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Sad news... on the Santhali front
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

These guys, young friends from West Bengal, are trying to get the tribal Santhali language working with Free Software. Below is a self-explanatory entry from http://blogs.randomink.org/ It is from "Weekend Aantel". Sayamindu from Kolkata was mentioning the Santhali project recently. [Wikipedia has this to say about Santhali, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santhali: Santali is a language in the Munda subfamily of Austro-Asiatic, related to Ho and Mundari. It is spoken by about six million people in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. Most of its speakers live in India, in the states of Jharkhand, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal. It has its own alphabet, known as Ol Cemet', but literacy is very low, between 10 and 30%. Santali is spoken by the Santhals.] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Adieu Mandal Hembrom! Weekend Aantel 21/02/2005 - 17:23 Mandal Hembrom passed away at TMC, Mumbai, today in the early morning. He was under-going treatment at TMC. I don't yet have the details of the exact cause of death, but so far it is known that his condition detoriarated after he underwent Chemotheraphy and lapsed into a severe cardiac arrest. Mandal-da was the lead linguist (as also being a native speaker) in our Santhali CASTLE Project. His death is not just a great loss to our project, but a loss to all the Santhals struggling to establish their identity in a globalised world that dictates a lop-sided homogeneity at the cost of losing unique cultural traits, language and social structures. Mandal-da's illness was detected at an advanced stage. He wanted to use the time he had to complete the work on the translation of the strings. Unfortunately, he was taken away from us before that could happen! Perhaps, its a strange co-incidence that today happens to be the International Mother Language Day (21st Feb) that Mandal-da breathed his last. We need to reaffirm our commitment to the work on bridging the ICT divide. As I wrote in my "A walk across the Digital Divide" experience, its not as un-bridgable as it often sounds. Its only by ensuring the continuance of the Santhali L10N project that we can truly pay our respect to the dreams and efforts of Mandal Hembrom. END OF QUOTE On behalf of BytesForAll, let me dip our flag to all these guys trying to make computing work for for forgotten people and the poor... whose languages otherwise barely make for a 'viable market'. FN ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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Reply to archana regarding the blog site
by vishravars Ramasubramanian 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

Archana, i think you have to create an acc in that site and then start looking at the blogs. I think u can only watch the blogs with the id and passwd given. When i registered, i received a mail like.., vishravars, You may now log in to http://blogs.randomink.org/user/login using the following username and password: username: vishravars password: xxxx *Your new Blogs @ Random Ink membership also enables to you to login to other Drupal powered websites (e.g. http://www.drop.org/) without registering. Just use the following Drupal ID and password: Drupal ID: vishravars(a)blogs.randomink.org password: kLQfTEkqVd I think, that answers you question. Cheers Vishravars.R __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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Helped a Tomato Guy, Freedom
by vishravars Ramasubramanian 21 Feb '05

21 Feb '05

Hi Everybody. This is my first mail to FSF-Friends ml. I am trying to nerrate an incident which took place today morning when i was travelling to my college by my motorcycle. Situation: It was a double road, with a partition in the centre. It was early morning and the weather was really cold. I could see many young students waiting on the road side for their school buses to come and some were waiting for the city corporation bus. All the vehicles were just flying in a hurry. ----------- x ------------ When i was riding, i suddenly saw a old man with a bicycle on the middle of the road struggling with lots of tomatos (it seems he had bought some tomatoes from the market early morning and taking them to his retail shop located somewhere in the city). The problem was, he had 2 huge baskets on both sides of his bicycle and hence could he could not get off from the cycle easily(and he was also a short guy). There were lots of tomatos on the ground, spread. And thank god there was not much damage (to the tomatoes). By seeing the poor man struggling to get those tomatoes, i just parked my motorcycle on the side of the road and i took tomatoes in my hands and helped to get them to the baskets. Roughly it was about 150-200 tomatoes. When i started picking them, one more guy who came that way started picking and helping. The problem was, it was a really busy road, and vehicles were just flying. I thought i should also direct the traffic so that the other person can continue picking the tomatoes. I did exactly that, and the whole mess got cleared in just 8 to 10 minutes. The tomato guy thanked me and the other person *whole-heartedly*. Then i started my journey to the college. Moral of My Blog: ------------------ I would like to associate the incident with the Free Software movement or the idea of free s/w. The first thing is, the tomato guy is now way connected with me (ofcourse he is not my boss or i am not a boss to him) and i'v never seen him before, in simple words, a stranger. But what made me to help him???? The following could be the reasons..... 1. The tomato guy was an obstacle to the traffic and i thought of helping the traffic to get cleared 2. I am really a soft hearted and could not see the preson struggling on the middle of the road, hence i helped. 3. It's my duty to help the one who is struggling... 4. or just thought of helping... thats all etc...... Well, in all the above said, one word stood still like concrete, that is *helping*. Ok. What do i get, by doing so? My Answer :- Peace of mind.... and self-satisfaction.. or what ever one may call this as As we see the above lines, there is no word like Money or Rupee or Cost or Price or dollar or ...... Can this be associated with free s/w?? My Answer: Yes. How ? Ans: It is not that you should help your neighbour alone... but you (and we) can also help strangers...I hope Free Software does exactly that... Why am i making a blog like this ?? Ans. That again sharing my thoughts and hence *Freedom* to share thoughts..... :) PS: There were many people on the road side waiting for bus to come. But no one can blame them for not helping the poor guy. B'cause, they will be under trouble if they miss their bus. Cheeeers Vishravars.R __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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Norms for software patents to be finalised
by Mahesh T. Pai 20 Feb '05

20 Feb '05

Apologies if this has been noticed on this list. ----- Forwarded message from Ram <prabhuram ( at ) gmail.com> ----- > Norms for software patents to be finalised > > Business Standard > > > The government will finalise detailed guidelines for patent examiners > over the next one month specifying the conditions under which > software, polymers and other chemicals can be patented. > > "There is a general notion that software can be patented. That is not > true. You cannot patent software. However software embedded in > hardware can be patented. All such issues are sought to be clarified > through these working guidelines for the patent examiners which will > be put up on the web once they have been finalised," an official told > Business Standard. > > Officials said that the first draft had been prepared and was being > discussed by the ministry officials with legal experts and industry > representatives. The guidelines would be finalised in the next one > month. > > The government has already hired 175 patent examiners to deal with the > load of patent applications. The modernisation of patent offices is > underway and the new patent office in the capital will be inaugrated > next month. > > Along with patent, work on the other areas of intellectual property > like Geographical indicators (GI) is also picking up pace. The > government has granted GI on six products including chanderi sarees > and Darjeeling tea and is considering proposal to grant GI on 30 other > items, officials said. > > Earlier today Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said that the > new modernised product patent regime will help attract more foreign > direct investment and make India a new destination for contract > manufacturing and contract research. > > "The modernised patent law is expected to provide a secure and > conducive environment to investments. India could be new destination > for contract manufacturing and contract research since India has cost > and capabilities advantages," Nath said in his address to the National > Seminar on Promotion, Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual > Property Rights organised by his ministry in association with the > World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and Ficci. > > The minister, whose speech was read out in his absence, said that the > government had undertaken an ambitious programme to modernise the > intellectual property rights administrative infrastructure with a view > to making the system efficient, IT-enabled and more user-friendly > _______________________________________________ > commons-law mailing list > commons-law ( at ) sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com Buy Free Software -- It gives you freedom!

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Blogs for FLOSS enthusiasts...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 20 Feb '05

20 Feb '05

Sayamindu Dasgupta of Kolkata recently told me that they run a blogging service for FLOSS enthusiasts in India at http://blogs.randomink.org/ If you have a point to make regarding the world of FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) and would like to do so via a blog, go and claim space of your own there. It's free! FN

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Becoming a Debian developer
by Praveen A 19 Feb '05

19 Feb '05

Hi all, I came across this interesting article about becoming a Debian GNU/Linux developer. [I got this from Debian Livejournal Community http://www.livejournal.com/community/debian ] ______________________________________________________________________ Yet, despite the obstacles, for many, becoming a developer is the ultimate goal. Asked their motivations, candidates start by talking about a wish to contribute and to assume greater responsibility. When pressed, though, many add that they also desire the status of the position. The status lies not just the cool factor of having a Debian email address -- although several privately admit, half-jokingly, to lusting after one -- but a belief that only developers are taken seriously within the Debian project. Those who want to advocate policy change or to become a Debian officer often feel that becoming a developer is a necessary first step. One way or the other, most would probably agree with Matthew Palmer, one of more than 50 Application Managers who help to process candidates, that being a Debian developer is a "mark of honour." Read full story http://distrocenter.linux.com/article.pl?sid=05/02/02/2312203 Regards Praveen A -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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Project Resource Centre...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 19 Feb '05

19 Feb '05

------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRC: THE 'EXCHANGE' FOR IDEAS ON FREE SOFTWARE PROJECTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Young minds are like potters clay... they mould the way mentors work on them. Are you a student searching for some interesting projets in GNU/Linux? Are you an expert who would like to share your skills with youngsters looking for ideas? If yes, then please give a serious thought to joining the Project Resource Centre network. PRC's operations are currently focussed around its mailing list. (To join visit http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc ) The PRC was set up by Trevor Warren <trevor.w(a)media.mit.edu> of Mumbai, India. It is open to anyone in any part of the globe, though we would like to primarily focus on initiatives within India. We specially welcome mentors from anywhere in the globe, who would like to share their knowledge with promising youngsters from here. Any member of PRC is welcome to post to the list. Subject to: o Please keep all posts on-topic and related to the intentions for which this initiative was set up (helping youngsters take on socially relevant, challenging and useful projects). o Post messages that would be of wider interest to the entire group. If you message is meant just for 3-4 persons, it could be taken offline. o Mentors are specially requested to post those messages that would (i) point to wider spheres in which a lot of work needs to be done (ii) post general hints that could give students the starting push This list works on the principles of Free/Libre and Open Source Software. Everyone is welcome to join, in the capacity you think best. All work is volunteer-based. Thank you for your support. Below is a brief explanation of the concept, from Trevor Warren: "Having been with the Free Software Community for such a long time there a lot i like about it and a lot I would like to see done about... The Project Resource Centre is a non-profit organisation that has been an effort kickstarted by the GNU/Linux users group of Mumbai... The people affialiated with us are those who can take time out to guide students on their way towards taking on and performing GNU/Linux based projects frm the stage of conception to delivery." We would like to appreciate the work of Himanshu Shukla (www.thefreespeech.org) for being instrumental in sparking off the course towards setting up the PRC. Dr G Nagarjuna has been an inspiring force. We have got enthusiastic support from Sarai.Net in Delhi, which hosts our lists and is also working on a micro-grants to support Free Software initiatives among students. Also thanks to Dinesh Shah, Shankar Ramachandran, and the many others who have helped this concept along the way. [Please include the names of others here.] Says Trevor: "From my vision i want to get the PRC to be a platform where in mentors-students democratically take up projects nd work together towards delivering on GNU/Linux and other Free Software projects that they might hav in mind." CopyLeft 2003, Frederick Noronha for the GNU/PRC mailing list. |------|____________________________________|------| ( >- / Scaling FreeSoftware & OpenSource \ -< ) /~\ / In the Enterprise \ /~\ | \) \ | www.fsf.org | www.opensource.org | / (/ | |_|_ \____________________________________/ _|_|

