Organized by All India Radio
Programme : Surabhi,
Subject : Swathanthra Software: Digital logathe Jandhipathya Prakhyapanam
Date : 10/06/2009
Time : 3pm – 4pm.
Files: Low Quality Ogg Audio( 5.3 MB]

Pour in your comments on the programme.

There were 17 people who attended the meeting.

The meeting started at 2.30 pm with the self introduction of the attendees.

The meeting focused mainly on teachers. But there were only two teachers present.

As usual there was a discussion about Free Software Movement, GNU Movement and Open source for those who are new to free software community. This helped the audience clearly understand the difference between Free Software and Open Source Software. There was a discussion on the history of Free Software movement.

Next we discussed about the various Free Software License – GPL, LGPL etc. There was a question from one of the audience about the necessity of licensing a software. One of the volunteer presented there gave him a clear idea about software license.

The proposed agenda was “The power of command line”. Most teachers are familiar with GUI tools. So the session aimed at giving an introduction to command line interface.

Agenda: The power of command line

An introduction to shell was given. The significance of shell was discussed. A good knowledge in command line interface can help the user to automate his work and thus he can efficiently use his pc. The audience were curious to know how a shell works. How it execute commands given by the user. The speaker explained with examples how a shell works.

The shell explained was BASH, Bourne Again SHell. In this session the speaker explained the virtual terminals available in GNU/Linux and how it can be accessed.

The first command discussed was “cd”. The speaker explained the how to use this command in different ways with enough examples. Here are some of them.

cd – change directory

cd – running this command without specifying any parameter will change the present working directory to the user’s home directory. ie if the current user is now at the location /mnt/drive_1 and his username is student, using this command the user can reach /home/student.

All command receives path information in two ways. One is absolute path and the other is relative path. In absolute path method the complete path information is given as the parameter of the command.

Eg: cd /home/student/directory_1

In relative path method the path information is given with relative to the present working directory.

Eg: if the user is at /media he can change the present working to a directory “test” inside /media as follows.

cd test

The next command discussed was ls. This command is used to display the contents of a directory.

eg: ls /mnt/drive_2

ls my_dir

The following commands were also discussed with sufficient examples.

pwd:

To display the present working directory.

mkdir:

To create a directory.

Eg: mkdir /home/user/test

mkdir sample

File handling commands:

touch:

To create a file.

Eg:

touch testfile

cat:

To display the contents of a file.

eg: cat /etc/fstab

rm:

To remove a file or a directory

To remove a file “rm filename”

Eg: rm testfile

To remove a directory “rm -r directory_name”

Eg: rm -vR sample

cp:

To copy files or directories

Eg:

cp testfile /mnt/my_dir

This will copy the file testfile to /mnt/my_dir

cp -r directory /mnt/my_dir

Copy the files and directories inside “directory” to /mnt/my_dir

less:

To display the contents of a file or the result of a command in pagewise.

Eg: less testfile

grep:

To print lines matching a pattern

Eg: cat /etc/fstab | grep “hda9″ (case sensitive)

cat /etc/fstab | grep -i “hda9″ (case insensitive)

Finally the speaker explained how to use man and info for getting

help on commands.

There was a small tea break. Attendees used this time to interact each other.

After the break there was a small session on basic funtionality of GUI wrapper program. In this session the speaker explained how to burn cds from command line. The tool used was cdrecord. He explained how to use it and the parameters the user can pass to it for burning cds at various speeds.

Shell scripting:

The last session was an introduction to shell scripting. The session covered on how to write script for doing jobs in command line easier. The speaker explained the scripting with an example. Although it was a bit difficult to understand by beginners it encouraged some people to ask doubts regarding difference between scripting and programming.

Conclusion:

The meeting ended with the following conclusions. It is very important to form small groups in schools with teachers and students for learning more about Free Software. Most of the problems faced by teachers can be solved within this group. There was a request from teachers to conduct classes in schools and also asked for including session for teachers in the next meeting. They also requested to conduct vacation class for students.

The meeting wound up at 6.15 pm.

Thanks to Sameer, Binny, Shibin and Kurian for their presentation.

We thank all the attendees for making this meeting a successfull event.

And hope the next meeting is bigger and better.

