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[school-discuss] [Fwd: [LinuxInAfrica] GNULinuxIndia 10012003]



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [LinuxInAfrica] GNULinuxIndia 10012003
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 09:17:45 +0530 (IST)
From: Frederick Noronha <fred@bytesforall.org>
Reply-To: LinuxInAfrica@yahoogroups.com
To: linuxinafrica@yahoogroups.com



     e88~~\  888b    | 888   |  /  888                888 ,e,
    d888     |Y88b   | 888   |  L  888 888-~88e  e88~\888  "    /~~~8e
    8888 __  | Y88b  | 888   |  I  888 888  888 d888  888 888       88b
    8888   | |  Y88b | 888   |  N  888 888  888 8888  888 888  e88~-888
    Y888   | |   Y88b| Y88   |  U  888 888  888 Y888  888 888 C888  888
     "88__/  |    Y888  "8__/   X  888 888  888  "88_/888 888  "88_-888
   --------------------------------------------------------------------
   Formerly LinuxInIndia * Compiled by: Frederick Noronha * Jan 10,2003
   --------------------------------------------------------------------

		Although we pride ourselves on being a software superpower,
		hardly any of the products we use are made in India. -- G.
		Nagarjuna of TIFR, member of the Free Software Foundation,
		quoted in a recent news report in the Times of India. See
		http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/
		uncomp/articleshow?artid=33405578&sType=1

NUMBER 300,000 FROM CHENNAI: The Linux Counter (counter.li.org) is where
users of the GNU/Linux operating system can voluntarily register themselves
as such. Recently, Harald Alvestrand of Norway, the founder of the Linux
Counter, announced: "Account number 300.000 got handed out today - to a
Linux user in Tamil Nadu, India." Let look forward to many other GNU/Linux
enthusiasts signing up there and proudly identifying themselves as users of
Free Software.

	PROJECT RESOURCE CENTRE GETS A FILLIP: Thanks to the many students
	and mentors (over 100) that are now part of this list, the Project
	Resource Centre has been seeing some interesting discussions. It is
	a place where students wanting to work on GNU/Linux projects can get
	ideas and guidance from volunteer-mentors. If you fall in either
	category (student or possible mentor) please do sign up at
	http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc

THE COMPASS TO THE EAST: ILUG-Calcutta is participating in COMPASS 2003
(24-27 Jan 2003) -- the biggest annual IT event of the Eastern India. "We
are having 18sqm of space and are planning a big show," say local
volunteers.

P K Sharma <pksharma@cal.vsnl.net.in> recently gave an idea of plans for
participation. To subscribe to this LUG's mailing list send mail to
majordomo@ilug-cal.org with the body "subscribe ilug-cal" and an empty
subject line.  FAQ for the LUG: http://www.ilug-cal.org/node.php?id=3

They seem to be heading for it rather seriously. There are plans for demo's,
installations, showcasing various distros, and focussing on GNU/Linux in
school / at home / in the corporate world. If all goes as per plan, there
will also be emphasis on the work done in GNU/Linux localization (Bangla
Linux), how Free Software can be an enabler and force multiplier in
e-governance, development possibilities (languages, tools, IDEs etc) ,
scientific apps (Octave, Blender, etc), high-end computing like clustering
and FT, and 'cool stuff' that includes video editing, dual heading, virtual
machines, emulators and media streaming (MP3s and video). More details from
Indranil Das Gupta <indradg@cal.vsnl.net.in> or Sayamindu Dasgupta
<unmadindu@Softhome.net>

	WATER... AND GNU/LINUX: Dr Vikram Vyas, who has written an
	interesting software to help villagers calculate availability of
	water in their region, is eager to port it to GNU/Linux. If you
	would be interested in the same, kindly get in touch with him at
	Vikram Vyas <visquare@satyam.net.in>

GNU/LINUX IN WEST ASIA: Quite a few GNU/Linux mailing lists are active in
the Gulf area. Some see the active involvement of Indian expat communities.
One list is Linux-middleeast@yahoogroups.com This group is sponsored by
GoldenSun Internet Consulting &amp;amp; Research, Phone 971-4-2728310
/Fax:971-4-2728320 http://www.uaelug.org Its moderator is GSC Prabhakar
James, and the LUG was founded in 1999.

	DEMO@SCHOOLS IN CHENNAI: bharathi@lantana.TeNeT.res.in informs that
	work on the GNU/Linux-in-schools front is also being undertaken by
	Demo@Schools volunteer Suraj Kumar. Contact him at suraj@symonds.net

