Fsf-friends April 2009

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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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IEEE tutorial on GNU / Linux
by Vikram Vincent 04 May '09

04 May '09

Free Software Movement Karnataka(FSMK)<http://fsmk.org/> in coordination with IEEE Bangalore section, IBM Linux Technology Centre and BMSCE announces a Linux kernel tutorial. IEEE announcement follows. IEEE Bangalore Section in association with BMS College of Engineering and Free Software Movement, Karnataka (FSMK) announces TWO DAY TUTORIAL ON GNU/LINUX Kernel Workshop By Eminent & Experienced Faculty from FSMK and IBM Date: May, 9th and 10th (Saturday, Sunday) Venue: BMS College of Engineering, Bull Temple Road, Basavanagudi Bangalore - 560 019 Prerequisites: Its expected that all participants will have: 1. Basic knowledge of Operating Systems 2. Good working knowledge of C 3. Hands-on experience desirable 4. Kernel programming experience is a bonus 5. Basic scripting knowledge (ex: shell scripts) 6. Working knowledge of Gnu/ Linux. Ex: 7. Booting a Gnu/ Linux system 8. Basic system administration (adding/removing users etc) 9. Basic commands (ls, ps, chmod, mkdir, vi, etc) We have planned to provide computer system for as many participants as possible, but would encourage, especially non-student participants ,to bring their own laptops so we can accommodate more numbers. Program: May 9th, (DAY 1) 8:30AM onwards: Registration 9:30 -10:30 AM: Inauguration: (Venue: Auditorium, BMS College of Engineering) Chair: Mr. K.. Ramakrishna , POWERGRID, Bangalore, Chairman, IEEE Bangalore Section Chief Guest: Dr. S. Bisalaiah, M.A , Ph.D, Former Vice- Chancellor, UAS, Bangalore, Member, Managing Body, BMSET, Chairman, Board of Management, BMSCE Guest of Honour: Dr. K Mallikharjuna Babu Ph.D., Principal, BMS College of Engineering 10:30-11:00 AM: Tea 11:00AM to 1:00 PM: SESSION 1 Basics of Gnu/ Linux Programming & Tools 1. Simple C programs 2. Simple Makefiles 3. gcc, stace, ltrace, gdb, objdump, nm, LD_PRELOAD [EXERCISE] 4. Quick overview of a typical hardware on which Gnu/ Linux runs (CPU, Memory, Interrupt controller, IO Bus etc) 5. Overview of the Linux Kernel 6. Kernel Layout 7. CodingStyle 8. Important subsystems 9. Kernel configuration 10. Building and booting a new kernel [EXERCISE] 1:00PM to 2:00 PM: LUNCH 2:00PM to 5:00PM SESSION 2 Linux Kernel Internals: An Overview (3 hours) 1. Process and threads [EXERCISE] 2. Memory Management [EXERCISE] 3. Filesystems [EXERCISE] 4. Interrupts and exceptions & System Calls [EXERCISE] 5. Kernel synchronization 4. How is the operating system changing [DISCUSSION] 5. What are the key areas of focus [DISCUSSION] 6. Generic questions and answers May 10th, (DAY 2) 9:30-10:30 PM SESSION 3 Device Drivers (1 hour) 1. Kernel module programming 2. Char and block drivers 3. ioctls 4. Writing simple char device driver [EXERCISE] 10:30:10:45 Tea 10:45-1:00PM SESSION 4 Kernel Debugging (2 hours , 15 Minutes) 1. printk 2. Dynamic instrumentation techniques 3. SystemTap and tracing (ftrace and markers) [EXERCISE] 4. kexec/kdump/crash analysis [EXERCISE] 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM LUNCH 2:00PM to 5:00PM How You can contribute 1. Introduction to the free software community 2. How to contribute 3. New exciting areas of work in the kernel 4. Generic questions and answers Tutorial is organized in various sessions as above. Lunch and Tea are provided. Please report at 9am at the venue. Course Fee per participant: Non-member: Rs. 1500/-; Student Rs. 700/- IEEE member Rs. 1200/- ; IEEE Student member Rs.550/- Organizing Committee: Sethuraman Ganesan Chair,PAC, IEEE Bangalore Section Hitesh Mehta, Secretary, IEEE Bangalore Section Dr. T.Srinivas, SAC,IEEE Bangalore Section Ravi Kiran A.,MDC, IEEE Bangalore Setion V V Srinivasan,Treasurer, IEEE Bangalore Section Please send your registration to: Mr. Sethuraman Ganesan Chair - Professional Activities IEEE Bangalore Section ABB Ltd, Khanija Bhavan, 5th Floor, West Wing, 49, Race Course Road Bangalore 560001 Phone: +91 99014 99033 e-mail: sganesans(a)yahoo.com Visit IEEE Bangalore Section at http://www.ieee.org/bangalore.

