Fsf-friends February 2005

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35 participants
66 discussions

Backlash for Micro$oft
by CK Raju 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

"Mr. Basheer said the leadership Kerala State Teachers' Association (KSTA) had initially fully endorsed the Government decision to hold the examination using Microsoft software, but had later backtracked on its word. The Government is ready to use Linux from the coming year. But it is too late to attempt anything of the kind at this point of time." (Full story at http://www.hindu.com/2005/02/09/stories/2005020904990500.htm ) Micro$oft is getting a new taste of treatment from the teaching community in this well bounded territory. This time the 'holy nexus' is getting more clearly exposed. Very soon the $oft Inc will get a matching response from the local bodies of the State. IKM, pls watch out - your own partymen will catch you by your neck. CK Raju _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> Open Source to everyone.

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IT's foot soldier (Jaromil in India)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 10 Feb '05

10 Feb '05

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/02/08/stories/2005020800950400.htm IT's foot soldier Denis Jaromil is unusual. His possessions: a backpack and a laptop. He writes software, distributes it free, and allows others to edit and sell it too [2005020800950401.jpg] Denis Jaromil Rojo: `Free software is a good way to not depend on foreign companies.' -- Photo: Murali Kumar K. DENIS `JAROMIL' Rojo is as unconventional as one can get. He is an artist (multi-faceted); free software programmer, a Rastafarian, a social worker, and is a squatter on a vacant plot in Amsterdam. And his ideas are radical. An Italian, Jaromil is a member of the fast-growing tribe that believes the future belongs to free software. He is in India right now to convince NGOs to use free software instead of spending public money to make multinational corporations rich. "Today, every operating system comes with a free music player; but to produce music, you must buy a producer. This is a consumerist approach that tries to shape society. So, I produce software that is free and comes with producers and players. Free software is a good way to not depend on foreign companies. In NGO work especially, public money can be invested in free software that will contribute to generate local employment," he argues. Jaromil himself was a victim of big-eat-small when his family's small computer shop in Pescara, Italy, went bankrupt due to stiff competition from multinational chains. "I have been working with computers since I was 12 years old. When our shop closed down, I tried to do some programming myself. But compilers and source codes were too expensive. That's when my friend introduced me to GNU/Linux (free software) and I have been hooked ever since. I realised that I could study freely," he says. He has even gone on to release his own version of GNU/Linux called Dynebolic which features advanced audio and video editing tools, and is completely free. "The beauty of free software is that you can edit it, copy it, and even sell it, and the only thing you need to do is give credit to the developers who have put in work before you," he says. Programming is not the only thing Jaromil does. He has studied Communication Sciences and Journalism, and earns his living as an Artist in Residence at the National Institute for Media Art, Amsterdam. He is a member of [23]www.net-art.org, a web-based issue portal, and a founding member of Olografix.org, an NGO that teaches people how to use informatics better. "I keep swinging between programming and social issues. I develop my software under the name Rastasoft because I'm a Rastafarian and I want people to use my software free of cost. People must exchange data freely over a network and also be able to edit source codes. My most memorable experience is when I wrote about Palestinian culture without mentioning war even once. I travelled across the territory documenting everything that was not war," he says. And why does he squat? "My only possessions in my life are my backpack, the old laptop and the clothes that I wear. Dutch law says if a place is free for a year or more you can occupy it. It is a basic human right. Plus the owner doesn't have to pay taxes if people are squatting on his property. And when you squat, you meet different people. Cultures mix. Our group of squatters runs an organisation called ASCII that recycles old computers that the local community can use," adds Jaromil, who has very strong political views on everything from war to software. He is especially severe on Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU. "Richard Stallman is a capitalist. He is a very good friend of mine but doesn't take a clear position," he argues. But the big question remains. Can free software offer Indian programmers the same kind of pay that global companies are now able to offer? "Yes. Probably not a lot of money, but sufficient. But most important thing is that the money stays in the community. You build software that serves your needs and you fix the problems yourself. Local people solve local problems. Indian engineers are immensely talented. Instead of contributing to some corporation in North America, they can contribute to their local needs," he says. And as a final note of caution, he adds: "We need to be careful because people are playing nasty tricks on free programmers. We are even being infiltrated by people sponsored by the (global) companies. But whatever free software is the future." For more information on Dynebolic visit [24]www.dyne.org and for any queries on free software email [25]jaromil at dyne.org ANAND SANKAR ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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[COMMERCIAL] LFY Feb 2005: Mandrakelinux 10.1 C, Free BSD, Ubuntu, OO.o 2.0 beta
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 09 Feb '05

