March 2003 - Fsf-friends

Unilever switching to GNU\Linux
by KG Kumar 18 Mar '03

18 Mar '03

http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/story/0,10801,79330,00.html?… -- KG Kumar Indian TeX Users Group kg at tug dot org dot in ------------------------

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Check This Out
by Arko Provo Mukherjee 18 Mar '03

18 Mar '03

Hello Guys, Check this out. URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-992824.html Arko

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Check This Out
by Arko Provo Mukherjee 18 Mar '03

18 Mar '03

Hello Guys, Check this out. URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-992824.html Arko

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Hindu Business Line on free software & Tvm phone directory
by KG Kumar 18 Mar '03

18 Mar '03

http://www.blonnet.com/2003/03/18/stories/2003031801531700.htm -- KG Kumar Indian TeX Users Group kg at tug dot org dot in ------------------------

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The Hindu on Free Software & Tvm. tel. directory
by KG Kumar 17 Mar '03

17 Mar '03

http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2003031707890300.htm -- KG Kumar Indian TeX Users Group kg at tug dot org dot in ------------------------

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Tvm in AsiaOSC
by KG Kumar 17 Mar '03

17 Mar '03

www.asiaosc.org/article_23.html -- KG Kumar Indian TeX Users Group kg at tug dot org dot in ------------------------

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TACO Alert - FSF India site slashdotted
by unmadindu＠softhome.net 17 Mar '03

17 Mar '03

Subject sez all :-) http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/16/2222254&mode=thread&tid=117

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TeX and Free Software helps print Trivandrum telephone directory
by KG Kumar 16 Mar '03

16 Mar '03

FREE SOFTWARE HELPS IN TIMELY PUBLICATION OF BSNL'S TRIVANDRUM TELEPHONE DIRECTORY The latest edition of the Thiruvananthapuram telephone directory, officially released yesterday, was processed and typeset with a range of free software tools that gave substantial savings on costs and time, and allowed the publisher, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), to produce a neatly laid out and elegant publication ahead of schedule. The two-volume directory, to be distributed to all subscribers of the Thiruvananthapuram Secondary Switching Area (SSA) from March 25, has 1,200 pages and 3.2 lakh entries. Four lakh copies of the directory are currently being printed by the city-based St. Joseph's Press (SJP), using typesetting software and programs provided by River Valley Technologies (RVT), a Thiruvananthapuram-based software house that has vast expertise in offering typesetting and publishing solutions using free and open-source software. (Free, open-source software is software whose source code is freely available for scrutiny, modification or distribution, unlike proprietary software, which is privately owned and closely held.) For BSNL, this is the first complete directory to be published since 1999. According to K. Sreekantan Nair, Principal General Manager of the Thiruvananthapuram telecom district, BSNL has spent Rs 3.5 crores on printing the directory. For SJP, this was a particularly prestigious order since it is the single largest printing job to be ever undertaken in Kerala. Says Fr. Mathew Thekkel, the then Manager of SJP, who supervised the project, "This was a bold drive aimed at the future and meant to prove the capability of St. Joseph's Press." In the normal course, an order of this magnitude -- a print run of 4 lakh copies, each of 1,200 pages on 48 GSM white paper in three columns of Helvetica Narrow 7 point typeface, with 94 lines per column -- would have taken six months and involved around 50 employees wholly dedicated to the work. However, in this case, SJP was able to beat the March 15 deadline set by BSNL and, according to Fr. Thekkel, will be able to finish the entire printing in four months, using a small team. At present, SJP's printing presses are operating 21 hours per day at their maximum capacity of 20,000 copies per hour to finish the directory printing. The secret to the swift processing of the job was in the typesetting work done by RVT, says Fr. Thekkel. "But for the technology skills they have, we would not have quoted for the job," he adds. "Had we used the normal programs like PageMaker or QuarkXPress, we would have needed three months time," says Fr. Thekkel. RVT, on the other hand, used a combination of free software programs to extract BSNL's data, process it and typeset it into camera-ready copy. According to C. V. Radhakrishnan, Managing Director of RVT, the BSNL data of telephone numbers, subscribers names and addresses was supplied as files in dBase, an outdated database software that goes back to the days of the DOS operating system. Using a set of free software libraries downloaded from the Internet and locally customised, this data was extracted into the postgreSQL relational database, also free software, and then entirely recreated. RVT then wrote a Java program to pipe this newly generated database into TeX, a powerful typesetting engine and programming language, written by Donald Knuth of Stanford University and released in the public domain. From TeX, RVT produced the final output as Portable Document Format (PDF) files, using pdfTeX, also free software. "So powerful is TeX that it was able to process nearly 1,200 pages in just four minutes," says Radhakrishnan. "Not only that, since it is also a programming language, it is able to do several things automatically, like the generation of header markers, for example," he adds. To incorporate corrections and editorial changes to the proof sheets, RVT designed a graphical spreadsheet interface for SJP. This also helped to save time in updating around 10,000 entries which had changed since the last directory was printed four years ago. Fr. Thekkel forsees a great potential in the directory business, so much so that SJP is thinking of setting up a separate division for such work. The Department of Telecommunications has recently told its SSAs to print directories on their own, rather than rely on outside publishers, who often fail to deliver on time and in the required quantities. The Thrissur, Pathanamthitta and Tiruvalla SSAs are also due to publish their directories soon. -- KG Kumar Indian TeX Users Group kg at tug dot org dot in ------------------------

