Fsf-friends May 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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Red Hat protests Swiss govt. support to M$
by V. Sasi Kumar 26 May '09

26 May '09

"Linux vendor Red Hat, and 17 other vendors, have protested a Swiss government contract given to Microsoft without any public bidding. The move exposes a wider Microsoft monopoly that European governments accept, despite their lip service for open source, according to commentators." See: http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/red-hat-sues-switzerland-over-microsoft-m… Best -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please visit http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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Govt gearing up to gag websites
by Harish Singh 23 May '09

23 May '09

It appears that the Union government is getting ready to throw free speech and due process provisions into the pit. The provisions in the act don't just specify news articles, but a broad range of information like blogs. From article by Manoj Mitta,Times of India, 22nd May 2009, "Under the draft rules framed under section 69A of the IT amendment Act, every state or Central government department will be empowered to decide whether a certain news item, article, blog or advertisement relating to its jurisdiction is safe to remain on the Net. Once somebody sends a "complaint" against any information displayed on the Net, the department concerned will take a call on whether the matter in question affects any of the six concerns mentioned in section 69A: interest of sovereignty or integrity of India, defense of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order or incitement to commit any cognizable offense relating to the other five reasons." See more here : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Govt-gearing-up-to-gag-news-websit… - Harish

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[Fwd: [FSF] FSF Settles Suit Against Cisco]
by V. Sasi Kumar 21 May '09

21 May '09

-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Brett Smith <brett(a)fsf.org> To: info-press(a)gnu.org, info-fsf(a)gnu.org Subject: [FSF] FSF Settles Suit Against Cisco Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 13:04:47 -0400 [This press release is available on the web at <http://www.fsf.org/news/2009-05-cisco-settlement.html>. FSF Compliance Engineer Brett Smith has written about what we can learn from this settlement at <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/2009-05-settlement>.] BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, May 20, 2009 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Cisco Systems, Inc. are pleased to announce that they have reached a joint agreement. Under the agreement, the FSF has agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against Cisco. Cisco has agreed to appoint a Free Software Director for Linksys, a subsidiary of Cisco, to supervise Linksys' compliance with the requirements of free software licenses such as the GPL (the GNU General Public License). The Free Software Director will report periodically to the FSF regarding Linksys' compliance efforts. Cisco has further agreed to take certain steps to notify previous recipients of Linksys products containing FSF programs of their rights under the GPL and other applicable licenses, to publish a licensing notice on the Linksys website, and to provide additional notices in a separate publication. In addition, Cisco will continue to make the complete and corresponding source code for versions of FSF programs used with current Linksys products freely available on its website. Cisco will also make a monetary contribution to the FSF. The parties recognize Cisco's ongoing obligations under the GPL and other free software licenses. The FSF will continue to independently monitor Linksys' compliance with these licenses, and work with Linksys to resolve any new issues that may arise. "We are glad that Cisco has affirmed its commitment to the free software community by implementing additional measures within its compliance program and dedicating appropriate resources to them, further reassuring the users' freedoms under the GPL," said Peter Brown, Executive Director of the FSF. "Our agreement results in making all of the relevant source code available in the fastest way possible." ### About the FSF The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at <http://donate.fsf.org>. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA. ### Media Contacts Brett Smith Licensing Compliance Engineer Free Software Foundation +1 (617) 542 5942 x18 <brett(a)fsf.org> ### info-fsf mailing list info-fsf(a)gnu.org Unsubscribe: http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please visit http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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Intel beats Microsoft in EU fines
by V. Sasi Kumar 13 May '09

13 May '09

Intel has been fined a record Euro 1.04 billion for anti-competitive practices, beating Euro 497 million fined on Microsoft in 2004. They paid retailers to avoid AMD products. So, it seems, these giants become giants through trickery only! See http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10239487-92.html?tag=nl.e703 Best -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please visit http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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Fwd: [FSF] ESP launches en.swpat.org: A Wiki for Anti-Software Patent Campaigns
by Nagarjuna G. 05 May '09

05 May '09

-- Nagarjuna G. gnowledge lab, HBCSE, TIFR. India.

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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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Fwd: [JOB] Project on FOSS adoption in Indian education
by Vikram Vincent 04 May '09

04 May '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Prabhu Ramachandran <prabhu(a)aero.iitb.ac.in> Date: Mon, May 4, 2009 at 3:51 PM Subject: [JOB] Project on FOSS adoption in Indian education Hello, Project positions are open at IIT Bombay for a new government funded project on adoption of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) in Indian science and engineering education. Applicants may email their resumes along with a one page writeup on why they think they are well suited for the project to: admin.foss[at]iitb.ac.in News, announcements and details regarding the project are available here: http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu/Projects/FOSSEducation Overview of the project ----------------------- The eventual goal is to replace the use of commercial tools in Indian science and engineering education at the college level. Towards this we are working on the following broad themes: - Python for scientific computing. - Scilab (http://www.scilab.org, http://www.scilab.in). - Multimedia authoring tool suited for Indian languages with a LaTeX backend. - Other projects related to the above. I will be personally involved with the "Python for scientific computing" component. This will broadly involve: - NumPy (http://numpy.scipy.org), - SciPy (http://www.scipy.org), - matplotlib (http://matplotlib.sf.net), - Sage (http://www.sagemath.org), - Mayavi (http://code.enthought.com/projects/mayavi), - ETS (http://code.enthought.com/projects), - SymPy (http://code.google.com/p/sympy), and various other packages of interest. As part of the project you will have opportunity to work with the core developers of these major projects. Requirements ------------ The positions are all for a maximum duration of 3 years. The initial appointment will be for a period of 1 year which will be extended based on performance. - Project manager: 1 position - Technical writer: 1 position - Software Developers/content generators: - Python: 4 positions - Scilab: 3 positions - LaTeX: 2 positions You will need to stay on campus or commute to IITB. Accommodation will be provided if available, otherwise HRA will be provided. Qualifications --------------- Project manager: - Good knowledge of programming and open source software community - People management - Communication - Organizational skills Technical writer: - Excellent language and communication skills (spoken and written) - Familiarity with computers - Willingness to learn Programmers/content generators: - Willingness to learn - Good programming skills - Passion for FOSS - Experience with FOSS - Good math and science skills System administration and web development skills are also required so strong applications with those skills would also be considered. Experience with Python/Scilab/LaTeX is a plus. Experience with working on a FOSS project is a big plus. Job description --------------- As part of this project you will work towards creating material for adoption of the various existing FOSS tools in the science and engineering curriculum. This will involve generation of a significant amount of documentation in the form of tutorials, audio/video demonstrations, written material, and lectures. The material will often go towards augmenting existing courses. The project will involve working with several well known packages and improving them both in terms of documentation and code to add features or fix bugs. We will be hosting several workshops, sprints and conferences where you will get to meet the developers of many important packages. Remuneration ------------- The pay will be in the range Rs. 10000 to 30000 depending on the qualifications and experience. For extra-ordinary people the upper limit is flexible. Accommodation will be provided on campus if available. Why you should apply -------------------- - You get paid to improve and write FOSS. - You get to do really meaningful work -- your work will influence generations of future students all over India and potentially elsewhere. - You get to work on some of the most important projects that will influence the future of science and engineering. - You get to meet and work with the authors of various important packages. - You will be at IIT Bombay and will have best of both worlds -- good pay and an academic environment. Thanks. Prabhu Ramachandran http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://swatantra.org/ http://fsmk.org/

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Fsf-friends May 2009