- Fsf-friends - lists.fsci.in

Re: GNU Gyan
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 12 Feb '04

12 Feb '04

Keep up the good work, Kunal. Do join the fsf-friends(a)gnu.org.in network if you aren't already part of it. FN On Thu, 12 Feb 2004, kunal bharati wrote: > hello friends, > As Kartik has started with his course discussion, I > would like to add something more :) > > last month Juan Carlos visited our college, he is a > founder(not sure) of Hipatia(www.hipatia.info) which > is somewhat related to Free Software Foundation. > > With his ideas and support we have planned to start an > institute called "GNU Gyan Institute" > > All the courses will be related to Free Software > Technologies. > Till now some courses like GNU/Linux, PHP/MySQL and > Perl are fixed to be taught > I have recommended Python too. > > If anyone is interested in the course can contact me, > my number is displayed on the homepage > > i would like to know which books are good for the > course so that we can have it in our library > > thanx, > kunal > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online. > http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html > -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- February 2004 | Frederick Noronha, Freelance Journalist Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa | Goa India 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | http://www.bytesforall.org 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 | Email fred at bytesforall.org 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 | Writing with a difference 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 | ... on what really 29 | makes *the* difference. -------------------------------------------------------------------

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T-Shirt graphic sources?
by Rajkumar S 12 Feb '04

12 Feb '04

Dear arun, Did you get the T-Shirt pic's sources from our designer friend? btw, I find it bit ironic that FSF India decided to distribute some thing with out the sources. It's high time to correct it! raj

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Re: help wanted
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 12 Feb '04

12 Feb '04

Hi Montosh, Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.Permit me to forward your mail to the LIH (LinuxIndiaHelp) and FSF-India mailing lists since I'm don't have the answers to your tech queries. Stay in touch, FN On Tue, 10 Feb 2004, null script wrote: > Can u provide a list of common soft/internal modems which will work in > the following distros ==> Red Hat 8/9 stock,Mandrake 8.2/9.1 (single CD > version i.e no kernel source),Free BSD 2.5,Knoppix/Lify and Fedora > core.Me and many of my friends have these distros installed on our > systems but we are forced to surf the net from windows due to the non > avalibity of drivers on GNU/Linux.The following is the list of soft/int > modems we have. > > Motorola SM56 Voice fax > Motorola SM56 Speakerphone > Conextant (Rockwell chipset) > Dax int modems > Intex int modems > Ham int modem found on a Compac system > > I know the ideal answer would be get a hard/ext modem,but pls > understand that this is not possible.I am sure many ppl would like to > find the same but cannot. > > Also can u suggest some tips & tweaks to make the system work > faster.Most of us have old systems 2 to 4 yrs old like K6-2,K6-3,PIIs > with a avg of 128Mb ram per system.All the newer distros really crawl on > most of the systems.I know the answer would be to upgrade the > systems,but not possible.One hack is to use a light and fast manager > like Flubox and Icewm but we miss the eye candy that Gnome and Kde > provide. Kindly help!! > > I was also very moved by your article "Sharing Dreams ... Seeking Help" > LFY Dec 2003.I want to know if anybody is ready to go ahead and share > their broad band/fat pipes in India and make new software like > GCC,JAVA,latest Kernel sources etc locally present.It is indeed very sad > that in India we do not have a single local mirror of any distro or > GNU/free software.China and Pak have them but why not India???.Pak even > has the local mirror of packetstrom http://packetstormsecurity.org.pk/ > why not us. Every day we hear that India is poised to become the next > super power in software but how?? when we even do not have proper flow > of information and ideas amongst the common user. > > Why don't the big company's donate their old computers to NGOS and > educational bodies. Wipe the data from its Hdd and install any of > GNU/LINUX on it.Rather that just 'junk' them. Thousands of under > prevliged children can benefit from it.I cant understand what's stoping > them? > > Ppl who have a latest and greatest systems P4's and AMD -XP's can also > help the community by just giving some CPU time for a good cause.They > can compile the various popular software for different 'arch' like > i586,K6-3 with all the optimization.And load it on the net for the ppl > who have old and slow systems to download and use.I for one would very > greatful and really appericate the speed boost which such a gesture > would do for me.I am sure many users will appericate such a site or > users group.I know from bitter experience that compiling some huge > package is a nightmare on a slow system.I tried to compile the 2.6 > kernel on Mandrake 9.1 it took some 6 hrs on my system and still did > not work.On a P4 2.4 it took 10 mins. and worked!!! I was foolish enough > to try to install gnome 2.4 from the source on my red hat 9.0,after 3 > days and 3 almost sleepless nights still no luck.I would have been ever > grateful if I could just DL the RPM and install it. > > Just some of my thoughts, hope to find some good news.Thanks for all > the good work u are doing. All the best. > > Montosh Bisht > > > "Hack into The Light" > > > _____________________________________________________________ > Linux.Net -->Open Source to everyone > Powered by Linare Corporation > http://www.linare.com/ > -- Frederick Noronha : http://fredericknoronha.blogware.com Freelance Journalist : Ph 0091.832.2409490 Cell 0 9822 122436 --------------------------------------------------------------- Join these e-mail lists on the Internet: Goanet: http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet-news BytesForAll: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers GNULinuxInIndia: http://www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/list?list_id=linuxinindia

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Indian mirror
by H S Rai 12 Feb '04

12 Feb '04

Yesterday at 11:23pm +0530 Mahesh T. Pai wrote: > H S Rai said on Wed, Feb 11, 2004 at 09:32:10PM +0530,: > > > But, IITM is not listed on www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/ and there is > > Is that the CD vendors' page? I get this page from: www.debian.org -> CD ISO Image (Getting debian) -> fetch full CD images on this page there is list of all ftp/http mirror. As I was to download debian, so after going through this list I was left with no option to use some mirror outside India. > > not even any other Indian mirror is listed. In that case normal > > user get poor impression. > > Sure. But the file is there in mirrors_full. -- H.S.Rai http://www.grex.org/~hsrai | Registered Linux User # 223684 http://counter.li.org/cgi-bin/runscript/display-person.cgi?user=223684

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Institutions Using GNU/Linux
by Manilal 11 Feb '04

11 Feb '04

Hello Friends, We are trying to make a list of institutions(Public & Private Sector) which uses/teach GNU/Linux and GPL'd Software in India. Please give as much details as possible. The details should contain atleast the following: Name of the institution Field(eg. Software development, Education, etc..) Whether the institution is in Private or Public sector? Which distribution and version they use? Website Contact address ... After preparing the list we'll put it in a website. This will be useful those who wishes to have a career in GPL'd software and related technologies. If anyone have suggestions please include them also. We are not sure whether such an initiative is made prior to this. If so please provide such info also.

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IT = M$window + M$word ?
by H S Rai 11 Feb '04

11 Feb '04

Following is the syllabus for the students of all engineering colleges, which teaches MSwindows and MSword. It appears that officials are determinted to waste national resources and to make ourself slave. While in Instructional objective they mention package like MS word, but later in contents they fixed it to only M$. -- H.S.Rai ============================================================== http://www.ptujal.org/syllabus/comman-to-all-branches.htm CC-111 FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY <snip> INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES <snip> 4. Process text by using text processor package such as MS Word. <snip> 3(a) Introduction to windows and its features 3(b) Introduction to MS Word, document creation, editing, printing and saving, spell check and mail merge. <snip> PRACTICALS <snip> 8. Practice with MS word, Operating and closing document, Preparation of document, setting of document, familiarization with various tools. <snip>

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Version 0.7 of Ocrad released (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 10 Feb '04

10 Feb '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- I am pleased to announce the release of Ocrad 0.7. Ocrad is an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program. The homepage is at http://www.gnu.org/software/ocrad/ocrad.html. The sources can be dowloaded from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ocrad/ or from your favorite GNU mirror. The md5sum is: 1893a8b8c3b6848392160e47be2b1de6 ocrad-0.7.tar.bz2 This release is also GPG signed. You can download the signature by appending ".sig" to the URL. Changes in version 0.7: * Internal change to UCS (Universal Character Set) instead of ISO 8859-1. * Default charset is now ISO 8859-15 (latin9). * Ocrad now recognizes Turkish characters (ISO 8859-9). * Added new output format (UTF-8). * Added new options --charset and --format. * Added man page. Be aware that frames, lines, pictures, etc, can (by the moment) totally confuse ocrad. Please report bugs to <bug-ocrad(a)gnu.org>. Regards, Antonio Diaz, GNU Ocrad author and maintainer. _______________________________________________ GNU Announcement mailing list <info-gnu(a)gnu.org> http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu

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Re: [Fsf-friends] RMS :: man of THE WEEK, issue dated February 15, 2004
by Manilal 10 Feb '04

10 Feb '04

Raghavendra Bhat said: > The Malayalam weekly `Madhyamam' dated Feb 13 has a cover feature on > RMS. It also carried a very poor comparative study between Linux and Windows and contradictory statements about Swathanthra Software and CDIT. The reporter is trying to affirm that Windows is superior to GNU/Linux. Manilal

