LIC shifts to Linux system
The Hindu Business Line Bureau
Chennai , July 14
THE Life Insurance Corporation has shifted to a Linux operating system
on the heels of pinpricks experienced with a Unix system, according to
LIC officials.
At a media gathering to introduce LIC's new pension policy, Mr R.R.
Nair, Additional Zonal Manager, said "we are shifting over to Linux;
almost 75 per cent of the branches have shifted".
LIC officials said that all the branches in the South Zone (Tamil
Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry) have just completed the transition to
Linux operating system, and other zones would do the same in a couple
of months.
At present, LIC sources Linux from a vendor who has customised the
same for LIC.
> Linus has released the 2.6.0-test1.
> Check out at
> http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=105815539730173&w=2
Yes, the release of the new kernel ("2.6test" and how long this beta
phase of Linux 2.6 will last is anybody's guess) means that kernel
development will switch focus from feature development to bug testing
as the Linux community looks forward to get the final version of Linux
2.6 ready over the coming months.
Moreover, the 2.6 kernel includes support for Non-Uniform Memory
Architecture (NUMA) servers, which means that it is expected to
strengthen Linux's appeal as a multiprocessor operating system. It
will also include support for embedded processors that do not contain
memory management units, such as Motorola's Dragonball and ColdFire
processors.
-Tarun
Pankaj,
If you don't need to use sendmail, then you can turn
it off. to do this, do the following:
1. login as root.
2. in a terminal, type setup
3. from the menu, choose services
4. scroll down to sendmail, and sm-client, and remove
the tick mark from the box.
to setup samba, look for Samba HOWTOS, on
www.linuxplanet.com (could be .org)
hope that helps you, if not, i could be more specific.
nag
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com
Hi ALL
when booting red Hat Linux when it says
Starting Sendmail
Starting sm-client
it takes almost 5 minutes for each of the them
so over all it takes 10 min to boot
linux
Solution Welcome
I have mounted NTFS of windows on network on my m/c
i can view Windows NTFS partiotion on the same network
onto my linux mcahine now how do i view Linux
partition on WIndows .....what part of Samba i have to
do please let me know
__________________________________
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SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com
Microsoft Girds Public Sector Unit to Combat Linux Microsoft officials have acknowledged that Linux is a serious threat to the Redmond vendor's government and education sectors of its business. Now the company is circling its wagons and planning to merge its U.S. government and educational services businesses to head Linux off at the pass.
SOME STORIES ARE JUST A PLEASURE TO WRITE. Here's one: Microsoft uses Linux. Well, ok. Microsoft doesn't use Linux directly, but it seems their web presence would be severely impaired without the benefits of the open source OS, which, to put words into Bill Gates' mouth, threatens the future of capitalism as we know and love it.
Quite simply, the Vole uses Akamai Technologies' Internet-wide cacheing system to deliver content to surfers. And Akamai runs Linux. This sad fact is revealed here.
The page, compiled by Netcraft, an Internet services company based in Bath, England, shows that Microsoft London Internet Data Center distributes Microsoft content in London using Linux servers. Spokesman Mike Prettejohn at Netcraft said the cacheing system was used by the biggest and most well-known Web companies. "They would have a hard job avoiding Linux," he said.
He added that for such "close to the edge" cacheing, "there's either Linux, Linux, or Linux." As far as he was aware Microsoft markets no such technology.
Microsoft blankly refused to comment. µ
Addendum While you're on the Netcraft site you might find the difference between the uptimes on servers running Linux and those running Windows 2000 of interest...
Linux Reconstructing Tree of Life By Michelle Delio
02:00 AM Jul. 10, 2003 PT
Demeter, Mother Earth to ancient Greeks, is now helping scientists unlock the mysteries of life.
Demeter is the name of the American Museum of Natural History's supercomputer. Built by biologist Ward Wheeler from off-the-shelf parts, the Linux cluster is now ranked the 107th-fastest computer in the world on the Top 500 supercomputers list.
Scientists are now using Demeter to create "The Tree of Life," a collaborative project involving biologists from around the world.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project is attempting to construct a pattern of relationships that biologists believe links all of Earth's present and past species -- from the smallest microbe to the largest vertebrate that existed during Earth's 4 billion-year history.
Wheeler, like many of the other scientists working at Manhattan's Museum of Natural History, is engaged in phylogenic reconstruction -- research that correlates huge amounts of data to establish ancestral connections between species.
Wheeler's complicated research constantly exhausted his computer's processing power. So, ten years ago he decided to build himself a supercomputer.
His first rig was a cluster of 11 Hewlett-Packard workstations, each with 32 MB of RAM and 100-MHz PA-RISC chips. It was a nice setup for the time. But he didn't stop there.
