Fsf-friends September 2007

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

24 participants
24 discussions

Re: [Fsf-friends] Free Software in Kerala ... a very interesting story
by Anilkumar K V 16 Sep '07

16 Sep '07

It is really a good attempt by Sasikumar. I appreciate him for this write-up. However, since the narration of this write-up is mainly based on the experience of free software movement in Thiruvananthapuram, I feel the title is better renamed as "The Story of Free Software in Thiruvanathapuram, India". My other comments on this article are pasted below. Regards, Anil Anil <http://www.blogger.com/profile/14066963594571131093> said... The name of Kochi based firm mentioned in this write is not Open Source Solutions. It is Open Software Solutions Industrial Co-operative Society ( OSSICS ). This group is formed in 1998 as a part of Peoples Plan Campaign and registered as a Co-operative society in 2000, and it is the first Industrial Co-operative Society for the promotion of Swathanthra Software especially in Keralam. 11:08 AM <http://swatantryam.blogspot.com/2007/08/story-of-free-software-in-kerala-in…> <http://www.blogger.com/delete-comment.g?blogID=34899069&postID=525490467922…> Anil <http://www.blogger.com/profile/14066963594571131093> said... This write-up did not mention the role played by many of the organaisations and initiatives, Some of them are listed below. 1. ATPS (Appropriate Technology Promotion Society) Kochi, 2. SEPSIT (Social Entrepreneurship Promotion Society on Information Technology )- Kannur. 3. Initiatives by Ernakulam District Panchayath and EIID 4. S2S2, Kannur 5. Earlier Free Software Initiatves Initiatives in Kannur University. 6. Free Software initiatives in various Engineering Colleges in Keralam, other than one mentioned in the article. 7. Activities of FSF-Kozhikkode 8. Initiatives by Swathanthra Malayalam Computing. 9. Nila and Kaveri projects of CDIT. 10. Kerala Social Forum 11. Efforts of various persons such as Dr. Achuth Sankar and Prof. Ignatius Kunjumon. 12. Vivarasangam meet 13 . Vivaravicharam magazine 14. NIC initiatives in Free Software, 11:40 AM<http://swatantryam.blogspot.com/2007/08/story-of-free-software-in-kerala-in…>

4 3

Free Software in Kerala ... a very interesting story
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 15 Sep '07

15 Sep '07

http://swatantryam.blogspot.com/2007/08/story-of-free-software-in-kerala-in… Free Software in Kerala V. Sasi Kumar A friend, who had worked in Brazil for a couple of years, once told me, "Kerala is known in Latin America for Free Software." This indicates the extent to which Kerala has dominated the Free Software scenario in India. It is not by chance that the headquarters of the Free Software Foundation of India happened to be situated at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. The state is now poised to become the ﬁrst in the country to introduce exclusively Free Software for IT education in high schools. We shall examine here how all this came about.... The story apparently began with the introduction of TeX, the typesetting program that was designed in the 1970s by Donald Knuth, the author of The Art of Computer Programming, a four volume classic. TeX was introduced into Kerala by Prof. K.S.S. Namburipad of the Department of Mathematics in the University of Kerala. TeX could typeset mathematical equations very neatly, which no other software could do, especially in the 1980s when Prof. Namburipad brought TeX in fourteen ﬂoppy disks from the United States. He could bring the program and use it on a number of computers without any legal problem because it had no licences-it was in the public domain. It was, in a sense, the Grandmother of Free Software, as some people call it. Prof. Namburipad encouraged his students to learn and use TeX, especially for preparing their theses. One of his students was E. Krishnan, now with the Mathematics Department of the University College, Thiruvananthapuram, a leading exponent of TeX and one of the auA thors of the very popular LaTeX primer2 published as an electronic book by the Indian TeX User Group. Dr. Krishnan also played an important role in establishing the Free Software Foundation of India. Another person inspired by Prof. Namburipad was one C.V. Radhakrishnan who used to run a small centre that prepared theses for the research students of the Kariavattom campus of the University of Kerala. -- Frederick Noronha Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org In Hyderabad. Ph 040-23132176 SMS: 9822122436

3 2

IT practical tests on ‘open’ platform
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 14 Sep '07

14 Sep '07

Could anyone kindly pass on links of Free Software usage in Indian schools? Tks, FN IT practical tests on 'open' platform Anand Parthasarathy IT@School project of Kerala has developed an operating system based on the Linux Akshaya had raised popular expectations Kerala, first State to use Edusat satellite channel — Photo: Special Arrangement IT WORKS: Students of the Government Girls High School, Ernakulam, doing self-paced computer 'practicals.' BANGALORE: In the largest such simultaneous deployment of 'free-and-open' software in India, over 15 lakh Kerala schoolchildren on Friday start taking their quarterly practical tests in Information Technology on personal computers using a special Linux version. The IT@School project of the State Education Department has developed an operating system based on the Linux version Ubuntu. Called IT@School GNU Linux Version 3.0, it was distributed to 2,832 high schools — over a thousand of them government schools, the rest aided and unaided ones. Between September 7 and 22, children of Classes 8, 9 and 10 will use some 30,000 PCs to do their quarterly practical examinations in IT. Test skills In Class VIII, for example, the examination will test skills in the use of the mouse; the 'Tux' paint software for drawing; word processing and spreadsheets. A trained cadre of over 70,000 teachers will help them. The project has created a whole ecosystem of computer-aided tools for self-paced learning, online testing, instant evaluation, marks generation and so on. All this is done using royalty-free Open Source software. For example, the Open Source picture editing tool Gimp, rather than a pricey proprietary option like Photoshop, is in use. The State's path-breaking e-learning initiative Akshaya had raised popular expectations, but the cost of proprietary software licences in bulk was unaffordable. This led to the State emerging as a pioneer in the use of Open Source resources in a host of education and e-governance projects. In July 2005, Kerala was the first State to use the Edusat satellite channel to connect schools in all its 14 districts under the Virtual Class Technology on Edusat for Rural Schools, or VICTERS, programme. IT@School executive director K. Anvar Sadath, a veteran of the Akshaya programme, said on Thursday that the Central Government had underwritten almost the entire cost of the school computerisation programme to the tune of Rs. 6.2 crores, while the State had spent Rs. 75 lakh this fiscal year. Printer friendly page http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/07/stories/2007090755131600.htm -- Frederick Noronha Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org In Hyderabad. Ph 040-23132176 SMS: 9822122436