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RMS :: man of THE WEEK, issue dated February 15, 2004
by Raghavendra Bhat 10 Feb '04

10 Feb '04

This week's THE WEEK carries a very interesting 2 page article on RMS. The issue dated Feb 15 has hit the news-stands. The Malayalam weekly `Madhyamam' dated Feb 13 has a cover feature on RMS. -- ragOO

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Video Conference with Richard Stallman
by Vijay Kumar 09 Feb '04

09 Feb '04

The ECE department of National Institute of Technology, Trichy as a part of its technical symposium "Probe", is organizing a video conference with the free software guru, Dr. Richard Stallman. The talk will be on "Free Software". Date: 17 Feb(Tuesday) Time: 8:30am Venue: A2 Hall, National Institute of Technology, Trichy The event is open to everybody. For information about this talk, check out http://www/probe/lectures.shtml#freesoft For more information about free software and the gnu project, check out http://www.gnu.org For more information about Dr. Richard Stallman, check out http://www.stallman.org For further details on Probe, check out http://www.nitt.edu/probe or mail to probe(a)nitt.edu Vijay -- Free the Code. Free the User. ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP(http://www.nitt.edu)

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WSF and FSF India, Photographs
by Nagarjuna G. 07 Feb '04

07 Feb '04

Just managed to find some time to do this. I have uploaded the photographs at http://www.gnu.org.in/WSF2004. I am yet to write captions for them, will do that as soon as I get time. Nagarjuna

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[Fwd: [Free-gis] Gis Morphix ready]
by Sajith VK 07 Feb '04

07 Feb '04

Hi, I am glad to announce that the Gis Morphix, a morphix based GNU/Linux distribution for GIS works is now ready. It includes Gis applications like GRASS5.7, thuban,iGmt etc.Few applications for scientific computing including maxima,gnuplot,octave etc are also included. Postgressql database is available. All applications like office suite(Openoffice), Mailclient (Evolution) etc are included, so that it is enough for all your needs!!. Being a morphix clone, It can be used as a Live CD, ie you can use it even without installing. Installing it into your hardisk is also simple. Above all, latest version of mapserver is included, and we have made a sample server to demonstrate the power of Mapserver. So when you boot the CD, it shows the demo site in a browser. The data for the sample site is from Frida project. -- "Freedom Matters" Sajith VK

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Eyewitness account of the Linux monopoly trial
by Soundara Rajan N.S 04 Feb '04

04 Feb '04

Eyewitness account of the Linux monopoly trial Washington DC, January 31, 2014 -- Riot police have finally managed to beat back the milling throng of displaced Visual Basic programmers who attacked the courthouse after Judge Cotter Kathelly announced that Linux was not an illegal monopoly and that neither Linus Torvalds nor his company, Linux Development, Inc, owed damages to former employees and shareholders of now-bankrupt Microsoft or to any of its business partners. - by Robin 'Roblimo' Mille (Reporters Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair contributed to this article) http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/01/30/0111257&mode=nested&tid=149 Source: Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)

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GNU/LinuxIndia * Feb 2004
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

