + gdb. Do you think the people who programmed that are "careless developers??". Please look into the autotools (Autoconf + Automake + Libtool). That is not some mediocre joke. It is so professional that even propreitary production houses shamelessly use it. Can someone think of having a network of GUIs?? Did a "careless developer" think of making the X so powerful that I can actually open two GUI applications on a remote machine whose display comes on my terminal? Did a "careless developer" develop Guile.. I dont see even one single "heavily funded" proprietary software development house bring out something so smart and neat as Guile. Cheers, Joe -- A proud GNU user. Homepage: http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/ -- Free the code; Free the user [Copying allowed under GFDL (C) Vijaykumar] Homepage: http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/ +++ GMX DSL Premiumtarife 3 Monate gratis* + WLAN-Router 0,- EUR* +++ Clevere DSL-Nutzer wechseln jetzt zu GMX: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/dsl

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Fwd: Re: [Fsf-friends] Continuation....of Basics......
by Joe Steeve 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

> You are a talented literate here my friend, But there are THOUSANDS > (literally) who can trust a person who poses to be trust-worthy for > sometime before he delivers the package, and hence can easily be cheated Well. You fail to see the point. Suppose I'm the author of a software package. Supposing I'm a malicious person, and that I put some loopholes into the software., and release it as Free Software. Then, the source code is going to be seen by scores of people who'll figure within a shortwhile that I'm a `fake'. That is the advantage here. > (atleast in India). Some of the greatest laws in India have cute loop > holes, so how tough is it to forge software signatures (esp. if its only > the ASCII text). Im not against anything per se. Try forging a digital signature.. ;-) If you are successful then you should probably apply for a PhD at MIT (Massachusettes Institute of Technology) Its not ascii text. It is a encrypted hash of the original message. Which cannot be created without the public key of the author. > Sorry for typo, ya, its "GNU Not Unix"... but what does the first word > "GNU" stands for in "GNU Not Unix" (obviously its not a recursion)? And It is a recursive acronym. > yes, I've visited www.gnu.org scores of times, but couldnt locate it > there too..... The first paragraph on http://www.gnu.org/ says about GNU. Tell me you did not bother to read it. Cheers, Joe -- A proud GNU user. Homepage: http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/ GMX ProMail mit bestem Virenschutz http://www.gmx.net/de/go/mail +++ Empfehlung der Redaktion +++ Internet Professionell 10/04 +++

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Continuation....of Basics......
by Sriharsha Vedurmudi 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

Again, 2. With non-free softwares, you can be sure of what features are present and what are not and what are the known bugs (as the company producing it is bound to make those details available to its customers). But with free s/w, Careless developers might not feel the same responsibility to update the documentation of the software or even the program description comments. So, a user downloading the software, can only trust God that what he/she is downloading is what he/she is expecting. How is this problem solved? 3. Will the developers with malicious intent not play around with free software and trick many unsuspecting people into loading the software (that has been maliciously modified by them), therby compromising heavily on the security of the companies confidential data. How is this countered? 4. Ultimately, is there any place for Responsibility / Answerablity in Free Software (unless voluntarily taken up by individuals)? _Sriharsha_ PS: I never know till date the expansion of GNU (ya, I've been told its GNU Not Free, but what that first word GNU stands for is unknown. Is it proprietary? :-) )

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So what is the problem?
by M Sasikumar 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

I am amazed at this kind of mails. Is this the way to promote Open source? Is CDAC Mumbai (ex-NCST) the only place with Windows machines? How long has NCST been around? How long has it been since Linux machines got to be comparable in user friendliness? How much of industry is using Linux even today? Does the guy posting know why we use the particular setup for work? It has nothing to do with his "smart" observation. Bashing some institution is not the way to promote Open source. - Sasi Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:07:13 +0530 From: Anurag <anurag(a)hbcse.tifr.res.in> To: fsf-friends(a)gnu.org.in Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] [Fwd: Proforma for membership records] V. Sasi Kumar wrote: >Indian Institute of Science asks alumni to fill up their details in a>document in MS Word format. This is a mail I sent them more than two >weeks back. No response as yet. For that matter, I'd like to point out the infrastructure that is available at C-DAC Mumbai (formely NCST). They have something like 75 computers with Windows 2000 installed. Now the irony is that, for writing programs and compiling them, students are supposed to connect to a GNU/Linux server using a proprietary SSH client and write/compile programs there... This is called higher education! -Anurag -- M Sasikumar, KBCS/ETU Divisions, C-DAC Mumbai (formerly NCST) sasi(a)ncst.ernet.in; the.little.sasi(a)gmail.com; staff.ncst.ernet.in/sasi