Attendees:

Sunil Kumar A U

Sanal Kumar

Arun Aravind

Rahul R Kumar

Rahul P

Navneet Sagar

Muhamed Sabir

Azad N

Binny V A

Sreenadh

Shibin K Reeny

Varun Das P M

Jay Jacob

Cilda Lawrence

K C Sanjai

Aith C

Kevin Sha

Of Course it is debatable question as to the presence of stalls
from fertilizers to fisheries at the exhibition, but of
course it was a very great opportunity to explain to them the
core values of this social movement.

Also considering the fact that there were lot of proprietary software
being exhibited in several stalls. We raised our voice against these
stalls, providing our help to replace it with Free Software. Some agreed
while others were reluctant.

The stall was put up from 13th after bringing in the machines the
previous day night. But it wasnt until 14th afternoon that the
stall reached full fledged functioning. Although we had been
given a small space at the conference, we made best use of it, by
displaying very good and relevant information about Free Software
and the GNU movement thereby keeping our stall always filled with people.

We had 4 machines setup to display various applications. One of
them was used to give a demo of the Installation process of the
Debian and Gnewsense DVDs and CDs we were distributing.

Ours was a stall, were anyone could just walkin and try
their hands at any of the applications, this helped people to
get a feel of what Free Software was. Again this is considering
the fact that 90% of all the visitors were either new to Free
Software or had just started using it.

In order to meet the expenses for the stall we had distributed Debian
GNU/Linux DVDs and Gnewsense CDs for a price. While we never forced anyone
to pay the original price, we explicitly told them to pay whatever they
like the minimum being the cost of the DVDs. While for CDs several were
given free of cost to the people who visited, especially students and
those who could not afford.

The first day saw very few people visiting the stall. The second
day turned out to be more crowded with people turning out in
moderate numbers. There were students, parents, freelance developers
and teachers turning up at our stall to understand what exactly
free software meant. The most important achievement was we being
able to clear up several of the misconceptions.

The hard copies of RMS Essays we had put up for a price were also
purchased by a few.

The first day of the conference had a big rush at the exhibition
venue with the delegates pouring in as well.

A couple of us had attended a session by Nagarjuna (gnowledge.org),
FSF India Chairman. After the speech we caught up with him and guided him
to a second venue to devliver his next speech. Nagarjuna came to the
exhibition late and visited our stall.

Although there have been discussions offline about our plans to change
the group Name, nothing has been discussed on the list yet. We made use of
the occasion when Nagarjuna visited us and requested him to correct our
name for us on our banner. He accepted our request and as per our initial
plans he corrected our name on the banner to “Indian Libre User Group”.

He also spend some time with ILUG Cochin Members, SNGIST College students
and MES College students. He also discussed a few points about the
“Business model of Free Software” with Mr Unais Mohammed” from KSEB.

We also had the FSUG Bangalore coming to put up their stall at the
venue. It was also a stall of the Ambedkar Community Computer Center, were
a handicapped boy Mani was selling pictures made by him using Free
Software(GIMP).

We had a great time with the students and faculty of SNGIST College,
Manjaly and MES College of Engg, Kuttipuram sharing their knowledge with
us.

Sunday was a day of action in every way. There were two sessions by
ILUG on the day. “Significance of Free Software on Mobile Platforms”
was handled by Sameer and an Open Forum Discussion on “Significance of
Free Software Groups in Society”.

The first talk focussed on the growing importance of Operating Systems
on Mobile Phones and how Free Software was the apt choice for Mobile
platforms as well. “OpenMoko” was used as a reference.

The Open Forum discussion was focussed more on helping 3 groups to help
form User Groups in their colleges. SNGIST Manjaly, Paravur. KKTM
Kodungaloor, and CUSAT. The dicussion saw several of the participants
pouring out ideas to start groups in these colleges. CUSAT already having
a Free Software group, just needed to get it up an running again.

A group of people belonging to the Free Software Community including
students had also done a protest against the main sponsor Novell, ILUG
Cochin also pledged their support by putting up posters of “BoyCott
Novell” in the stall.Some friends of the members of ILUG Cochin had come
in and handed over posters and volunteered to stick them in the stall. At
the same moment the organizers were rushing towards our stall to remove
the posters as Novell had objected to it. The rough behaviour from the
organizers were a matter of concern, especially the seizure of the cameras
carrying the pictures of the brawl.

The series of events that happened was bad in terms of the organizers
taking an unnecessary tough stand on the matter and not lending an ear to
the actual facts.