e88~~\ 888b | 888 | / 888 888 ,e, d888 |Y88b | 888 | L 888 888-~88e e88~\888 " /~~~8e 8888 __ | Y88b | 888 | I 888 888 888 d888 888 888 88b 8888 | | Y88b | 888 | N 888 888 888 8888 888 888 e88~-888 Y888 | | Y88b| Y88 | U 888 888 888 Y888 888 888 C888 888 "88__/ | Y888 "8__/ X 888 888 888 "88_/888 888 "88_-888 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Formerly LinuxInIndia * Compiled by: Frederick Noronha * Feb ,2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ########################################################################### --------------------------------------------------------------------------- BUY GNU/LINUX CDs at Rs 30 per CD (plus postage). This network, run by Aniket Navelkar <aniket at gmx.net> is supported by the GNU/Linux Users Group of Margao, Goa. To place an order for your personal copy and for further info, pls contact aniket at gmx.net. Payment via cash, DD, money order or SBI electronic transfer. Distros currently available include Debian 3.0, Redhat 9.0, Mandrake 9.1, Knoppix 3.3 and 3.2, GNUWin 2.1 (GNU utilities for Windows!), FreeBSD 5.0, Server Optimised Linux (SOL), Dynebolic 1.03a3, The Open CD (for Windows platform), FreEDUC (educational software that boots from a CDrom), SUSE LiveEval, Gnoppix (no, this is not a spelling mistake!), Slackware 9.0, RockLinux 2.0 (lots of Windows Managers Qvwm, Fwvm2, icewm), Conectiva 9.0 (four-CD set), ArchLinux 0.5, ArkLinux, and GSCP Distro (the easy-to-set up version of the Goa Schools Computers Project). http://www.ilug-margao.org/html/cd_library.htm >From aniket at gmx.net in Jan 2004 New CDs available, thanks to Kaushal Bhandarkar for sending across the same: Mandrake 9.2 (3 CDs), Knoppix v3.3-2003-11-10-EN, Slackware 9.1, Debian Update 3.0r1-i386, Gentoo i686-1.5-20030911 (MD5 file not included) 2 CDs, Yarrow SRPMS (3 CDs), Sid i386 (12 CDs), FreEduc 1.4.1, Sarge i386 (12 CDs) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ########################################################################### --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IN ANOTHER WORLD, ALREADY: Arun M <arun at gnu.org.in> reports from the World Social Forum, a prestigious event held in Mumbai: Free Software keeps communications alive at the WSF The Media Center at WSF 2004, equipped with a complete network lab of 120 computers and 40 lap-top connections was maintained open and functional 24 hrs for the entire forum with Free Software. This is the first time in WSF history, that media members were allowed access to the facilities at the center 24 hours a day. The challenges were present every day of this world forum, although no official complaints: the dedicated effort of fifty Free Software Foundation (FSF) volunteers and members, with great enthusiasm and considerable knowledge helped in all technical aspects to make this first-time event a reality. Keep in mind this is a youth revolution, since most of the FSF volunteers are younger than 21. They all showed the world that we do not need restrictions and privatization of systems of information, that knowledge and human communications are truly free and democratic. The software's name? It's GNU/LINUX On the initiave of Dr Nagarjun G., board of directors of the FSF, the entire media center at the WSF, from which about 2,000 journalists generated reports and news, Free Software is not possible, but REAL. For more information, visit GNU Web Site P.S. FSF members already consider themselves living in Another World. http://www.wsfindia.org/newsdetails.php?id=22 FLOPPY-BASED VISITING CARD: Doc Partha from Secunderabad <hyd1_algolog at sancharnet.in> has created a "simple, floppy-based visiting card" which is aimed "just to give away free to doubting Toms". When anyone asks "What's (GNU) Linux?" all he does is to hand out this demo floppy. Doc Partha had also created the Linux In a Teaspoon product (very useful e-books on it). To find out more information contact hyd1_algolog @ sancharnet.in (h-y-d-one underscore algolog AT sancharnet dot in) Dr S Parthasarathy can also be contacted at Algologic Research & Solutions, 78 Sancharpuri Colony, Bowenpally, Secunderabad 500011 http://algolog.tripod.com/nupartha.htm UPDATE FROM BANGALORE: Atul Chitnis <achitnis at exocore.com> informs that the slides used by speakers during their talks at early-Dec 2003 Linux Bangalore/2003 are now available for download. To get at them, head for http://linux-bangalore.org/2003/schedules/ And click on the talk whose slides you wish to download - this will take you to the talk summary page, where you can select the format in which you wish to receive the slides (in most cases, this would be OpenOffice SXI or PowerPoint PPT - both are available). Adds Chitnis: "Some slides are in PDF or MGP (MagicPoint) format.As always, the decision to make slides available in PowerPoint format as well is based on the fact that there are still a few people out there who use closed source software -- we want them to be able to download and view the slides as well, to set them on the road to redemption. :) Of course, there is a link to OpenOffice.org as well, to allow people to download this Open Source office suite (which is the recommended way of doing things)...." SARASWATI: ONE-MIND. An information sharing system for schools in Goa, through connecting them via the Internet. A low-cost solution that enables member schools to share knowledges and resources with others. http://www.knowledgeinitiatives.org/saraswati Contact Mario Alvares <mario at alienwiz.com> RMS MAKES NEWS: As usual, during his recent India-visit Richard "RMS" Stallman <rms at gnu.org> continued to make news. Here are some updates from Sajith VK <sajithvk at hotpop.com> Meeting with opposition leader, Kerala: http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=24704 Stallman to launch courseware lessons of Free Software: http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20040124235932&Page=R&Title=Kera… Stallman on Saturday came down heavily on the State IT leadership..: http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20040124235814&Page=R&Title=Kera… We are ready to give freeSoftwares for all initiatives of govt...: http://www.kaumudi.com/ (Not sure what the URL is) MAPPING AND GIS TOOLS: Dr C M Harish <cmharic at postmark.net> of the Geomatics Lab, CESS at Thiruvananthapuram 695 031 write in: "Would you (ILUG-Goa) be interested in a Morphix-GIS Live CD (compiled on the lines of Knoppix-GIS). It has a collection of current mapping and GIS tools like SPRING, GRASS, GMT etc. Included also are standard applications like GIMP Openoffice 1.1 ..." We are grateful to Dr Harish for sending in the copy, which is now available with Aniket's low-cost CD store... <aniket at gmx.net> QUERY FROM NANDED... PLEASE HELP SET UP NEW GNU/LUGS: From Manoj Purhoti <gres_manoj at rediffmail.com> I am Manoj Govind Purohit, from Nanded (Maharashtra), India, would like to start an ILUG centre in my city, Kindly guide me in this regards, cause I got lot more info from internet about it but certainly failed to get the thing, about what will be the fund raising procedures for such a group, since lot of activities are expected to be carried out and each of them involves expenses. Will you be please guide me in this regard. STANDARDISATION ISSUE... NEWS FROM SINGAPORE: Lim Swe Tat from Singapore points to a set of Scott McNeil's slides available on the issue of standardisation of GNU/Linuc. Says he: "A set of slides which we felt were particularly useful to educate on Linux standards can be found at Linux Users Group's website at http://www.lugs.org.sg/lugsfiles/presentations/2003-11-FSG_Intro.pdf Scott is the Executive Director of Freestandards.org, a group that is working on sub projects such as the Linux Standards Base. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S SOFTWARE: Ramanraj K <ramanraj at md4.vsnl.net.in> says, The redesigned President of India's site at http://www.presidentofindia.nic.in is aesthetically pleasing and now hosted on Apache Tomcat/4.1.10 Our President, in his Republic Day Eve Speech has desired India to be: "A Nation where the governance uses the best of the technologies to be responsive, transparent, easily accessible and simple in rules, thereby corruption free" The entire text of the speech is available at: http://www.presidentofindia.nic.in/eventslatest1.jsp?id=452 RACHANA, LOOKS GOOD, SOUNDS GOOD: Rachana, a Malayalam font has been released in free license. Says Manilal <manilal at sepsit.org>: "I have this font with me. If you want this I'll send it. But I don't know whether it's official release or not. However since there are no full-fledged editors, using this charset it's little use now. We are working to develop such an editor. The fonts are fantastic and most of them look like the letters in the older 'thaliyola'. I am not a member of the development team. One of my friends gave me this fonts." http://www.linuxense.com/oss/rachana/ TO ACCESS MORE INFORMATION LIKE THIS, CONTACT: Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends APACHE... THIS IS INDIAN: Bharati S <sbharathi at MidasComm.Com> informs that on Feb 19, 2004 ILUGC and CollabNat organized for a talk by Mr. Brian Behlendorf (Founder, Apache Software Foundation) in ISCR Seminar Hall. Details from Bharathi S | MeTel Team, TeNeT Group | DONLab, IIT-M, OMC Group | MidasComm.com. LINUX ASIA: Rahul Chopra of Linux For You <rahul_chopra at efyindia.com> had offered Free Software Foundation-India a free booth at the LinuxAsia event to be held in Feb 2004 in Delhi. Looking forward to something coming out of this. Wired News * Jan. 20, 2004 * 13 Languages Speak With One Voice * By Swaroopa Iyengar MUMBAI, India -- The World Social Forum is speaking in 13 languages this year. And amazingly, most of the time, everyone understands what the others are saying. Moving the WSF to India meant that more Asian groups would participate in the forum, giving it a different flavor from previous years. But India is also a land of 14 official languages, which meant WSF organizers had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on expensive translation equipment so the participants, Indian and otherwise, could follow each other. In previous years, translations were offered to delegates in three languages: English, French and Spanish. This year, in addition to these languages, translations are being provided in Korean, Japanese, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Bahasa Indonesian and Thai. And yet, the service costs are minimal. The translations are being done by an international network of volunteer interpreters called Babels, using a newly created open- source Linux software. The software can be run on a midrange computer, therefore cutting out the high costs of translation associated with special high-speed computers, consoles and mixing equipment. The translator uses an interface on the computer screen to select the language being spoken. The speaker's voice is digitized and sent to the translator, who then sends the translated text out through the interface to audiences, who listen on headsets. "This is the first time we have used such an innovative free-share on such a large scale," said Sophie Gosselin, a member of Nomad, the organization that created the translation software. "And because all the speeches and their translations are going through our computers, we are going to be able to archive all of them. This means we will be able to put it up on the WSF's site to be shared with everyone who was not able to attend now, taking the forum to hundreds of thousands of people." The WSF is also using an FM radio frequency to provide translations in various Indian languages to help cut the cost of attaching headsets to every seat. FM radios are being sold at the venue for 100 rupees ($2). "Our main aim is to keep the costs as low as possible and yet not impose English upon everyone," said Gosselin. "We want everyone to feel like they have ownership of this event. For example, when we contacted the Koreans to ask them if they wanted translations, they were really surprised, as they were so used to being marginalized. But the Korean delegation turnout here is now higher because they feel included." But it hasn't all been smooth sailing. The interpreters have been beset by technical difficulties and infrastructure problems at the forum, causing many delegates to attend only panels spoken in their language. "It's great when it works," said Andre Grosso, an interpreter from France. "The technology is democratic, it's independent of the politics of different agendas, it's open-source -- keeping in line with the philosophy of the forum -- and it's highly economical." http://wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61966,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_4 REPORT FROM KERALA: doxa at sancharnet.in writes in a report titled 'Stallman cautions Government of Kerala': Richard M Stallman was speaking at Thrissur in Kerala on Jan 22. RMS, as he is popularly known in the Internet world (rms at gnu.org), was here after attending World Social Forum at Mumbai. Free Software, he said had four levels of freedom. At Freedom Level '0', it allowed anyone to use the software for any purpose. RMS added that this freedom was offered by most of the proprietary software also. At Freedom Level '1', he said Free software allowed anyone to study the source code. This freedom is not there in the non-free proprietary world. Source code never accompanies non-free proprietary softwares. Its is even never released. RMS informed that there were numerous instances in the past when companies would use their popular software to spy on users. He informed that earlier whenever a Windows XP user went on-line, the Operating System would inform Microsoft, details of whatever software was on the hard-disk of the user. "When this issue became a debating issue, Microsoft quietly removed this feature. But only to return after a gap. This time the details are encrypted and sent, so that no one get to know of this". RMS added that even some freeware (proprietary software that doesn't come with source code) available on the Internet like RealPlayer also does this. At Freedom Level '2', RMS said that it allowed anyone freedom to modify the code. "You are not at the mercy of the company who sold you the product. You are not helpless here. When you observe some malfunctioning or you need a feature added to it, you are forced to contact the software provider. In free software, you yourself can make the modification if you have those skills, or can approach a technical programmer nearby to have it fixed for you. Remember, you may have to pay him for this service." Free software is not non-commercial, RMS added, and said that he himself had been selling CDs in the initial stages when he set out to create a world class Operating System. He had worked alone, after he quit his job at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1978, disgusted over AT&T's move to make UNIX operating system, proprietary. By 1984, he established the Free Software Foundation, who would fund the development activities for reaching the goal of presenting the global citizen a Free Operating System. At Freedom Level '3', the user of a free software could share his software with his friend or neighbour. "In proprietary software world, this is a crime. Isn't this practice that tells you not to share anything with anyone, an evil ? Way back, when I started out on my mission, everyone had this kind of culture, where sharing and co-operation was the mark of the day. I had convinced myself on the need to carry this culture ahead, in my programme." This is where Free Software pushes every other software behind, he said. "This movement, this Free Software Foundation's movement is based on certain core values centred around social, political and ethical issues, and is not merely making available software free of cost. It is a political movement and looks at the ethical issues." RMS heavily cautioned against using proprietary software in schools, even if it were available at a cheaper price or free of cost. "Its like tobacco companies giving away free cigarettes to children. Their motive is totally different. You have to take this aspect into notice." The packed hall at John Mathai Centre at Thrissur listened to the great crusader of justice in the software world in rapt attention. "Even if the company offers such solutions free of cost, they may charge later for its upgrades. You need to watch out, be very careful here. Would you want such a generation of citizens here, in this part of the world?" Governments the world over are beginning to appreciate the dangers that accompany proprietary software and are bringing in legislation to curb the tendencies in Public Institutions. "This is however not the case with your Goverment of Kerala. Let me tell you, they have already computerised most of their programmes in the Departments of Finance and Local Self Governments on proprietary non-free software. You have to resist this move. This is not in the interest of the Citizens here. You got to tell this to your Government. Most of the other departments would need to interact with these departments, at a later stage. Moreover, when the Government makes the decision, it is slipping into a state of helplessness, as later on, it will be dependant on the company to make any alterations or modifications, even if you have the technical skills to do it yourself. You are losing your independence. Your freedom is highly compromised when you use software whose source code is held secret. Anything can happen. Things can be controlled from remote, without your knowledge ,using spy code. For public enterprises, this is not in good taste. ,This has to be converted into a political issue." "Moreover, when you are using non-standard and non-free formats of storing data, you are becoming totally dependant on the supplier. The Government has to make considerable investment in this area, immediately, without losing any more time. The more the time lapse, the greater would be the level of dependance and the cost of migrating back to free software. In case you need my help, let me tell you, the FSF people in India are there to offer any kind of technical help." RMS cautioned the designs that are taking shape across the globe to bring in a kind of "electronic colonisation". "There are people planning to do wrong things. You are a world citizen now. You got to resist this tendency at every level possible." RMS also answered to a volley of questions on issues that confronted free software elsewhere. SCO had sued IBM against using GNU Linux that it said was using pieces of its own code. "I don't think SCO is going to win. The judge has given SCO just one month time to point out exactly those parts of the code in the Linux kernel, that it finds objectionable. I don't think SCO would be able to do this. Even if they succeed, there is no reason for any panic, the maintainers of the kernel would come out with appropriate fixes. It would be another opportunity for the maintainers to show their programming skills." "Let me tell you that Linux is not the only kernel which is there on GNU platform. There is also the Hurd kernel, used by GNU Hurd operating system." "When I started, my mission had been to build a complete operating system, which I would be calling GNU, acronym for GNU's Not Unix. Most of the components for the GNU were completed, except for a small portion, the kernel, without which we couldn't launch the product. In 1991 Linus Torvalds had built a kernel, that was the only part which was missing. Linus didn't inform us, he just searched the net to find all our products that we were giving as free software under the copyleft and took it and completed. This was an unethical move by Torvalds. He should have informed us." On a question on which distributor of GNU Linux is preferred, RMS said that "most distributors include non-free software along with free software. This is not good. To me, I think Debian version is totally free. It doesn't have any non-free software. The Debian license explicity maintains this stand. However among other variants, I think Red Hat and Mandrake are committing fewer mistakes, fewer errors. Red Hat and Mandrake doesn't produce non-free software. They are not involved. Red Hat in fact produces free software. Companies like Suse produces non-free software. This is wrong." RMS, left the hall apparently not being able to cope up with the high level of humidity. "I am not used to working in this kind of environment. Its too hot. Your country is too hot for me." RMS shook hands with everyone who came forward and posed for photographs. In his iterinary, RMS would be also meeting the leader of Opposition of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, apart from giving a few more lectures during course of his tour. ----------------- CK Raju -------------------------------------------------------------------------- YOUR INPUTS and criticism to this newsletter are welcome. Contact us at fred at bytesforall dot org COPYLEFT 2003. May be freely circulated provided entire text and credits are left intact. You can subscribe to receive this FREE newsletter (free of cost, and free in other ways too!) by sending an email to linuxinindia-request(a)freelists.org with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging in on to www.freelists.org (a great place to set up free-of-cost technology-related lists!). You can go there directly by clicking on the URL below http://www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/list?list_id=linuxinindia -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net Ph 0091.832.2409490 Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org Ph 0091.832.2409783 http://fredericknoronha.blogware.com Cell 0 9822 122436

