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Sri Lanka Declares a National Free and Open Source Week
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 28 Aug '05

28 Aug '05

http://it.slashdot.org/it/05/08/28/1553234.shtml?tid=218&tid=106 Sri Lanka Declares an Open Source Week Posted by Zonk on Sunday August 28, @11:43AM from the tux-for-all dept. AnuradhaRatnaweera writes "Sri Lankan Government has declared (google cache) the week starting from the 5th of September as the National Free and Open Source Software Week. The FOSS Community, Government's ICTA and the industry are working together to organize the week's events including the FOSSSL Conference and Asia Open Source Symposium. The week has been selected to end (well, almost) with the Software Freedom Day."

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Need Free software in 11th Class
by Sarath Lakshman 26 Aug '05

26 Aug '05

Hello Friends, I am here to inform you about an issue in 11th Class. Now I am studying in 11th class - Computer Science. Our text book is following the proprietary C++ compiler (Turbo C++ Compiler) and there is nothing about Software freedom and importance of free software. We are forced to follow the proprietary environment. Even a few students don't know what the free software is? But some of them heard about 'Linux' but they don't know what is GNU. Last year, there were topics about GNU/Linux and M$ Windows in our 10th class IT@School text books. As a result of struggles done by FSF India, GNU/Linux gained prominence in IT syllabus from this year. LAst year, I Also Noticed the news which had come in newspapers - "Govt promised to give importance to free software in 10th class syllabus and Govt had announced that the coming 11th class Computer Sc syllabus will give importance to free software and GNU/Linux" Now Govt didn't follow their announcement. We are following same and old Com Sc syllabus with proprietary environment! we are the Ist batch who followed GNU/Linux and M$ Windows last year. Now we are forced to use proprietary software. g++, gcc is the best compiler and is a freesoftware, then why should we follow Turbo? which is a proprietary? There should be some topics to describe the importance of Free Software, and something should be done to make GNU/Linux as the default platform. I'm waiting for your comments. Thanking you, Sarath Lakshman __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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The Linux [TM] fracas
by Ramanraj K 26 Aug '05

26 Aug '05

"Linux fracas not the main game: RMS" By Sam Varghese August 25, 2005 - 3:05PM at http://www.theage.com.au/news/breaking/linux-fracas-not-the-main-game-rms/2… <quote> The fuss over the Linux trademark has diverted attention from the real issue - the freedom to change and redistribute software, the founder of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation, Richard M. Stallman, says. ..... "In this particular case, though, the naming issue seems rather to distract attention from freedom, so I'd rather focus the attention back where it belongs," he said. Stallman said he would not seek payment to allow people to use the GNU name. "Anyone who makes a GNU/Linux distribution ought to call it such, but most of them don't. We won't ask people to pay to give us credit for our work," he said. ... </quote>

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Abatement of Vendor Nuisance
by Ramanraj K 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

The poor school teachers and students in TN are scheduled to get "help" from Microsoft: http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE320050822083241&Page=3&Title=Feat… Education ought to be vendor neutral, focused on general principles and in any event, it should never become a marketing program for private entities. Governments and school authorities should avoid the traps and offers laid by private vendors whose main aim is merely to earn profits. Similar exercises are afoot at other places too: http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20050815/market04.shtml http://www.microsoft.com/resources/casestudies/casestudy.asp?CaseStudyID=17… We need to send in our concerns to the authorities involved here, and so please post any useful information/opinions connected with these issues. The vendor nuisance should abate for good. -Ramanraj

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Getting out useful FLOSS tools from Africa...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 22 Aug '05

22 Aug '05

-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Bill Kagai <billkagai(a)gmail.com> To: idlelo(a)fossfa.net, council(a)fossfa.net Cc: incom-l(a)incommunicado.info Subject: <incom> FOSSFA & TUNIS WSIS MEETING Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 09:48:20 +0300 Dear all, This is to let you know that FOSSFA in collaboration with OSIWA is developing FOSS tools relevant for Africa that can be show-cased during the WSIS Meeting in Tunis. For more information and to participate please visit the FOSS+ Project Blog at http://www.fossfa.net/tiki-view_blog.php?blogId=5 Participation is open but you have to register to post comments on the blog. (Left side of the blog page) A consortium comprised of HIVOS, APC and Bellanet have indicated possibilities of hosting FOSSFA in their booth at the ICT4D hall during the conference where we will show case the applications. The specific tools being developed are as follows; - Development of a Quick Migration Kit Development of a Live CD (KNOPPIX/MORPHIX) with Ten most used apps in windows and their GNU/Linux equivalents and device drivers for ten (10) most used devices on GNU/Linux Team Leader - Edwin Okugbo (Nigeria) -Hospital Management System (Care2x Localisation) Currency Localisation, Localised Patient Registration Module (User Requirements Development, Documentation and Development) Team Leader - Nicholas Kimolo (Kenya) -Telemedicine (Open YaLim) Telemedicine (Open YaLim)(User Requirements Development, Documentation and Development) Team Leader - Dr. Romain-Roland - Tahouri (Mali) -Care2x Public Health Management System User Requirements Development, Documentation and Development Team Leader - Nicholas Kimolo (Kenya) -Care2x HIV/AIDS Monitoring System User Requirements Development, Documentation and Development Team Leader - Nicholas Kimolo (Kenya) -Open Digital Educational Content Polish Up User Requirements Development, Documentation and Development Team Leader - James Lunghabo (Uganda) -School Human Resource Management System User Requirements Development, Documentation and Development Team Leader - Guido Sohne (Ghana) -SMS Help desk User Requirements Development, Documentation and Development Team Leader - Edwin Okugbo (Nigeria) -National Registration Management System, Agricultural Information Management System, E-Government, Service and Application Frameworks and Immigration Management System User, System & Functional Requirements Team Leader - Ben Akoh (Senegal) & Consultant -Community Radio Localisation and Customisation for African Users (User Requirements, Development and Documentation) Team Leader - Akos Maroy (Hungary)

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Open Access to Maps and Public Geo-Data
by Shekhar Krishnan 22 Aug '05

22 Aug '05

Dear All: :: apologies for cross-posting :: In the wake of the massive floods since 26 July in Mumbai and Maharashtra, a crisis of civic infrastructure and public health has emerged in the city and state, in which the right of citizens to information about their environments is of crucial public importance. Very few citizens of India enjoy open access to maps, satellite imagery, and other geographic information. Collected and brokered by national mapping and space imaging agencies, this geo-data is an essential for understanding civic issues such as planning, housing, infrastructure. Open access to this information can provide a platform for public action, reducing costs and promoting innovation by facilitating citizens' engagement with their local environments and authorities. The Open Knowledge Foundation is hosting a forum at http://okfn.org/ geo/manifesto.php about Open Access to State-Collected Geo-Spatial Data. * All government-collected maps, geographic information and spatial data are public property, and should be open; that is, available for free distribution and re-use under a share-alike license. * Online mapping projects creating freely re-usable geo-data should offer a compatible open license. * Common, standard formats for describing and exchanging geo-data should be adopted internationally. * Ultimately, all state-collected information should be freely available in the public domain, in a structured machine-readable format and in an open standard. Please read the manifesto and, if you agree with the statements it contains, sign up to support it at http://okfn.org/geo/ manifesto.php#signup For more information on the changing policies on maps and geo-data in India, see the 19 May 2005 release of the Press Information Bureau of the Government of India on http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp? relid=9388 _____ CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust) B-43, Shravasti Goregaon-Malad Link Road Malad (West), Mumbai 400064 India http://www.crit.org.in http://www.freemap.in http://www.mappinghacks.com

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Report from an engineering college in Goa
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 22 Aug '05

22 Aug '05

-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: George Easaw <geasaw(a)gmail.com> Reply-To: ilug-goa(a)yahoogroups.com To: ilug-goa(a)yahoogroups.com Subject: [ilug-goa] LUG GEC meting .. Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 12:01:14 +0530 The GEC LUG meeting went fine yesterday evening. Attended by about 20 members. There was a general intro to Gnu/Linux and the visit of Richard Stallman to GEC on Nov 6, 2002. The next meeting will have an install demo of linux. One of the students had a partition already of 10 GB for Linux and wanted to increase the partition size to about 15 GB. How can this be done ? They also showed how without using the grub pasword, anybody could loginto the GRUB and change the root password., as in LILO we used to type linux single at the prompt. nothing more, everything went fine. Let us see whether next meeting we can have tea too. george..

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Reference to Open Cola
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 21 Aug '05

21 Aug '05

Friends, This is a piece of info from Wikipedia site on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source"> Open Source. </a> "...Open Cola is another idea inspired by the open source movement. Soft drink giants like Coke and Pepsi hold their formulas closely guarded secrets. Now volunteers have posted the recipe for a similar soda drink on the internet. The taste is said to be comparable to that of the standard beverages..." Since Cola is notorious for ground-water exploitation, I think someone should drop all references to Coke or Pepsi and their proprietary recipe while explaining Free Software. The page though 'edit'-able, behind a proxy, its not. Someone has to do it. Rgds, CK Raju Thrissur ------------------ http://ernakulam.sancharnet.in/doxa

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Behind the mumbo jumbo of "Intellectual Property Rights"
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 18 Aug '05

18 Aug '05

Behind the mumbo-jumbo of "Intellectual Property Rights" Why should intellectual property rights matter to civil society? Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) has affected the public's access to knowledge in the public domain and to copyrighted work, and infiltrated into the domain of food and medicine, threatening the sustainability of indigenous knowledge and biodiversity. What can be done to protect the global commons, and culture and life forms in the public domain that are the heritage of humankind? What can civil society do locally to ensure that IPR legislations respond to social and cultural needs rather to the needs of international capital? - APC Africa ICT Policy Monitor More >> http://africa.rights.apc.org/?apc=he_1&x=288591

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Suggestions to the Draft Patent Practice and Procedure
by Ramanraj K 15 Aug '05

