fsf-discuss

fsf-discuss@mm.gnu.org.in

85 discussions

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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Help needed to build & run a VC++ program in Linux
by saravanan 29 Jan '04

29 Jan '04

Hi, I want to know how i can a compile & port a simple VC++ application to linux using wine. I tried to compile a VC++ application using the winelib method. But it showed a lot of errors. Does anyone have any idea. I had tried all options. I had done follwing things 1) I created a simple VC++ application. Just to display a msg on clicking a button. 2) I copied it to Linux' home directory 3) I executed following commands a)winemaker --lower-uppercase . (later i tried the follwing command also. winemaker --lower-uppercase --console -I/usr/include/include/wine -L/usr/include/include/wine .) ///To the /usr/include/include directory i copied all the original MFC files from V.Studio. b) ./configure --with-wine-includes=/usr/include/include now it showed the error --> checking for -lmfc... configure: error: Could not find the MFC library I couldn't able to correcet it. Where i can get the original -lmfc (libmfc) file, there is no such file present in the system. c)Finally I myself created a fake libmfc.so file and placed it in the /usr/include/include directory. But when i "make" it showed a lot of errors . Some are given below . ---------- s/usr/include/include/afxwin1.inl:1014: warning: ISO C++ forbids declaration of `operator==' with no type /usr/include/include/afxwin1.inl:1016: warning: ISO C++ forbids declaration of `operator!=' with no type . . /usr/include/include/afxole.inl:97: `vt' undeclared (first use this function) /usr/include/include/afxole.inl:97: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each function it appears in.) /usr/include/include/afxole.inl: In method `COleVariant::COleVariant (unsigned char)': . . /usr/include/include/afxole.inl: In method `COleCurrency::COleCurrency ()': /usr/include/include/afxole.inl:123: `union tagCY' has no member named `Hi' /usr/include/include/afxole.inl:123: `union tagCY' has no member named `Lo' /usr/include/include/afxole.inl:283: `parray' undeclared (first use this function) make: *** [vctest.o] Error 1 ------ Later I run the command winemaker --lower-uppercase . in the /usr/include/include directory and converted entire contents. after that when i make the vc++ application again it showed some different errors. -------- . . . /usr/include/include/pshpack2.h:22:4: #error "Alignment nesting > 3 is not supported" In file included from /usr/include/include/afxcmn.h:38, from StdAfx.h:20, from vctest.cpp:4: /usr/include/include/pshpack4.h:22:4: #error "Alignment nesting > 3 is not supported" In file included from /usr/include/include/poppack.h:31, from /usr/include/include/pshpack2.h:38, from /usr/include/include/poppack.h:31, from /usr/include/include/afxcmn.h:1132, from StdAfx.h:20, from vctest.cpp:4: /usr/include/include/pshpack2.h:22:4: #error "Alignment nesting > 3 is not supported" In file included from /usr/include/include/pshpack2.h:47, from /usr/include/include/poppack.h:31, from /usr/include/include/afxcmn.h:1132, from StdAfx.h:20, from vctest.cpp:4: /usr/include/include/pshpack2.h:22:4: #error "Alignment nesting > 3 is not supported" make: *** [vctest.o] Error 1 ---------------- I think the problem might be with -lmfc. Please kindly help me to come out of these errors. ______________________________________ Scanned and protected by Email scanner

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keyboard driver - porting
by saravanan 23 Jan '04

23 Jan '04

Hi all, I would liketo know is it possible to port a malayalam keyboard driver written for Windows to Linux using any softwares(emulators). The keyboard driver application could be called using wine. It's running & is found be working partially in the wordpad application called using wine. Is it possible to make it work in Linux editors. Do anybody have any idea. Thanks in advance for your kind replys. Saravanan ______________________________________ Scanned and protected by Email scanner

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Memorandum to CSIR
by Ramanraj K 14 Jan '04

14 Jan '04

V. Sasi Kumar wrote: >Would Ramanraj volunteer to draft such a memorandum [to CSIR]? > Sure. We could collect points and prepare a memorandum. This is definitely a step towards promoting use of free software in India, but this cannot be treated as an official memorandum of FSF-India, unless the FSF Board decides otherwise. It may be better to discuss this at Fsf-discuss and those interested could subscribe to the mailing list at http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-discuss . The obvious reason for this is that the postings in this regard while putting together the memorandum to CSIR may be long. Please continue this thread, if it relates to points to be included in the the memorandum to CSIR, by posting to fsf-discuss(a)mm.gnu.org.in Regards, Ramanraj.