In 1996, Wheeler added 10 Intel PCs running Linux. After completing that in 1999, he built two other Linux rigs from scratch, taking advantage of faster hardware and more memory.
Demeter, the most recent addition, comprises 256 Xeon CPUs, each running at 2.8 GHz, with 4 GB of RAM each. The boards are connected over Myrinet, a high-speed network built for cluster computing.
Wheeler said he opted to build his own computer because he wanted to get the best performance "bang for the buck."
"It's relatively simple to build a computer -- takes 15 minutes and about 12 parts," Wheeler said. "We bought the parts wholesale and assembled it in my office. The next day we connected the computers into a cluster.
"The computer project has certainly grown over the years, but the real innovations that made this possible are the concept of cluster computing and the Linux operating system," Wheeler added. "Linux makes it so easy to create a supercomputer."
Wheeler is now in charge of the Tree of Life's $2.7 million spider project, which aims to resolve relationships among 40,000 species of spiders.
Wheeler's team will work to create a massive data matrix containing detailed information about each spider species -- attributes like size, diet and habitat. The matrix will then be processed to spot subtle relationships between the species, and to figure out how spiders made the transition from their family tree's base to the farthest branches.
Demeter will then analyze the data arrays to arrive at the best tree formation, among many possible trees, that could describe evolutionary relationships.
Without a supercomputer, processing a project like the Tree of Life would be impossible in any reasonable amount of time, Wheeler said.
"One of the most interesting parts of the Tree of Life project is that we combine information from all possible sources, like anatomy and genomic DNA, to create integrated pictures of life. This includes living and extinct creatures, which may outnumber the living 100 to 1. It is fascinating to trace the lineages of these creatures back in time."
Mark Norell, paleontology curator at the Museum of Natural History, will also use Demeter in his own Tree of Life research. Norell's team is working to discover family-group relationships among archosaurs.
Norell's team also will start by creating a data matrix of species and characters for theropod dinosaurs (the archosaur subgroup that includes birds and their dinosaur relatives). The team then will combine that matrix with a companion project on modern birds.
The resulting combined bird and theropod database will eventually be turned into a Web-based "supermatrix" of some 2,000 species. Scientists will be able to export the data for their own analysis.
A book on the project is set for publication in late 2003.
Microsoft pitches partners against Linux
By -Sarah Stokely, ARN
(Original Story Source: http://www.computerworld.com.au/pp.php?
id=1761786578&fp=16&fpid=0)
11/07/2003 08:12:23
Microsoft might still view Linux as being in the "early adopter"
phase, but the software giant is taking no chances that it might take
hold in the SME sector, distributing CDs to partners advising them
how to head off the Linux threat.
MS partners attending its partner briefing in Sydney last week
received a Competing with Linux CD, which includes a tutorial on how
best to approach customers considering adopting open source software.
"Microsoft is facing significant competition from Linux in every
segment of business, especially small to medium business customers,"
the tutorial begins.
The CD advises partners not to initiate conversations on open source
software, and includes suggested conversational approaches should the
topic arise.
It suggests taking a "collaborative tone" and sticking to "specific
and factual data" in such customer engagement.
"Open source software can be an emotionally loaded issue, especially
for the technical staff in your accounts," the CD said.
It warned: "The key areas for you to focus on in your accounts to
compete against Linux include server consolidation, UNIX migration,
web development with Microsoft .NET technology and key workloads like
Security, Networking, plus File and Print.
"Upgrading from the Windows NT 4.0 install is essential to competing
against Linux in all of these areas."
July 10, 2003
SCO vs. Linux: Show Me the Money
By Peter Galli
Story Source: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1188907,00.asp
PORTLAND, Ore.—The contentious issue of the SCO Group's lawsuit
against IBM and its claims that the Linux operating system is an
unauthorized derivative of Unix, to which SCO owns the rights, reared
its ugly head at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention (Oscon) here on
Wednesday.
In a late afternoon panel discussion titled "The IP Wars: SCO Versus
Linux," moderator Chris DiBona, vice president and founder of Damage
Studios, said the topic essentially involves a "SCO versus everybody
else talk," adding that the lawsuit was probably brought for
financial reasons as IBM is a player with a lot of money.
Lawrence Rosen, general counsel for the Open Source Initiative (OSI),
said he has sued many people, adding that he hates suing poor
clients. "The rich ones have deep pockets," he said.
Bradley Kuhn, executive director of the Free Software Foundation,
which is the copyright holder for much of the GNU Linux operating
system, said if a company is not after money, suing is not the way to
go.
The Free Software Foundation has never sued anyone who was in beach
of the GNU General Public License (GPL) as it simply wants them to
come into compliance with the license.
But it wasn't long before the finger was also pointed at Microsoft
Corp., which in May licensed SCO's Unix technology.