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FLOSS-APP-ASIA...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

http://source.bellanet.org/mailman/listinfo/floss-app-asia 'Floss-app-asia' online discussion forum has been launched to study the efficacies of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for development and fulfillment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) charted out by the UN. The forum is part of the UNDP's applied research and policy initiative on the usage of ICT for eradication of poverty project undertaken by the i4donline group. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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INDIA: Computer programme patenting may brake IT boom
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1023943.cms Computer programme patenting may brake IT boom TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2005 06:17:58 PM] NEW DELHI: Imagine a scenario where a music composer is prevented from being inspired by another musician. He has to start from scratch and give an entirely new definition to music. Unimaginable, isn't it? Now replace 'music' with 'software' and this is what the Indian government is seeking to do. Or so some critics argue. The amendments to the Indian Patent Act introduced by a recent Ordinance will allow all computer programmes to be patented. The Indian Patent Act, as modified in 2002, had made "a mathematical method or a business method or a computer programme per se or algorithms" non-patentable. However, the recent amendment changes this phrase defining what cannot be patented to "a computer programme per se other than its technical application to industry or a combination with hardware, a mathematical or business method or algorithms." Since any commercial software has some industry application and these applications are technical in nature, it opens virtually all software to patenting, say the critics of the move. As a booming software nation, can India afford to take such a step without harming interests of the industry? These were concerns expressed at a press conference organised by the Delhi Science Forum on Tuesday. The US and Japan, they said, are two countries that have provided for patent protection in software, which has adversely impacted smaller developers. European Parliament has been forced to defer software patenting in the wake of widespread opposition to such a move. A patent in the case of software grants monopoly control over not just the 'expression' of a function or idea in computer code, which could be covered by copyright, but over the very idea itself. Thus, software would be covered by both copyright and patents, perhaps the only instance of a product being underpinned by both. Richard Stallman, co-developer of the GNU-Linux operating system and proponent of free software says, "Since software patents cover software ideas, it makes them a dangerous obstacle to all software development." An example is Amazon's singleclick agreement. Amazon.com was granted a patent on a system that remembers customer credit card data from visit to visit, so that customers could, on all visits after their first, simply order products and then click once to buy them using a stored credit card number. After two rounds of litigation, this patent was upheld and Amazon was able to prevent its chief competitor, barnesandnoble.com, from using a similar system. The main argument against software patenting is that it will kill innovations, by leaving small firms or software developers liable for patent infringements. "That's like saying, be the greatest genius in history or don't even try", said Stallman. Small developers will always be fighting with their backs to the wall as they would not have the financial muscle to compete with dominant players in the market. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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What is Resty? http://www.resty.org/
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

What is Resty? (A made-in-Mumbai solution from Mitul Limbani) Resty is a Web Application Framework distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License by Enterux. Please check out the documentation to find out more about Resty. FORWARDED VIA: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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[Damodharan R] Re: [Nagarjuna G.] [FSF India Board] Fwd: FSF Coimbatore Chapter
by Anand Babu 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

Hi RMS, PSG-GNU/Linux Club is now registered as GNU Users Groups. This group alone has 300 members. India now has the highest number of GNU Users Groups registered and this list is growing. Here is the list: ( 1) Coimbatore GNU/Linux Users Group ( 2) DGLUG - Dehradun GNU/Linux User Group ( 3) GNU/Linux Fanatics' Group (Howrah, West Bengal) ( 4) GNU/Linux Users Group, Nilgiris ( 5) GNU/Linux Users Group, Bombay ( 6) Nixal - The GNU/Linux user group of Netaji Subhash Engineering College, Kolkata ( 7) North Mumbai GNU/Linux User Group ( 8) Pune GNU/Linux Users' Group ( 9) Trichy GNU/Linux User Group (10) GNU/Linux User Group Howrah Chapter (11) GNU/Linux User Group (GLUG) of Madurai (12) GNU/Linux User Group of Kolhapur (13) PSG GNU/Linux Club -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org> --- [Forwarded Message] --- From: Damodharan R <rdamodharan(a)gmail.com> To: Anand Babu <ab(a)gnu.org.in> Subject: Re: [Nagarjuna G.] [FSF India Board] Fwd: FSF Coimbatore Chapter In-Reply-To: <87sm3wsgfy.fsf(a)gnu.org.in> References: <87sm3wsgfy.fsf(a)gnu.org.in> Dear Sir, We were happy to receive your acknowledgement. We have registered our club with GNU Users Group. Now it is listed in that User Groups Page. Looking forward for your guidance and cooperation, With Regards, Damodharan PSG-GNU/Linux Club On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 06:54:57 -0800, Anand Babu <ab(a)gnu.org.in> wrote: > Dear Damodharan, > Can you please register your PSG GNU/Linux User Group with > GNU Users Group at http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-user-groups.html > > Thanks > -- Anand Babu > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Nagarjuna G." <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> > To: fsf-board(a)mm.gnu.org.in > Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 11:46:34 +0530 > Subject: [FSF India Board] Fwd: FSF Coimbatore Chapter > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Damodharan R <rdamodharan(a)gmail.com> > To: gnu(a)gnu.org.in > Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 13:36:53 +0530 > Subject: FSF Coimbatore Chapter > Dear Sir, > Greetings > The PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore has a GNU/Linux Club with > more than 300 members of various institutions and industries actively > participating in various Free Software Development activities. > We would like to form a FSF Coimbatore Chapter. > Kindly inform us the modalities we should undergo in establishing the same. > > With Kind Regards > Damodharan R > Advisor, PSG GNU/Linux Club > > > > > -- > Anand Babu > Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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INDIA * http://wikiwikiweb.de/LugsList
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

Just a brief note to say I've created a listing of LUGs, FSUGs, GLUGs and other user groups around India. If you find any error or omission in the listing, I'd be grateful if you could draw it to my attention. The list is at: http://wikiwikiweb.de/LugsList Needless to say, you are more than welcome to copy, reproduce or improve this listing. Thank you! FN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - GNU/Linux user groups... from India and Asia A list of the useful user groups that help in spreading Free/Libre and Open Source Software. Would really appreciate any help in updating and correcting this list and keeping it current. Let's try to network all the 'little' GNU/LUGs, who badly need your support to grow. FN (Frederick Noronha in Goa) GNU/Linux links and lists (India) All India networks * Free Software Foundation of India http://fsf.org.in/ * Linux India network http://www.linux-india.org/ * Linux India General https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-india-general/ * Linux India Help https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-india-help * BSD India http://www.bsd-india.org * BSD India mailing list http://www.bsd-india.org/mailinglist.html * Linux In India http://www.freelists.org/archives/linuxinindia/ Regional networks in India Northern India * ILUG-Delhi http://linux-delhi.org/ * ILUG-Indore http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-indore/ * Kanpur LUGK http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lugk/ * Linux-Chandigarh http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux_chandigarh * Sun City Jodhpur LUG http://groups.yahoo.com/group/suncityjodhpurlug * Apart from the mailing list, a website at http://www.geocities.com/sunnylug/ * Linux Lucknow http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-lucknow/ * Raipur http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug_raipur/ * Bhopal http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lug-bhopal/ * LUG of Dehradoon http://lists.asiaosc.org/mailman/listinfo/lugdoon * Address for posting is lugdoon at lists.asiaosc.org * Linux Gurus Bhopal http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux_gurus/ Southern India * Linux Bangalore http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-bangalore/ * Linux Bangalore nontech http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-bangalore-non-tech * Linux - Technical n Tutorials Bangalore http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vtplinux/ * ILUG-Chennai (Madras) http://www.chennailug.org/ * Chennai wiki http://www.chennailug.org/wiki/Main_Page * ILUG-Cochin http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-cochin/ * ILUG-KTM (Kottayam) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-ktm/ * ILUG-Belgaum http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-belgaum/ * ILUG-Mangalore http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-mangalore/ * ILUG-Hyderabad LUG http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilughyd/ * ILUG-Hyderabad http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-hyd/ * ILUG-Trivandrum (Kerala) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-tvm/ * ALUG - Andhra Linux Users Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alug_linux/ * AP LUG http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aplug/ * Linux Hubli http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxhubli/ * GLUG-Madurai http://www.glug-madurai.org/ Mailing list at https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/glug-madurai-discuss * GLUGOT (GNU/Linux User Group of TCE) http://cepserver.tce.edu/glugot/ Mailing list at http://cepserver.tce.edu/mailman/listinfo/glugot * Tamil Linux http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tamillinux/ * Tiruvannamalai LUG http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tvmalailug/ * Kochi FSUG (Kerala) http://puggy.symonds.net/~fsug-kochi * MyLUG - Mysore Linux Users' Group http://mylug.org/ * RVCE (Bangalore) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rvcelug/ * Sona College of Technology, Salem Sona LUG http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sonalug/ Western India * India GNU/Linux Users Group Mumbai http://ilug-bom.org.in/ * Mailing list at http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers ILUG-Nagpur http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nagpur-linux/ * Nagpur http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nagpur-lug/ * Linux At Ahmedabad http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxatahmedabad/ * ILUG-South Maharashtra http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug_sm/ * ILUG-Goa http://ilug-goa.swiki.net/ (On Swiki.net) * ILUG-Goa http://iluggoa.iosn.net/ (On IOSN.net) * ILUG-Goa mailing list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa * Linux Goa Help List http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxgoahelp/ * Linux Ahmedabad http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-ahmedabad-users/ * ILUG-DAIICT http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug_daiict/ Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of ICT, Gujarat * Gnunify, Pune http://gnunify.sicsr.ac.in/ Mailing list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gnunify/ Eastern India * ILUG-Cal Kolkata Chapter http://www.ilug-cal.org/ * Mailing lists link at http://www.ilug-cal.org/?q=node/view/3 Archive of list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-cal/ * ILUG-Burdwan (West Bengal) http://ilug-bwn.org * Mailing list Burdwan http://www.ilug-bwn.org/mailman/listinfo/ilug-bwn_ilug-bwn.org Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-bwn Contact mail-id : thecyberzone at gmail.com, webmaster at ilug-bwn.org Bandel LUG -- CSSLUG http://groups.yahoo.com/group/csslug/ * ILUG-Bhubaneswar http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-bbsr/ * Bihar Linux User Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biharlinuxusergroup/ * Patna Linux Users Group http://lists.asiaosc.org/mailman/listinfo/plug * Rourkee http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rklug/ * Mizoram http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mizolinxusergroup/ * North East LUG Kokrajhar http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nelug-discussion/ * LUG NGFOSS http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ngfossf/ Miscellaneous * Linux Council of India http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Linux_Council_of_India/ * Linux on Yahoogroups http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux/ * AMCLUG http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amclug/ * Codebreaker http://groups.yahoo.com/group/codebreaker/ Indic Computing, localisation * Indic Computing http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/ Mailing list at Indic-computing-users(a)lists.sourceforge.net Linux in Education (India) * Gnoware http://www.gnowledge.org/ * By `gnowledge' we mean the knowledge accessible freely for the community in general, and to the users of the WWW in particular. * Gnosys mailing lists http://www.gnowledge.org/Data/ObjectType/mailinglists/index_html/ * Linux @ Schools http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux_schools/ LIFE-GNUL in Edn life at mm.hbcse.tifr.res.in LIFE-2 life at hbcse.tifr.res.in LIFE-Nagarajuna G. nagarjun at hbcse.tifr.res.in LIFEAdmin life-admin at hbcse.tifr.res.in Magazines, other resources * Linux For You http://www.linuxforu.com/ GNU/Linux links and lists (Asia) * GNU Linux In Asia http://www.freelists.org/archives/gnulinuxinasia/ * Open Source Resource Centre of Pakistan http://www.osrc.org.pk/ * Linux Pakistan http://linuxpakistan.net/ * Mailing list address general at linuxpakistan.net * Israel Group of Linux Users, IGLU http://www.iglu.org.il/IGLU/index.php Mailing lists at http://www.iglu.org.il/mailing-lists/ * Lanka Linux Users Group LKLUG http://www.lklug.pdn.ac.lk/ * Linux com np http://linux.com.np/ * Email address admin at linux.com.np * Malaysia http://www.my-opensource.org * Email myoss at my-opensource.org * Malaysia OSSIG http://www.mncc.com.my/ossig/ * Email ossig at mncc.com.my * Mauritius Linux User Group http://www.linux.mu/ * Mailing list at http://linux.mu/mailman/listinfo/discuss-linux List address discuss-linux at linux.mu. * LUG Myanmar (Burma) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/myanmarlinuxusersclub * Singapore http://www.lugs.org.sg/ * Tajik Linux Users' Group http://68.54.23.240/tajikngo/tlug/main/index-en.html * Tajikistan (non-English) http://www.tjoss.freenet.tj/ * Vietnam Linux Users' Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vclug/ West Asian region * Arabeyes, the Arabic unix project http://www.arabeyes.org/ Arabeyes is a Meta project that is aimed at fully supporting the Arabic language in the Unix/Linux environment. It is designed to be a central location to standardize the Arabization process. Arabeyes relies on voluntary contributions by computer professionals and enthusiasts all over the world. * Linux Middle East http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Linuxmiddleeast * Linux Iran http://www.linuxiran.org/modules/news/ * Linuxarabia.com Yemen http://linuxarabia.com/ * Linux Iran http://www.linuxiran.org/modules/news/ * Saudi Arabia http://www.linux.org.sa/ (Arabic site) * Linux4Arab: http://www.linux4arab.com/ * Linux Egypt http://www.linux-egypt.org/ * Egyptian GNU/Linux Users Group http://www.eglug.org * Palestine Linux Users Group http://www.lugps.org/ * Linuxforus.org Arabic http://www.linuxfocus.org/Arabic/ * Linux Syria http://www.linuxsyria.org/ * Arabiclinux.com http://www.linux.org.sa/ * Haydar, making a new distro for "all people including Arabs" http://www.haydarlinux.com/ GNU/Linux links and lists (Africa) * Nigeria * NG-LUG, Lagos http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ng_linux/ * LUG-Nigeria http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naija-lugs/ GNU Linux links and lists (Latin America) Brasil * Brasil Total http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-brasil-total/ GNU/Linux links and lists (Miscellaneous) * Linux Announce http://linux.derkeiler.com/Newsgroups/comp.os.linux.announce/ Email events to Linux-Announce-Request(a)senator-bedfellow.mit.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Kerala government to use free software in schools
by CK Raju 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