15 Aug '05

Friends, The Patent Office, India, has published the DRAFT MANUAL OF PATENT PRACTICE & PROCEDURE (2005) at http://www.patentoffice.nic.in/ipr/patent/manual-2052005.pdf calling for submission of suggestions and to point to errors in the Draft Manual. The following is a draft list of suggestions we may send to the Patent Office in this regard. We have to send in the representation before 17th August, 2005, and so please feel free to comment, and send in points that may have been missed, asap. Thanks, Ramanraj. [1] Computer programs are not patentable: ======================================== Under Article 10 of the TRIPs Treaty, <quote> Computer programs, whether in source or object code, shall be protected as literary works under the Berne Convention (1971). </quote> Accordingly, the Copyright Act, has substanital provisions dealing with the protection of computer programs as literary works, and the Patents Act, 1970, has explicitly excluded computer programs from the scope of patentability under Section 3 dealing with "Inventions not Patentable". All conclusions, findings, practices and procedures proposed in the Draft Manual of Patent Practice and Procedure [herein after referred to as Draft Manual] as if computer programs may be dealt with as inventions "in combination of hardware" are ultra vires the Patents Act, 1970, and against our International obligations under the TRIPs Treaty, and therefore need to be corrected and rectified to avoid serious ramifications in the software industry and our relationship with other law abiding nations. Suggestion: Please make it very clear in the Draft Manual that computer programs are not patentable. [2] Annexure II:EXAMINATION GUIDELINES FOR PATENTABILITY OF COMPUTER- RELATED INVENTIONS and all portions incidental thereto in the Draft Manual At page 156 of the Draft Manual, at the end of Annexure II, the following conclusion is found: <quote> 9.CONCLUSION The statute excludes from patentability the software per se. The inventions relating to the application of the computer program or software is held patentable under the Indian Patent Act, 1970 when claimed in combination of hardware and software components of a computer which provides a "technical advancement " over the prior art. It is necessary for the applicant to describe the "technical contribution" to the prior art when the invention involves software. The technical problem, which needs to be solved by the invention, should be sufficiently described as to how the hardware is controlled by the software to overcome the previously described problem. The "technical character" of the invention should be brought out clearly in the claims. </quote> The above conclusion is wrong for the following reasons: (1) Computer programs are excluded from patentability, under the Patents Act, 1970 in accordance with the TRIPs Treaty, as already discussed herein above under the heading "[1] Computer programs are not patentable". (2) The Draft Manual has placed reliance upon decisions of the US Supreme Court, which have not taken into consideration the provisions of the TRIPs Treaty, particularly with regard to computer programs. The US Supreme Court has not discussed the legal implications or the national obligations of the US Government in the light of the TRIPs Treaty, and those judgements cannot lend any support or reasons to conclude that computer programs are patentable. At best, the US judgements only help to conclude that the US has not kept up its international obligations under the TRIPs Treaty, and India, or other nations that trade with the US may raise this issue at the WTO to compel the US to conform to the TRIPs Treaty. (3) All computer programs effectively work only in combination with hardware. Computer programs, by their very nature, may be easily re-written without modifying hardware, to enhance usability. It is unscientific to assume that some computer programs can work without hardware, and some work in combination with hardware, and as though they deserve a special treatment not in accordance with the Patents Act, 1970. The illustrations included in the Draft make arbitrary distinctions between computer programs without any rational basis: <quote> 3(K) a mathematical or business method or a computer program perse or algorithms. computer program product is claimed as "A computer program product in computer readable medium", "A computer-readable storage medium having a program recorded thereon", etc. In such cases the claims are treated as relating to software perse, irrespective of the medium of its storage and are not held patentable. Examples in respect of other categories of subject matter are Scheme or method of bookkeeping. Business method in the field of accounting. Method of tax collection. A contents display method for displaying contents on a screen, A method for controlling an information processing apparatus, for communicating via the Internet with an external apparatus, A method for transmitting data across an open communication channel on a wireless device that selectively opens and closes a communication channel to a wireless network, and each wireless device including a computer platform and including a plurality of device resources that selectively utilizes a communication channel to communicate with other devices across the network All the above methods though utilise computer programs for its operation, are not computer programs as such and hence allowable On the other hand, A method of executing a computer program, in which at least part of the copy of the program available for execution is analysed to determine whether or not any change has been made thereto, and in the event that a change is detected, a further copy of the program is retrieved and caused to be executed instead of the first copy, A method for generating a new computer program using a software development tool, These are the programs solely intellectual in its context and hence not allowable. The Guidelines for examination of Computer-related inventions are given in Annexure 2 <\quote> "A scheme or method of bookkeeping" is a mere business method clearly not patentable. "Method of tax collection" is not at all patentable, because tax collection methods are a sovereign function of the state, and no individual could claim any monopoly against the State in exercise of sovereign functions. In any event, they fall within the category of "business methods" excluded from the scope of patentability. All the remaining illustrations, that include any claims over any computer program, algorithm, mathematical or business method are not patentable, as all computer programs could work only in combination with hardware, and more specifically, any computer program could be reduced into an algorithm. Both computer programs and algorithms are claims falling within the scope of Section 3 and therefore could not be treated as patentable inventions. (4) Under Section 3 of the Patents Act, mathematical or business methods, algorithms, a presentation of information, a mere scheme or rule or method of performing mental act or method of playing game are all not patentable. Any useful computer program could be reduced into an algorithm, and when Section 3 is read as a whole, it is abundantly clear that computer programs are not inventions and are not patentable. (5) Under Article 51 of the Constitution of India, the State shall "foster respect for international law and treaty obligations in the dealings of organised people with one another", and the Draft Manual ought not to dilute and water down well intended provisions in the Patents Act, to invite shame and ignomity to our country in the international arena. Suggestion: Scrap Annexure II and the incidental references to it from the Draft Manual. Computer related inventions may be treated and processed like any other claim that may not fall within the scope of Chapter II of the Patents Act, 1970. Conclusion: ========== India has contributed significantly to the science of computation, and has a responsibility to take the lead in the right direction. Number system originated from India, and many fundamental insights into computing have been achieved only because of the freedom and high standards ingrained in our traditions, that abjure trading or monopolisation of knowledge. India has been the clearest voice against monopolisation and has advocated for the greatest freedom in trading practices, in the light of our own history, before the WTO and other International organisations. The TRIPs Treaty itself is a great compromise against our own highest national aspirations and deepest desires, and the least the Patent Office may do is, therefore frame practices and procedures, within the scope and ambit of the Patent Act, 1970. For all the above reasons, we request the Patent Office to make changes in the light of the above suggestions, and to publish a fresh draft seeking fresh suggestions, before publishing and enforcing the practice the Draft Manual.

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Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] Participation by FSF-India in LB-05
by Kanti Jadia 09 Aug '05

09 Aug '05

>I am planning a visit to bangalore for attending LB. I'm also willing to >help setup and run an FSF stall there. This would be really gr8.thanks Anurag . >Anand Sharma has some 600 FSF >handouts with him. We can get more printed if we know rough estimate of >how much we'll need. The number of visiters in LB maybe a couple of times higher( near to 3000+ in 2004 ). Looking for details from all the friends here regarding the stall setup. What do you think is relevent putting at the FSF-India booth. Any "been there, done that" details would be really an eye opener. The IndLinux group has been setting up a stall there, maybe they can share some of their insight too. Regards Kanti ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

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TuxMobil GNU/Linux Award 2005
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 09 Aug '05

09 Aug '05

http://tuxmobil.org/linux_award.html TuxMobil GNU/Linux Award 2005 The TuxMobil GNU/Linux Award honors Free Software projects, which improve Linux for mobile computers. The Winners and the Prizes * OpenEmbedded : SHARP SL-6000L Linux PDA * OpenZaurus : SHARP SL-C750 Linux PDA * KDE-Pim/PI (PI-Sync) : AnyCom GS-320 TriBand GSM/GPRS CF-Card * KWlanInfo : Conceptronic 54Mbps Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter, D-Link DWL-122 Wireless USB Adapter * BlueZ : Serialio LaserChamp cordless Bluetooth scanner Jury * Georg C. F. Greve: Free Software Foundation Europe * Joerg Luther: Editor in Chief LinuxUser - Das Magazin fuer die Praxis * Werner W. Heuser: TuxMobil Sponsors The TuxMobil GNU/Linux Award 2005 is sponsored by: * Serialio - Your Serial Solution Provider ... on more than 30 platforms. * TriSoft - Linux PDAs. * Xtops.DE - Linux, Laptops, PDAs. Special thanks to Patrick Goetz ( Cuxhafen - A holiday flat in Cuxhafen).

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Participation by FSF-India in LB-05
by Kanti Jadia 09 Aug '05

09 Aug '05

Hi Friends, Just sent an email to lb mailing list to get the status on participation by FSF-India this year. The name of the event is not yet known ( maybe in a couple of days ). This is the right time to align the movements in India Let me know your thoughts Regards Kanti ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

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delete from the list
by satish reddy 09 Aug '05

09 Aug '05

pl delete from the list. tks satish reddy --------------------------------- Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page

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Desktop supercomputers
by Ramanraj K 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

Man: clock rate of 2KHz; million million processors, can solve sophisticated problems in less than 400 cycles (under ideal conditions ;), can do complex imaging, audio processing etc with available sensory intelligence Machine: clock rate in the range of Teraflops (super computers); few processors; can have very wide sensory intelligence but cannot do complex processing; and "problem solving" capabilities are not really worth mentioning Suppose I want my application to run 40 to 200 queries on a db, all concurrently, to take a simple decision, brain like parallel processing schemes/devices seems useful. The recent 64 bit processors seem to come with capacities for very large RAM, etc, and I am just curious if brain emulators are possible now. "Supercomputers" seem to be more focused on increasing clock speeds, but it may be worthwhile to also focus on increasing the number of threads/processors we could use to the range of million millions trading off with clock rate. I am not sure about technical feasibility etc., but this is one of the "unsolved" areas of cs, that may be of interest to researchers :) Ref: http://www.electricminds.org/ussclueless/essays/futurecs.htm

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Hi All
by Thejesh GN 08 Aug '05

