Fsf-friends November 2006

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Internet, tech skills growing quietly in Goa...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 02 Sep '24

02 Sep '24

INTERNET, TECH SKILLS GROWING QUIETLY IN GOA PANJIM, April 30: Goa's BSNL internet service provider is already providing some 3000 broadband connections in the state, and roughly another 24,000 people dial-up to get access the Net using this central government-run service. These figures emerged during an informal discussion at the monthly meeting of the India Linux Users Group (Goa), a network promoting Free Software and Open Source in the state. ILUG-Goa, which holds its meetings usually on the fourth Saturday of each month at the Goa Science Centre at Miramar, sees a range of tech issues -- usually directly related to Free Software and Open Source in Goa. During it's meet on April 29, a range of issues came up for discussion, from how to partition your hard-disk (to install GNU/Linux side-by-side with Windows), to software tools to ehance productivity, and various internet and broadband options available to users in diverse parts of Goa. For instance, there are some useful Free Software tools to monitor your bandwidth usage on BSNL's broadband. One such tool is available for free download at http://tinyurl.com/qgu9p Called the Data One Broadband Statistics, this is a screen-scraper written using Perl to download usage statistics of BSNL's Data One (www.bsnl.co.in/service/dataone.htm) broadband service and total it. Generally, BSNL (www.bsnl.co.in) allows only the Microsoft-based IE and has no monthly total. But trust Indian software talent to find a work-around. This solution comes from the Free Software/Open Source network in Chennai. Meanwhile, the Goa free software network stays connected and announces its event via http://iluggoaannounce.notlong.com There are no fees for joining, all are welcome, and encouraged to form parallel user-groups in diverse parts of the state. Meanwhile, the Fedora Core 5 Free Software distribution has just become available on DVD in Goa. Number of foreign magazines are also available. Members of ILUG-Goa such as engineer Bijon Shaha and software pro Arvind Yadav gave diverse views on techies-only distros like 'Gentoo'. Debopriyo 'DP' Sarkar pointed to a 'mindmap' of various Free Software distributions or 'distros' available, which was illustrated at linuxhelp.blogspot.com Earlier, there was a brief presentation on FreeMind. FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java. It has the potential of playing the role of a high productivity tool. Operation and navigation of FreeMind is faster because of one-click "fold/unfold" and "follow link" operations. Other members raised a range of issues -- from how to get started in GNU/Linux, to playing around with tools like StumbleUpon, and how to encourage Free Software usage in schools and educational institutions. Remy Furtado of Rosary College, Navelim expressed an interest in working on the Free Software tool Moodle, ideal for distance education, as the Goa University moves to a pattern of semisterisation. Goa Engineering College's Prof George Easaw has done work on this platform, as have others. Reacting unofficially, BSNL officials said Goa now had six STMS 155 MBps connectivity, which was resulting in a speedy expansion of broadband to many parts of the state. But for broadband facilities to become available in village areas, at least 60 subscribers were needed to make operations viable. So far, broadband from BSNL is available in a growing number of areas in Goa: Panjim, Vasco (except Cortalim, but including Sada, Mangor, Bogmalo, Sancoale and other areas), Ponda, Bambolim, Merces, Dona Paula, Porvorim, Mapusa town, Calangute-Candolim, and Saligao, among others. Equipment has already been installed in Aldona exchange, and broadband facilities are expected to go functional -- ------------------------------------------------------------- | India Linux Users' Group, Goa | | Join the friendly user group | | Mail list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/join | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teach-yourself-linux | | http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa-announce | | http://www.iosn.net/country/india/organizations/ilug-goa/ | ------------------------------------------------------------- , , / \ .-. * SOFTWARE ((__-^^-,-^^-__)) (. .) * FREEDOM `-_---' `---_-' / V \ * SHARING `--|o` 'o|--' // \\ \ ` / /( )\ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER ): :( '.^^_^^.' SHARE IT EQUITABLY :o_o: \_/ \_/ "-"

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Careers in FLOSS... (Dec 2003 issue of LFY)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 06 Jun '24