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Re: Malayalam
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 16 Mar '03

16 Mar '03

Arun, Aren't you posting this to the other lists too? It's important to share even the small milestones along the journey. Who knows, this might *not* be such a *small* milestone anyway. FN On Sat, 15 Mar 2003, Arun M wrote: > Hi, > > > Today we did a pilot test of the Malayalam Gnome in a panchayath near > Trivandrum. We got very good response. The participants of the program > was mostly women(around 36 people from nearly 50 participants) from > panchatyath. More than 50 % of participents had some formal intriduction > to computers. And a few without any computer Knowledge. We have > collected the feed back on language uses and benfits of a malayalam > localised platform. Result is very much encouraging. The half day > session planned got extended to one complete day. Details i will send > soon. > > regards, > arun. > > > > -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.bytesforall.org : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : Goa India 403511 : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

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GNU/Linux Month
by Amol Hatwar 15 Mar '03

15 Mar '03

Hi all, I read a seperate e-mail about RMS' bithday on 16 of March. Why not all of us celebrate it in the following manner: All of us who beleive it must be GNU/Linux and not Linux, carry an email signature indicating this, and a link where one could get more information for about a month. This should be equivalent to wearing a badge in the net-era. Let's declare March 16 - April 15 as the GNU/Linux month. I'll be glad to see more of such badges floating around :). ------------ It's most certainly GNU/Linux, not Linux. Read more at http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html. ------------- And oh yes, Happy Birthday Richard (en avance). Warm wishes, Amol Hatwar.

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Arkoprovo's suggestion(s) and thoughts thereon
by Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay 11 Mar '03

11 Mar '03

hi, arkoprovo makes some valid points about the presence and footprint of the GNU/Linux movement in the country. But i think we better take a good look at what is happening in reality. instead taking the platform as a viable, stable, economically beneficial and socially altruistic alternative to proprietary/closed source software, state governments are actually using this as a bait to drive/hammer down prices of you-know-what software. this does not serve the movement nor the purpose of the activism. on a truly national level, opinion must be created alongwith awareness about the stability and the viability of the system. for more on what is happening, i suggest the mar'03 issue of the [most unfortunately named] LinuxForYou. Frederick Noronha in one part of his column [nice one FN btw !!] outlines the malaise that is slowly creeping through. *free as in speech and not as in beer* might have been a rallying cry towards critical mass, but *freedom matters* should be the wardrums that roll. freedom matters and ideas matter. throughout history, man has risen against all odds, braved mighty challenges, driven by the sheer will and desire to be free. if such strong is the quest for freedom then i see no reason why we will not have people contributing. the only hitch is that in all FSF cause espousals we see the same faces. this is good as it reinforces belief and faith in the system. but we need to see new faces, new ideas, new projects and more importantly national awareness of such events. we need to synergise and form symbiotic relationships with related efforts and grow in unison. regards sankarshan --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/03

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Distributing mirrored data on CD to low bandwidth people.
by Imran William Smith 11 Mar '03

