By Fredrick Noronha: FreeLance Journalist, Goa.

OPEN SOURCE (OR SHOULD WE SAY FREE/LIBRE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE?) speaks local languages of India: FLOSS enthusiasts across the globe are getting together to enable your PC to speak Hindi, Malayalam, Bangla, Marathi, and many other languages. And they are succeeding in their mission. (Features a lot of the guysyou might know -- G Karunakar, Prakash Adavani, Venkatesh Hariharan, Prof Jitendra Shah, Arun Sharma, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay, Shikha Pillai, Dr Nagarjuna and others).

* Linux Nirvana: keeping your system in top shape * Using USB devices in GNU/Linux * MindTree uses GNU/Linux for a customised consumer product * Tata Teleservices implements a FLOSS-based terminal server at its Ahmedabad call centre * How Zope, a content management tool, helped Epson America.

RAHUL CHOPRA, EDITOR: "Once you understand Open Source, I believe, you will get hooked on to it."

* Motorola launches multimedia GNU/Linux mobile phone * Mandrake releases Mandrakelinux 10.0 Community * Trial copies of Linux scanner software http://www.hamrick.com/vsm.html * Kernel 2.6.4 released http://www.kernel.org/mirrors/ * Major updates and releases: Gentoo Linux 2004.0, AD}IOS v3.0, Coyote Linux v2.10 Beta 2; MoviX v0.8.1, PostgreSQL v7.3.6; phpMyAdmin v2.5.6; Nmap Security Scanner v3.50; Knoppixv3.4

* DO YOU ARGEE withAlolita Sharma's view that "protecting intellectual property is central to the growing success of the Open Source industry"? Quote: At minimum, recognition and attribution are required, as exemplified in the traditional MIT or BSD licenses. More frequently today, copyright is employed to ensure that the covered work remains an active agent of the collaborative software community. This is exemplified in the GPL, LGPL and MPL licenses." (from "How is IP used in Open Source?")

* Blender: the basics of modelling * CrossOver Office * Simple macros with OpenOffice Writer (By SM) * Piloting data in OpenOffice Calc (By SM) * Beat LFY: Why this magazine needs several rivals (Niyam Bhushan) * The Linux Learning Curve * BitTorrent: a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol * eCos: Royalty-free real-time soln for OS developers * IPCop: cut-down distro, intended to operate as a firewall * Basics of Linux signals * Another alternative model based on 'capabilities'. * Functions in Python * Webmin: The administrator's mate * List of LUGs and GNU/LUGs across India * GNUnify 2004: FOSSed out in Pune

EXTRALinuxPRO: Build yourself an arcade game player...

SOFTWARE INCLUDED THIS MONTHS: * Achievo: Web-based project management * AIRA: business class management (ERP) software * SCRIBUS: Easy-to-use tool for simple DTP * RICHARD M STALLMAN VIDEO: RMS' views on free software * LINUX-2.6.3: Latest release of the Linux kernel * ARCADE GAME: Convert yours into an arcade game-playing machine * MONKEY: Small Web server * BitTORRENT 3.3: Downloading utility for GNU/Linux * DISCOVERER: Small 802.11b network detector for GNU/Linux * MOBILE GUIDE: Complete documentation * 4tH COMPILER: Conventional compiler, instead of standard Forth engine * APACHE TOOLBOX: Easier way to install Apache * DrJAVA: Integrated Java development environment and more * DISK2: Standard business server