[3895] in linux-announce channel archive
Linux-Announce Digest #187
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Digestifier)
Sat Sep 21 14:13:07 2002
From: Digestifier <Linux-Announce-Request@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu>
To: Linux-Announce@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu
Reply-To: Linux-Announce@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 14:13:02 EDT
Linux-Announce Digest #187, Volume #4 Sat, 21 Sep 2002 14:13:02 EDT
Contents:
Announcing UptimeNotifier Linux Clients (Chuck Tessein)
eLSD, Linux Society Distro - CD/OS, Opt H/D, Initrd Centric, Devil-Linux Based ("John van V.")
Welcome to a GNU/Linux meeting in Goa, India this weekend (21 Sept) (Frederick Noronha)
Announce: eLSD, enhanced Linux Society Distro (John van V.)
NEWS: Indian computing seeks allies, solutions from wide range (Frederick Noronha)
ANN: References for TeX and Friends, V0.1.1 (Michael Wiedmann)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Chuck Tessein <tessein@undn.net>
Subject: Announcing UptimeNotifier Linux Clients
Date: 21 Sep 2002 17:45:05 GMT
UptimeNotifier announces the availability of upgraded clients for its
real-time Event Notification Web Service for the detection, analysis,
notification, escalation, and reporting of system events. The new
clients can be downloaded from
http://www.uptimenotifier.com/download.jsp.
Clients are written in Java, Perl, and Bash-shell and were developed and
tested in Linux systems.
This web service provides a fast, reliable, and platform-independent
method for webmasters, system administrators, developers and others
responsible for ensuring continuous operation of computer systems.
UptimeNotifier offers the following features:
* Unlimited number of account users and administrators
* Notifications can be received via pager, email, and short message
(SMS) phones
* Intuitive response escalation
* Free, open-source clients
* Predefined and Generic event types
* Positive and exceptional event notifications
* Event notification usage reporting
* Programmatically close events
UptimeNotifier helps information systems professionals automate tasks
that are mundane and tasks that would otherwise consume valuable time.
The growth of distributed computing and the requirement for continuous
availability has challenged the IT world to do more with less and react
faster to symptoms before downtime or failure occurs.
For more information on UptimeNotifier visit their web site at
http://www.uptimenotifier.com.
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From: "John van V." <john_van_v@yahoo.com>
Subject: eLSD, Linux Society Distro - CD/OS, Opt H/D, Initrd Centric, Devil-Linux Based
Date: 21 Sep 2002 17:45:08 GMT
Reply-To: john@thinman.com
eLSD Announce
The eLSD linux os is available at http://www.thinman.com/eLSD
http://www.thinman.com/eLSD/readme
============
What it is
============
It is entirely derived from Devil-Linux, a highly secure CD boot only OS.
Available eLSD versions are numbers 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3.
The first is a faithful Devil-Linux offered as a build and burn kit.
The second begins to make changes towards the eLSD goals by creating a bigger
divide between the initrd/linuxrc boot and the init/boot in the OS. It also
boots w/o the floppy that includes the /etc filesystem.
The third actually converts Devil-Linux into an optional hard drive boot OS.
The boot process occurs entirely in the initrd phase and then accesses the
harddrive. This kit offers a robust kernel, two custom initrds -- one that
boots to busybox/tinylogin -- and grub and parted support.
The entire build kit will be released soon with each component as a distinct
script built into a customized login.
==================
The Linux Society
==================
The linux society is based in NYC and offers courses both at the beginners
level (for LPI certification) and at the developmental level -- the enhanced
Linux Society Distro. We also offer support in a variety of other topics
especially perl and mac osx.
To join, see schedules and directions got to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thelinuxsociety
=====
John van Vlaanderen
#################################################
# CXN, Inc. Contact: john@thinman.com #
# President, The Linux Society #
# http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thelinuxsociety #
#################################################
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
http://sbc.yahoo.com
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------------------------------
From: Frederick Noronha <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: Welcome to a GNU/Linux meeting in Goa, India this weekend (21 Sept)
Date: 21 Sep 2002 17:45:11 GMT
VENUE: India > Goa > South Goa > Margao town > Adarsh V. School
This note is from Clinton <klintvaz@softhome.net>
========== Forwarded message ==========
Hi Everybody,
The Margao Meet is this Saturday, and here are are the scheduled talks:
For Newbies: Differences Between Windows and Linux.
How to Migrate From Windows to Linux.
Related Queries.
For Techies: How To Set Up A Firewall Using Opensource Tools
The Venue, as usual will be the computer lab at Adarsh Vidyalaya, Near
IDBI Bank, Margao.
The timings are usual too...4-6pm.
Date: September 21, 2002
Though everybody is requested to arrive there on time, so that
everything goes on schedule, if there's someone who cant make it at 4
but can come later, its also fine by us!....
That's all, gotta rush to work!
Clinton..
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------------------------------
From: john@thinman.com (John van V.)