THEOPENCD LAUNCHES FIRST EDITION: Something from outside South Asia, but of
potential interest to many of us. This is a collection of high-quality Open
Source Software that runs in Windows. A good bridge for reluctant users of
proprietorial software who would like to try out the power of Free/Libre and
Open Source Software (FLOSS).  Says Henrik Nilsen Omma, one of the project
leaders: "Our aim is to create a simple to use CD distribution of Open
Source software for Windows, and in that way spread the OSS message.... The
disc allows new users can try out Open Source software (OSS) in the comfort
of their own, familiar operating system, rather than having to take the
drastic step of reformatting their hard drive to install Linux or BSD. The
collection, which includes OpenOffice.org, AbiWord and Beonex is primarily
intended for non-technical computer users. However, we expect that the disc
will appeal first to experienced OSS users, who will hopefully find it a
useful vehicle by which to introduce OSS to their less computer-savvy
friends." They invite all FLOSS enthusiasts to download the ISO, burn CDs
and distribute them widely to friends, local schools, universities, and
companies.  http://www.theopencd.org/ See
http://linuxpr.com/releases/5379.html More details from Henrik Nilsen Omma
<henrik@theopencd.org>

	SIRTAJ SINGH KANG... IN THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
	Australia-based Indian-origin KDE developer Sirtaj Singh Kang is
	profiled in a prominent newspaper. Taj is one of the two
	nominated as official KDE spokespeople in Australia.
	Quote: "When I was around 14, my dad bought us a 286-based computer.
   	It was quite expensive. We weren't poor by any standards but this
   	stuff was still a luxury. Still, for me to get all the tools a kid
   	needed to learn programming cost as much again, even just to get
   	started. Given that software is infinitely reproducible practically
   	for free, there is really no excuse for this especially now that
   	hardware has become so cheap. Give interested people access to
   	software, allow them to improve and redistribute it - that's the way
   	for computing to really make a difference."
	http://smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/01/1036027033828.html

***************************************************************************
WANTED: Volunteers to support and help the growth of smaller GLUGs and LUGs
across India. If you are willing to encourage a Little League LUG to grow
and become active, please contact Sukrit D <sd_root@yahoo.com> of
Pondicherry who formulated the Little League idea. ILUG-Bhubaneswar was
recently discussing what could be done to boost their activities.
***************************************************************************

	GNOWLEDGE.ORG: Dr G Nagarjuna, an eminently optimistic and
	always-upbeat educationist from Mumbai <nagarjun@hbcse.tifr.res.in>
	recently announced that he completed setting up a Sourceforge site
	for the Project Resource Centre (a centre for mentors to guide
	students in Free Software work) and other projects. Says he: "I
	haven't tested it completely, but it seems to be working
	satisfactorily. I request the various groups to begin using this
	facility." Needed: volunteers to maintain the site.
	http://gnowledge.org
	Also see http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc

MAXIMUS2 INITIATIVE: Maximus2, a wholly owned subsidiary of a British
company, is to give away what it terms its powerful office productivity
suite -- GroupX2 -- free of cost. "Every organization with 10 to 500
employees needs this application," it says. "With GroupX2 your company will
become more organized, productive and highly efficient. The GroupX2
application is normally priced at $1000 is free (of cost) for the first 2003
companies that register," says the firm. Register at www.maximus2.com This
application consists of full working software enabled for 20 users.  GroupX2
will "take the pain out" of managing tasks, people, messages, calendars,
meetings, contacts and much more. Please note, this is not 'Free Software'
but a limited offer of a free-of-cost version for early subscribers.
http://www.maximus2.com

	BSPELLER, ON THE BENGALI LANGUAGE FRONT: Thanks to Sayamindu
	Dasgupta <unmadindu@Softhome.net> for forwarding a post from Taneem
	Ahmed <taneem@eyetap.org> on the Bengali computing front.
	What is Bspeller: A light weight text editor with a Bengali spell
	checker. This program is part of the Bengali dictionary project.
	Bspeller can also print Bengali text files using OpenType fonts, a
	feature currently not available in most of the text editors, eg.
	gedit, kedit, etc.
	This is the first release of Bspeller that makes any sense as it
	actually works as a Bengali spell checker! More information,
	instructions, and screenshot can be found at:
	http://www.bengalinux.org/projects/dictionary/bspeller.php
	Bspeller-0.3 is now available for download from:
	http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=43331

SARAI.NET OFFERS SUPPORT FOR FREE SOFTWARE: The Delhi-based non-profit has
taken another step to support Free Software. Meyarivan <mary@sarai.net>
recently announced the independent fellowships under its FLOSS Initiative.

Those selected include projects for:

Linux based CNC Controller Sagar Behere [ behere at sancharnet.in ] and
Sandeep Bhambra. The project aims to develop a GNU/Linux based CNC
controller using off the shelf hardware. The mechanical design of the CNC
machine has been completed and they have developed an add-on ISA expansion
card that can control stepper motors simultaneously.

Management and Information System - Tapan Parikh/Ekgaon [ tap2k at yahoo.org
] This project aims to implement a complete, modular Management and
Information System (MIS) for village-based savings and lending groups,
otherwise known as Self-Help Groups (SHGs). This MIS would allow central
tracking of the internal accounts, financial position, loan repayment
performance and related account information for a community of SHGs,
federated under a common administrative and financial body, referred to as a
SHG Federation, or a Community-Based Financial Institution (CBFI).

Library Management Software - Sharmad Naik [ sharmad at goatelecom.com ]
This project will implement a complete library management system. A working
version of the software has already been released and future updates will
provide complete functionality required for a library.