"Microsoft has identified the GNU GPL as their biggest competitor and
is making sure that it does not lose any deals on price to GPL'd
software in Europe. That had a lot to do with why they took a
license; their goal is to make the GPL look bad," he said.
As recently as May, SCO was shipping copies of Linux off their FTP
site under the terms of the GPL, which allows users can copy and
redistribute it. "So, whatever happens, you will still have Linux
under GPL," Rosen said.
Alan Nugent, chief technology officer for Novell Inc., which once
owned the rights to Unix before selling them to SCO, said his company
is committed to helping the community "get over this. We believe all
the things that have gone on are pretty baseless, and we want to move
on from here," Nugent said.
Asked about Novell's copyright claims with regard to Unix System V,
Nugent would only say that when the transfer deals took place, "not
all things were transferred and the things that were transferred are
not necessarily the things that will help [SCO's] case."
Story Source: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1188907,00.asp
> Kernel Panic: Vfs unable to mount root fs on 09:02
> Error 13: Invalid or Unsupported executable format
> Press any key to continue.
> Please help me understand the error messages, the problem and the
sloution to the same.
Your hard disk seems to have crashed, or has some serious fault, if
not a because both Linux and Windows are unable to boot your system.
But you may have a chance to rescue your data on the hard drive.
Set BIOS to default settings and try booting. If that does not work
try booting with the rescue disk (I hope you have it).
If you don't even have a rescue diskette try to get some kind
of "Linux Live from CD" type of distribution that lets you boot your
machine from CD itself. Last and this issue of Linux For You magazine
contains such a distribution and the issue must be available at the
news stand.
So set your machine to boot from CD-ROM.
One the system is up and running, access the HDD partitions wher you
have your data, and take backup.
I hope you are able to solve this problem.
And hey Atul a piece of advice. This in interest of the SunnyLUG and
the wider Linux community, that you let us know how you finally
solved this problem. I urge you to share your experience. Your mails
should not end at the point when you have get a solution. Someone
else may have a problem like you are having at the moment and your
sharing the entire experience will help others. And this is why the
SunnyLUG is here.
All the best
-TARUN
> These ppl have gone crazy!!!
Yes that's the truth. And more than that people have gone mean and
cheap
> If this crap goes in favor of SCO (let's pray it
> doesnot happen), Will this stop us in anyway? We,
> hackers, belong to the era of Ritchie and Kerninghan.
> Phoenix will rise from its ashes.
Exactly. And I strongly believe that SCO will not win this case. Even
if it does, nothing to worry. Coz the existing Linux community will
not let Linux movement fade waway like this. The codes that SCO
claims have been copied from SCO's Unix, will very quickly get
rewritten anew. And Linux will live for ever.
-TARUN
--- "Dr. Tarun Kant" <bobkant@...> wrote:
---------------------------------
>What the SCO/IBM scrap means for users
These ppl have gone crazy!!!
What are they trying to get out of it? Company?
Impediments to computer science development.
The wrong move of patenting *nix is giving fruits now.
If this crap goes in favor of SCO (let's pray it
doesnot happen), Will this stop us in anyway? We,
hackers, belong to the era of Ritchie and Kerninghan.
Phoenix will rise from its ashes.
--Himanshu
=====
GNU/Linux is not a sensation; It is a revolution that will change the computer
history.
I am Linux Register User #316208, What's yours?
Go get counted at http://counter.li.org!
________________________________________________________________________
Send free SMS using the Yahoo! Messenger. Go to
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A decision by eight consumer products giants, most of
them Japanese, to throw support behind Linux has the
chief executive officer of SCO on the move. CEO Darl
McBride, whose company recently launched a legal
attack on Linux for alleged patent infringements, will
go to Japan this week in an attempt to prove his point
with some of the manufacturers that came together last
week as the CE Linux Forum, or CELF.
CELF's eight founders are Hitachi, Matsushita, NEC,
Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba. The SCO
(SCOX) chief, who is fluent in Japanese, will visit
with several of the group's members to show them code
samples that document the alleged violation of Unix
patents by the open-source Linux operating system,
said a SCO spokesman.
Linux proponents saw the formation of CELF by a
powerhouse coalition as a vote of confidence for the
upstart OS, and further proof that corporate Linux
users are not overly concerned about the legal threat
from SCO. CELF will focus on the promotion of
Linux-based consumer electronics products.
-RK
________________________________________________________________________
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What the SCO/IBM scrap means for users
By Robert Jaques [07-07-2003]
No company currently evaluating or conducting trials of the open
source Linux operating system could fail to be concerned by the
recent high profile threats made by SCO against IBM and the wider
Unix and Linux communities.
The stakes were recently raised when SCO suspended all sales of its
distribution of Linux and warned rivals and users alike that they
face legal action if they are found to be using its code in their
software.