08 Aug '05

Hi All, My name is Thejesh. I am working as a Software Engineer at Bangalore. Passed from VTU ( Visweswraiah Technological University) Belagum as E&C engineer. We were the first batch of the university. Early this year I got an idea about asking VTU to include more FOSS related courses in its syllabus. Hence I started a petition at my home site ( www.techmag.biz <http://www.techmag.biz> ). Then we moved it to GNU bangalore site (http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign). The petition has been editied by lot of people and it has reached a good state now. We have got the signatures of around 140 people including that of RMS. Initially I just had the plan of mailing the petition; but later I got an idea of visiting VC personally so that it will have more effect. VC of VTU Dr. K Balaveera Reddy has agreed to meet me on Aug 6 (Saturday) evening at VTU campus, belagum. I will be travelling on Aug 5 night ( from Bangalore). Plan as of now is to present him the hard copy of signatures/opinions/discussion that happened on GNU Bangalore site. I am also planning to give him a presentation. If anybody is interested to join me along; please mail me back. Or if you think something which I should be doing please do send it to me. -- Thanks, Thej http://www.techmag.biz gnthej at gmail dot com thej at techmag dot biz

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FOSS Projects from India
by Ramanraj K 07 Aug '05

07 Aug '05

Frederick Noronha has compiled a list of on going FOSS Projects from India at: http://www.iosn.net/country-reports/india <quote> INDIA: THERE'S A LOT HAPPENING, BUT CAN IT BE CHANNELISED? Compiled by Frederick Noronha India, with its population of one-billion plus, has a rich tech talent, considerable interest in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), and a network of some 80-plus user groups across its landmass (some active, some less). This offers wide potential.... </quote> About UNDP, APDIP, IOSN: The International Open Source Network is an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. The International Open Source Network (IOSN) is a Center of Excellence for FOSS in the Asia-Pacific Region. It shapes its activities around Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) technologies and applications. Via a small secretariat, the IOSN is tasked specifically to facilitate and network FOSS advocates and human resources in the region. The vision is that developing countries in the Asia-Pacific Region can achieve rapid and sustained economic and social development by using affordable yet effective FOSS ICT solutions to bridge the digital divide. More details at: http://www.iosn.net/

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Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] FOSS Projects from India
by Kanti Jadia 07 Aug '05

07 Aug '05

Hi Pramode, On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 Pramode C.E. wrote : >Hello, > >--- Ramanraj K <ramanraj.k(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > Frederick Noronha has compiled a list of on going > > FOSS Projects from India at: > > http://www.iosn.net/country-reports/india > >I would like Fred to add > >http://www.nsc.res.in/~elab/phoenix/ > I could find the source code under the file pheonix.tgz Can you pls. highlight the license as well. >to the list of Free Software projects from India >(if it is not already there on the list ...) > >`Phoenix' (Physics with homemade equipment and >innovative experiments) is perhaps the only product of >its kind >working on GNU/Linux - the project is fast reaching >maturity (a bootable CD is ready, some manufacturers >have started taking orders for the hardware box, >a mailing list is in place ...). > >Please let me know if you would like to have a demo >at your local LUG/FSUG. > >Regards, >Pramode >-------------- > > > > > > > >__________________________________________________________ >How much free photo storage do you get? Store your friends 'n family snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://in.photos.yahoo.com > >_______________________________________________ >Fsf-friends mailing list >Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

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Smart cards in GNU/Linux
by Manilal K M 07 Aug '05

07 Aug '05

Hello all, I am in search of device driver/software/API in Linux that supports Smart Card printers/readers.. While searching in the web I came across "GNU SmartCard Project" (http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~bossekr/news.html). But unfortunately I didn't got anything useful there since the language used is German. Can anyone give me the status of this project or any other GPL'd Smart Card Software. TIA. regards Manilal

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Free Software User Groups in Colleges
by Ramanraj K 07 Aug '05

07 Aug '05

Yesterday, there was a FOSS Awareness Program at Shri Sairam Engineering College, Chennai, for 3rd year students, and I gave a short talk on Free Software User Groups as member of ILUGC and FSF-India. The Principal of the College was very enthusiastic about the NRC plans and highlighted the self-employment possibilities and other opportunities available with free software. Less than 10 students knew about Gnu/Linux OS, and much less had even heard of RMS or Linus Torvalds. At the end, about half of them raised their hands when asked if they would opt for the FOSS Elective the next semester :) I wish NRC could organise these awareness programs on the style of LDD's organised by ilugc as one day events more like an open house for one and all, including the public also. Notes about one such LDD is at: http://www.chennailug.org/meeting/minutes/yr2004/momlf2004.html and the archives have more such stories. If there is atleast one Free Software User Group, in each Engineering College, it could benefit many. Rick Moen has written an excellent and useful user group HOWTO at: http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/User-Group-HOWTO.html <quote> "[The] movement has no central structure, bureaucracy, or other entity to direct its affairs. While this situation has advantages, it poses challenges for allocation of human resources, effective advocacy, public relations, user education, and training." </quote> Again, <quote> Linux works precisely because people are free to come and go as they please: Free programmers are happy programmers are effective programmers. </quote> Academic freedom and coding freedom make good companions. User Groups when organised in Colleges maintaining the core essence of the movement, it could solve many other problems too: -Education would become directly relevant to needs in society -Enables life-long continuity for students to update themselves -Better interaction with Public is possible -Knowledge based societies would become a reality That apart, many colleges are using proprietary packages and there is a need to replace existing proprietary software with free software. Let us please have a wiki page at ILUGC to list "equivalents". HTH. Thanks, Ramanraj.

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Four Friends - Part I
by Ramanraj K 07 Aug '05

07 Aug '05

Arvind, an old friend of mine, recently told me this story: One night, four travellers named One, Two, Five and Ten walking through a forest, come to a deep gorge and find that they have to continue their journey across a weak wooden bridge, that won't stand the weight of more than any two of them at a time. The bridge has a few missing logs and they had only one torch with them to guide them across. Also, One takes 1 minute, Two takes 2 minutes, Five takes 5 minutes and Ten takes 10 minutes to cross the bridge, due to their individual abilities. What is the minimum time within which the four friends could cross the bridge? I reasoned that One being the fastest, could take Two, Five and Ten across in about 19 minutes as follows: Task ::: Time taken in minutes ---------------------------------------------------------- 1 and 10 take torch and walk across: 10 1 returns with torch : 1 1 and 5 walk across with the torch : 5 1 returns with torch : 1 1 and 2 cross with the torch : 2 ---------------------------------------------------------- Total time: ::: 19 minutes Arvind said that they could save two minutes with another plan. I was sure there is a "catch" somewhere, because it appeared impossible. Did 1 and 2 cross earlier, and did 2 throw the torch from the other side? No, there are no catches, it is a purely logical problem to be solved just the way I proposed, but his plan would take two minutes less of time. How could they cross the bridge in just 17 minutes?

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Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] Participation by FSF-India in LB-05
by Kanti Jadia 03 Aug '05

03 Aug '05

hi, On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 Nagarjuna G. wrote : >Kanti Jadia wrote: > >>Hi Friends, >> >>Just sent an email to lb mailing list to get the status on participation by FSF-India this year. >> >>The name of the event is not yet known ( maybe in a couple of days ). >>This is the right time to align the movements in India >> >>Let me know your thoughts >> >> >Kanti, > >The only reason why we are not there is because the people in banagalore are not doing it. please organize among yourselves with fsf-bangalore and now you are quite a few motivated hackers, so you can get a stall at least going. I think the organizers will provide a free stall, if not we can pay for it. I would say we anyway have to spend on things like, stickers, posters, handouts, and make some money by selling CDs and t shirts. Maybe selling CDs may not be feasable. We can probably collect donations on behalf of FSF-India and give the goodies as gratis.Any previous experience here would help. Remember LB( the new name ) would have more than a couple of thousands. >But, FSF India wouldn't want to sponser an essentially open source event, but would want to be there spreading free software ideas around taking the benifit of the people who come there. I do not think it remains as an open source event anymore. What i hear is something to make it a premier FOSS event in India. > >Nagarjuna > Maybe a direct talk with the organizers would clear up the matter. Regards Kanti ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

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RMS Interview: excerpts "Losing jobs due to Free Software"
by Praveen A 02 Aug '05

02 Aug '05

Hi all, In this interview Stallman addresses the much exaggerated issue of losing jobs due to Free Software.* Read the full interview at kerneltrap.org <http://kerneltrap.org> http://kerneltrap.org/node/4484* *<quote> JA*: What about the programmers... *Richard Stallman*: What about them? The programmers writing non-free software? They are doing something antisocial. They should get some other job. *JA*: Such as? *Richard Stallman*: There are thousands of different jobs people can have in society without developing non-free software. You can even be a programmer. Most paid programmers are developing custom software--only a small fraction are developing non-free software. The small fraction of proprietary software jobs are not hard to avoid. *JA*: What is the distinction there? *Richard Stallman*: Non-free software is meant to be distributed to the public. Custom software is meant to be used by one client. There's no ethical problem with custom software as long as you're respecting your client's freedom. The next point is that programmers are a tiny fraction of employment in the computer field. Suppose somebody developed an AI and no programmers were needed anymore. Would this be a disaster? Would all the people who are now programmers be doomed to unemployment for the rest of their lives? Obviously not, but this doesn't stop people from exaggerating the issue. And what if there aren't any programming jobs in the US anymore? *JA*: You mean what if all the programming jobs were outsourced to foreign countries? *Richard Stallman*: Yes, what if they all go? This may actually happen. When you start thinking about things like total levels of employment, you've got think about all the factors that affect it, not blame it all on one factor. The cause of unemployment is not someone or society deciding that software should be free. The cause of the problem is largely economic policies designed to benefit only the rich. Such as driving wages down. You know, it's no coincidence that we're having all this outsourcing. That was carefully planned. International treaties were designed to make this happen so that people's wages would be reduced. *JA*: Can you cite specific examples? *Richard Stallman*: FTAA. The World Trade Organization. NAFTA. These treaties are designed to reduce wages by making it easy for a company to say to various countries, "which of you will let us pay people the least? That's were we're headed." And if any country starts having a somewhat increased standard of living, companies say "oh, this is a bad labor climate here. You're not making a good climate for business. All the business is going to go away. You better make sure that people get paid less. You're following a foolish policy arranging for workers of your country to be paid more. You've got to make sure that your workers are the lowest paid anywhere in the world, then we'll come back. Otherwise we're all going to run away and punish you." Businesses very often do it, they move operations out of a country to punish that country. And I've recently come to the conclusion that frictionless international trade is inherently a harmful thing, because it makes it too easy for companies to move from one country to another. We have to make that difficult enough that each company can be stuck in some country that can regulate it. The book *No Logo* explains that the Philippines have laws that protect labor standards, but these laws count for nothing any more. They decided to set up "enterprise zones" - that's the euphemism they used for "sweat shop zones" - where companies are exempt from these rules for the first two years. And as a result, no company lasts for more than two years. When their exemption runs out, the owners shut it down and they start another. *</quote> Read the full interview at kerneltrap.org <http://kerneltrap.org> http://kerneltrap.org/node/4484 *-- "GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org My Weblog at http://www.pravi.co.nr Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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Low cost PC from HCL based on Linux kernel, research center ...
by Ramanraj K 02 Aug '05