Dear Sasi Kumar, Here's a similar story from Chile. http://software.silicon.com/os/0,39024651,39127078,00.htm Raju ---- "V. Sasi Kumar" <sasi.cess(a)gmail.com> wrote: We should thank the Kerala School Teachers Association for its efforts in this matter. _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> An Online Linux Magazine _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> An Online Linux Magazine _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> An Online Linux Magazine

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Kerala government to use free software in schools
by CK Raju 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

Nuaiman is available at nuaiman(a)journalist.com Raju --- CK Raju <ckraju(a)linuxtimes.net> wrote: We should also thank Nuaiman who wrote the damning piece in Madhayamam Weekly that provoked the KSTA. CK Raju --- "V. Sasi Kumar" <sasi.cess(a)gmail.com> wrote: We should thank the Kerala School Teachers Association for its efforts in this matter. _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> An Online Linux Magazine _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> An Online Linux Magazine

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[Fsf-friends] FSF India activities in TN between 5th and 8th Feb 2005
by Ramanraj K 18 Feb '05

18 Feb '05

A short summary of the FSF India activities that took place in TN between 5th and 8th Feb 2005 is posted at: http://gnowledge.org/pipermail/fsf-tn/2005-February/000051.html

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RMS on Bill Gates Intellectual property views
by Keshav V 17 Feb '05

17 Feb '05

This article by RMS in published in ZDNET : http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9593_22-5578632.html thanks Keshav ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony

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Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] Fwd: [mramadoss@techserve.co.in: Can u guide to a GNU laptop]
by Kanti Jadia 17 Feb '05

17 Feb '05

Seeing this thread am unable to follow what we are talking about. Maybe we need a new thread. chao Kanti On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 Joe Steeve wrote : >Raj Mathur <raju(a)linux-delhi.org> writes: > > I wonder how useful it is to make Hurd T-shirts? > >I dont know., but maybe because of my constant talking ;-) of the >Hurd., there is some eagerness among people in my college to try >the Hurd. > >-- >.O. A proud GNU user >..O http://www.joesteeve.tk/ >OOO http://joe.bsdnerds.org/ >_______________________________________________ >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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Re: [Fsf-friends] Kerala government to use free software in schools
by CK Raju 17 Feb '05

17 Feb '05

We should also thank Nuaiman who wrote the damning piece in Madhayamam Weekly that provoked the KSTA. CK Raju --- "V. Sasi Kumar" <sasi.cess(a)gmail.com> wrote: We should thank the Kerala School Teachers Association for its efforts in this matter. _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> An Online Linux Magazine

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Interview: Tony Mobily, Free Software Magazine
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 16 Feb '05

16 Feb '05

Download this magazine from freesoftwaremagazine.com http://entertainment.newsforge.com/entertainment/05/01/27/1829208.shtml?tid… Interview: Tony Mobily, Free Software Magazine Tuesday February 15, 2005 (08:00 AM GMT) By: Aaron Klemm Free Software Magazine launched last month in electronic format, with a print version due in April. Free Software has no central office, and is not funded by any venture capitalists with deep pockets. Article topics range from an analysis of XML to a discussion about intellectual freedom. Segments of Richard Stallman's blog are promised as a regular feature. A section of technically-oriented articles covers password management, LiveCDs, and programming free software on Mac OS X. The final section deals with economic, social, and political issues of free software. We spoke with editor-in-chief Tony Mobily about creating FSM and his goals for the magazine. Congratulations on the launch of Free Software Magazine. Who do you see as your target audience? Identifying FSM's audience is a little bit tricky. Free software is not a specific product; for example, both Apache and Firefox are free software, but they are very different in many respects. The common ground for FSM's readers is their love of free software and of freedom in general. The magazine is a good way of reinforcing our movement's beliefs, and of creating awareness that the freedom we have at the moment might be taken away if we don't fight for it. It is also a way of discovering what you can do with free software from a technical point of view. The magazine also targets all those people who confuse free software with "shareware" or "freeware." Sadly, that still happens a lot. FSM is a "free software" magazine. Does the "open source" ideology have a place at FSM? Using Richard Stallman's own words, "The Free Software movement and the Open Source movement are like two political camps within the free software community". In general, FSM leans towards the Free Software movement, which, I feel, gives more recognition to GNU (which, let's remember, started it all) and emphasize the importance of freedom. This is why the magazine is not just about free software, but also about freedom. The Open Source ideology does have a place in FSM, for sure: we are fighting the same war, but in different camps, and in different ways! What are the key features of your business plan? Is FSM a completely bootstrapped venture? Yes -- in fact, we are pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps as we speak. :-) The business plan is based on an assumption that would probably only work in the free software world: that subscribers are willing to pay a higher subscription for a magazine that is: # Of a very high standard. # Central to our community. # Aimed at paying authors good money for free contents (we are not at this point yet). # Willing to donate ads to free software companies. Other magazines cost much less than ours -- we charge $6.95. But our aim is different. We are not here to make millions. We simply want to give free software an authoritative voice people can refer to and quote. You have offered reduced-price and even free advertising to companies that support free software. Are you concerned that will place too high a burden on subscribers? No, because we will hopefully have plenty of paying advertisers. As soon as that happens, we will reduce the price of the magazine. Since delivering a free-as-in-beer printed magazine to subscribers isn't feasible, do you see a lesson in the FSM sales model for software developers? To be honest the short answer is no. I think writing software and writing magazines (and documentation in general) are very different things. FSM's model is basically "subscribers get the newest magazine, non-subscribers get six-week-old issues." This works because the delay is not great. Applying this principle to software doesn't really work. There are security bugs to be fixed, patches to be accepted, and so on. What I do think, though, is that this model should be followed by other magazines and publications. I worked in the magazine industry in Europe for five years. The amount of wonderful articles locked away forever is just not acceptable. Making articles accessible on a Web site for free (as in beer) is not enough. Contents need to be free -- under the GNU Free Documentation License, a Creative Commons license, or simply a verbatim-copying-only license. That's the only way to ensure that contents will stay alive forever -- or at least as long as at least one person wants them published. In Issue 1 of FSM, you describe the technical work involved in creating the magazine. Were there unique technical problems using completely Free Software to create the first issue? First of all, a disclaimer: our system is based nearly entirely on free software. Unfortunately, there is still one critical component [a VBA script for manipulating RTF files] which needs non-free software to run. We are planning to fix that soon. As far as unique technical problems, I must say that, if anything, thanks to free software we managed to save phenomenal amounts of time (and therefore money). I am not talking about license fees here. I am talking about the fact that we generate the magazine's PDF automatically. There is no composition involved! We achieved this thanks to LaTeX and Gianluca Pignalberi, a LaTeX guru and university lecturer who decided to invest vast amounts of his time in this project. With FSM, the PDF is generated directly from the tex file, which is generated from the XML. Gianluca has to check that nothing went wrong with the conversion, but mistakes are getting less and less frequent -- and once they are fixed, they won't show up ever again! You use GIF files on the FSM website and JPEG files in the print version of FSM. Are there plans to use the W3C-endorsed PNG file format, which has no history of patent problems? GIF was a choice that happened nearly by accident. In fact, it was thoughtlessness on my side. Now, many automatic scripts are based on the assumption that we have GIF files there. JPEG was used for a similar reason. We are looking into converting all the images to PNG, but it will take time. It's a typical example of the mistakes you can make when you start fresh, even if you are a freedom advocate. There are a million things to do, and by the end of the month you've made one or two mistakes which you really shouldn't have made, and that will take quite some time to fix. Is it difficult to find authors who want to write about free software and related issues? Finding good authors in any field is not easy. Finding reliable authors is very hard. Finding good, reliable authors who are willing to write for free (even as a temporary arrangement) can be really quite tricky! Again, I was amazed by the number of amazing authors I found right at the beginning of this adventure. I am talking about people who write articles which make a difference, change people's minds, or explain something in the most brilliant way. How will you ensure the quality of the articles remains high? Some authors will hand in an article, and you think, "If every author were like this, I wouldn't need editors." But they are the exceptions. Several authors need [three or four] steps in the editing cycle. Some of the published articles have been edited really heavily, changed, improved, discussed. I believe that's what makes the difference. A magazine is not a blog: each article needs to be sharp, well-edited, aimed at a specific audience. That's a lot of work and we are willing to do it. What are your plans for compensating authors? We can pay authors when we have at least 1,300 subscribers and a few paying advertisers. We are working on both these things. I believe we will be able to pay authors from issue 5 onwards, but it could be a little later (if no ads are sold, and subscriptions are slow), as it could be a little earlier (if people buy ads, and subscriptions are going OK). Not paying authors really, really bothers me. I will never, ever say "your payment is the honour of writing for us and be published." I don't think that's the way you run a business. I will pay authors before I pay myself -- that's a promise. How does the future look for FSM? What are your long-term goals for the magazine? Right now, the future of Free Software magazine depends on its subscribers, and subscriptions are coming. We need about 300 subscribers by March 12 not to lose money, and we are slowly but steadily getting there. The long-term goal? Well, I have several. The primary goal is to turn Free Software Magazine into the most important magazine in the free software world. I want it to become the authoritative voice of our movement, a publication that everybody in the IT world knows and respects. I would also love to be able to drop the subscription prices, which at the moment are far too high. We will be able to do that as soon as we get more subscribers and advertising. How can people subscribe and what is the subscription price? There are several options. You can pay by credit card (monthly, six monthly or yearly) or by (American) cheque. The magazine costs US$6.95 per issue; at the moment, that just covers the printing costs and the postage. When we print more magazines, the printing costs will go down and we will be able to charge less for FSM. In the meantime, we ask the members of our community to subscribe, support us and join us in this adventure. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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Re: Swatantra - The cluster demo went gr8
by Anand Babu 16 Feb '05

16 Feb '05

,----[ Javed Rahman <s.kaniff(a)gmail.com> ] | Hi anand, | Javed here.. Remember me??? i called u to check out my cluster here | at Swatantra.. The demo went great.. Thanx for ur help.. The Ganglia | test seemed to satisfy everyone.. Remember that Debian machine i | told you about?? The one we couldnt get the x server running.. Can | u send me some documentation on how to install and run the x server | on debian.. i tried searching the internet but couldnt find | anything.. | Thanx... | Javed `---- Hi Javeed, Sorry, I am still trying to catch up with my huge email backlog. I choosing emails randomly and replying. I am glad to hear that your Cluster demo went well. There are many ways to configure XFree86 under Debian GNU/Linux. Before you start X configuration, do this to make hardware probing smooth. # apt-get install mdetect read-edid discover ------------------------------------------------------------------- Easiest method is dpkg-reconfigure approach # dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Or xf86cfg method # xf86cfg # cp XF86Config /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 # ln -sf /dev/psaux /dev/mouse I usually edit the screen section by hand to look like this Section "Screen" Identifier "Default Screen" Device "Generic Video Card" Monitor "Generic Monitor" DefaultDepth 24 SubSection "Display" Depth 24 Modes "1024x768" EndSubSection EndSection ------------------------------------------------------------------- If nothing works, lspci will tell you what VGA card you have. Post me the output of 'lspci -v'. Newer Debian Sarge installers does a fairly good job in detecting hardware. -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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Re: Reg ur talk at IITM -- with attachment
by Anand Babu 16 Feb '05