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[gNewSense-users] DeltaH CD 2.2 gNewSense Release
by mail＠swathanthran.in 15 Apr '09

15 Apr '09

Karl Goetz <karl(a)kgoetz.id.au> writes: > Hi all, >> systems, using GNOME as the default desktop environment (others such as > XFCE or KDE are available post installation). > > Download links: > Live CD: > http://cdimage.gnewsense.org/gnewsense-livecd-deltah-i386-2.2.iso > Source tarball: > http://cdimage.gnewsense.org/gnewsense-cdsource-deltah-i386-2.2.tar > Torrent: > http://cdimage.gnewsense.org/gnewsense-livecd-deltah-i386-2.2.iso.torrent > > > Short list of changes (full list available via SVN log): > gNewSense: > - Installer now supports two more filesystems > - GLX re-introduced > - changed description of -updates and -backports in "Software Sources" > - use linux-image-generic instead of linux-image-386 > - lsb_release output corrected > - GNU Icecat repo available via Software Sources > > Builder: > - Substantial code restructuring > - CD isos have had their naming format changed > - Usplash packaging cleaned up, helping portability > - Contents-$ARCH.gz files are generated > > - Website: > To coincide with this release, a new skin has been applied; we hope you > like it. > > > As always, we're in #gnewsense on irc://chat.freenode.net. > More details about gNewSense can be found at http://www.gnewsense.org > > Thanks, > > Karl Goetz, on behalf of the gNewSense dev, art and web teams. > > PS. > On a personal note, I'd like to ask you not to find major regressions > in my first release. > :P

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Fwd: [fosscom] BJP accepts key sections of the FOSS Manifesto
by Anivar Aravind 10 Apr '09

10 Apr '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Venkatesh Hariharan <venkyh(a)gmail.com> Date: Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 3:38 PM Subject: [fosscom] BJP accepts key sections of the FOSS Manifesto To: network(a)lists.fosscom.in Dear Friends, Key sections of the FOSS manifesto (Point # 1 on FOSS in education, # 4 on open standards, #5 on encouraging freely shareable, FOSS based knowledge repositories like Wikipedia in Indian languages), have been strongly articulated in the BJP's IT vision document that was unveiled today by BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Shri LK Advani. The 40 page vision document is at: http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/images/stories/it-vision.pdf The press release is at: http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/content/view/799/281/ I am also enclosing my blog on this subject: Venky ===== http://osindia.blogspot.com/2009/03/bjps-it-vision-supports-open-source-and… Saturday, March 14, 2009 BJP's IT Vision supports open source and open standards The BJP, the largest opposition in India has released an IT Vision document that endorses open source and open standards. Many of the points mentioned in the FOSS Manifesto for India that we put up online last week have been incorporated in this document. This document was unveiled by none other than Shri. LK Advani, the BJP's candidate for Prime Minister. I did a quick read of the 40 page document and am impressed with how thorough and comprehensive it is. As a long time supporter of free and open source software, I am delighted to see a major Indian political party endorse it. However, I am even more delighted to see that this endorsement is rooted in a comprehensive vision for India's development. A big chunk of the credit for this document should go to Shri. Sudheendra Kulkarni (an alumnus of IIT Bombay) and Shri Prodyut Bora (an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad). Shri Kulkarni was advisor to Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee when Vajpayee was prime Minister of India and Shri Bora is Head of the IT Cell of the BJP. I was happy to see that the Digital Colonization theme that my friend, Jaijit Bhattacharya of Sun talks about has been incorporated in this document. Apart from the FOSS Manifesto, some of my key passions on open standards (that we don't pay for standards like weights and measures in the physical world, so why should we pay for standards in the digital world?) have been reflected. Also, as a co-founder of IndLinux.org which we started in 2000 in an attempt to bridge the digital divide, I am happy to see that the BJP has promised to create a National Mission for Indian Language Computing. The CPI(M), another national party in India has always been a strong supporter of our stand on open source, open standards and our fight against software patents. We are hopeful that other political parties will also take cognizance of the FOSS Manifesto and incorporate the same into their IT plans for India. With the country scheduled to go to polls next month, we now have a broad consensus emerging around the use of open source and open standards. This is great news for all of us who believe in free and open source software! _______________________________________________ Network mailing list Network(a)lists.fosscom.in http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in -- 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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[Announcement] Launch of Free Software Movement - Karnataka
by Anilkumar KV 07 Apr '09

