Fsf-friends March 2005

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

51 participants
107 discussions

Update on Amendments to Patents Act
by Ramanraj K 16 Mar '05

16 Mar '05

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=85335 <quote> Cyber expert and Supreme Court advocate Pawan Duggal pointed out that in the US, software itself is patentable. So are business process methods embedded in hardware. “Not allowing software and software embedded with hardware will cut significantly India’s share in the patent pie,” he said. </quote> If software is patentable in the US, it merely means that the US is clearly violating TRIPS and India should complain to the WTO against the illegitimate and inane practice. So far as the other argument goes, it is as bad as saying not enough people are suffering from cancer, depriving hospitals, pharmaceuticals and graveyards from revenue.

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Governments of Europe: Please support Denmark!
by cherry＠asianetindia.com 16 Mar '05

16 Mar '05

Hello, On March 4th the Danish Parliament obliged their Minister of Economic and Industry Affairs to reopen the software patents discussion in the EU Council of Ministers. This is a big step forward and so we say: Thank you, Denmark! For more details visit http://demo.ffii.org/cons0503/ -- Vivek Varghese Cherian Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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LTDP is now GNU/LTDP
by Anand Babu 15 Mar '05

15 Mar '05

LTDP project has changed its name to GNU/LTDP (GNU/Linux Desktop Testing Project) and all references on their web site from "Linux OS" to "GNU/Linux OS". S.Thanikachalam has approved A.Nagappan to go ahead with this name change and stress the importance of Freedom. We should thank both of them for considering our request. Here is a short intro to this project: ====================================================================== GNU/Linux Desktop Testing Project (License GPL/LGPL) http://gnomebangalore.org/ldtp GNU/Linux Desktop Testing Project (GNU/LDTP) is aimed at producing high quality test automation framework and cutting-edge tools that can be used to test GNU/Linux Desktop and improve it. It uses the "Accessibility" libraries to poke through the application's user interface. The framework has tools to generate "AppMap" by reading through the user interface components of an application. The framework also has tools to record test-cases based on user-selection on the application. GNU/LDTP core framework uses "AppMap" and the recorded "test-cases" to test an application and gives the status of each test-case as output. As of now, GNU/LDTP can test any GNOME application which are accessibility enabled, Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, any Java application (should have a UI based on swing) and KDE 4.0 applications based on QT 4.0 (based on the press releases by KDE). ====================================================================== Best Regards, -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org> GPG: 875D 577F 4130 BB7C 7E00 459F 6B45 5939 62E1 5A31

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Consilience at NLSIU - Legal Aspects of FOSS
by Ramanraj K 14 Mar '05

14 Mar '05

The Law and Technology Committee (Ltech) at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore is organising its annual conference -Consilience - this year on the "Legal Aspects of FOSS". This conference aims play an important role in helping the government frame a policy well suited to free software. Ankur Singla is the Convener, Law and Technology Committee, NLSIU, and more details about the event will follow soon.

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MS' influence in academia
by balachandran c 14 Mar '05

