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Issue 4, 31 May 2007

by Khairil Yusof — last modified 2007-10-31 02:25 PM

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OPEN SOURCE HARDWARE From FOSS-Nepal

Open source hardware
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/04/open_source_hardware_what.html

FOSS-Nepal mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/foss-nepal
Community website: http://www.fossnepal.org/

GREENSTONE

Greenstone is a suite of software for building and distributing digital library collections. It provides a new way of organizing information and publishing it on the Internet or on CD-ROM. Greenstone is produced by the New Zealand Digital Library Project at the University of Waikato, and developed and distributed in cooperation with UNESCO and the Human Info NGO. It is an open source, multilingual software, issued under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenstone_%28software%29

For Greenstone documentation, and FAQ support for creating a digital library using Greenstone with the help of online collaboration tool like GreenstoneWiki.
http://greenstonewiki.cs.waikato.ac.nz/wiki/index.php/GreenstoneWiki

ICT AND FOSS TOOLKIT by PANOS

PANOS Media has released its 5th Issue of Toolkit on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), a special on Free And Open Source Software (FOSS) and it features various FOSS issues, challenges and tools. This was done in early May 2007 at the United World Trade Centre, Tripureshor, Kathmandu.

Details: Panos South Asia Sri Durbar Tole, Lalitpur GPO Box: 13651 Kathmandu, Nepal

Tel: (977-1)5521889, 5531447 Fax:(977-1)5544641 URL: http://www.panossouthasia.org

REVIEW COPIES OF LATEST BOOKS at PACKT

Copies of complete books for reviews are available to bloggers, magazine reviewers, academics or trainers considering the title for adoption on a course you are teaching. See books at http://packtpub.com and email review copy requests to reviewrequest@packtpub.com

Say the publishers: "If you do not qualify for a free copy based on these criteria, then we are willing to consider exchanging a free book for an original article written by you that we can publish on Packtpub.com. Articles should be about 1500 words long, and be a technical how-to or case study that would be of interest to other Packt readers." Email your ideas to us at the address above. Some recent/fortcoming titles include:

  • Learning Joomla! Extension Development
  • Moodle E-Learning Course Development
  • MediaWiki Administrators' Tutorial Guide
  • Drupal: Creating Blogs, Forums, Portals, and Community Websites
  • Learning Mambo: A Step-by-Step Tutorial to Building Your Website
  • Building Telephony Systems With Asterisk
  • TYPO3: Enterprise Content Management
  • WordPress Complete

Packtpub is also looking out for writers!

STANLEY THOMAS' BLOG POST

My Last Day With Windows: today i've been doing quite a bit of reading to fix problems with tuxguitar and kguitar, 2 of those tools i desperately need to make complete migration happen. i used to use guitar pro earlier... but now i can smell complete freedom coming my
way. freedom from multiple reboots, fat32 and ntfs partitions and many other inconveniences. and finally i've settled with a permanent linux distro.. UBUNTU.. superb ease of use for any stupid desktop user. i've got tools for everything i need in linux… especially video encoding, multitrack recording, audio editing, drum machines, comic readers, chm readers, blah blah blah…….. and a hell lot of stuff. i feel good already. i strongly believe that mark shuttleworth is the name that's going to replace bill gates' in the desktop market. and the stuff that he's coming out with, ubuntu's gonna be a tough competition for redhat in the server market soon. 10 May 2007 http://perfector.wordpress.com/

FROM INDIA

FOSS Networks

  • Linux Hosting and Indian Users Group
  • Perl User Group - Kolkata
  • Perl User Group - Delhi
  • Perl User Group - Coimbatore
  • PHP users and developers group in India
  • Linux Learning Centre - Linux training courses in Bangalore
  • TeX Users Group of India (TUGIndia)

