Dear all,
I would like to create a sharply defined list of say, ten specific problems which students from engineering colleges can be asked to solve. Ideally, these problems should be solvable by a group of people within 3-6 months so that these students can achieve a tangible goal.
Some of the suggestions I have received so far have been interesting. These include:
* Developing an open source tool like VM Ware that can run both Windows and Linux off the same CPU
There is one already existing called Bosch. Please dont try to reinvent the same program. It is already pretty advanced. Although I have never installed itmyself. All that one has to do is to impliment a solutions at some place and return the feedback to bosch developers. (This way you will be getting close to the technology and also contributing to the existing Free softwares).
* Developing an open source VoIP product like Skype * Getting Internet Explorer working (natively?) on Linux (This will be of particular help in increasing the penetration of Linux in banks since many banking applications, though browser based, are optimized to work on Linux)
Absolutely any clues on how you are planning to acheive this????
* Reverse engineering Tally file formats and developing an open source financial accounting package (or getting Tally to work--natively--under Linux)
Tally can run on Wine and on network. Tally does not want to port its products to linux (official confirmations).
* Developing translation mechanisms for converting Internet content from English to Indian languages and from one Indian language to another
Again all the tools are already existing. As it appears you have by mistake written "Develop" instead of "impliment". If you are interested in doing these activities then I would suggest we talk on this. I am on the similar mission.
* Developing tools like Ximian Connector to connect to Micosoft Exchange server etc.If anyone can add to this list, I shall be grateful.
Regards,
Venky
Just to clarify, we do not want to reinvent the wheel or initiate projects that will run out of steam midway. We are looking at creating a sustainable infrastructure where the enthusiasm of engineering college students can be channelized. All help, suggestions, criticisms welcome!
Venky
On Tue, 2004-03-09 at 23:34, Amish Munshi wrote:
There is one already existing called Bosch. Please dont try to reinvent the same program. It is already pretty advanced. Although I have never installed itmyself. All that one has to do is to impliment a solutions at some place and return the feedback to bosch developers. (This way you will be getting close to the technology and also contributing to the existing Free softwares).
On Tuesday 09 March 2004 23:34, Amish Munshi wrote:
Dear all,
I would like to create a sharply defined list of say, ten specific problems which students from engineering colleges
-- snip--
First try freshmeat. Very few areas exist where free software is not as good as closed software. Most problems are due to requirements for signing NDAs or absent / wrong documentation of closed formats.
Some of the suggestions I have received so far have been interesting. These include:
* Developing an open source tool like VM Ware that can runboth Windows and Linux off the same CPU
There is one already existing called Bosch.
* Developing an open source VoIP product like Skype
Vocal, gnomemeeting, Speakfreely
* Getting Internet Explorer working (natively?) on Linux(This will be of particular help in increasing the penetration of Linux in banks since many banking applications, though browser based, are optimized to work on Linux)
You mean mangled to work on IE. Load Firebird and you should be done. If the app is W3C compliant u shouldnt have a problem. In any case cant see how IE can work without porting all the crap that linux has got rid of.
I agree that there is no sense in reinventing the wheel but Open Source/Free Software is all about choice. Don't rule out the possibility of completely rewriting a new application if the existing one isn't good enough and it a makes sense to write one from scratch.
I was talking to someone from KDE and asked why they created Konqueror when Mozilla was already there. He said they looked at the Mozilla Geko engine and thought they could write a better engine. These were the same guys who were the first (within 5 days) to get Mozilla working of the millions of lines of code being released as open source by Netscape.
Bochs is the slowest emulator that I have ever used! VMWare is atleast 200% faster and Win4Lin 300% faster.
So if someone looks at Bochs and thinks he can come up with a better architecture why not?
Regards Prakash
On Tue, 2004-03-09 at 23:34, Amish Munshi wrote:
* Developing an open source tool like VM Ware that can run both Windows and Linux off the same CPUThere is one already existing called Bosch. Please dont try to reinvent the same program. It is already pretty advanced. Although I have never installed itmyself. All that one has to do is to impliment a solutions at some place and return the feedback to bosch developers. (This way you will be getting close to the technology and also contributing to the existing Free softwares).
Hi,
Bochs is the slowest emulator that I have ever used!
That's the point Bochs is a *emulator* and it emulates all the x86 ins and all the x86 HW. From a learners perspective Bochs sources will teach how exactly an x86 process or other Hardware works.
VMWare is atleast 200% faster and Win4Lin 300% faster.
WRT VMware, M$ Virtual PC or Plex86 are virtualization software where the core objective is not to emulate x86. The true value of a VM is that it lets people utilize their resources more efficiently.
So if someone looks at Bochs and thinks he can come up with a better architecture why not?
All I can say is that it is important for a techie (at least) to know what does he wants and then decide to reinvent a wheel or make the existing wheel more efficient.
Regards
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Amish Munshi -
jtd -
Prakash Advani -
S. K Rahman -
Venkatesh (Venky) Hariharan