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hi all
by Fitzgerald Joy Sylvester 06 Dec '03

06 Dec '03

I am new to this list fjsylvester

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I am not getting any mails
by Manilal K M 12 Sep '03

12 Sep '03

I have registered with the fsf mailing list, but not receiving any mail on my mail box. It's tedious to read the from archives. They look like error mesages. What's the problem? Manilal -- ______________________________________________ http://www.linuxmail.org/ Now with e-mail forwarding for only US$5.95/yr Powered by Outblaze

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The Belgaum Trip - Warren Brian Noronha
by Warren Brian Noronha 04 Apr '03

04 Apr '03

Dear users The Belgaum Trip http://www.geocities.com/tonysingh4u/gnubelug.txt Regards Warren Brian Noronha warren(a)freedomink.org Key fingerprint = AF46 123B 0BEA 2AFB DB3D 4242 2911 6155 2A4B 274C

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(no subject)
by Tarun Gaur 30 Nov '02

30 Nov '02

Hi Friends, I feel great that i have been able to induce the need for Constructive Criticism into our forum. This sets our focus on identifying the problems and then working on them for betterment of the brave GNU world. Friends, i will quote a small example on how keeping a close tab on competetion can help. The place where I am working, we are developing a complete replacement of .NET on GNU/Linux. Now I and some of my collegues have been keeping a close tab on what Microsoft has been doing and where they stand today. Now we tried to pick up information from all the possible sources, we could lay hands on plus our exposure to MS technologies over the years helped. (I was using their products since the Windows 16 bit days), so its like seen it all. And then i have a habit of closely watching all the speeches, articles and books of guys like Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. I also keep a tab on the research projets at Microsoft, IBM, HP, Intel, Major US Universities. Now we started our research ... and came to some very wonderful conclusions. - If Windows 95 can be inspired from Mac 89, why cant our interfaces make use of all the research done by Microsoft on interfaces. This is like giving them their cake on their face. - Microsoft's strength has been "ease of use" of their software, with 2000 servers and .NET they are coming into enterprise world. .NET is not that easy after all, though not that difficult too. - Microsoft cant afford to do away with Windows OS but still Bill Gates picks up 21% stake in COREL LINUX. corel is working on desktop linux. - Our research said ... If you want to be a serious contender in the global market with .NET, ... keep it easy. And I wrote a POEM ... I call it.. "MAKE IT EASY YAAR" " BE AWARE OF THE NEED, ISOLATE THE PROBLEM, DONT REINVENT THE WHEEL, AND THEN SEE, WHAT YOU FEEL, MAKE IT EASY FOR YOUR BOSS, YOU WILL NEVER GET A TOSS, MAKE IT EASY FOR THE DEVELOPER, YOU ARE SURE TO EARN A FOLLOWER, MAKE IT EASY FOR THE USER, YOU WILL NEVER BE A LOSER. NOW, WORK IN YOUR MILL, AND GO IN FOR THE KILL, BE SURE, IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME, BEFORE THEIR WOUNDS HEAL, AND THEN SEE, WHAT THEY FEEL. Now, the point is awareness is the key to knowledge and knowledge is a key to wisdom. AND FOR US WISDOM SAYS ... Keep it easy. Now, praising others for good work is not bad after all. We can praise the Work of some good companies on our forum and learn from it to improve our software. Leave you with this thought, Free software for the brave GNU world. Regards, Tarun Gaur _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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Good s/w promotes ideology on its own ... we can help for sure
by Tarun Gaur 29 Nov '02

