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More from Peru
by Raju Mathur 29 Jul '02

29 Jul '02

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54141,00.html Microsoft's Big Stick in Peru By Agustin d'Empaire 2:00 a.m. July 27, 2002 PDT BUENOS AIRES -- Afraid that Peru may adopt a bill decreeing the use of open-source software in all government systems, Microsoft apparently enlisted the American ambassador in Lima to help try and convince the Peruvians to kill the legislation. Wired News has obtained a copy of a letter sent by U.S. Ambassador John Hamilton to the president of the Peruvian Congress, expressing his dismay at the proposed legislation. Congressman Edgar Villanueva, the bill's chief sponsor, said he considers Hamilton's letter to be "overt pressure" on Peru by the United States and Microsoft. If so, the letter would continue the long-standing U.S. tradition of meddling in Latin American affairs, political analysts say. In his June letter, Hamilton said that while the United States doesn't oppose the development of open-source software, it prefers to support a free market where the quality of the product can determine the issue. He added that by excluding proprietary software companies like Microsoft, Peru would be hurting an industry that "has the potential to create 15,000" jobs in the local economy. </excerpt> Is he the US ambassador or the MS ambassador? -- Raju -- Raju Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ It is the mind that moves

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GNOWSYS Development version released
by Nagarjuna G. 28 Jul '02

28 Jul '02

A development version of GNOWSYS-0.1-1 is released at http://www.zope.org/Members/nagarjuna/GNOWSYS. http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gnosys GNOWSYS, Gnowledge Networking and Organizing System, is a web application for developing and maintaining semantic web content developed in Python and works as an installed product in ZOPE. The application provides generic classes, viz. object, object type, association, association type, facet, facet type, occurance, occurance type, theme, scope, etc., for developing semantic web content. For those who are aware, the application follows the structure of TopicMaps (http://www.topicmaps.org). It is intended to develop as a powerful prototype application demonstrating the potential of an expert system within the paradigm+of object oriented database technology. Presently it cannot import/export the content in the form of XTM (XML Topic Maps) standard, but this feature is being developed. The application can be used for web based knowledge representation and management projects, for developing structured knowledge bases, as a collaborative authoring tool, suitable for making electronic glossaries, dictionaries and encyclopedias, for managing large web sites or links, developing an online catalogue for a library of any thing including books, to make ontologies, classifying and networking any objects etc. This tool is intended to be used also for an on-line tutoring system with dependency management system between various concepts. It also contains a facility to add rules into its rule base, and execute the rules. Once completely implemented this feature will make the product really powerful, for it can infer and make new relations. Though a prototype of rule base already exists in the developing version, more elegant implementation is being worked out. GNOSYS is a free software, released under GPL. Project website will be managed from http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gnosys Sample applications that are developed using GNOWSYS will be available at http://www.gnowledge.org/, which is a site under development. You can download from the Zope site: http://www.zope.org/Members/nagarjuna/GNOWSYS You can also download soon from the savannah site using the cvs after the files are setup. This product depends on another Zope Product, Transparent Folders. Nagarjuna

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Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 `woody' available
by Raghavendra Bhat 28 Jul '02

28 Jul '02

Hello: I have downloaded the seven ISO images of Debian GNU/Linux v3.0 aka woody. Listers wanting a copy of the same can mail me offlist. I am willing to copy it and mail it to Listers who have a need for it. Please note that Debian GNU/Linux `Woody' (Official) comes in 7 CDs and is one wonderful job by the community. :) Have a nice day... -- .-"".__."``". ragOO, Amateur Radio VU2RGU .-.--. _...' (/) (/) ``' Free Software for a Brave GNU World (O/ O) \-' ` -="""=. ', Computing as a Community Resource! ~`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Elx Linux... on desktoplinux.com (some time back)
by Frederick Noronha 25 Jul '02