FOSS Portals/Websites

FOSS Localization Projects

PLANET.IOSN.NET

Check out a number of blogs all in one place at http://planet.iosn.net

  • Aizat Faiz
  • Basanta Shrestha
  • Colin Charles (byte)
  • Ditesh Kumar
  • Eric Pareja (pusakat)
  • Frederick Noronha (fn)
  • James Purser (purserj)
  • Jaya Kumar (jayakumar2)
  • Jerome
  • Gotangco (jsgotangco)
  • Kenneth Wong (kenw)
  • Khairil Yusof (kaeru)
  • Myra Siason (majill)
  • Noel Feria (nightfox)
  • Pia Waugh (greebo)
  • RJ Ian S. Sevilla
  • Simos Xenitellis (simosx)
  • Sukhbaatar Dulmandakh
  • Tushar Abraham Mathew
  • Udomsak Chundang (udomsak)
  • Yolynne Medina (ulinskie)

PROMOTING FOSS IN THE ARAB REGION

The UNESCO office in Rabat has just launched a listserv to discuss the Miftaah project aiming at the promotion of free and open source software (FOSS) in the Arab Region. This list will allow the developers' community from the Maghreb, involved in the Miftaah project, to share information and discuss issues related to the project and the promotion of FOSS.

Several institutions are partners in the Miftaah project, in particular the Mohammedia School of Engineering, Morocco, and the Research Centre on Scientific and Technical Information (CERIST), Algeria. With the help of this listserv, researchers and students will be able to work in a network and to create a real online FOSS community. The aim of this mailing list is to facilitate the exchange of information, provide solutions to problems and share experience during the development of Miftaah. It is used as common tool of communication by the community and any individual and/or organization with an interest in this project.

Miftaah is a project for the development and promotion of FOSS in the Arab region through an online community of practice composed by several university institutions. The project consists of assembling and readapting a package of high quality FOSS applications in three languages (Arabic, French and English) and disseminating it in Arab countries on USB keys.

For more information, contact Jaco du Toit, UNESCO Office in Rabat, j.dutoit at unesco dot org (Source Ms. Jayne Cravens MSc in Bonn via DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list)

ELECTRONICA, OPEN SOURCE TOPICS

Says Prakash A.S.: I have launched my own public site at http://www.electronica.org.in/ It has more open source topics and few commercial topics. electronica is suitable for beginners, job seekers and business people. It contains materials, tutorials, projects with guidance, projects for business, forum in various fields, guest book and more. If u want to contribute to electronica, feel free to mail me. You can act as a mentor in your desired fields.

FREE NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE

Nagarjuna G. says they are working to build a free network infrastructure for free knowledge and free software in Mumbai. Progress is documented at http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/WirelessMesh

Freifunk.net (German for: "Free radio") is a non-commercial open initiative to support free radio networks in the German region. Freifunk.net is part of the international movement for free and wireless radio networks. For more information on Wireless community networks or wireless community projects around the world, see Wireless community network. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freifunk

NEWS FROM BANGLADESH

Omi Azad writes, "I'm happy to announce Mozilla Firefox 2's Bangla Language Interface. This is just a preview release for user feedback. Please visit http://www.omiazad.net/?p=154

Do download/install/give feedback on it. We'll take feedback (until mid-May) and after that we'll release the final version.

MOTOROLA, CHINA, MOBILES AND GNU/LINUX

Motorola's success was still driven by its Linux smart phones, primarily in mainland China, with the majority of shipments still being the Ming model. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/23688.php

QUOTE ... UNQUOTE

At least on the surface, relations between Microsoft and Lenovo have never been better. Last month, according to Lenovo's statement, the two companies agreed to create a joint research and development centre in China.... Meanwhile, however, Linux continues to make headway in China, where it has been catching on because of its free status, though it still lags behind Windows.

