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 * July 01,2003 --------------------------------------------------------------------
SAMBA HOWTO: Dileep M Kumar says he has "written a small samba howto". Check it out at http://kumarayil.net/samba.htm Don't forget: Comments welcome.
SHARING KNOWLEDGE, THROUGH TINY TIPS: Your tech tips on how to sort out various issues are welcome on the GNU/LOST (Linux One Stanza Tips) network. Check out the howtos mailing list howtos@frodo.hserus.net or http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/howtos
VOLUNTEER FOR HINDI-KDE: Tarun Kant bobkant@yahoo.co.in calls on volunteers to be part of the IndLinux-Hindi-KDE project and help in translating the K Desktop Environment to Hindi. Send Indlinux-hindi-kde mailing list submissions to indlinux-hindi-kde@lists.sourceforge.net To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indlinux-hindi-kde or send an email with subject or body saying 'help' to the address indlinux-hindi-kde-request@lists.sourceforge.net Contact the person managing the list via indlinux-hindi-kde-admin@lists.sourceforge.net
BEGINNERS GUIDE TO CODING NETWORK DEVICE DRIVERS: Karthik mnkarthik@yahoo.com has a new site. Check out its GNU/Linux section at http://www.metlin.org/linux Says he: "I've also included some beginner's guide to coding Network Device Drivers there and soon plan on adding stuff on HCI in Linux."
FREE SOFTWARE... TO THE WORLD FORUM: From distant Argentia, Diego Saravia dsa@unsa.edu.ar of the Hipatia network is keen to do something that would take Free Software to the World Social Forum, that is being organised in Mumbai in January 2004. Says he: "Perhaps we could setup an email list to work on the free software issue for the 4fsm/India. I could invite people involved in previous (World Social Fora) and the Free Software Forum-India could invite Indian enthusiasts." See www.hipatia.info or via email info@hipatia.info or visit the list http://listas.hipatia.info/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/coordinadores-hipatia
DESILINUX.COM: "ttyl - Jonnas" recently announced the new *desilinux.com* bulletin-board. This, he says, "aims to foster discussion in technical, business and legal matters related to Linux. I am looking for a founding group that can bring their issues to the BB." His favorite topic currently is Linux on embedded devices. Other than this, he also would like to discuss "what is going to the climax show-down between MS & Linux when Linux hits the desktop market in a big way (I'd estimate somewhere in early 2005)". Says he: "To help build yet another comprehensive Linux community, visit http://www.desilinux.com "
FLOSS GIVES INDIA A BOOST IN MANY MARKETS AND ENDEAVOURS: From banks and hospitals to software houses and prestigious technological institutions, the charm of free/libre and open-source software (FLOSS) is casting a spell in India that is pushing many here to venture into uncharted fields. Full Story http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6958
HELP FROM AFAR: A friend from Finland, Aschwin Van Der Woude aschwin.van.der.woude@linux-aktivaattori.org of the group working to kickstart and fuel ("aktivaattori") further interest in Free/Libre and Open Source Software is willing to volunteer to "download, burn and send" CDs to India, if these could be of help here... and if we can build a system for sharing the same. Any takers?
FREEBSD OPTIONS: FreeBSD enthusiast and developer from Bangalore Joseph Koshy < a_joseph_koshy@yahoo.co.in> says, in response to a query from one youngster: "We don't have a central body that directs FreeBSD. It is more like a collection of peers, the only criteria for admission is (proven) competence on FreeBSD. There are a number of mailing lists that carry FreeBSD related technical traffic. Do check www.freebsd.org for more information. For example, press, publicity and the like are discussed on freebsd-advocacy. There is no 'certification' on FreeBSD that I'm aware of." Koshy is also the self-described "founder-manager-programmer-peon" of the Indic-Computing Project (http://indic-computing.sf.net) NOT FLOSS, BUT BASED ON IT: The South Asia IT list run by Irfan Khan from nearby Pakistan is an interesting source of news on how IT can help this sub-continent get a better life for its millions. It's not directly focussed on FLOSS, but runs on a Free Software platform (Mailman). See the s-asia-it mailing list at http://mailman.apnic.net/mailman/listinfo/s-asia-it
......................................................................... . . FIRST PERSON... TEMPTING SOLUTION? Prof G. R. Bhat grbhat@exocore.com . formerly of the Goa University, describes his experience with Reliance, a . big player in the Indian mobile world. This comes in via the ILUG-Goa . mailing list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa : . . Hi, I was at the Reliance web world last night with my notebook just to . check whether the rconnect service works as advertised at least for Linux. . We reached there just as they were about to close for the day (8.30 pm), . but the person there was gracious enough to let us in and allowed us to . outstay our welcome for whopping hour and a half after closing time while . we put the service through a "linux compatibility" test. . . The staff there was unaware of Linux but again thats OK. They were sales . and marketing, not technical and hence forgiven ;). The Binary ran fine on . Redhat 9 (my notebook) - it asked me what device I was using (USB or . Serial). I said USB, so it went and made /dev/rmodem a soft link to . /dev/usb (strange!) and then proceeded to change /etc/ppp/options, . /etc/ppp/ip-up.local and /etc/ppp/ip-down.local without any warning (and . without backing up my versions). The README clearly said that my files . would be backed up with a .old extension. My ip-up/down files are pretty . much standard so no problem there. But this could be a major problem for . those who do a lot of magic in their up/down scripts . Back Up!. . . After all this - when I ran the prescribed "rconnect" it did not work. . . That's when I checked the stuff that was going on under the pretty . interface. I doubt if it installed any driver on my notebook. Once I . figured that all they were using was a dialout (the ususal pppd + chat) . script coupled with some changes to files in /etc/ppp, and making a blind . softlink with whatever device was entered in the installer form, I decided . to try my luck myself rather than use the install program, . . I got the Samsung handset to dial out using the standard USB ACM Modem . drivers that come with RH9 (modprobe ub-uhci; modprobe acm), changed the . /dev/rmodem to point to /dev/input/ttyACM0 (my /var/log/messages told me . that the stock RedHat9 USB ACM driver had attached itself to this device) . and ran the script that came with rconnect. . . It works! . . I got an IP assigned to me and my /etc/resolv.conf was set correctly to . point to the Reliance DNS server (I had usepeerdns in /etc/ppp/options) . and I happily pointed my browser to www.gnu.org :). The service was great . (no one in the shop hassled us to leave inspite of the fact that it was . well past closing time, In fact they watched with a lot of interest and . gave me free run of the place), but the bandwidth was much lower than what . I expected - about 1.7K/s consistently from 9 pm to 9.45 pm on the night . of 25 June. Did I buy it? Well I didn't yesterday on account of the rather . poor bandwidth that I got, but I will be definitely waiting and watching . the throughput on my friends handsets with a lot of interest. . . A mobile IP gateway that I can carry around is too good to resist :) . ........................................................................