07 Apr '09

Congratulations, Vikram and other firends in FSMK. It is really a good initiative. Regards, Anil

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[Announcement] Launch of Free Software Movement - Karnataka
by Vikram Vincent 07 Apr '09

07 Apr '09

We, the Free Software Movement Team having been consistently working to build the Free Software Movement in Karnataka, have decided to consolidate our efforts by forming an organisation. Our work has been built on the work of the pioneers of Free Software in the country. After much deliberation, we have decided to name our organisation the 'Free Software Movement - Karnataka' to symbolise the all inclusiveness of the Movement. What differentiates us from other groups, organisations or networks is our approach to building the Movement. Our scientific understanding is that only a 'mass movement' in the FOSS domain can bring about the various changes that we envision. To build such a mass movement, a democratic, transparent, representative and dynamic organisation is essential. We understand that to address the various challenges before the Free Software Movement it is essential to have broad based coordination among the various entities operating in the FOSS domain, in conformance with our principles. It should be noted that we are not affiliated to FSF-I or any other entity, at present. We represent the Free Software Movement. Prof Eben Moglen and RMS have been our inspiration. The Convener is Senthil S.(9900262828) <senthilsos(a)yahoo.com> and Jt. Convener is Vikram Vincent (9448810822) <vincentvikram(a)gmail.com> This core team is supported by a group of academicians, people from the industry and students from around Karnataka. We present the 'Free Software Movement - Karnataka (FSMK)' http://fsmk.org http://fsmk.in --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What is a mass movement? Mass movement : is a word with comes from geology. It is the geomorphic process by which soil, regolith, and rock move down slope under the force of gravity. Mass movement can be over varying timescales from seconds to years. Mass movement may occur at a very slow rate, particularly in areas that are very dry or those areas that receive sufficient rainfall such that vegetation has stabilised the surface. It may also occur at very high speed, such as in rock slides or landslides. -------- We aim to be a MASS MOVEMENT in FREE SOFTWARE We would like be a group of hacktivists - who can be catalysts in reaching the idea of free software to a large number of people - including the people who don't have hardware - by giving them free hardware to start with. Whether the mass movement in free software in India is going to be rapid or slow - is going to depend on You Waking up to the philosophy of free software.

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Kerala syllabus includes Power Point
by V. Sasi Kumar 05 Apr '09

05 Apr '09

The recommended syllabus for Course 2 (Academic Writing and Presentation) among the Common Courses, as recommended by the Higer Education Council, contains Power Point. I think we should register our protest. The syllabus should not specify a particular company's software. It has to be generic. They should change it to Multimedia Presentation. Can we send a letter to the Higher Education Council and to the Education Minister on this issue? Best -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please visit http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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Re: [Fsf-friends] [FSUG-Bangalore] The Hindu Editorial calls for Free Software in Healthcare
by Anivar Aravind 03 Apr '09

03 Apr '09

On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 8:03 PM, Pranesh Prakash <pranesh(a)cis-india.org> wrote: > Would the people on this list be able to pinpoint the various > governmental organisations/departments that have a) taken upon > themselves a mandate to use FOSS, and b) are successfully using FOSS? > Links to press releases / newspaper articles about such use would also > be useful. If such a list already exists, could someone point me > towards that? There is no such specific list. But It would be good if someone can volunteering to collect it in FSUG-Bangalore wiki Anivar -- 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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The Hindu Editorial calls for Free Software in Healthcare
by Anivar Aravind 03 Apr '09

03 Apr '09

The solution to the problem of flexibility lies in free and open source software. India has already adopted open source approaches in administrative systems and education projects. This represents a good policy foundation on which to build a national eHealth system. It could, for a start, leverage the strengths of the large open source software community. The outcome would be a common electronic health platform covering clinical and administrative functions for government as well as private institutions, with full interoperability. What is more, the open source nature of the project is bound to attract software companies and communities of programmers to come up with innovative health applications. http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/03/stories/2009040355500800.htm -- 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 April 2009