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incomplete (SMC) Swantantra Malayalam Computing
by Raghavendra Bhat 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

----------<fwd>---------- >From fsug-cusat-bounce(a)freelists.org Mon Feb 02 04:57:42 2004 Return-path: <fsug-cusat-bounce(a)freelists.org> Delivery-date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 04:57:42 +0530 Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 05:41:41 +0800 From: Anwar AU <anwar(a)hackermail.com> Subject: [fsug-cusat] incomplete Swantantra Malayalam Computing To: fsug-cusat(a)freelists.org Errors-to: fsug-cusat-bounce(a)freelists.org Reply-to: fsug-cusat(a)freelists.org Message-id: <20040201214141.15376.qmail(a)hackermail.com> MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MIME-tools 5.41 (Entity 5.404) Well showing a few screenshots of how a Malayalam Gnu/Linux will look is really very impressive for the layman. But that is no way to impress the guys here with a solution for a Malayalam desktop. The Swatantra Malayalam Computing (SMC) hasnt achieved anything by showing a few pics on a malayalam destop working on someone elses computer. Its easy to show some one that 'I have created a malayalam gnome by showing how it works on my computer and others who need to see this can come to my house. Every One Is Invited.' Thanks but no. Its really easy to show the desktop icon names using a changed font, edit a few files so that a few of the easy applications are now in malayalam, rename the menu items with the font and worst of all show a web page that shows a malayalam site in full screen. This could be done on any gnu system. If this were to be seen by people of other languages they would laugh at our face saying these malayalees are'nt even capable of creating a locale of their own, and so doesnt have even the basic qualification to stand among us in the hall of locales. As far as I know, if I am right, the first meeting for the necessity of Indians to have a localized operating system to suit their purposes was first held at Trivandrum in around 1999. The meeting concluded with a descision to make localized versions of desktops for all the languages in India. And after this, it was descided to form a group of developers in kerala to do the specific task. It was called SMC and most of them were from Trivandrum. They started their work on it, and after 3 years these pictures and a few files on how to do this on your computer, is what they have achieved. The SMC's developers were properly funded and in the end we get to know that the work they have done is using a patented by some one else and could lead to patent problems in the future.They had taken pango as the rendering engine and used a code to support indic module which was a patented technology from IBM. Then how do we call it Swatantra Malayalam Computing. 'I am really proud of you guys. You have done a really great work'. The SMC's GPL'ed otf fonts were made from rachana fonts which was owned by the rachana group and also not even in GPL. This font could have later on made drastic impact on the project if the rachana team went to sue them in the court. But its only a few days back that the rachana came under the GPL. But I am happy that their work could'nt materialize otherwise, it would have roused too many complications. Every one is free to correct me where i went wrong. Thanks True Love for freedom comes from the love for source code and through the understanding of humanity's desire to share. ----------</fwd>--------- -- Free Software Users Group - CUSAT http://fsug-cusat.port5.com/ -- ragOO

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RMS Meets the President (of India)]
by Sajith VK 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

Hi, RMS corrects the mail about his meeting with APJ Abdul kalam. His own words.... "What I said (to the president of India) was that the British employed local elites to help keep the general public under control, and the developers of non-free software use the same approach." -- "Freedom Matters" Sajith VK

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*NEW* gnu-malayalam-discuss list
by Raghavendra Bhat 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

Please forward this mail to all interested. A new mailing list, gnu-malayalam-discuss(a)symonds.net has been set up to co-ordinate localisation projects for Malayalam. To subscribe, send a mail to gnu-malayalam-discuss-request(a)symonds.net with the subject `subscribe' May be, clicking here with help:- <mailto:gnu-malayalam-discuss-request@symonds.net?subject=subscribe> Or try the web interface:- <http://puggy.symonds.net/mailman/listinfo/gnu-malayalam-discuss>, Efforts for securing a web space are also on. URI of the home page will be posted as soon as available. The mailing list and home page will act as a point of contact with other software project; a very essential requirement if out project is to succeed. Please remember to use only plain text while posting to the mailing list. HTML mails are a strict no-no. -- ragOO ------------------------------------------------------- The SF.Net email is sponsored by EclipseCon 2004 Premiere Conference on Open Tools Development and Integration See the breadth of Eclipse activity. February 3-5 in Anaheim, CA. http://www.eclipsecon.org/osdn _______________________________________________ Linux-india-general mailing list Linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-india-general

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GNU/Linux Awareness Workshop
by Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