11 Mar '03

We are in the process of creating a mirror of some open source / free software in Malaysia, since the local mirror situation is not good. What is the mirror situation like in India / South Asia? My main question: Broadband rollout is currently low in Malaysia. We could help open source here by sending out CDs of the key open source apps / distros / packages. They'd probably be sent free since we have some funds for Malaysian open source development. But we don't want to be taken advantage of. Also, we'd like to encourage the software to spread further than just the people we send to. Can anybody see some way of turning this into a pyramid? I am thinking, maybe we could send 1 or 4 copies. If 4 copies, your name gets added to a database on the web, and others near you can come and get the other 3 copies. Something like that. It could be heavily engineered (credits for helping out on a web site, credits for sending copies to extra people, debits when we send people CDs) or all based on trust. Trust is probably better. But we want to make sure that the people who benefit are those who really don't have the bandwidth, rather than somebody who has access to the data in other channels but prefers us to send to them. We also have to make totally sure that we are distributing legally (for GPL, would we have to bundle source with binary, or just make the URL for the source very clear on the CD with the binary?) Thanks for your thoughts.... Imran -- www.AsiaOSC.org | Asian Open Source Centre www.mimos.my | MIMOS Berhad, Malaysia

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FM Relaunch
by Amol Hatwar 11 Mar '03

11 Mar '03

Hi all, Many of you may be aware of the Freedom Matters re-launch. The goal is not only to give Free Software developers/users a voice in India, but also to make a social and political impact on issues relating to Freedom. The job is not easy, and I'll require all the help from you guys can give me. Attached, please find the initial proposal that RMS, Arun and I have been through. I'll be glad to hear any additional suggestions and comments on the same. People who are ready to volunteer and work for the cause can mail me personally indicating this. Warm wishes, -ah

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Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] FM Relaunch
by Arko Provo Mukherjee 11 Mar '03

11 Mar '03

On Mon, 2003-03-10 at 17:23, Kanti Jadia wrote: > hi arko, > > We need people who believe in our philosophy. > > Suggest u to go through > > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy > > Also do register on the Volunteers directory of FSF-India. > > regards > > Kanti > Hello, I am already registered in the volunteers directory of FSF-India. Regards Arko.

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Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] Languages of India
by Kanti Jadia 11 Mar '03

11 Mar '03

Hi all, The only point here was to give a link to the official site of the our government. We should as Free Software supporters have a perspective on our governments policies. regards Kanti Jadia On Tue, 11 Mar 2003 Raman.P wrote : >But why do hindi prachar here. Please tell us what you >are trying to convey to free sofware community. > >Raman.P > >--- Kanti Jadia <j_kanti(a)rediffmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > > > There are around 18 languages recognized by the > > Indian > > Constitution. These languages are > > > > 1. Assamese > > 2. Bengali > > 3. Gujrati > > 4. Hindi > > 5. Kannada > > 6. Kashmiri > > 7. Konkani > > 8. Malyalam > > 9. Manipuri > > 10. Marathi > > 11. Nepali > > 12. Oriya > > 13. Punjabi > > 14. Sanskrit > > 15. Sindhi > > 16. Tamil > > 17. Telgu > > 18. Urdu > > > > Hindi is the national, official and main link > > language of India. > > Its homeland is mainly in the north of India, but it > > is spoken and > > widely understood in all urban centers of India. It > > is written in > > the Devanagri script, which is phonetic and, unlike > > English, is > > pronounced as it is written. Hindi is a direct > > descendant of > > Sanskrit through Prakrit and Apabhramsha. It has > > been influenced > > and enriched by Dravidian, Turkish, Farsi, Arabic, > > Portugese and > > English. It is a very expressive language. In poetry > > and songs, it > > can convey emotions using simple and gentle words. > > It can also be > > used for exact and rational reasoning. > > > > > > > > URL: http://indiaimage.nic.in/languages.htm > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Fsf-friends mailing list > > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > >________________________________________________________________________ >Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! >TV. > visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com

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Languages of India
by Kanti Jadia 11 Mar '03

11 Mar '03

Hi, There are around 18 languages recognized by the Indian Constitution. These languages are 1. Assamese 2. Bengali 3. Gujrati 4. Hindi 5. Kannada 6. Kashmiri 7. Konkani 8. Malyalam 9. Manipuri 10. Marathi 11. Nepali 12. Oriya 13. Punjabi 14. Sanskrit 15. Sindhi 16. Tamil 17. Telgu 18. Urdu Hindi is the national, official and main link language of India. Its homeland is mainly in the north of India, but it is spoken and widely understood in all urban centers of India. It is written in the Devanagri script, which is phonetic and, unlike English, is pronounced as it is written. Hindi is a direct descendant of Sanskrit through Prakrit and Apabhramsha. It has been influenced and enriched by Dravidian, Turkish, Farsi, Arabic, Portugese and English. It is a very expressive language. In poetry and songs, it can convey emotions using simple and gentle words. It can also be used for exact and rational reasoning. URL: http://indiaimage.nic.in/languages.htm

