FSUG-Bangalore May 2005

fsug-bangalore@mm.gnu.org.in

3 participants
10 discussions

Free Software,Free Society
by Rakesh 'arky' Ambati 29 May '05

29 May '05

hello friends, Greetings from FSFS conference here in God's Own Country Kerala.The events of this morning are blogged here. Currently three parallel tracks on different topics are going on and shall write more on it later today. http://arky.in/node/29 Cheers --arky -- .-. {\('v')/} (\_/) ____________________`( )'_____ ( =(^Y^)= (_rakesh_ambati@yahoo^^" "^^ ____\_(m___m)_________).com FSUG-Bangalore (http://bangalore.gnu.org.in) FreeSchools Project (http://freeschools.bluesprint.com)

1 0

Free Software,Free Society
by Rakesh 'arky' Ambati 28 May '05

28 May '05

Hi List, Am blogging the 'Free Software,Free Society' Conference from the Technopark in Trivandrum in kerala.Hope this will help those who couldn't make it. http://arky.in/ Cheers --arky -- .-. {\('v')/} (\_/) ____________________`( )'_____ ( =(^Y^)= (_rakesh_ambati@yahoo^^" "^^ ____\_(m___m)_________).com FSUG-Bangalore (http://bangalore.gnu.org.in) FreeSchools Project (http://freeschools.bluesprint.com)

1 0

Sign the petition to force VTU to use FLOSS
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 26 May '05

26 May '05

Hi List, Here is your last chance to sign the petition since we are thinking of winding it up on June 5th. Please read and sign the petition at http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign below is the signature by RMS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 80. From Richard Stallman <rms at gnu.org <http://gnu.org>>: Schools of all levels should insist on Free Software, because proprietary software prohibits learning and builds dependency. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FYI --arky Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com>

2 2

Free Software, Free Society Conference
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 21 May '05

21 May '05

Morning Friends, The Free Software, Free Society (FSFS) Conference http://fsfs.hipatia.net/ , organized by Government and civil society organizations from Brazil, Italy, Venezuela and India, is scheduled for 28-30 May 2005 in the Southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), the capital of the province of Kerala. Anyone from Bangalore interested join me at FSFS conference this weekend. Cheers --arky Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com>

1 0

Mediawiki in telugu
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 19 May '05

19 May '05

Morning Friends, I have a request from a friend who wants to setup mediawiki software in telugu language(like http://te.wikipedia.org), anyone who has knowledge about this can kindly provide me pointers for this. TIA --arky Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com>

2 1

ILDC invites Localizations proposals
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 19 May '05

19 May '05

Hello List, TDIL (Technology Development for Indian Languages) Programme of DIT, Government of India has invited Individuals/ public/ private agencies and academic institutions to participate in a national initiative in public-private partnership to launch and distribute applications/tools/utilies and products developed for Indian Language computing. The tools and fonts will be consolidated in a CD for free distribution in a public release function, starting with Hindi in the next few weeks.A response by May 30, 2005 will therefore be appreciated. Please contact the program at indianlanguages(at)cdac.in or visit these websites www.ildc.in www.ildc.gov.in Blogged at http://arky.in/node/20 FYI --arky Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com>

1 0

FSUG MediaWiki Porting
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 19 May '05

19 May '05

Morning Fellows, Another beautiful winter morning in bangalore, hope you fellows have a great day. Now thanks to Abhas, FSUG has got brand new mediawiki setup http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/mediawiki now we need your help in porting the content from the existing wiki to our new one. All the help you need to manage this process is available at both wikimedia and wikipedia sites. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents As our CSS guru sajith is back from Himalaya's (no no we didn't chase him up there) and with hope that he has wrapped up all his pending task's I request him to unleash his creativity and make the wiki look at a site instead of a book (thanks to me ;o( ) Sajith you can get all the files you need from above wiki url, please kindly coordinate with Abhas with admin stuff. Naveen if possible try to help us with this work.Any other hands would be most welcome. Cheers --arky Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com>

1 0

Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) gets LabView Software worth Rs.9 Crores
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 18 May '05

18 May '05

Blogged at http://arky.in/node/11 Sometime ago we did a FSUG VTU-FLOSS Campaign.Now I just came across this news. THE HINDU,BANGALORE: The Belgaum-based Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian subsidiary of National Instruments Inc. The MoU incorporates the donation of the LabVIEW software worth over Rs. 9 crores to engineering colleges affiliated to the VTU. The university will ensure training of students and faculty in the software. The software is a programming environment developed for engineers and is said to be one of the key factors behind the success of Virtual Instrumentation Technology. Read More http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/12/stories/2005051205050500.htm Do you think that a commerical company donating crores worth of educational software is *really* altruistic. Do let us know what you think !!! --arky Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com>

2 2

GNU/Linux Educational Project
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 09 May '05

