MY EDITOR-FRIEND-via-email (and the occasional phone call) Ramdas S is
paying increasing attention to non-proprietorial software (they mostly
call it just 'Open Source' in Bangalore, where he's based). So much so,
that his DEVELOPER IQ magazine -- http://www.developeriq.com -- is
probably the Indian general-computing magazine with among the most
amount of Free/Libre and Open Source Software content in it.

Good going. If you too appreciate it, please drop him a line at
ramdas@... and let him know there *is* a market for
FLOSS-related information.

So, one good turn deserves another. This email tries to
draw attention to the FLOSS-related information
in the September 2005 issue of DeveloperIQ, available
on many newsstands across India.

QUOTE... UNQUOTE: Most of the Linux gurus I know have been advising me
for the past five years to use Debian [GNU]Linux. I must confess that I
did try installing a Debian 2.x distribution, but it turned out to be a
nightmare... I was petrified by the thought of running a Debian-based
distribution on my newly acquired computer. However, I must confess that
installing and running Mepis (or SimplyMepis 3.3) was a very smooth
experience. While searching for software for the new Linux distribution
on the web, I managed to discover a lot of progress made on Debian-based
distributions.... -- Ramdas S, editor, DeveloperIQ.com

o Windows developer's guide to Linux development: On Windows it is
likely that you will be using one of these four languages a majority of
the time: C/C++ (Visual C++ included), C#, Visual Basic and Java. Delphi
comes fifth in the list. In [GNU]/Linux it is a little different. You
will see that most development happens on C/C++. Java comes a distant
second. Then, you have a host of developers working on scripting
languages such as Perl, Python, PHP, Ruby and others. Almost all
languages have some kind of port on [GNU]Linux. So no one is really left
behind. However, whether these ports are good enough for professional
development is another question.

o Setting up a Java development environment on [GNU]Linux.
o OSDL's patent project: The Open Source Development Labs has created a
project to free developers from worry over violating intellectual
property (IP) rights held by patent holders.
o RPM configuration file handling mechanism. www.rpm.org/max-rpm
o Switching from Windows to Linux. Insights into common
Windows technologies and products that do not have a
direct replacement (yet) on GNU/Linux.

Wiley Dreamtech is offering six books on GNU/Linux
if you answer six questions properly. You can log onto
this quiz by logging on to www.developeriq.com --
what's the GNOME-promoted technology touted as a
replacement for COM, who founded Mepis, what framework
did Rod Johnson develop, which company did Linus Torvalds
work with prior to the OSDL, who wrote wxPython, and
which language accounts for 71 percent of Linux code?

o Some inexpensively-republished books available in India: Everything
You Want To Do About Linux Troubleshooting 305 pages Rs 199. Linux
Troubleshooting Bible 800 pages Rs 329. Linux Bible, 1008 pages, Rs 549.
Programming Python, 1296 pages, Rs 750.

o Free tools for Web development on [GNU]Linux. For graphics and design,
there are vector graphics (Karbon14) and drawing tools, image editing
(GIMP, Image Magick), animation (MultiGIF for creating animated GIF
images, Blender for professional animation) and flash (Spalah Flash,
Flash for Linux). Nvu -- http://www.nvu.com -- is a fairly good HTML
editor. Also Quanta Plus and Blue Fish. Other tools like LAMP, Ruby,
Zope, Java and Mono.

o Six [GNU] Linux GUI toolkits compared: Tk, GTK+, Qt,wxWindows, FOX,
Swing. "A Windows developer migrating to Linux will be overwhelmed by
the choice of GUI toolkits available. It is important to make the choice
depending on the size of the project, target platforms and, of course,
the language of preference."

A Microsoft advert on the last page asks developers
"can you catch up with the future?" It asks them to
"create the next killer application using the forthcoming
development tools in Whidbey". And, it adds: "Microsoft
will not own Intellectual Property associated with your
application. It is yours to keep and market as you choose."
Property or people first? The difference shows!

On the CDs: * GNU/Linux IDEs Special -- source code (Visual Basic,
VB.net, C# and PHP), IDEs (Anjuta, Eclipse SDK 3.1, Jython, Hibernate,
Source Navigator, WXPython, KDevelop IDE, Bluefish 1.0.2, wxPerl,
Ginipad, Eclipse SDK 3.1, KDevelop IDE, WXPython,, Python 2.4.1,
ActivePython 2.4.1.247, Zope, Jabberwocky, Visual Tcl, TCL Developer
Studio, IDLE, Hibernate etc), miscellaneous (IronPython 0.9...).

* GNU/Linux Programming: compilers (GCC 4.0.1, Free Pascal Compiler
1.9.8, Jikes 1.22, ncc 2.1, SmartEiffel, BigFORTH 2.1.0), libraries
(Glibc 2.3.5, OpenGUI 5.5.0, Gd 2.0.32, GLib 2.2.6.6, GtkHTML 3.7.5, gtk
+ 2.6.9, Qt 4.0 etc), programming tools (Ruby, Perl 5.8.7, PHP 5.0.4,
Tcl, Tk, PyGtkGLExt, Wine, etc), database tools (MySQl 4.1.13,
DbVisualizer, PostgreSQL, KSQL 1.2.1, Database Fishing Tool 1.3.2,
SQuirrel SQL Client 1.2beta6), web authoring tools (EditiX, oXygen XML
editor, Exist), utilities (Bugzilla, Alien, Linux JVM 5.0, DC++, YaBASIC
2.760, GNU indent 2.2.9, Exuberant Ctags 5.5.3, AutoGen 5.7.1),
miscellaneous (Bug-A-Boo bugtracking system 1.07, Gbuild Project, GNU
Autoconf, GNU Automake, Sh 0.7.8, Visual Paradigm for UML Community
Edition 3.1, Java Gui Builder 0.6.5a, Mailman, Sketsa 3.2.1, Linux
Kernel 2.6.10, relaxng, Xml Validation Interoperability Framework, Puppy
Linux).
--

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_/ Frederick Noronha | Independent Journalist | Ph 832.2409490
_/ 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India | fred@...
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