Adding to the controversy, SCO has claimed that it owns core
intellectual property contained within all commercial distributions
of Linux, including the kernel itself. It is so confident of its
claims that it has stopped sales "until attendant risks with Linux
are better understood".
The company sent letters to 1,500 international Linux users telling
them that they may be liable for using SCO's code. President and
chief executive Darl McBride warned that "legal liability may arise
[which] may also rest with the end user".
The question on the lips of many IT managers is what SCO's highly
controversial action actually means for companies that have already
deployed Linux or are considering rolling out the operating system.
The answer to this question, according to industry experts, is that
it means virtually nothing. Tony Lock, chief analyst at Bloor
Research, said that for the vast majority of IT managers SCO's
action would have no impact.
"I wouldn't worry at all if I was that man in the street as it's
just vendors trying to kick each other and see what they can get,"
he told vnunet.com.
"In the case of SCO it's about cash and, probably more importantly,
publicity. It's about 'We are SCO and people have forgotten about
us. If we can get some money from this then great, but mainly it's
about column inches.'
"Users should ignore this apart from the fact that it's jolly good
sport. In actual end-user terms, although it may not seem like it,
it's just a bit of fun really.
"It's quite interesting the way in which Microsoft fuelled the
flames by buying a licence from SCO, probably just so it could turn
around and say that it was not anti-Linux."
According to Lock, the best advice for end users is to just watch
and laugh. "It's not going to end up costing any end user money
because the vendors are not going to drop anybody in it," he
explained.
"The last thing that SCO would want to do would be to kill any
customers, because this would just be cutting off its nose to spite
its face. For IBM and the other firms on the end of the action it
may mean that margins have to be tightened if SCO does win its legal
action, but that's a very, very big if."
Clive Longbottom, strategy analyst at research firm Quocirca,
suggested that the most likely winner in the legal battle would be
SCO rival Red Hat because SCO's move may fatally wound the
UnitedLinux consortium of which it is a founder.
"When you look at the Linux market, it's pretty much going the way
we predicted with the smaller players having a tough time of it," he
said.
Source URL> http://www.vnunet.com/Analysis/1142093
"For the actual software distributions, there's only really one
player in the enterprise, since UnitedLinux is fragmented after the
SCO legal action, and that's Red Hat."
Microsoft antitrust case takes Linux twist
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
July 7, 2003, 2:11 PM PT
The Massachusetts attorney general's office is investigating whether
Microsoft tried to squash Linux in violation of the consent decree
settling the company's landmark antitrust case.
Read on at:
http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-1023497.html
-TARUN
> You also mentioned about a *KDE_hindi something*
> project. Who is hosting it and who is the developer?
> Can I help it in any way?
-Himanshu
The KDE Hindi translation work is on. Check out
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indlinux-hindi-kde
The aim of this project to translate Linux (particularly the KDE
interface) in Hindi using Unicode via UTF-8. Check it out at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/hinux/ Project administrator is Sanjay
Khatri < sk_ind@... >. You can also check out
http://education.vsnl.com/linuxinhindi/
The Indlinux.org's Milan (Gnome in Hindi!) project has also been quite
successful and substantial work has been done. The link to their website
however is not working at the moment (http://www.indlinux.org/). However
for details you can check out the press release at
http://www.freeos.com/articles/4572/
Very interestingly enough, The latest issue of "Linux For You" magazine
has come out with its own version of Linux which they call LiFY and this
time in Hindi. It has the IndLinux Milan (Gnome) implementation. LiFY is
actually based on Knoppix, which in turn is based on Debian. LiFY in
Hindi is worth a look. One need not install this OS, it runs directly
from the CD (Boot using this CD, and at boot prompt type:linuxforu
lang=hi desktop=gnome) and you get a Hindi interface. It's pretty
interesting. However, the Hindi implementation at this stage is partial
and not complete translation yet achieved. But is a good start in the
right direction.
There is a Mozilla Hindi Translation project going on at the moment.
Check it out at http://www.bttlindia.com/mozilla/index.html
Plus Devanagari Howto is available at:
http://rohini.ncst.ernet.in/indix/doc/HOWTO/Devanagari-HOWTO-index.html
and can be a useful document.
Regards
-TARUN
In a battle against open source, one method that is being used is to
make some leading tools disappear, and make them unavailable to the
end users. Microsoft has announced to buy the RAV technology from
GeCAD Software. As already known, RAV Antivirus is a popular anti
virus for the Linux Platform. Microsoft has publicly talked about the
need to strike back against its open source rivals. And Microsoft has
said that after it finishes aquisition of the this technology, the RAV
product line will be withdrawn.
Couple of days back we had a brainstorming discussion on Lindows. But what I am telling here is something different. It is called Lindoe.com.