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[Fwd: Proforma for membership records]
by V. Sasi Kumar 22 Sep '04

22 Sep '04

Indian Institute of Science asks alumni to fill up their details in a document in MS Word format. This is a mail I sent them more than two weeks back. No response as yet. -----Forwarded Message----- From: V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)hotpop.com> To: alumni(a)admin.iisc.ernet.in Subject: Proforma for membership records Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 09:52:39 +0530 Sir, I find that the Proforma for membership records is given in a proprietary format (MS Word) which forces me to use a proprietary application. Indirectly you are promoting a particular company's software that uses a closed format for its files, which is not a very good practice for an internationally reputed institute like IISc. Instead, I suggest that the proforma be made available in open formats like Postscript, PDF, XML, etc. This would enable anyone using any word processor or any free application (like xpdf, Open Office, etc.) to read the file without loss of formatting. May I also point out that even our President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has prompted scientists and technologists to move from proprietary software to free software for several reasons, including national security and economics. Incidentally, I am an Alumni of IISc (1976-78). Best regards -- V. Sasi Kumar Centre for Earth Science Studies PB No. 7250, Thuruvikkal PO Thiruvananthapuram 695031 India -- V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)hotpop.com>

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GNU/LinuxIndia Sept 2004
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 21 Sep '04

21 Sep '04

############################################################################ e88~~\ 888b | 888 | / 888 888 ,e, d888 |Y88b | 888 | L 888 888-~88e e88~\888 " /~~~8e 8888 __ | Y88b | 888 | I 888 888 888 d888 888 888 88b 8888 | | Y88b | 888 | N 888 888 888 8888 888 888 e88~-888 Y888 | | Y88b| Y88 | U 888 888 888 Y888 888 888 C888 888 "88__/ | Y888 "8__/ X 888 888 888 "88_/888 888 "88_-888 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Compiled by: Frederick Noronha * Sept 20, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Free Software is the way to go if we desire to have a society where children are taught to be independent, resourceful, productive, co-operative, rational, intelligent and socially responsible. The Free Software Movement has contributed several thousand useful applications. With little effort from more volunteers, we could make the free software wealth reach everyone.-- Ramanraj K <ramanraj(a)md4.vsnl.net.in> ############################################################################ HACKERS WANTED, FSF CALLING: From the FSF-India mailing list http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-prog there's a word of advice from Anand Babu <ab(a)gnu.org.in>: "Yes I am need of developers for Free Software Projects. If you are new to FSF projects, (you can get started) like this * Setup a Debian GNU/Linux system (best distro for developers) * Create an account for yourself at http://savannah.gnu.org. * Take a look at current GNU Task List at https://savannah.gnu.org/people/?group=tasklist Choose one and start hacking. This process will help you prepare yourself with the GNU's way of hacking software. Then, when you feel you are ready for the main stream, you can jump into GNU Hurd kernel hacking (the most important pending task). Anand Babu <ab(a)gnu.org.in> said at another time: "Kernel hacking is too difficult for newbies. I need developers with sold experience in C and system programming with a Hacker's attitude. I would recommend newbies to start hacking at the applications level, submitting patches, getting familiar with GNU coding standards and Free Software development model." ############################################################################ [GNU]LINUX DEMO DAY IN DELHI: Raj Mathur <raju(a)linux-delhi.org> announced plans to hold a Linux Demo Day, organized by India Linux Users Group, Delhi (ILUGD, www.linux-delhi.org). Says Mathur: "We will be conducting Linux-related talks and presentations in the Hamdard Archives Auditorium, on Saturday, Sept 25, 2004, by some of our resident experts, and hopefully they will interest people who've already taken the plunge as well as those who are just about to. There'll be lots of demonstrations/talks throughout the day and plenty of opportunities to gain hands-on experience of different Linux distributions and applications for yourself. There is space outside the auditorium, which will be used for giving the demos. The demos and the talks will go on concurrently. We'll also be distributing Linux goodies at low or no cost. Venue: Jamia Hamdard Archives Auditorium Hamdard University, New Delhi 110062. Landmark: Adjacent to Batra Hospital. Entry from Gate 6 Date: September 25, 2004 Time: 10 am-6 pm (Registration at 9:30 am) Contact: ldd2k4(a)linux-delhi.org Entry: Free -- all are invited. ############################################################################ LINUX GURUS... IN BHOPAL: kvprashant(a)yahoo.com has set up the Linux_Gurus mailing list. He describes it as: "A new linux user group for people