IT fuel

Oct 18,2007


NepaLinux have been announced the co-winners of Apc Chris Nicol FOSS Prize 2007 in Montevideo,Uruguay along with "Free Geek" from Portland in the USA.The winners will share the $4000 prize.

Oct 10,2007
Source:bbc

Schoolchildren in Russia are to be taught using the free, open-source Linux software in an effort to cut the cost of teaching information technology.

By 2009, all computers in Russian schools are to be run on Linux - which means they will not have to pay to use licensed software, such as Microsoft's Windows.

Alexey Smirnov, Director General of the Company ALTLinux, said that schools formerly tended to run illegal copies of Microsoft operating systems, but after Russia entered the WTO, the laws became much stricter and schools began to be prosecuted for doing so.

"The situation became rather serious, and something had to be done," he told BBC World Service's Digital Planet programme.

"One possible decision was to buy licences for all the software being used - but so much software was being used, it proved too expensive... so the decision was taken to use free software, although not immediately, but over three years."

Main principles

The Linux software is to be tested first in three pilot regions, while others will have the option of installing it as a second operating system.

Steve Ballmer
Microsoft's Steve Ballmer has claimed Linux infringed 228 patents
These pilot schools will then get the option to choose either the free software or to pay for something else.

Mr Smirnov said that teachers will need to be trained to use the software and prepare new exercises for the children to do, and that this will entail increased costs in the short term.

"I'm sure the free software is good enough for schools - but a lot of teachers do not have experience in Linux, or in free software and so on," he said.

"So they should try it and test it. It's not good to make someone use free software - a person should have some choice."

But he added that he believed schools should teach the main principles of all software anyway.

"If you study specific software, by the time you leave school it will be in other versions," he said.

"It is not good to teach exact software. But if you learn Open Office, you can easily understand Word, and vice-versa... if we want to give really good education, we should make it possible to look inside how it is working, at least for those who are interested in this and how to do it."

Not locked in

And he dismissed suggestions that using open source might put students at a disadvantage when it comes to finding a job, saying that it is already being used in many Russian universities and has proved advantageous to Russian developers.

Linux penguin
Linux's penguin logo has his own Russian look
"If you're interested in development, you can be involved in a lot of free software projects, which work at a very high level," he said.

"You can use your knowledge and grow very quickly. It is very important just to be involved in these projects... they put you in contact with high-level specialists."

However, technology analysist Bill Thompson told Digital Planet that there was a also an element of political agenda to Russia's decision.

"There probably is something about not wanting to be locked in to Western software," he said.

"But there's also a commercial agenda - not wanting to pay very large licences - and also an educational agenda, about not wanting to tie people in to a particular way of working."

Oct 07,2006

Drupal is a free and open source modular content management system(cms) built using open source php and mysql.It is licensed under GPL.I have been using Drupal to build websites for quite a while now.I find it easy to learn and very powerful to build web applications.

You donot have to have a programming skills to use drupal.But programmers can utilize the full power of drupal.Drupal is based on modules and each module is coded using php.Drupal consists of certain number of core modules which is enough to built a functional websites.But you can add other developer contrubuted modules later.

Drupal runs on cross platform,it runs on operating system like Windows,mac os x,linux,free bsd and any other os that supports the IIS or apache web server and php.

Originally written by Dries Buytaert as a bulletin board system, Drupal became an open source project in 2001. Drupal is an English transliteration of the Dutch word “druppel,” which means “drop” (as in “a water droplet”).

The official drupal site is http://drupal.org and there are countless online resources and videos to explore.Find the introduction videos in http://lullabot.com

There are many other open source cms available besides drupal like Joomla and php nuke. But I prefer drupal.

Oct 07,2007

Its been a few days i have Kubuntu running in my computer.I think this operating system is great and has everything you need in a modern os.I was fascinated with software by ubuntu developers like beryl.

What is Kubuntu??

Kubuntu is an official derivative of the ubuntu operating systems using the KDE environment instead of GNOME. It is part of the Ubuntu project and uses the same underlying system. Kubuntu and Ubuntu can work alongside each other by installing the ubuntu-desktop and kubuntu-desktop packages. Every package in Kubuntu shares the same repositories as Ubuntu. Kubuntu CDs can be ordered through the Shipit service. Kubuntu is released regularly and predictably


(Kubuntu is a user friendly operating system based on KDE, the K Desktop Environment. With a predictable 6 month release cycle and part of the Ubuntu project, Kubuntu is the GNU/Linux distribution for everyone.)

Kubuntu and Ubuntu are not meant to be seen as distinct projects; Kubuntu is part of the Ubuntu project, and they are both part of one development team that contributes to the whole. Kubuntu is Ubuntu with a different default setup, the Ubuntu CD contains only GNOME as a desktop environment; the Kubuntu CD contains only KDE, this is the primary difference.

As of this post Kubuntu 7.10 beta is available.get it now http://kubuntu.org


What does Kubuntu mean?
It means "towards humanity" in bemba.

Coincidently it also means free (as in beer) in Kirundi, spoken in Burundi.

Kubuntu is pronounced "koo-boon-too".

Kubuntu forums: http://kubuntuforums.net