09 Feb '05

Want to keep abrest with GNU/Linux issues? LFY-February 2004 issue costing Rs 125 (for LFY and LFYPro with one CD and one DVD) has the following software: ON THE LFY DVD: * Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community * Free BSD 5.2.1 * Ubuntu Linux * Systemrescuedisk ON THE LFY CD: * MPlayer * OpenOffice 2.0 Beta * Opera 7.54 * Xfce * Fedora Updates: Kernel 2.6.9, MySQL 3.23, OpenOffice.org-1.1.2.11.5, php-4.3.10.3.2 Postfix-2.1.5-2.4, System-config-services-0.8.17.0 Some articles in this issue: * Personalise Your Desktop (Page 18) * Boost OpenOffice with Macros (22) * Bost Your Linux Engine (24) * AMaViS: A Mail Virus Scanner (26) * Computers that Converse in Indian Languages (38) * Looking Back at 2004 (45) * The Business of Open Source (29) * Software Patents, Jewels for the Rich (34) * Education Goes Open (54) * A Giant LEAP for Linux (58). In the LinuxForYou Pro: * Database Management Using MySQL (part II, 12) * Remastering Knoppix 3.3 Create Your Own Live CD (48) * Hack a Microcontrollers with GNU/Linux (04), The Importance of Exception Handling (10) * Failover Clustering (15) * Multi-threading Programming in Python (20) * PXES Universal Thin Client (24) * Get on the D-BUS (35) * Subversion Organising the Unorganised (38) * Java Refactoring with Eclipse Part I (45) * Software RAID Part IV (52). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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Mrudulayudhangal (Malayalam)
by dileep＠gmx.net 09 Feb '05

09 Feb '05

Friends, An article "Mrudulayudhangal" (Malayalam), briefing the history and philosophy of free software, by Sri. Jagadees S. can be downloaded from FSUG-Kochi. URL: http://puggy.symonds.net/~fsug-kochi/downloads/mrudulayudhangal.tar.gz Regards -- Dileep M. Kumar -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .

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Reg. OpenSolaris
by Joe Steeve 08 Feb '05

08 Feb '05

This was like good news., but I saw the licensing was an OSI approved license. I tried reading that license., and since I'm not a lawyer and dont understant that terminology very well, I dont grasp anything out of it. Can someone on the list who understood that tell me what the major points are., and the difference from the GNU GPL. -- .O. A proud GNU user ..O http://www.joesteeve.tk/ OOO http://joe.bsdnerds.org/

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Pune Symbiosis' GNUnify draws big names
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Feb '05

07 Feb '05

Pune Symbiosis' GNUnify draws big names http://www.linux-india.org/index.pl?id=3496&isa=Newsitem&op=show Brian Behlendorf of Apache will be taking part in the Pune GNUnify event, organisers announced. So will some other big names, include MySQL founder David Axmark. This year's event will focus on localisation projects, PHP5, Python, MySQL and more. There's an awareness-building exercise for school students and teachers on the first day of the event (Feb 13, 2005) followed by an installfest and more. Organisers announced today (February 7, 2005) that they were to have Apache co-founder Brian Behlendorf taking part in the event. (Apache HTTP Server is an open source HTTP web server for Unix platforms -- BSD, Linux, and UNIX systems -- and Microsoft Windows, and other platforms. Apache features highly configurable error messages, DBMS-based authentication databases, and content negotiation, it is also supported by several GUIs which permit easier, more intuitive configuration of the server. See http://gui.apache.org/ The Apache HTTP Server is developed and maintained by an open community of developers under the auspices of the Apache Software Foundation.) In addition, they are to have Robert Adkins and Ms Alolita Sharma from Technetra, California, Ms Danese Cooper from Sun MicroSystems, MySQL founder David Axmark, and others join their event. (MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL (Structured Query Language) relational database server or RDBMS. MySQL is available either under the GNU General Public License or under other licenses when the GPL is inapplicable to the intended use. Unlike projects such as Apache, MySQL is owned and sponsored by a single for-profit firm, the Swedish company MySQL AB.) This year's event will focus on localisation projects, PHP5, Python, MySQL The Commercial FOSS Database, and more. Visit http://gunify.sicsr.ac.in for details or contact gnunify(a)symbiosiscomputers.com GNUnify is being organised by students of the Masters of Science in Computer Applications -- MSc(CA) degree programme -- of the Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research. SICSR was set up in 1985, and offers several full-time and part-time courses. Each year, they organise this Free/Open Source Software Event. GNUnify aims at "contributing and encouraging the use of FOSS", said a release from the organisers. "Initiated in the year 2003, 'GNUnify' is a forum to unite open minds. The event aims at spreading teh philosophy of GNU/Linux -- unifying and strengthening the use of FLOSS," they said. Student-organisers said they were successful over the past two years, and had made this three-day event happen from February 13 to 15 this year. Event schedule for this year is as follows: Feb 13 Linux Eduvantage -- awareness for school students and teachers Feb 14 Install fest, techie talks, workshops and tutorials Feb 15 Seminars, panel discussion. See the story at: http://gunify.sicsr.ac.in ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha 784 Near Convent, Sonarbhat SALIGAO GOA India Freelance Journalist TEL: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks fred at bytesforall.org http://www.bytesforall.org ************************************************************************* ILUG-Goa's other mailing lists ************************************************************************* http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa-announce LOW-VOLUME, ANNOUNCE LIST http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teach-yourself-linux FOR NEWBIES http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxgoahelp TECH HELP LIST WEBSITES: http://ilug-goa.swiki.net http://www.ilug-margao.org *************************************************************************