1 0

Hey Principal ;)
by Omshiva Prakash 13 Sep '07

13 Sep '07

http://www.hi5.com/register/wwlLO?inviteId=A_794a0c_GeK1b7jI9.f7948812 Omshiva

2 1

If you want freedom don't follow Linus Torvalds
by Praveen A 12 Sep '07

12 Sep '07

"Please don't call GNU 'Linux'," says Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation. In this interview, he also asks readers whether they will fight for freedom or be too lazy to resist. The full interview at http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;211669437;pp;1 Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Re: [ilugd] [off-topic not] vision of an enlightened indian mystic oncopyleft
by Linux Lingam 11 Sep '07

11 Sep '07

snippety snip excellent points by nagarjuna, janani and gora. nagarjuna: you're right about classical brahminism being an earlier incarnation of a proprietary knowledge model. janani you mention what appears to be a BSD-style attribution-style in some indic literature, and then go on to mention pure folk knowledge without attribution, that lives in the public domain. well, as i said earlier, i have been privately researching all this since about two years. have come across the approaches you mention, and a few more not mentioned. knowledge as a secret never to be revealed was one. authoring works on commission for kings and emperors is well-known, too. would like to share two asepcts i came across: 01. emperor akbar asks tansen how great would tansen's master be as a singer, given that tansen himself is truly great? akbar expresses a wish to listen to tansen's master. tansen cuttingly replies that his master is a great musician, because he never sings for an emperor's court or for crowds, but only for his own bliss, as well as not for commerce. so if akbar wishes to listen to him, he must hide and wait for whenever the master sings. thus it happened. the point here is the age-old debate on traded goods and services, versus 'work as worship'. in our popular context: tansen will sing his music so it can be sold for iPods, whether with drm or not is a minor issue. tansen's master won't. in face he won't sing for anyone, except the divine. similar anecdotes can be found across all cultures. 02. obfuscation: indian mystics discovered very early that knowledge in the hands of the unrefined mind can be deadly. the same dilemma that troubled einstien. those that believed the birth of the atomic age would solve all of mankind's problems [energy, medicine, other specific application at least], and would lead to a better world, must be facing disillusionment at the chaos of the world. thus, a lot of indian knowledge got obfuscated. hidden in plain view. patanjali's yoga sutra is a prime example. here is a scripture so misunderstood since the entire knowledge is expressed in allegories that are obfuscating. the sufi tradition of the world also expresses its knowledge in obfuscated terms, with a book that has atleast 7 interpretations, depending on the growing awareness of the disciple. in today's example: we do impose self-censorship or state-sponsored censorship on certain aspects of knowledge, such as on how to build deadly dirty nuclear weapons. i would not be suprised if in a few decades we discover between proprietory knowledge, and freely-available-knowledge, emerges the third: hidden in plain view knowledge. the how and why would also be clear as time goes by.... gora, yes, i read the divine declaration of you as god. how come no one else has discovered you ;-) :-) niyam

1 0

Swathanthra Malayalam Computing SFD celebration
by Santhosh Thottingal 11 Sep '07

11 Sep '07

Hi, Swathanthra Malayalam Computing is celebrating Software Freedom day on 14 and 15th of this month at Chamber of commerce Hall,Thrissur, Kerala. SMC will be showcasing the softwares it developed during the last one year to public. Discussions on topics related to Free softwares, Language computing, e-journalism etc are also planned. All are invited........ http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/SFD/SMC Thanks Santhosh Thottingal

1 0

Re: Welcome to the "Fsf-friends" mailing list
by CK Raju, Thrissur 10 Sep '07

10 Sep '07

Friends, A two day international conference (ICIST2007) is planned at Thrissur during 14,15 December 2007 with Free Software as the principal theme. RMS has agreed to engage the participants in a virtual session and clarify online to any subsequent queries. Papers are solicited for ICIST2007. Details are at http://mesengg.ac.in/icist2007.htm Rgds, CK Raju, Thrissur ------------------- I am back.

3 2

Free *nix on Lenovo
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 09 Sep '07

09 Sep '07

http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=98 Vote for your favourite distribution that you want supported on Lenovo. Regards, Debarshi -- GPG key ID: 63D4A5A7 Key server: pgp.mit.edu

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] a new road for AMD and ATI
by Bhaskar Chowdhury 06 Sep '07

06 Sep '07

good news man! thanx for the info. Au Revoir Bhaskar > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray" <debarshi.ray(a)gmail.com> > To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > Subject: [Fsf-friends] a new road for AMD and ATI > Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 00:26:14 +0530 > > > http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/?p=302 > > AMD is making the commitment to do two major things: > > * To develop of a fully functional 2D and 3D driver that supports > all of their newer radeon chipsets. This will be done in full > collaboration with the open source community and will have the direct > participation of hackers from companies like Red Hat and Novell. > * To release documentation that anyone can use to build and > support drivers for their chips. > > Regards, > Debarshi > -- > GPG key ID: 63D4A5A7 > Key server: pgp.mit.edu > > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-friends mailing list > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > = -- Powered by Outblaze

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

Fsf-friends September 2007