02 Aug '05

A PC for Rs. 9,990 from HCL based on the Linux kernel is now available. More info at: http://www.business-standard.com/iceworld/storypage_link.php?chklogin=N&aut…

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St Xavier's says it's keen to popularise FLOSS
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

St Xavier's College at Mapusa wants its college students to work with the GNU/Linux operating system and popularise it. This was stated by Principal Newman Fernandes, at the launch of the Xavier's Open Source Club, at the college premises recently. Principal Fernandes also suggested that students should use IT more widely, and said efforts were underway to ensure every student had his or her own email address, which was then effectively utilised. "Last year we initiated (our activities on Free/Libre and Open Source Software). This year we plan to go deeper into it," said Fernandes. "Our college has a principle of offering students all they way. We have 1850 students and 40 clubs. We have a Rainwater Harvesting Club, a music club, an e-centre where the class notes which teachers used to dictate are shared via the intranet. We also have a Centre for Traditional Knowledge," said Fernandes. Nelson Lobo, the lecturer of IT, said that FLOSS was based on the principle that everyone gains when everyone shares. "Our aim is to understand and promote FLOSS. This is software whose source code is available to modify, rebuild and share. We need to ask what Open Source can do for us," he added. This newly-launched club would be planning more activities in the coming months, he said. St Xavier's also wants its students to experiment with Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS). Dr Albert Gouveia, head of IT at the National Institute of Oceanography and an alumni of the prestigious IIT Bombay, was the keynote speaker at the launch of the club. Gouveia was an alumni of Xavier's from the 1968-1970 batch. He began by challenging students: "Why do Linux at all? Will it get me a job?" Gouveia called for looking beyond the traditional arguments that FLOSS is "freely available" and also less prone to hacker attacks. Gouveia argued: "It's not safe to stay with just one technology. You need to be exposed to all.... Open source gives you the freedom to experiment. With proprietorial software you don't have the source code to experiment with." He said that students joining the world of work would get "three weeks" in which to learn a new technology and deliver. "In other fields, what you learn in college will stand you in good stead for quite some time. In computing it's different. You need to broaden your horizons now, while you have the time," he added. A Debian user since 1994 and its 0.94 (pre-stable) release, Gouveia adviced students: "If you want an easy way you, you're not going to learn much." He added, "I never once felt the need to shift back to Windows... I can do whatever I want in Linux." He adviced students to read Eric S Raymond's essay called 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar'. http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ "You'll are the technical people who should try out every flavour (of GNU/Linux). Would you respect a mechanic who can only repair one type of a car?" he asked. "If you read the instructions and questions thoroughly while installing Debian, you will succeed in installing it the first time," he felt. Gouveia pointed to the number of jobs in GNU/Linux network and security aspects. He felt the world was moving to a situation where "all software is free". "Maybe five years from now, you will get no proprietary software. Look at everything besides Open Source too. But using Open Source is the easiest, because it is open to use," he argued. He said countries like Australia and New Zealand had a large number of projects for students on the Net. Later in the session, he interacted with students and others, and also shared copies of Ubuntu (another Debian-based distro, like Knoppix) with students and lecturers. Contacts: St Xavier's College: xavierscollege(a)sancharnet.in Dr Albert Gouveia: albert(a)darya.nio.org -- _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ Frederick Noronha | Independent Journalist | Ph 832.2409490 _/ 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India | fred(a)bytesforall.org _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

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St Xavier's says it's keen to popularise FLOSS
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

St Xavier's College at Mapusa wants its college students to work with the GNU/Linux operating system and popularise it. This was stated by Principal Newman Fernandes, at the launch of the Xavier's Open Source Club, at the college premises recently. Principal Fernandes also suggested that students should use IT more widely, and said efforts were underway to ensure every student had his or her own email address, which was then effectively utilised. "Last year we initiated (our activities on Free/Libre and Open Source Software). This year we plan to go deeper into it," said Fernandes. "Our college has a principle of offering students all they way. We have 1850 students and 40 clubs. We have a Rainwater Harvesting Club, a music club, an e-centre where the class notes which teachers used to dictate are shared via the intranet. We also have a Centre for Traditional Knowledge," said Fernandes. Nelson Lobo, the lecturer of IT, said that FLOSS was based on the principle that everyone gains when everyone shares. "Our aim is to understand and promote FLOSS. This is software whose source code is available to modify, rebuild and share. We need to ask what Open Source can do for us," he added. This newly-launched club would be planning more activities in the coming months, he said. St Xavier's also wants its students to experiment with Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS). Dr Albert Gouveia, head of IT at the National Institute of Oceanography and an alumni of the prestigious IIT Bombay, was the keynote speaker at the launch of the club. Gouveia was an alumni of Xavier's from the 1968-1970 batch. He began by challenging students: "Why do Linux at all? Will it get me a job?" Gouveia called for looking beyond the traditional arguments that FLOSS is "freely available" and also less prone to hacker attacks. Gouveia argued: "It's not safe to stay with just one technology. You need to be exposed to all.... Open source gives you the freedom to experiment. With proprietorial software you don't have the source code to experiment with." He said that students joining the world of work would get "three weeks" in which to learn a new technology and deliver. "In other fields, what you learn in college will stand you in good stead for quite some time. In computing it's different. You need to broaden your horizons now, while you have the time," he added. A Debian user since 1994 and its 0.94 (pre-stable) release, Gouveia adviced students: "If you want an easy way you, you're not going to learn much." He added, "I never once felt the need to shift back to Windows... I can do whatever I want in Linux." He adviced students to read Eric S Raymond's essay called 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar'. http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ "You'll are the technical people who should try out every flavour (of GNU/Linux). Would you respect a mechanic who can only repair one type of a car?" he asked. "If you read the instructions and questions thoroughly while installing Debian, you will succeed in installing it the first time," he felt. Gouveia pointed to the number of jobs in GNU/Linux network and security aspects. He felt the world was moving to a situation where "all software is free". "Maybe five years from now, you will get no proprietary software. Look at everything besides Open Source too. But using Open Source is the easiest, because it is open to use," he argued. He said countries like Australia and New Zealand had a large number of projects for students on the Net. Later in the session, he interacted with students and others, and also shared copies of Ubuntu (another Debian-based distro, like Knoppix) with students and lecturers. Contacts: St Xavier's College: xavierscollege(a)sancharnet.in Dr Albert Gouveia: albert(a)darya.nio.org -- _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ Frederick Noronha | Independent Journalist | Ph 832.2409490 _/ 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India | fred(a)bytesforall.org _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

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FOSSAC 2005... Pakistan
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

[Thanks to Sunil Abraham for forwarding this. -FN] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FOSSAC 2005 will offer 3 days of stimulating mass awareness events, amalgamating Free and Open Source Software Technologies Exhibition, Training Sessions, Conferences and Awards. This will commence on Tuesday 16 August 2005. The Programme format will consist of launching of the Free and Open Source Software Awareness Campaign that includes: 3 Day Mega Exhibition of over 100 stalls featuring educational, business, public sector and entertainment free software products. Linux Desktop Training Sessions for over 2000 participants throughout the 3 days event over a network of 500 latest computer hardware machines. "TPFOSST 05" 1st National Conference on Trends and Practices of Free and Open Source Software Technologies, August 18, 2005. National Free and Open Source Software Awards, August 18, 2005. The event will attract thousands of visitors from the General Public, Universities and people from all walks of life. The event will be graced with visits by official dignitaries belonging to the United Nations Development Program, Government of Pakistan, Government of Punjab, Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry and will receive huge media coverage. Objectives FOSSAC 2005 Free & Open Source Software Awareness Campaign 2005 is a three day event organized to promote nationwide awareness about the benefits of Free and Open Source Software and to persuade organizations and individuals of Pakistan to use Free & Open Source Software. Event Venue & Schedule Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) University of the Punjab Main Hall, Allama Iqbal (Old) Campus Lahore-Pakistan 16th - 19th August 2005 (9:00am â€“ 6:00pm) FOSSAC 2005 Event Organizers FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan PUCIT: Punjab University College of Information Technology, University of the Punjab PITB: Punjab Information Technology Board, Government of the Punjab PSEB-OSRC: Pakistan Software Export Board, Government of Pakistan, Open Source Resource Centre. KMT Innovators, Lahore, Pakistan Thanks and Regards Mr. Osman Haq Project Manager (OSRC) Pakistan Software Export Board Ministry of Information Technology 2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex Agha Khan Road, Sector F-5, Islamabad Tel : 051 9208748 Fax : 051 9204075 Email : hosman(a)pseb.org.pk URL: www.osrc.org.pk; www.pseb.org.pk ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Wireless talks development.....
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 Jul '05