06 Jun '24

=========================================== LINUXForYou * Dec 2003 (Vol 1 No 10) In India Rs 50 (with CD) http://www.linuxforu.com Pages 102 * US$7.95 0 74470584957 =========================================== THIS ISSUE has probably reached your city. Saw it in Bangalore, and also got a complimentary copy from the LFY team at LinuxBangalore2003. But when I reached back to Goa on Dec 4, it wasn't in as yet. So it might take time to reach 'small town' India... FN REVIEWED: Mandrake 9.2 * PhProjekt * StarOffice 7.0 COMPUTERS AT TIS HAZARI, the session courts for the city of New Delhi, are being shifted over to Linux, courtesy the National Informatics Centre. - Rahul Chopra in this month's editorial. LINUX LEARNING CENTRE at Bangalore is offering courses in administration, security, development (internals and programming essentials, programming with Qt, device driver programming, MySQL & PHP), RHCE and Red Hat rapid track certification. www.linuxlearningcentre.com DotGNU RELEASES CD: It can now be used to implement application programs and Web services in C# and C applications under multiple operating systems, including GNU/Linux, FreeBSC, MacOS, MS Windows. The 219 MB release 0.1 CD is available as a free download at http://download.freedom.biz/dotgnu/dotgnu-0.1-cdrom.iso.gz.torrent e-Bridge calls itself "the new state-of-art training facility from eSpark Infotech is now open in the heart of Bangalore". It's offering embedded Linux courses (Linux fundamentals, programming Linux, embedded C & Linux, realtime C & Linux, Linux internals, device drivers, networking) and DSP courses (DSP fundamentals, TI/analog dev programming, audio/video, image processing, bio-medical systems). www.ebridgesolutions.net Linux.net provides a free e-mail service to those who want an e-mail address that ends in '@linux.net' MAJOR UPDATES and releases: OpenNA Linux 1.0, Gibraltar Firewall 1.0, Xandros Desktop 2.0, Onebase Linux 2.0, CUPS 1.120rc6. CAN YOU MAKE money with open source? Registration entails a "nominal fee" of Rs 5000 for a three-day conference. http://www.linuxasia2004.com/attendees/ February 11-13, 2004, New Delhi. SEND IN YOUR favourite slogans for a tee-shirt, and win five free copies of the shirt... LFYedit at efyindia.com MONEY CAN't buy respect, says Robert Adkins. Some of us might have met this guy at LB2003 in Bangalore. He's the CTO of Technetra Corp, and an advocate and implementer of FLOSS solutions for government. He can be contacted at radkins at technetra.com CAREERS WITH FLOSS: The number of students opting for courses in Open Source is growing steadily, even as industry experts predict a growing need for trained professionals in this expanding field. EXIT RED HAT, ENTER FEDORA: It's official now; the free (of cost) version of Red Hat Linux will not be available anymore. This has created a lot of FUD in an already unstable environment, thanks to the SCO episode. But is Red Hat closed for good? WEB-BASED COLLABORATION SOFTWARE: PHProjekt is an easy-to-install collaboration suite, which runs on the open source platform and databases. As the design of the system is developer-friendly, adding new features and components is a piece of cake. STAROFFICE: The latest version of Sun's office suite, StarOffice 7, may just be the right solution for the cost-conscious user. It loads faster than the earlier version, and sports some noticeable improvements. IN THE LFY CD THIS MONTH: Slackware (the "oldest Linux distro") and a range of GNU software for Windows users. FALLING BACK on backup systems. MAKING ADOPTION OF Linux in the enterprise easy. www.linux4e.com Business partners required: http://wwww.linux4e.com/partners ooWRITER HELPS YOU create your own templates and styles so that you can work with documents easily. Open Source is key to IBM's vision of computing. User empowerment is key to Microsoft's, writes Alolita Sharma USING DATABASE functions in Calc, a tutorial. (Wish there were more how-tos for the user in this mag! --FN) HALDIA DOCKS: it has a uniquely designed Linux installation with an active-active cluster set up, which is considered the best of its kind. This has ensured efficiency and cost-effectiveness. BASIC UNIX commands and concepts: an extract from *Running Linux* (Shroff Publishers, Pp 674 only Rs 425 in India). VxWorks and LynxOS are definitely the biggest embedded operating systems in use today. But slowly they are acknowledging the power of GNU/Linux and how it can help them maximise deployments. HELP LINUX GO INDIAN: By using various translation tools, you can join Language translation groups working across India to help translate GNU/Linux into your language. EXPERT INTRODUCTION: Multi-threaded programming under Linux. KICKSTART YOUR Linux installation (Part I): Installing Red Hat Linux on multiple machines one after another can be quite tedious. To avoid answering the same question over and over again, try the KickStart method, as it does not need any user intervention. WRITE CHEQUES. NOT JUST BOOKS: Niyam Bhushan on how anybody can turn thoughts into words, and words into wealth. NFS CLIENTS for Windows. OpenSSL PACKAGE offers a vast crypto library of algorithms WAIT QUEUES in Linux device drivers UNDERSTANDING recursive sub-routines INDIA-RELATED NEWS: HP launches GNU/Linux laptop Mandrake's latest distribution Oracle announces 10g for GNU/Linux Delixus offers India Linux CxProtect anti-virus mailing solution for mail-servers Trade management system from Network Programs Netweb Technologies unveils Tyrone MRO-Tek rolls out Network Management Systems Review of FLOSS at BangaloreIT.com =========================================== DISCLOSURE: This journalist (FN) writes a monthly column for LFY and gets paid for it. Promoting awareness about the content of LFY however is not part of the job, and is carried on with the intention spreading awareness about FLOSS among different GNU/Linux user groups in India. -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.2409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