Subject: Announce: eLSD, enhanced Linux Society Distro
Date: 21 Sep 2002 17:45:15 GMT
eLSD Announce
The eLSD linux os is available at http://www.thinman.com/eLSD
It is entirely derived from Devil-Linux, a highly secure CD boot only
OS.
Available eLSD versions are numbers 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3.
The first is a faithful Devil-Linux offered as a build and burn kit.
The second begins to make changes towards the eLSD goals by creating a
bigger divide between the initrd/linuxrc boot and the init/boot in the
OS. It also boots w/o the floppy that includes the /etc filesystem.
The third actually converts Devil-Linux into an optional hard drive
boot OS. The boot process occurs entirely in the initrd phase and
then accesses the harddrive. This kit offers a robust kernel, two
custom initrds -- one that boots to busybox/tinylogin -- and grub and
parted support.
==================
The Linux Society
==================
The linux society is based in NYC and offers courses both at the
beginners level (for LPI certification) and at the developmental level
-- the enhanced Linux Society Distro. We also offer support in a
variety of other topics especially perl and mac osx.
Ultimately our goal is to help supply the 6 billion humans of the
world w/ access to communication and computation.
To join, see schedules and directions got to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thelinuxsociety
Hope to see you :)
==================
eLSD Release Announce
==================
This describes the eLSD releases to date, Sept 17-2002.
EVERYTHING has tested ok, but the 0.3a release is very raw.
NOTE: Each version directory has a README.txt that supports that
release.
eLSD v0.1 Build kit directly from Devil Linux
* Also included is dl_build which was the first build kit
derived from Heiko's scripts
eLSD v0.2 First true eLSD, major changes to the linuxrc and
init.d/boot files
* Does not require a boot floppy
- Builds a boot floppy w/ save-config
eLSD v0.3a EXPERIMENTAL hard drive version designed to burn
eLSD/Devil-Linux
CDs.
* Initrd w/ new busybox/tinylogin tools which works
independantly
- Your /boot partition is in control of the system
* Initrd that boots to the DL derived hard drive eLSD OS
- this allows and FSCK of the root file system w/o
mounting
it
* Gnu/grub boot floppy that has a kernel but no OS
- Make the boot disk bootable, no tutorial
* Gnu/parted floppies which has a full OS but no grub :(
- First step in dist'n linux, includes text tutorial
* New kernel which supports CDRECORD w/o append lines in
boot
process so that DL/eLSD can burn DL/eLSD from the CD
boot
## Future
eLSD v0.4 CD boot, hard drive intsall/boot, network boot/install
* Optional boots profiles
* IPROUTE2 Networking scripts and tutorials
* Parted tools and tutorials
* Grub tools and tutorials
* Network block support remote disk access
* Devil-Linux/eLSD compiling and burning from CD
* Network application distribution with SSH
eLSD v0.5 Implementation of Gentoo.org and LinuxFromScratch.org
components
* Refined development and build model
* Robust network support
* Early phases of application server support
- JBoss
- MySQL
* Early implementation of OpenMosix
eLSD v0.6 Complex Struture Model
* System configuration through complex structures
* Structures scale to distributed portal
* Refined application server model
=====
bzip2 binary is provided in case you dont have it
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------------------------------
From: Frederick Noronha <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: NEWS: Indian computing seeks allies, solutions from wide range
Date: 21 Sep 2002 17:45:18 GMT
Indian computing seeks allies, solutions from wide range
by Frederick Noronha
fred@bytesforall.org
BANGALORE: From distant expats to tiny groups of computing
enthusiasts, elite research centres and language-speakers whom India doesn't
have much contact with... all these are being looked to as allies in finding
local language computing solutions for this country of one-billion plus.
Long delayed in coming, Indian-language computing is today reaching out for
help from varied sources, as a national-level Indic Computing meet held here
noted.
Global expat communities -- with a deep interest in the subject and also the
skills and funds -- could play an important role in this endeavour. The
Tamil diaspora has been particularly strong in networking across
national-boundaries to find IT solutions.
Globally, the English domination of computing has increased the problems of
getting Indian scripts to work on this powerful tool. Besides, some South
Indian languages groups, including Kannada, feel suggestions going to
international decision-makers from officials in Delhi have been inadequate
or largely attuned to the needs of North Indian tongues.
But there's a lot of optimism on possibilities of wider networking.
"I just met Laotian and Kampuchean experts who were keen to follow India's
work on local language computing solutions," said Prof Pat Hall of the UK
Open University, a close watcher on moves that could throw open computing to
hundreds of millions in this region.
Prof Hall points out that Burmese and some other South East Asian languages
use the Brahmi script to write, which is closely related to Indic scripts.
Burmese is spoken by an estimated 32 million mainly around Myanmar.
Even if India's situation is seen as rather complex -- with there being some
1652 mother-tongues, from half-a-dozen different language groups, including
33 spoken by over a hundred thousand people -- things are not that bleak.
Solutions in a few major languages would immediately open up computing to
hundreds of millions, for instance.