GNU/Linux Awareness Workshop The Computer Science and Engineering Department of Jadavpur University (www.jadavpur.edu) organised a 2 day workshop on GNU/Linux Awareness on the 5th and 6th of January, 2004 at the Amitava Dey Memorial Hall. The workshop was aimed at creating a base level awareness about GNU/Linux, Free Software and the tools based on the Linux kernel. Integrating with hands-on sessions, the workshop had as its primary objective an appreciation of the GNU suite among various members of faculty. This was a first-of-its-kind event organised in the university. Given the fact that it was organised at a very short notice with a large section of the faculty remaining busy with examination schedules, there was some apprehension about the level of participation. The first day saw over 20 participants turning up for the session(s). Day 1 The progam began at 1030 hours with an address by Prof. Manoj Mitra, Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology. Dr P K Das [1] chaired the meeting Session 1 In his keynote address on "Free Software Concepts and GNU/Linux ", Dr A R Thakur [2] talked about the various domains which would see a change when a proper choice of Free Software was made. Elaborating on the business side implementations of GNU/Linux, Dr Thakur tempered his talk with real-life experiences from the field of Bio-informatics that faculty members could immediately relate to. Drawing liberally from Eric Raymond's 'Cathedral and the Bazaar', he elaborated on the macro-economic aspects of Free Software deployment in India. His address clearly drove home the point just how far GNU/Linux has matured over the years. Going beyond its original niche of universities and global hacker communities, GNU/Linux has been embraced with enthusiasm, supported and contributed to by a major section of the global IT majors e.g. IBM, Sun, Oracle, HP/Compaq, Dell, Sybase, SAP AG and Novell just to name a few. The Free Software Foundation of India [3]was represented by Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay [4]. Talking about the concepts and connotations of 'Free' in the 'Free Software Foundation', he used analogous components of 'muft' and 'mukt' to elaborate on the 4 freedoms. This lead on to a discussion of the GNU-GPL. Using actual case studies to outline the future and possibilities using Free Software in different social sectors like education, mass literacy, health, e-governance and overall technological empowerment of people, he mentioned of some the on-going projects across India employing FLOSS technologies to develop and implement solutions that deliver their fullest potential. Indranil Das Gupta [5]representing the Kolkata GNU/Linux User Group [6]presented a case study on Low Cost Computing using FLOSS. He talked about the successful implementation of a Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP)[7] done at the Sociology Dept of Jadavpur University. His talk went into detail regarding some of the checks and measures essential for choosing the hardware and while evaluating tenders for LTSP systems from vendor/system integrators. Moving to the exact cost-matrix of the total implementation, he pointed out how using off-the-shelf commodity components, each such fully multi-media and Internet ready nodes can be setup at the maximum cost of ~ Rs. 12,500 only. An enticing mention was made of the fact that a LTSP network could be used for much more than providing a better computer-to-student ratio. That when used in tandem with OpenMosix, it can become an effective parallel processing cluster, utilizing the idle cpu-cycles and redundant memory as a step towards grid computing. He ended his talking by drawing the audience's attention to the fact that the system has not had a single failure or downtime since its commissioning 3 months back. Since there was still an hour to the lunch break, the organisers decided to move on to the next session immediately. And so, Dr. Pradip K Das [1] started on his presentation on the Fundamentals of GNU/Linux. His lecture moved through the principles of modern operating systems and UI standards. Using very simple terms and weaving in and out of a central theme, Prof Das, created a detailed software matrix which compared the Free Software Technology stack against proprietary ones. Moving beyond an excellent application-for-application matching, Prof Das explained that the domains where GNU/Linux currently caters to range from the Desktop to scaling all the way to Enterprise systems, that virtually every industry today is using the Operating System across all levels. A pithy presentation its was well-received by the audience, who came forward with quite a few questions of their own. Session 2 After the lunch break, Prof Chandan Majumdar [8] spoke on "Networking and Security using Linux". Highlighting the networking and kernel specifics of GNU/Linux, Prof Majumdar took the audience through the actual architecture of the OS. Shorn of any rhetorics, he pulled up real-life examples of use and experience with the OS in the department during execution of various projects. He explained how open-source of GNU/Linux helped them to create custom kernels with near-realtime properties and capable of running off flash RAM devices. Highlighting the security aspects of the OS, he explained how the user permission model allowed for a highly fine-tuned access control over computing resources like files etc, particularly in networked environments. On the topic of computer viruses - the bane of the existence of users of a certain very popular OS, he elaborated that while it is technically possible to author viruses on GNU/Linux, the extent of damage possible by such is seriously limited due to the inherent multi-user, multi-level permission level available on GNU/Linux. Using the whiteboard to highlight key points, Prof Majumdar took the audience through an unbiased appraisal of the pros and cons of GNU/Linux. While he pointed out that stability and performance as key reasons for the global surge in mainstream use of the OS, he put it down to lack of extensive driver support for commodity hardware (as compared to a certain well-known OS) and absence of good quality documentation as challenges facing the Free Operating System. After a round of tea and snacks, Prof Majumder's talk was followed by Prof S Neogy who chose to elaborate on GNU/Linux commands. Through a session titled GNU/Linux commands and OpenOffice, she explained with examples the most common and indispencible commands, with particular attention to bash shell. Introducing the bash shell and scripting basics to an audience for some of whom this was the first brush with the bash, she providided lucid explanation of the different commands. The participants were seen busy noting down her slides. After moving the basic commands Prof Neogy moved on to the Opensource Office package -- OpenOffice [9]. The participants were provided with explanations of the structure and functioning of the constituent packages like - Writer, Calc, Draw, Impress etc. The initial discussion on the suite completed, a complete hands-on tutorial was reserved for Day 2 This was followed by a mini open-house discussion where the audience raised questions and these were answered by the speakers present. However, mention must be made of Prof P K Das and Prof Nandini Mukherjee [10]who livened up the talks and discussions with their valued comments and interjections. Day 2 Session 1 This was designed to be a full fledged hands-on demonstration session on topics discussed on the Day 1. Using pre-designed course material and examples from text books, Prof Mukherjee and Prof Neogy interacted with the participants to provide functional knowledge of the bash shell along with introduction to the OpenOffice suite. A steady stream of questions, joy at writing out the first shell script meant that it was a highly enjoyable session for both the faculty members and the participants. Session 2 The Bangla Localisation Project of GNU/Linux is stylised as The Ankur Bangla Project [11]. This session was a demonstration of the recently released AnkurBangla LiveDesktop v1.0. Based on the concept of a LiveCD, the AnkurBangla LiveDesktop (Technology Preview) showcases the maturity of the project and also traces the roadmap for the project. On behalf of Ankur [11], Indranil Das Gupta [5] and Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay [4] talked about the Challenges and Possibilities of Bangla L10n. A lively Q&A session also evolved on the various technological aspects of the project as well as developer teams and processes The workshop also had an Open House Session where participants directly interacted with the various speakers to clarify doubts, put forward questions and offer insights into the programme. Prof N Mukherjee conducted the Vote of Thanks and expressed a wish to conduct such workshop on a larger scale. She thanked all the participants and the speakers for attending the workshop at such short notice and talked about the need hold more such meetings, formal and informal to ensure that GNU/Linux awareness can be emphatically carried out. Notes and Links: [1] Dr Pradip K Das, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, pkdass at ieee dot org [2] Dr Ashok R Thakur, Pro-VC West Bengal University of Technology, arthakur at cubmb dot ernet dot in [3] Free Software Foundation of India: www.fsf.org.in [4] Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay, sankarshan at bengalinux dot org [5] Indranil Das Gupta, Co-ordinator ILUG-Kolkata, indradg at ilug-cal dot org [6] Indian GNU/Linux Users Group-Kolkata: www.ilug-cal.org [7] Linux Terminal Server Project: www.ltsp.org [8] Prof Chandan Majumder, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, chandanm at vsnl dot com [9] www.openoffice.org [10] Prof Nandini Mukherjee, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, nmukherjee at vsnl dot com [11] Ankur Bangla Project - www.bengalinux.org ------------------- A place for talking about GNOME gnome-in-list(a)gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-in-list Let's extend the footprint !! ------------------- --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.573 / Virus Database: 363 - Release Date: 01/28/2004

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Memorandum of Understanding
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

The deepening nexus between unethical (and bad) corporates and civil servants are becoming more and more exposed. In that way, we won't be short of examples. But what worries me most is the penetration of these corporates into the elite academic institutions that our nation has built with public funding . In another expose, here is the Prof and Head of CSE, IIT Delhi, engaged in an MoU with Microsoft Corpn. http://www.iitd.ac.in/cgi-bin/nph-p/http/10.116.2.57/mou/iitdmou.asp?mType=… The Rashtrapati is going to have a tough time ahead, no doubt about that. CK Raju Thrissur

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Memorandum of Understanding
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

The deepening nexus between unethical (and bad) corporates and civil servants are becoming more and more exposed. In that way, we won't be falling short of examples. But what worries me most is the penetration of these corporates into the elite academic institutions that our nation has built with public funding . In another expose, here is the Prof and Head of CSE, IIT Delhi, engaged in an MoU with Microsoft Corpn. http://www.iitd.ac.in/cgi-bin/nph-p/http/10.116.2.57/mou/iitdmou.asp?mType=… The Rashtrapati is going to have a tough time ahead, no doubt about that. CK Raju Thrissur

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by doxa＠sancharnet.in 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

The deepening nexus between unethical (and bad) corporates and civil servants are becoming more and more exposed. In that way, we won't be falling short of examples. But what worries me most is the penetration of these corporates into the elite academic institutions that our nation has built with public funding . In another expose, here is the Prof and Head of CSE, IIT Delhi, engaged in an MoU with Microsoft Corpn. http://www.iitd.ac.in/cgi-bin/nph-p/http/10.116.2.57/mou/iitdmou.asp?mType=… The Rashtrapati is going to have a tough time ahead, no doubt about that. CK Raju Thrissur

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RMS meets President
by V. Sasi Kumar 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

RMS met the President and had discussions with him. A press release issued by FSF India on this matter is given below: FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION OF INDIA PRESS RELEASE January 29, 2004 Richard Stallman meets the President of India Dr. Richard M Stallman, world-renowned software guru and founder of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), had a meeting with His Excellency the President of India, Bharat Ratna Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at 2:15 pm today. The meeting took place at the Rashrapati Bhavan, official residence of the President of India. At the meeting, Dr. Stallman explained to Dr. Kalam the ethical issues related to the use of proprietary software. The President was impressed by the issues raised by Dr. Stallman. It is understood that the President has instructed for the use of free softwaree for his IT facilities. Dr. Stallman also discussed the issues of using proprietary software in schools, which prevents children from sharing and learning to share. Implications of IT@School project in Kerala also got mention. Stallman's meeting with the president took place in the backdrop of support for free and open source software extended by the president at a public speech recently. Dr Stallman has been in India from January 16th. His programmes included the World Social Forum in Mumbai from January 16 to 22, lectures at Thrissur, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, and meetings with various government officials in the state regarding the use of free software in government initiatives. Further information on the Free Software Foundation and its Indian chapter can be obtained from the web sites: http://www.gnu.org and http://gnu.org.in. Free Software Foundation, India. Press Contact Email : gnu(a)gnu.org.in Phone : 094470 34795 -- V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)vsnl.com> CESS