16 Feb '05

,----[ "Toufeeq Hussain" <Toufeeq_Hussain(a)infosys.com> ] | | > As I promised, you can download a copy of my presentation and | > example code at | > | > http://www.gnu-india.org/gnu/Hacking-GNU.pdf | > http://www.gnu-india.org/gnu/Hacking-GNU.sxi | > http://www.gnu-india.org/gnu/data-server.tgz | > | > OK, here is a slightly revised version of your minutes | > (actually documentation :) | > ============================================================== | > ========== | > Hacking GNU/HURD | > ================ | > as a part of GLV@ILUGC | | | I consider this an excellent guide to GNU/HURD. Riyaz, AB , is | permission given to upload the slides and the work done by Riyaz to | Infosys Linux Users Group ? | | Many new hackers interested in GNU/HURD will find this helpful. | | Regards, | Toufeeq Hussain `---- Riyaz has already published the document under GNU FDL 1.2 license. Slides are under the same license and example code under GNU GPL V2 or later. So please share them. Slides contain only bullet points with hardly any explanation. I hope you can now give talks using these slides and motivate more people towards GNU/Hurd hacking. http://ftp.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/mach/public/doc/osf/ http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/sd96/goel.html http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/docs.html http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/gnumach-docs.html Still the best document to start with is kernel_principles.ps under first the first link. -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Backlash for Micro$oft
by CK Raju 16 Feb '05

16 Feb '05

Sandip, Nuaiman's article was in Malayalam. If you want to contact him, I can forward his telephone (Kerala) number. Nuaiman does have an e-mail id, but uses it from a cafe. CK Raju --- Sandip Bhattacharya <sandip(a)lug-delhi.org> wrote: From: Sandip Bhattacharya <sandip(a)lug-delhi.org> Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 10:10:30 +0530 To: ckraju(a)linuxtimes.net, Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Backlash for Micro$oft On Mon, 2005-02-14 at 20:30 -0800, CK Raju wrote: > Dear Ajay, > It has to be done and it needs to be fast. I can tell you the Kerala story. Here a free-lance journalist "Nuaiman" wrote a brilliant expose on the issue (about The Project Shiksha of Micro$oft) in a popular weekly magazine. That caught fire, and the teaching community revolted, who even went to the extent of boycotting exams. Nuaiman wrote about the "earn while you teach" theme of Intel/Microsoft and the "project shiksha". Is there any online reference to that story? - Sandip -- Sandip Bhattacharya * Puroga Technologies * sandip(a)puroga.com Work: http://www.puroga.com * Home/Blog: http://www.sandipb.net/blog PGP/GPG Signature: 51A4 6C57 4BC6 8C82 6A65 AE78 B1A1 2280 A129 0FF3 _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> An Online Linux Magazine

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Re: Reg ur talk at IITM -- with attachment
by Anand Babu 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

,----[ "Mohammed Riyaz" <p_mdriyaz(a)fastmail.fm> ] | Hi, | | I have written this document of what you spoke in IIT. I am | attaching a copy of it. This document will be put on the ilugc | websever. So if you do not like any part of it or want something | changed, let me know. | | Thank you, | Mohammed Riyaz P. | | P.S: it was a great session. :) `---- As I promised, you can download a copy of my presentation and example code at http://www.gnu-india.org/gnu/Hacking-GNU.pdf http://www.gnu-india.org/gnu/Hacking-GNU.sxi http://www.gnu-india.org/gnu/data-server.tgz OK, here is a slightly revised version of your minutes (actually documentation :) ======================================================================== Hacking GNU/HURD ================ as a part of GLV@ILUGC Speaker: Anand Babu Email: ab (at) gnu.org.in Date: 05 FEB 2005 Location: csd 320, Tenet seminar hall, IITM. For all those who couldn't make it, you did miss a lot. Cheer up though, i will try my best to bridge that gap. Brief Introduction: ------------------- The Hurd is a collection of servers that run on the Mach micro kernel to implement file systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are implemented by the monolithic Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux). GNU Mach 1.x was derived from CMU Mach 3. There is also GNU Mach 2.0 branch based on Oskit from Utah (Oskit has Mach 4 code). initially developed from MACH 3. L4 (another micro kernel) is currently being developed and GNU Hurd hasn't booted off L4 yet. With L4 lacking the basic framework, AB recommended hacking GNU MACH over L4. Moreover getting a working GNU Hurd can be much faster with GNU MACH as most of the ground work has already been done. What GNU Hurd lacks as of now is mainly device drivers support and performance optimization. AB also emphasized on the need to get GNU Hurd working (it already works fine, i mean up to industry standard) in at least two years, in order to get in par with Linux kernel ;) SNIP: L4 tasks manages their resource themselves unlike Linux kernel. Though named micro kernel, they agent necessarily small in size. GNU Mach is big because of the Linux device drivers in it (more about this later). Drivers in User Space Vs Drivers in Kernel Space: ------------------------------------------------- AB spoke about the possibility of running device drivers in user space unlike Linus kernel where device drivers run in kernel space. Though he recommends hacking drivers in kernel space to get them ready initially. Mach tasks communicate over IPC and the advantages of user-space kernel surpasses the over-head of abstraction, Although performance doesn't suffer that much. Reason being IPC is essentially an abstraction with "mach_mesg" system call interrupt at the heart. (They are not like packets transferred between two socket applications). If the device drivers are made to run in user space, gdb could be run on the device driver to debug it. SNIP: L4 doesn't copy/queue the messages and is totally synchronous. In L4 the designers are planning to use User space drivers. Micro kernel Vs Monolithic Kernel: --------------------------------- No it wasn't a flame war ;)!! Though Linus calls Linux modular, it isn't actually modular because at run time the kernel runs as one big program( it is called modular because of the modules aspect of Linux). The disadvantage of this being, as the kernel gets bigger it is going to be more difficult to maintain it. On the other hand, the micro kernel as such is small. The modules are in user space, and are separate programs in its own space, which helps in maintaining them. Important concepts discussed about MACH: ---------------------------------------- -Threads -Tasks -Ports -Message & Message queue. Threads and tasks are exactly what we think they are. A task is like a container of threads, ports rights... The new and interesting things were ports, messages and message passing. Threads are the basic unit of execution. Task can have one or more threads. How ever Task are not like Unix processes. They do not have pid, gid ... Ports: ****** Unlike the ports we are familiar with, ports in MACH are the portals through which different tasks communicate with each other. The messages to different tasks are sent and received through ports. Ports are message queues with some properties associated to it (like message count). Port rights: ************ These rights which decide whether you can send/receive messages to/from a task(through the port) or not. Different rights: Send right - right to send to a port. Receive right - right to receive messages from a port. Send once right - this right is revoked after being used once. Port Set - Collection of receive rights. Similar to Linux file descriptors for a program that cannot be used by another program, the ports of task are protected by the kernel. The port rights are transferred through messages. Though the tasks can decide on the rights, it is the kernel which actually does the transfer of rights. Port Names pace: *************** Port Names pace is a structure maintained by the kernel for each task which contains the different rights. Each of the send once rights have a unique entry in the names pace and hence have a unique port name(discussed below). Similarly each of the receive right has a unique port name. Each port-set will have a unique port name. Send rights and receive rights to same ports have same port name. Remember a receive right cannot exist inside a port set and out-side as well. Port Name: ********** They appear as numbers like file descriptors. Port names are an index of port-rights into the port name space. Port Set: ********* Port set was released with CMU Mach 3. It is a collection of receive rights for a task. You can let the kernel listen on the entire range of receive-rights in a port-set and notify the task when ever message is ready. (Similar to "select" system call). Messages: ********* Messages consist of a mach message header, and data part. The data part in turn has data type field, count field and a data field. eg. data type - ins count - 10 data - 0..9 as guessed an array of 10 int's. :) How ports are handled in MACH? ------------------------------ In GNU Mach for a task to communicate with another task, it has to be done through ports. More precisely, it needs to have send rights to the other port. So when a task is created in MACH, the kernel creates port called task port (similarly thread port for threads) and the send rights for that port are placed in the task's task structure. Similarly two other ports are created, namely bootstrap port and exception port. The task in turn calls a routine mask_task_self(), which provides the send rights to the task port. Other basic requirements for a task such as contacting the file system server(more about servers later) are taken care of by inheriting the environment ports, which are created during GNU Hurd initialization. SNIP: Look at task.c and ipp_tt.c Line 86 of ipp_tt.c deals with the above paragraph. MiG: ---- MiG is the Mach 3.0 interface generator, as maintained by the GNU Hurd developers for the GNU project. The interface generator produces stub code from interface definition (.defs) files. The stub code makes it easy to implement and use Mach interfaces as remote procedure calls (RPC). Generally a .defs file is written which contains the functions to be implemented and is compiled with MIG. The output is two files, a server part and client part. The server part contains the function prototype. The function definition's are to be filled in by the developer to suit his requirements. The client part contains the routines to call the functions implemented by the server. So the actually message passing part is implemented by MIG. REFER TO data-server.c and data-client.c example. The Requirement- Device Drivers: -------------------------------- Shantanu Goel took Linux (1.3.35) device drivers for block,SCSI, PCI and ISA and got it working with CMU Mach. Advantage being no changes were required for the device drivers source. The wrapper took care of initialization, kernel memory allocation, I/O blocking. Currently GNU Mach has 2.0, 2.2 drivers of Linux kernel. Now the requirement is to port the Linux 2.6 kernel device drivers to GNU Mach. The emulation will produce a performance drop of few microseconds. The GNU Hurd: ------------- Servers: ******** In The GNU Hurd you have servers, eg. filesystem server, authserver TCP/IP stack, block drivers...etc. Communication (IPC) interface is defined by the corresponding MIG .defs files. Each of these servers takes care of specialized tasks and as a whole implements a POSIX system. In future GNU Hurd will also support distributed model called "collectives". Translators: ************ Translators are hooks in the filesystem which in turn link to a task. eg. You already have ftpfs, httpfs file systems, where you can mount a remote FTP or HTTP server locally and run tar or grep on them. $settans /root/.mbox /hurd/pop3fs --server=mail.gnu.org --user=.... to mount a remote POP3 connection as a local mbox file. Once the translator is set you could use the normal file system commands like cat, ls , grep etc on /tmp/ftp and it will behave like a local file system. Similarly translators could be written for gzip, http ... the list ends with your creativity. A whole list of libraries are available for this (eg. libdiskfs libnetfs ..) Two type of translators: *Active translators - these are lost with reboot, and showtrans does not work on them. *Passive translators. CASE STUDY: ~~~~~~~~~~~ The famous /dev/null in Linux is implemented as a translator in HURD. If you run ps you can see /hurd/null running as a task. This is hooked to /dev/null as a translator. If you have understood all this, then you should be wondering how a task (which acts a translator) is able to understand cat, grep, ls ...because i too did and AB explained it beautifully which takes us to the next topic. POSIX implementation on HURD: ----------------------------- Welcome to real world!!! or rather How deep is the rabbit hole??..:) Before we get into this.. there is a function that needs to be discussed. dirlookup() This function returns send rights (read important concepts in Mach) to particular task. (similar to a DNS server which returns a ip for the url). The libc calls like open, read, write .. in turn run a dirlookup() to get the rights from the required server. eg. if there is a regular file /tmp/foo a open on this would request rights from the filesystem server, but if /tmp/foo is a translator linked with foobar the the rights would be returned for foobar. Now both the filesystem server and foobar will have to implement the same set of functions, eg. io_read, io_stat etc. How is this done is you might ask. Remember the .defs file ??(read MIG above) It is the developer who fills the function definition's (go back and read MIG once more if in doubt). so in foobar for io_read, i can do a socket connect, or anything i like. so when you run cat, you call open, which does a dirlookup and returns the send right(either to a translator task or a server) and then open in turn calls io_open, io_read.. on their server. and we already know how to write a translator!!! :).. even though you missed the meet. LUCK HUH!! :) Cool tool librpci: ------------------ I dont really remember much about this(my brain was supercharged by now 4.5 hrs of HURD :)), but this tool will allow you to do a whole lot of things like stealing the task port, recreating the errors. eg if a server seems buggy to you, you could take a dump, then run librpci with this dump, librpci will simulate the previous situation with the help of the dump file. This should recreate the errors making the debugging easier. Closing notes: -------------- If you have installed GNU/Hurd, sshd will not run because /dev/urandom is not yet implemented in HURD. So you could write a binary which returns some thing random (or the same thing every time :) ) and create a symlink to it as /dev/urandom. You will have a sshd running fine. Alright, so you didn't attend the meet or you attended it and slept through out, but at least you have read this document and come this far. That gives more meaning to my effort in typing this document. Thank you. Mohammed Riyaz P. (HAPPY HACKING :) (quoting RMS)) ============================================================================== Here is some more info, I wrote. Usually you take care of this after you finish the installation and login in for the first time. SWAP and CDROM --------------- Also don't forget to add SWAP entries in your /etc/fstab after installation completes. You need to create devices before you use them. If you have a swap partition say hd0s2 (hda2) and cdrom as hd2 (hdc), then # cd /dev # ./MAKEDEV hd0s2 # ./MAKEDEV hd2 and add these two lines to /etc/fstab /dev/hd0s2 none swap sw 0 0 /dev/hd2 /cdrom iso9660 ro 0 0 # swapon -a APT ---- If your network card works, add this to your /etc/apt/sources.list deb http://ftp.gnuab.org/debian unreleased main deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable main Or if you have setup to use CDROM instead, do this deb file:/cdrom/debian unstable main contrib local non-US/main non-US/contrib NETWORK -------- Setup networking like this: (Choose IP addresses appropriately) # settrans -fgap /servers/socket/2 /hurd/pfinet -i eth0 \ -a 192.168.1.54 -g 192.168.1.1 -m 255.255.255.0 # echo "nameserver 202.54.15.1" >> /etc/resolv.conf # ping www.gnu.org SSH ---- ssh installation will fail, because of missing /dev/urandom. Before you proceed with ssh installation, temporarily create a symbolic link of some binary file in place of urandom. This is just a dirty hack.. # ln -s /bin/bash /dev/urandom CONSOLE -------- I am comfortable with "screen" package, except I re-map C-a prefix with Happy Hacking, -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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[Fsf-friends] Re: GNU/HURD Installation: native-install goes into endless loop
by Anand Babu 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