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Re: Reliance Web World in nexus with Ankit Fadia
by Vihan Pandey 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

> > but sometimes such guys need to be analysed and weighed in public so that > innocent people/ students do not take them as their role models. True. ``we must be very careful when we give advice to younger people; > sometimes they follow it!'' -- Edgar Dijkstra Nice one :-) and very apt in this context. i guess Dijkstra was always the best at giving the best ``path" :-) i know i know poor joke, but i couldn't resist it :-) Regards, - vihan

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ReiserFS author to give plea on wife's murder
by Vihan Pandey 28 Nov '06

28 Nov '06

Hi all, Those of you who are slashdot regulars probably know this but those who don't : Hans Reiser the author of the ReiserFS file system is going to give his plea(guilty/not guilty/manslaughter .....) today(actually tonight as its in California) over the charge of his wife's murder. You can check the Wikipedia page for the whole story : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Reiser i'm sorry for such a horrible post, but i guess people ought to know. By all accounts this is the most morbid and macabre post ever on this list. Never the less, people have to know. Regards, - vihan

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Re: Reliance Web World in nexus with Ankit Fadia
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 28 Nov '06

28 Nov '06

----- Prashanth Mohan <prashmohan(a)gmail.com> wrote: > ``we must be very careful when we give advice to younger people; > sometimes they follow it!'' -- Edgar Dijkstra > [Source: > http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD03xx/EWD340.html] > - -- Interesting, thanks for the link. Rephrase: I will request my students to apply their own mind regarding whatever I or Mr fadia has to say. -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal Dept of CSE & IT BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab, INDIA -------------------------------- http://www.bbsbec.ac.in http://www.ajaypal.com -------------------------------- ajaypal[at]bbsbec.org, ajaypal[at]acm.org

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Re: Reliance Web World in nexus with Ankit Fadia
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 28 Nov '06

28 Nov '06

----- Vihan Pandey <vihanpandey(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Anyway, Fadia is more about network security stuff(so is portrayed) he > has > NEVER(again to the best of my knowledge) tried to tell people about > the real > ethics in using Free Software or about how its so important to build > a > society based on Freedom, or the dangers of DRM and software patents. > Why do > we even bother with such people? but sometimes such guys need to be analysed and weighed in public so that innocent people/ students do not take them as their role models. -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal Dept of CSE & IT BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab, INDIA -------------------------------- http://www.bbsbec.ac.in http://www.ajaypal.com -------------------------------- ajaypal[at]bbsbec.org, ajaypal[at]acm.org

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Transcript of RMS on GPLv3
by Ciaran O'Riordan 27 Nov '06

27 Nov '06

I've recorded and transcribed Richard's talk from last week's GPLv3 conference in Tokyo: http://fsfeurope.org/projects/gplv3/tokyo-rms-transcript I also made one of my talk: http://fsfeurope.org/projects/gplv3/tokyo-ciaran-transcript -- Ciarán O'Riordan __________________ \ http://fsfeurope.org/projects/gplv3 http://ciaran.compsoc.com/ _________ \ GPLv3 and other work supported by http://fsfe.org/fellows/ciaran/weblog \ Fellowship: http://www.fsfe.org