Linode.com provides a highly customizable Virtual Machine Management Platform using Linux, that lets you configure your own server complete with root access, without the burden of a dedicated server's upkeep, maintenance, and co-location fees. A. Linode is similar to these other terms: Linux Virtual Dedicated Computer (a Linux VDS), Linux Virtual Private Server (a Linux VPS), vserver, semi-dedicated, virtual colocation, shared dedicated.
> I want to test my hands with GTK. Can anybody suggest
> me a good online book or any economic paper back
> edition.
Himanshu, check out the following GTK tutorials (PDF) links:
1. http://cng.ateneo.net/cng/wyu/classes/ resources/gtk-tutorial.pdf
2. http://misha.host.ge/public/programming/gtk-
tutorial.20000721/pdf/gtk-tut.pdf
> Thanx in advance.
Always a pleasure
-TARUN
> =====
> GNU/Linux is not a sensation; It is a revolution that will change
the computer history.
>
> I am Linux Register User #316208, What's yours?
> Go get counted at http://counter.li.org!
>
>
______________________________________________________________________
__
> Send free SMS using the Yahoo! Messenger. Go to
http://in.mobile.yahoo.com/new/pc/
Hi all!
I want to test my hands with GTK. Can anybody suggest
me a good online book or any economic paper back
edition.
Thanx in advance.
regards
Himanshu
=====
GNU/Linux is not a sensation; It is a revolution that will change the computer
history.
I am Linux Register User #316208, What's yours?
Go get counted at http://counter.li.org!
________________________________________________________________________
Send free SMS using the Yahoo! Messenger. Go to
http://in.mobile.yahoo.com/new/pc/
"Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas", an animated movie from DreamWorks
Animation Technology that hit theaters on July 2 (yesterday), is the
first Hollywood production created entirely on Linux. More than 250
Hewlett-Packard workstations running Red Hat Linux make up the core of
DreamWorks' graphics platform.
Complete story at:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59452,00.html
-TARUN
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tarun Kant
Scientist
Forest Genetics & Tree Biotechnology
Arid Forest Research Institute
New Pali Road
Jodhpur 342005 India
Phone: +91-291-272269 ext. 162
Web: www.afri.res.in/FGTB/TK/tk.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Can Ximian Crash Microsoft's Desktop Party?
"The desktop is Microsoft's last stand for near
dominance, which will gradually erode with greater
awareness of the maturity of Linux desktop offerings,"
Forrester analyst Stacey Quandt predicts.
See Complete Story:
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/21815.html
-TARUN
________________________________________________________________________
Send free SMS using the Yahoo! Messenger. Go to
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Cross-posted]
Michel Rocard opposes the patentability of software
"Everyone copies, and this is a good thing"
By Florent LATRIVE and Laurent MAURIAC
Liberation, Monday June 30, 2003
"A civilization should be preserved where the place of
the world outside the market and of the human
intellect is respected."
One does not find a computer on the Parisian desk of
Michel Rocard. He admits it freely: he is not "one of
the generation which has an easy facility with the
computer". However, as president of the Committee
for Culture in the European Parliament, he has had to
plunge himself, with an "evil madness", into software
patentability, "words which even a year ago were
unknown to me". Today, if he speaks about it in such
an animated way, it is because hiding behind the
technical aspects there is a real issue about
civilization. For the ex prime minister, the
introduction of patents on software in Europe would be
"very serious". It would call into question the
freedom of movement of human knowledge. Until now,
software has been officially excluded from patentable
subject-matter in Europe, just like mathematical
equations or cooking recipes. But for several months,
a very polemical draft Directive has been before the
institutions of the European Union which aims to
modify this regime. It will be put to the vote in the
European Parliament at the beginning of September.
Q.: Why do you reckon that Europe should not authorize
patents on software?
Since the cave of Lascaux, it is not clear that
humanity has progressed in its aesthetic capacities.
As for its ethical capacities and morals, one is even
more doubtful. On the other hand, in the field of
technical knowledge and the control of nature, the
progress is astounding. The dizzying growth of
knowledge is the key to this history. Knowledge was
spread by copying, everyone recopied everyone, and
that was good. With the patentability of software, one
is re-writing the statutes on human knowledge. All of
the intellectual
exchange in the creations of the human spirit, the
means of bringing knowledge together, will be achieved
more and more by software. If patentability is
introduced, i.e. a cost, a prohibition, one sets up a
new rule. It is worrying.
Full translation at:
http://www.aful.org/wws/arc/patents/2003-06/msg00221.html
Original (French) story at:
http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=121303
Regards
-TARUN
________________________________________________________________________
Send free SMS using the Yahoo! Messenger. Go to
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I want to automate ftp of a file. Only I know is that `expect' may be
helpful. Can somesone provide me procedure to implement following
commands in `expect'.