We were happy to raise our voice and protest with the
Free Software community opposing the likes of forces like Novell. Indeed
it was good to see a resistance in a programme of such magnitude like the
National Conference. Although there is no doubt to the fact that the
conference did its job, bringing people from all walks of life and ILUG
Cochin did the job telling people the principles behind it, the opposition
against Novell has also increased the significance and importance of the
event thereby bringing about a lot of questions into the community which
would not have been raised otherwise.

The stall was dismantled by 5.00pm at the end of the exhibition and
everyone left for home after an eventful day and 4 days of hard work.

Thanks to Binny and Sreenadh for spending all 4 days in the stall from
day to night.

Thanks to Shibin, Kevin Sha, Anil, IB Manoj for helping with the
functioning of the stall.

Thanks to the students and faculty of SNGIST Manjaly for helping us out
with the stall and taking care of it in our absence.

Thanks to

Nagarjuna G for spending a great time with us.

All the people who visited the stall.

And of course the organizers of the National Conference for having
provided us an opportunity to put up the stall

Unfortunately senior members like Jay Jacob and Balakrishan Sir
were unable to make it to the conference.

The page is not a perfect framework for this activity, but a way to get started. Ideally what we need is a wiki. But once we have people starting to contribute it will be a wiki for sure.

The Resources page is for you to put any bit of information into the page as mentioned below.

• Write an article or howto on any topic which you find there aren’t any resources or if you can make a better one
• Send a mail to the section maintainer
• Once it is approved it is posted
• Documents could be attached to the resource that you are posting. This attachment must be any one of the
  following formats – PDF, TXT, ODT, ODP, PS, HTML, PNG, OGG

Another important intention of the section is to provide Documentation/Howtos in Malayalam, which is one very important aspect.
The prime intention of the site is to provide people with information to
get started with free software, because no Swathanthra software site is complete without a resources corner.

So, why wait? Start emailing your HowTos and Articles to kurianmthayil[at]gmail[dot]com.

It has been a cumulative effort of the millions of supporters and developers throughout the world, India, Kerala and Kochi that has helped boost this concept and help spread the message along with ILUG’s success. ILUG has been able to help thousands of people regain their freedom and choose the right path and this has helped create a chain reaction propagating our message to the nook and corner of Kerala.

ILUG Cochin has been involved in a host of activities from the day it was formed. Some of the major activities which have formed the backbone of its success are described below…

Seminars, Presentations, Demonstrations And Stalls

These are the foundation of ILUGs objective of spreading Free Software Awareness. ILUG has been conducting various seminars, classes and doing demonstrations all throughout Kerala. ILUG has been part of several popular IT events and has been able to effectively make a mark in all the programmes it has participated. More importance has been given to conducting these activities in educational institutions as these are the cradle of information in society. And therefore ILUG has been able to make its mark among the students and academicians as a community information and resource centre.

ILUG has taken great pain to instill the concept of a community into the field of software and education.We believe that we have been able to create some impact in this regard.
Stalls and exhibitions are a new addition to ILUG’s activities. In events that focus on the software industry, ILUG puts forward its ideas and objectives making an impact in the form of a candle in the dark. And indeed it has borne its fruits because of the various massive responses we have got for such events. ILUG hopes to get more chances in the future to spread its message in the form of such related events which can help provide a big stage.

Training

Although awareness forms the building block, providing information is the next most important thing. Surprisingly ILUG has not been behind in imparting quality education to the people of Kerala. ILUG firmly believes that money should don’t hinder the path to gaining quality education. And hence we have conceived a community based training model that provides the students freedom and creates a wonderful learning environment that brings out the best in them. This concept of ours has enabled us to help hundreds of people gain knowledge and help them attain their goals in their careers.

We firmly believe that the people whom we have trained will be a boon to the free software community and the society as a whole, like children learning from their parents these people have learned from us and have moved forward to spread our message.

Solutions and Support

As the final step in the implementation stage ILUG also provides services to people,organizations and institutions for converting to free software and implementing it effectively. While providing the solution we make sure that satisfaction is guaranteed, thereby providing support. Unlike a commercial initiative we make sure that along with the transparent solution we also provide the much needed training to these people. As mentioned above money does not form a criteria when it comes to providing service for those people who are willing to show the world that the concept of freedom has do marvels. Again these people help us in turn by being real examples of our success.