Man: clock rate of 2KHz;
million million processors,
can solve sophisticated problems in less than 400 cycles (under
ideal conditions ;),
can do complex imaging, audio processing etc with available
sensory intelligence
Machine: clock rate in the range of Teraflops (super computers);
few processors;
can have very wide sensory intelligence but cannot do complex
processing;
and "problem solving" capabilities are not really worth mentioning
Suppose I want my application to run 40 to 200 queries on a db, all
concurrently, to take a simple decision, brain like parallel
processing schemes/devices seems useful. The recent 64 bit processors
seem to come with capacities for very large RAM, etc, and I am just
curious if brain emulators are possible now. "Supercomputers" seem to
be more focused on increasing clock speeds, but it may be worthwhile
to also focus on increasing the number of threads/processors we could
use to the range of million millions trading off with clock rate.
I am not sure about technical feasibility etc., but this is one of the
"unsolved" areas of cs, that may be of interest to researchers :)
Ref:
http://www.electricminds.org/ussclueless/essays/futurecs.htm
Hi All,
My name is Thejesh. I am working as a Software Engineer at Bangalore. Passed
from VTU ( Visweswraiah Technological University) Belagum as E&C engineer.
We were the first batch of the university.
Early this year I got an idea about asking VTU to include more FOSS related
courses in its syllabus. Hence I started a petition at my home site (
www.techmag.biz <http://www.techmag.biz> ). Then we moved it to GNU
bangalore site (http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign). The
petition has been editied by lot of people and it has reached a good state
now. We have got the signatures of around 140 people including that of RMS.
Initially I just had the plan of mailing the petition; but later I got an
idea of visiting VC personally so that it will have more effect.
VC of VTU Dr. K Balaveera Reddy has agreed to meet me on Aug 6 (Saturday)
evening at VTU campus, belagum. I will be travelling on Aug 5 night ( from
Bangalore). Plan as of now is to present him the hard copy of
signatures/opinions/discussion that happened on GNU Bangalore site. I am
also planning to give him a presentation. If anybody is interested to join
me along; please mail me back. Or if you think something which I should be
doing please do send it to me.
--
Thanks,
Thej
http://www.techmag.biz
gnthej at gmail dot com
thej at techmag dot biz
Frederick Noronha has compiled a list of on going FOSS Projects from India at:
http://www.iosn.net/country-reports/india
<quote>
INDIA: THERE'S A LOT HAPPENING, BUT CAN IT BE CHANNELISED?
Compiled by Frederick Noronha
India, with its population of one-billion plus, has a rich tech talent,
considerable interest in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), and a network
of some 80-plus user groups across its landmass (some active, some less).
This offers wide potential....
</quote>
About UNDP, APDIP, IOSN:
The International Open Source Network is an initiative of the United
Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Asia Pacific Development
Information Programme (APDIP) and supported by the International
Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada.
The International Open Source Network (IOSN) is a Center of Excellence
for FOSS in the Asia-Pacific Region. It shapes its activities around
Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) technologies and applications. Via a
small secretariat, the IOSN is tasked specifically to facilitate and
network FOSS advocates and human resources in the region. The vision
is that developing countries in the Asia-Pacific Region can achieve
rapid and sustained economic and social development by using
affordable yet effective FOSS ICT solutions to bridge the digital
divide.
More details at: http://www.iosn.net/
Hi Pramode,
On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 Pramode C.E. wrote :
>Hello,
>
>--- Ramanraj K <ramanraj.k(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Frederick Noronha has compiled a list of on going
> > FOSS Projects from India at:
> > http://www.iosn.net/country-reports/india
>
>I would like Fred to add
>
>http://www.nsc.res.in/~elab/phoenix/
>
I could find the source code under the file pheonix.tgz
Can you pls. highlight the license as well.
>to the list of Free Software projects from India
>(if it is not already there on the list ...)
>
>`Phoenix' (Physics with homemade equipment and
>innovative experiments) is perhaps the only product of
>its kind
>working on GNU/Linux - the project is fast reaching
>maturity (a bootable CD is ready, some manufacturers
>have started taking orders for the hardware box,
>a mailing list is in place ...).
>
>Please let me know if you would like to have a demo
>at your local LUG/FSUG.