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Is FSF India tax exempt
by Krishna Pagadala 31 Jan '04

31 Jan '04

Does FSF India have non-profit status? Is it possible to channel funds to FSF India via FSF US? Thanks Krishna ===== To Reflect, to Inspire and to Empower http://www.employees.org/~krishnap/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/

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Kannur University Courses
by Manilal 29 Jan '04

29 Jan '04

Friends, Most of the students wish to learn GPL'd softwares from Universities. But unfortunately many of the universities in Kerala(and in India) are not offering such courses. The Kannur University is a role model in this case. The University is offering Post Graduate programmes in Swathanthra Software right from the year 2000. The courses offered are M Sc(Computer Science) and MCA(Master in Computer Applications). The syllabus of these two courses are based on GPL'd software. Only one paper is there in the whole course which has a proprietary nature(Microsoft Architecture and VC++(theory only)). Some of the prominent topics covered are Linux administration, PostgreSQL, BIND, Apache, Etherboot, Squid, Samba, Linux Kernel, TCP/IP, Socket Programming etc... The labs are arranged with GNU/Linux OS(RedHat and Mandrake). The disappointing matter here is that these courses are in a phase of disintegration. The University authorities are now trying to change the syllabus completely to Proprietary nature due to some external pressures. In my knowledge, some of the faculty members are also trying to topple the course. Many of the Kannur University centres are being shut down due to lack of students. I think the main reason is the lack of publicity(and funds). Earlier there were some protests in changing the syllabus from the students itself. Many students are unaware of the fact that the university is offering such a course. My request to the list members is that please take over this matter(if relevant) to as many lists as possible so that those who are interested can join the course. It's a nice opportunity to learn Swathanthra Software. I think the ?Free Software Community? may have some interest in such courses.Those who need the syllabus of these course contact me. regards Manilal

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RMS meets the president
by Sajith VK 29 Jan '04

29 Jan '04

Hi, RMS today met APJ Abdul kalam, our president. The discussion is just over, and We didnt got the complete details. Our president has clearly mentioned that "Open-source" is the way we need to choose. The president became very much impressed in the "social aspects" of free software, pointed out by stallman. During the discussion, president called the "techinal head" there, to discuss about completely switching to free software. Meanwhile, someone from Microsoft was waiting there for a meeting with our president. On this, RMS commented "The British did visit the imperialist here before colonisation, they are trying for the same". -- "Freedom Matters" Sajith VK

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FreeMe
by Arun M 29 Jan '04

29 Jan '04

---- On the 55th republic day of India, Free Software Foundation of India launches the FreeMe initiative, to help India to switch to the world of software freedom. http://www.gnu.org.in/freeme/freeme.html ---- Hi, if you can help the initiative, write, regards, arun.

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What should friends of FSF India do?
by Krishna Pagadala 29 Jan '04

29 Jan '04

"Vision"(1) of FSF is stated as "Broadly, FSF India will strive to ensure that free software is strengthened in all respects so as to form a genuine, credible and viable alternative to proprietary software for every kind of application." "Goal" (2) of FSF India is stated as "Our goal is to ensure the long term adoption of free software, and aim for the day when all software will be free." In poster (3) "And the right to explore how similar freedoms can be attained and shared in all branches of knowledge." I find 2 and 3 above interesting, especially "aim for the day when all software will be free." "shared in all branches of knowledge." Making all software free means educating the public about the problems with copyright laws. And therfore an awakened public might get the laws changed. Having sharing of knowledge in all branches of knowledge means that we have to expand the process of educating the public beyond software and talk about the harm done by building walls around knowledge. However I see a narrowing of thought when it comes to vision, "FSF India will strive to ensure that free software is... viable alternative to proprietary software" I see this narrowing on both the lists. The only person consistently saying that all software should be free software is RMS. Since free software (as great as it is), compared to the amount of software developed every year is a drop in the bucket (if not ocean). Another way of putting it is, iff tommorow all software becomes free software, we will see an increase of the size of free software by atleast 1000 times. For the above reason, I think that not only should we be talking about why free software is better, but also talk and reason about why *all* software should be free. Any comments? Is my reasoning flawed in any aspect? Thanks -Krishna To Reflect, to Inspire and to Empower http://www.employees.org/~krishnap/ (1) http://fsf.org.in/philosophy/purpose.html (2) http://fsf.org.in/ (3) http://fsf.org.in/graphics/FSFIndiaPoster.pdf __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/

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Media Coverage of RMS talk at WSF
by Rajkumar S 28 Jan '04

28 Jan '04

Hi, How well has media coverd the RMS talk? Any pointers to articles or interviews ? raj

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RMS in Delhi
by Arun M 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

Hi All, RMS today after noon left for delhi. His visit to Kerala was very effective. The message of free software has reached all over the state. It seems that this visit will have an effect on kerala's IT policy. RMS's delhi programs are. Venue : JNU Date : 28th Jan 2.30 pm Topic : Venue : IIT Delhi Date : 29th Jan 5.15 pm Topic : The Danger of Software Patents Venue : School of Convergence, International Management Institute. Date : 31th Jan 2.30 pm Topic : Copyright vs Community regards, arun.

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Rachana fonts released under GPL
by Anivar Aravind 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

SORRY 4 DELAY!! rachana fonts relesed under gpl by rms on 23rd jan on the event at CUSAT. the fonts are available shortly on fsug-cusat website. it is a set of 6 fonts under gpl . but they are created under fontographer. the fontographer sources are also with it. It is very helpful 4 us on creation of an opentype font 4 malayalam. Dont use the current fonts. We will make it available within 2 or 3 days. A concept note on rachana is available here http://fsug-cusat.port5.com/malayalam/oaol.html . Anivar.a.Aravaind cusat -- ______________________________________________ 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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Google News Alert - Linux
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

LINUX marks slow progress in taking over desktops Daily Times NEW YORK: As never before, corporate customers are turning to Linux software instead of Microsoft Windows to run big business operations. ... <http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_26-1-2004_pg6_3> See all stories on this topic: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf8&client=google&num=30… ORACLE moves to support Linux desktops Search Enterprise Linux By Jan Stafford, Site Editor. NEW YORK -- Linux advocate Oracle Corp. is all talk and more action. Besides touting its huge Linux ... <http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/qna/0,289202,sid39_gci946177,00…> See all stories on this topic: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf8&client=google&num=30… RED Hat to Protect Linux Customers Open for Business eWeek: Red Hat Inc. on Tuesday will follow the lead of Hewlett-Packard Co. and Novell Inc. by announcing a plan to protect its enterprise Linux customers. ... <http://www.ofb.biz/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=291> See all stories on this topic: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf8&client=google&num=30… ANNOUNCING Cooperative Linux Slashdot I was on my daily "relaxing" read of the LKML when I've found an interesting announce about "Cooperative Linux", in this message from Dan Aloni. ... <http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/04/01/25/2124237.shtml?tid=106&ti…> SUN to IBM: Go Linux with us Cnet Asia Sun Microsystems has offered IBM the benefit of its "experience," if Big Blue decides that it wants to implement a wholesale move to the Linux desktop. ... <http://ups.asia.cnet.com/c/as.ch.nt.stories/asia.cnet.com/newstech/systems/…> RED Hat plans Linux push in China Cnet Asia Red Hat, the leading seller of the Linux operating system, plans an expansion into China, potentially including a partnership with China's Red Flag Linux. ... <http://asia.cnet.com/newstech/systems/0,39001153,39166023,00.htm> FOUR Linux Live CDs, The Executive Summary Slashdot Remember to tell people that before you evangelize them on Live CD's, or they'll come away thinking that it's Linux that's slow. ... <http://slashdot.org/articles/04/01/25/0340221.shtml?tid=106&tid=185&tid=190> LEADER: Linux comes a long way but let's be realistic Silicon.com Andy may be just a student. But listen and learn. Take him seriously because he is right. I run a small busineess with 24 desktops ... <http://www.silicon.com/software/os/talkback.htm?PROCESS=show&ID=20016725&AT…> LINUX group checks SCO fine print Computerworld New Zealand The group set up to represent New Zealands Linux community, the Open Source Society, is seeking legal advice over SCO's Linux licensing scheme, which the ... <http://www.computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/UNID/38389B1C08C3D10CCC256E23007470…> BOOT Windows Faster, Using Linux Slashdot BiOFH writes "TechNewsWorld is reporting that InterVideo has a solution for slow boot times runing Windows XP MCE. 'The new Linux-based InstantOn software ... <http://slashdot.org/articles/04/01/24/1855205.shtml?tid=126&tid=163&tid=185…> See all stories on this topic: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf8&client=google&num=30… This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Remove this News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=4184feae5fa3fa1a&hl=en Create another News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en Try Google News: http://news.google.com/