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Fwd: [linuxlingam@bhairon.com: [LIG] [draft] open letter to indian finance minister]
by Nagarjuna G. 08 Mar '03

08 Mar '03

----- Forwarded message from LinuxLingam <linuxlingam(a)bhairon.com> ----- > Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2003 15:52:28 +0530 > From: LinuxLingam <linuxlingam(a)bhairon.com> > Subject: [LIG] [draft] open letter to indian finance minister > To: ilugd(a)wpaa.org, linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net, rms(a)gnu.org, > fred(a)bytesforall.org, karunakar(a)freedomink.org, rahul(a)electronicsforu.com > Reply-To: linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net > X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.3.1] > > [first draft: please submit your suggestions, changes. once a final draft is > ready, will post it so those interested may sign or contribute their name to > it. will then forward this to the indian finance minister and others in the > government.] > > [cross-posted, > and further cross-post, especially to other mailing lists, if required] > > *** > > Dear Sir, > > Re: Levy Excise Tax on All Commercial Software Sold in India. > > > We, the undersigned, propose the Indian Government levy excise tax on all > commercial software sold in India. Reasons: > > 1) Commercial software (C.S) is a big cash drain for both the Indian > government and Indian corporates. > > 2) Almost all commercial software are non-free. This means, they do not give > the end users the freedom i) to use the software for any purpose ii) to study > the source code of the software iii) to make changes and improvements to the > source code iv) to legally share copies of the software with their neighbours > and colleagues. v) to pass on such freedom to those who further receive the > software. > > 3) these freedoms are important for a developing, poor, country like India, > where every citizen, organization, and state, dreams of harnessing the > opportunities offered by IT. > > 4) these freedoms also significantly curtail strong anti-competitive > behaviour in the software industry. > > 5) countries like China are moving away from non-free software to > freedom-based software. India has no such significant, clearly-defined > initiative in place for adopting freedom based software. > > 6) in the lack of such a clear initiative, commercial software vendors raise > the stakes for both their competitors and for freedom based software. this > further kills innovation in the industry. > > 7) a large and significant percentage of commercial software is usually sold > as bundled, OEM software. end-users find they are *forced* to use such > software, since their requests to buy machines with such software uninstalled > is usually turned down. > > 8) indian customers usually find their *only* option is to buy the computer > with the bundled software, then carefully disagree the end user license > agreement (eula) of the bundled software preferably in front of witnesses, > then contact the OEM software vendor independently and press for a refund. > this is clearly anti-competitive. and the computer is perceived in cost as > (hardware+OEM software as One). > > 9) Commercial software companies are usually quite rich. Not taxing them > allows them to hoard their wealth even more and give them more implicit power > to quash their competition in commercial software and in freedom-based > software. > > 10) by taxing them, the indian government will immediately have more powers > to i) accelerate the adoption of freedom based software. > ii) fund the development of much-needed indigenous solutions in IT for india > using freedom-based software (indian language technologies, education > projects, free and freedom-based education software, more secure and > transparant software for indian defense industries, lower IT infrastructure > costs for indian government and businesses, etc.) > > 11) by taxing commercial software and funding several projects in india on > freedom-based software, the indian government also creates a quantum leap in > the number of jobs and opportunities available to the indian developer > community and IT industry, thus creating and sharing more wealth. > > 12) the adoption of free and freedom-based software allows indian corporates > to save considerable sums of money towards commercial non-free software, > where the Return on Investment is loudly questioned. this money can then be > used for further job-creating opportunities such as expansion of new units of > industrial manufacturing, factories, etc. shareholders of indian companies > will also benefit from stronger dividends due to stronger profit margins due > to the adoption of free and freedom-based software. > > 13) the already financially-starved education sector in India will gain, > since the large allocation of funds for software in education can be used > more productively, even for opening more schools instead. > > 14) finally, as a statement of leadership and values, india must adopt > freedom-based software that is being proposed to the UNICEF to be declared as > a world-culture heritage. > > We hope the Indian government sincerely considers these suggestions. For more > information on what is freedom-based software, please check out www.gnu.org. > > Bizarre as it sounds, when it comes to software: > Give us Freedom, or Give Us Taxes. > > > Your Sincerely, > > <signatures...> > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Etnus, makers of TotalView, The debugger > for complex code. Debugging C/C++ programs can leave you feeling lost and > disoriented. TotalView can help you find your way. Available on major UNIX > and Linux platforms. Try it free. www.etnus.com > _______________________________________________ > Linux-india-general mailing list > Linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-india-general ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ nagarjun(a)hbcse.tifr.res.in www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/gn/ Key fingerprint = C1E2 1B8C 8E98 A697 68B7 ADAC E956 6D4B DE90 BF01

