Freedom , Debian Pure Blends and Jonaas Smedagaard

Freedom box uh !!! - what kind of box it is one wonders. Free as in free speech or free as in free box. How can you package freedom in a box? All set of questions arise in our mind.. But I had my answer after listening to an inspiring talk yesterday. Freedom box, Debian, philosophy about life, rocket science, correlation between mathematics and music full of divergent ideas ... what a great Saturday it was. All thanks to Jonas Smedagaard - Debian developer from Denmark. It was fun, It was entertaining and it was informative.

Waking up early in the morning and traveling two and half hours on a weekend is a crazy thing to do for a late night fellow like me. I thought twice before going to the talk if it is worth missing the relaxing extra two hours sleep I enjoy on a Saturday morning. Somehow I made up my mind in the morning and the the talk was just started when we reached there.

A man who matches all the features of a geek was speaking and an audience of about 100 students were there to listen to him. Jonas introduced himself in a funny way and slowly moved in to the technical stuff. I was surprised to hear that he has only 12 years of schooling and not much formal education. May be due to the quality of education system in Scandinavian countries like Denmark I haven't met any one from the universities in India who can deliver a passionate talk like Jonas. See this Video about the education system in Finland.

I was fortunate to hear Eben Moglan one of the best inspirational speakers in the world. I had written about that in one of my previous blog posts. Both of them are at different levels and Eben Moglan is much more publicly accepted person the free software community through out the world. But out of the tech talks I have heard Jonas may be only secondary to Eben Moglan in making an impact in the audience. Jonas's talk was full of fun with funny real life examples. He captured the attention of his audience with his effective body language, voice modulation and instilling passion into every word he said.

His passion towards free software and his passion towards life was visible in every word he delivered. He started with how the concept of Freedom box evolved from a tech talk delivered by Eben Moglan one and half years back. You can listen to Eben Moglan's talk here.

Freedom box is a small box that can be considered as a personal server running a free software operating system and free applications. It is designed to create and preserve personal privacy by providing a secure platform upon which social networks can be constructed. You can find the details about the Freedom box project at Debian Wiki. One of the point Jonas emphasized was simplifying technologies so that they can be used by an ordinary user so that projects like Freedom box gets more acceptance among ordinary users.

The talk also touched upon Debian community and the work the community is doing for the past several years. Visit the Debian Wiki here for more information about Debian project. Debian pure blends - the project to improve Debian for specific purposes and blend it back with the Debian project was also briefly explained. Jonas emphasized the need of simplifying technology to reach a wide audience.

The talk was followed by an interactive discussion where he not only answered queries but also tried to explain his vision of life. He spoke about we can make this world a better place if every one tries to convert his passion into his job. We can do the things much better if we are passionate about it. The discussions touched up on a wide range of topic from signal processing, designing, software development, rocket science, space ships to connection between music and mathematics. When one of the students asked a question how much practical freedom box is in a country like India where lack of infrastructure like less bandwidth exists. Jonas answered it in a philosophical way. He said problems can be approached only once we start. People like us also should study how things work and sort out ways to improve it rather than and not starting it. He quoted the example when they had to deal with less bandwidth in the university a few years back. The way he interacted with the students something that we all should try to emulate. He was able to instill his passion and energy into students and inspire them.

Finally we parted after a photo session A day full of intellectual stimulation, entertainment and fun - It was one of the best days I will cherish in my life.

I am what I am because of who we all are- Use Ubuntu

There are many websites where you can find information on Ubuntu and also a lot of documentation is available. In this post my aim is not to provide in depth information on Ubuntu or share anything new, but to spread awareness among friends and ordinary users about Ubuntu.

Ubuntu means humanity to others is a community based Linux distribution suitable for desktops and personal computer users. Ubuntu is free of charge and you can share Ubuntu with friends, modify or redistribute it.Ubuntu has its origins in Africa and now grown to a popular choice as a Linux distribution all over the world.

I am using the Ubuntu Linux distribution for the past few months and it meets all the requirements of a normal user. You really don't have to be a geek to start using Ubuntu.If you want to migrate from Windows to Linux, it is an ideal choice. The latest version of Ubuntu is 8.10 and you can download it free from the internet or request for shipping a CD.

You can use the following link to get Ubuntu:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu

If you want to see how it looks like you can use a live CD that allows you to load Ubuntu on a Windows machine with out installing Ubuntu.