25 Jul '02

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT6850645834.html An interview with ELX Linux founder and chief architect, Abhi Datt Rick Lehrbaum (Feb. 4, 2002) DesktopLinux.com founder and executive editor Rick Lehrbaum interviews Abhi Datt, Chief Software Architect and founder of Project ELX, a new project to create a uniquely easy-to-use Linux distribution. Abhi Datt describes his vision for Project ELX, lists the main features of the ELX Linux distribition, provides an update on the status of ELX, and shares his thoughts on how Linux can succeed on the desktop and elsewhere. -------------------------------------------------------------------- DesktopLinux.com: What is ELX? What are its main objectives? Abhi Datt: ELX, as its name suggests, is "everyone's Linux". It is the most comprehensive work ever done to bring Linux to desktop. Very soon, ELX will bring to users a complete suite of various Linux based operating systems so that it caters to the complete needs of a wide range of users -- from home, to corporate, to power users, to hardcore developers. Our vision and mission are to take Linux to everyone. DesktopLinux.com: What are the key features and software that ELX will provide? Abhi Datt: The expression "ease of use" has become such a misnomer that I would rather refrain from using it. ELX's true brilliance can only be appreciated by actually using it. ELX does not believe in "dumbing down" the system to achieve so called simplicity. It's the most comprehensive work ever done to bring Linux on the desktops of all -- and by that I mean normal users, power users, and developers. People who think ease and power cannot walk hand-in-hand should try ELX to change their opinion. It's easy to make a Windows-lookalike desktop, but its difficult to make it actually work like one -- of course I'm not talking about Windows' inimitable ability to crash! Small things do matter. For example: How do you share files in Windows? Right click on any folder and pick share, a couple of buttons, and off it goes in the network. ... How do you copy your files to your floppy? Right click and send to floppy. ... How do you add a printer? Go to Control panel say add printer and follow the wizard. ... How do you change Network settings? ... How do you zip a file and email it? ... Try doing all this in ELX, and you will know why ELX is ELX. ELX comes with 3 fullfledged office suites (including OpenOffice), 5 browsers, 2 state-of-the-art email clients with outlook express compatibilty, a complete multimedia suite to run virtually all file formats, and more. "Application Launch Pad System" (ALPS) manages all this in the most intelligent way. Though the default desktop environment is based on KDE, it installs base libraries of Gnome so all Gnome applications work perfectly well. For system adminstrators and network administrators, ELX offers the latest Linux kernel with a lot of security patches. It also provides the latest configuration tools, the ability to control a network securely from any remote place via a browser, a firewall utility, plus an auto backup utility which is advanced enough to handle backup of complete partitions automatically on a periodic basis over the network itself. If someone is looking for an extraordinary development environment, ELX is the answer. It provides twin compilers (gcc 2.96 and 3.0.3) switchable on a flick of a button, twin QT libraries, latest development components, four preconfigured IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) incuding a Java IDE, two databases and preconfigured database drivers in IDEs, Sun's latest JRE, and a graphical versioning system. What else could a developer ask for? There is so much in ELX that if I tell you about any one of its areas, it will overshadow all the others. ELX has so much to offer that it can best be judged by actually using it. We are, in fact, releasing multiple versions of ELX along with the main release so that users can pick the most appropriate package. But ELX will never do a version which is inadequate in any means. So its fundamental character of Power and Ease will alway be preserved even in its basest of versions. DesktopLinux.com: Is ELX a totally free and open source distribution? Abhi Datt: The base version of ELX will remain free and under GPL, though there will also be several commercial versions available. DesktopLinux.com: What is the current status of ELX? Can people download and run ELX now? When can we expect a first "finished", stable version? Abhi Datt: Right from day one ELX has come out with an ultra stable version. We have a record that out of more than 40 thousand ELX users worldwide, there is not even a single after-install crash problem reported so far. And in many places (even in some