==========================================
ftp someServer.org
username
password
cd someDir
bin
get foo.ps
bye
==========================================
Thanks in advance
--
H.S.Rai
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 * July 01,2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------
SAMBA HOWTO: Dileep M Kumar says he has "written a small samba howto". Check
it out at http://kumarayil.net/samba.htm Don't forget: Comments welcome.
SHARING KNOWLEDGE, THROUGH TINY TIPS: Your tech tips on how to sort
out various issues are welcome on the GNU/LOST (Linux One Stanza
Tips) network. Check out the howtos mailing list
howtos@... or
http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/howtos
VOLUNTEER FOR HINDI-KDE: Tarun Kant <bobkant@...> calls on
volunteers to be part of the IndLinux-Hindi-KDE project and help in
translating the K Desktop Environment to Hindi. Send Indlinux-hindi-kde
mailing list submissions to indlinux-hindi-kde@... To
subscribe or unsubscribe, visit
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indlinux-hindi-kde or send an
email with subject or body saying 'help' to the address
indlinux-hindi-kde-request@... Contact the person managing
the list via indlinux-hindi-kde-admin@...
BEGINNERS GUIDE TO CODING NETWORK DEVICE DRIVERS: Karthik
<mnkarthik@...> has a new site. Check out its GNU/Linux
section at http://www.metlin.org/linux Says he: "I've also included
some beginner's guide to coding Network Device Drivers there and
soon plan on adding stuff on HCI in Linux."
FREE SOFTWARE... TO THE WORLD FORUM: From distant Argentia, Diego Saravia
<dsa@...> of the Hipatia network is keen to do something that would
take Free Software to the World Social Forum, that is being organised in
Mumbai in January 2004. Says he: "Perhaps we could setup an email list to
work on the free software issue for the 4fsm/India. I could invite people
involved in previous (World Social Fora) and the Free Software Forum-India
could invite Indian enthusiasts." See www.hipatia.info or via email
info@... or visit the list
http://listas.hipatia.info/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/coordinadores-hipatia
DESILINUX.COM: "ttyl - Jonnas" recently announced the new
*desilinux.com* bulletin-board. This, he says, "aims to foster
discussion in technical, business and legal matters related to
Linux. I am looking for a founding group that can bring their issues
to the BB." His favorite topic currently is Linux on embedded
devices. Other than this, he also would like to discuss "what is
going to the climax show-down between MS & Linux when Linux hits the
desktop market in a big way (I'd estimate somewhere in early 2005)".
Says he: "To help build yet another comprehensive Linux community,
visit http://www.desilinux.com "
FLOSS GIVES INDIA A BOOST IN MANY MARKETS AND ENDEAVOURS: From banks and
hospitals to software houses and prestigious technological institutions, the
charm of free/libre and open-source software (FLOSS) is casting a spell in
India that is pushing many here to venture into uncharted fields. Full Story
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6958
HELP FROM AFAR: A friend from Finland, Aschwin Van Der Woude
<aschwin.van.der.woude@...> of the group working
to kickstart and fuel ("aktivaattori") further interest in
Free/Libre and Open Source Software is willing to volunteer to
"download, burn and send" CDs to India, if these could be of help
here... and if we can build a system for sharing the same. Any
takers?
FREEBSD OPTIONS: FreeBSD enthusiast and developer from Bangalore Joseph
Koshy < a_joseph_koshy@...> says, in response to a query from one
youngster: "We don't have a central body that directs FreeBSD. It is more
like a collection of peers, the only criteria for admission is (proven)
competence on FreeBSD. There are a number of mailing lists that carry
FreeBSD related technical traffic. Do check www.freebsd.org for more
information. For example, press, publicity and the like are discussed on
freebsd-advocacy. There is no 'certification' on FreeBSD that I'm aware of."
Koshy is also the self-described "founder-manager-programmer-peon" of the
Indic-Computing Project (http://indic-computing.sf.net)
NOT FLOSS, BUT BASED ON IT: The South Asia IT list run by Irfan Khan
from nearby Pakistan is an interesting source of news on how IT can
help this sub-continent get a better life for its millions. It's not
directly focussed on FLOSS, but runs on a Free Software platform
(Mailman). See the s-asia-it mailing list at
http://mailman.apnic.net/mailman/listinfo/s-asia-it
.........................................................................
.
. FIRST PERSON... TEMPTING SOLUTION? Prof G. R. Bhat <grbhat@...>
. formerly of the Goa University, describes his experience with Reliance, a
. big player in the Indian mobile world. This comes in via the ILUG-Goa
. mailing list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa :
.
. Hi, I was at the Reliance web world last night with my notebook just to
. check whether the rconnect service works as advertised at least for Linux.