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Re: [glug-t] GNU Manifesto Question
by Senthil_OR＠Dell.com 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

On Mon, 2004-01-26 at 17:44, Vijay Kumar wrote: > What is the meaning of "millions for defense, but not a cent for > tribute!"? We > do not understand it to the point of being able to translate it to > tamil. > Can somebody tell us the meaning of this line? > Has to do with some american history stuff, it seems: By 1800 a new slogan was beginning to appear across the new country, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." http://www.zianet.com/wblase/endtimes/barbary.htm After reading this,I think it should be appropriated. -Senthil

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GNU Manifesto Question
by Vijay Kumar 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

We(the GNU/Linux User Group of Trichy) are working on the Tamil Translation of the GNU Manifesto. It is almost complete. But we have a few problems... RMS writes: ------------------- Manifesto Begins ---------------------------------- "We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we stop helping our neighbors, we have to obey." You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand. Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute! ------------------- Manifesto Ends ------------------------------------- What is the meaning of "millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute!"? We do not understand it to the point of being able to translate it to tamil. Can somebody tell us the meaning of this line? Vijay -- Free the Code. Free the User. ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP(http://www.nitt.edu)

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Rachana font released in Free license
by Ramakrishnan Muthukrishnan 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Please don't use the ones you currently have. We will soon have the fonts with proper copyright matters embedded in the font with credits. The font creators, Shri Hussain and Shri Chitranja Kumar are working on webpages for the project. They will be releasing it on the web soon. This list will be informed. Students of CUSAT should be credited for working to make this work GPL and is so is the authors who happily agreed when they heard about the GNU project and the GPL. They (students of CUSAT) are also working on opentype fonts and further development of Rachana fonts together with original authors. Ramakrishnan Manilal wrote: >I have this font with me. If you want this I'll send it. But I don't know >whether it's official release or not. However since there are no full >fledged editors using this charset it's little use now. We are working to >develop such an editor. The fonts are fantastic and most of them look like >the letters in the older 'thaliyola'. I am not a member of the >development team. One of my friends gave me this fonts. >regards >Manilal >Sajith VK said: > > >>Hi, >> Rachana, a malayalam font is released in free license. >>This release was by RMS, during his kochi visit. RMS did >>mentioned about this in a discussion at CESS, tvm. >> >> Did anybody now the details like where Can we get the font, >>and who all are this great movement...... >> >>-- >>"Freedom Matters" >>Sajith VK >> >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Fsf-friends mailing list >>Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >>http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends >> >> >> > > >_______________________________________________ >Fsf-friends mailing list >Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > >

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Rachana font released in Free license
by Manilal 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Raghavendra Bhat said: > You have helped yourself. Thanks for being very clueful and reading > those links. > Hello, I have read some interesting articles regarding top-posting and bottom-posting. I am unaware of such matters. First of all I thank you for linking me to such things. Some opposed top-posting but some opposed bottom-posting. I neither have inclination to both these techniques. I did top-posting only because of convenience. After reading some of the articles I think that there is nothing wrong in top-posting.For your convenience I am bottom-posting this mail. I am sorry, if I had hurt you in this regard. Meanwhile you have some remarks about Rachana fonts. Please make it clear. regards Manilal

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Re: [Fsf-friends]To Raghavendra Bhat
by Mahesh T. Pai 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Manilal said on Mon, Jan 26, 2004 at 12:00:49PM +0530,: > > Raghavendra Bhat, > Read the two mails by You. and to save your "bandwidth" I am combining the > reply to one mail. The only thing I have done is replying to the mails > that appeared in the List. > I don't think that there is something wrong with my mails. And I will > reply to mails that I have interest. > If you want to save the bandwidth the better way is to unsubsribe from > the list. > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > > Manilal > > Raghavendra Bhat said: > > Manilal posts: > > > >> The fonts are fantastic and most of them look like the letters in the > >> older 'thaliyola' > > > > Someone was heard as saying that such fonts can also help us save > > bandwidth, newsprint and printing ink. If so, then seeing them released > > under the GNU GPL is a big relief indeed! > > You have quoted only from 20040126061036.GB17617@_deleted_by_me_to_protect_privacy. Which is the other post? What is there in the mail quoted by you to warrant a demand for unsubscription? -- +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ Mahesh T. Pai, LL.M., 'NANDINI', S. R. M. Road, Ernakulam, Cochin-682018, Kerala, India. http://in.geocities.com/paivakil +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Rachana font released under the GNU GPL by the `Rachana Akshara Vedi'
by Raghavendra Bhat 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Manilal posts: > The fonts are fantastic and most of them look like the letters in the > older 'thaliyola' Someone was heard as saying that such fonts can also help us save bandwidth, newsprint and printing ink. If so, then seeing them released under the GNU GPL is a big relief indeed! TIA. -- ragOO Amateur Radio VU2RGU http://puggy.symonds.net/~fsug-kochi

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RMS speech on Software Patents
by Manilal 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Friends, Just attended the RMS' lecture at the EMS Memorial Lecture(Kerala University Senate Hall,Thiruvananthapuram). The speech was informative. It would be very useful if anyone can post the complete text(or audio format) of the speech. I think the FSF India people can help. The lecture was on software patents. regards Manilal

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Rachana font released in Free license
by Sajith VK 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Hi, Rachana, a malayalam font is released in free license. This release was by RMS, during his kochi visit. RMS did mentioned about this in a discussion at CESS, tvm. Did anybody now the details like where Can we get the font, and who all are this great movement...... -- "Freedom Matters" Sajith VK

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Indian Prez uses non-free sw
by KG Kumar 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Since we're on the topic of hypocrisy (VS and Windows on his laptop), it might interest people to know that Abdul Kalam, India's president, so famous for apparently having ticked off Bill G. and advocating free software for countries like India, uses non-free software, incl. MS PowerPoint. See http://www.presidentofindia.nic.in/S/html/speeches/ others/ict.pps. and http://www.presidentofindia.nic.in/S/html/speeches/ others/FICCI.pps. His site (www.presidentofindia.nic.in) designed and hosted by NIC, uses a lot of non-free s/w, incl. Macromedia Flash. So much for dreaming and igniting passions. ----- KG Kumar kg at tug dot org dot in

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RMS in kerala, news..........
by Sajith VK 25 Jan '04

25 Jan '04

Hi, RMS in kerala, news............. Meeting with opposition leader, kerala: http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=24704 Stallman to launch courseware lessons of Free Software: http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20040124235932&Page=R&Title=Kera… Stallman on Saturday came down heavily on the State IT leadership..: http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20040124235814&Page=R&Title=Kera… We are ready to give freeSoftwares for all initiatives of govt...: http://www.kaumudi.com/ -- "Freedom Matters" Sajith VK

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Re: RMS TVM Visit - Details Please
by Arun M 25 Jan '04

25 Jan '04

On Sun, 2004-01-25 at 15:05, George Abraham wrote: > Heard RMS is visiting TVM on the 27th, (National Student Parliament, > Trivandrum.). There is no clue on the timing of his visit. Please > provide me info on the time, and the location of National Student > Parliament. Time : 11 am Venue : Co-Bank towers, near Mascot Hotel, Trivandrum, Kerala. regards, arun.

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RMS speech on Copyright and Freedom in Science
by V. Sasi Kumar 25 Jan '04

25 Jan '04

RMS delivered the Silver Jubilee Lecture at Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) entitled "Copyright and Freedom in Science". It was more of a discussion than a lecture, and the discussion covered not just copyright but went into the philosophy of Free Software and its economic and business aspects. There were a number of young faces in the small but enthusiastic crowd of around 200. And, interestingly, some of the older members of the crowd also showed considerable interest in both the copyright aspect and Free Software. The discussions were lively and went on till we had to put a stop because of lack of time. There was reasonably good media coverage, with two camera crews present along with a few from the print media. -- V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)vsnl.com> CESS

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Fwd: TCE Linux Forum (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 24 Jan '04

24 Jan '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- The `TCE Linux Forum' was started on 20-12-2003. The objective of the forum was to advocate Free software and to help fellow GNU/Linux Users. Mr. Bharathi S, of ILUG-Chennai delivered a talk on Free Software and the Linux localisation project at the first meeting of the Forum, on 20-12-2003. The meeting was attended by a crowd of 325 comprising of students and teachers. In association with the meeting a demo was organised at the `UNIX &Paralled processing Lab, CSE Dept, TCE'. The demo showcased Office utitilities, Network utilities, Programming tools, gaming, etc.. The members of the `TCE Linux Forum' have been added to a mailing list called the `GNU/Linux Users Group OF TCE' (GLUGOT). The mailing list address is `glugot(a)freelists.org'. As one of the activities of the `TCE Linux Forum', ILUG-Madurai meetings are conducted at the TCE campus. The first meeting of ILUG-Madurai was conducted on 24-01-2004 at Z0 Lecture Hall, CSE Dept, TCE. Also, the GLUGOT meets regularly on every second saturday. These meetings mostly comprise of technical seminars and demos. Thanks, Joe Steeve <joe_steeve(a)gmx.net> Co-ordinator, GLUGOT. Bye :) -- Bharathi S | MeTel Team, TeNeT Group | DONLab, IIT-M, OMC Group | MidasComm.com. Known is drop, Unknown is OCEAN.

