Posted by egovernance on January 5, 2007
Who needs Henry when we’ve got Van Persie and Adebayor
The 40 things I link to the most
TN may shut door on Microsoft
People forget Henry is still World Class
Tim Keller on Luke 15
Russia the leader in spacecraft launches
Jessica Alba x12HQ – In A Sexy Blue Bikini at The Beach
Converting YouTube Videos to Zune Videos
The Beautiful Game(s)Posted in Open Source | Leave a Comment »
Posted by egovernance on January 4, 2007
Posted in Open Source | Leave a Comment »
Posted by egovernance on January 4, 2007
Blue Origin spacecraft unmasked!
Top Ajax Start Pages ReviewedWho needs Henry when we’ve got Van Persie and Adebayor
Miss Nevada Dethroned – Racy Pictures – VideoFallout from video of Saddam Hussein’s execution (hanging)The 40 things I link to the mostMicrosoft now stealing Apple OS codenames
Happy birthday, fat boy!Posted in Open Source | 1 Comment »
Posted by egovernance on October 22, 2006
Open access: new perspective for health professionals and scholars
By Dr Vinod Scaria, Calicut Medical College ( vinodscaria@yahoo.co.in)
Access to Information consequent to the Information Technology revolution was a major landmark of the last Century. In spite of our remarkable achievements in making Information accessible, the fact that a major share of vital research data is still behind access barriers may seem a bit paradoxical.
Posted in Open Source | Leave a Comment »
Posted by egovernance on October 21, 2006
| Eudora goes open source | |
| Open Source version of Eudora will be free of charge and will be based upon the same technology platform as the open source Mozilla Thunderbird email program | |
| Friday, October 13, 2006 |
http://www.ciol.com/content/developer/Linux/2006/106101301.asp
SAN DIEGO: QUALCOMM Incorporated, developer and innovator of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and other advanced wireless technologies, and the Mozilla Foundation announced that future versions of Eudora will be based upon the same technology platform as the open source Mozilla Thunderbird email program. Future versions of Eudora will be free and open source, while retaining Eudora’s uniquely rich feature set and productivity enhancements.
QUALCOMM and Mozilla will each participate in, and continue to foster development communities based around the open source Mozilla project, with a view to enhancing the capabilities and ease of use of both Eudora and Thunderbird. QUALCOMM also announced that it has released the final commercial versions of the current Eudora products for Windows and Mac operating systems.
“I’m excited for Eudora to be returning to the open source community,” said Steve Dorner, vice president of technology for QUALCOMM’s Eudora Group. “Using the Mozilla Thunderbird technology platform as a basis for future versions of Eudora will provide some key infrastructure that the existing versions lacked, such as a cross-platform code base and a world-class display engine. Making it open source will bring more developers to bear on Eudora than ever before” he added.
“We’re pleased to welcome Eudora and its millions of users to the world of open source,” said Frank Hecker, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation. “This effort should further enrich the Thunderbird technology platform and provide users of both products with an even richer email experience.”
The open source version of Eudora is targeted to release during the first half of 2007 and once the open source version of Eudora is released, QUALCOMM will cease to sell Eudora commercially.
Information about the open source version of Eudora and details for existing customers of the classic version of Eudora can be found at company website.
CIOL Bureau
Posted in Open Source | Leave a Comment »
Posted by egovernance on September 25, 2006
——— Forwarded message ———-
From: Steve Hargadon <steve.hargadon@ gmail.com>
Date: 23-Sep-2006 02:33
Subject: [school-discuss] Interview with Eric S. Raymond on Open Source Software in Education
To: schoolforge- discuss@schoolfo rge.net, k12opensource@ googlegroups. com
http://educationbri dges.net/ k12opensource/ wp-content/ uploads/ESR. mp3
http://educationbri dges.net/ k12opensource/ wp-content/ uploads/ESR. ogg
This wide-ranging interview with Eric Raymond didn’t turn out to be
the historical view of Open Source Software that I thought or hoped it
would be. ESR, as he is know to the Open Source or “hacker” community,
is one of the Open Source movement’s “most recognized and
controversial characters,” and while we didn’t delve into topics that
were too controversial (well, except for his position on a liberal
arts education), his responses to my questions were relatively brief
and direct¨Cleaving me ranging all over the map, trying to find some
area for discussion that would benefit educators. I’m not sure I fully
succeeded, but it was interesting!
Here are some of the items that we talked about:
* Eric is a strong believer in the pragmatic aspects of Open
Source Software, believing that the market will reward and promote
Open Source because of the quality of results that it provides. He is
less interested in the philosophical or moral arguments of Richard
Stallman and the “Free Software” movement. He also felt, along with
the other founders of the Open Source Initiative, that the phrase
“open source” would be more likely to attract business support than
“free software.” When I tried to point out the links between this way
of programming and the academic world¨Cwhere knowledge is freely
distributed¨CI felt he was a little guarded about making that
association. I also think Eric’s answers to the assumption of Open
Source in schools depend on volunteers championing Open Source¨Cwhich
really depends on the philosophical commitment.
* Eric’s most well-known writing, an essay called “The Cathedral
and the Bazaar,” was a description of the methods used by Linus
Torvalds to create the Linux kernel. While we didn’t talk much about
this, it does seem that Eric was seminal in describing a method of
massive collaboration that had previously been believed could not
produce high-quality results. While others have taken the principles
from his essay and extended them into other spheres, he is less
interested in doing so because his expertise is in programming. I have
no such hesitation! Much of the interesting collaborative technologies
that we call “Web 2.0¡å (blogs, wikis, social networking tools) seem to
me to have both a technical and sociological roots in the Free and
Open Source Software movements. He wasn’t sure he actually believed
there was a “Web 2.0,” but I think my description was acceptable to
him.