. We reached there just as they were about to close for the day (8.30 pm),
. but the person there was gracious enough to let us in and allowed us to
. outstay our welcome for whopping hour and a half after closing time while
. we put the service through a "linux compatibility" test.
.
. The staff there was unaware of Linux but again thats OK. They were sales
. and marketing, not technical and hence forgiven ;). The Binary ran fine on
. Redhat 9 (my notebook) - it asked me what device I was using (USB or
. Serial). I said USB, so it went and made /dev/rmodem a soft link to
. /dev/usb (strange!) and then proceeded to change /etc/ppp/options,
. /etc/ppp/ip-up.local and /etc/ppp/ip-down.local without any warning (and
. without backing up my versions). The README clearly said that my files
. would be backed up with a .old extension. My ip-up/down files are pretty
. much standard so no problem there. But this could be a major problem for
. those who do a lot of magic in their up/down scripts . Back Up!.
.
. After all this - when I ran the prescribed "rconnect" it did not work.
.
. That's when I checked the stuff that was going on under the pretty
. interface. I doubt if it installed any driver on my notebook. Once I
. figured that all they were using was a dialout (the ususal pppd + chat)
. script coupled with some changes to files in /etc/ppp, and making a blind
. softlink with whatever device was entered in the installer form, I decided
. to try my luck myself rather than use the install program,
.
. I got the Samsung handset to dial out using the standard USB ACM Modem
. drivers that come with RH9 (modprobe ub-uhci; modprobe acm), changed the
. /dev/rmodem to point to /dev/input/ttyACM0 (my /var/log/messages told me
. that the stock RedHat9 USB ACM driver had attached itself to this device)
. and ran the script that came with rconnect.
.
. It works!
.
. I got an IP assigned to me and my /etc/resolv.conf was set correctly to
. point to the Reliance DNS server (I had usepeerdns in /etc/ppp/options)
. and I happily pointed my browser to www.gnu.org :). The service was great
. (no one in the shop hassled us to leave inspite of the fact that it was
. well past closing time, In fact they watched with a lot of interest and
. gave me free run of the place), but the bandwidth was much lower than what
. I expected - about 1.7K/s consistently from 9 pm to 9.45 pm on the night
. of 25 June. Did I buy it? Well I didn't yesterday on account of the rather
. poor bandwidth that I got, but I will be definitely waiting and watching
. the throughput on my friends handsets with a lot of interest.
.
. A mobile IP gateway that I can carry around is too good to resist :)
.
........................................................................
THE WORK IS ON: G Karunkar <karunakar@...> reports in a different
context that you can find some resources and links to groups working on
different Indian languages at http://www.indlinux.org. Says he: "We are also
working on a bootable CD with Indic support (right now based on Morphix).
The Indic components come as a seperate release (see
http://www.indlinux.org/downloads/ ), which can be installed on any distro
(with a bit of tweaking though). There will be another release next week
which will work on RH 8/9, MDK 9.x and Debian unstable (with Gnome 2.2)."
Karunakar, a low-profile and hard-working campaigner on the Indic computing
front, adds that since much of their current work is based on Gnome 2, you
need to have that if you wish to use the IndLinux-Hindi release. Adds he:
"The stuff is all bare bones, not good for any production use. That'ss still
few months away -- till we have KDE, Gnome, Openoffice, Mozilla etc all
supporting Indic at all levels."
LINKING YOUNG TECHIES, MENTORS: Project Resource Centre is a mailing
list and network that puts students and young techies in touch with
potential mentors. It also gives them a chance to discuss their
ideas and get feedback. More details from
http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc
GOING FAR MORE DEEPER: Comments Mahesh T Pai, LL.M. of Kochi
(http://in.geocities.com/paivakil): "The approach by the guys at
indlinux.org takes language far more 'deeper' into the OS than (attempts by
proprietorial software). Language enabling is much more than mere
translation of help files, enabling fonts, and input methods. The KBIPS is
directly involved with Free Software Foundation-India (at least, that is
what I understand, about the FSF-India's involvement) for enabling Malayalam
on GNU/Linux systems." Mahesh, a close and perceptive watcher of the Free
Software scene in India, can be contacted via paivakil@...
Says he: "I believe that the Indlinux team has spent far less during its
entire existence that what (proprietorial software major players have) spent
on a single foreign jaunt for its team leader/s. Not that I grudge the
individuals' benefits; but I cannot help reacting when the government
subsidises efforts, fruits will be controlled by private corporates while
giving a cold shoulder to efforts which would be under public control."
