[4047] in linux-announce channel archive
Linux-Announce Digest #339
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Digestifier)
Wed Mar 5 11:13:23 2003
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: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 11:13:04 EST
Linux-Announce Digest #339, Volume #4 Wed, 5 Mar 2003 11:13:04 EST
Contents:
INDIA-GOA: Young minds, pretty faces... and a greying beard (FN)
"The Book of FileMaker 6" from No Starch Press (Janet del Mundo)
LILO version 22.5 released (johninsd at san dot rr dot com)
Vstr 1.0.3 (string library in C) (James Antill)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: FN <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: INDIA-GOA: Young minds, pretty faces... and a greying beard
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 13:21:37 CST
THIS SET OF MINUTES is so outdated, that had I to delay any longer, it
would have been criminal. The intention was to write a detailed report on
the Feb 22 meeting at Panjim... it was a great meeting. But then, in the
chaotic life of a freelancer (we're so busy doing nothing), this was not
to be. Anyway, here are some highlights...
o CSI'S SMALL HALL was almost bursting with participation. At
one stage the count touched 25. Impressive eh?
o IF YOU THOUGHT that was impressive, you should have seen the number of
newcomers who were present. Besides, lady-participants touched nearly a
one-in-four ratio! Who said GNU/Linux is for left-brained male geeks?
o RAVI DEKA got started talking ... and man, this guy really
knows to narrate a story. But before we went off-the-beaten
track on the subject of motorcycling across India (Banduji's
perchance for such themes makes it a lethal combination)
we hurriedly shifted gear to focus back on GNU/Linux.
o BIJON SHAHA, as planned, was prepared to tell the LUG about GNUnify,
India's first free software festival held at Pune's deemed university,
Symbiosis. Quotes: "There were 15 techie talks, two parallel sessions,
each hall having at least 100 people. Basically, the audience was of
students." "Some youngsters proved to be very good speakers. Nirav Mehta
made two presentations on PHP." Among those speaking were the skilled
orator and free software evangelist Prof Nagarajuna of TIFR, Sam Metryani
of the Simputer team, Venky Hariharan and G Karunakar on Indic solutions
for GNU/Linux... and of course hacker-guru RMS (Richard M Stallman).
Shaha also spoke on the presentations by Prof Shivakumar
and Prof Jeetendra Saha of VJTI, a very determined
campaigner for FLOSS. FreEDUC CDs (the latest rage, after
Knoppix) were handed around to demo the power of
educational free software that boots from a CD-rom.
Ravi Pradhan of Via (recently resettled in India from Silicon Valley, and
determined to bring in low-cost GNU/Linux-based computers to the market)
was also in Pune, presenting thin clients and inexpensive computing using
Via's C3 chipset. The promise: notebooks for Rs 35K next year!
Dr Ramakrishna of the DoIT presented the government's
thinking on FLOSS. Basically, the idea would be to encourage
FLOSS, while not dictating any one route for computing, and
letting the market decide, Shaha quoted him saying. Shaha
was himself one of the speakers at Pune.
o ARVIND YADAV, founder-member of ILUG-Goa, narrated his experiences at
COMPAS in Kolkata. The LUG had the biggest stall at this exhibition of IT
and computers. There were demos of FreEDUC and LinuxRacer (which Arvind
described as "less of a game and more of a simulation... with 50 cars and
20 cracks".
IN NO time the debate shifted (don't recall how) to educational games --
free software fo maths, symbiolic maths, equations and J'compris (maths,
language, shapes and colours for the very young). Octave, where the plots
come out as graphs, etc...
o SANGEETA NAIK, the coordinator of the Goa Schools Computers
Project, explained that 104 schools had been given once-used
computers under the Goa Sudharop project. Some 20-25 had LTSP
solutions installed. There was a need to extend this to enable
computer-aided learning and after-hours access for nearby
communities, she said. The need for locating relevant and
working software (given the hardware constraints) was always
felt.
o ASHLEY DELANEY SPOKE of his recent visit to Bangladesh, to share ideas
with attempts at taking FLOSS to schools.
o OTHER ISSUES throw up and spoken about as we interrupted each
other included discless-PCs, whether FLOSS could replace
Pagemaker and the needs of a DTP-ised magazine,
o IN THE ROUND of introductions that followed, one of those
present was Biju Chacko of Bangalore. He is an ex-coordinator
of the Bangalore LUG, and since last year has started his
own business. Biju said there were a "lot of companies"
in Bangalore moving to open tools, like PHP and Zope.
"But the basic problem is that if you're not selling
a thing (as against a service), they're iffy about
paying big amounts." Biju also suggested that a number of
B'lore LUGers getting active in their own businesses or
professions was a good thing, except activity became a bit
lax compared to earlier highs. But for big events like
Linux-Bangalore200*, large numbers did actively participate.
o IT WAS time for the meet to end, yet no sign of Tilmann Singer. Just as
we were headed for the Navtara restaurant cuppa tea, we ran into a young
foreigner, who could have been Tilmann Singer. He was!