"This is not rocket science. Solutions are possible. Indian-language word
processors and spreadsheets are badly needed," says Venky Hariharan, a
long-time campaigner on this front, now at the Mumbai-based Media Lab Asia.
"But this is not just an engineering problem. There are cultural issues,
lingustic ones, and questions of deployment involved," reminds Tapan Parikh,
an expat now based in India, and keen to see some solution come on this
front.
One strategy of the Indic-Computing group will be to network with others
working in the field -- ranging from the Free Software and Open Source
networks like KDE to software giant Microsoft.
Other smaller groups are also being seen as key players in the field --
including the IIT-Madras group that has been working and incubating
innovative Indian-language solutions, the NCST (National Centre for Software
Technology) in Mumbai, and the IIIT (International Institute of Information
Technology) in Hyderabad, which has done impressive work on machine-language
translation and related areas.
Local GNU/Linux Users Groups, scattered volunteers spread across India to
study and promote the use of Free and Open Source Software, are also being
looked on as potential allies.
India already has a wide network of LUG groups, as they're called, with
bigger ones operating out of the metros and IT-oriented cities like
Bangalore. This city, designated sometimes as the 'Silicon Valley of India',
is already planning a major national meet called LinuxBangalore2002 in early
December. Last year, over 2000 participants took part in this meet.
Organisations trying to widen India's computing base and take IT solutions
to the rural areas, are also searching for solutions. One example is
Bangalore's Simputer network, which plans to take a sharable, low-cost
people's computing device to the millions.
IIT-Madras has also incubated firms -- such as n-Logue -- offering solutions
for low-cost Internet and telephone access, which would also vastly gain
from local language solutions.
Other languages have gone far ahead. On the Internet, languages with far
more complicated script problems have already made progress. For instance,
it's already possible to list websites and do a search in non-Romanic Asian
languages like Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
But some Indian tongues are making headway. Tamil expat speakers in Toronto
recently highlighted the success of Mandrake, a brand packaging GNU/Linux
software, in coming out with a Tamil-enabled version.
Commented Toronto-based expat V Venkataramanan: "A total Tamil computer is
now available. With the release of Mandrake Linux 9.0, an average user
should be able to operate a computer and use Internet -- all in Tamil."
This means that for the first time, the prerequisite of English knowledge
for using computers has been eliminated, at least for those who know Tamil.
People throughout the world have been using computers and Internet in their
own languages. Some how, Indian users are compelled to use them in English.
Indian engineers and scientists are a dominant force in the IT world, but
have also faced criticism for being grossly negligent of the needs of the
commonman from their own region. "This has pushed India to the top of the
list of countries suffering from the Digital Divide," argue campaigners like
Venkataramanan.
Several Tamil programmers however have been given credit for making
computing more accessible in that language.
Tamil GNU/Linux programmers currently come from as disparate regions as
Canada, USA, Singapore, Japan, India and Malaysia, largely interacting
through the web and Internet discussion groups. There's also an
International Federation of Information Technology in Tamil (INFITT).
In Malayalam, the Free Software Foundation-India is undertaking some
initiatives. Kannada has been spearheaded by groups like the Kannada Ganaka
Parishad and scientists at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Hindi and Marathi have also been getting considerable attention. Bengali IT
solution campaigners plan to share solutions with developers like Tani Ahmed
in Bangladesh, while the same could apply with Urdu possibilities from
Pakistan.
"Most of our clients have a big need for Indic-language solutions," says
Sunil Abraham, who's Mahiti.org works in equipping not-for-profit grassroot
organisations with IT solutions in Bangalore.
"We're anyway heading towards a boom in Indian Language computing. For all
these plans of G2C (government-to-citizen) initiatives to succeed, we simply
need it. Outside Delhi and Mumbai, people would still prefer to work in
Indian languages on their computers," says Microsoft Corporation (India)
localization program manager Raveesh Gupta. (ENDS)
--
Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783
BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org * GNU-LINUX http://linuxinindia.pitas.com
Email fred@bytesforall.org * Mobile +9822 122436 (Goa) * Saligao Goa India
Writing with a difference... on what makes *the* difference
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------------------------------
From: Michael Wiedmann <mw@miwie.in-berlin.de>
Subject: ANN: References for TeX and Friends, V0.1.1
Date: 21 Sep 2002 17:45:21 GMT
We are pleased to announce a new release (V0.1.1) of our documentation
project "References for TeX and Friends". This is an ongoing project
with the goal to provide help/reference files for LaTeX (and his
friends like ConTeXt, Metapost, Metafont, etc.) using a
state-of-the-art source format, aka DocBook/XML.
Changes:
- added template sections for 'PiCTeX' and 'Texinfo'
- using new XSL stylesheets V1.55.0
- added missing CSS file to outfiles tarball
- corrected wrong FPI
For more information see: http://www.miwie.org/tex-refs/
--
Peter Karp <tex-refs@karpfenteich.net>
Michael Wiedmann <mw@miwie.in-berlin.de>
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