,----[ "Toufeeq Hussain" <Toufeeq_Hussain(a)infosys.com> ] | I'm unable to create/modify files. remember that I'm operating | under single user mode (-s, during boot-time), maybe the read-only | is set because of single-user mode. `---- This explains. File system is mounted read only. This could have happened because of improper shutdown or incomplete installation. Try this, Assuming your root partition is hd0s1 (hda1) # fsck.ext2 -y /dev/hd0S1 # fsysopts / --writable Then you proceed with your installation. # ./native_install Otherwise, I recommend a re-install. SWAP and CDROM --------------- Also don't forget to add SWAP entries in your /etc/fstab after installation completes. You need to create devices before you use them. If you have a swap partition say hd0s2 (hda2) and cdrom as hd2 (hdc), then # cd /dev # ./MAKEDEV hd0s2 # ./MAKEDEV hd2 and add these two lines to /etc/fstab /dev/hd0s2 none swap sw 0 0 /dev/hd2 /cdrom iso9660 ro 0 0 # swapon -a APT ---- If your network card works, add this to your /etc/apt/sources.list deb http://ftp.gnuab.org/debian unreleased main deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable main NETWORK -------- Setup networking like this: (Choose IP addresses appropriately) # settrans -fgap /servers/socket/2 /hurd/pfinet -i eth0 \ -a 192.168.1.54 -g 192.168.1.1 -m 255.255.255.0 # echo "nameserver 202.54.15.1" >> /etc/resolv.conf # ping www.gnu.org SSH ---- ssh installation will fail, because of missing /dev/urandom. Before you proceed with ssh installation, temporarily create a symbolic link of some binary file in place of urandom. This is just a dirty hack.. # ln -s /bin/bash /dev/urandom CONSOLE -------- I am comfortable with "screen" package, except I re-map C-a prefix with ` key. Add this to your /etc/screenrc # turn off annoying visual bell off and enable audible beep vbell off # replace C-a with C-\ escape `^M If you want a fancy Hurd console try this # console -d vga -d pc_mouse --repeat=mouse -d pc_kbd --repeat=kbd \ -d generic_speaker -c /dev/cons /dev/vcs QUESTIONS ---------- Here is a nice FAQ for GNU/Hurd http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/faq.en.html -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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[Fsf-friends] Fwd: [mramadoss@techserve.co.in: Can u guide to a GNU laptop]
by Nagarjuna G. 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

Can you help him? Nagarjuna ----- Forwarded message from sriramadoss <mramadoss(a)techserve.co.in> ----- > Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 15:14:36 +0530 > From: sriramadoss <mramadoss(a)techserve.co.in> > Subject: Can u guide to a GNU laptop > To: nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org > User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 (Windows/20041206) > > Dear Nagarjunji, > > I came to know about in the recently concluded swatantra symposium at VIT. > > Don't know whether its right to put this question to you. If it is not > so kindly apologise. > > I wish to go for a notebook PC that has absolutely free softwares in it. > > can u guide me... > > Looking forward to your reply. > > Regards, > > Sri Ramadoss M, > Old No: 30/5 New No: 63/5 Murthy Street Extn., > West mambalam, > Chennai - 600 033 > Mobile: 98416 87639 > > ----- End forwarded message -----

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Backlash for Micro$oft
by CK Raju 15 Feb '05

15 Feb '05

Dear Ajay, It has to be done and it needs to be fast. I can tell you the Kerala story. Here a free-lance journalist "Nuaiman" wrote a brilliant expose on the issue (about The Project Shiksha of Micro$oft) in a popular weekly magazine. That caught fire, and the teaching community revolted, who even went to the extent of boycotting exams. Nuaiman wrote about the "earn while you teach" theme of Intel/Microsoft and the "project shiksha". CK Raju --- "Ajay Pal Singh Atwal" <ajaypal(a)bbsbec.org> wrote: Can something similar be done in Punjab. I know there are plenty of ppl from Punjab especially from teaching community in this list. Punjab Technical University has tailored its curriculum as per M$ software. _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> Open Source to everyone.

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Edward Cherlin's interesting point of view...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 14 Feb '05

14 Feb '05

Permit me to share Edward Cherlin's interesting point of view, which came up on the BytesForAll list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers in another context. He makes some interesting points. (I think a better word for 'commercial' software would be 'proprietorial' software.) --FN Bill Gates has a vested interest in denying the reality of progress in anything that Microsoft didn't invent (BASIC and other programming language products) or buy (much of their business) or copy (Windows) or have handed to them (PC DOS)... Yup, we have it. It's called Free Software. Apache is the dominant Web server. You can even get it for Windows, now. Firefox recently started cutting into Microsoft's market share in browsers. You can get OpenOffice, and there are two projects to clone Outlook and the Microsoft messaging server. Countries like Rwanda are creating complete sets of software in their own languages. The full effects of these changes have yet to be felt.... E-commerce is another good Copernican idea. Overstock.com is now the biggest employer in Afghanistan, selling art and craft items on the Web and paying the creators 70% of the final selling price. Compare that with the pennies an hour that children are getting in rug factories in Asia.... The big deal about Free Software is that the manufacturing cost is essentially zero. I am running a Linux system with Free applications that would cost several thousand dollars in commercial near-equivalents. All it cost me was the download time. From my current setup: Free Commercial OpenOffice Microsoft Office MySQL Microsoft Access Quanta Plus Microsoft FrontPage Korganizer + Kmail Microsoft Outlook Gnucash Microsoft Money Kivio Microsoft Visio GIMP Adobe Photoshop Sketch Abode Illustrator Maxima Wolfram Mathematica Kig Interactive Geometry Geometer's Sketchpad FontForge ParaType Fontlab C, C++, Perl, Python, LISP/Scheme, Tcl/Tk When I feel the need for a new program, I don't have to ask myself whether I can afford it. I just do a little searching on the Net to find and compare the alternatives, and install my choice. Or maybe I install several to try out, and then decide which to keep. -- Edward Cherlin, Simputer Evangelist Encore Technologies (S) Pte. Ltd. The Village Information Society http://cherlin.blogspot.com Forwarded via: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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[Fsf-friends] [digilib_india] National Workshop On E-Learning Technologies (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 14 Feb '05

14 Feb '05

Not related directly to FLOSS< but might be of interest. FN ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Dear Professionals, The Department of Library and Information Science,Andhra University,Visakhapatnam(A.P) is organising a four day national workshop on E-Learning Technology applications in LIS Profession from March 2 - 5, 2005. Following topics would be covered in the workshop: - Introduction to E-Learning - Introduction to E-Learning Methods and technologies and their application in LIS profession - Multimedia Applications- Preparation of effective power point presentations using text,audio,images,video content and Animation , Use of OCR technologies, - Overview of HyperText MarkUp Language - Design of Web sites for Libraries and Information Centers The Workshop is mainly organised for Librarians and LIS teachers with basic knowledge of IT. Workshop is intended for a limited number of participants. Registration fee is Rs.500/-per participant. Payment can be made by Demand Draft in favour of �National Workshop on E-learning Technology Applications In LIS Profession", Dept. of Library & Information Science,Andhra University,payable at Visakhapatnam. Cash payment would be accepted only from local participants. For further information please contact: Prof.C.Sasikala, csasikala(a)satyam.net.in Professor, Dept of Library and Inf. Sc., Andhra University, Visakhapatnam Dr.D.CHANDRAN, Associate Professor Dept of Library & Information Sc. Sri Venkateswara University TIRUPATI 517502,INDIA, Email ID : chandrand2001(a)yahoo.co.in http://www.nafizdu.netfirms.com/dr_d_chandran.html PHONE: (res) +91-(0)877-55-72559 OFF: +91`-(0)877-224 9666/314 MOBILE:(0) 94401-90250 FAX : +91-(0)877-225 4830 or 224 9548 or224 9488 or 222 9101 Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partneronline.

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Review of Ubuntu
by Praveen A 13 Feb '05

13 Feb '05

Author : Carthikhttp://www.swaroopch.info/archives/2005/02/09/it-finally-hit-me-why-mepis-debian-rocks/#comments Source : I forgot to say what I liked in Ubuntu, in particular : First off, the community is great, and very helpful, and the tolerance towards newbies is high. Second, most of the apps and preferences are set in such a way as to make life easier, and the OS more intuitive and immediately useful. The Ubuntu devs seem to be putting some time into adapting the programs for usability. For example, i have never seen better fonts in a Linux system, and the defaults make sense. Third, I don't want to switch on a later day, when Warren Woodford decides or is forced to call it quits. I am suspicious of one-person projects. Fourth, Ubuntu is totally free and will remain so, but is still backed by a company, Canonical, with lots of money being invested into improving it. Debian and Gnome developers are on a payroll, and that means a lot to me, since I know it is their job to improve Ubuntu - it is not a past time activity for them. Fifth, Ubuntu just worked on my laptop and desktop. I can't say the same for MEPIS which could not boot me into a graphical UI, or setup my wireless card "out of the box". That is important to me, since I can learn more, only if I have everything running to begin with, especially internet access. Now I know enough to install the driver, load the modules etc manually, but to begin with, it's nice to get some hand-holding (besides, isn;t that the way everything should work - with minimal intervention?) Sixth, To me, the philosophy behind the OS is important. Ubuntu is a novel venture in which a person and an organization are investing in the future of free OpenSource software. I want to do what I can to see that this is a success story - so that other organizations will invest in Open source development. I wish Canonical all success, since they do not have any Mandrake-like clubs, or MEPIS-like 'Pro' versions, and since they provide the same OS freely as they do when they get involved with professional support. It is good to know I have the best my distro has on offer, and that I am not discriminated against - even though I pay nothing. Canonical is serious enough about spreading the word. They distribute (read mail out) CD packets to whoever wants them, for free, across the world. The sheer cost of shipping cds worldwide, any number of them, boggles my mind. I received some 10 cd packs, and am lined up to receive another 100 cd packs - each with professionally made and packaged cds. All this and just a general feeling of "this one's a good one" made me choose Ubuntu as my only OS. -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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[Fsf-friends] [Richard Stallman] Re: [FSF India Board] GNUunify is not GNU
by Anand Babu 13 Feb '05

13 Feb '05

Dear Rajeev, Please register your group under http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-user-groups.html Thanks -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org> -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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[Fsf-friends] "Microsoft seeking to bypass decisions of European Court" (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 13 Feb '05