Earlier we had promised that:
o Tilmann Singer <tils@tils.net> from Europe will be briefly
speaking on OpenACS. This is a cool toolkit for building
community web applications. See http://openacs.org (specially of
interest for people into web apps).
Singer lives in Berlin, and came to know of us via the Wizards
of Os conference. He is currently working for four months in
Hyderabad, helping with setting up a small company focussed on
the development of a Free/Libre and Open Source Software web
toolkit (openacs) and is an open source campaigner himself.
Anyway, we at the restaurant, we kept discussing various things. Tilmann
(who had got onto the wrong bus -- a slow-moving 'local') gathered a crowd
around his table of those interested in web-issues. The rest of us simply
couldn't follow what was going on; they understood each other. Miracles do
happen....
o FOR US, THE debate looked at the Goa government's unnecessary gift to
Microsoft of ten million rupees, strategies to popularise free software
among students, and a whole range of other issues. By the time we looked
at our watches, it was past 2030. So what if we started just after 1600?
o THOSE PRESENT INCLUDED B B Shaha (ETDC-Saligao), Mario Alvares
(Alienwiz), Lisa Mendonsa (Phil), Flavia Lobo (Phil), Victor D'Souza (GU),
Sharon Bothelo (Phil), Greta Mattos, Amey Hegde (Controlnet), Alka Pai
and Ajay Cuncolienkar (Khandola College), Agraj Agranayak, Yogesh Teli and
Ravi Deka, Sangeeta Naik (Goa Schools Computers Project), Rina Patel (NRI
volunteer working in Goa of the America-Indian Foundation), Biju Chacko
(Bangalore), Gurunandan Bhat (ex-GU/PlusThought), Anil Seth (head of dept
IT, PCC), Arvind Yadav (Online), Animesh 'Banduji' N Nerurkar, Sreenivas
(Navy Hydrography School), Sanil Talaulikar (PCC), Mohandas Gopani
(Selections).
o LASTLY, don't forget the meetings for March. Margao
is on March 8 (Clinton, get working to arrange something
interesting... this was shifted for you!) and March 22
(Panjim). More details http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa
o PS: Don't ask what the subject-line has to do with this report. In case
you didn't guess... it was aimed at getting you to read it ;-)
--
Frederick Noronha : http://www.bytesforall.org : When we speak of free
Freelance Journalist : Goa India 403511 : software we refer to
Ph 0091.832.409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.
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------------------------------
From: Janet del Mundo <janet@nostarch.com>
Subject: "The Book of FileMaker 6" from No Starch Press
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 13:31:51 CST
March 4, 2003
For Immediate Release
To schedule an interview, or request a review copy or cover art, contact
Janet del Mundo at janet@nostarch.com or call 415.863.9900.
NO STARCH PRESS TO PUBLISH “THE BOOK OF FILEMAKER 6”
The First Complete Guide to FileMaker Pro
San Francisco, CA—In April of this year, No Starch Press will publish what
promises to become the essential reference for FileMaker developers, “The
Book of FileMaker 6.” (Chris Kubica, $59.95, ISBN 1886411816, April 2003.)
Written by veteran FileMaker developer Chris Kubica, with contributions
from other top FileMaker masters, the book begins with a thorough
introduction to the FileMaker Pro development environment and relational
databases. It quickly moves into advanced topics, such as scripting,
multi-user and cross platform development, and security, and shows how to
build database-driven websites. Developers at all levels learn how to go
beyond the user manual to create robust, dynamic database systems from the
ground up.
“There are no truly complete references on FileMaker Pro,” says author
Chris Kubica, who has been using FileMaker Pro since its infancy. “Sure,
there are FileMaker books that cover advanced scripting and development,
and those that cover some security, web development, and beginner basics,
but none that bring it all together in one book. My book also covers some
important topics that other books have left out, such as how to integrate
with external applications including ODBC and SQL, how to use and develop
plug-ins, and how to plan and market your solutions and synchronize data
with remote locations.”
No Starch Press has a history of identifying niche markets and developing
clearly written and engaging books to meet the needs of these markets. “The
Book of FileMaker 6” is certainly no exception.
This complete guide to the entire FileMaker Pro product line shows how to:
* Access hidden FileMaker Pro features
* Use the power of portals in robust relational database systems
* Build a hack-proof security system complete with audit trails, privilege
management, and security plug-ins
* Share databases with others using FileMaker Server
* Web-enable databases using FileMaker Unlimited, the Web Server Connector,
and XML
* Automate FileMaker products using ActiveX and AppleScript
* Plan, develop, market and sell commercial FileMaker-based applications
The CD-ROM contains hundreds of complete, ready-to-use example databases
(all of which are discussed in the book), as well as portal tricks,
calculation formulas, script steps, plug-in functions, and troubleshooting
tips. The book covers FileMaker Pro 6, Pro Unlimited, Developer 6, Server,
and Mobile 2.1 for Macintosh and Windows. Many tips and is compatible with
FileMaker’s version 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x products.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Kubica is an internationally known FileMaker Pro guru. He has written
for top FileMaker publications and has been a speaker at the annual
FileMaker Developer Conference. He is the President of a virtual consulting
firm in West Lafayette, Indiana.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Table of contents: http://www.nostarch.com/filemaker_toc.htm
Sample chapter: http://www.nostarch.com/filemaker_ch5.pdf
THE BOOK OF FILEMAKER 6, Chris Kubica, ISBN 1886411816
1000 pp., $59.95, $86.95 (Cdn), with CD-ROM. April 2003
To order from No Starch Press: orders@nostarch.com or call: 800.420.7240 or
+ 1 415.863.9900
ABOUT NO STARCH PRESS
Since 1994, No Starch Press has published unique books on computing, with a
focus on Open Source, security, hacking, web development, programming,
gaming, and alternative operating systems. Our titles have personality, our
authors are passionate, and our goal is to make computing fun.