renowned universities) it's used as a server because of its stabilty, ease of use, and ease of configuration. The current release of ELX (the new ISO set of preI/rc2E currently available) has no known bugs and is highly stable. It has been thoroughly tested. It is very much available for download. Users can visit our download page. The main release of ELX can be expected very shortly. In fact, it is currently under testing by several universities and developers worldwide. It will have several firsts to its credit -- a part of which we are keeping as a surprise. DesktopLinux.com: What is your vision of the opportunity for Linux on the desktop? What are the main barriers to the growing use of Linux on the desktop? (what are the key things that must be done in order for Linux to succeed? etc...) Abhi Datt: I think as a result of the entry of ELX there will be very little, if any, reason left with potential migrators to not switch over to Linux. But to actually keep maintaining a fair balance with the mammoth resources and market clout of Microsoft, all the Linux supporters should focus themselves on the real issues, which according to my understanding are as follows . . . Linux support from hardware vendors -- All hardware vendors have to be pressed to release Linux drivers out of factory, and in fact to ensure fair play in the market the US Government should pass a statutory regulation directing these vendors to do the same or at least write a clear and conspicous warning on their devices such as: "WARNING: ALL CUSTOMERS ARE HEREBY WARNED THAT THIS PRODUCT CURRENTLY SUPPORTS ONLY WINDOWS BASED SYTEMS". Hiding or not prominently displaying this fact from the innocent buyers is one of the prime reasons why people who want to excercise their freedom of choice also sometimes get badly locked into one technology only. How often does it happen that you purchase a laptop / modem / webcam only to later discover that your hardware is either not supported or partially supported in Linux? This attitude of most hardware/system vendors has made it almost impossible for Linux developers to keep up, since the onus is left to Linux developers to create compatible drivers to support the hardware/system vendors when it should really be the reverse. Linux support from software vendors -- Software application vendors should come forward and make their applications available to Linux users as well. In any case, more and more business applications are now becoming web based and therefore operating system independent. But applications used for specific purposes like CAD / CAM, graphic designing, etc. need to be made available for Linux as well. It now makes more commercial sense than ever for application vendors to have their Linux versions ready. Education -- There is a pressing need to educate and inform normal desktop users and corporate users so that they can make informed decisions rather than allowing themselves to fall into vicious cycles of vendor designed technology traps. The implications of their buying decisions with respect to both hardware and software have a direct impact on them both technically and financially. In fact we are planing to start an "Educating exercise" through the ELX website, to help people make informed and proper decisions. Until and unless we involve "normal users" in this cause, some of the hardware/software vendors will keep taking advantage of their ignorance. We'll be inviting both hardware and software vendors to inform Linux users how much of their product range currently supports Linux and when (if at all) they plan to provide Linux support for the rest. We will also try to inform users as much as possible regarding alternatives, provide compatibility rankings, etc. This will allow normal users to make better decisions. Lack of action oriented focus -- To bring much needed fair balance into action, the focus of the Linux friendly organizations should be unified. Until and unless we bring Linux closer to common normal users, it will keep itself distant from people's acceptance. Though IBM has announced a mammoth support for Linux, it has kept itself largely to the enterprise/server side of it. On the other hand, Sun would contest with Microsoft for issues such as not "standardizing" its Java standards, conceding in a way that Microsoft's OS can be the only viable vehicle to do so. Why? If giants like them can spend a fraction of their resources on addressing issues like giving more support to Linux developers, business application development on Linux, Framing common standards for Linux application development, and so forth, results would be far more effective. Finding a way to make money --- There needs to be some mechanism in open source where people can make some money (if they desire to