Ubuntu also has the advantage that it supports many regional languages.I already tried enabling the support for Kannada and Malayalam. Before you login to your system, you can choose the language for that session.

Ubuntu philosophy is based on the following ideals:

1. Every computer user should have the freedom to download, run, copy, distribute, study, share, change and improve their software for any purpose, without paying licensing fees.
2. Every computer user should be able to use their software in the language of their choice.
3. Every computer user should be given every opportunity to use software, even if they work under a disability.


Another interesting thing is it helps you to easily manage installing and updating the software applications.
It comes with the synaptic package manager that helps you to easily install, remove and update software applications using a GUI.

Installing Ubuntu is very simple, but you need 4-8GB free disk space on your harddisk and 1GB RAM. In most modern laptops you can easily install Ubuntu. You can install Ubuntu as dual boot on a machine that has Windows pre-installed so that you can choose which operating system you want to use. Dual boot installation on Windows XP pre-installed seems to be non problematic compared to a dual boot installation on Windows Vista. Once I tried to install Ubuntu as dual boot on a Windows Vista machine the installation was failed. The problem was not with Ubuntu, but because the dealers installed Windows Vista on a single partition and no space is left free to install another operating system. The only option left for you is to shrink the current partition. It is sometimes problematic. So when you first install Windows you need to leave some free space or create two or three partitions that can be used later for Linux installation.

If I summarize following are the main advantages of using Ubuntu:

1. Usability for normal users
2. Ease of installation
3. Regional language support
4. Strong community support
5. Release cycle of an updated version every six months

Start using Ubuntu and enjoy the fun ...

Links:
Official Website: http://www.ubuntu.com
Ubuntu documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/

A Weekend with Eben Moglan

On the last weekend, I got a chance to interact with two eminent personalities who compete with each other in leaving their legacy in the minds of people whom they meet. While RMS is admired by thousands of people around the world including me for creating the GNU movement and for his uncompromising stand, Eben Moglan leaves his mark for his oratory skills, humbleness and humility. As I have already written about RMS in my previous blog, I believe I won't be doing justice to Eben and the few precious moments I spent with him if I didn't write about him.

There may not be many people who know Eben Moglen. Professor Eben Moglen is the professor of law and legal history at Columbia University and is the founder, Director-Counsel and Chairman of Software Freedom Law Center.He is a programmer turned lawyer.

I and a few friends got a chance to meet and interact with Eben Moglen. Eben Moglen's speech is a spontaneous overflow of words where each sentence is elaborated by real time examples that delights a listener. He listen to each and every word from a listener and involves in direct communication with the listener.He uses the dialectic approach while answering questions. Eben uses the content from the audience, elaborate it and finally contradict it to convince the audience. While doing so Eben never directly contradicts the statement of the listener, but raise his arguments one by one to make his point.

When I was a listening to one of his speeches one person in the audience asked a question that making profit is a natural human tendency and then why should someone gives their software as free. Eben answered this question by going back to the human history and how human beings emerged as a society by collaboration and co-operation. He emphasized that humanbeings also has the natural tendency to help each other. In everyday life we help each other in someway or the other and it is also a natural tendency. The answer not only convinced the audience but also carried their minds to the historical context of the emergence of human society.

I also got a chance to had my dinner with Eben and once someone remarked that human life is short and why we should live a life of sacrifices and try to improve our society. Eben said that efforts of the great visionaries in the past and our forefathers was not only for themselves, but also for the future generations. Our efforts to improve and better the human society may not yield results in our life time, but may be our future generations after 100 or 200 years may get the results. That will be the only thing that help us human beings to move forward.

Finally in the slum computing center we all sit and discussed together about the future plans and his suggestions to improve the center. Everyone was amazed by his simplicity, his vision and knowledge. A two hour long discussion was a session of open communication and we got many suggestions to improve the center. He inspired each one of us to carry forward what we were doing for the rest of our life.

Even after leaving the center and almost a week was passed, he lives in our hearts through his words and it is something that all of us will cherish in our lifetime. Of course I have disagreements with him, but that doesn't stop me from admiring Eben Moglen one of the great personalities I have ever met.