14 Mar '05

I believe it is very important to step up the activities regarding FS advocacy in Universities and Schools. The "Unix culture" was born in the Universities, and it appears that MS is determined to kill it there. MS already offers gratis copies of its softwares in Universities. I am pretty sure that with higher broadband penetration, they will offer these "academic programmes" in Indian Schools too. I guess that they are not offering these "services" in India since they know that the kids will make illegal copies anyway, and they don't have to pay the bandwidth costs. (Most likely, the Schools will be paying for the b/w costs). This is a very real threat. As far as the gnu on the desktop question goes, I think win's main strength is this: you can get your nephew to reinstall win every time it craps out. There are lots of gnu users who can make their machines do a samba, but the mass of users who can "just install gnu, and maybe even change themes" are few. We need them. MS's efforts will largely absorb people from this category. Our efforts: The real meaning and purpose of FS is freedom, the real reason, ethics. Most of our efforts in advocating FS is based on these facts. But are they enough? A very popular argument among us goes this way: if someone uses FS for any reason other than the one that ought to be, they will move away when they get an alternative. I agree. But so what? While they are using FS, they are providing us with that resource which we badly need. (As far as moving away is concerned, notice that inertia when people refuse to go gnu even when ethical *and* financial considerations point that way? Inertia works both ways.) Am I saying let us forget all about ethics and talk about "network effects" ? All I am saying, is that if we have 1000 people who will switch to nonFS tomorrow, but can help 10 people who "get it" to switch to FS today, it is something positive. Moreover, it is easier to get our real point across to people who already use FS. (We are experts in preaching to the converted ;) ). When we get our point across to people who use nonFS, we imply that they are supporting something unethical. People resent this. They react, not by thinking about the problem and reaching a logical conclusion, but by pushing the whole problem across the SEP (Somebody Else's Problem) barrier. What if we can make sure that when people think about the problem, they are already on the other side of the ethical/moral problem? I think they will react differently. Better yet, we can get them to act. If you agree with my point, you will see that our resources are not well organized. As far as the ethical aspect goes, we have lots of essays at FSF website. I believe that we should organize all our resources, the essays, the case studies:extremaduras and munichs (personally, I found the extremadura story more relevant to India), the bounties, the cool tech's:xens and reisers, the tutorials, the LUGs. Advocacy must be multi-pronged, it requires a bit more planning. Personally, my attempts at FS advocacy to individuals have been successful. My only attempt involving a group (CS students at CET), a failure. I realize that volunteering support (short pointers on how to use gnu tools, staying after regular hours to discuss things, burning cds with knoppix, eclipse, and all that jazz) was not enough. The issue is not that people think about the problem and choose nonFS, they simply refuse to think about the problem. We need serious brainstorming to get their attention. One of the interesting suggestions that came up in one of the FSF meetings was to give some sort of membership to the students to let them know that they are part of our group. I am sure, we can come up with more ideas. Here is one: FSF Academic Awards. Best Project (Developed): The conditions are obvious. Adv: The CS students are required to develop projects anyway, lets recognize their creativity. Applied (Technical): Use/Modify existing software for creative applications in non CS fields. Applied (Social): Socially relevant application of FS. Arts (Essays, Artwork for FS projects, Artwork with FS): So my basic idea is to get some attention for FS from the whole range of academia. Ofcourse, the real problem would be to find sufficient resources. For my part, I pledge Rs.3600 to any effort to bring in the students. As far as solving the resource problem goes, I think we should lobby the alumni of the schools to support us. Maybe this "FSF academic awards" idea is not a practical one, maybe it is. But more importantly, we *need* some ideas to make them reach us. Something more "interesting" than letters to beaurocrats. Eagerly awaiting your ideas and suggestions, bala.

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[Fsf-friends] Visitor from the UK: Open Advantage, Univ of Central England, FLOSS
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

We're expecting a guest for this month's ILUG-Goa meeting, scheduled for Saturday April 26, 2005 between 3-5 pm at the Goa Science Centre, Miramar, in Goa. Greg Wild <Agregwild at aol.com> is visiting India from mid-April and says he's "trying to make contacts with Linux users in India". He has lived most of his life in the U.S but have been resident in the UK for the last six months. Says he: "I am a member of the South Birmingham and Wolverhampton Linux User Groups in the UK. and have been involved with Open Advantage, a unit of the University of Central England specialising in promoting open source software in the UK and Europe. Prior to arriving in England, I was a member of the Cincinnati LUG in Ohio. I would consider it an honour if you could arrange for me to make contact and I would be very interested in the kind of work taking place in India." Greg accepted our invite for the meeting at the Goa Science Centre, Miramar. He says: "Looking forward to being there and hope to have ready a comprehensive report on the Open Source situation in Birmingham U.K." He will be arriving in Goa on March 18, 2005 and is keen to know whether universities here use GNU/Linux. Greg also looks forward to build contacts with GNU/Linux users and projects. "I would be grateful for any ideas," he says. FN _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Writing with a difference, on issues that really make the difference.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] MS' influence in academia
by Venkat Kumaraswamy 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

Hello All , Good thing this thread started about MS. All of you might know allready about program called PROJECT SHIKSHA which is being promoted by MS. Even MS is writing curriuculum for PRIMARY, SECONDARY and HIGH SCHOOL. GoI has sold the Education System to MNC called MS. We need to stop this also. Even some STATE Govts. in INDIA have signed MOU with MS for this PROJECT SHIKSHA. MS in the name of PHILONTHRAPHY is buying their way into EDUCAION SYSTEMS in INDIA. Even some Govt. colleges and Some Universities are offering courses only in MS products. I will post some articles related to this in my next posting. We all need to think how we can stop this MS mania !!! Thanks Kumaraswamy Sameer N I <strike(a)proscrutiny.com> wrote: Hi, [snip] >Assuming that there are resources, I want to ask the community: how >many of you are willing to work for FSF as full timers if proper >compensation is given, at various parts of the counry? And howmany of >your are willing to work with full timers during your spare time? > > [/snip] I don't know about if I will be able to work as a full timer. As far as efforts are concerned as a part timer, I am already preparing for a 3 day Seminar on Free Software to be conducted at a college in Wardha, Maharashtra. More on this in a separate thread... as it would be inappropriate to discuss about seminar in this tread. Regards, Sameer. _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: 3 day seminar at Wardha
by Sameer N I 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