KreSIT (Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology), IIT Bombay [
http://www.it.iitb.ac.in/ ] There are about 19 groups working under the
guidance of Dr.Pathak and Ms. C.Vijayalakshmi at KreSIT, IIT Bombay on
opensource software. They have already developed software for distance
education and are currently developing various applications in office
automation, voip and localization.

Sunil Abraham [ sunil at mahiti.org ] Will test and benchmark free software
to ensure that it can be used for mission critical applications. Will
conduct research on different types of user communities, usability studies
for various interfaces and devices and technology cost calculator for
village information kiosks and work on open source storage formats and
algorithms for bioinformatics.

	INDLINUX DISTRO... AN IDEA WITH LOCAL LANG SUPPORT: Details of one
	distro planned, with local language support, are at
	http://www.indlinux.org/distro Also see the Indian Linux Project
	www.indlinux.org and the Indic-Computing Project
	indic-computing.sf.net

LANGUAGE-RELATED SOLUTIONS: Says Guntupalli Karunakar
<karunakar@freedomink.org> : IIIT Hyd has a good track record on free
software, they have released lot of language related stuff under GPL
(language dictionaries, machine translation tools etc). See
http://www.iiit.net/ltrc/Dictionaries/Dict_Frame.html and
http://www.iiit.net/ltrc/downloads.html

	SITE FOR EXCHANGING SOFTWARE: A youngman from Goa - Ajay -
	<incubuz@softhome.net> tells of a small site he has built for
	"exchanging software". Says he: "It is very basic and I plan to
	build upon it gradually." Check http://sofall.vze.com

GLUE, AN INNOVATIVE SOLUTION FOR SCHOOLS FROM DELHI: Feedback from Bijon
Shaha <bbshaha@yahoo.com> about the GLUE, an interesting concept from Ajith
<ajith@nsc.ernet.in>: The cd uses the concept of preinstalled and
prconfigured LTSP server which has been tar archived on a cd. Installation
is basically extracting this tar ball into the new partition in the new
system, which is very fast. At the first boot it depends on Kudzu for quick
detection of hardware in the new machine where it usually has to unconfigure
the mismatching hw and configure with the new hardware, and you are ready to
use the server!

	BHUBANESWAR LUG NEEDS SUPPORT: This is about a (GNU)Linux Users'
	Group that needs support.  The Bhubaneswar LUG mailing list was
	setup sometime in 2000. But there has been only a very posts to this
	lists. You can join the list by sendign a message to ILUG-BBSR
	<ilug-bbsr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com> ... This info was posted via
	LIG, the Linux India General list. See
	https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-india-help

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOUQUETS&BRICKBATS BOUQUETS&BRICKBATS BOUQUETS&BRICKBATS BOUQUETS&BRICKBATS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Nikhil Shanker <nikhil@ilug-hyd.org.in>
Subject: Re: NEWSLETTER: GNU/LinuxIndia Dec 27, 2002

I share the same opinions as Arun Sharma on LIG. The logo reduces "Linux" to
a single column. GNU/Linux is acceptable since it caters to some
individuals' sentiments, but this looks like an overkill.

I think RMS must be show the logo with "LINUX" replaced with "HURD" with
the same one column layout. I bet, he'd be satisfied with...


   e88~~\  888b    | 888   |   888  888  888   |  88888b          888  /
  d888     |Y88b   | 888   |   888  888  888   |  888  88    e88~\888  I
  8888 __  | Y88b  | 888   |   88888888  888   |  888ee88   d888  888  N
  8888   | |  Y88b | 888   |   88888888  888   |  88888b    8888  888  D
  Y888   | |   Y88b| Y88   |   888  888  Y88   |  888 88b   Y888  888  I
   "88__/  |    Y888  "8__/    888  888   "8__/   888  88b   "88_/888  A

bah!

>
> 	SPEECH SYNTHESIS: Rohit Kumar of the Speech Processing Lab, LTRC at
> 	IIIT Hyderabad points to a speech synthesis demo at
> 	http://196.12.44.11/~speech/index.htm Says he: "I look forward to
> 	your responses both about the speech quality and the ease of use and
> 	understandability of the web interface. PS: For all [GNU/]/Linux
> 	enthusiasts the speech synthesizer is currently built on Red Hat
> 	Linux 7.2 and we have tested it with RHL 8.0."

This is insane too. You're quoting a post here, and you GNU-hijack it
within the quotes. This very prominent and noticable GNU-hijacking makes
the newsletter more unreadable. Although the content is commendable, the
we-will-serve-you-oh-RMS-my-l0rd attitude hides the real juice.

Maybe even this comment will only be listed in the "Comments" section of
the next version of the newsletter just like Arun's was. But I've been
looking at this newletter everytime and seeing more GNU than actual
information is really disheartening. The best part is it gets posted to
LI and LUGs. Please note that these its not GLI and GLUGs.

I imply no disrespect to the poster. Its just an opinion. -- Nikhil
(nikhil.shankar at acm.org)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR INPUTS and criticism to this newsletter are welcome.  Contact us at
fred at bytesforall dot org --COPYLEFT 2002, GPL. May be freely circulated
provided entire text is retained. FN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------






















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