of Bhopal needs your help and guidence." Do support! To join, send a blank email to linux_gurus-subscribe(a)yahoogroups.com ############################################################################ SEPTEMBER 2004's issue of Developer IQ contains: * GCC 3.4.1, Tcl/Tk 8.5, Mono 1.0, Python 2.3.4, Visual Tcl 1.6.0, Mlton-Perl, PHP (among other programming tools). Apache HTTP server, XEmacs 21.4.5, GTK+ 2.4, PHP source code. * CD2 is dedicated to the Morphix Gamer. Games run from your CD ROM drive, regardless of the OS you run. A summary of the FLOSS-related content has been posted earlier to various GNU/Linux lists in India. ############################################################################ INDIA PRESIDENT'S VIEW ON FLOSS: http://news.com.com/Indian+president+calls+for+open+source+in+defense/2100-… ############################################################################ HINDI ET AL IN GNOME 2.0: Gnome 2.8 is released, with Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Tamil as supported languages. See http://www.gnome.org/start/2.8/ Source: Guntupalli Karunakar <karunakar(a)freedomink.org> Indianisation work: http://www.indlinux.org ############################################################################ INDIC SOLUTIONS? Interested in this field, check out https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indlinux-group ############################################################################ JOIN THE 'FRIENDLY LUG' ILUG-GOA'S mailing list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa MAIN LIST http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa-announce LOW VOLUME, ANNOUNCE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teach-yourself-linux FOR NEWBIES http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxgoahelp TECH HELP LIST OR VISIT http://ilug-goa.notlong.com http://www.ilug-margao.org ############################################################################ FLOSS IDEAS SPREADING? Please take a look at http://www.feetus.org. V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)hotpop.com> describes it thus: " Open access here in India. An initiative worthy of promotion." ############################################################################ PROMOTING A PROPRIETARY FORMAT, FORCING A PROPRIETARY APPLICATION: V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)hotpop.com> of the Centre for Earth Science Studies in Tvn writes: "Indian Institute of Science asks alumni to fill up their details in a document in MS Word format. This is a mail I sent them more than two weeks back. No response as yet. "Sir, I find that the proforma for membership records is given in a proprietary format (MS Word) which forces me to use a proprietary application. Indirectly you are promoting a particular company's software that uses a closed format for its files, which is not a very good practice for an internationally reputed institute like IISc. "Instead, I suggest that the proforma be made available in open formats like Postscript, PDF, XML, etc. This would enable anyone using any word processor or any free application (like xpdf, Open Office, etc.) to read the file without loss of formatting. May I also point out that even our President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has prompted scientists and technologists to move from proprietary software to free software for several reasons, including national security and economics." ############################################################################ UPDATES FROM BANGALORE: Atul Chitnis <achitnis(a)exocore.com> recently announced the launch of the Linux Bangalore/2004 website at http://linux-bangalore.org/2004 Adds he: "On behalf of the managers of Linux Bangalore/2004 I invite all of you visit the site, read all it has to offer, then get onto the discussion list http://linux-bangalore.org/2004/discuss/ " ############################################################################ INTERNATIONAL OPEN SOURCE NETWORK: The International Open Source Network (IOSN - http://www.iosn.net) is a Centre of Excellence for Free / Open Source Software in the Asia-Pacific Region. IOSN is an initiative of the Asia-Pacific Information Development Programme (APDIP - http://www.apdip.net), which has been supporting the strategic and effective use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for poverty alleviation and sustainable human development in the Asia-Pacific region since 1997. Via a small secretariat, the IOSN is tasked specifically to facilitate and network Free / Open Source Software advocates and human resources in the region. Activities undertaken by IOSN is listed below: A. Free / Open Source Information Resource Facility 1. Collaborative Website: On-going Mapping of Free / Open Source activities in Asia-Pacific; Collaborative database of countries; languages, fonts,and organisations in Asia-Pacific; On-line Information/Clearing-house and Mailing Lists 2. Software Repository: A collection of FOSS software and GNU/Linux distributions specific to the Asia Pacific is being created. 