It is very nice to have you as a speaker. The dates are yet to be confirmed. I am communicating with the college officials. The topics for the seminar are yet to be discussed in detail. I have to work out the details in a way so that the UG and PG students and FSF both are benefited. What gnu ware can we give out? I can bear cost of 50 CDs.. + all my expenses and communication expenses. What are the expenses we might have to take care of? I would also look for some sponsors if need be. Any inputs are highly appreciated. Regards, Sameer. Nagarjuna G. wrote: >I dont mind coming to Wardha for a workshop on freesoftware as a >speaker, provided suitable dates and time are worked out. when is this >going to be? > >Nagarjuna > >

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[Fsf-friends] E-newsletter on GNU/Linux... from India (free to share)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

------------------------------------------------------------ LinTux Newsletter - Saturday, Mar 12th, 2005 "Spreading the Spirit of Gnu/Linux" ------------------------------------------------------------ http://groups-beta.google.com/group/lintux ------------------------------------------------------------ For joining the newsletter, scroll to the bottom for details I also request you to send in your comments and suggestions regarding the newsletter to: lintuxnews(a)gmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------ WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF GNU/LINUX ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************** FSF/UNESCO Free Software Directory ********************************** The Free Software Directory is a project of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). We catalog useful free software that runs under free operating systems - particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants. Licenses are verified for each and every program listed in this directory. URL: http://directory.fsf.org/ Site to visit 5th Feb-19th March. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ************************* Rev up your presentations ************************* We all appreciate well-thought-out slide shows that logically step through a topic, especially when they're not dull and boring. When creating presentations, many of us are tempted to toss in every little feature the software supports. Unfortunately, cluttered slides can be hard to follow, and obnoxious design elements look cheap. One good technique to enhance your presentations is to use the GIMP's mask feature to make interesting text and cut-out objects, and make those objects move on an OpenOffice.org Impress slide. Suppose you are trying to convince a client that he needs to switch over to a remote support model for his customers. His company currently sends its technicians... Read Full: http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/02/16/142721 8 ------------------------------------------------------------ ************************************** Woo Windows Users with Linux-in-a-Box ************************************** In an effort to convince frustrated Windows users to adopt Linux, Novell has introduced a new version of SuSE Linux that bundles revamped applications and tools with the latest version of the operating system. SuSE Linux Professional 9.3 includes the complete Linux operating system, more than 3,000 open-source packages, including the Microsoft Office-compatible OpenOffice office suite, and hundreds of open-source applications. The offering also includes a variety of graphics and multimedia applications; multiple development tools; a comprehensive set of Internet tools, including the open-source Firefox 1.0 Web browser and e-mail and instant messaging clients; an integrated firewall, spam blocker and virus scanner; and support for VOIP (voice over IP) and virtualization. By bundling such a vast array of applications and tools, Novell hopes to woo Microsoft users who may be frustrated with Windows' security bugs and might be open to switching to Linux if the transition is smooth and easy... Read Full at: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1775214,00.asp?kc=EWRSS 03129TX1K0000616 ------------------------------------------------------------ ***************************************** Desktop Linux wins plaudits for stability ***************************************** CeBIT: Companies who choose open source software over Windows for their enterprise resource planning tend to be surprised by the absence of crashes, according to users and vendors A company that migrated from Microsoft Windows to Linux on the desktop has praised the open source operating system's stability. G�nter Stoverock, the data processing manager at German import company Heinz Tr�ber, said on Thursday his firm had decided against running its ERP software on Windows as it considered it less stable than the open source alternative. "We didn't want to rely on Windows-based systems as they were quite instable and insecure," said Stoverock. "With Linux there is no blue screen and no freezing - that was the advantage for us."... Read Full at: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,391909 50,00.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ ****************************** 10 Reasons to Switch to Linux ****************************** 1. It Doesn't Crash Linux has been time-proven to be a reliable operating system. Although the desktop is not a new place for Linux, most Linux-based systems have been used as servers and embedded systems. High-visibility Web sites such as Google use Linux-based systems, but you also can find Linux inside the TiVo set-top box in many livingrooms. Linux has proved to be so reliable and secure that it is commonly found in dedicated firewall and router systems used by high-profile companies to secure their networks. For more than ten years, it has not been uncommon for Linux systems to run for months... Read Full at: http://www.tuxmagazine.com/node/1000117 ------------------------------------------------------------ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Fight