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Mozilla Localization
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Mar '03

07 Mar '03

This note is from Venky Hariharan. FN ---------- Forwarded message ---------- One of India's most respected Internet companies is looking for programmers who will help localize Mozilla to Indian languages. Those who apply need to have at least 2-3 years experience, but above all, a passion for the Internet and for free /open source software. The objective of Indianizing Mozilla is to revolutionize computing in Indian languages, especially on the Internet. The selected individuals will be based in Mumbai. Those interested are invited to apply to venky@indlinux.org/karunakar@indlinux.org. For more details, see the attached job description. Regards, Venky ===== Mozilla Indianization ===================== 1) Goal: Enable Mozilla browser to display & handle indian languages properly, with proper font technology available. Localize Mozilla interface also to indian languages. 2) Project Requirements: All work done should be contributed back to Mozilla codebase, so that it becomes part of it. Solutions arrived at should make into main tree, rather than be done as adhoc hacks / addons / patches. i) i18n part (involving changing mozilla codebase) : a - Should be able to render Indian languages encoded in Unicode/UTF-8 b - Use a standardized font technology - eg OpenType. c - Support any encodings standardized for a language eg ISCII, TSCII, KSCLP (KGP) ii) l10n part (no code change - UI customization, translations of UI and Help text): a - Incorporate locale support (chrome level) b - Translate Mozilla UI into indian languages c - Making indianized mozilla theme - custom graphics, logos 3) Skill sets req a - Knowlegde of at least two Indian languages - reading & writing, script & language processing level 2.i & 2.ii.b b - C, C++, XML, Java for 2.i c - Graphics expertise for 2.ii.c d - For translator - good vocabulary in English & at least one Indian language, previous exp in translation also helpful. e - Proj. mgmt skills, ability to work with volunteers remotely , coordinate work through email/IM/group meetings. f - Interest in localization and passion for having indian languages on mozilla. g - Work experience of 2-3 years in the IT industry Current status: Mozilla supports Unicode, so all indian languages represented in Unicode work at unicode level - no proper rendering, if a suitable unicode font is available. ie proper vowel sign positioning, conjuncts etc are not avialable. Some work is on by Prabhat Hegde from Sun Microsystems on adding devanagari support, basically by using Pango (www.pango.org) rendering engine. He is exploring doing it using Opentype fonts. (Any one working for this should work with Prabhat for guidance & review, as he already has experience in Mozilla codebase ) Some hindi translation work has been done by a group based in Mumbai, available at http://www.bttlindia.com/mozilla/ . Some translation work for Tamil is also on. (These translations should be reused, instead of starting from scratch) Notes: 2.i has to be done in active participation with Mozilla developers & done at those forums ( mozilla-i18n , mozilla-l10n ) 2.ii.b is pure translation work, can be done in centralized or distributed fashion. 2.i.c - Since ISCII, TSCII etc are not registered character sets, it may not be possible to use them with Mozilla autodetection feature. Some workaround could be suggested. ISCII text will basically be converted to Unicode internally for display, enabled through use of \\\'iso8829-12\\\' ( reserved for Indic - ISO is waiting for us to settle to something :) . (The rationale to support ISCII is since ISCII chars will take 1byte, UTF-8 indic characters take 3bytes, or 7 bytes when used as named character references - The debate will pick up heat when indian languages are fully supported ) --------------------------- * Indian Linux project * * http://www.indlinux.org * ---------------------------

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Debian...KDE programming... dynamic images (DEVELOPERiq * March 2003)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Mar '03