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Re: Reliance Web World in nexus with Ankit Fadia
by Vihan Pandey 27 Nov '06

27 Nov '06

> Friends, > A few months after Prabhat gave us that simple news clip about A Fadia, > and > after the long round of nationwide discussions that we had, it seems that > we > are trying to communicate with someone who (a) doesn't listen and (b) is > not > interested to listen. > > Reliance Web World attempted to launch Ankit Fadia through some back door > activities at Thrissur, but it flopped. In his regular and customary > style, > Ankit arrived late, cut short questions/answers session (he usually does > it > everywhere) and this time around he even cut short his talk to just 10 > minutes. > The ill-informed Reliance Web World executive was seen accusing the > organisers > for the drop in attendance - they never could realise that students are > wiser > than Fadia and could had deliberately chosen to abstain from such > gimmicks. Typical, he pulled that one at Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology(Nerul, Navi Mumbai) a couple of years back as well. Only then he ``refused" to answer some questions on the grounds that it is unethical to reveal cracking techniques in public. Fadia shows undue haste in theorising with what would otherwise be pure > exceptions - which is a bad academic practise - an action that portrays > his > Stanford University (where Google was born in 1996) in a bad light. He > also > relies heavily on the weaknesses of proprietary systems, which, by > default, do > not have any Road Map to the various freedoms enlisted by Free Software. In all honesty, isn't entering an Ivy league school these days more about $$$, a well polished resume/SoP and hearsay recommendations and sometimes a triumph in mediocrity award by the government rather than REAL merit. i mean i've only seen one or two people till now going there with REAL expertise, via either just doing practicals properly in college and at home, and/or then contributing to a technology(again via the Free Software development methodology) and publishing a REAL paper at a REAL venue. No offence to anyone who has gone to an Ivy league school, and let me also clarify i have the highest respect for most of them ;-) Anyway, Fadia is more about network security stuff(so is portrayed) he has NEVER(again to the best of my knowledge) tried to tell people about the real ethics in using Free Software or about how its so important to build a society based on Freedom, or the dangers of DRM and software patents. Why do we even bother with such people? Regards, - vihan

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Reliance Web World in nexus with Ankit Fadia
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 27 Nov '06

27 Nov '06

Friends, A few months after Prabhat gave us that simple news clip about A Fadia, and after the long round of nationwide discussions that we had, it seems that we are trying to communicate with someone who (a) doesn't listen and (b) is not interested to listen. Reliance Web World attempted to launch Ankit Fadia through some back door activities at Thrissur, but it flopped. In his regular and customary style, Ankit arrived late, cut short questions/answers session (he usually does it everywhere) and this time around he even cut short his talk to just 10 minutes. The ill-informed Reliance Web World executive was seen accusing the organisers for the drop in attendance - they never could realise that students are wiser than Fadia and could had deliberately chosen to abstain from such gimmicks. Fadia shows undue haste in theorising with what would otherwise be pure exceptions - which is a bad academic practise - an action that portrays his Stanford University (where Google was born in 1996) in a bad light. He also relies heavily on the weaknesses of proprietary systems, which, by default, do not have any Road Map to the various freedoms enlisted by Free Software. CK Raju India ============ "The more you attribute to Non-free software, the less you retain in yourself." ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using NWebmail, BSNL's Webmail Program

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Re: MDI migrates its network servers to GNU/Linux
by Vihan Pandey 27 Nov '06

27 Nov '06

> Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, where RMS delivered a lecture > during his last visit, has migrated their network from Windows to > GNU/Linux. I am not sure whether this was a result of the talk, but I > know that their IT department had taken a serious interest in the talk > and had even arranged a lunch with RMS. Several students have had Ubuntu > GNU/Linux installed on their laptops. Sounds good. But i hope they did it for both ``social AND technical reasons" rather than ``technical" reasons alone. Incidently, if anyone has any inside information about this place, as to why they decided to switch it would be nice to hear about it. i know, there are migrations happening all the time, but its always interesting to hear the story behind them. Regards, - vihan

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Fsf-friends November 2006