Disease with Linux &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Like SETI@Home, the Folding@Home project takes advantage of distributed computing to analyze data for a singular goal. However, rather than searching for extraterrestrial radio signals, Folding@Home is focused on protein-folding simulations; once doctors understand how proteins behave, they can examine the causes of - and hopefully design cures for - a plethora of diseases. To make these projects more appealing, they're often packaged as screensavers that display pretty pictures while using your CPU's "spare" cycles to crunch data and send it back to the project home (SETI, for example, had a cool graph of the radio frequencies and power levels)... Read Full at: http://channels.lockergnome.com/linux/archives/20050308_figh t_disease_with_linux.phtml ------------------------------------------------------------ *************************************** GNOME 2.10 Desktop & Developer Platform *************************************** The GNOME 2.10 Desktop and Platform release is the latest version of the popular, multi-platform free desktop environment. GNOME runs on a variety of platforms, including GNU/Linux (commonly called Linux), Solaris, HP-UX, BSD and Apple's Darwin. GNOME includes powerful features such as high-quality smooth text rendering and first class internationalization and accessibility support, including support for bi-directional text.... Read Full at: http://channels.lockergnome.com/linux/archives/20050310_gnom e_210_desktop_developer_platform.phtml ------------------------------------------------------------ ******************************************* AmaroK is a step up for Linux audio players ******************************************* With the release of amaroK 1.2 last month, I finally found the Linux music player I've been wanting. When I moved to Linux full-time about two years ago, the only software that I missed from Windows was a quality audio player. Linux audio players lacked features like cover downloads, smart playlists, or easy burning to CD. Even worse, with a large collection of more than 10,000 tracks, the Linux players generally locked up when I tried to load them all, or at least slowed to an unbearable crawl. AmaroK has all of the basic features of modern Windows audio players, and some features that I haven't seen in any other player. The name "amaroK" was taken from an album by composer Mike Oldfield. Developer Mark Kretschmann said, "I've been a long-time fan of Mr. Oldfield's work and thought the name sounded nice, so I chose it for the application." Of course, it doesn't hurt that the name already has a "K" in it. The word means "wolf" in Inuit, which explains the various amaroK logos.... Read Full at: http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/04/174621 0 ------------------------------------------------------------ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Torvalds switches to Apple ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Linux creator Linus Torvalds said this afternoon that he's now running an Apple Macintosh as his main desktop, mainly for work reasons, although partly simply because he's a self-described "technology whore". Torvalds, who initially created Linux for the Intel x86 platform, revealed to the Linux Kernel Mailing List in February during a discussion on kernel size reduction that his main desktop machine no longer featured an x86 processor. Hence, Torvalds said, a patch specific to the x86 platform that he was submitting to the list for consideration was totally untested. ZDNet Australia was intrigued by this remark, and sought to question Torvalds on why the man who has single-handedly revolutionised the use of Unix on the x86 platform would move away from it, and where he had moved to. Torvald's response came quickly and succinctly. "My main machine these days is a dual 2GHz G5 (aka PowerPC 970) - it's physically a regular Apple Mac, although it obviously only runs Linux, so I don't think you can call it a Mac any more ;)" he said.... Read Full at: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/0,39023165,39183867,00.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ +++++++++++++++++++++++ GNU/Linux user groups.. +++++++++++++++++++++++ This page contains a list of the useful user groups that help in spreading Free/Libre and Open Source Software. Would really appreciate any help in updating and correcting this list and keeping it current. Let's try to network all the 'little' GNU/LUGs, who badly need your support to grow. FN (Frederick Noronha in Goa) Read Full: http://wikiwikiweb.de/LugsList ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************** My Workstation OS: Linspire 4.5 ********************************** Built on a Debian Linux core, Linspire is designed for simplicity of use, and it delivers this in spades. Linspire eliminates the need for me to be technically proficient in the nuances of Linux to successfully operate and enjoy the OS. This includes loading software, staying updated, and never seeing a command-line interface. It makes it very easy to just get on with what I have to do and not worry about the technicalities of using a Linux-based system. Installing Linspire is a often a pleasant surprise for seasoned Linux users, as the operating system's hardware detection routines are really top-notch. Many of the common trouble spots for Linux, such as printers, USB keychain drives, and DVD writers, are recognized and installed automatically; no need to hunt for obscure libraries and drivers. Linspire is also one of the very few distributions to offer ... Read Full at: http://os.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/10/1651237 ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************************** FSF offers jobs page for employers, employees ********************************************** While it has carried job listings on its site in some form since 2001, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) launched a newly revived "Jobs in Free Software" page last month to match employers who are committed to the ideals of free software with like-minded job seekers. John Sullivan, the program administrator for FSF, is the man charged with bringing life to the jobs page and the rest of the FSF site, which has recently undergone an extensive renovation. He says that the job listings can be a valuable resource for businesses "concerned with ethics" that want to reach a community of job candidates who share the same concerns... Read Full at: http://business.