30 Jul '05

Campaigners in Venezuela have launched a wireless-for-development portal, and the English-language details are below. See http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=582985 and also http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=526407 for EsLaRed's eighth Latin American workshop on networking technology... which looks like a rather interesting gathering of people and topics, when viewed from half way around the globe ;-) FN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Wireless talks development, that too in Spanish: www.wilac.net MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- The Latin American School of Networks Foundation (ESLARED) and the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) has launched a portal. WiLAC is the new information portal about Wireless Technologies for Development, designed to support individuals, organisations, municipalities and businesses currently implementing community wireless connectivity projects, or those about to launch on this road. The launch took place during the 'Experiences from Wireless Project Implementation" event, on July 27, 2005, in Merida (Venezuela), during the WALC 2005, an event about networking and content. WiLAC's portal was launched during a "Panel of experiences in implementation of wireless technologies", that was showcased during workshops underway at the event. This panel began at 7 p.m. in the Faculty of Engineering Auditorium of Los Andes University (ULA). In a crowded auditorium, Edmundo Vitale moderated the panel. It was kicked off with initial interventions from Jorge Phillips and Ermanno Pietrosemoli. Both emphasized the importance of having a reference point in the region, to address information needs about wireless technologies, specially in Spanish, the third most-widely spoken language in the world. Jaime Torres and Américo Sanchez, experts of the Area of Engineering at CEPES (Peru), presented their experience with the Agrarian Information System of Huaral Valley. They not only shared what they encountered in the implementation of the wireless network, but also about the community development, costs estimates and the impact in the community. CVG Telecom (Venezuela) president Julio Durán presented the National Network of Social Connectivity plan, which includes the deployment of technologies that go from fibre across the country to experimentation with WiMAX technologies. But the starting point will be communities that are otherwise much more isolated. [WiMAX is an acronym that stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. The WiMAX protocol is a way of networking computing devices together; for example to provide internet access, in a similar way to Wi-Fi. WiMAX is both faster and has a longer range than Wi-Fi. However, WiMAX does not necessarily conflict with Wi-Fi, but is designed to interoperate with it and may indeed complement it.] Sylvia Cadena presented the model used by the Institute for the Connectivity in Américas (ICA), to support the implementation of projects pilot about fixed and itinerant Wi-Fi technologies through all the region. Finally, the WiLAC portal structure was briefly explored to check its performance as well as the possibilities it could offer. Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the WiLAC portal will promote information about design, implementation, development, replication, and the use of necessary components for a successful community wireless project that serves the community. More specifically, the information, available in Spanish, has been structured to offer the user relevant information regarding: research (case studies, impact analysis); implementation (articles and reports about current projects); technical reviews and news about technical standards development; regulatory frameworks (links and descriptions of the conditions in each country to develop community wireless networks); training resources (materials, courses and workshops); regional expertise; support funds available; news about wireless projects in other parts of the world; and related events. WiLAC promotes direct cooperation and exchange among community initiatives using wireless technologies under development in the region (and also in other regions). It also promotes the building up of relationships and support from those initiatives with more experience to those just starting up. This portal was fully developed using free and open source software (FOSS). ESLARED is a non-profit institution dedicated to promoting information technologies in Latin America and the Caribbean, working since 1992, and legally constituted in Venezuela. It has worked to promote the building of human resources and research in telecommunications, computer networks and information technologies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its focus also includes research and development on technology transfer and appropriate technology, to foster scientific, technical and social progress in the region. It is a member of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). The Institute for Connectivity in the Americas emerged from the 2001 Summit of the Americas. It is the forum for hemispheric innovation in the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for economic and social development. ICA's goal is to promote the use of ICTs in Latin American and the Caribbean countries, to strengthen democracy, create prosperity, and realise human potential in the region. ICA is currently being incubated at the International Development Research Centre's (IDRC) headquarters at Ottawa, Canada and at the Regional Office in Montevideo, Uruguay. For more details about WiLAC.net contact Sylvia Cadena, Coordinator at info(a)wilac.net (+5982) 7111502, J.M.Sosa 2281/ 701 Montevideo 11300 Uruguay. WiLAC http://www.wilac.net/ ESLARED, the Latin American School of Networks Foundation http://www.eslared.org.ve/ Institute for Connectivity in the Americas http://www.icamericas.net/ WiLAC news on your desktop, via RSS http://www.wilac.net/backend.php

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 27, Issue 19
by Dr.Mayank Trivedi 29 Jul '05

29 Jul '05

Dear Sir, I would be highly obliged if you may provide the information on AKshaya Thanks Dr.MJT On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 02:34:33 -0400 (EDT), fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in said: > Send Fsf-friends mailing list submissions to > fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > You can reach the person managing the list at > fsf-friends-owner(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Fsf-friends digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Status Of Akshaya (swathantra software) > 2. Re: [Fsf-kerala] Status Of Akshaya (Arun M) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 18:44:02 +0530 > From: swathantra software <s2s2service(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [Fsf-friends] Status Of Akshaya > To: fsug-calicut(a)freelists.org, Principal Support List of > FSF-India > <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in>, fsug-kochi-discuss(a)symonds.net, > fsf-kerala(a)gnu.org.in > Message-ID: <4e0791a805072806146cebaf3a(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Dear Friends, > > > Can anyone please provide some help on the following > topic.? > > This is regarding the "Akshaya" (www.akshaya.net) project being > implemented by State Govt of Kerala. > The pilot project was kicked-off in May 2003 in Malappuram District, > with the launching of over 600 Akshaya e-kendras. > > Now it is being implemented at other districts of the state and at > Kannur, the process is currently going on. > > I am also a candidate to start one centre in My Panchayat. I wanted > to get valuable feedback/opinions/suggestions from others. As > self-employment for many, it involves huge investment and many are > dependent on bank loans( At least I am)!! .Proper help from others > will be valuable guidance. > > 1) My plan is to set up Akshaya e -kendra using only GNU/Linux and > free/open source softwares. The website of akshaya says the > infrastructure should have minimum five PCs in a client server > configuration. So I plan to setup a LTSP based diskless thin client > configuration. I wanted to promote this and provide support to others > setting up LTSP based Akshaya centers. I have few queries in this > regard. > > 1) Does anyone( especially anyone from Malappuram) have experience > with Akshaya at Malappuram. If so is to possible to share their > experience?. > 2) Did any one used GNU/Linux and free software application for > setting up akshaya centers?. If so did they face any problem!!! > 3) Does the CDs and other material supplied by concerned authorities > work on LTSP thin client machines?. > 4) Will it demand any requirement for any proprietary softwares?. > 5) What is the current status of the Akshaya project at Malappuram??. > I have read a news last month saying about 60% of the centers are > facing closure due to lack of income generation and heavy burden on > Bank loans!!. > > > At the site there are many success stories, but can anyone tell us > about the ground reality!!!. > > Any help is appreciated.. > > > Regards > > Sujeevan. > Kannur > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > CDs from S2S2: Debian Sarge,Fedora > Core4,Centos4,Mandriva2005,Gentoo,HowTo Cd etc > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 08:58:54 +0530 > From: Arun M <colonel.m(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [Fsf-friends] Re: [Fsf-kerala] Status Of Akshaya > To: swathantra software <s2s2service(a)gmail.com> > Cc: fsug-calicut(a)freelists.org, fsug-kochi-discuss(a)symonds.net, > fsf-kerala(a)gnu.org.in, Principal Support List of FSF-India > <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> > Message-ID: <729f2876050728202836088eb0(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Hi, > > > I am also a candidate to start one centre in My Panchayat. I wanted > > to get valuable feedback/opinions/suggestions from others. As > > self-employment for many, it involves huge investment and many are > > dependent on bank loans( At least I am)!! .Proper help from others > > will be valuable guidance. > > If you are making investment make your backup plans. dont trust the > project. > > > > 1) Does anyone( especially anyone from Malappuram) have experience > > with Akshaya at Malappuram. If so is to possible to share their > > experience?. > > I've visited few centers. > > > 2) Did any one used GNU/Linux and free software application for > > setting up akshaya centers?. If so did they face any problem!!! > > No. Training programs and modules from KSITM were in Windows hence > almost all of them used Windows. There were some suggestions of having > training programs on free software. But i dont think they happened. > > > 3) Does the CDs and other material supplied by concerned authorities > > work on LTSP thin client machines?. > > I think they are flash files. > > > 4) Will it demand any requirement for any proprietary softwares?. > > You have to talk to officials of Akshya project. I think they will > allow use of free software. If not we will fight for it. > > > 5) What is the current status of the Akshaya project at Malappuram??. > > Best thing you can do is go to Malappuram and discuss with people there. > Situation is not so good. You will have to make your own business > plan. Akshya will provide you some business. That wont break even your > project. Dont get carried away by the hype. Do a good study and plan > and then start. > > Akshaya project got ArsElectronic award. I dont know what is the > selection criterion. But I am not very much convinced about the claims > made about the project in Ars Electronic site. > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-friends mailing list > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > > > End of Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 27, Issue 19 > ******************************************* -- Dr.Mayank Trivedi mjt_123(a)emailplus.org -- http://www.fastmail.fm - A no graphics, no pop-ups email service

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Status Of Akshaya
by swathantra software 29 Jul '05

29 Jul '05

Dear Friends, Can anyone please provide some help on the following topic.? This is regarding the "Akshaya" (www.akshaya.net) project being implemented by State Govt of Kerala. The pilot project was kicked-off in May 2003 in Malappuram District, with the launching of over 600 Akshaya e-kendras. Now it is being implemented at other districts of the state and at Kannur, the process is currently going on. I am also a candidate to start one centre in My Panchayat. I wanted to get valuable feedback/opinions/suggestions from others. As self-employment for many, it involves huge investment and many are dependent on bank loans( At least I am)!! .Proper help from others will be valuable guidance. 1) My plan is to set up Akshaya e -kendra using only GNU/Linux and free/open source softwares. The website of akshaya says the infrastructure should have minimum five PCs in a client server configuration. So I plan to setup a LTSP based diskless thin client configuration. I wanted to promote this and provide support to others setting up LTSP based Akshaya centers. I have few queries in this regard. 1) Does anyone( especially anyone from Malappuram) have experience with Akshaya at Malappuram. If so is to possible to share their experience?. 2) Did any one used GNU/Linux and free software application for setting up akshaya centers?. If so did they face any problem!!! 3) Does the CDs and other material supplied by concerned authorities work on LTSP thin client machines?. 4) Will it demand any requirement for any proprietary softwares?. 5) What is the current status of the Akshaya project at Malappuram??. I have read a news last month saying about 60% of the centers are facing closure due to lack of income generation and heavy burden on Bank loans!!. At the site there are many success stories, but can anyone tell us about the ground reality!!!. Any help is appreciated.. Regards Sujeevan. Kannur ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CDs from S2S2: Debian Sarge,Fedora Core4,Centos4,Mandriva2005,Gentoo,HowTo Cd etc ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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ActionApps 2.8.1 released
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 28 Jul '05