do so) so they get further motivated to the cause rather than taking these issues part time, or as university days passions, or, for that matter, kind hearted gestures. In fact, to some extent this image of the Linux / open source community was responsible for not allowing it to gain an entry into serious corporate environments for a long time. Now, however, users are demanding an equal level of services from Linux companies, and also are not hesitating to pay for it. DesktopLinux.com: Do you think there is either a geographical or cultural difference in how Microsoft is perceived in India and other parts of Asia vs. how they are perceived in the U.S. and Europe? For example, is it easier or harder to get individuals and companies to switch to Linux from Windows in India and the rest of Asia than in the U.S. and Europe? Abhi Datt: One great thing about Windows is that it has proven to be a great unifier of cultural/geographical disparities of all sorts. It behaves the same way for everyone, everywhere -- and also evokes similar responses. As far as my experience goes, U.S citizens are the first to embrace, support, and encourage newer/better technologies. People in the U.S. are more open to change and are on the lookout for newer and better alternatives. Often, they make changes due to technical, rather than economic, reasons. Here in Asia, on the other hand, Linux is growing in popularity because of the immediate economic advantages it offers. Currently, a wave of Linux is sweeping througout China and South Korea. And Linux has just recently started picking up in India. DesktopLinux.com: Please give a brief overview of the history and background of the ELX project. Who are its leaders? Is a commercial enterprise funding or supporting ELX, or is it a community project based on volunteer efforts? How many developers are working on ELX? Abhi Datt: Project ELX was begun in February 2000, to build a distribution with the ease of Windows and robustness of Linux. For a little while it was funded by a commercial organization. Thereafter, it was funded by me until we became self sufficient -- this initially included a lot of sacrifices on the part of every ELX team member, who worked for minimum salaries and rejected lucrative job offers in India and overseas. All this because of their love towards ELX. We managed to achieve self sufficiency through various assignments including work in areas of embedded systems, training, and migration solutions. Now, with orders for support versions and CD's pouring in, we expect to be posting profits. We at ELX are a team of twelve people all below the age of 27 and with highly technical background and experience. Each ELX team member is key to the project. Narsi is Chief of Operations at ELX; his role in ELX design and development has been instrumental. He and I share the same vision, and without him I could never have taken this endeavor so far. Other key team members: Padmaja leads the Installation Team, Murali leads the Programs Management Team, Sudarshan leads the Desktop Team, Venkat leads Testing Team, and Praveen heads up Web-based Development of ELX. My own role is that of Chief Software Architect and founder. I, together with my team, design technical roadmaps, frame day-to-day objectives, and ensure that the teams' objectives are met by putting everyone's efforts in the right direction. I also am responsible for taking care of business issues at ELX. DesktopLinux.com: Is there anything else you would like to add? Abhi Datt: I'd like to add that the role of DesktopLinux.com in promoting the ease factor of Linux is equally instrumental -- if not more so -- than developing a product like ELX itself. For an organization like us which has an ace product like ELX, but limitations both geographically and in terms of resources, it is difficult to make our voice heard. We are extremely thankful to DesktopLinux.com for taking up the cause of actually bringing Linux nearer to people. DesktopLinux.com: And we are most grateful to you as well, for your efforts of creating "the people's Linux" -- and also for sharing some of your time and thoughts with the Desktop Linux community. Thank you and good luck with Project ELX! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Talk back! Do you have comments or questions on this story? talkback here Please note: If you have tried ELX Linux and would like to make comments about it, please post your comments here. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Related stories: Elx Linux "PRE-I release candidate-II" available for download And in this corner, it's 'everyone's Linux'... A forum member's first impression of ELX Linux Elx Linux-Pre-I now available for download A review of Elx, "everyone's Linux" Elx -- Everyone's Linux