07 Mar '03

THIS ALL AND more is included in the March 2003 issue of DeveloperIQ. Check the issue for THEN THERE ARE [GNU]Linux fanatics. I admire Linux pros a lot, and I know that using the OS needs more than mere mouse management. But what puts me off is an attitude, which many have for Windows users, developers and the rest of the community. I know many who have thrown away (actually they formatted the hard disk and loaded a new distro) Windows boxes and switched to [GNU]Linux and continued being happy. Great! But you just cannot stamp all Windows users and developers as mentally retarded. -Editorial, S. Ramdas Contact: ramdas(a)developeriq.com o DEBIAN 3.0 -- the first of five CDs. (Readers can avail of the other four at Rs 149, incl courier. But the CDs will be shipped with DeveloperIQ over the next year too.) o READER'S QUERY on why the installation program could not write to the MBR... o JAVA IN the enterprise: "Java's heritage is more aligned with the Open Source movement and community process. In fact, many would argue that free software forms an important part of the dynamic Java..." 4-pg.article o STATE OF WEB services: One of the biggest myths, which many developers especially coming from the Microsoft camp have, is that Web Services means .Net. This is not true... Where Sun and Microsoft score is they have ready-made roadmaps and product offerings.... Soon all the products from MS, including MS Office, will be .Net enabled, locking the customers to a .Net environment as far as possible... The Open Source world still does not have a combined solution... But there are lots happening, read the next article. o OPEN ROLE in Web services. Open Source (Free Software?) is fast catching up with their Web services portfolio. Axis from Apache, jBpm, OBE, Powerfolder, TestMaker, Rotor ("this is not exactly Open Source and is more Shared Source"), NetAything, The Go Mon Project, DotGNU. o DotGNU; The GNU version of the .Net initaitive. GNU branding is big, but the project somehow is lagging behind Mono. DotGNU is being developed jointly under the auspices of FreeDevelopers and the GNU project. The DotGNU system will be a well- integrated part of the GNU system and it will also be available to the users of all other wisely used OSs. It sounds very ambitious since the final goal is to create an operating system for the Internet. Currently a primitive beta version of the framework is available. See http://www.dotgnu.org o APACHE AXIS, the leading FLOSS tool kit for implementing Web services, gets two pages. o MASTER EMBEDDED Linux/Linux drivers from experts. Projects on porting, writing BSP for embedded GNU/Linux, network, wireless LAN, SCSI, fibre channel, USB device driver. Fees Rs 12,500-30,000. Four to six months course. Grace Systems, Bangalore contact(a)gracelabs.com http://www.gracelabs.com (ad) o TERMINAL CAPABILITIES of UNIX. By Arun Sundar. http://www.geocities.com/delightfularun/index.html o INSTALLING Pear:Soap o LINUXMAGINDIA on a CD. 18CDs in a year, customised for you, at Rs 1499. o KDE Programming Part 2. The KDE project had the goal of simplifying the use of GNU/Linux, very much like the Windows OS. This looks at how one can program using KDE in a typical GUI environment. o CREATING dynamic images, using PHP and GD.These are images that are generated on-the-fly by the server. o PLAYING AROUND with Python buttons. "Windows programmers may be warned that if you are comparing Python GUI with Visual Basic, it's like ptiching the Australian cricket team against the Bangladesh team." There are several widgets, which the Tk module supports. Mastering them is quite easy and infact learning Tkinter is as easy as learning Visual Basic. -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.bytesforall.org : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : Goa India 403511 : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

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Free Software Business Strategy Guide
by Vinay Pawar 07 Mar '03

07 Mar '03

Free Software Business Strategy Guide http://FreeStrategy.info "Abstract:This Net.Book outlines strategies for running a successful business while at the same time making valuable contributions to the Free Software community. The main point is that with an appropriate strategy, significant business benefits can be obtained from the "reputation game" social dynamics which are at the heart of the Free Software community." -- Vinay Pawar http://nodegroup.com/vinay/ http://antomic.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/ActivityLog

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Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa launched at WSIS
by KG Kumar 05 Mar '03

05 Mar '03

http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=9965 "They met at the African Information Society Initiative meeting organized by the Economic Commission for Africa in November 2002 and have been working as a task force behind the scenes since. During WSIS, this team of dedicated Africans launched the Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa - FOSSFA." -- KG Kumar Indian TeX Users Group kg at tug dot org dot in ------------------------

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Re: [Fsf-india] GNOME and KDE desktops for MS-Windows users
by Ajith Kumar 05 Mar '03

05 Mar '03

Biju G C wrote: > I wish, I could start using GNU/Linux, but plenty other reason make me stay in MS-Win. Previously > I had dual boot PC, but found that is not a good solution. > > Finally I found Redhat's Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com), an open source UNIX emulation layer on MS > Windows. And Cygwin/XFree86 (http://cygwin.com/xfree/) as its XWin. Sounds good technically but what is the advantage if you have o keep Windows with all it's problems. In my personal opinion, we should switch over to GNU/Linux where it is possible and live with windows where there is no other option. We have gotten rid of MSOffice, Explorer etc. but still living with some CAD software that has no GNU/Linux alternatives. ajith > > > - also found KDE-Cygwin (http://kde-cygwin.sourceforge.net/) and > CyGNOME (http://cygnome.sourceforge.net/) projects at SourceForge.net, > which are KDE, GNOME porting on Cygwin. > > Joined CyGNOME project, now I am trying to popularize it among windows users. > Also looking for people to join and contribute to CyGNOME project. > So please visit http://cygnome.sourceforge.net/ as well as please tell ur friends abt. it. > > Thank you > Biju > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more > http://taxes.yahoo.com/ > > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-india mailing list > Fsf-india(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-india