Contact: Janet del Mundo, janet@nostarch.com or +1 415.863.9900.
###
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 14:33:33 CST
From: johninsd at san dot rr dot com <bitbucket@hotmail.com>
Subject: LILO version 22.5 released
Reply-To: Read@MY.fullname.FOR.reply.TO
LILO release 22.5 is based upon Werner Almesberger's LILO version 21.
Version 22.5 is a major update to version 22.4.1
o Booting is based upon industry-standard volume labels (s/n), which are
translated to BIOS device codes. Changes in the disk configuration
which cause the BIOS to assign device codes in a different order should
be transparent to the user.
o 256-color bitmap boot screens are now supported using VESA video BIOS
extensions. Both RGB and RLE encoded *.bmp files are supported.
Version 22.4.1 is a minor update to version 22.4.
Version 22.4 is a minor update to version 22.3.
o Virtual booting is supported with new keywords 'vmdefault', 'vmdisable',
and 'vmwarn'.
Version 22.3 is a major update to version 22.2.
o The distribution consists of /sbin/lilo ONLY; all *.b files are
incorporated within this file (builtin).
o A bitmap file header editor is incorporated (-E flag).
o The map file unifies the second stage, chain, message file, and bitmap
files.
o -E, -F, and -B flags are added (see man pages).
o Chain loader will now pass a command line to a second LILO installation.
o Boot protocol 0203h is now supported. "large-memory" option added to
force initial ramdisk loading to highest memory.
o "vga=" on command line allows any radix input.
Versions 22.2, 22.1, 22.0 are major updates to version 21.
*** THE VERSION 22 RAID1 IMPLEMENTATION IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH VERSION 21.
Those using version 21 should read 'README.raid1' before installing these
new codes. There is a compatibility mode (lilo -x mbr-only) for existing
RAID1 installations which are not going to be converted to the Version 22
implementation.
Source code is available for download from:
http://brun.dyndns.org/pub/linux/lilo (developer's site)
Or from the main distribution site:
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/boot/lilo (please use)
See the distribution file 'CHANGES' for details of the differences between
22.5 and prior releases.
--John Coffman <johninsd at san dot rr dot com>
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 00:10:18 CST
Subject: Vstr 1.0.3 (string library in C)
From: James Antill <james@and.org>
About
=====
Vstr is a string library designed for network communication, but
applicable in a number of other areas. It works on the idea of
separate nodes of information, and the length/ptr model and not the
termination model of "C strings". It does dynamic resizing of strings
as you add/delete data.
It can also do automatic referencing for mmap() areas of memory, and
includes a portable version of a printf-like function (which is ISO
9899:1999 compliant, and includes support for i18n parameter position
modifiers).
Other convenience functions are also included, so you can: easily
split data from a string into sections (similar to perl's split
function); and get string data from a socket or put data to a
socket.
Main Changes
------------
. Expanded the testsuite to check some less traveled code paths, found
a few errors.
. Fixed the examples to work on 0 length proc files.
. Added assert() calls into the inline functions (only when compiled
in debug mode)
. Got some speedups via. builtin_constant_p().
Download URLs
=============
Overview: http://www.and.org/vstr/
String API comparison: http://www.and.org/vstr/comparison.html
Printf comparison: http://www.and.org/vstr/printf_comparison.html
ChangeLog: http://www.and.org/vstr/ChangeLog
Tar balls
---------
http://www.and.org/vstr/1.0.3/vstr-1.0.3.tar.gz
ftp://ftp.and.org/pub/james/vstr/1.0.3/vstr-1.0.3.tar.gz
http://www.and.org/vstr/1.0.3/vstr-1.0.3.tar.bz2
ftp://ftp.and.org/pub/james/vstr/1.0.3/vstr-1.0.3.tar.bz2
apt-rpm repository
------------------
rpm ftp://ftp.and.org/apt redhat/8.0/en/i386 extras
rpm-src ftp://ftp.and.org/apt redhat/8.0/en/i386 extras
RPMs
----
http://www.and.org/vstr/rpms/
ftp://ftp.and.org/pub/james/vstr/rpms/
PAD description
---------------
http://www.and.org/vstr/vstr_pad.xml
--
James Antill -- james@and.org
Tip #1 for finding bugs in your C source code...
egrep "strncpy|char[\t ]+.+\[[0-9]+\]" *.[ch]
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------------------------------
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