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Call for Participation: "Open Source: A Case for e-Government" (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha 25 Jul '02

25 Jul '02

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Open Source: A Case for e-Government Washington, DC Oct. 17 - 18, 2002 infoDev, the Cyberspace Policy Institute of The George Washington University, and the UNDP are proud to present a conference on Open Source: A Case for e-Government to be held in Washington, DC, USA, Oct. 17 - 18, 2002. The conference will draw participants from local, national and international organizations from both the public and private sector. The goals of the conference include: - the presentation of best practices - raising awareness - sharing of experiences among policy makers, donors, users/consumers, universities, and industry specialists in Open Source, e-Government and related fields. To facilitate the organization of topics and events at the conference, you are invited to submit speaking and demonstration proposals. We strongly encourage speakers from both developed and developing countries to share experiences and submit proposals. More information on the conference and a Call for Speakers can be found on the conference website http://www.egovos.org --- You are currently subscribed to infodev-l as: fred(a)bytesforall.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-infodev-l-110453U(a)lists.worldbank.org

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(fwd) [LIG]NevyOS going Open??
by Raju Mathur 21 Jul '02

21 Jul '02

Interesting: initially Tisya (the authors of NevyOS) were fanatical about making a closed-source OS based on the Linux kernel. Now they need help with opening it. If you have suggestions for Tisya, please send them to the Linux-India-General mailing list (mailto:linux-india-general@lists.sourceforge.net). I'll try to ensure that relevant posts go through even if you're subscribed. Please send plain-text e-mails only -- HTML shall be terminated with extreme prejudice. Regards, -- Raju This is an RFC 1153 digest. (1 message) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mayuresh Kathe <mayuresh(a)mac.com> Sender: linux-india-general-admin(a)lists.sourceforge.net To: linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [LIG]NevyOS going Open?? Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 15:55:45 +0530 Hi all, Can we discuss a few issues regarding open source licensing of NevyOS? We are contemplating going Open Source with NevyOS. Reason: 1. Its time Unix took a break from X. NevyOS is best poised to do that. 2. Its time we gave MS a run for its money on the desktop too. Again, NevyOS is best poised to do that. (because, currently there are over 10 developers world wide developing killer apps for NevyOS, they would like to go open source too). But, at the same time what could be the alternatives for generating revenues if I have to atleast gain back on the investment? Could someone be charged if he is deploying NevyOS on a hardware platform of his design? If yes, what sort of a license will we have to put NevyOS under? Any brain storms on how we can enforce such licenses worldwide? ~Mayuresh End of this Digest ****************** -- Raju Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ It is the mind that moves

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Now its time for Norway
by CK Raju 20 Jul '02

20 Jul '02

Here's the latest trend from Norway. http://www.online.ie/technology/viewer.adp?article=1784902 CK Raju

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Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 Released !!!
by Arun M 20 Jul '02

20 Jul '02

The Debian Project is pleased to announce the release of Debian GNU/Linux version 3.0. Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system, which now supports a total of eleven processor architectures, includes KDE and GNOME desktop environments, features cryptographic software, is compatible with the FHS v2.2 and supports software developed for the LSB. http://www.debian.org/News/2002/20020719

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FEATURE: The promise of an operating system...
by Frederick Noronha 19 Jul '02