>
>Regards,
>Pramode
>--------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>__________________________________________________________
>How much free photo storage do you get? Store your friends 'n family snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://in.photos.yahoo.com
>
>_______________________________________________
>Fsf-friends mailing list
>Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in
>http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends
-----------------------------------------
Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux.
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html
-----------------------------------------
Hello all,
I am in search of device driver/software/API in Linux that supports
Smart Card printers/readers.. While searching in the web I came across
"GNU SmartCard Project"
(http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~bossekr/news.html). But unfortunately I
didn't got anything useful there since the language used is German.
Can anyone give me the status of this project or any other GPL'd Smart
Card Software.
TIA.
regards
Manilal
Yesterday, there was a FOSS Awareness Program at Shri Sairam
Engineering College, Chennai, for 3rd year students, and I gave a
short talk on Free Software User Groups as member of ILUGC and
FSF-India. The Principal of the College was very enthusiastic about
the NRC plans and highlighted the self-employment possibilities and
other opportunities available with free software. Less than 10
students knew about Gnu/Linux OS, and much less had even heard of RMS
or Linus Torvalds. At the end, about half of them raised their hands
when asked if they would opt for the FOSS Elective the next semester
:)
I wish NRC could organise these awareness programs on the style of
LDD's organised by ilugc as one day events more like an open house for
one and all, including the public also. Notes about one such LDD is
at: http://www.chennailug.org/meeting/minutes/yr2004/momlf2004.html
and the archives have more such stories.
If there is atleast one Free Software User Group, in each Engineering
College, it could benefit many.
Rick Moen has written an excellent and useful user group HOWTO at:
http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/User-Group-HOWTO.html
<quote>
"[The] movement has no central structure, bureaucracy, or other entity
to direct its affairs. While this situation has advantages, it poses
challenges for allocation of human resources, effective advocacy,
public relations, user education, and training."
</quote>
Again,
<quote>
Linux works precisely because people are free to come and go as they
please: Free programmers are happy programmers are effective
programmers.
</quote>
Academic freedom and coding freedom make good companions. User Groups
when organised in Colleges maintaining the core essence of the
movement, it could solve many other problems too:
-Education would become directly relevant to needs in society
-Enables life-long continuity for students to update themselves
-Better interaction with Public is possible
-Knowledge based societies would become a reality
That apart, many colleges are using proprietary packages and there is
a need to replace existing proprietary software with free software.
Let us please have a wiki page at ILUGC to list "equivalents". HTH.
Thanks,
Ramanraj.
Arvind, an old friend of mine, recently told me this story:
One night, four travellers named One, Two, Five and Ten walking
through a forest, come to a deep gorge and find that they have to
continue their journey across a weak wooden bridge, that won't stand
the weight of more than any two of them at a time. The bridge has a
few missing logs and they had only one torch with them to guide them
across. Also, One takes 1 minute, Two takes 2 minutes, Five takes 5
minutes and Ten takes 10 minutes to cross the bridge, due to their
individual abilities. What is the minimum time within which the four
friends could cross the bridge?
I reasoned that One being the fastest, could take Two, Five and Ten
across in about 19 minutes as follows:
Task ::: Time taken in minutes
----------------------------------------------------------
1 and 10 take torch and walk across: 10
1 returns with torch : 1
1 and 5 walk across with the torch : 5
1 returns with torch : 1
1 and 2 cross with the torch : 2
----------------------------------------------------------
Total time: ::: 19 minutes
Arvind said that they could save two minutes with another plan. I was
sure there is a "catch" somewhere, because it appeared impossible.
Did 1 and 2 cross earlier, and did 2 throw the torch from the other
side? No, there are no catches, it is a purely logical problem to be
solved just the way I proposed, but his plan would take two minutes
less of time. How could they cross the bridge in just 17 minutes?
hi,
On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 Nagarjuna G. wrote :
>Kanti Jadia wrote:
>
>>Hi Friends,
>>
>>Just sent an email to lb mailing list to get the status on participation by FSF-India this year.
>>
>>The name of the event is not yet known ( maybe in a couple of days ).