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/04/211255 ------------------------------------------------------------ ****************************************** More-Secure Linux Still Needs To Win Users ****************************************** The National Security Agency built a version of Linux with more security tools that its technologists believe could help make the country's computing infrastructure less vulnerable. They've won over the Linux developer community with the changes. But success depends on its adoption by U.S. companies and government agencies, something that remains very much in doubt. For more than a decade, the National Security Agency has worked on a way to use a computer's operating systems to control how software applications and users can access data. The agency succeeded years ago in creating these "mandatory access-control" features for specialized operating systems, but very few users deployed them. Taking a gamble in 2000 on the emerging Linux operating system, NSA started applying its security approach to the open-source code. The result is Security Enhanced Linux, which it hopes can raise the nation's overall level of cybersecurity... Read Full at: http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid= MRP5E2VFVSXTIQSNDBCSKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleID=60405829 ------------------------------------------------------------ ******************* CLI Magic: Antiword ******************* It's a simple fact of life. Most people have not yet found their way to freedom, and instead try to make themselves as comfortable as they can be in captivity. They suffer the burdens of the monopoly with only an occasional wince at the thought of malware or a curse because of their latest crash. This almost always means their word processing is done with MS Word. We've got to learn to deal with them, and their documents. Antiword is a very handy little tool for doing just that. Shake the cobwebs of the GUI out of your head and meet me at the CLI and I'll show you how to use it. Antiword is a GPLd, multiplatform labor of love by Adri van Os, with assistance from others in porting and making it available on RISC OS, FreeBSD, BeOS, OS/2, Mac OS/X, Amiga, VMS, NetWare, Plan 9, Epic, Zaurus, DOS, and Windows. Those in addition to Linux/Unix, of course. Antiword is still in beta, but I found it completely usable as it is. The current release on Debian is 0.35.1... Read Full at: http://enterprise.linux.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/07/0228215 ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************** Review: Mandrake Corporate Desktop ********************************** The corporate desktop GNU/Linux distribution is a relatively new invention, having begun with SUSE Desktop, then followed by Sun's Java Desktop System and Red Hat Desktop. But with much less fanfare, Mandrakesoft released a Corporate Desktop product last January. It's cheaper, has no minimum purchase requirement, and has support options ranging from one to five years. Compared to the alternatives, Mandrake Corporate Desktop is suited more for smaller shops that need a cost-effective and reliable desktop platform with corporate support. Mandrake is traditionally known as a cutting-edge desktop GNU/Linux distribution. It is often the first distro recommended for many people when they consider switching to GNU/Linux. Unlike other desktop distributions, Mandrake has never been shy about including the most up-to-date software packages in each new release.... Read Full at: http://distrocenter.linux.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/07/224220 ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************** Firefox Is Heading Towards Trouble ********************************** Opinion: I think Firefox is the best browser on the planet, but it's not going to stay that way long unless the team behind it gets their act together sooner rather than later. I love Firefox. It is, without a doubt, my favorite browser ever, and I've used almost every one that ever rendered a Web page. No matter what the operating system-Windows, Linux, heck, even NetBSD-one of the first things I do now with any of my boxes is to install Firefox on it. Firefox is also gaining software support. In addition to smaller open-source add-on programs, mainstream helper applications like Yahoo Toolbar and Google Desktop Search are now coming to Firefox.... Read Full: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1774091,00.asp?kc=EWRSS 03129TX1K0000616 ------------------------------------------------------------ *********************************** A More Business-Friendly BitTorrent *********************************** Analysis: The latest version of this popular peer-to-peer client and protocol makes it easier for both users and network administrators to manage its bandwidth-hungry ways. Open-source programmer Bram Cohen on Monday released version 4.0 of his popular BitTorrent client for Windows and Linux. BitTorrent is an ad hoc, P2P (peer-to-peer) protocol. Cohen created it to address the problem of transferring popular, large files over the Internet. Instead of using the client-server model of traditional Internet file distribution systems, such as FTP or the Web's HTTP or older P2P systems such as Kazaa, wherein files are shared directly among individual users, BitTorrent took a new approach... Read Full: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1775055,00.asp ------------------------------------------------------------ **************************** The Oldest Trick in the Book **************************** As the reach and deployment of computer