13 Feb '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- FSFE: "Microsoft seeking to bypass decisions of European Court" "My local shop has a rule that they don't serve women. This is not discriminatory because the same rule applies to both males and females equally." Software giant Microsoft seems to behave similar to the shop owner after a decision of European Court. Spring last year, EU Commissioner Mario Monti imposed a penalty of nearly 500 million Euro on Microsoft, as well as some additional conditions. One of those conditions are the publication of so called software interfaces. Software interfaces determine how computers communicate with each other to exchange information. This information is important for several Free Software projects. One of these is SAMBA, which connects the UNIX and GNU/Linux world with Microsoft's operating system and works against the monopoly that Microsoft has established on the operating system market. Without access to the software interface information, SAMBA will have a hard time keeping up. Microsoft appealed against this decision in front of European Court of Justice and asked to suspend the decision until the proceeding has come to a final decision in possibly four years. European Court refused this suspension December last year. Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) supported the European Commission throughout this procedure. Officially Microsoft says it wants to cooperate with the Commission and to comply with the conditions. Microsoft has published an agreement which allows Free Software projects like SAMBA to use the software interface information, but bans it from publishing the software as Free Software. "That is not even complying with the wording of European Court's decision - not to mention its spirit!" Stefano Maffulli, Italian Chancellor of FSFE says. Microsoft requests a "Per User Royalty" from Free Software projects: "Obviously, while paying royalties is not impossible in principle as una-tantum, with Free Software nobody knows exactly how many copies use a certain program are circulating, as Free Software is allowed to be copied as often as necessary, freely.", Maffulli says. FSFE Lawyer Carlo Piana adds: "It seems that Microsoft has misunderstood the actual meaning of the decision. I cannot enter into details, but it has offered a license as though it would have to license its software, while all which is demanded is to release certain information as to the 'language spoken' by its applications." This is the same kind of information that any software company is entitled to acquire and use by reverse engineering, to produce an independent product or buy buying a license to standards like POSIX. Piana adds: "Moreover, the license offered only applies to the European Economic Area (but it is governed by the laws -- and put under the jurisdiction -- of the USA.) Not to say about the agreement requested for evaluating the licensed software, which is incredibly burdensome and only allows inspection for total 48 hours. According to Microsoft testimony, the inspected documentation would pile up 'tens of thousand pages', you can do the math! It took more than four hours to me just to study the contracts... And those who have inspected the information loose the possibility to work on the development of similar products for one year. We cannot even start a discussion on this basis." "We have communicated our concerns to the Commission and we are full of confidence that Brussels will bear them in mind: for European consumers it is a must that SAMBA and any other Free Software developer is allowed to publish Free Software on the basis of the given interface information. Secondly nothing else than a single payment is acceptable to us. And thirdly we have to take care that Microsoft does not try to protect its monopoly with software patents on these interface informations. It is really difficult to follow all the dodges they do", Maffulli says, "but FSFE will be awake to avoid Microsoft making paper tigers out of decisions of the European Court!" About the Free Software Foundation Europe: The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a charitable non-governmental organisation dedicated to all aspects of Free Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate in a digital society. Therefore the Freedoms to use, copy, modify and redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition- allow equal participation in the information age. Creating awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues of the FSFE. The FSFE was founded in 2001 as the European sister organisation of the Free Software Foundation in the United States. Further information: http://www.fsfeurope.org When you would like to receive our press releases regularly please subscribe to our mailinglist at http://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release. Thank you very much for your interest. -- Joachim Jakobs <jj(a)office.fsfeurope.org> Press Speaker - FSF Europe (http://fsfeurope.org) Heinrich-Heine-Str. 3, D-67134 Birkenheide (Tel: +49-179-6919565) _______________________________________________ Press-release mailing list Press-release(a)fsfeurope.org https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 22, Issue 13
by Amachu 12 Feb '05

12 Feb '05

hi, gr8 to read about phoenix.. On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 22:32:32 -0800 (PST), fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in <fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in> wrote: > 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. Re: [Fsf-friends] Fwd:[mramadoss@techserve.co.in: Can u guide > to a GNU laptop] (Nagarjuna G.) > 2. Re: Fwd: [mramadoss(a)techserve.co.in: Can u guide to a GNU > laptop] (Mahesh T. Pai) > 3. GNU sticker (was) Fwd: [mramadoss(a)techserve.co.in: Can u > guide to a GNU laptop] (Joe Steeve) > 4. Re: GNU sticker (Anand Babu) > 5. Re: [Fsf-friends] Fwd:[mramadoss@techserve.co.in: Can u guide > to a GNU laptop] (Nagarjuna G.) > 6. Re: Fwd: [mramadoss(a)techserve.co.in: Can u guide to a GNU > laptop] (Joe Steeve) > 7. Re: An interesting site (Nagarjuna G.) > 8. Re: Fwd: [mramadoss(a)techserve.co.in: Can u guide to a GNU > laptop] (Raj Mathur) > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 20:08:19 +0530 > From: "Nagarjuna G." <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> > Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Fwd:[mramadoss@techserve.co.in: Can u guide > to a GNU laptop] > To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > Cc: Anand Babu <ab(a)gnu.org.in> > Message-ID: <200502112008.19509.nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > On Thursday 10 Feb 2005 11:10 pm, Anand Babu wrote: > > IBM ThinkPads are the most Free Software compatible ones. > > I recommend IBM T21to T23 on the lower end and IBM T40 to T43 > > on the higher end. IBM X40 is sleek, light weight, 8 hrs battery > but > > costly. > > > > FSF-US gives IBM Thinkpads for FSF Sys Admins. > > do the internal modems in them also work? > > Nagarjuna > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 00:39:21 +0530 > From: "Mahesh T. Pai" <paivakil(a)sancharnet.in> > Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Fwd: [mramadoss(a)techserve.co.in: Can u > guide to a GNU laptop] > To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > Message-ID: <20050211190920.GB4424(a)nandini.home> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Nagarjuna G. said on Fri, Feb 11, 2005 at 08:08:19PM +0530,: > > > do the internal modems in them also work? > > Ought to. There is the mwave module. Though it is a binary module, it > is undet the GPL, and is in the official kernel tree. > > Errr ... afaik, RMS is using an IBM thinkpad. > > -- > Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com > ~/\$ mv -vfi linux gnu/linux > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 01:59:25 +0530 > From: Joe Steeve <joe_steeve(a)gmx.net> > Subject: [Fsf-friends] GNU sticker (was) Fwd: > [mramadoss(a)techserve.co.in: Can u guide to a GNU laptop] > To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> > Message-ID: <87braqvo0q.fsf_-_(a)deck8.enterprise> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Anand Babu <ab(a)gnu.org.in> writes: > > ... > > AB: Where do I get the `GNU` sticker you had on your laptop., I > thought the stickers RMS promised where like the ones you had., > but they seem to be different. > > -- > .O. A proud GNU user > ..O http://www.joesteeve.tk/ > OOO http://joe.bsdnerds.org/ >

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An interesting site
by Praveen A 12 Feb '05

12 Feb '05

PHOENIX Physics with Homemade Equipments & Innovative Experiments Phoenix is a cost effective, fast and sensitive general purpose interface to do science experiments using a PC. The objective is to make science experiments more interesting and meaningful by employing methods and tools similar to the ones used in research labs. The hardware provides Analog and Digital Input/Output channels, Signal generators, Motor controls and Amplifiers. Parameters like velocity, temperature etc. can be digitized and measured with microsecond timing accuracy. The interface circuitry is packaged inside a small box with front panel connector sockets and connected to the parallel port of the PC. http://www.nsc.res.in/~elab/phoenix/ Regards Praveen A -- A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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Backlash for Micro$oft
by CK Raju 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

"Mr. Basheer said the leadership Kerala State Teachers' Association (KSTA) had initially fully endorsed the Government decision to hold the examination using Microsoft software, but had later backtracked on its word. The Government is ready to use Linux from the coming year. But it is too late to attempt anything of the kind at this point of time." (Full story at http://www.hindu.com/2005/02/09/stories/2005020904990500.htm ) Micro$oft is getting a new taste of treatment from the teaching community in this well bounded territory. This time the 'holy nexus' is getting more clearly exposed. Very soon the $oft Inc will get a matching response from the local bodies of the State. IKM, pls watch out - your own partymen will catch you by your neck. CK Raju _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> Open Source to everyone.

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IT's foot soldier (Jaromil in India)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 10 Feb '05

10 Feb '05

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/02/08/stories/2005020800950400.htm IT's foot soldier Denis Jaromil is unusual. His possessions: a backpack and a laptop. He writes software, distributes it free, and allows others to edit and sell it too [2005020800950401.jpg] Denis Jaromil Rojo: `Free software is a good way to not depend on foreign companies.' -- Photo: Murali Kumar K. DENIS `JAROMIL' Rojo is as unconventional as one can get. He is an artist (multi-faceted); free software programmer, a Rastafarian, a social worker, and is a squatter on a vacant plot in Amsterdam. And his ideas are radical. An Italian, Jaromil is a member of the fast-growing tribe that believes the future belongs to free software. He is in India right now to convince NGOs to use free software instead of spending public money to make multinational corporations rich. "Today, every operating system comes with a free music player; but to produce music, you must buy a producer. This is a consumerist approach that tries to shape society. So, I produce software that is free and comes with producers and players. Free software is a good way to not depend on foreign companies. In NGO work especially, public money can be invested in free software that will contribute to generate local employment," he argues. Jaromil himself was a victim of big-eat-small when his family's small computer shop in Pescara, Italy, went bankrupt due to stiff competition from multinational chains. "I have been working with computers since I was 12 years old. When our shop closed down, I tried to do some programming myself. But compilers and source codes were too expensive. That's when my friend introduced me to GNU/Linux (free software) and I have been hooked ever since. I realised that I could study freely," he says. He has even gone on to release his own version of GNU/Linux called Dynebolic which features advanced audio and video editing tools, and is completely free. "The beauty of free software is that you can edit it, copy it, and even sell it, and the only thing you need to do is give credit to the developers who have put in work before you," he says. Programming is not the only thing Jaromil does. He has studied Communication Sciences and Journalism, and earns his living as an Artist in Residence at the National Institute for Media Art, Amsterdam. He is a member of [23]www.net-art.org, a web-based issue portal, and a founding member of Olografix.org, an NGO that teaches people how to use informatics better. "I keep swinging between programming and social issues. I develop my software under the name Rastasoft because I'm a Rastafarian and I want people to use my software free of cost. People must exchange data freely over a network and also be able to edit source codes. My most memorable experience is when I wrote about Palestinian culture without mentioning war even once. I travelled across the territory documenting everything that was not war," he says. And why does he squat? "My only possessions in my life are my backpack, the old laptop and the clothes that I wear. Dutch law says if a place is free for a year or more you can occupy it. It is a basic human right. Plus the owner doesn't have to pay taxes if people are squatting on his property. And when you squat, you meet different people. Cultures mix. Our group of squatters runs an organisation called ASCII that recycles old computers that the local community can use," adds Jaromil, who has very strong political views on everything from war to software. He is especially severe on Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU. "Richard Stallman is a capitalist. He is a very good friend of mine but doesn't take a clear position," he argues. But the big question remains. Can free software offer Indian programmers the same kind of pay that global companies are now able to offer? "Yes. Probably not a lot of money, but sufficient. But most important thing is that the money stays in the community. You build software that serves your needs and you fix the problems yourself. Local people solve local problems. Indian engineers are immensely talented. Instead of contributing to some corporation in North America, they can contribute to their local needs," he says. And as a final note of caution, he adds: "We need to be careful because people are playing nasty tricks on free programmers. We are even being infiltrated by people sponsored by the (global) companies. But whatever free software is the future." For more information on Dynebolic visit [24]www.dyne.org and for any queries on free software email [25]jaromil at dyne.org ANAND SANKAR ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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[COMMERCIAL] LFY Feb 2005: Mandrakelinux 10.1 C, Free BSD, Ubuntu, OO.o 2.0 beta
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 09 Feb '05

09 Feb '05

Want to keep abrest with GNU/Linux issues? LFY-February 2004 issue costing Rs 125 (for LFY and LFYPro with one CD and one DVD) has the following software: ON THE LFY DVD: * Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community * Free BSD 5.2.1 * Ubuntu Linux * Systemrescuedisk ON THE LFY CD: * MPlayer * OpenOffice 2.0 Beta * Opera 7.54 * Xfce * Fedora Updates: Kernel 2.6.9, MySQL 3.23, OpenOffice.org-1.1.2.11.5, php-4.3.10.3.2 Postfix-2.1.5-2.4, System-config-services-0.8.17.0 Some articles in this issue: * Personalise Your Desktop (Page 18) * Boost OpenOffice with Macros (22) * Bost Your Linux Engine (24) * AMaViS: A Mail Virus Scanner (26) * Computers that Converse in Indian Languages (38) * Looking Back at 2004 (45) * The Business of Open Source (29) * Software Patents, Jewels for the Rich (34) * Education Goes Open (54) * A Giant LEAP for Linux (58). In the LinuxForYou Pro: * Database Management Using MySQL (part II, 12) * Remastering Knoppix 3.3 Create Your Own Live CD (48) * Hack a Microcontrollers with GNU/Linux (04), The Importance of Exception Handling (10) * Failover Clustering (15) * Multi-threading Programming in Python (20) * PXES Universal Thin Client (24) * Get on the D-BUS (35) * Subversion Organising the Unorganised (38) * Java Refactoring with Eclipse Part I (45) * Software RAID Part IV (52). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. --Aristotle

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Mrudulayudhangal (Malayalam)
by dileep＠gmx.net 09 Feb '05

09 Feb '05

Friends, An article "Mrudulayudhangal" (Malayalam), briefing the history and philosophy of free software, by Sri. Jagadees S. can be downloaded from FSUG-Kochi. URL: http://puggy.symonds.net/~fsug-kochi/downloads/mrudulayudhangal.tar.gz Regards -- Dileep M. Kumar -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .

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Reg. OpenSolaris
by Joe Steeve 08 Feb '05

08 Feb '05

This was like good news., but I saw the licensing was an OSI approved license. I tried reading that license., and since I'm not a lawyer and dont understant that terminology very well, I dont grasp anything out of it. Can someone on the list who understood that tell me what the major points are., and the difference from the GNU GPL. -- .O. A proud GNU user ..O http://www.joesteeve.tk/ OOO http://joe.bsdnerds.org/

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Pune Symbiosis' GNUnify draws big names
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Feb '05

07 Feb '05

Pune Symbiosis' GNUnify draws big names http://www.linux-india.org/index.pl?id=3496&isa=Newsitem&op=show Brian Behlendorf of Apache will be taking part in the Pune GNUnify event, organisers announced. So will some other big names, include MySQL founder David Axmark. This year's event will focus on localisation projects, PHP5, Python, MySQL and more. There's an awareness-building exercise for school students and teachers on the first day of the event (Feb 13, 2005) followed by an installfest and more. Organisers announced today (February 7, 2005) that they were to have Apache co-founder Brian Behlendorf taking part in the event. (Apache HTTP Server is an open source HTTP web server for Unix platforms -- BSD, Linux, and UNIX systems -- and Microsoft Windows, and other platforms. Apache features highly configurable error messages, DBMS-based authentication databases, and content negotiation, it is also supported by several GUIs which permit easier, more intuitive configuration of the server. See http://gui.apache.org/ The Apache HTTP Server is developed and maintained by an open community of developers under the auspices of the Apache Software Foundation.) In addition, they are to have Robert Adkins and Ms Alolita Sharma from Technetra, California, Ms Danese Cooper from Sun MicroSystems, MySQL founder David Axmark, and others join their event. (MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL (Structured Query Language) relational database server or RDBMS. MySQL is available either under the GNU General Public License or under other licenses when the GPL is inapplicable to the intended use. Unlike projects such as Apache, MySQL is owned and sponsored by a single for-profit firm, the Swedish company MySQL AB.) This year's event will focus on localisation projects, PHP5, Python, MySQL The Commercial FOSS Database, and more. Visit http://gunify.sicsr.ac.in for details or contact gnunify(a)symbiosiscomputers.com GNUnify is being organised by students of the Masters of Science in Computer Applications -- MSc(CA) degree programme -- of the Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research. SICSR was set up in 1985, and offers several full-time and part-time courses. Each year, they organise this Free/Open Source Software Event. GNUnify aims at "contributing and encouraging the use of FOSS", said a release from the organisers. "Initiated in the year 2003, 'GNUnify' is a forum to unite open minds. The event aims at spreading teh philosophy of GNU/Linux -- unifying and strengthening the use of FLOSS," they said. Student-organisers said they were successful over the past two years, and had made this three-day event happen from February 13 to 15 this year. Event schedule for this year is as follows: Feb 13 Linux Eduvantage -- awareness for school students and teachers Feb 14 Install fest, techie talks, workshops and tutorials Feb 15 Seminars, panel discussion. See the story at: http://gunify.sicsr.ac.in ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha 784 Near Convent, Sonarbhat SALIGAO GOA India Freelance Journalist TEL: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks fred at bytesforall.org http://www.bytesforall.org ************************************************************************* ILUG-Goa's other mailing lists ************************************************************************* http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa-announce LOW-VOLUME, ANNOUNCE LIST http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teach-yourself-linux FOR NEWBIES http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxgoahelp TECH HELP LIST WEBSITES: http://ilug-goa.swiki.net http://www.ilug-margao.org *************************************************************************

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Events, jobs, etc on linux-india.org
by CK Raju 06 Feb '05

06 Feb '05

Hi Raju, Where's RMS ? If I am correct, only Kairali TV has given some sort of coverage. Aren't there any plans to cover events ? CK Raju Thrissur --- Raj Mathur <raju(a)linux-delhi.org> wrote: From: Raj Mathur <raju(a)linux-delhi.org> Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 13:08:44 +0530 To: ilugd(a)lists.linux-delhi.org, linux-india-help(a)lists.sourceforge.net, linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net, fsf-friends <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> Subject: [Fsf-friends] Events, jobs, etc on linux-india.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 _____________________________________________________________ LinuxTimes.Net --> Open Source to everyone.

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[Fsf-friends] Freeing perspectives with local solutions... Arab Eyes makes a dent
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 06 Feb '05

06 Feb '05

http://www.tacticaltech.org/asiasource/blog Freeing perspectives with local solutions... Arab Eyes makes a dent Mohammed Sameer of Cairo, Egypt -- who'll be 24 in March 2005 -- is actually a graduate from the faculty of pharmacy and has been using Free Software since the late 1999. Today, he's one of the team of ten or so enthusiasts who are working to make computing more relevant to millions using the Arabic script across the globe. Called 'Arabeyes', the project could benefit a large pool in West Asia. "I suppose (it would potentially benefit) all people using Arabic or Arabic-script languages, in Middle East and the Urdu-speaking people (of South Asia). Then, there are people speaking languages like Pashto too(using a similar script)," says he. "This could be a pool of maybe 400 million people," says he. As of now, where has Arabeyes reached? Sameer says it has currently "100% Arabised" Gnome with quality assurance, and has touched about 99% in terms of KDE Arabisation, but has to pass through the quality assurance team team. Open Office1 has been completely translated, and they are now working on Open Office2. FireFox?, translation is there too, and they are waiting for Mozilla's CVS account. That's regarding translation. Regarding software, a team-leader called Nadim Shaikli is one of the core team, with the aid of another member, introduced Arabic to Vim. Currently they're re-working on 'Akka' project (which basically a software layer on top of the console so that people can read and write Arabic). Another project is Bicon, which is supposed to replace Akka when completed. "We are trying to create an Arabic spellchecker, Duali. But it's still not complete," says Sameer. What does he see as the major tasks sill to be completed? "We had (taken up work on) a live CD to show Arabic work. The original maintainer isn't free. I took maintainership, but nothing has been completed yet. I have to finalise various projects and we need to complete whatever we're doing. Then, we should try to be more involved with testing various products for Arabic support," says he. Basically they see themselves as try to fix what's missing. "I don't think we have much things technically missing. But what I see as really annoying is that we're missing some important standards. For example, we don't have a standard on how to normalise various Arabic letters -- diacritics, the some small marks on the letters. We don't know whether we're supposed to write dots below a letters or not. These are some small things, but they're really annoying," he says with the frankness of a techie eager to do a good job, as against the attitude of a salesman proffering a flawless product. How did he find the Arabeyes team? This team was implementing an Arabaic console application called 'Akka'. It uses corba to do a client-server. It was then that he found Arab Eyes. Then, they started working on the QaMoose? Project. "It was basically an online dictionary, since we then didn't have an open source dictionary," says Mohammed Sameer. (20A) "It was a CGI script or Perl with the whole interface, where we could input Arabic and English terms, so it would ease various translations of software," he recalls. They also feel the need for a standard for sorting. Their team is just around ten-members strong. (There are over 500 registered users, but approx 10 are very active, on a daily basis.) Could such a small group make such a difference to how so many people do their computing? "Two people, (Free Software Foundation guru) Richard M Stallman and (the father of the Linux kernel) Linus Torvalds could change the life of millions. They were two; we are around ten. If they can do this, I hope we too can achieve something," says he, with cautious optimism. Asked why the Arab would could simply not take the option of using proprietorial software, Sameer laughs: "That's a religious question," says he. "We're really focussing on open source software." Sometimes, Free/Libre? and Open Source Software works better. Says he: "We have various GUI tools and text editors that can align writings to the right or left, according to the script used. These use the bidi algorithm." (*)nix also uses Unicode. This means one can write document which uses multiple languages without any problem. SOUTH ASIA AND URDU: Sameer says he had been contacted by people from South Asia too, who wanted a solution for the Urdu language that is also written right-to-left. Unfortunately, he says, they lost contact. Says he: "At Arabeyes, we would like to know the state of Urdu. I think Farsi (from Iran) would also benefit from this work, the Farsi people have been very helpful for the last few years." What's his tip for those wanting to work in the field of localisation? "They should really understand the language needs, and then, they will start hunting around for what's missing and what's not. And then, I don't knkow.... I'd really be glad to help anyone," he adds. Sameer has been using computers "since I was in primary school" when his Attari-manufactured computer was used to program Basic. Says he: "My father helped me. He knew this was the thing I loved. I just graduated and worked for the Pharmacy qualification. I don't know anything about it," he adds. Sameer is one of the admins responsible for the website and various activities of Egypt's user groups. Egypt has two major LUGs, Eglug and Linux-Egypt. Sameer can be emailed at msameer at foolab.org or msameer at eglug.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://goabooks.swiki.net * Reviews of books on Goa... and more

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13 year-old gets presenters' slot at linux.conf.au
by Praveen A 05 Feb '05

05 Feb '05

Thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Garbee may not know as much about Linux as her father Bdale Garbee, Linux CTO for Hewlett Packard and former Debian Project Leader, but that won't stop her from presenting at linux.conf.au 2005. Read the full story http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/0,2000061733,39179560,00.htm -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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DVD Region-changing Restrictions
by Rakesh 'arky' Ambati 03 Feb '05