3. Documentation of Best Practise 4. Open Source Primers: General FOSS by Kenneth Wong/Phet Sayo; Malaysia; Licensing by Shunling Chen-Taiwan; Policy by Kenneth Wong; Localisation by Anousak Souphavanh / Theppitak Karoonboonyanan - Thailand; Network/Security/Infrastructure by Gaurab Raj Upadhaya - Nepal; and Education by Wooi Tong Tan - Malaysia. B. Creation of a Database of Free / Open Source Experts and Human Resources in the Region 1. Networking of Experts 2. Technical Support C. Training and Workshops 1. FOSSAP 2004: More than 50 senior policy makers and open source practitioners from 20 countries attended this event. http://www.iosn.net/fossap/ 2. Training of Trainers: We are currently planning the first training in Vietnam in partnership with Linux Professional Institute D. Research and Development 1. Localisation Toolkit in collaboration with Centre for Advanced Computing [CDAC], India 2. End-user training material in Text and Multimedia format. Script by Dr. Nah Soo Hoe, Malaysia and production by GetIT multimedia, Singapore. 3. GNU/Linux Live CD Project by Colin Charles, Australia of the Fedora Project. 4. Q&A on FOSS R&D/Case Studies of implementations 5. Micro-grant Programme in collaboration with University of South Pacific ############################################################################ AN INDIAN IN MALAYSIA: Nice to note that Sunil Abraham sunil(a)apdip.net has taken on the responsibility of being the Manager of the International Open Source Network. He's located at UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme Wisma UN, Block C Kompleks Pejabat Damansara. Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. 50490 Kuala Lumpur. P. O. Box 12544, 50782, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Telephones: (60) 3-2091-5167, Fax: (60) 3-2095-2087 ############################################################################ LINDEC: Check plans for the Linux Desktop Conference -- http://www.gnomebangalore.org/lindec/ -- that happens on September 26 (Sunday), 2004. ############################################################################ DISCUSSION ON THE chillu character in Mayalayam Unicode. One well-informed discussant was Mahesh T. Pai * http://paivakil.port5.com ############################################################################ MORE ON INDIC ISSUES: Javier SOLA <javier(a)khmeros.info> says that discussion on some Indic issues in Unicode is available at http://www.unicode.org/~ecartis/indic/ Contact Javier for the required user-id and password needed to access. ############################################################################ GNU/LINUX EQUIVALENTS: Sreekiran <dwija(a)phreaker.net> drew attention to a file of GNU/Linux equivalents in software terms: http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/table.shtml ############################################################################ INDIC LOCALIZERS MEET AT MUMBAI: G Karunakar <karunakar(a)freedomink.org> announced the Indic Localizers Meet that was held on Sept 18-19 in Mumbai. For more details see http://www.indlinux.org/wiki/index.php/IndicMeet Languagewise participants expected were: * Bengali - Ankur group - Sayamindu Dasgupta, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay/Runa Bhattacharjee, Indranil Das Gupta * Gujarati - Utkarsh - Nirav Mehta, Ankur Patel * Hindi - IndLinux - G Karunakar, Ravishankar Shrivastava * Kannada - Pramod Raghavendra, Hari Prasad Nadig * Marathi - Indictrans - Jitendra Shah, Swapnil Hajare * Malayalam - SMC group - Mahesh T Pai , Arun M * Punjabi - Punlinux, Amampreet Singh Alam * Oriya - oriya.sarovar.org - Gora Mohanty * Telugu - ? * Tamil - Tamillinux team - R Hariram Aatreya, N Jayaradha * Urdu - Ravikant Sharma Others * Nagarjuna G - FSF India, TIFR * Prakash Advani - Onward Novell India * Venky Hariharan - Red Hat India * Abhijit Dutta - IBM India * Dr Om Vikas - TDIL, MIT, GOI * Hema Murthy - ?TeNet, IIT Chennai * Alka Irani - CDAC * M Sasikumar - CDAC * Michael Sauntak - Burmese Localization ############################################################################ FROM PAKISTAN: The Open Source Resource Center (OSRC) [http://www.osrc.org.pk] had scheduled a seminar on Free and Open Source Software in Karachi on 14 September 2004. For registration and details, visit http://www.osrc.org.pk/seminar/ The Open Source Resource Center (OSRC) is a first such forum in Pakistan created by Pakistan Software Export Board (G) Ltd. [http://www.pseb.org.pk/] at Islamabad. The Resource Center aims to bring together wide range of expertise related to [Free/Libre and] Open Source Technologies and Resources at one place. The IT companies can access, share, and contribute the knowledge particular to the development and transformation of IT products on FLOSS. The Resource Center works to bring together established technology vendors, startups, open source community members and enterprise IT users/customers to jointly explore new opportunities for OSS deployment and how to capitalize on them. ############################################################################ FLOSS AND EDUCATION: Thanks to the IOSN-General mailing list for this, and Nandalal Gunaratne of the Lanka Linux User Group. http://www.schoolforge.net http://www.schoolforge.org.uk http://www.schooltool.org http://www.scholarpack.org http://www.theopencd.sunsite.dk http://www.lfsp.net (linux for schools project) http://http://www.affs.org.uk/education/index.html Free Software assn. http;//edu.kde.org kde edutainment http://www.tux4kids.com/tyx4kids