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Events, jobs, etc on linux-india.org
by CK Raju 06 Feb '05

06 Feb '05

Hi Raju, Where's RMS ? If I am correct, only Kairali TV has given some sort of coverage. Aren't there any plans to cover events ? CK Raju Thrissur --- Raj Mathur <raju(a)linux-delhi.org> wrote: From: Raj Mathur <raju(a)linux-delhi.org> Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 13:08:44 +0530 To: ilugd(a)lists.linux-delhi.org, linux-india-help(a)lists.sourceforge.net, linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net, fsf-friends <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> Subject: [Fsf-friends] Events, jobs, etc on linux-india.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> Open Source to everyone.

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[Fsf-friends] Freeing perspectives with local solutions... Arab Eyes makes a dent
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 06 Feb '05

06 Feb '05

http://www.tacticaltech.org/asiasource/blog Freeing perspectives with local solutions... Arab Eyes makes a dent Mohammed Sameer of Cairo, Egypt -- who'll be 24 in March 2005 -- is actually a graduate from the faculty of pharmacy and has been using Free Software since the late 1999. Today, he's one of the team of ten or so enthusiasts who are working to make computing more relevant to millions using the Arabic script across the globe. Called 'Arabeyes', the project could benefit a large pool in West Asia. "I suppose (it would potentially benefit) all people using Arabic or Arabic-script languages, in Middle East and the Urdu-speaking people (of South Asia). Then, there are people speaking languages like Pashto too(using a similar script)," says he. "This could be a pool of maybe 400 million people," says he. As of now, where has Arabeyes reached? Sameer says it has currently "100% Arabised" Gnome with quality assurance, and has touched about 99% in terms of KDE Arabisation, but has to pass through the quality assurance team team. Open Office1 has been completely translated, and they are now working on Open Office2. FireFox?, translation is there too, and they are waiting for Mozilla's CVS account. That's regarding translation. Regarding software, a team-leader called Nadim Shaikli is one of the core team, with the aid of another member, introduced Arabic to Vim. Currently they're re-working on 'Akka' project (which basically a software layer on top of the console so that people can read and write Arabic). Another project is Bicon, which is supposed to replace Akka when completed. "We are trying to create an Arabic spellchecker, Duali. But it's still not complete," says Sameer. What does he see as the major tasks sill to be completed? "We had (taken up work on) a live CD to show Arabic work. The original maintainer isn't free. I took maintainership, but nothing has been completed yet. I have to finalise various projects and we need to complete whatever we're doing. Then, we should try to be more involved with testing various products for Arabic support," says he. Basically they see themselves as try to fix what's missing. "I don't think we have much things technically missing. But what I see as really annoying is that we're missing some important standards. For example, we don't have a standard on how to normalise various Arabic letters -- diacritics, the some small marks on the letters. We don't know whether we're supposed to write dots below a letters or not. These are some small things, but they're really annoying," he says with the frankness of a techie eager to do a good job, as against the attitude of a salesman proffering a flawless product. How did he find the Arabeyes team? This team was implementing an Arabaic console application called 'Akka'. It uses corba to do a client-server. It was then that he found Arab Eyes. Then, they started working on the QaMoose? Project. "It was basically an online dictionary, since we then didn't have an open source dictionary," says Mohammed Sameer. (20A) "It was a CGI script or Perl with the whole interface, where we could input Arabic and English terms, so it would ease various translations of software," he recalls. They also feel the need for a standard for sorting. Their team is just around ten-members strong. (There are over 500 registered users, but approx 10 are very active, on a daily basis.) Could such a small group make such a difference to how so many people do their computing? "Two people, (Free Software Foundation guru) Richard M Stallman and (the father of the Linux kernel) Linus Torvalds could change the life of millions. They were two; we are around ten. If they can do this, I hope we too can achieve something," says he, with cautious optimism. Asked why the Arab would could simply not take the option of using proprietorial software, Sameer laughs: "That's a religious question," says he. "We're really focussing on open source software." Sometimes, Free/Libre? and Open Source Software works better. Says he: "We have various GUI tools and text editors that can align writings to the right or left, according to the script used. These use the bidi algorithm." (*)nix also uses Unicode. This means one can write document which uses multiple languages without any problem. SOUTH ASIA AND URDU: Sameer says he had been contacted by people from South Asia too, who wanted a solution for the Urdu language that is also written right-to-left. Unfortunately, he says, they lost contact. Says he: "At Arabeyes, we would like to know the state of Urdu. I think Farsi (from Iran) would also benefit from this work, the Farsi people have been very helpful for the last few years." What's his tip for those wanting to work in the field of localisation? "They should really understand the language needs, and then, they will start hunting around for what's missing and what's not. And then, I don't knkow.... I'd really be glad to help anyone," he adds. Sameer has been using computers "since I was in primary school" when his Attari-manufactured computer was used to program Basic. Says he: "My father helped me. He knew this was the thing I loved. I just graduated and worked for the Pharmacy qualification. I don't know anything about it," he adds. Sameer is one of the admins responsible for the website and various activities of Egypt's user groups. Egypt has two major LUGs, Eglug and Linux-Egypt. Sameer can be emailed at msameer at foolab.org or msameer at eglug.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://goabooks.swiki.net * Reviews of books on Goa... and more

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13 year-old gets presenters' slot at linux.conf.au
by Praveen A 05 Feb '05

05 Feb '05

Thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Garbee may not know as much about Linux as her father Bdale Garbee, Linux CTO for Hewlett Packard and former Debian Project Leader, but that won't stop her from presenting at linux.conf.au 2005. Read the full story http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/0,2000061733,39179560,00.htm -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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DVD Region-changing Restrictions
by Rakesh 'arky' Ambati 03 Feb '05