03 Feb '05

Dear Friends, This article mentions mostly Apple devices,DVD region codes are really problem for people like me.Beware FYI --arky Tuesday, February 1, 2005 Apple restricting DVD region-changes -- voluntarily! -- UPDATED http://www.boingboing.net/2005/02/01/apple_restricting_dv.html Apple's DVD players are subject to restrictive rules laid out by greedy Hollywood studios that don't really care if they piss off Apple's customers, since that's Apple's lookout. However, I've just discovered, to my amazement, that Apple imposes its very own restrictions on its DVD players over and above those imposed by the studios: that's right, Apple voluntarily treats its customers worse than the studios say it has to. In the crazy world of DRM for DVDs, there's this idea that a Hollywood studio should be able to tell you where you're allowed to watch a DVD after you buy it. They accomplish this with something called "Region Codes." Discs have region-codes and players have region-codes. If you have a Region 1 disc (US and Canada) and a Region 2 player (Europe), and you put the disc in the player, the player will reject it. But what happens when you take your laptop from New York to London? You're in Region 2, but you bought your device in Region 1. Can you buy a disc in London and play it on your computer? Yes and no. When a computer manufacturer gets a DVD-decoding license from Hollywood's licensing cartel (the DVD Copy Control Association or CCA), it is allowed to make players that can change regions up to five times. What's more, once the region-switches have run out, computer companies can reset your counter at a service depot a further five times. That means that you get 25 region-switches. This sucks pretty bad: I moved from San Francisco to London with hundreds of Region 1 DVDs and now when I buy a movie in the shop, it's Region 2. That means that if I watch a movie from my US collection once a week, and once from my UK connection the next week, I'll run out of region switches in three months. Three months after moving to the UK, I'll have to throw out half my DVDs. So, basically, I don't watch my DVDs. Sometimes, though, I'm weak, and I tune into one and squander one of my precious region switches. Now my nearly-new Powerbook has only one switch left out of its initial five, and so I brought it to Apple to get them to reset the counter. It needed service anyway (I'm on my fifth or sixth screen replacement for the defect in the 15" machines that causes the "white blobs" to obscure the display), so it seemed like a good time to do it. I know that Apple is allowed to do this. How do I know? Well, when EFF went to the Copyright Office and asked it to give us an exemption to the DMCA to make tools for watching out-of-region DVDs, Time-Warner showed up and told us this: "And, the way it works, and I apologize because it's a little bit complicated, the consumer can set it five times. After the fifth time that they've reset it, they do have an ability to reset it again, but they have to bring the drive to an authorized dealer or an authorized service representative, who can then authorize an additional set of five changes, and then they can bring it back for a second, for a third, fourth and fifth set of authorized changes. So you can change it 25 times in total, but you have to go back for each set of five. You only get the first five when you buy the ROM drive itself." That was Dean Marks, from AOL Time Warner. Straight from the horse's mouth, testifying to the US government. But when my Powerbook was ready for pickup, Apple left me a voicemail saying that they couldn't reset my DVD player, that doing so would void my warranty. When I went into the Apple Store in London to get the machine, I asked about it. I wanted this in writing: if they had a policy that said that they couldn't fix my region-counter, I wanted to be able to tell Dean Marks about it the next time we went to the Copyright Office and ask him why Apple thought it couldn't reset my counter. Apple refused to put it into writing. They refused to let me record them telling me they couldn't fix my Powerbook. They wouldn't even put in writing that they were referring me to the legal department. Eventually I spoke to the manager, who promised to get back to me the next day. The next day, he did. He told me that he'd spoken to legal and that they wouldn't put anything in writing. However, they did have some documents on their website they printed for me that talk about DVDs. 1. DVD Player: About DVD-Video Regions, last modified July 16, 2004, technical contributor J Scalo. This document describes the different regions, saying that after five region-switches, "the drive is permanently set to use that region, and you cannot make any more changes." Interestingly, this also contains something labeled APPLE EYES ONLY that says that On Wallstreet and PDQ (PowerBook G3 Series M4753), the number of region code changes remaining is not stored in the firmware of the DVD drive but rather in the DVD extension and NVRAM. This information should absolutely not be conveyed to the customer. In extreme customer satisfaction situations you can reset the region change count by following this procedure: 1. Reset PRAM/NVRAM by pressing Fn-Ctrl-Shift-Power while the computer is turned off 2. Startup with system extensions off. 3. Restart with system extensions on. Note: This procedure resets some of the customer's custom settings. After following this procedure, the region change count for the drive is reset to five. In later PowerBook models, the region count is stored in the firmware of the drive and cannot be reset with this procedure. 2. Changing the region code of your DVD drive, last modified on January 23, 2004. This document says that you can only change your region code five times. "After that, the region code is set permanently and you cannot change it." So there's two things going on here that I'm pretty pissed off about: 1. The studios have screwed the electronics companies with this region code business and I have to throw out my DVDs or buy an extra Powerbook or something 2. Worse, though: Apple has a policy about region-changing that is more restrictive than it has to be: they're playing for the other side. This really stinks and makes me wonder why I should keep on buying Apple hardware. Lots of Apple execs read Boing Boing. If you have a reply on this, email me and I'll be happy to discuss it with you. Update: Many of you have written to point out that VLC plays out of region DVDs on a Powerbook. That's nice, but it doesn't work reliably on my Powerbook. Update 2: Thanks for all the tips on how to hack my Powerbook or change its firmware. I'm afraid that I'm not in the market for this, though, tempting as it is, as I've been informed that using these tools will void my warranty. posted by Cory Doctorow at 03:46:39 AM permalink | Other blogs commenting on this post ===== ____________________________________ /\ \ \_| Rakesh 'arky' Ambati | | Bangalore (INDIA) | | Homepage: http://arky.port5.com/ | | _______________________________|_ \_/_________________________________/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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Go to schools -- the need of the hour
by Praveen A 03 Feb '05

03 Feb '05

Hi all, I have got a chance to train the teachers of the nearby [NIT Calicut, where I'm doing Btech] higher secondary school for IT @ school as part of NSS programme. In Kerala we have succeeded in including the GNU/Linux as an alternative to M$ non-free OS, but the most schools stick to Window$ because they didn't get any training in the free OS. Yeasterday I showed them the Redhat's GNU system, they were seeing it for the first time [http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi/7566.html]. They found it very interesting and they found it as easy as Window$. It is very important that they get a chance to use the free alternative. If it is already in the curriculam then they won the first step [those who want it can use it]. If it is not there then your primary goal should be to get it included as part of the curriculam. The next step is to make sure they get to know how to use it, confidently. Other thing is to let the students know that there is an alternative exists which don't keep them divided and helpless. More on my experience on my blog http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi/5152.html So the students, especially the school studets should be our primary target to have a free (as in freedom) future...... Regards Praveen A 8th Semester Btech EEE NIT Calicut -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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FSF India Events in Tamil Nadu (Chennai/Vellore)
by Ramanraj K 03 Feb '05

03 Feb '05

5th February (Saturday)::Chennai ================================ 1:00 PM : Anand Babu talks about "Hacking GNU/HURD" at CSD#320, Electrical Sciences Block, IIT Madras. Poster: http://www.geocities.com/cyborg4k/anandbabu.feb.5.2005.pdf 8:15 PM : RMS arrives at Chennai Airport to proceed to Vellore. 6th February (Sunday)::Vellore ============================== 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM : Inauguration of FSF-TN and Keynote Address by RMS The Swatantra schedule includes: *Lecture on "High Powered Computing with Free Software" by Anand Babu *Talk on "Free Software Movement in India" by Nagarjuna More details at http://www.swatantra.info 7th February (Monday)::Chennai ============================== 12:00 Noon- 1:45 PM : RMS visits MIT, Chrompet 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM : RMS Lecture on "The Danger of Software Patents" at the Central Lecture Theatre, HSB, IIT Madras Poster: http://www.chennailug.org/meeting/info/eml-rms-color.pdf 6:20 PM : RMS leaves from Chennai Airport to Hyderabad

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[Fwd: [Ilugc] Extramural Lecture by RMS @ IIT-Madras]
by Ramanraj K 02 Feb '05

02 Feb '05

This is a reminder about the RMS Talk at IIT-M on 7th. Please note that the talk has been advanced an hour earlier to 3:00 PM. Links to a couple of posters are also available. -------- Original Message -------- Hello All, Extramural Lecture by RMS @ IIT-Madras :- ======================================= Topic : "The Danger of Software Patents" Speaker: Richard M Stallman (RMS) Time : 15:00 - 17:00 Monday February 7th 2005 Venue : Central Lecture Theater (CLT), Opp to Open Air Theater (OAT), HSB, IIT-Madras. Posters: http://www.chennailug.org/meeting/info/eml-rms-bw.pdf : http://www.chennailug.org/meeting/info/eml-rms-color.pdf Abstract of the talk :- Richard Stallman will explain how software patents obstruct software development. Software patents are patents that cover software ideas. They restrict the development of software, so that every design decision brings a risk of getting sued. Patents in other fields restrict factories, but software patents restrict every computer user. Economic research shows that they even retard progress. About the speaker :- Richard Stallman launched the development of the GNU operating system (See http://www.gnu.org/ and http://directory.fsf.org/GNU/) in 1984. GNU is free software: everyone has the freedom to copy it and redistribute it, as well as to make changes either large or small. The GNU/Linux system, basically the GNU OS with Linux kernel added, is used on tens of millions of computers today. Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer award, and the the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well as several honorary doctorates (See http://www.stallman.org/). ALL ARE WELCOME :) Bye :) -- Bharathi S _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, email ilugc-request(a)ae.iitm.ac.in with "unsubscribe " in the subject or body of the message. http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Some economic aspects of FOSS
by Vijay Kumar Bagavath Singh 02 Feb '05

02 Feb '05

> logic is backported to pre-computer era, we should not have had > computers at all. After all computers have taken off millions of jobs Well said Raman. Richard Stallman used a similar argument in a recent interview - http://kerneltrap.org/node/4484 Here is a quote from the interview, "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." Vijay -- ______________________________________________ Check out the latest SMS services @ http://www.linuxmail.org This allows you to send and receive SMS through your mailbox. Powered by Outblaze

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Skype for Linux and Mac OS X released
by Praveen A 01 Feb '05

01 Feb '05

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/68901/skype-for-linux-and-mac-os-x-released.html Skype for Linux and Mac OS X released Luxembourg based, free internet telephony company Skype has introduced versions of its VoIP software for the Mac OS X and Linux platforms. Amongst the other features included in the free download are a global contact directory, cross platform instant messaging, file transfer and end to end encryption. `We encourage all Mac OS X and Linux users to experience the cost and quality gains with version 1.0 Skype software,` said Niklas Zennstrom, Skype CEO and co-founder. `We will remain committed to innovation and will continue to expand platform choice.` Zennstrom along with partner Janus Friis were also the driving force behind the p2p network Kazaa. The widespread adoption of broadband and the prospect of being able to call almost anywhere in the world for almost nothing has led to the boom in VoIP products. Although initially seen as a toy for geeks, some of the world's biggest companies now realise that they can slash the cost of telecoms with cheap VoIP systems. Even some of the world's biggest telcos like BT are realising that internet telephony is the future and is planning to rollout voIP services over the coming years. The company claims to have more than 23 million registered users, and says it is signing up more than 130,000 new users per day. You can download the software from the Skype site. http://www.skype.com/ -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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Some economic aspects of FOSS
by Praveen A 01 Feb '05

01 Feb '05

Yesterday we had discussions about the FOSS model and its various aspects. Tojin analysed the economic aspect and he says --- There are so many people working in the proprietary software industry and if there is only FOSS out there so many people are gonna lose jobs. Now both proprietary and free software needs service and so the effects cancels. The jobs of developers will not be there and the economy suffers. He argues that only if the money changes hands the country benifits. Also he thinks it is sinister about the way GNU/Linux is distributed, he says it has made so complx that they need to go to experts everytime. He is not thinking about the obvious advantages. In a country like India we cannot afford to pay a huge amount of money on softwares. They are completely ignoring the points of technical fitness of the software developed. They still think of the FOSS as something like this >> A company develops a product and give away that for free (download) and asks how the developers get money ? They completely ignores that FOSS is a process not a product in which lots of people around the world and it is centered around the end user. Other argument is that anyway we are getting windows and linux free (pirated in case of windows) and all things that could be done with windows can be done with windows and there is no point in moving away from windows. They don't think piracy is not a problem, as long as they don't come to you and arrest they think they are safe. It is like you don't hesitate to steal if you are sure you won't be cought. Also they neglect the social aspect (but the former point nullifies this). Anyway you are ready to give it to your friend so the social aspect doesn't matter anymore. the discussion continues .... Some one give me an answer to the economic aspect (the loss of jobs and affecting the economy) PS: You can join the discussion at LJ http://www.livejournal.com/~pravi/7240.html -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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[Fwd: [Fsf-tn] [GLV] February 5, 2005, AB - "Introduction toHacking GNU/Hurd"]
by Ramanraj K 31 Jan '05

31 Jan '05

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Fsf-tn] [GLV] February 5, 2005, AB - "Introduction to Hacking GNU/Hurd" Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 09:41:15 -0800 (PST) From: Shakthi Kannan <cyborg4k(a)yahoo.com> To: Fsf-tn(a)gnu.org.in Greetings! Confirmation and announcement of the February 5, 2005 session (part of GNU/Linux Vidyashram) by Anand Babu on "Introduction to Hacking GNU/Hurd" at CSD#320, Electrical Sciences Block, IIT-M at 1300 HRS IST. You can view the poster from here: http://www.geocities.com/cyborg4k/anandbabu.feb.5.2005.pdf Looking forward to the session, K Shakthi ===== -------------------------------------------------------------------------- K Shakthi Specsoft (Hexaware Technologies), ASIC Design Center http://www.geocities.com/shakthimaan -------------------------------------------------------------------------- __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail _______________________________________________ Fsf-tn mailing list Fsf-tn(a)gnu.org.in http://gnowledge.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsf-tn

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