Fsf-friends December 2003

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43 participants
89 discussions

Free Computers
by Ramanraj K 06 Dec '03

06 Dec '03

Manilal K M wrote: >Hello friend, >To sit and write and a code that you have given, we need resources. We need a machine, connectivity. >Where it will comes from. Those who do not have a PC and wishes to do such a job , what he will do? >What I meant by the word 'fund' is the things needed for sustainability. >Manilal > > Personally, many years ago, when Sinclair Spectrum ZX81 32K and BBC 128K micros were being introduced, I was curious to know what these could do. The British Council Library at Chennai, had these two, and allowed the members who requested, to use them freely for 20 minutes. I used to queue, just to hit a few commands and see it run Basic, or play a game of Crosswords. I have personally felt the pain of being without a machine, even though it was of no real use for me then. Not having a PC to do work is a serious problem. I guess most developers would always miss a better machine, and only the scale varies. For Charles Babbage, assembling the hardware itself was a major project, that never materialised during his life time. We are fortunate to live in better times, but still many are without access to a PC [please don't confuse this with Plumbing Connection for water, which might also be missing], and those with a PC might be missing a more powerful machine. We could see this as state responsibility. All public libraries could have as many computers as possible connected to the Internet all the time, and those interested could share and use them. Free computers could be provided in kiosks, schools, public libraries, and wherever possible. We just know that India could afford to lose more than Rs.3000 crores per annum for the past 10 years in counterfeit stamp papers and I am sure with these leaks plugged, we can afford to have Free Computers and other benefits. As the Free Software philosophy reaches more quarters, a more equal public sharing of resources looks quite possible.

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Per-seat licences... and the right price (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 05 Dec '03

05 Dec '03

It's becoming difficult to see the differences between "Linux" megacorps and Microsoft. This reminds you of a story: A man once asks a pretty young lady, "Will you sleep with me for ten dollars?" The lady feels outraged, and shouts back: "What do you take me for? A prostitute?" Not giving up, the man says: "Lady, would you sleep with me for a million dollars?" Suitably influenced, she says that could be considered. Comments the man: "Now that we've established you are indeed a prostitute, the only thing left to be determined is the price." Think this is from something George Bernard Shaw wrote... FN _______________________________________________ Red Hat cuts academic pricing Red Hat has announced a cut-price deal for schools and colleges in the US on its Enterprise Linux distributions. The discount scheme is expected to be extended to academic institutions in other countries shortly. Under the deal, the WS distribution for desktops will cost US$25 per seat per year, while the AS distribution for servers will cost US$50. There will also be a site-wide subscription available, priced at US$2500 per year. http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?bw.120303/233375118&tick… _______________________________________________ Perens announces UserLinux plan Bruce Perens has put his thoughts about a 'free as in beer' enterprise Linux distribution into a draft document. A response to the Linux distributions introducing per seat licencing and annual support contracts, Peren's proposed UserLinux distribution will be Debian based, as you might expect given his early contributions to that project. The proposed distribution will have automatic installation, be endorsed by application vendors and certified by standards organisations such as the LSB, and will be backed by a development and service outfit. http://userlinux.com/white_paper.html _______________________________________________

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Re: [Withoutfrontiers] UserLinux
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 05 Dec '03

05 Dec '03

On Fri, 5 Dec 2003, seppo koskela wrote: > http://userlinux.com/white_paper.html > > "The Problem > Enterprise users have embraced GNU/Linux. But the very aspects that > make Linux desirable, its low cost, Open Source nature, and the way it > gives customers more control over their software, are under attack by > Linux vendors bent on increasing shareholder value. Businesses are > paying more as Linux distributions demand a per-seat cost and service > lock-in for software that they didn't develop and that others support. > Many of the early adopters of Linux are small but profitable industries > with extremely sophisticated needs, and commercial Linux distributors > simply can't afford to pay much attention to them while larger markets > are waiting. "........ > > take a look > > seppo > > > _______________________________________________ > Withoutfrontiers mailing list > Withoutfrontiers(a)lists.mahiti.org > http://lists.mahiti.org/mailman/listinfo/withoutfrontiers > -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.2409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

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Careers in FLOSS... (Dec 2003 issue of LFY)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 05 Dec '03

