Fsf-friends November 2008

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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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Way Vision Journey - Swadeshi Jagran Manch - Talk on Free Software Experiences - 29-11-2008 - 6.30 PM - Chennai
by Sri Ramadoss M 10 Dec '08

10 Dec '08

Will be addressing a gathering on Free Software Movement & Tamil Computing Experiences as part of "Way Vision Journey" event organized by Swadeshi Jagran Manch to be held at, Conference Hall, II Floor, Ma Foi Management Consultants, Natarajan Bay City Centre, New No. 309 (Old No. 197) Poonamallee High Road, Chennai - 600 010 Near: Pachiappa's College Land Mark: Kapico Maruthi Showroom on 29.11.2008 Saturday at 18.30 Hrs. Detailed Invitation of SJM can be downloaded from http://amachu.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/sjm_way_vision_journey.pdf -- Regards, Sri Ramadoss M

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Re: [Fsf-friends] [ubuntu-in] [OT slightly] Rant .gvfs & gnome-clock issues (specifically libgweather)
by shirish 02 Dec '08

02 Dec '08

Reply in-line :- On Sat, Nov 1, 2008 at 22:46, Onkar Shinde <onkarshinde(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Shirish, Omkar, > Your bug report is not very descriptive. It is not easy to understand. > Please update the bug report accordingly. That bug report is just to add the name the existing database, there would be need to be few others to tell the full story. > Also assuming that you are referring to the international airport at > Chakan, is it operating currently? I mean should we really expect the > location to be added in libgweather if it is not in operating state? Nope, the International Airport whose details I've put up is the one at Lohegaon from where limited flights happen. The code VAPO has been given to Lohegaon Airport. Giving below the references :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pune_International_Airport or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pune_Airport http://www.world-airport-codes.com/india/lohegaon-5918.html http://worldaerodata.com/wad.cgi?id=IN64220&sch=VAPO http://www.aai.aero/allAirports/civil_op_airports.jsp (This is the Airports Authority India Website) http://www.aai.aero/allAirports/pune_generalinfo.jsp So what I am referring to you is an Airport which is functioning, it also has a weather station whose code is given as VAPO, now whether its functioning or not, don't know, somebody told me its not functioning. That's all I know. > Onkar -- Regards, Shirish Agarwal This email is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ http://flossexperiences.wordpress.com 065C 6D79 A68C E7EA 52B3 8D70 950D 53FB 729A 8B17

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Statement of FSF India board on recent incidents
by sandeep reddy 02 Dec '08

02 Dec '08

>2. Was the "National Free Software Conference" in Kochi a follow-up to the conference held in Hydrabad in 2007? > No, it cannot be considered so. FSF India came to know about the `Second National Conference in Kochi` only when the organisers started sending mails to various fora about the >conference. We were surprised to see this because FSF India was one of the organisers of the first conference in Hyderabad. We tried to communicate with the organisers of the >conference in Kochi and clarify the situation. The facts will be clear from the communications we had with them in that regard that we are publishing now. >After the communications from FSF India, the organisers removed the reference to the first national convention organised by FSF India and renamed the convention in Kochi as >simply the 'National Free Software Conference'. >The Organisers of the event continued to refer to their event misleadingly as the followup to the first convention organised in Hydrabad by FSF India, jointly with Swecha and >University of Hyderabad. ######################### The one question that came to my mind after reading that post was, 'Does one name an event based on the people organizing it or based on the kind of event being organized?' Does your above stated answer mean that only if FSF India is part of the organizing team, an event can be called a National Conference from now on? Why are you refraining from accepting the 'National Conference in Kochi' as a follow-up to the conference held in Hyderabad, is still not clear. ----------------- I have not seen any active and live participation by FSF-I in any other place but the mailing list here, where you actively participate in warding of the blames put forth on you or simply criticize and comment on other's work. This is really annoying, the position you hold requires you to set an example to all those looking up to you. Don't mind me suggesting but i think it would be much appreciated by all of us if we could get to see some constructive work from your side.

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THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
by Arun M 01 Dec '08

01 Dec '08

We need some positive stories in between all the flame isnt it ? Here is one from Gudalur. How Adivasi movement relates to free software. http://guss.web4all.in/?p=14 With regards, Arun.

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Somebody vandalised the FSF-friends and FSUG Bangalore mailing lists
by Vikram Vincent 01 Dec '08

01 Dec '08

The mails I had posted in response to the statement by the FSF-I Board on the FSF-friends and FSUG-Bangalore mailing lists have been vandalised. See http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsug-bangalore/2008-November/002447.html http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2008-November/005788.html I am CC'ing all the currently listed list admins and RMS. To whoever did this: You cannot silence our voices by simply deleting mail content. I am resending my response. Greetings, >From http://www.gnu.org.in/board-statement-on-recent-issues <quote> * * *9. Are the members of the Director Board of FSF India elected? * <snip> As mentioned in the answer to an earlier question, FSF India is not a mass movement and is not a democratic organisation. The purpose of FSF India, as of FSF, is to provide guidance to the Free Software movement. This purpose could be easily defeated if it is made into an elected body. </quote> India is considered one of the biggest democracies in the world and the Free Software Movement is for the democratisation of technology and knowledge. However, the namesake of FSF in India ie., FSF-India, whose role is to lead the Free Software Movement has clearly defined itself as undemocratic. Let us take things objectively to analyse, debate and come to some sort of an understanding. Democracy, transparency and openness are considered the pillars of the free software movement. We talk about free(or open) standards, free knowledge, etc.. and then we hear "Democracy? That is only for theory." How can one ensure democratisation of knowledge if one is undemocratic? The Board of FSF-I may have to (re)read the works of Eben Moglen and actually implement it in their functioning. I think the following quote of Eben Moglen is important in this context. From http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Transcript_of_The_System_Of_Ownership_Of_Ideas "Haven't you heard," we say, "The era of presidents for life is over. We are holding elections, here. Here, we made this, its called democracy. Would you like some? Take it, its free." In solidarity with the Free Software Movement, Vikram Vincent