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Young minds, pretty faces... and a greying beard
by FN 04 Mar '03

04 Mar '03

THIS SET OF MINUTES is so outdated, that had I to delay any longer, it would have been criminal. The intention was to write a detailed report on the Feb 22 meeting at Panjim... it was a great meeting. But then, in the chaotic life of a freelancer (we're so busy doing nothing), this was not to be. Anyway, here are some highlights... o CSI'S SMALL HALL was almost bursting with participation. At one stage the count touched 25. Impressive eh? o IF YOU THOUGHT that was impressive, you should have seen the number of newcomers who were present. Besides, lady-participants touched nearly a one-in-four ratio! Who said GNU/Linux is for left-brained male geeks? o RAVI DEKA got started talking ... and man, this guy really knows to narrate a story. But before we went off-the-beaten track on the subject of motorcycling across India (Banduji's perchance for such themes makes it a lethal combination) we hurriedly shifted gear to focus back on GNU/Linux. o BIJON SHAHA, as planned, was prepared to tell the LUG about GNUnify, India's first free software festival held at Pune's deemed university, Symbiosis. Quotes: "There were 15 techie talks, two parallel sessions, each hall having at least 100 people. Basically, the audience was of students." "Some youngsters proved to be very good speakers. Nirav Mehta made two presentations on PHP." Among those speaking were the skilled orator and free software evangelist Prof Nagarajuna of TIFR, Sam Metryani of the Simputer team, Venky Hariharan and G Karunakar on Indic solutions for GNU/Linux... and of course hacker-guru RMS (Richard M Stallman). Shaha also spoke on the presentations by Prof Shivakumar and Prof Jeetendra Saha of VJTI, a very determined campaigner for FLOSS. FreEDUC CDs (the latest rage, after Knoppix) were handed around to demo the power of educational free software that boots from a CD-rom. Ravi Pradhan of Via (recently resettled in India from Silicon Valley, and determined to bring in low-cost GNU/Linux-based computers to the market) was also in Pune, presenting thin clients and inexpensive computing using Via's C3 chipset. The promise: notebooks for Rs 35K next year! Dr Ramakrishna of the DoIT presented the government's thinking on FLOSS. Basically, the idea would be to encourage FLOSS, while not dictating any one route for computing, and letting the market decide, Shaha quoted him saying. Shaha was himself one of the speakers at Pune. o ARVIND YADAV, founder-member of ILUG-Goa, narrated his experiences at COMPAS in Kolkata. The LUG had the biggest stall at this exhibition of IT and computers. There were demos of FreEDUC and LinuxRacer (which Arvind described as "less of a game and more of a simulation... with 50 cars and 20 cracks". IN NO time the debate shifted (don't recall how) to educational games -- free software fo maths, symbiolic maths, equations and J'compris (maths, language, shapes and colours for the very young). Octave, where the plots come out as graphs, etc... o SANGEETA NAIK, the coordinator of the Goa Schools Computers Project, explained that 104 schools had been given once-used computers under the Goa Sudharop project. Some 20-25 had LTSP solutions installed. There was a need to extend this to enable computer-aided learning and after-hours access for nearby communities, she said. The need for locating relevant and working software (given the hardware constraints) was always felt. o ASHLEY DELANEY SPOKE of his recent visit to Bangladesh, to share ideas with attempts at taking FLOSS to schools. o OTHER ISSUES throw up and spoken about as we interrupted each other included discless-PCs, whether FLOSS could replace Pagemaker and the needs of a DTP-ised magazine, o IN THE ROUND of introductions that followed, one of those present was Biju Chacko of Bangalore. He is an ex-coordinator of the Bangalore LUG, and since last year has started his own business. Biju said there were a "lot of companies" in Bangalore moving to open tools, like PHP and Zope. "But the basic problem is that if you're not selling a thing (as against a service), they're iffy about paying big amounts." Biju also suggested that a number of B'lore LUGers getting active in their own businesses or professions was a good thing, except activity became a bit lax compared to earlier highs. But for big events like Linux-Bangalore200*, large numbers did actively participate. o IT WAS time for the meet to end, yet no sign of Tilmann Singer. Just as we were headed for the Navtara restaurant cuppa tea, we ran into a young foreigner, who could have been Tilmann Singer. He was! Earlier we had promised that: o Tilmann Singer <tils(a)tils.net> from Europe will be briefly speaking on OpenACS. This is a cool toolkit for building community web applications. See http://openacs.org (specially of interest for people into web apps). Singer lives in Berlin, and came to know of us via the Wizards of Os conference. He is currently working for four months in Hyderabad, helping with setting up a small company focussed on the development of a Free/Libre and Open Source Software web toolkit (openacs) and is an open source campaigner himself. Anyway, we at the restaurant, we kept discussing various things. Tilmann (who had got onto the wrong bus -- a slow-moving 'local') gathered a crowd around his table of those interested in web-issues. The rest of us simply couldn't follow what was going on; they understood each other. Miracles do happen.... o FOR US, THE debate looked at the Goa government's unnecessary gift to Microsoft of ten million rupees, strategies to popularise free software among students, and a whole range of other issues. By the time we looked at our watches, it was past 2030. So what if we started just after 1600? o THOSE PRESENT INCLUDED B B Shaha (ETDC-Saligao), Mario Alvares (Alienwiz), Lisa Mendonsa (Phil), Flavia Lobo (Phil), Victor D'Souza (GU), Sharon Bothelo (Phil), Greta Mattos, Amey Hegde (Controlnet), Alka Pai and Ajay Cuncolienkar (Khandola College), Agraj Agranayak, Yogesh Teli and Ravi Deka, Sangeeta Naik (Goa Schools Computers Project), Rina Patel (NRI volunteer working in Goa of the America-Indian Foundation), Biju Chacko (Bangalore), Gurunandan Bhat (ex-GU/PlusThought), Anil Seth (head of dept IT, PCC), Arvind Yadav (Online), Animesh 'Banduji' N Nerurkar, Sreenivas (Navy Hydrography School), Sanil Talaulikar (PCC), Mohandas Gopani (Selections). o LASTLY, don't forget the meetings for March. Margao is on March 8 (Clinton, get working to arrange something interesting... this was shifted for you!) and March 22 (Panjim). More details http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa o PS: Don't ask what the subject-line has to do with this report. In case you didn't guess... it was aimed at getting you to read it ;-) -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.bytesforall.org : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : Goa India 403511 : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