technology expand, the risks and problems associated with pervasive use and the often breakneck speed of innovation and adoption impose more and more frequently. And while numerous security advisories are issued every day, those alerts probably represent only a tiny fraction of the faults that exist and have yet to be discovered - either by the good guys or the bad guys. One serious problem is vulnerability, where a fault or an oversight in a software application allows unauthorized access to the computer. While some vulnerabilities are "mostly harmless" - for instance, spyware may be unwanted, but is otherwise benign - others vulnerabilities can undermine privacy and even breach security measures. A significant weakness, or exploit, can even permit a malcontent to trick a program into doing something it wasn't designed to do. Oddly enough, the most commonly attacked exploit, the buffer overflow, is also the oldest. Around since the infancy of computers in the 1960s, buffer overflow first gained widespread notoriety in 1988... Read Full: http://www.linux-mag.com/content/view/129/2123/ ------------------------------------------------------------ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Getting your digital pix using Linux $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ It may lack an all-in-one solution like Apple's iPhoto, but there are tools that make using a digital camera with Linux easy. In this month's column, I'll be showing you some useful methods for accessing your digital camera under Linux, as well as JAlbum, a great tool for building Web-based photo albums. Downloading images from your camera: There are two ways to access and download images from a digital camera under Linux. Determining which method is best for your camera will depend on the model of camera that you have. Some cameras work with the first method, others with the second. The best way to work out which method suits your hardware is simply to indulge in a little trial and error. They're both free, after all.... Read Full at: http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;298681864;fp;2;fpi d;37 ------------------------------------------------------------ ****************************** Plextor PVRs Now Support Linux ****************************** FREMONT, Calif. - March 8, 2005- Plextor� Corp., a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced the availability of a free Linux Software Developers Kit (SDK) for ConvertX video capture devices. For the first time, the Open Source Software (OSS) community can enjoy the advanced features of Plextor ConvertX PVRs, including real-time hardware-based MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and Motion JPEG video encoding in a low-cost USB 2.0 video peripheral. Licensed under the GNU General Public License, the Linux SDK supports the popular Video for Linux 2 (V4L2) and Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) specifications. It also supports deprecated Open Sound System (OSS) applications via the OSS compatibility layer provided by ALSA. The new driver, which requires the Linux 2.6 kernel, includes sample code that can be reused in open source or proprietary applications to help developers get started quickly. Read Full at: http://www.plextor.com/english/news/press/LinuxPVR_pr.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Appeal from FSUG-Bangalore (about VTU) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VTU-FLOSS Campaign Vice chancellor, Visveswaraiah Technologies University, Belagum, Karnataka. Dear Sir, There are thousands of engineering and polytechnic colleges in India. Each year lakhs of graduates and diploma holders earn their degree. They pay thousands of rupees as fees to get the best facilities. A part of this goes to buying the software's which they use either in college lab or for doing assignments at home.For every software which they use; there is alternate Free Software program available. Now this shows the amount of money which we can be saved if we start using Free Software. This will bring down cost education considerably. Other than cost benefits, Free Software has other advantages * No-fee licensing * Ease of license fee management * Better large-scale programmability * Easier integration * Better performance * Development convenience * Better support There are hundreds of Free Software's programs which colleges or universities can adopt. As Vishweshwaraiah Technological University is one of the biggest universities in India, its time for VTU to moving towards using Free Software. This will make other Universities to follow. Let the VTU have pride to be the first. Here I am giving you an example of three such alternative Free Software's which can be used. * (1) Operating System: Windows v/s GNU/Linux I don't know what university generally recommends to colleges. But presently almost all the colleges use Microsoft Windows based operating system. We all know the best available operating system today is GNU/Linux. It is the best OS any educational institution can have. Students can not only use it but also can study. * (2) Simulation: Matlab v/s Octave Matlab is used in communication and electronics lab. Matlab for individual license for university (academic use) costs $500. Any college will have to buy minimum 25 licenses. Which means shelling out Rs.537500. Octave, which is simulation software written by University professors. This usually comes with the GNU/Linux Operating System. The advantage to students is that they don't have to buy a limited student version to use at home. They can use Octave both at Lab and at home. SciLab? is another open source competitor for Matlab. It uses sophisticated algorithms to analyze data and produce lovely graphics. Now you have the choice which one you want to include in your curriculum. * (3) Office software's: MS Office v/s Open Office Well, we all used Microsoft word to submit our project documents for review and for other academic purposes. Now we have Open Office which is as good as MS office and has some feature Microsoft Office lacks like PDF support, compatibility with