19 Jul '02

************************************************************************** NEVY OS -- THE PROMISE OF AN OPERATING SYSTEM: LINUX KERNEL PLUS WIMP Or, why working on hardware is a hard job in India -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BRIEfnCOUNTERS: BY FREDERICK NORONHA fred at bytesforall dot org ************************************************************************** We were leaving Bangalore by the sleeper-bus (yes, Goa has this strange mode of long-distance transport) when someone can rushing in to meet me. It was twentish-something Mayuresh Kathe <mayuresh(a)mac.com>, with a small hardware device in hand. That was the best part of a year ago. We were supposed to talk to each other via e-mail. But that never happened; mostly due to this writer's fault. Each time we exchanged mail, one ended up feeling that there were still more inputs needed before the 'story' could get done. Maybe because the story itself was a rather difficult one to comprehend. Putting Kathe in touch with a journo friend in Mumbai didn't quite work out. Fighting the odds in the hardware and software world, Kathe was obviously getting increasingly irritated with having to struggle to get a hearing from the media. Writing on software which is easy to describe or understand despite the distance is one thing. Hardware and operating systems prove to be an uphill task -- specially if you're the kind of a writer who background is journalism, rather than hard-core technology. How much of an innovation is this innovation? Is it an approach that makes sense? We're still not sure... So what better than let Kathe describe his work in his own words... We invite readers' reactions to Kathe's ideas, expressed in the form of a Q&A that he sent in recently: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- What is Nevy OS? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nevy OS is a new name of the 'Indy' operating system, the first operating system from Tisya Microsystems Pvt. Ltd., and probably the first Operating System from the Indian sub-continent. Nevy OS is being created and constantly improved to work for the upcoming computing device from Tisya, called 'Nevy'. Nevy could be a computing device which will break away from most traditional theories, and twist certain beliefs to create the real people's computer. At this point, we would prefer not to talk about Nevy, because we want to maintain an element of surprise. But, just to keep you interested, let us tell you that it's going to be a portable *not a hand-held* and will be the culmination of over four years of research and development. Nevy OS is being built on the Linux kernel with a state of the art graphical environment which is zippy yet featureful. It is based on the 'WIMP' (Windows Icons Menus Pointers) paradigm that originated at Xerox and best implemented by Apple Computers and most abused by Microsoft ;^) Nevy in its current release has a menuing system; web browser jotpad; application game of snake network configurator. This is a Preview Release 1. It is being done to let people get a feel of what is coming their way. We will be releasing updated, improvised and application rich PRs regularly. Please keep your browsers tuned in to http://www.tisya.co.in/downloads/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why is it called Nevy? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Nevy' and the 'Nevy OS' get their names as a tribute to the person who has touched my heart. That person was the prime cause for bringing me out of the dumps, for making me fight back and infuse a renewed sense of purpose in life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why is it not called 'Indy' anymore? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Because an awesome company (SGI) in Silicon Valley makes computers by the same name. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Who were the people involved in the project directly/indirectly? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lots of them... But primarily, the most important people were: besides myself as the driving force and investor behind the idea, Erle Pereira, who has been one of the closest buddies and persons to support me the longest. He's also the one to be in a constant state of confusion, because of the various strategies laid out and executed by that terrible guy called Mayuresh. There's Amit Kucheria, one of the most amazing and enthusiastic brains, who have been providing constant moral support from afar (as far away as the US of A). Alan Kay, though he hasn't supported directly, but has always been the kind of person who would suddenly appear out of nowhere and tell you things which would make certain pieces of the big puzzle fit in. Mr. Jef Raskin again though not a direct supporter has been a constant guide and the force to make me think out of the box. (He also manages to give a kick on the #$%^ to wake you out of the dream world) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- When did it start, where and how? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- It started sometime around the year 1997-98 when I was getting bored of all the routine development work as part of his duties at Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai. I wanted something more challenging, something which would allow me to tap into my latent potential and do something significant. I was doing quite some amount of research on easy to deploy network solutions for data exchange, also some research on handwriting recognition, add to that my inner desire to build systems which would be so easy to use that they were almost intuitive. I was also disgruntled with the fact that Windows was spreading around faster than a virus. It became obvious that the path Windows was taking would demand an upgrade to hardware almost every year. That would mean the prices of hardware almost never going down, only the power offered would be a lot more for that same cost. That was a situation not conducive to bringing computing to the general masses (that idea of bringing computing to the masses arose out of the fact that I couldn't afford a computer till I had started working) I wanted the upcoming generation to grow up with computers, be as at ease with them as my generation was with VCRs. But, I also wanted to them to be technologically sound and work in an environment which would let them focus on their job (invisibility of technology). So one fine morning, during the bus ride to my office I popped up a question to start a brain storming session with my friend Rajeev Warrier (now at PW-C). The idea was to build an information appliance which would be hooked on to vast network of data (based on the Internet, but running parallel to the WWW) allowing the user