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Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] Re:Request to RedHat
by Kanti Jadia 04 Mar '03

04 Mar '03

On Tue, 04 Mar 2003 Arko Provo Mukherjee wrote : >On Tue, 2003-03-04 at 11:40, Kanti Jadia wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > The primary source of the name [GNU/]Linux is the projects >which > > use them.And that includes us. > > > > So,in order to get the importance of GNU to the users i >propose > > the following actions. > > > > 1.Urge the developers to use GNU/Linux (in > > websites/documentation/Code etc.). > > > > 2.Get involved and do a few corrections yourself. > > > > 3.If you work for a company,which uses [GNU/]Linux,get the >word to > > your marketing department. > > > > Further suggestions awaited. > > > > Can we come up with a comprehensive list. > > > > regards > > > > Kanti > >Hello, >I think that the first point is very important. We must urge >developers >to develop on the GNU/Linux platform. > Use GNU/Linux and not Linux >One more point: >Spread the FREE Software Philosophy to the people and tell people >that >GNU/Linux is not only an $ saving solution to software problems >but also >an OS that respects your freedom. >Many people don't understand that. A lot of people do understand and just ignore. These are the people who gain the benefits of free software and refuse to recognize its importance. And for those who really are unaware(growing day by day),we must come up with a concrete action. That is why i proposed a comprehensive list of actions. regards Kanti > >Regards >Arko > > > > > > Have been doing the some of the things above from quite some > > time. > > > > >Do you think any request to Red Hat to change the name of >their > > >distro > > >to Red Hat GNU/Linux will work? > > >We can try that as it is the most popular distro and the name >can > > >reach > > >many people. > > > > >Arko > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Fsf-friends mailing list > > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > >

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Fwd: Re: [Fsf-friends] Re:Request to RedHat
by Kanti Jadia 04 Mar '03

04 Mar '03

Note: Forwarded message attached -- Orignal Message -- From: Arko Provo Mukherjee <arkoprovo(a)peacefulaction.org> To: Kanti Jadia <j_kanti(a)rediffmail.com> Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Re:Request to RedHat

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Fsf-friends March 2003