Stallman visits slum computing center

Ambedkar Community Computer center is situated in a slum area in the New Gurupanplaya in Bannerghata road Bangalore. In the IT city of multinationals, it is only one of the slums in interiors of Banaglore that is not well known outside. Yesterday (13th December 2008), the slum had a unique visitor who is not only famous but also considered to be well known in every part of the world as the founder of the free software foundation. Richard M Stallman's visit turned the attention of IT professionals and media persons to the otherwise not well known slum.

Ambedkar Community Computing Center (AC3) is a centre set up in the slum area of Gurupan Palya by members of Stree Jagruthi Samithi, volunteers from AID (Association of India's Development) and by some Free Software Volunteers working in IT industry.

The idea of setting up the centre was to equip the poor children in the nearby area with the basic computer skills using quality software which is available free of cost and shareable. The center uses free software tools on GNU/Linux to teach and impart computer knowledge to children. The effort is now showing results and the children have shown enormous improvement. One of the children, Mani, a 9th standard student, has created beautiful pictures using the Free Software tool "GIMP". His pictures got a huge response from the exhibition conducted during the Free Software National Conference held in Cochin, this November. Amazed by Mani's picture art, Stallman agreed to visit AC3 and interact with the children for a few minutes.


During his visit, Richard Stallman inaugurated Mani's painting exhibition and released a book written by children on the basis of their experience in the slum computing center.
Sarasu, who is from the slum area, teaching kids in the slum computing center presented about the center and the work it is doing for the poor. There were also cultural events from the inhabitants of the slum. After the events, Stallman interacted with the audience and addressed their questions.

Here is an extract from his speech:

I am honoured to be here in the community computer center that is in the name of Dr BR Ambedkar. I have read about Ambedkar and I was inspired by the work he has done for the dalit people in India. There are many issues among the poor and marginalized in India that are more important than using free software. But, free software is one of the tool that helps the poor and dalit to resolve some of the issues they are facing. Poor can't afford proprietary softwares and free software helps them to accees computers. While proprietary software companies are like the colonial rulers who exploited the masses, free software is freedom and liberation. Ambedkar Community Computer center is a model for the other parts of the india in such a way that it gives access to computers for the poor without compromising the freedom. The Ambedkar Community Center is doing a great job by empowering the poor with knowledge of free software.

It was a memorable experience for the people in slum area, the people who are part of the Ambedkar Community Computer Center and the children who are the students of the center. They were all inspired by the visit of the Richard M Stallman to spread the free software message and also taking the center to next level.

An Unforgettable Lesson from a Kid

I was attending a FOSS training camp by free software movement activists in Bangalore last weekend. The sessions were followed by a demonstration from a 9th standard kid Mani from a slum area in Bannarghatta road, Bangalore. When he demonstrated the usage of GIMP by drawing pictures, I and every one among the audience were amazed. In fact he is a physically disabled kid who seems to have a natural talent for drawing.

I had tried out GIMP a few years back, but I lost interest when I felt that it is too complex and I have no inclination for drawing. When some of the volunteers were teaching computers to students in a slum area Mani expressed his eagerness to learn GIMP an image manipulation tool in GNU/Linux. One of the volunteer Hareesh provided a video on GIMP and he taught GIMP by himself using that video with the help of Balaji(A volunteer of free software movement and an employee of Sun). He became so proficient in the tool that he was able to draw a beautiful picture in a short span of time. GIMP is an equivalent tool for Photoshop, but considered less user friendly and not that much popular compared to other image manipulation tools.

We are living in a knowledge era and access to knowledge is more easier through collaboration and social networking tools. But a huge population of India is outside the reach of this vast knowledge. India has a huge talent pool with rich human resources that is unexploited. It is our duty as socially responsible citizens to reach this knowledge to masses who are poor or ignorant. This incident was an example of the use of free software as a tool to empower the masses through knowledge. Kudos to the team who are successfully running the computer center for underprivileged in the slum area. Contrary to popular assumption, people has the ability to come out successful irrespective of their background if they are provided help and access to knowledge. We need to be patient and give them the right tools to bring out their talent.

Read a report about the slum computer center in:http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/276-computer-centre

Here is a video about mani in the GNU website: How GIMP changed Mani's life

Here is an article I wrote for Bangalore citizen matters about Richard Stallman's visit to Ambedkar Community Computer Center:

Stallman's visit to Ambedkar Community Computer Center