09 May '05

Morning Friends, Perhaps you must of read about the "Hole in the wall" project computer education which was first tried outside the NIIT in New Delhi. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4498511.stm Can we do that with GNU/Linux I remember reading about Mozilla can run in kiosk mode or we can have a LiveCD running too. Please comment. --arky

2 9

A new thin Client from UK (Mostly Derived from Simputer)
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 03 May '05

03 May '05

FYI --arky > On 5/1/05, Herald D'Sa <herald.desa(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4496901.stm > http://www.ndiyo.org/ > http://www.newnhamresearch.com/ > > A pared down "computer" to replace bulky, grey desktop PCs > could help > close global digital inequalities. > > Not-for-profit developers, Ndiyo - the Swahili word for "yes" > - said it > could open up the potential of computing to two billion more > people. > > The sub-£100 box, called Nivo, runs on open-source software > and is > known as a "thin client". Several can be linked up to a > central > "brain", or server. > > Thin clients are not new, but advances have made them more > user-friendly. > > They have been employed in large organisations in the past, > but the > Ndiyo project is about "ultra-thin client" networking. > > It said the small, cheap boxes were targeted at smaller > companies, > cybercafes, or schools, which need an affordable, reliable > system for > providing clusters of two to 20 workstations. > > "Your PC is a bulky, noisy, expensive mess that clutters up > your life," > Ndiyo's Dr Seb Wills told a Microsoft Research conference in > Cambridge, > UK. > > "Our emphasis and core motivation is the developing world for > whom the > current 'one user, one PC' approach will never be affordable," > he told > the BBC News website. > > "But we think our approach is also of benefit to organisations > in the > developed world who don't want to throw away money on buying > and > maintaining a full PC for each user." > > Open source > > Desktop machines with which we are familiar, are inflexible, > and > power-hungry, according to Ndiyo. > > The raw materials used for a PC are 11 to 12 times the weight > of the > machine, he explained. > > Typical office workstation set-ups also use more power than > thin > clienting. A PC typically uses 100W of power, whereas Nivo > uses five. > > In some developing countries, buying a desktop computer is the > equivalent to the price of a house, explained Dr Wills, making > it > difficult for people to take advantage of what computing > technology can > offer. > > "Nowadays, PCs are about communication than anything else," he > said. > "We have the potential to rethink the way we could do this > stuff," he > added. > > The boxes would not be able to handle graphics-intensive > multimedia > content currently, but that will change as ethernet bitrates > improve to > handle more data. > > About 50% of the UK's workforce work in organisations with > fewer than > 50 employees, according to Ndiyo. > > NIVO'S OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE > Nivo box > Ubuntu - Linux operating system > Gnome/KDE desktop > Open Office > Firefox browser > Gaim - instant messenger client > Thunderbird - cross-platform e-mail and Usenet client > Currently, each employee might have his or her own desktop > machine, > connected to the company network through ethernet connections, > with > software licences for each workstation. > > Licences for software are often a significant part of > expenditure for > smaller companies which rely on computers. > > But a recent UK government study, yet to be formally > published, has > shown that open source software can significantly reduce > school budgets > dedicated to computing set-ups. > > Many organisations replace PCs every three years and also > require > technical support when something goes wrong. > > Thin clients using open source software can mean these > expenses are > bypassed. > > Since August 2004, Ndiyo has had a group of Java developers > running > large applications to test out the robustness of the system. > > The small Nivo box, developed along with a commercial partner, > Newnham > Research in Cambridge, is essentially a computer - known as > the > "client" - which largely depends on the central server for > processing > activities. > > Applications, for instance, are kept on the main server and > accessed > through the Nivo box. > > Next generation > > The Nivo unit itself measures around 12 by eight by two > centimetres. It > has no moving parts, but it has ports for ethernet, power, > keyboard, > mouse and a monitor. > > It comes with two megabytes of RAM. The next version currently > under > development will have a USB port, soundcard, local storage > capacity, > and will be even smaller. > > "Essentially, it is about sending pixels over the net," > explained Dr > Wills. > > Amida Simputer > The Simputer is a handheld computing solution for developing > nations > "With modern ethernet connections, you can get enough > performance by > sending through compressed pixels." > > A typical cybercafe set-up, Dr Wills explained, would involve > 20 Nivo > boxes, a gigabit switch, and a single 2Ghz, 2Gb RAM server. > > The not-for-profit origination is also working on the idea of > using the > Nivo box for "plug and play" clustering. > > Ultimately, Ndiyo hopes that the box can shrink down to a > single chip > and introduce wireless ethernet connections. > > "The vision is that the monitor will have an ethernet port > which > requires less electronics than the standard VGA monitor," said > Dr > Wills. > > Open source software is used in many developing country > computer > initiatives. There are other attempts at providing cheap > alternatives > to desktop PCs for developing countries, such as the Simputer. > > This is a cheap handheld computer designed by Indian > scientists. >

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

FSUG-Bangalore May 2005