28 Jul '05

ActionApps 2.8.1 released. ActionApps is a set of collaborative web publishing tools for NGOs. APC ActionApps offer a low cost solution for content sharing that both increases the functionality of not-for-profit and NGO websites and facilitates the creation of portals sites, improving the visibility of civil society information. They are driven by free/open source software (FOSS). You can download it from sourceforge http://sourceforge.net/projects/apc-aa/ or use CVS access http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=6341 For an upgrade, please run the sql_update.php3 script, which upgrades database to latest version. There is long list of new features. Most important changes are listed down in this e-mail. For full list of changes please take a look at http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/apc-aa/apc-aa/CHANGES?view=markup More about actionapps at http://www.apc.org/english/press/primers See how ActionApps can help your group publish better and faster online. Learn about, or join, the free software project behind ActionApps. http://www.apc.org/actionapps/index.htm For a FAQ on ActionApps see http://actionapps.org/faq/ Here you will find the most extensive collection of articles to answer all your questions about APC Action Apps: a powerful object oriented content management system design specifically for progressive organizations. These articles cover everything from basic introductions to scripting references to in-depth system administration and programmer's notes.

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Please vote: The Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

http://www.politicsonline.com/content/main/specialreports/2005/top10_2005/v… The Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics The results from the call for nominations are in and now we are asking you to select your favorite choice from the list of 20 finalists for the Top Ten Who Are Changing The World of Internet & Politics vote, sponsored by PoliticsOnline and the 6th annual E-Democracy Worldwide Forum. This year marked the toughest year ever in choosing the 20 finalists. The integration of politics and the Internet has spread like wildfire around the globe, reflected in this year's diverse, international nominees. The winners, those top 10 nominees who receive the most votes, will be announced at the 6th annual Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy -- September 28-29, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, (Paris, France). Please review the 20 finalists below and then select one of the following as your choice for the Top Politics & Internet World Changer of 2005. The Nominees .... * Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva www.lula.org.br During his tenure as Brazil's President da Silva has worked hard to take free software to Brazil's poorest citizens. One project includes opening thousands of community computer hubs where Brazilians will surf the Web, access government services, and take computing courses—all on PCs loaded with free software. Another initiative, called PC Conectado, or Connected PC, aims at helping low-income families buy their first computers and get on the Internet—once again, on PCs equipped only with free software. Da Silva is also an ardent advocate of free software based on open source code that users can study and modify. The result is that in recent years Brazil has become one of the world's most prominent battlegrounds of the Microsoft Windows versus Linux war.

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[Fsf-friends] INDIA: Request to sign a petition favouring Free Software in the campus
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 25 Jul '05

25 Jul '05

Please sign this petition if you agree with it... it's an attempt to convince a prominent technological university in Bangalore (VTU) to be opened to the use of Free Software too. http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign Krishna Pagadala, San Jose, USA. I have benefitted highly from the Free Software movement and the Freedoms it has provided. Specifically the Freedom to learn from the source code has helped me in getting a high-technology job in the US. I wish that all students enjoy the all the Software Freedoms. Pramode C.E, IC Software: I would like to add that there are efforts under way to develop innovative hardware experimentation platforms using GNU/Linux to improve the quality of Physics (as well as Engineering) education; and the best part is that it's being done in India. Please visit http://www.nsc.res.in/~elab/phoenix/ to know more about the `Phoenix Project' being developed by Ajith Kumar at the Nuclear Science Centre, India. The wealth of high quality tools and the open nature of the platform is of immense value to young engineers and scientists raring to unleash their creativity; the lessons in freedom and sharing that students learn by using GNU/Linux will also go a long way in shaping their character as caring and responsible human beings. ashidhar b desai ,6th sem E&C, B.V.Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering & Technology Hubli,Karnataka,India ,FLOSS is an excellent alternative for the existing commercial softwares..Academics(colleges and univ) is the best way to promote and support "Free Software".It will be a great initiative if the univ adopts it(it will become an example for other univ & institutes). News about open source and gnu/linux stuff---Indian Inside . Lets get Liberated.LONG LIVE OPEN SOURCE. Praveen Arimbrathodiyil (National Instititute of Technology, Calicut) Fri Mar 11 17:34:50 IST 2005 We use GNU/Linux in our main Computer center. It saves a lot of money of the college as there is no licence fee to be paid for each users. Since the source code of the softwares are available many computer science students do projects based on Linux kernel and other such projects. The possibility of use of thin-clients (which our computer center use) reduces the cost of hardware dramatically. It has proved to be beneficial to our college and I urge you to chose Free Software for giving a better alternative for students. Debapriyo Sarkar. Final year student of BCA, Goa. As a student, I plead to every university, to adopt, encourage and spread the use of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS). The benefits are clearly far-more significant than cost savings (which of course is a huge motivating factor). The quality of software reviewed and worked on by virtually the entire developer community of the world is definitely at least world-class if nothing else. It is possible to save on costs with $0 priced closed source software often termed as freeware, but the limited resources of the single developer or the couple of developers behind the software makes future of such software bleak. Compared to that, software released under an open source license, helps user as well as developer involvement to happen as deeply and transparent as no other licensing model can support. As the letter includes the following (stripped) statement "...Octave, which is simulation software written by University professors. This usually comes with the GNU/Linux Operating System." which clearly shows that professors of universities elsewhere have contributed to the solution of making quality software available to the students and colleges alike under a license that welcomes further contributions to improve the project virtually endlessly. As a personal experience, I often have used open source alternatives whenever acquiring the proprietary packages meant depending on the lab assistant to provide the CD for illegal copying or genuinely going out and shelling out all those huge wads of cash for functionality that was already at my disposal with added advantage of continuing development and a long-life (of the software). As universities use and recommend use of open source software,rate of development is bound to grow with more and more students using the same version of software both at college and home (no limited cheap "student" edition which are "cheap" imitations with myriad "limitations"). Also professors' contributions in the form of bug reports, bug fixes, new functionality patches and their work in increasing awareness about the benefits of using open source software would help improve quality of free software to an enormous extent. Vijay Kumar, Chennai, India. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html .P.Sujeevan,Project leader, S2S2, Kerala .Here at kerala at school level more than 50 of schools are still using GNU/Linux.Also SSLC IT practical examination has successfully done under the linux operating system.Some schools are still using the Linux terminal server systems.Next year aggressive work is planning to implement complete linux environment in schools.http://s2s2net.netfirms.com _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Writing with a difference, on issues that really make the difference.

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[urdu-indic] [ANNOUNCE] New list for F/OSS based Urdu Localization
by Indranil Das Gupta 21 Jul '05

21 Jul '05

Dear all, As mentioned in the email from Najmun [1] I have setup a mailing list for co-ordination and discussions about Urdu L10N on the Free/Open Source platform, particularly the effort we are trying to drive from Kolkata. To subscribe to the mailing list please visit http://mail.randomink.org/mailman/listinfo/urdu-indic_randomink.org The archives are not accessible right now, due to a server config problem that we are trying to get fixed ASAP. cheers, -indra. References: [1] http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=12378942 -- L2C2 Technologies -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [ Innovations that make a Difference ] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Email : indradg(a)l2c2.org Phone : (0)-98300-20971 WWW : http://www.l2c2.org _______________________________________________ Urdu-indic mailing list Urdu-indic(a)randomink.org http://mail.randomink.org/mailman/listinfo/urdu-indic_randomink.org

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[ANNOUNCE] New list for F/OSS based Urdu Localization
by Indranil Das Gupta 21 Jul '05

21 Jul '05

Dear all, As mentioned in the email from Najmun [1] I have setup a mailing list for co-ordination and discussions about Urdu L10N on the Free/Open Source platform, particularly the effort we are trying to drive from Kolkata. To subscribe to the mailing list please visit http://mail.randomink.org/mailman/listinfo/urdu-indic_randomink.org The archives are not accessible right now, due to a server config problem that we are trying to get fixed ASAP. cheers, -indra. References: [1] http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=12378942 -- L2C2 Technologies -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [ Innovations that make a Difference ] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Email : indradg(a)l2c2.org Phone : (0)-98300-20971 WWW : http://www.l2c2.org

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Joropo and FSFS Conference
by arun＠gnu.org.in 20 Jul '05

20 Jul '05

Hi, FSFS Conference has slowly moving beyond talks. Network established by the conference are starting to bear its fruit. Anand Babu, Director of FSF India is now visiting Venezuela to have further discussions on developing Venezuela into a free software super power. PDVSA is planning to create a free software based super computer. Special thanks to Juan for floating this idea during the conference. Long Live 'Joropo' ;) This is just the starting.. More details see: http://www.aporrea.org/dameverbo.php?docid=63366 For more details on FSFS Conference see: http://fsfs.hipatia.net See link below for report on Italian Newspaper Il Manifesto http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/10-Luglio-2005/art76.html PS: Joropo is the code name proposed for Venezuela Super Computer. Which should soon join top100. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joropo

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FSF India Foundation day
by Arun M 18 Jul '05

18 Jul '05

Hi Friends, 21st July is FSF Indian Foundation Day. This years we are having the main events in Andra Pradesh. Activities for the day includes. 1. Formation of 21 GLUGs across the state. 2. Demonstration of Telungu Localised GNU/Linux in 21 villages. Kiran Chandra and his highly active team is building a strong free software movement in AP. All are welcome for the party... With regards, Arun.