http://www.debian,org/devel/debian-jr http://www.bluelinux.org http:/k12os.org http://www.osef.org/ http://richtex.ca/seul http://www.freeeduc.org ############################################################################ PRIMER ON FLOSS, VIA MALAYSIA: IOSN has produced a primer on Free/Open Source Software Licensing and an early pre-copyedited draft of the primer is now available for public review and feedback. This primer is an introductory summary of licensing issues involved with using the different FOSS licenses, primarily the GNU GPL license. It offers several scenarios, and proposes a framework for licensing of government sponsored software. The primer also addresses common questions and misconceptions regarding copyright and licensing issues. Further details from khairil(a)apdip.net http://www.iosn.net/licensing/foss-licensing-primer/ ############################################################################ IOSN mailing list. Join the International Open Source Network (Malaysia-based) mailing list iosn-general(a)iosn.net http://lists.apdip.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/iosn-general ############################################################################ SOME ASIAN G/LINKS AND GNU/LUGS: A query brought in some interesting links to LUGs in and around Asia. Here's a listing of some: Lanka Linux User Group (LK-LUG) has been operating since 1998.They also have a localization project: http://sinhala.linux.lk Check out more details at http://www.linux.lk or http://www.lug.lk Cambodia's English-language Majordomo-based mailing-list is at linux(a)forum.org.kh Once there, one can also have a look at their KhmerOS Initiative, to create UNICODE based Khmer language software -- in both the Windows and the Linux environments. Check out http://www.KhmerOS.info The Iranian LUG is pretty active: http://www.farsilinux.org Saudi's mailing list is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saudi_linux/ Outside this continent, but probably having shared interests is the http://fossfa.net This is the body working to promote Free and Open Source Software in Africa. It has some 53 member states. ############################################################################ THE STEPS AHEAD: Anand Babu wrote to friends from South Africa that the FSF-India working group is discussing initiatives on e-governance, localization and live CD distributions, super-computing grid and other core GNU tasks through Free Software Development Lab. Says he: "So far Government has hardly done anything for the Free Software Movement in India. Here is a three step approach they need to take: (1) Standardize on Free Software for all Governmental use. (2) Actively support and promote (educate) Free Software as #1 choice for the community (3) Fund Free Software initiatives. ############################################################################ OPEN OFFICE IN KANNADA: Pramod R <pramodleo(a)yahoo.co.uk> recently announced that OpenOffice.org in Kannada is nearing 100% translations. Said he: "We hope to have a review of the same during October 2nd & 3rd. For details: http://www.kannudi.org/wiki/index.php?title=Openoffice.org_First_Review_Meet ############################################################################ NEWSLETTER ON LOCALIZATION: Localization Newsletter Issue 6, Vol 1 ( 1st September 2004) is out, and available at http://www.indlinux.org/nl/issue6.html Highlights include * KDE Hindi translation review workshop at Sarai * New Pango releases * Mozilla supports Pango upstream * Indic printing to work from Gnome 2.8 (release mid-Sept) * Utkal - New Oriya Opentype font available - http://oriya.sarovar.org/download/utkalm.ttf.gz * Indic Unicode issues and updates on Indic list at Unicode. * Tamil PC team featured in Team watch For older issues of L10n Newsletter check http://www.indlinux.org/nl/ ############################################################################ USEFUL SCRIPT FOR STUDENTS: Robin Turner of Bilkent Universitesi in Ankara-Turkey <robin(a)bilkent.edu.tr> recently announced on the FSF-India list that he has just updated his script for enabling students to upload their work via a web page. Improvements: 1. Students choose which essay they are submitting and the program automatically renames the file to something appropriate ("this is because I am fed up with recieving files named 'My Essay.doc'"); 2. The program now runs in taint mode and untaints submitted variables ("I don't know if this really makes it any more secure, but it makes me feel righteous"). If anyone wants to use it, it's at <www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin/scripts/101upload.cgi>. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS NEWSLETTER IS EDITED and compiled by Frederick Noronha fred at bytesforall dot org. Your inputs, feedback and brickbats are welcome. Contact us at fred at bytesforall dot org COPYLEFT 2003. May be freely circulated provided entire text and credits are left intact. You can subscribe to receive this FREE newsletter (free beer, free speech!) by subscribing directly at http://www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/list?list_id=linuxinindia -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net http://fn.swiki.net (FN's swiki) http://www.ilug-goa.tk (GNULinux Users Group Goa)