access to information at the touch of a button. The appliance would have to be small, rugged, affordable and simple to use. (Personally, I wanted to base it on the LCARS system aboard the Star Trek Enterprise in the Next Generation series.) We figured, we would need a minimalistic OS, its sole data would be to start the hardware, get on the Internet and send queries and receive and display data. To avoid problems we wanted to eliminate the concept of a floppy disk drive or a CD drive (for that we thought we would make an OS which would be non-failing). And to keep costs low, we wanted to use the television as output, and provide a keyboard with built-in pointer controller (our terminology for mouse/trackball/ peticular switch) with a long cable (wireless would be too expensive). The biggest impediment would be the network. I envisaged a network based on the standard LAN (the benefit of having worked in a corporate environment) theme, only, we would call it SN (Society Network). This network would have to be the death bell of the irritating cable television network, since I wanted to provide 'Video on Demand'. We (Rajeev and me) would discuss it in detail every morning, sometimes during lunch, in the evening bus ride. We came up with an idea of creating separate smart disks which would be plug and play to the appliance hence providing external storage space (if required). Our biggest impediment was cost, the hardware cost just would go down (especially due to the TV output interface). That problem got solved one morning when I read an article in 'PC Quest' about a new MediaGX-based motherboard, created by a company in Bangalore 'Bharati Electronics'. We were euphoric. It infused a new life to our brain-storming sessions. I went ballistic, somehow, it seemed -- the force was with us -- that things were going our way, I met up with a guy at one of my regular Linux Users meets. He was a hardware assembler. I talked about the motherboard, he said he had heard about it. I talked him into lending me one of those boards. I told him, "If this succeeds, you get a cut and you will be rolling in money. If it fails, what's there to lose? You just assemble a PC with the board and sell it off." He agreed, he contacted the BE (Bharati Electronics) office in Bombay, got hold of a board and put the whole thing in an old casing and gave it to me. I toyed around with it for a couple of weeks, showed him a demo (which was pathetic). He was not happy, and started pushing to give back the system. In the meanwhile, I had been talking with an old colleague of mine -- Deepak Sharma, who had left L&T -- about my ideas. He was working for Fore Systems which got bought out by Marconi Telecom, UK and I figured I would need his help to execute my idea of establishing SNs. He talked to me at length about my concepts, and said it was a workable idea. We had discussed it for long, and I even showed him a demo. When the assembler pressurized me too much, I had to return the machine, but that wasn't before I had taken a trip to Bangalore and shown a demo to a company, via Deepak's contacts. The company offered me a job to bring that concept to reality. I jumped as I had already got frustrated with all the ridicule at L&T. Perhaps people out there just couldn't get it, being too closed minded. I reached Bangalore, and after that things happened in a sort of fast forward. What I had imagined the company to be -- based on Deepak's information -- was not what it really was. The company was dying, and I was supposed to be their saviour. Add to that I had to do it without any support (neither people to work with, nor sufficient equipment). I worked long and hard, worked nights at end, but things were proceeding too slow, with only me working on both, the hardware specification and software development. I fell ill with Typhoid, almost scrapped death, and had to come back to Bombay for treatment. In the meanwhile, I was made into a scapegoat for the failures of that company. The company got shutdown. Luckily I escaped with the bare minimum of injuries. Back in Bombay, broken physically and emotionally, I moved around aimlessly for quite some time, till one fine day I sat and thought things out. I figured, 'I am young, haven't got much to lose and that I giving it one more shot would be the best alternative.' I started afresh, dug up old contacts, built new, spoke with a couple of developers -- Erle was one of them -- and asked around for funds. No one was investing. One of my associates had heard about my plight. He also knew that I toying around with the idea about introducing a StrongARM (processor)-based computing device. One of his business contacts had one StrongARM evaluation board which he could not use. He got us both together. The owner of the board suggested that I collaborate with his company to develop a set-top-box for his markets in the Far East. It was the turning point, though due to my inexperience I faced a lot of hardships. Though after a prolonged skirmish (and a pending case against them) the collaboration fell through, I managed to salvage around Rs 450,000 (under $10,000) from the deal as fees towards consultation and miscellaneous expenses. Using that as capital, I took a trip to Taiwan, got oriented with the workings of the place -- very amusing, those guys work with hardware like we work with software, quick.... Built a dependable base in four working days, and a prototype, came back... That was the period of the 'crash of twin towers', the market had collapsed along with them. This was the time when I figured it would be better to start improving the Operating System and develop a contact base in India. We worked on Nevy OS (then called Indy). I moved all around the place (including Bangalore, where I met a person called Fred) and showed him one of our prototypes. We did an _alpha_ release on Jan 26, 2002, and approximately 6 months from then we have now down a preview release... A Poem attributed to the people at Tisya: Here's to the crazy ones... The Misfits, The Rebels, The Troublemakers, The Round pegs in the Square Holes, The Ones who see things Differently, They're not fond of rules and have no respect for the status quo, You can quote them, Disagree with them, Glorify or Vilify them, About the only thing you can't do is ignore them, Because they change things, They push the human race forward, And while some may see them as the crazy ones, We see genius, Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, Are the ones who do

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FEATURE: In Pakistan, the government looks to the Linux users' group
by Frederick Noronha 19 Jul '02

19 Jul '02

IN PAKISTAN, THE GOVERNMENT LOOKS TO THE LINUX USERS' GROUP

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