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[Fwd: [Ilugc] [Photos] GNU/Linux workshop, July 16, 2005, Saranathan College of Engineering, Tiruchi]
by Ramanraj K 17 Jul '05

17 Jul '05

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Ilugc] [Photos] GNU/Linux workshop, July 16, 2005, Saranathan College of Engineering, Tiruchi Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2005 03:16:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Shakthi Kannan <cyborg4k(a)yahoo.com> To: ilugc(a)ae.iitm.ac.in CC: fsf-tn(a)gnu.org.in Greetings! I would like to thank the Tiruchirapalli MYSQL group and CSE department faculty, students, and the management of Saranathan College of Engineering, Tiruchirapalli for giving me an opportunity to conduct a one-day GNU/Linux workshop. Thanks to Ramkumar L, S. Srinivasan, T. Shivakumar, Arul Jeeva, and Lakshminarayanan of Tiruchirapalli MYSQL group, http://www.harshainfotech.com/, and http://www.rajaramsystems.com/. http://mysql.meetup.com/70/ Special thanks to Ramkumar L who has been working with me in planning this event for the past two weeks. Thanks to Prof. Venkatasubramanian, HOD, CSE Department, Saranathan College of Engineering for coordinating the sessions. http://www.saranathan.ac.in/ The workshop was announced in the newspapers, The Indian Express and The Hindu. The photos of the workshop (and the trip) can be viewed from here: http://www.shakthimaan.com/Mambo/gallery/album12 The MYSQL group is working on using LAMP on GNU/Linux for the Pulivazham village cooperative society milk center farmers. They require to keep track of accounts, volume of milk stored in the facilities, and general book-keeping activities. Ramkumar L: Regarding the contacts: 1. Sarvannan (Lucas-TVS) - told me during Raman's talk on LTSP that they supply Linux drivers for their printers. So, Pulivazham center printers should work with GNU/Linux. 2. Gaurav - from http://www.gnulinuxclub.org is interested in php, web admin. He should start building a database of companies working/using LAMP in India for career opportunities. You can let him know of harshainfotech.com and your services. 3. Sivasankar Chander - told me at MIT, "Carte Blanche" 2005 about 'Cascade Systems & Solutions', Plaza center near Gemini circle, about HP E-Vectra systems that are about Rs.5000/-. He runs FC on it. So, for low-cost solutions, you might want to check this out. 4. Bharathi S - and other networking gurus, might provide some contacts/tips on line-of-sight solutions for networking all the villages together. Folks, right now they have a dial-up offer from BSNL at Rs.25/- per hour :o. Good luck to the Tiruchirapalli MYSQL team for this project. Hopefully next time when we visit you guyz, we will see Pulivazham farmers using GNU/Linux for their day-to-day activities. Thanking you all once again, SK -- proudly anti-micro$oft ------------------------------------------------------------ Shakthi Kannan, MS Software Engineer, Specsoft (Hexaware Technologies) [E]: shaks(a)shakthimaan.com [M]: (91) 98407-87007 [W]: http://www.shakthimaan.com [L]: Chennai, India ------------------------------------------------------------ __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail for Mobile Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/learn/mail _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, email ilugc-request(a)ae.iitm.ac.in with "unsubscribe <password> <address>" in the subject or body of the message. http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc

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This weekend's ILUG-Goa meet 23072005 * Goa Science Centre 1500-1700
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 17 Jul '05

17 Jul '05

Just a brief note... from ILUG-Goa. If you wish to invite your friends over to encounter Free/Libre and Open Source Software, this weekend's meet is as good as any you would get. We already have a couple of issues on the agenda: Prof Anil Seth wrote: "I have been experimenting with LTSP - adding local applications and would be happy to discuss what I have been trying." What's that? Quote from Wikipedia: Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) is an add-on package for Linux that allows many people to simultaneously use the same computer. Applications run on the server with a terminal known as a thin client handling input and output. These thin clients are also known as X Terminals. Generally, they are low-powered and lack a hard disk. This technology is becoming popular in schools as it allows pupils access to computers without purchasing expensive desktop machines. Some examples of a distributions using LTSP are K12LTSP, Skolelinux and Deworks. The founder and project lead for LTSP is Jim McQuillan. Endquote. [See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTSP and http://www.ltsp.org ] Vidyadhar Gadgil roped in his Vipassana friend and long-time ILUG-Goa member Shankar of the National Institute of Oceanography to talk about LaTex, TeX and Lyx. LATEX is a document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. It offers programmable desktop publishing features and extensive facilities for automating most aspects of typesetting and desktop publishing, including numbering and cross-referencing, tables and figures, page layout, bibliographies, and much more. LaTeX was originally written in 1984 by Leslie Lamport and has become the dominant method for using TeX —few people write in plain TeX anymore. The current version is LaTeX2ε. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX LyX is a document processor following the "what you see is what you mean" paradigm (WYSIWYM), as opposed to the WYSIWYG ideas used by word processors. This means that the user only has to care about the structure and content of the text, while the formatting is done by LATEX, an advanced typesetting system. LyX is designed for authors who want professional output with a minimum of effort and without becoming specialists in typesetting. The job of typesetting is done mostly by the computer, following a predefined set of rules called a style, and not by the author. Specific knowledge of the LATEX document processing system is not necessary but may improve editing with LyX significantly for specialist purposes. Although LyX is popular among technical authors and scientists, for its advanced mathematical modes (e.g.), it is increasingly also been used by social scientists and others for its excellent Bibtex integration and document managing features. It can handle documents ranging from books, notes, theses to articles in refereed journals. Recent versions of the software support right-to-left languages like Hebrew and Arabic. A separate release for Chinese, Japanese and Korean language support is also available. The LyX document processor is available for various operating systems like several Unix platforms including Mac OS X, OS/2, Windows/Cygwin and Linux. A Windows port that does not need Cygwin/X is in advanced stages. LyX is an open source software that can be redistribute and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyx Do come... pass the word around. There's a lot of info-sharing which you could gain from... FN ======================================================================= PS: St Xavier's College, Mapusa (Goa) launches The Xavier's Open Source Cell on July 23, 2005 at a program from 10.30 am to 11.45 am. =======================================================================

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India's premiere FOSS event -- Linux Bangalore 2005 this december
by Praveen A 16 Jul '05

16 Jul '05

Hi folks, LB is a completely community driven conference on Free and Open Source Software conducted at bangalore every year. This is the fifth edition of the event. Some of the key speakers of the event last year were Harald Welte [IP table/netfilter core developer], Brian Behlendorf of Apache, Warner Armesberger [guy behind lilio ] ... The dicussion about the format and other details are already started. It is open for every one's suggestions. It is completely community driven. The discussions are on at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-bangalore-2005 and the website is http://www.linux-bangalore.com I hope you all will actively participate in the discussions. Lets make this a grand success and claim a position for India in the world FOSS map. Regards Praveen A -- "GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org My Weblog at http://www.pravi.co.nr Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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Health Campaign through Internet
by satish reddy 16 Jul '05

16 Jul '05

Hi Friends, We are creating awareness campaign about obesity related problems for computer professionals and need like minded people who can help in the campaign. One to two hrs work on internet would be sufficient. Serious people who are interested to know info,pl mail to satish_reddy50(a)yahoo.com Hv a g8 weekend. Satish reddy ,9246112080 Hyderabad. --------------------------------- Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page

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(OT) Cheaper Laptop equivalent- What is it's name
by NS Srikanth 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Hi All, Some time back there was a news item about a smaller version of laptop with the cost ranging from Rs 8500 for monochrome display and Rs14000 for colour display. >From morning I am breaking my head, for the life of me , I am unable to come up with its name. It is from Indian company and it is not simputer. Can anybody help out ? NS Srikanth

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Hi good morning
by satish reddy 15 Jul '05

15 Jul '05

Hi Nice to join yr group of friends. I am Satish Reddy, 41yr old staying in hyderabad andoperating business offering wellness & weight management solutions. We provide programs for improving their health . I am interested in making friends all around India. Feel free to reach me on satish_reddy50(a)yahoo.com Bye Satish Reddy __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Meet the Brand New Fedora with great features
by Praveen A 14 Jul '05

14 Jul '05

Hi all, Meet Fedora Core 4 http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/ Meet Fedora™ Core 4 by Colin Charles - What's new<http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/#new> - Desktop improvements<http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/#desktop> - GCC <http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/#gcc> - Java enablers<http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/#java> - A new architecture<http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/#new-arch> - Xen and virtualization<http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/#xen> - Trimming the fat<http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/#trim> - Fedora Extras<http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/#extras> - Fedora documentation<http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/#docs> - Further reading<http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/fc4/#further-reading> What's new Fedora Core 4 (Stentz) is the latest release, from the project sponsored by Red Hat Inc. Every new version of Fedora Core comes with interesting new features and many bug fixes, but this time another new entity— Fedora Extras—also comes to greet us. "Fedora Core 4 continues our tradition of syncing to the latest and greatest open source releases, including GNOME(r) 2.10, KDE 3.4.0, Firefox™ 1.0.4, OpenOffice.org <http://OpenOffice.org> 1.9.104, and a 2.6.11-based kernel," Red Hat desktop team lead Havoc Pennington said. This is a great release. And I hope you all would like it. It is a special release with Free Java from the GNU project. Now Eclipse and Open Office runs on GCJ (GNU Compiler for Java). Regards Praveen A -- "GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org My Weblog at http://www.pravi.co.nr Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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Songs of Liberation from Thiruvasagam
by Ramanraj K 12 Jul '05