>>This is the right time to align the movements in India
>>
>>Let me know your thoughts
>>
>>
>Kanti,
>
>The only reason why we are not there is because the people in banagalore are not doing it. please organize among yourselves with fsf-bangalore and now you are quite a few motivated hackers, so you can get a stall at least going. I think the organizers will provide a free stall, if not we can pay for it. I would say we anyway have to spend on things like, stickers, posters, handouts, and make some money by selling CDs and t shirts.
Maybe selling CDs may not be feasable.
We can probably collect donations on behalf of FSF-India and give the goodies as gratis.Any previous experience here would help.
Remember LB( the new name ) would have more than a couple of thousands.
>But, FSF India wouldn't want to sponser an essentially open source event, but would want to be there spreading free software ideas around taking the benifit of the people who come there.
I do not think it remains as an open source event anymore.
What i hear is something to make it a premier FOSS event in India.
>
>Nagarjuna
>
Maybe a direct talk with the organizers would clear up the matter.
Regards
Kanti
-----------------------------------------
Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux.
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html
-----------------------------------------
Hi all,
In this interview Stallman addresses the much exaggerated issue of losing
jobs due to Free Software.*
Read the full interview at kerneltrap.org <http://kerneltrap.org>
http://kerneltrap.org/node/4484*
*<quote>
JA*: What about the programmers...
*Richard Stallman*: What about them? The programmers writing non-free
software? They are doing something antisocial. They should get some other
job.
*JA*: Such as?
*Richard Stallman*: There are thousands of different jobs people can have in
society without developing non-free software. You can even be a programmer.
Most paid programmers are developing custom software--only a small fraction
are developing non-free software. The small fraction of proprietary software
jobs are not hard to avoid.
*JA*: What is the distinction there?
*Richard Stallman*: Non-free software is meant to be distributed to the
public. Custom software is meant to be used by one client. There's no
ethical problem with custom software as long as you're respecting your
client's freedom.
The next point is that programmers are a tiny fraction of employment in the
computer field. Suppose somebody developed an AI and no programmers were
needed anymore. Would this be a disaster? Would all the people who are now
programmers be doomed to unemployment for the rest of their lives? Obviously
not, but this doesn't stop people from exaggerating the issue.
And what if there aren't any programming jobs in the US anymore?
*JA*: You mean what if all the programming jobs were outsourced to foreign
countries?
*Richard Stallman*: Yes, what if they all go? This may actually happen. When
you start thinking about things like total levels of employment, you've got
think about all the factors that affect it, not blame it all on one factor.
The cause of unemployment is not someone or society deciding that software
should be free. The cause of the problem is largely economic policies
designed to benefit only the rich. Such as driving wages down.
You know, it's no coincidence that we're having all this outsourcing. That
was carefully planned. International treaties were designed to make this
happen so that people's wages would be reduced.
*JA*: Can you cite specific examples?
*Richard Stallman*: FTAA. The World Trade Organization. NAFTA. These
treaties are designed to reduce wages by making it easy for a company to say
to various countries, "which of you will let us pay people the least? That's
were we're headed." And if any country starts having a somewhat increased
standard of living, companies say "oh, this is a bad labor climate here.
You're not making a good climate for business. All the business is going to
go away. You better make sure that people get paid less. You're following a
foolish policy arranging for workers of your country to be paid more. You've
got to make sure that your workers are the lowest paid anywhere in the
world, then we'll come back. Otherwise we're all going to run away and
punish you."
Businesses very often do it, they move operations out of a country to punish
that country. And I've recently come to the conclusion that frictionless
international trade is inherently a harmful thing, because it makes it too
easy for companies to move from one country to another. We have to make that
difficult enough that each company can be stuck in some country that can
regulate it.
The book *No Logo* explains that the Philippines have laws that protect
labor standards, but these laws count for nothing any more. They decided to
set up "enterprise zones" - that's the euphemism they used for "sweat shop
zones" - where companies are exempt from these rules for the first two
years. And as a result, no company lasts for more than two years. When their
exemption runs out, the owners shut it down and they start another.
*</quote>
Read the full interview at kerneltrap.org <http://kerneltrap.org>
http://kerneltrap.org/node/4484
*--
"GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel."
A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org
My Weblog at http://www.pravi.co.nr
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