RED HAT CRAFTS NEW OS FOR THE SMALL AND POOR

Red Hat's latest desktop play isn't new or cutting edge at all. The software maker will work with Intel's white box business to pre-install something called Red Hat Global Desktop on PCs and notebooks. The software/hardware pairing will be aimed at small businesses and governments in developing countries, primarily those in Asia, South America and Africa.... At its core, Red Hat Global Desktop is a trimmed down version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 – a product aimed at corporate workstation users. http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/05/09/redhat_global_desktop/

SUN WAH AND VIETNAM

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem said his government supported new investment plans of Hong Kong-based Sun Wah Group, which mainly involves in information technology (IT), infrastructure, realty and eco-tourism. Sun Wah delegation led by the group's president Jonathan Choi said the group was joining hands with Vietnam's leading IT firm FPT in developing low-cost computers, and constructing an office building and a residential complex in Hanoi. At the end of the meeting, Choi presented a version of Linux operating system developed by the group to Khiem, saying that his group wants to help the Vietnamese government popularize computer use. http://english.people.com.cn/200705/08/eng20070508_372603.html

BEST ROAD, BUT....

Open-source software - a long way to go (courtesy VietNamNet Bridge) - For local companies with limited budgets, using open-source software is the best way to cut costs and comply with Vietnam's commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, many problems have arisen in the process of applying the software. With some 4,000 computers installed with open-source software, HCMC-based Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (Sacombank) has saved more than US$1mil. However the bank has still signed with the world's leading software producer Microsoft to modernize its business operations. Phan Bich Van, chief executive officer of Sacombank, says, "Using open-source software has saved us a lot of money but we still need to use commercial software to modernize our business." Sacombank will use open-source and commercial software at the same time to facilitate the modernization of its systems.

Sacombank is one of the first local companies using open-source software in Vietnam. The bank has been applying the software since 2004 to save money as well as observe the intellectual law .... However, consumers seem not to prefer the software despite the low price. Experts say low pricing is not a priority for considering using open-source software.

According to the Ministry of Post and Telematics, the country has more than two million desktops, if all the users opt for commercial copyright software, Vietnam must pay at least US$1bil. Software copyright is a big problem for Vietnam and many local companies see open-source solutions as a way out but many of them are still hesitant to use it. A major hindrance involving open-source software is the lack of instant support. If users have trouble with the software, they can get technical support from the open-source software community only.... At the moment, there are some 20 companies including Vietkey Group, CMC and iNet Solutions investing in open-source software. But their investment is not supported by the Government. It is not yet a national programme. Many ministries have planned a roadmap for open-source software development, but it is away ahead.

(Source: SGT) http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2007/05/691363/

FOSS PORTAL

DeepRoot Linux, both in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, has put up a portal developed and maintained by the GNU/Linux community in India. Here's what's on offer:

  • FOSS knowledge-base: articles
  • Technical forum discussions (C, C++, Perl, python, et al) 
  • GNU/Linux related Job offerings
  • Blog hosting facilities
  • FOSS-related polls

http://www.gnulinux.in

 IOSN NEWSLETTER: FOSS in Asia-Pacific is compiled by Frederick Noronha and supported by the International Open Source Network <http://www.iosn.net>

IOSN promotes the adoption of free/open source software, open standards and open content for sustainable human development in the Asia-Pacific region. IOSN is a network with a small secretariat based at the UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok and three centre of excellence -- IOSN ASEAN+3, IOSN PIC (Pacific Island Countries) and IOSN South Asia, based in Manila, Suva and Chennai respectively. To find out more, contact the centres of excellence.

IOSN ASEAN+3: asean3@iosn.net
IOSN PIC: pic@iosn.net
IOSN South Asia: southasia@iosn.net

IOSN is an initiative of UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information, and supported by the International Development Research Centre of Canada.

To include Asia-Pacific related news about FOSS in this newsletter, please email <frededericknoronha@gmail.com>


This newsletter is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Reproduction of the contents of this newsletter is encouraged, provided acknowledgement of the source(s) is made.

The views expressed in this newsletter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations, including UNDP, or their Member States.
 
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