12 Jul '05

"The East and the West have influenced one another in a very real and not yet thoroughly understood way from the earliest times": thus wrote Rev. Dr. G.U. Pope in his introduction to the translation of Thirukkural in 1886. The symphonic oratorio "Thiruvasagam" by Ilaiyaraaja with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, conducted by László Kovacs, released on 6th July, 2005 at Chennai, brings out the confluence of the East and West Pope deeply felt, through a rich classical musical cross-over, in ways words can never describe. Hats off to Ilaiyaraaja, László Kovacs, Richard King, Stephen Schwarts, Budapest Symphony Orchestra and all the other musicians for their brilliant work. This delightful masterpiece cost more than Rs. one crore to produce. Tamil Maiyam founded by Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj, its producer, is looking forward to income from album sales and donations, but it would be a blessing, if many orgs and govs could join together, pay the outstanding debts of Tamil Maiyam reported to be around Rs. 75 lakhs, and have the work released under a suitable creative commons license. There are about 51 chapters in the Thiruvasagam, and the album is a fine selection of only choice verses presented as six songs. A cc license should help many musicians to join the project, and soon set entire work Thiruvasagam of Thiru Manickavasagar in symphony. A brief intro to the songs: Song #1 The album begins with the verse "poovar senni mannan..." which is about the "last journey" towards "ultimate liberation", and it is also believed to be the last composition by Manickavasagar, on the last day of his life on earth. The score for this song is quite naturally set to a score that reminds of "poom poom dan dans" - the sound which anyone in this part of the world can instantly recognize as a pointer to a death in its vicinity, and that the last rites and rituals are in progress. It seems, when the recording started at Budapest with this song, the score sounded funny to some in the orchestra, who tried to hide their laughter. Illayaraja observed this, and immediately sung the verse explaining it, and the orchetra understood and briskly started with the business of bringing Manickavasagar back to life again. Song #2 The entire album is sweet as honey, but at about the 5th minute of this song, the first stanza of Thiruvasagam, "Namasivaya vazhga, nathan thal vazhga.." comes, and this is very easily the best part of the album, a little more sweet than the rest. Illyaraja has freely arranged the various verses, to convey meaning even through the topography and arrangement of verses. Ilaiyaraaj and Roy Harcourt sing mixing Tamil and English verses creating a very deep and stunning effect. A brief snapshot from the lyrics, translated by Stephen Schwarts: <quote> I'm just a man imperfect lowly, how can I reach for something holy? ... So many forms I must wear! So many lives I must bear! Grass and shrub and stone and tree! Worm and bird and beast and demon heaven the sky and turn the earth how long till I'm fin'ly worthy?... Hail! Hail! ... I am beginning to be free... </quote> The symphonical oratorio is a rich tribute especially to Rev. Dr. G.U. Pope who translated the entire work of Thiru Manickavasagar. (Available online at http://siddhanta.shaivam.org/thivacha.html ) We could be certain that Manickavasagar would have composed his verses with our traditional music in mind, but for sure, Pope had only a western symphony in mind as he worked on the translations. The frequent "Hail" we come across succintly summarises the essence of "Namasivaya Vazhga" and other praises, and sets the work in symphony with great effect. Song #3 pooerukonum Purantharanum is yet another sweet composition picturising a king bee singing praises. Song #4 Umbarkatkarrsaey Song #5 Manickavasagar paints a picture of women pulverising gold and perals to dust with ural and ulakkai (pestle and mortar), singing Muthu Natramam in praise of their lord. At the inauguration, this song was enacted on stage by a classical troupe, and at the same time a pair danced swift ballet moves sharing the stage with them. Song #6 This is like a "hello world" introduction to setting Thiruvasagam into symphony. Ilaiyaraaja takes a simple score, searches for suitable verses and finally finds that the verse beginning "putril vazh aravum anjen.." fits the score rather well, and finishes the album with great grace. He makes the whole exercise appear very easy and simple, but none other than the mastero could have undertaken the task of setting the fairly difficult classical tamil verse of Thiru Manickavasagam, that is more than 2000 years old, into symphony. More stories and resources at: http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/06/stories/2005060612390600.htm http://nowrunning.com/news/news.asp?id=3650 http://www.tis-usa.com/2004/06/project.html http://www.tamilmm.com/ http://siddhanta.shaivam.org/thivacha.html Enjoy :)

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Fwd: [Ilugc] EU Software patents directive crushed!
by Ramanraj K 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sivasankar Chander <siva.ilugc(a)gmail.com> Date: Jul 6, 2005 7:57 PM Subject: [Ilugc] EU Software patents directive crushed! To: Chennai Linux User's Group <ilugc(a)ae.iitm.ac.in> Folks, Great news! The EU software patents bill was crushed by a huge margin today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4655955.stm Let's toast RMS and numerous grassroots campaigners who got the message across clearly and effectively. Cheers! -Siva P.S. We still need to be on guard to ensure that this is not sneakily introduced in India. _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, email ilugc-request(a)ae.iitm.ac.in with "unsubscribe <password> <address>" in the subject or body of the message. http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc

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Join the campaign against "Software Patents"
by Ramanraj K 11 Jul '05

11 Jul '05

I had forwarded a cc to Holger Blasum, one of the maintainers at ffii.org, wishing them more victories on this front. He requests Indian entities also to join the campain against "software patents" by signing up at http://www.economic-majority.com/ Please do so, as India or Europe being free from "software patents" is not sufficient, and soon enough the scene should shift to the US. If you distribute your software in the US, then the campaign is immediately relevant to you. It is ironical that such a campaign has to be done in US, which was once upon a time, a model state for the ultimate in liberty and freedom, but today, it stands as a symbol for a shackled state with all its "Software Patents", DMCA, DRM and even more unconceivable things like corporate run "prisons" (California alone has 21 (yes, twenty-one) mostly corporate run prisons and more about this at: http://improbablevoices.net/intro_frameset.html ). Digital anarchy and industrial prisons make a deadly and dangerous combination making it a serious concern to netizens. Fortunately, these aberrations are very recent, and could be nipped in the bud. Your participation could make a big difference to the momentum of the movement, that may help in restoring sanity where it is most required. Ramanraj. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Fwd: EU Software patents directive crushed in the flat new world] Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 00:41:35 +0200 From: Holger Blasum <holger(a)blasum.net> To: Ramanraj K <ramanraj.k(a)gmail.com> CC: campaign(a)codeliberty.org References: <42CF50FD.400(a)gmail.com> On 07-09, Ramanraj K wrote: > <quote> > Declaration > > Our enterprise is worried about plans to legalise patents on software > solutions ("computer-implemented inventions"). > > We rely on software copyright. We need to be sure that we own what we > write. > > We need to be sure that we can publish and distribute our own programs. > > We need to be sure that, as long as we respect the rules of copyright, > we can run any software on any office or network computer. > > We urge legislators to confine the patent system strictly to the > limits of applied natural science. In principle, only knowledge which > had to be obtained through costly experiments with forces of nature > should be eligible for the broad, slow and expensive monopoly > protection which the patent system offers. > </quote> Note that care has taken (unlike petition.eurolinux.org) to make this pledge perfectly signable everywhere you want ... Indian companies are welcome too ;) -- Holger Blasum +49-174-7313590 gsm SMEs are the economic majority. +49-89-420959220 http://www.economic-majority.com/ GnuPG 1024D/ACDFC3B769DC1ED66B47

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Fedora Core 4 CD
by swathantra software 09 Jul '05

09 Jul '05

Fedora Core 4 CD for Just 220/- including shipping charge. Regrads Sujeevan Buy CDs from S2S2 Mandriva,CentOS 4,Debian Sarge Latest 14 CDs,Gentoo,K12LTSp,Howto CD

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MIT releases Software Tools for Hindi and Tamil
by Ramanraj K 08 Jul '05

08 Jul '05

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India, has released Software Tools and Fonts for Hindi and Tamil. Except OpenOffice, FireFox and and few other software packages, most of the other packages are proprietary software that require Microsoft Windows. It is shocking to see our government promoting proprietary software packages and licenses this day, this way. None of the proprietary tools distributed by MIT can be called "free" as they require _Windows_ 95/98/* to run. The other strange thing is that some of the tools released can be used only for "Personal Use" (See a sample license in the footnote) If the idea is to promote the use of Hindi, Tamil and other languages, then the restrictions imposed by the non-free licenses are clearly opposed and against the objectives. If we desire to promote Hindi or Tamil or any other language for that matter, we ought to encourage their free use in all our public affairs with freedom, which could be done best only with Free Software. Most of the language tools could be used on Windows but not on Gnu/Linux or any other operating system. Even OpenOffice, FireFox and any of the other few free software tools are shown as applications that run on Windows, and (btw?) on "Linux". If public funds have been utilised for producing the language tools, then they ought to be released under free licenses. MIT should distribute only free software that is vendor and platform neutral, giving people the tools and freedom to communicate in their mother tongue, both in private and public affairs through digital medium. Regards, Ramanraj K. Footnotes: One sample license found in the distro: <quote> Copyright © 2005 Language Technologies Research Center International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, India All Rights Reserved. This license applies to Text to Speech and Speech databases developed by Language Technologies Research Center, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, India. These are herein referred to as the "Software". Subject to the terms and conditions of this license International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad hereby grants you to use this Software solely for your Personal Use. "Personal Use" means use of this Software by an individual solely for his or her personal, private and non - commercial purposes. An individual's use of this software in his or her capacity as an officer, employee, member, independent contractor or agent of a corporation, business or organization (commercial or non - commercial) does not qualify as Personal Use. This Software is protected by copyright law and treaties. Reproduction or distribution of this Software or any portion of it with out the permission of International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad may result in civil and criminal penalties and will be prosecuted. THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HYDERABAD AND THE CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS WORK DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HYDERABAD NOR THE CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTUOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. </quote>

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[Fwd: [eGovINDIA] Microsoft + ISCE ..../ One of the reasons we find Microsoft curriculum in schools - indeed !! / " Charges against CEO true: ISCE panel ".]
by Ramanraj K 08 Jul '05

08 Jul '05

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [eGovINDIA] Microsoft + ISCE ..../ One of the reasons we find Microsoft curriculum in schools - indeed !! / " Charges against CEO true: ISCE panel ". Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 18:10:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Venkat Kumaraswamy <ellakannada(a)yahoo.com> Reply-To: eGovINDIA(a)yahoogroups.com To: eGOV Gok <egovgok(a)yahoogroups.com>, eGov INDIA <egovindia(a)yahoogroups.com>, ellakavi(a)yahoogroups.com The Times Of India - Bangalore Edition date July 6,2005 -page 12 carries a report whose headlines says " Charges against CEO true: ISCE panel ". This is not what's interesting . A bullet points says that the ISCE(India School Certificate Examination) CEO has been found gulity of getting Rs 3 lakhs from Microsoft !! One of the reasons we find Microsoft curriculum in schools - indeed !! --------------------------------- Sell on Yahoo! Auctions - No fees. Bid on great items. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eGovINDIA/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: eGovINDIA-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

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