older versions of Microsoft Office, HTML editor, a vector drawing application .... It gives you everything starting from word processor, presentation software to PDF generator [Fully compatible with Microsoft Office -- So already existing data in those formats can be used]. Don't you think it's the right time to save money of a poor student ? The above are just examples. There are many such software programs from which the students can benefit. We hope the university understands the urgency and the need. We would be happy to give you any information/help if university needs. Here by we urge the university to make an effort in this direction. Thank you, Please sign this petition at: http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign :: Taken from Little League, posted by Frederick N (FN) :: ------------------------------------------------------------ ??????????????????????????????????????? Some interesting links... freshmeat.net ??????????????????????????????????????? http://freshmeat.net/releases/190257/ DRBL 1.3.7-2 (Testing) by Steven - Fri, Mar 11th 2005 03:13 PDT About: Diskless Remote Boot in Linux (DRBL) provides a diskless or systemless environment for client machines. It works on Debian, Mandrake, Red Hat, and Fedora. Unlike LTSP, it uses distributed hardware resources and makes it possible for clients to fully access local hardware. It also includes Clonezilla, a partitioning and disk cloning utility similar to Symantec Ghost. Changes: This version supports Fedora Core 3 x86_64. Instead of apt, yum or urpmi are now the default maintaining and updating program for Fedora Core 3 or Mandrake Linux 10.1, respectively. XXX http://freshmeat.net/releases/190256/ Time Sheets 1.08 by web-tool - Fri, Mar 11th 2005 03:04 PDT About: Time Sheets is an online employee time sheet and attendance management program. The time sheet administrator can setup time periods, and employees can login and enter their work times online. All timesheets can be exported to Excel for convenient printing and analysis. It is especially valuable for a sales team or other employees that are on the road or work in remote locations. Changes: This release fixes some HTML format problems in the main template and corrects some spelling errors. XXX http://freshmeat.net/releases/190247/ yawiki 1.0RC3 by mecky - Fri, Mar 11th 2005 02:54 PDT About: yawiki is a wiki system strives to be a perfect place for working together and sharing information. The syntax for the wiki system is really simple to learn. Getting started with a wiki system is easy. It features versioning of every page, and the history can be viewed to restore old versions. A page can be restricted so that it can only be edited by users. Every user can add pages to a personal list of bookmarks. Different themes are supported. A search engine (Jakarta Lucene) is integrated. Changes: This is mainly a bugfix release. It also now supports different themes. Each user can select an individual theme in the user settings. The old theme has been enhanced a bit and a new one is included as well. This version now also supports a pluggable way to support different render engines. The documentation describes how to use a different renderer. XXX http://freshmeat.net/releases/190233/ Shell Script to Clone Linux System 20050311 by Swergar Tsang - Thu, Mar 10th 2005 21:46 PDT About: Clone Linux System is a script that uses standard Linux programs like dump, restore, stat, and parted to clone and restore a Linux system. It supports ext2 and ext3 filesystems. RAID support is experimental. Changes: The full path of grub-install/lilo is now used in restore.sh. All partitions detected by parted are now removed in partition.sh. RAID and non-RAID system dumps are now implemented in different scripts. A bug where /tmp was used to perform a restore by default despite it not always having enough space was fixed. A problem with detecting inodes incorrectly was corrected and minor bugfixes were made. Taken From: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/little_league/ ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Events/Meetings this week @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ::: Planning a event/ holding a meeting regarding gnu/linux, send me the info and the details at: lintuxnews(a)gmail.com and it published in here ::: ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************* READERS COMMENTS ********************************* No Comments this week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SUBSCRIPTION INFO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> To subscribe to this newsletter, send a blank email with subject as "Join linux newsletter" to: lintuxnews(a)gmail.com >> To unsubscribe send a blank email with "unsubscribe linux" as subject to: lintuxnews(a)gmail.com >> To change your delivery address, please send a email with subject as "change address" with your current & new email id's as the contents of the message. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Quick Links to Gnu/Linux Groups +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. Linux User Groups, Mangalore http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-mangalore/ 2. Linux Gurus, Bhopal http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux_gurus/ 3. GNU/Linux Users Group, Hubli http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxhubli 4. Freedom Computing, (Documentation Group for Gnu/Linux) http://groups-beta.google.com/group/floss Moderator's of various Gnu/Linux Groups are requested to send in the URL of their groups so that it can be added in here. CopyLeft 2004, Nithin Kamath. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You are welcome to reproduce this newsletter (i.e. print it, store it) for your own personal use. You are also welcome to forward it, in its entirety, to friends and family. This newsletter may contain links to sites on the Internet which are owned and operated by third parties. I am not responsible for the availability of, and/or the content located on or through, any such third-party sites. All Content may be � By their Creators

