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: \_/ \_/
"-"
===========================================
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.netLinux.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.
Sukumar Anikar <anikar(a)azimpremjifoundation.org> [1] and Prasad <
prasad(a)azimpremjifoundation.org> managed to get across to me a copy of a DVD
… and what a DVD at that! It contained a whole lot of fascinating
educational software for school children.
A couple of nights ago, I ended up 'playing' some educational games with
Aren, 5, and told him that my friends had sent the same across free. "Did
you say 'thank you'?" he asked me in turn. In fact, he kept 'playing' on
these games, though it was almost midnight, and even though he's too small
to obviously understand many of the concepts being taught here (decimal
fractions, and what not … but big enough to be interested in the wild
animals of the jungle and to try and comprehend how fruits and a balanced
diet gives us the energy we need to do work). The 'games' sent across in
this DVD work excellently and without flaw (so far) on my Ubuntu laptop.
They have been adjusted to work with the GNU/Linux operating system.
It drew my interest enough to dash across another email to Sukumar and
Prasad, requesting more programmes.Given the medium of instructions being
used (and subjects taught) in Goa, I am particularly interested in software
dealing with:
- English language
- Hindi language
- Maths
- Environmental Science
- General Science
- Social Science
- Co-curricular subjects
Check out the long list of what's available.
http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/html/E_Learn_Mat_table1.htm
The Azim Premji Foundation is actually keen to work with educational
institutions (rather than with individuals, if I understood right) for
obvious reasons.
Said the APF in a mail to me: "We always support the state governments by
providing them the Digital Learning Resource (DLR) for deployment in
Government schools. Generally, the support is by providing the right to
replicate our content to the state, without any costs. Our Digital Learning
Resource is not provided if the intended use is for commercial purposes. We
also share content with NGOs and other institutions who manage schools where
there is no barrier on admissions and where no fee is being charged."
And Mr Anikar added, "Almost all our titles or Digital Learning Resource are
trilingual i.e. in English, Hindi and in any one of the regional
languages. While
we have just 10 titles in Marathi the same is not available for immediate
release as they have to be validated by a state government. However, we will
share other titles that are in English and Hindi. Further, we are also in
the process of making our content compatible with [GNU]Linux platform and
hence for the present we will be sharing only such titles which are
compatible with both windows and Linux and those that have been tested. The
remaining titles would be shared on a future date and on completion of
testing. We will be clustering our titles in a couple of DVD's and send it
across to you in the next week…. We also wish to state that there is a
process that needs to be followed in implementing the Digital Learning
Resource in schools which we will share the same with you once you confirm
the receipt of Digital Learning Resource."
And: "A note of caution — our Digital Learning Resource are not meant to
help in computer literacy. The target group is children in the age group of
6-14 years and the Digital Learning Resource primarily presents concepts
related to Maths, Science and Language related to the curriculum for classes
Standard I to Standard VIII."
By way of background, from their website: "Azim Premji Foundation has
commenced the digital content creation effort in the year 2002. So far,
Foundation has created over 100+ master CD titles for the classes 1 to 8 and
the same have been translated into various regional languages in India
including few tribal languages. The content is created with the pedagogical
focus to enable the children to directly use and learn where the teacher
will act as facilitator. The attributes of the content are; curriculum
oriented, child-centered, self paced, interactive and multimedia based
content."
You probably know that Azim Premji is the Chairman and CEO of one of India's
largest software companies, Wipro. Wikipedia [
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azim_Premji] says he was rated the richest man
in India between 1999 to 2005 (and is probably among the top five now).
This impressed me: "Premji is known for his modesty and frugality in spite
of his wealth. He drives a Toyota <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota>
Corolla <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Corolla> and flies economy
class <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_class>, prefers to stay in
company guest houses<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guest_house_%28lodging%29>rather
than luxury
hotels <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel> and even served food on paper
plates at a lunch honouring his son's wedding."
Check it out. Really useful stuff. The educational content on the DVDs, I
mean!
–
[1] Head - Technology for Education, Azim Premji Foundation, #134,
Doddakannelli, Next to Wipro Corporate Office, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore -
560 035 Tel: 91-80-66144900/901/902 (Board) 91-80-66144922 (Direct) Fax:
91-80-66144903 Mobile: 09449820054 www.azimpremjifoundation.org
--
FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org
784 Nr Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa India
Ph +91-832-2409490 M: +91-9970157402
16,000+ photos from Goa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/
-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: Frederick "FN" Noronha <fredericknoronha(a)gmail.com>
Reply-To: bytesforall_readers(a)yahoogroups.com
To: bytesforall_readers(a)yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bytesforall_readers] Software body working on anti-piracy task
force
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:02:59 +0530
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/07/21/stories/2008072150640200.htm
Software body working on anti-piracy task force
V. Rishi Kumar
Hyderabad, July 20
Business Software Alliance is working towards creating an anti-piracy
task force in coordination with industry bodies such as FICCI
(Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Nasscom
(National Association for Software and Services Companies) and the
Government and favours some amendments to the Copyright Act to make it
more stringent.