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FSF-I as a unifying force(WasRe: Statement of FSF India board on recent incidents)
by Vikram Vincent 01 Dec '08

01 Dec '08

Greetings, My observations are at the end. 2008/11/30 Nagarjuna G. <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org>: <snip> > FSF was founded in 1985. What kind of hindrance did it create for not > letting democracy or freedom flourish? On the contrary it took the > lead in promoting and protecting these virtues. It gave the direction > to the movement. FSM created tools that help create social networks > to let this happen. It is therefore an enabler of freedom. <snip> > Political parties on the other hand want to administer social change, > but we do not do that. They want power and control but we don't. > > Free software movement is possible without creating any large > political groups. The most important identity that we respect is the > human being and that beings' freedom. When we have a large number of > small groups at every part of the country (an FSUG in every town, > district, we don't have them now.) FSM will flourish. FSFI will > support their formation, provide them direction, give them > infrastructure, invite the leads of such groups into the working > group, generate consensus etc. and support each other. <snip> > Let us all work towards such an organic growth, instead of creating > one large network of FSF chapters. let me repeat, FSFs do not want to > become a political powers, and does not want to govern. That will be > self-defeating to the ideals of freedom. FSF-I was formed in July 2001. The I-Lugs existed years before that. Now FSF-I should have worked for the conversion of the "Linux" to "Libre" as done in certain groups. Why divide the Movement by promoting FSUGs etc? To take free software(free knowledge) to the last (wo)man in the most backward villages of our country we need people of different backgrounds. I don't think that differences on the issue of Free vs. Open should have been a devisive issue. -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://swatantra.org/

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Statement of FSF India board on recent incidents
by ajay kumar 01 Dec '08

01 Dec '08

dear friends local chapters are you saying that FSF-I should run like its run in Europe, Americas? that means we are trying to force solutions meant for other countries to that of ours! in order to have more people (in general terms we call "mass base") FSF-I must have local chapters. I mean considering your own views Just see the number of population in indian states they are as equal in population to that in each country in europe, this clearly shows the importance of having local chapters. On an average I think people sleep for 6 hours else if a person sleeps for months and years together, wake up a fine morning find themselves in losing there control over the foundation, obviously it makes them irritated, uncomfortable and the consequence is FAQ's in gnu.org. You people didn't even bother inform organisations that are mentioned in the FAQ's. board of directors When is the so called Board of Directors going to so called NOMINATE there new Board? most of the current board of directors are the same onces who are there since its inception which needs a change. (well power and control over FSF-I need to change) for everything that is old has to go and something new will always come into place and this transition dosn't happen smoothly. Well as the mails start poring in and that board of directors feel that they are baring the peoples quest for clarity, they are actually undermining the larger interest of the people. And to say "when you have a responsibility you don't bare things or say "patiently replying", rather you need to understand the pulse of the people". How long can you guys go on dictating terms like this? who can speak on behalf of fsf india? ha thats such a big joke. first you say that what ever the fsf-i board members say becomes the stand of fsf-i and then you say that fsf-i board will discuss it first and then say that "ITS THE BOARDS DECISSION". Well I need some more clarity the mails that arun, sasi and nagarjuna have mailed to this mailing list, are they the official stand and official statements of FSF-I? or are they just some personal views? Why do you guys make the rules and then break them? (by going on your own words "WE THE *BOARD OF DIRECTORS FSF INDIA* have the only right to dictate) i haven't seen any of you guys mention weather the statement that you are making is an official stand of fsf-i or its just personal views. other than the mention of "For instance, this FAQ is a statement from the Board." in the page that is on the gnu.org.in website there is no mention of it any were else. For instance http://www.google.com/search?q=satement+from+the+board+inurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2… when people at the top look bellow there feet they find lilliputs. When these lilliputs come face to face they suddenly become big, this is called as mass base and this mass base has to be organised in a democratic way. I am proud to be in a democratic country were i can express my views freely. I want that freedom back to the very organisation which i believed for and trusted for so many years has motivated and kept me free from escapism, opportunism. with love for freedom ajay kumar

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History of Free Software movement in India
by Anivar Aravind 30 Nov '08

30 Nov '08

Dear Friends In kochi conference I did a presentation on History of Free Software movement in India. (I presented my session after the boycott novell campaign and manhandling ) The slide of the presentation is available at http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/wp-content/uploads/storydom.pdf (Thanks Hiran for the Theme & design) I am planning to make this as an article. Please go through it and point if i missed any groups So please send your feedback Also it will help the people in this list to get the name of various groups contributed to the Free Software movement Anivar Aravind -- Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown Free Software industry because it creates the basis for future jobs. Learning Windows is like learning to eat every meal at McDonalds.

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Fsf-friends November 2008