05 Dec '03

=========================================== LINUXForYou * Dec 2003 (Vol 1 No 10) In India Rs 50 (with CD) http://www.linuxforu.com Pages 102 * US$7.95 0 74470584957 =========================================== THIS ISSUE has probably reached your city. Saw it in Bangalore, and also got a complimentary copy from the LFY team at LinuxBangalore2003. But when I reached back to Goa on Dec 4, it wasn't in as yet. So it might take time to reach 'small town' India... FN REVIEWED: Mandrake 9.2 * PhProjekt * StarOffice 7.0 COMPUTERS AT TIS HAZARI, the session courts for the city of New Delhi, are being shifted over to Linux, courtesy the National Informatics Centre. - Rahul Chopra in this month's editorial. LINUX LEARNING CENTRE at Bangalore is offering courses in administration, security, development (internals and programming essentials, programming with Qt, device driver programming, MySQL & PHP), RHCE and Red Hat rapid track certification. www.linuxlearningcentre.com DotGNU RELEASES CD: It can now be used to implement application programs and Web services in C# and C applications under multiple operating systems, including GNU/Linux, FreeBSC, MacOS, MS Windows. The 219 MB release 0.1 CD is available as a free download at http://download.freedom.biz/dotgnu/dotgnu-0.1-cdrom.iso.gz.torrent e-Bridge calls itself "the new state-of-art training facility from eSpark Infotech is now open in the heart of Bangalore". It's offering embedded Linux courses (Linux fundamentals, programming Linux, embedded C & Linux, realtime C & Linux, Linux internals, device drivers, networking) and DSP courses (DSP fundamentals, TI/analog dev programming, audio/video, image processing, bio-medical systems). www.ebridgesolutions.net Linux.net provides a free e-mail service to those who want an e-mail address that ends in '@linux.net' MAJOR UPDATES and releases: OpenNA Linux 1.0, Gibraltar Firewall 1.0, Xandros Desktop 2.0, Onebase Linux 2.0, CUPS 1.120rc6. CAN YOU MAKE money with open source? Registration entails a "nominal fee" of Rs 5000 for a three-day conference. http://www.linuxasia2004.com/attendees/ February 11-13, 2004, New Delhi. SEND IN YOUR favourite slogans for a tee-shirt, and win five free copies of the shirt... LFYedit at efyindia.com MONEY CAN't buy respect, says Robert Adkins. Some of us might have met this guy at LB2003 in Bangalore. He's the CTO of Technetra Corp, and an advocate and implementer of FLOSS solutions for government. He can be contacted at radkins at technetra.com CAREERS WITH FLOSS: The number of students opting for courses in Open Source is growing steadily, even as industry experts predict a growing need for trained professionals in this expanding field. EXIT RED HAT, ENTER FEDORA: It's official now; the free (of cost) version of Red Hat Linux will not be available anymore. This has created a lot of FUD in an already unstable environment, thanks to the SCO episode. But is Red Hat closed for good? WEB-BASED COLLABORATION SOFTWARE: PHProjekt is an easy-to-install collaboration suite, which runs on the open source platform and databases. As the design of the system is developer-friendly, adding new features and components is a piece of cake. STAROFFICE: The latest version of Sun's office suite, StarOffice 7, may just be the right solution for the cost-conscious user. It loads faster than the earlier version, and sports some noticeable improvements. IN THE LFY CD THIS MONTH: Slackware (the "oldest Linux distro") and a range of GNU software for Windows users. FALLING BACK on backup systems. MAKING ADOPTION OF Linux in the enterprise easy. www.linux4e.com Business partners required: http://wwww.linux4e.com/partners ooWRITER HELPS YOU create your own templates and styles so that you can work with documents easily. Open Source is key to IBM's vision of computing. User empowerment is key to Microsoft's, writes Alolita Sharma USING DATABASE functions in Calc, a tutorial. (Wish there were more how-tos for the user in this mag! --FN) HALDIA DOCKS: it has a uniquely designed Linux installation with an active-active cluster set up, which is considered the best of its kind. This has ensured efficiency and cost-effectiveness. BASIC UNIX commands and concepts: an extract from *Running Linux* (Shroff Publishers, Pp 674 only Rs 425 in India). VxWorks and LynxOS are definitely the biggest embedded operating systems in use today. But slowly they are acknowledging the power of GNU/Linux and how it can help them maximise deployments. HELP LINUX GO INDIAN: By using various translation tools, you can join Language translation groups working across India to help translate GNU/Linux into your language. EXPERT INTRODUCTION: Multi-threaded programming under Linux. KICKSTART YOUR Linux installation (Part I): Installing Red Hat Linux on multiple machines one after another can be quite tedious. To avoid answering the same question over and over again, try the KickStart method, as it does not need any user intervention. WRITE CHEQUES. NOT JUST BOOKS: Niyam Bhushan on how anybody can turn thoughts into words, and words into wealth. NFS CLIENTS for Windows. OpenSSL PACKAGE offers a vast crypto library of algorithms WAIT QUEUES in Linux device drivers UNDERSTANDING recursive sub-routines INDIA-RELATED NEWS: HP launches GNU/Linux laptop Mandrake's latest distribution Oracle announces 10g for GNU/Linux Delixus offers India Linux CxProtect anti-virus mailing solution for mail-servers Trade management system from Network Programs Netweb Technologies unveils Tyrone MRO-Tek rolls out Network Management Systems Review of FLOSS at BangaloreIT.com =========================================== DISCLOSURE: This journalist (FN) writes a monthly column for LFY and gets paid for it. Promoting awareness about the content of LFY however is not part of the job, and is carried on with the intention spreading awareness about FLOSS among different GNU/Linux user groups in India. -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.2409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