03 Feb '05

Dear Friends, This article mentions mostly Apple devices,DVD region codes are really problem for people like me.Beware FYI --arky Tuesday, February 1, 2005 Apple restricting DVD region-changes -- voluntarily! -- UPDATED http://www.boingboing.net/2005/02/01/apple_restricting_dv.html Apple's DVD players are subject to restrictive rules laid out by greedy Hollywood studios that don't really care if they piss off Apple's customers, since that's Apple's lookout. However, I've just discovered, to my amazement, that Apple imposes its very own restrictions on its DVD players over and above those imposed by the studios: that's right, Apple voluntarily treats its customers worse than the studios say it has to. In the crazy world of DRM for DVDs, there's this idea that a Hollywood studio should be able to tell you where you're allowed to watch a DVD after you buy it. They accomplish this with something called "Region Codes." Discs have region-codes and players have region-codes. If you have a Region 1 disc (US and Canada) and a Region 2 player (Europe), and you put the disc in the player, the player will reject it. But what happens when you take your laptop from New York to London? You're in Region 2, but you bought your device in Region 1. Can you buy a disc in London and play it on your computer? Yes and no. When a computer manufacturer gets a DVD-decoding license from Hollywood's licensing cartel (the DVD Copy Control Association or CCA), it is allowed to make players that can change regions up to five times. What's more, once the region-switches have run out, computer companies can reset your counter at a service depot a further five times. That means that you get 25 region-switches. This sucks pretty bad: I moved from San Francisco to London with hundreds of Region 1 DVDs and now when I buy a movie in the shop, it's Region 2. That means that if I watch a movie from my US collection once a week, and once from my UK connection the next week, I'll run out of region switches in three months. Three months after moving to the UK, I'll have to throw out half my DVDs. So, basically, I don't watch my DVDs. Sometimes, though, I'm weak, and I tune into one and squander one of my precious region switches. Now my nearly-new Powerbook has only one switch left out of its initial five, and so I brought it to Apple to get them to reset the counter. It needed service anyway (I'm on my fifth or sixth screen replacement for the defect in the 15" machines that causes the "white blobs" to obscure the display), so it seemed like a good time to do it. I know that Apple is allowed to do this. How do I know? Well, when EFF went to the Copyright Office and asked it to give us an exemption to the DMCA to make tools for watching out-of-region DVDs, Time-Warner showed up and told us this: "And, the way it works, and I apologize because it's a little bit complicated, the consumer can set it five times. After the fifth time that they've reset it, they do have an ability to reset it again, but they have to bring the drive to an authorized dealer or an authorized service representative, who can then authorize an additional set of five changes, and then they can bring it back for a second, for a third, fourth and fifth set of authorized changes. So you can change it 25 times in total, but you have to go back for each set of five. You only get the first five when you buy the ROM drive itself." That was Dean Marks, from AOL Time Warner. Straight from the horse's mouth, testifying to the US government. But when my Powerbook was ready for pickup, Apple left me a voicemail saying that they couldn't reset my DVD player, that