THE WORK IS ON: G Karunkar karunakar@freedomink.org reports in a different context that you can find some resources and links to groups working on different Indian languages at http://www.indlinux.org. Says he: "We are also working on a bootable CD with Indic support (right now based on Morphix). The Indic components come as a seperate release (see http://www.indlinux.org/downloads/ ), which can be installed on any distro (with a bit of tweaking though). There will be another release next week which will work on RH 8/9, MDK 9.x and Debian unstable (with Gnome 2.2)." Karunakar, a low-profile and hard-working campaigner on the Indic computing front, adds that since much of their current work is based on Gnome 2, you need to have that if you wish to use the IndLinux-Hindi release. Adds he: "The stuff is all bare bones, not good for any production use. That'ss still few months away -- till we have KDE, Gnome, Openoffice, Mozilla etc all supporting Indic at all levels."
LINKING YOUNG TECHIES, MENTORS: Project Resource Centre is a mailing list and network that puts students and young techies in touch with potential mentors. It also gives them a chance to discuss their ideas and get feedback. More details from http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc
GOING FAR MORE DEEPER: Comments Mahesh T Pai, LL.M. of Kochi (http://in.geocities.com/paivakil): "The approach by the guys at indlinux.org takes language far more 'deeper' into the OS than (attempts by proprietorial software). Language enabling is much more than mere translation of help files, enabling fonts, and input methods. The KBIPS is directly involved with Free Software Foundation-India (at least, that is what I understand, about the FSF-India's involvement) for enabling Malayalam on GNU/Linux systems." Mahesh, a close and perceptive watcher of the Free Software scene in India, can be contacted via paivakil@vsnl.net
Says he: "I believe that the Indlinux team has spent far less during its entire existence that what (proprietorial software major players have) spent on a single foreign jaunt for its team leader/s. Not that I grudge the individuals' benefits; but I cannot help reacting when the government subsidises efforts, fruits will be controlled by private corporates while giving a cold shoulder to efforts which would be under public control."
CALLING VOLUNTEERS: Linux-india.org website is expected to get an overhaul, with volunteers coming forward to support the work of webmaster Raj Mathur. If you'd like to volunteer too, contact Raj Mathur raju@kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/
ADAPTING LINUX TO INDIA: Venky venky@indlinux.org, a persistent lobbyist on this front, said in a public discussion: "One issue that is important in terms of adapting ICT to Indian needs is that the technology should speak the user's language. At IndLinux (www.indlinux.org) we have been working on adapting the Linux operating system to Indian languages and have done a significant amount of work in Hindi. We would like to get an active group going in Punjabi too so that Punjabi-literate individuals too can benefit from using computers. Can you please help us get volunteers who can translate computer terms like "files", "folders" etc to Punjabi?"
'PIRACY'... AS A FAKE CONCEPT: "The concept of piracy being propagated by multinational companies is fake and do not hold water in the perspective of our social commitment. I feel we have to launch resistance and fight against it," said Manabendra Mukherjee, West Bengal's minister for information technology and environment department, while delivering a lecture at a seminar on `Linux initiative in e-Governance applications'. See http://www.business-standard.com/today/story.asp?Menu=23&story=17114
INDIANIZATION, INTERNATIONALIZATION: Jaco Aizenman jaizenman@fsc.cc of the Free Software Consortium is looking out for Indian supporters to help with the internationalization of their "Government Distro". This Free Software package is being launched in July 2003, by this global organisation "dedicated to the promotion and commercialisation of Free Software" The Government Distro is a compilation of programs widely used by the public sector in Brazil, Argentina and Spain. It contains the GNU/Linux Operating System, an Office-like suite called Open Office, email and instant messenger, a calendar, a database, a web browser application and many other programs. Say its promoters: "All these applications have been used and tested previously in dozens of Latin American and European users, in order to certify their functionality. They have all been designed by highly talented programmers from all around the world."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 is left intact. FN