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Richard M Stallman
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 24 Jan '04

24 Jan '04

Deccan Herald (Hubli-Dharwad edition... don't know about the others) carries a front-paged photo of RMS in its Jan 24, 2004 edition which says: "The Herald Diary... Freedom movement Richard M Stallman, founder of Free software Movement, puts on a hat during an event at the Cochin University of Science and Technology. Stallman promotes the GNU operating system widely used in its GNU/LINUX variant". It also carries a photo of "Saint IGNUcius"... FN -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net Ph 0091.832.2409490 Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org Ph 0091.832.2409783 http://fredericknoronha.blogware.com Cell 0 9822 122436

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[Fsf-friends] Fwd:[TRANSLATION SOFTWARE FOR HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA.]
by Dileep M. Kumar 24 Jan '04

24 Jan '04

Hello, Anybody interested ? Regards -- .''`. Dileep M. Kumar <dileep(a)kumarayil.net> : :' : http://www.kumarayil.net `. `'` Mobile: 98474-47437 `- Debian GNU/Linux - Choice of the Freedom Lovers ---- Forwarded message from kalaskar kishandutt <kalaskark(a)yahoo.com> ----- >>>Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 23:38:16 -0800 (PST) >>>From: kalaskar kishandutt <kalaskark(a)yahoo.com> >>>Subject: TRANSLATION SOFTWARE FOR HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA. >>>To: fsf-webmaster(a)gnu.org.in >>> >>>DEAR SIR, >>> WE ARE VERY GLAD TO SEE YOUR "Free Software >>>Foundation of India Volunteer Directory". PLEASE TRY >>>TO HELP THE POOR LITIGANTS AND JUDICIARY. PLEASE >>>ADVISE ON THE FOLLOWING OR ASK YOUR VOLUNTEER IN >>>RESPECT OF THE FOLLOWING: >>> >>>"THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA IS IN NEED OF KANNADA TO >>>ENGLISH AND VICE VERSA TRANSLATION SOFTWARE. IF >>>INTERESTED TO UNDERTAKE THIS PROJECT PLEASE CONTACT >>>THE UNDERSIGNED FOR MORE DETAILS." >>> >>> >>>THANKING YOU, >>> >>> >>>YOURS FAITHFULLY >>> >>> >>>KISHAN DUTT KALASKAR >>>CENTRAL PROJECT CO-ORDINATOR (COMPUTERS) >>>HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA >>>BANGALORE-1 >>>PHONE: 080-2954 441.

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CDit and Akshya
by Arun M 23 Jan '04

23 Jan '04

Hi, It seems that C-DIT and Red Hat India sorted out the issue on Trademark. Good that Indian Express which carried the news covered the clarification also. <snip> The Red Hat India has decided not to initiate legal action against the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) for replicating its Linux operating-system CDs without permission. A joint statement from C-DIT director Achuthsankar S.Nair and Red Hat India director Javed Tapia said: ``Red Hat India understands the context in which Red Hat Linux CDs were replicated without prior written permission on the use of logos and trademark and in this case Red Hat's Legal Department has opined that no legal action is warranted.'' </snip> http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20040113132150&Page=R&Title=Kera…

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A GNU/Linux community at Madhyamgram
by Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay 23 Jan '04

23 Jan '04

A GNU/Linux community at Madhyamgram "The Internet has a curious paradox. At one end it breaks down barriers of geography and politics, on the other it takes away the vitality of personal interaction" says, Dipankar Das [1] Madhyamgram is around 40 minutes by train from Kolkata, and is really not the archetypal suburban township. Elements of modernity and urban living tinge the area with an upwardly mobile character. In the midst of such surroundings flourishes a GNU/Linux Community - the GNU/Linux Thek [2] The GLT-Madhyamgram [3] is an initiative of Dipankar Das, who stumbled onto the F/L OSS world by accident. Tired of being the victim of virus attacks on Microsoft platforms, he turned towards GNU/Linux and GLT-Madhyamgram (or GLT-Mad as they fondly call it) is his way of contributing to the community. "The GLT-Mad is a physical helpdesk on matters regarding GNU/Linux", says he. Asked to elaborate on the concept, he illustrates the need for people to interact on a personal level so as to learn and unlearn. "The Internet provides a wealth of material on F/L OSS, however it is best to provide a guiding path towards using the system optimally". GLT-Mad is structured to meet such a demand. The concept of a 'thek' was a deliberate attempt to break down the formal structure of 'prescribed learning' and make it more interactive and participatory. This means that the teacher and the taught are able to explore new vistas and learn together at the same time. GLT-Mad began with 'students' who were known to Dipankar and could appreciate the immense opportunity of GNU/Linux. Pacing the course material over a period of time, GLT-Mad has managed to provide some self-confidence to the users/students. "Providing the confidence to undertake a venture is important, when the user can say 'Yes I can do this', GLT-Mad attains one of its objectives". Being the founder member and the inspiration has led to Dipankar feeling the need to provide a customised content for the effort. The GLT-Mad thus has a Compilation CD which can be used by other such efforts across the country. He is also working on a primer on GNU/Linux in Bengali crystallising in simple terms the lessons and experience of the first session of the 'Thek'. GLT-Mad does not charge any money from the students, but Dipankar has no objection if other GLTs develop a revenue model. The GLT-book on 'GNU/Linux Iskool' [4] is almost complete and awaiting a publisher who would be willing to realise the publishing model of the Free Software World. Dipankar believes that this book will be of immense help to those who want to use GNU/Linux but are daunted by the aura of 'magic'. GLT-Mad could also do with some of the information rich CDs like FreEduc and Customised Knoppix (like Gnoware) that help to demonstrate the power of GNU/Linux. GLT-Mad is affiliated (if such a term could be used) to Indian GNU/Linux Users Group - Kolkata and Free Software Foundation of India - West Bengal Chapter. Regular interaction with such user groups ensure that a constant stream of ideas are exchanged. [1] Dipankar Das is actually Prof Dipankar Das and he teaches at a college in Central Kolkata. However, since he dislikes being called a 'professor', we avoid the term altogether. [2] 'Thek' is colloquial bengali for a place where free and informal discussions take place on varied topics. [3] GLT-Madhyamgram or GNU/Linux Thek - Madhyamgram is at www.geocities.com/ddipankardas/index.htm [4] Another colloquial twist on the word 'school' [5] The first chapter (actually chapter zero) of the primer is available for download and perusal from the URL mentioned above. [6] Dipankar Das can be reached at paagol at softhome dot net Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay is a member of the Free Software Foundation of India - West Bengal Chapter.His blog 'Random Thoughts' contains his take on the human aspects of F/L OSS development. He can be reached at sankarshan at bengalinux dot org ----------------- The Ankur Bangla Project www.bengalinux.org Bringing Bangla to the GNU/Linux desktop AnkurBangla LiveDestop v1.0 - Technology Preview is now available ----------------- --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.564 / Virus Database: 356 - Release Date: 01/19/2004

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FYI: Zhakanini (Tamil PC) - Demo Day (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 23 Jan '04

23 Jan '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- ZhakaNini is a project to provide desktop PC running GNU/Linux and open source applications with tamil interface. zhakanini will integrate the already available tamil open source applications into a single distribution for the benefit of non-technical users. Every one is invited for a Demo of zhakanini: Date : Sunday 1st February, 2004 Venue: Loyola College - Lawrence Sundaram Hall Time : 2.00 PM onwards Ma SivaKumar (on behalf of zhakanini team also) A PC for Tamils: http://www.zhakanini.org Plz fwd to other local lugs. -- Bharathi S | MeTel Team, TeNeT Group | DONLab, IIT-M, OMC Group | MidasComm.com. Known is drop, Unknown is OCEAN.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Media Coverage of RMS talk at WSF
by Rishi Gangoly 23 Jan '04

23 Jan '04

On Friday 23 Jan 2004 3:06 pm, Abhimanyu Radhakrishnan wrote: > Hi Guys, > CNBC TV18 played 3 minutes of an interview that I did with Richard > Stallman, on Monday 19th Jan 2004 on Biz@8 (and repeats on subsequent > shows) and a 2 minute story on Free Software at the WSF (including > soundbytes with Dr. Nagarjuna and Richard Stallman) on Biz@10 on Thursday > 22nd Jan 2004 (repeats on subsequent shows the next day as well). > > I will be sending Rishi Gangoly a CD copy of the two pieces, which he will > be putting on the GNU India website. > > Regards > Abhimanyu Radhakrishnan > Technology Correspondent, > CNBC TV18, > Mumbai Thanks Abhimanyu... This will be great for people to access anytime incase they miss the show. However, just a slight correction... The videos will be uploaded to the audio-video.gnu.org (US) website. Also please confirm that the video does not have a copyright that prevents us from making it available on the website. Regards Rishi

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