CALLING VOLUNTEERS: Linux-india.org website is expected to get an
overhaul, with volunteers coming forward to support the work of
webmaster Raj Mathur. If you'd like to volunteer too, contact Raj
Mathur raju@...http://kandalaya.org/
ADAPTING LINUX TO INDIA: Venky <venky@...>, a persistent lobbyist
on this front, said in a public discussion: "One issue that is important in
terms of adapting ICT to Indian needs is that the technology should speak
the user's language. At IndLinux (www.indlinux.org) we have been working on
adapting the Linux operating system to Indian languages and have done a
significant amount of work in Hindi. We would like to get an active group
going in Punjabi too so that Punjabi-literate individuals too can benefit
from using computers. Can you please help us get volunteers who can
translate computer terms like "files", "folders" etc to Punjabi?"
'PIRACY'... AS A FAKE CONCEPT: "The concept of piracy being
propagated by multinational companies is fake and do not hold water
in the perspective of our social commitment. I feel we have to
launch resistance and fight against it," said Manabendra Mukherjee,
West Bengal's minister for information technology and environment
department, while delivering a lecture at a seminar on `Linux
initiative in e-Governance applications'. See
http://www.business-standard.com/today/story.asp?Menu=23&story=17114
INDIANIZATION, INTERNATIONALIZATION: Jaco Aizenman <jaizenman@...> of the
Free Software Consortium is looking out for Indian supporters to help with
the internationalization of their "Government Distro". This Free Software
package is being launched in July 2003, by this global organisation
"dedicated to the promotion and commercialisation of Free Software" The
Government Distro is a compilation of programs widely used by the public
sector in Brazil, Argentina and Spain. It contains the GNU/Linux Operating
System, an Office-like suite called Open Office, email and instant
messenger, a calendar, a database, a web browser application and many other
programs. Say its promoters: "All these applications have been used and
tested previously in dozens of Latin American and European users, in order
to certify their functionality. They have all been designed by highly
talented programmers from all around the world."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR INPUTS and criticism to this newsletter are welcome. Contact us at
fred at bytesforall dot org COPYLEFT 2003. May be freely circulated provided
entire text and credits is left intact. FN
--
Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net
Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.orghttp://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.comhttp://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today at 10:27am +0100 DigitalSecure wrote:
> BTW any one knows what happened to GNU/HURD?? Is Stallman still
> working on it?
The Hurd, together with the GNU Mach microkernel, the GNU C Library
and the other GNU and non-GNU programs in the GNU system, provide a
rather complete and usable operating system today. It is not ready
for production use, as there are still many bugs and missing
features. However, it should be a good base for further development
and non-critical application usage.
The GNU system (also called GNU/Hurd) is completely self-contained
(you can compile all parts of it using GNU itself). You can run
several instances of the Hurd in parallel, and debug even critical
servers in one Hurd instance with gdb running on another Hurd
instance. You can run the X window system, applications that use it,
and advanced server applications like the Apache webserver.
On the negative side, the support for character devices (like sound
cards) and other hardware is mostly missing. Although the POSIX
interface is provided, some additional interfaces like POSIX shared
memory or semaphores are still under development.
Taken from:
http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html
Visit there for more detail.
--
H.S.Rai http://www.grex.org/~hsrai | Registered Linux User # 223684
http://counter.li.org/cgi-bin/runscript/display-person.cgi?user=223684
:
####[ Linux One Stanza Tip (LOST) ]###########################
Sub : Restrictive shell (bash -r) LOST #352
Want to restrict some user to his own directory ? Keep the
default shell to "bash -r" or "rbash", It behaves identical to
bash except that cd to / or other dirs, changing environment
and few other features are disabled. View "man bash" for rest.
####[bish (at) nde.vsnl.net.in]###############################
:
Hi all!!!
I was reading the actual case by SCO. The only thing
that I figured out by far was the failure of Project
Montenery. This all is (IMHO) a frustration as SCO is
going down and second is a business stunt. Nohting
else then that. I m still reading it (Its quite
lengthy one discussing everything from unix birth to
GPL language and all).
No matter what they say Linux will live for ever.
Moreover these ppl can't even figure out what exact
piece of code has been copied or modified.
BTW any one knows what happened to GNU/HURD??
Is Stallman still working on it?
-Himanshu
=====
GNU/Linux is not a sensation; It is a revolution that will change the computer
history.
I am Linux Register User #316208, What's yours?
Go get counted at http://counter.li.org!
________________________________________________________________________
Send free SMS using the Yahoo! Messenger. Go to
http://in.mobile.yahoo.com/new/pc/
"The UK is a 'third world country' compared with the rest of Europe
where it comes to public- and private-sector interest in open-source
software, an industry lobbyist said on Thursday.
"Mike Banahan, chief technology officer of OpenForum Europe, made the
remarks at the Linux User and Developer Expo in Birmingham, by way of
introducing the results of research into the way UK firms are using
and thinking about open-source software such as Linux.
http://linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2003063001826OSSWDV
-RK
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