doing so would void my warranty. When I went into the Apple Store in London to get the machine, I asked about it. I wanted this in writing: if they had a policy that said that they couldn't fix my region-counter, I wanted to be able to tell Dean Marks about it the next time we went to the Copyright Office and ask him why Apple thought it couldn't reset my counter. Apple refused to put it into writing. They refused to let me record them telling me they couldn't fix my Powerbook. They wouldn't even put in writing that they were referring me to the legal department. Eventually I spoke to the manager, who promised to get back to me the next day. The next day, he did. He told me that he'd spoken to legal and that they wouldn't put anything in writing. However, they did have some documents on their website they printed for me that talk about DVDs. 1. DVD Player: About DVD-Video Regions, last modified July 16, 2004, technical contributor J Scalo. This document describes the different regions, saying that after five region-switches, "the drive is permanently set to use that region, and you cannot make any more changes." Interestingly, this also contains something labeled APPLE EYES ONLY that says that On Wallstreet and PDQ (PowerBook G3 Series M4753), the number of region code changes remaining is not stored in the firmware of the DVD drive but rather in the DVD extension and NVRAM. This information should absolutely not be conveyed to the customer. In extreme customer satisfaction situations you can reset the region change count by following this procedure: 1. Reset PRAM/NVRAM by pressing Fn-Ctrl-Shift-Power while the computer is turned off 2. Startup with system extensions off. 3. Restart with system extensions on. Note: This procedure resets some of the customer's custom settings. After following this procedure, the region change count for the drive is reset to five. In later PowerBook models, the region count is stored in the firmware of the drive and cannot be reset with this procedure. 2. Changing the region code of your DVD drive, last modified on January 23, 2004. This document says that you can only change your region code five times. "After that, the region code is set permanently and you cannot change it." So there's two things going on here that I'm pretty pissed off about: 1. The studios have screwed the electronics companies with this region code business and I have to throw out my DVDs or buy an extra Powerbook or something 2. Worse, though: Apple has a policy about region-changing that is more restrictive than it has to be: they're playing for the other side. This really stinks and makes me wonder why I should keep on buying Apple hardware. Lots of Apple execs read Boing Boing. If you have a reply on this, email me and I'll be happy to discuss it with you. Update: Many of you have written to point out that VLC plays out of region DVDs on a Powerbook. That's nice, but it doesn't work reliably on my Powerbook. Update 2: Thanks for all the tips on how to hack my Powerbook or change its firmware. I'm afraid that I'm not in the market for this, though, tempting as it is, as I've been informed that using these tools will void my warranty. posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:46:39 AM permalink | Other blogs commenting on this post ===== ____________________________________ /\ \ \_| Rakesh 'arky' Ambati | | Bangalore (INDIA) | | Homepage: http://arky.port5.com/ | | _______________________________|_ \_/_________________________________/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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Fsf-friends February 2005