The alliance promoted by some leading technology firms, including
software companies Adobe, Microsoft, is in talks with both the Central
and State Governments to spread awareness against piracy, according to
Ms Lizum Mishra, Director of Business Software Alliance (India).
Speaking to Business Line, Ms Mishra said that piracy numbers have
shown that there is some improvement but a lot needs to be done to
ensure that it is brought down significantly.
"Apart from bringing down piracy level, particularly in the case of
enterprises, we are also in parleys with Government departments,
officials in the Ministry of Commerce and Information Technology and
Communication to impress the need to bring about amendments to
Copyright Act and make violations stringent," she said.
Towards curbing piracy, dedicated Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
and Anti Piracy Cells have been created at FICCI with a focus on
protecting intellectual property and educating people on use of
legally obtained software, Ms Mishra said.
FIVE-POINT BLUEPRINT
As a part of its efforts to bring down piracy levels, the alliance has
come up with a five-point blueprint. This covers increasing public
awareness of value of intellectual property and risks of use of
unlicensed software and the need to update national copyright laws for
more effective enforcement against digital and online piracy.
The focus is on creation of enforcement mechanisms as required by the
World Trade Organisation, dedicate significant Government resources
(including IP enforcement units) and lead by example — using only
legal copies in public sector undertakings.
--
FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org
Ph +91-832-2409490 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Goahttp://www.linkedin.com/in/fredericknoronha
__._,_.___
Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic
Messages
Yahoo! Groups
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch
format to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
Recent Activity
8
New Members
Visit Your Group
Yahoo! Finance
It's Now Personal
Guides, news,
advice & more.
Need traffic?
Drive customers
With search ads
on Yahoo!
Best of Y! Groups
Discover groups
that are the best
of their class.
.
__,_._,___
--
V. Sasi Kumar
Free Software Foundation of India
http://swatantryam.blogspot.com
hello,
there are a couple of very strong blogs which I have created, I would
like all fello hackers to visit and put their comments.
fossimpact.blogspot.commigratetofoss.blogspot.com
the first talks about the impact of free software while the second is
about tips and tricks that worked for me when I did foss awareness
workshops etc.
happy hacking.
KK
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Pradeepto Bhattacharya <pradeeptob(a)gmail.com>
Date: 2008/7/6
Subject: [foss.in] KDE.in Monsoon Hackathon!
To: foss-in(a)yahoogroups.com
Hi,
Foss.in and Geodesic would be sponsoring a KDE Hackathon [
Bangalore, 11-13th July ]. Some details here[1]. We plan to hack on
our favorite projects during the event. Thought that I should inform
the list as well. Thanks, team(a)foss.in.
[1]http://pradeepto.livejournal.com/15827.html
Cheers!
Pradeepto
--
The KDE Project : http://www.kde.org
KDE India : http://in.kde.org
Mailing List : http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-india
------------------------------------
--
The List Rules : http://foss.in/list-rules
The Event Site : http://foss.in
The Event Planet : http://planet.foss.in
The Event Channel : #foss.in on irc.freenode.net
The Event List : http://foss.in/list
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foss-in/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foss-in/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:foss-in-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:foss-in-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
foss-in-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
--
പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്
<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)
Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now!
http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Vimal Joseph <vimaljoseph(a)gmail.com>
Date: 2008/7/4
Subject: [School-GNU-Linux] OpenOffice Circular
To: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, schoolgnu(a)freelists.org
Hi all,
Here is an interesting circular issued by Department of IT on using
'Open Office' Software .
<quote>
All the Heads of Departments are requested not to put up proposal for
purchase of any Office Suite software in future. We are enclosing a 'Open
Office' CD and department can further copies as per requirement as it is
free to use license software.
</quote>
regards,
~vimal
--
HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE!
--
Free Software, Free Society
സ്വതന്ത്ര സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയര്, സ്വതന്ത്ര സമൂഹം
<http://fsfs.hipatia.net>
--
പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്
<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)
Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now!
http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign
Hi all,
I was browsing the web and came across this link
http://www.quantenblog.net/free-software/liberation-fonts
What caught my eye was this
" the individual glyphs of a fonts can be copyrighted "
>From what I know/understand (FWIK) if the individual glyphs are under
a free license then there is possibility of having more fonts, isn't
it? Has this point being raised by FSF anywhere or any writings on the
same, anyone highlighting this issue.
Any additions, comments welcome for the same.
--
Regards,
Shirish Agarwal
This email is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
065C 6D79 A68C E7EA 52B3 8D70 950D 53FB 729A 8B17
"ReactOS 0.3.5 Released
Four months after the release of 0.3.4, we are pleased to announce
ReactOS 0.3.5.
This release, along with the rest of the 0.3.x series is still
considered alpha quality software, so do not set your expectations too
high.
ReactOS 0.3.5 release contains fixes for many old bugs, some having
been present since 0.3 or even earlier and some being regressions
introduced in further releases due to rewrites of certain components,
not to mention new features."
More news on this at http://www.reactos.org
CK Raju
Thrissur