29 Nov '02

Hi Ajith, By the likes of it, it seems that you are quite senior to me when it comes to the industry. As far as linux goes, i think i am my self a sort of vetran. Now, I totally agree with you that criticism alone cannot improve things. But friend , the ideology is based on how well it can be accepted by the masses and anything inferior is not generally accepted ( though we may quote exceptions, but remember exceptions are always in minority ). Now "inferior" is a relative term. Something that may not be inferior at BARC (for scientists) may be inferior for the masses (because the needs are different). I have never doubted our ability to write wonderful software. But we have ignored the "interfaces" for the masses for too long. I am sure Richard Stallman agrees. Now, you have yourself mentioned that FSF is currently worrying about helping school children take on GNU/Linux. Now, lets just for a moment pause and ponder over the needs of these kids and put our software on test. Now lets forget the problems, lets try and find answers. As far as the ideology goes, it is spreading and will spread even more the moment we start touching the masses. Projects like Gnome and KDE have taken giant strides in the direction. But there is scope of improvement. Now, to put this point thru i need help of people like you to endorse the fact that we need to improve the interfaces, we need to consolidate the services on GNU/Linux, we need to simplify the structure etc and believe me, we are all set to push Microsoft software to a corner if not oblivion. Look at the current scenario, - microsoft is in a transition phase - We are real good at Server side solutions - They are consolidating their servers - We are working on GUIs Now, we know it is peanuts for people to write Desktop versions of Operating System who are good at Enterprise Servers. Desktops touch the masses and this world belongs to masses as masses are in MAJORITY. Now friends, Let us all contribute. Let us do our bits and be sure we will reign supreme. A Dream of an ideology reigning supreme is not that bad after all. Free software for the brave GNU World. With regards, Tarun Gaur >From: Ajith Kumar <ajith(a)nsc.ernet.in> >To: Tarun Gaur <gaur_tarun(a)hotmail.com> >Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Read Richard Stallman's mail >Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 14:33:13 +0530 > >Tarun Gaur wrote: > > > Hi Mr. Ajith > > > > I am shocked at the way you have interpreted my quest for ever >improvement. > > According to your interpretation, all the CRITICS carry some kind of > > infiriority complex ? Brother, i am just asking all my friends to >improve. I > > will quote Richard Stallman's mail posted on fsf-friends, where he says >that > > common user has to be taken serious care of. > >First of all i am not an FSF member. I have used GNU/Linux for >applications >like >particle accelerator control and physics experiments. Nuclear Science >Centre's >control system runs on a network of 6 machines , 24 hours 365 days and I am >yet >to see a >'hanging' OS , running redhat 5.2 distro. I developed it 5 years ago. >We have a Data Acquisition System that is fastest among the other labs >like >BARC etc., >done in Linux. Almost the entire organization uses it for communication, >office work etc. > >I know that it is not perfect. I myself face a lot of problems when try to >convince people to >use it. I had a talk with RMS when he visited NSC in March. He asked me to >give more stress >on spreading the ideology than trying to get more people just using Free >Software. >I spend a lot of time and energy to help schools to use GNU/Linux. >The point is we should not project weaknesses alone, the stregths also >should >be projected at the >same time. > >As far as I know FSF is mainly worrying about how to get the schools in >Kerala to use Free Software. > >with regards > >Ajith _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

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Read Richard Stallman's mail
by Tarun Gaur 29 Nov '02

29 Nov '02

Hi Mr. Ajith I am shocked at the way you have interpreted my quest for ever improvement. According to your interpretation, all the CRITICS carry some kind of infiriority complex ? Brother, i am just asking all my friends to improve. I will quote Richard Stallman's mail posted on fsf-friends, where he says that common user has to be taken serious care of. I have failed to understand why cant we take criticism in the right spirit. Are we so closed in our thinking? Friend i am not bothered about what has been achieved by FSF. I am really curious on how we can improve more. I am very proud of what has been achieved by FSF and am equally aware of where we are lacking. Now please dont tell be that we are perfect. THERE IS A LOT OF SCOPE OF IMPROVEMENT and I am doing my bit for it in 3 projects at GNU. My criticism has been taken very well at the global forums. Our Indian fourm is the only place where some people are taking a negative view of it. Brothers please cool down, this is a quest for improvement not any kind of infiriority complex. i would be really proud to have someone from FSF-India contribute a mainstream or futuristic project and make it to GNU/Linux OS. Be sure i am working on some projects myself. At the end, It is really easy to judge and comment, but really difficult to contribute. lets worry about contributing. Be sure i am doing my bit. regards, Tarun Gaur >From: Ajith Kumar <ajith(a)nsc.ernet.in> >To: Tarun Gaur <gaur_tarun(a)hotmail.com> >Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] (no subject) >Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 11:29:35 +0530 > >Tarun Gaur wrote: > > > Dear friend Suraj, > > > > We live in a world that moves at a very fast pace. In today's world, >people > > value quality over price in most of the situations. And yes cost of > > ownership does matter, but never at the price of quality. > > > > Now, we are evangalists supporting the same movement. A movement that >brings > > people and ideas togather to create free software. It intends to > > realize the vision of a genius called Richard Stallman. > > > > but friend, I have some questions for you. > > > > Do Richard Stallman and GNU ask us not to praise and be aware of what is > > happening in the properietary world ? > > > > Are we hampered by any force to write software as good as the >properietary > > world ? > >I think you have some inferiority complex about Free Software. There are >many >areas free software is better than >proprietary one. Just think about the recent virus attacks on NT servers >running IIS. >Apache fared better. > >we don't need to be that apologetic. Be proud of the good work you are >doing. >Even if you give the 'whole world' for >a single click some people will not be happy if there is not a LOGO of some >big >MNC. > >regards > >ajith _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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