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RE: need for Full timers, was Re: [Fsf-friends] MS' influence in academia
by Sharma. Vishal 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

Do we, know what are the needs for a full timer persons..are they well defined.. How is that going to be funded..haev you guy sgot enough funds... And is there a plan how to get some revenue coming to FSF....india. But i think site needs bit of a lift and some better sections.... like user disscussion forums on various sections, thsi way of mailing list is a pain, and WIKI is also needed and few blogs will do..:) Not sure who is co-ordinating these activities in india.., so lets get the whole project plan going once we know what are the needs of movement and i'm more then happy to help in either way... Vishal -----Original Message----- From: fsf-friends-bounces(a)mm.gnu.org.in on behalf of Nagarjuna G. Sent: Sun 3/13/2005 5:42 PM To: Rakesh 'arky' Ambati Cc: fsf-wg(a)mm.gnu.org.in; fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in Subject: need for Full timers, was Re: [Fsf-friends] MS' influence in academia On Sunday 13 Mar 2005 1:20 am, Rakesh 'arky' Ambati wrote: > --- "Nagarjuna G." <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> wrote: > > > > > > > > > The issues that you raised are very important. Let > > us discuss how to > > make FSF India's efforts more organized. membership > > issue is soon > > going to be launched. We need full time workers for > > FSF. FSF India > > at the moment has none. This needs resources to > > compensate the full > > timers. > > > > Assuming that there are resources, I want to ask the > > community: how > > many of you are willing to work for FSF as full > > timers if proper > > compensation is given, at various parts of the > > counry? And howmany of > > your are willing to work with full timers during > > your spare time? > > > > Dear Mr.Nagarjuna, > > I believe there is no dire of volunteers for FSF.We > never had enough resources to hire any full timers,in > any case most people like arun,ab and yourself had > been doing great work without expecting anything in > return. > > If you have not posed the above question literally, > you can count me in anytime. Take a look at our website. The site doesnt look at the activities that FSF india is carrying out. Feb we had several activities. some of them were very impressive. They are not listed as events. The details of those events are not recorded on the website. Most of this only due to the absence of one responsible person who takes note of all the events and creates content and sends it to Dileep. Dileep does his job very promptly, but content creation is a very important job. Whether paid or unpaid we need someone to do this job. Several events are happening all over the country. Chennai, Vellore, Mumbai, Puna, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Kharagpur, not to mention the events in Kerala. Why should they get reflected at the site. Several people in India are developing free software, why is that information not getting reflected. We also need volunteers to take responsibility to manufacture and dispatch goodies like Tshirts, stickers, posters, documentation CDs, ebooks etc to people. And send them to each place so that the organizers find it handy. I agree with you, we have no dearth of volunteers, so many of them are listed on our website. We want a coordinator to take their help and spread our activities. We want a coordinator for FSF, whether paid or not. Nagarjuna _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends

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Fsf-friends March 2005