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Migratng from windows to Linux
by Manilal 21 Sep '04

21 Sep '04

Hello friends, Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) conducts the 17th batch of one day workshop on "Migrating from Windows to Linux". Those having PC familiarity can attend the workshop. The workshop introduces the social, economical and technical advantage of GNU/Linux OS. The participants will be given Kairali GNU/Linux CDs, a Documentation CD, Two books one in English and another in malayalam. The medium of the workshop will be Malayalam. Date: 25/09/2004, 9:30AM - 4:30PM Venue: Freedom hall, C-DIT City Centre. Those who wish to participate may contact at the following: Team Leader Open Source Technology Team, Centre for Development of Imaging Technology, C-DIT City Centre (Near Press Club), Statue, Thiruvananthapuram - 695001. Keralam,India Telephone: 0471-2339539 Fax: 0471-2335995 Email: ost(a)cdit.org Website: http://www.cdit.org/linux_application.pdf

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LB2004
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 19 Sep '04

19 Sep '04

Interesting to see LB2004 http://linux-bangalore.org/2004/ call iself an annual "Free & Open Source Event". Earlier, it was just Open Source, though in 2003, one of the speakers was also from Debian GNU/Linux. There still seems to be some reluctance in using the term Free/Libre and Open Source Software (and instead FOSS is preferred, minus the Libre). Just an observation. the spirit of freedom and sharing is what makes FLOSS different from being just another wannabe Microsoft. Others would see this differently, of course. FN ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net

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[Fsf-friends] Wiki, Gnoppix, Eclipse, Fedora updates... LFY in SEPT 2004
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 17 Sep '04

