Fsf-friends September 2010

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21 discussions

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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Electronic Voting Machines and Free Software (Was Re: Sign an Open Letter to the CJI in Support of Prashant Bhushan)
by Praveen A 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

2010/9/28 Satish Babu <sb(a)inapp.com>: > This is not about the petition, but I'm wondering if there is a link > between Free Software and EVMs. > > If I remember right, the original debate was if EVMs could be > demonstrated to be tamper-proof. > > EVMs are some kind of computers, and consist of hardware and software > (in this case, firmware). The question of establishing if an EVM is > tamper-proof *can* be resolved if the community has access to the > source code of the firmware. After all, if the community has > sufficient skills to contribute to the Linux kernel, we surely have > the competencies to audit/inspect the source code of the EVM. > > As a community, shouldn't we be therefore calling for public scrutiny > of the source code of the EVM? How do you make sure every EVM actually has the binary compiled from the source code you inspected? How do you know if the storage card is not replaced? There are much more issues than just source code. The biggest concern, is there is no back up, and you cannot verify it independently unlike a paper ballet. -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ You have to keep reminding your government that you don't get your rights from them; you give them permission to rule, only so long as they follow the rules: laws and constitution.

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Fwd: [hipatia] video of Lalitha Prasad uploaded
by Juan Carlos Gentile Fagundez 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

-- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gutta cavat lapidem --------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.hipatia.net - http://aty.hipatia.net - http://guri.c-o-d-e-x.net marroncito.hipatia.info Italia - tel: +39 3929657778 - India - +91 8129860036 - Uruguay +598 099 945009 jabber: jucar(a)hipatia.net email: jucar at hipatia.net , jucar at roar.music.columbia.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fingerprint: 7464 DDDE 9D5D 3B6C CBF9 7699 A021 CE74 EA7A D95A Public key 0xEA7AD95A at http://pgp.mit.edu

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LibreOffice
by ck raju 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

If true, LibreOffice would be a nice name, a pretty good hack, a soft answer to corporates who think they can control Free Software and a fine piece of art at work. -- CK Raju

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Sign an Open Letter to the CJI in Support of Prashant Bhushan
by V. Sasi Kumar 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

I have just read and signed the online petition: "Sign an Open Letter to the CJI in Support of Prashant Bhushan" hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition service, at: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CJI/ I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. Please take a look, and consider signing yourself. Best Sasi -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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rms video of Kozhikode
by Juan Carlos Gentile Fagundez 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

Finished uploading the v0 of the RMS video in Kozhikode conference. you can find it at: http://streaming.hipatia.net:8000/video/confedu/rms_v0.ogv you will find also coming the following days all the conferences there as well as other material in http://streaming.hipatia.net best juan -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gutta cavat lapidem --------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.hipatia.net - http://aty.hipatia.net - http://guri.c-o-d-e-x.net marroncito.hipatia.info Italia - tel: +39 3929657778 - India - +91 8129860036 - Uruguay +598 099 945009 jabber: jucar(a)hipatia.net email: jucar at hipatia.net , jucar at roar.music.columbia.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fingerprint: 7464 DDDE 9D5D 3B6C CBF9 7699 A021 CE74 EA7A D95A Public key 0xEA7AD95A at http://pgp.mit.edu

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Sign an Open Letter to the CJI in Support of Prashant Bhushan
by Raj Mathur (राज माथुर) 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

On Tuesday 28 Sep 2010, Juan Carlos Gentile Fagundez wrote: > [ot] linux-dheli ? do you have a group for the kernel stuff or is a > gnu-linux group? No, it's not kernel only, it deals with the Linux Operating System. And no, it's not a GNU/Linux user group either. We choose to call the OS Linux, and we don't stop people from calling it GNU/Linux on the list or at meetings and events, if they so choose. To clarify in advance, I'm not interested in participating in a discussion on the relative merits/demerits of OS names -- I've already said what I wanted to say on that topic many years ago on this list. Anyway, I have to get back to composing my next e-mail to this list on some issue that I feel strongly about. How does "Indian Free Software Activist Needs Cash to Buy Car to Popularise Software Freedom" sound? I feel really strongly about that one, and I'm sure I can find some friends on this list who would support me (specially the ones who live nearby and hope to hitch rides). Regards, -- Raj -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves

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Give money to Free Software Supporter
by Raj Mathur (राज माथुर) 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

Raj Mathur is a well-known supporter of software freedom in India. His old Cross pen has reached EOL, and since he's too lazy to go to the authorised Cross repair shop ad get it fixed/replaced, he needs to buy a new one. Cost of a new Cross pen is in the vicinity of Rs 3000. Please donate generously to the cause of Raj Mathur's Cross, with which he will be able to sign more commercial contracts for producing GPL software, thereby increasing the amount of free software in the world and, more specifically, in India. Donations may be made by MO to Raj Mathur. LIMITED TIME OFFER! All donators will receive, ABSOLUTELY FREE OF COST, a GPG-signed thank- you e-mail from RAJ MATHUR HIMSELF! HURRY AND DONATE NOW! OFFER OPEN FOR ONLY A FEW DAYS! -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves

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DocumentFoundation , LibreOffice
by Narendra Sisodiya 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

penOffice.org Community announces The Document Foundation The community of volunteers developing and promoting OpenOffice.org sets up an independent Foundation to drive the further growth of the project The Internet, September 28, 2010 - The community of volunteers who develop and promote OpenOffice.org, the leading free office software, announce a major change in the projectâs structure. After ten yearsâ successful growth with Sun Microsystems as founding and principle sponsor, the project launches an independent foundation called "The Document Foundation", to fulfil the promise of independence written in the original charter. read more... http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/announce/msg00000.html -- ┌─────────────────────────┐ │ Narendra Sisodiya │ http://narendrasisodiya.com └─────────────────────────┘

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Fsf-friends September 2010