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by prabhakar kini 05 Dec '03

05 Dec '03

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Novel, Suse, Ximian...
by Manilal K M 05 Dec '03

05 Dec '03

Hello, I think we should think in this direction. But the main problem who will provide the funds ? Manilal ----- Original Message ----- From: Ramanraj K <ramanraj(a)md4.vsnl.net.in> Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 17:11:45 +0530 To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Novel, Suse, Ximian... > What is needed is a Free Software Distribution/Installation program > under the GPL that allows users/distributors to customize Free Software > Distribution without referring to a particular FOO distribution package. > > SuSE has YaST - Yet another Setup Tool that is released under the SuSE > License. RedHat has Anaconda that is covered under the RedHat Licence. > We do not know what Licence will cover Fedora or the future Novell > distribution. All the other Free Software included in the > distributions, that are ultimately used, are covered by the GPL, FreeBSD > license or other like free licence. > > Recently, Knoppix has made an attractive entry by making installation as > simple as loading a cd. Knoppix is released under the GPL, and based > on the Debian distribution. A straightforward installation program like > Knoppix, under the GPL, giving the user the choice of using any of the > kernels, HURD, Linux or FreeBSD, should help the community to release > more custom distributions, and we should be able to talk more plainly, > generally and directly about applications, without any bother about the > distribution tool/package used. > > > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-friends mailing list > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends -- ______________________________________________ Check out the latest SMS services @ http://www.linuxmail.org This allows you to send and receive SMS through your mailbox. Powered by Outblaze

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Novel, Suse, Ximian...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 05 Dec '03

05 Dec '03

I wonder what RMS (and others on this list) would make of the recent Novel acquisition of Suse, Ximian and other similar initiatives. Is it good for the community? Is it bad? Or is it a mixed blessing, which we will need some time to evaluate? FN -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.2409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Novel, Suse, Ximian...
by Ramanraj K 04 Dec '03

04 Dec '03

What is needed is a Free Software Distribution/Installation program under the GPL that allows users/distributors to customize Free Software Distribution without referring to a particular FOO distribution package. SuSE has YaST - Yet another Setup Tool that is released under the SuSE License. RedHat has Anaconda that is covered under the RedHat Licence. We do not know what Licence will cover Fedora or the future Novell distribution. All the other Free Software included in the distributions, that are ultimately used, are covered by the GPL, FreeBSD license or other like free licence. Recently, Knoppix has made an attractive entry by making installation as simple as loading a cd. Knoppix is released under the GPL, and based on the Debian distribution. A straightforward installation program like Knoppix, under the GPL, giving the user the choice of using any of the kernels, HURD, Linux or FreeBSD, should help the community to release more custom distributions, and we should be able to talk more plainly, generally and directly about applications, without any bother about the distribution tool/package used.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Novel, Suse, Ximian...
by Manilal K M 04 Dec '03

04 Dec '03

Hello Mr. Noronha, I agree with the last part of your message. It's a mixed blessing. It'll wipe out the concept that Free Software is not needed by the enterprise. But the fear is that will it become proprietory. For this we need sometime to evaluate. We have to consider the RedHat's issue in this context Manilal ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <fred(a)bytesforall.org> Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 10:22:15 +0530 (IST) To: Richard Stallman <rms(a)gnu.org> Subject: [Fsf-friends] Novel, Suse, Ximian... > I wonder what RMS (and others on this list) would make of the recent Novel > acquisition of Suse, Ximian and other similar initiatives. Is it good for > the community? Is it bad? Or is it a mixed blessing, which we will need > some time to evaluate? FN > -- > Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net : When we speak of free > Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org : software we refer to > Ph 0091.832.2409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price. > > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-friends mailing list > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends -- ______________________________________________ Check out the latest SMS services @ http://www.linuxmail.org This allows you to send and receive SMS through your mailbox. Powered by Outblaze

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Fsf-friends December 2003