17 Sep '04

Price in India: Rs 25 for LFY alone. Rs 100 with 2 CDs, LFY and LFY-Pro. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LINUX FOR YOU highlights, September 2004 http://www.linuxforu.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SaiPACS, A MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR AGRI-SOCIETIES: Himachal-based Sai Hertz and Control Systems has developed SaiPACS, a software management tool for primary agricultural credit societies (PACS). Linux was chosen due to its sturdiness, cost effectiveness and close fit with the business requirement. See pg 44. WIKI, AN OPEN EDITOR: The free wiki, often called an online database, allows you to create and edit Web page content. And if you want to launch your own wiki, this PHP-based software iswk a good choice that provides rich functionality and freedom to the user. (p 23) DISK-BASED BACKUP ON LINUX: Virtual tape library (VTL) technology is the de facto standard for backup and recovery. DRESS UP YOUR DESKTOP: With the latest versions of GNOME and KDE, there's a lot of exciting eye-candy to spice up your Linux desktop. Some tips (p 28) [GNU]LINUX promises to be the messiah for industry in the mobile handsets market. At least that's what Wipro believes.It's a heavy-duty OS, handles intensive applications, and has no runtime royalty charges. It is backed by a large developer community, and sticks to standards, apart from having an evolution that is not constrained by a single vendor. (p 32) MOBILE PENGUIN: If you haven't already brought a laptop, read about Ankur Rohatgi's triumphs and tears as he configured his to GNU/Linux. p 34 MERRY LAND HIGH SCHOOL in Ulsoor, Bangalore, is pushing FLOSS "in its own way". Students use DIA (diagram and flowchart program), Celestia (3D real-time, space simulation), Dr Geo (constructs interactive geometric figures, and turns maths into fun using 3D drawings), Open Admin for Schools (http://richtech.ca/openadmin/), etc. And grrrr, Free Software gets described as freeware! PRINTING MADE EASY: CUPS servers p 65 onwards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Some of the software on this month's CD: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Etherboot: FLOSS code for creating boot ROMs for network booting. * Windows Services for UNIX 3.0: * Forte * Eclipse, platform for developing integrated tools * SARA, Security Auditor's Research Assistant * Fedora Core 2 updates * Oscar 3.0 for building, programming and using clusters * MediaWiki collaborating editing software * Wine for using Windows apps * RPM Wizard, installation program for RPM packages * StarDEict, cross-platform international dictionary * MonkeyCity Rescue, to create a Linux rescue CD to recover data from Windows machines * RTAI, a kernel patch * Suse 9.1 updates GNOPPIX 0.8... a Live CD based on the Debian GNU/Linux distro. Uses GNOME. A *free* OS. Features cryptographic software, supports s/w developed for the LSB. Full Mono Develop environment also included. Looks and feels great! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT'S IN LFY-PRO ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * COMPIERE, an ERP-CRM business solution. * ETHEREAL, the FLOSS network protocol analyser * CONQUER Windows with Wine * REAL-TIME LINUX: Have fun with LEDs * LIDS, under the GPL, acts as a Linux Intrusion Detection System. * STRACE, a useful diagnostic, instructional and debugging tool. * SHARP ZAURUS is a geek's dream device. * KERNEL 2.6 has made Linux a serious contender in embedded domain. * PEAR, the PHP Extension and Application Repository * REVIEW of Knoppix 3.4 (note, 3.6 is just out -FN) * CREATE YOUR OWN packet sniffer. * TEXT processing in Python. * GENTOO 2004.2: great performance, configurability... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BRIEFS: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Linux tablet PCs can now recognise handwriting. * Linare offers professional edition Linux, at $40. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMERCIAL ADS: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * RTLinux Pro, a complete platform for developing your hard real time and embedded applications which support almost all architectures. Details: linuxsales(a)altosys.co.in Chennai * Lansmart Linux Training. Modularized high-end courses. Design your own courses from select modules lansmart(a)vsnl.net * 'I use Linux' teeshirts for Rs 200 (round neck) and Rs 300 (collared) from kits(a)efyindia.com * LinuxAsia2005, from Feb 9-11 at India Habitat Centre * INDIA'S FIRST directory of FLOSS players, coming soon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net http://fn.swiki.net (FN's swiki) http://www.ilug-goa.tk (GNULinux Users Group Goa) http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks (GoaLinks Blog) http://news.gmane.org/gmane.culture.region.india.goa (Goanet)

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Fsf-friends September 2004