* Eric definitely had some negative things to say about Wikipedia,
and didn’t want to concede a comparison between Open Source
development and the collaboration of a wiki. I’m not sure I fully
understood why, and I wasn’t sure he was comparing “bests to
bestsӬCboth Open Source Software and wikis have successes and
failures, and I felt like he he may have painted the picture of Open
Source too positively.
* Eric’s view of Open Source Software in education was pragmatic:
the quality of open source software will be better than proprietary
software, and will ultimately win out. At the same time, he
acknowledged that proprietary vendors are likely to provide financial
incentives to keep schools using their software. I guess I am left
feeling dissatisfied with both the Free Software and Open Source
software answers to the question of adoption of their software in
education. If the Free Software movement requires a moral or
philosophical commitment by its users, it’s not really realistic to
think that is going to happen on a broad scale by educators who have
to see the technology as a means to an end. In Eric’s representation
of the Open Source movement, there is a dependence on the free market
to choose the best product, and I think we have to recognize that
capitalism is often messier than that. With no financial backing or
marketing of Open Source software, I’m not sure the best product does
come to the top. My standard example for this is the Apache, which
runs some 70% of the world’s web servers, would be a great program for
technical students to learn, but is virtually untaught in our
schools¨Cfor there is no marketing money promoting it to schools.
* In this vein, I asked Eric why we don’t have a United States
equivalent to South Africa’s Mark Shuttleworth¨ Cthat is, someone who
has had financial success because of Open Source Software, and who
then funds initiatives to provide the benefits of Open Source Software
to schools. Eric’s answer was that we can’t count on someone like
that¨Cthat Mark is a “random event.” However, it does seem to me that
the Free and Open Source Software movements in this country would be
greatly benefited by such a “random event,” and that a realistic view
of marketing and publicity would accept it as very important for
someone like that step forward.
* I followed my thread from the Larry Cuban interview about
computing in the classroom: basically, that the computer is still too
complicated and unreliable to be fully integrated into or to transform
the regular teacher’s teaching methods. What has occurred to me
recently, and which has been something of an eye-opener, is that this
description of the problem does help to explain why Linux is not
making more inroads in education. Among early adopters (those teachers
who are willing to spend the extra time on technology), the idea of a
freely available operating system has great appeal¨Cbut maybe we are
being tricked in that way. Early adopters may not have the same needs
or respond in the same way as mainstream educators, and maybe Linux
isn’t making more inroads because it essentially doesn’t answer, any
better, the needs of that individual mainstream teacher. While “free,”
and arguably more reliable, Linux is an unknown to most of them and
doesn’t actually present them with any more of an “appliance-like”
classroom tool than a Windows machine. (The standards for me of
“appliance-like” being the overhead projector and the iPod.) I then
broached the topic with Eric of a more “appliance-like” computer, and
he shot that down FAST. He said we can’t expect that for 10 or 20
years. I’m not sure he’s right. I think we don’t have an
“appliance-like” computer not because it’s not technically possible¨Cit
surely is¨Cbut maybe because 1) we’re not ready to trade reliability
for reduced functionality, or 2) because the decision-makers for
educational technology don’t see the value. But it’s not hard for me
to imagine a read-only PC that runs the web, word processing, and
spreadsheets, and saves to USB key only. We certainly have the
technological capability of producing such a machine, although that
doesn’t mean it would be successful.
* We did talk about the abundant changes in work that have been
brought about by the Internet, collaboration, and a higher standard of
living. I’ll have explore this later, but one of the effects of the
“Long Tail” world we now live in is that there are likely to be many
more opportunities for us to work¨Cas part of our vocations and
avocations¨Con things that interest and motivate us. If our educational
system has typically prepared us to have a breadth of skills, assuming
we may not have much choice in what we ultimately do, how will that
change when there is more choice? If schools continue to be rigid
institutions without much integration of technology, will the charter,
alternative, and homeschool movements become more and more attractive
to students?
* We did get into the fascinating topic of ownership or
accessibility of “metadata” from Web 2.0 services. This is something
Tim O’Reilly has talked about. I’ve been putting up on flickr all the
photos of my ancestors that we have previously had in several boxes,
and have been “tagging” them with information so that other family
members can easily find them and help organize them. All of that
data¨Cthe tags and the descriptions¨ Cis extremely valuable to me, and is
really only accessible to me as long as I am using flickr. So what
happens if flickr goes away, or has a system failure, or raises their
prices so much that I want to switch services? I’m pretty locked in.
No easy answers to this one, although Eric discusses the Open Source
way of solving this issue.
* We also talk about another favorite topic of mine¨Cthe changing
nature of the commercial relationship between producer and consumer,
and how Open Source has provided a model for more active participation
in the creation of the end product. Again, I always use the simplistic
example of American Idol, since the viewers actually end up helping to
create (choose) the product (singer) that they are likely to purchase
(music).
I’m grateful to Eric for taking the time to talk to me. Let’s hope
I’ve characterized the discussion accurately. 
–
Steve Hargadon
steve@hargadon. com
916-899-1400 direct
www.SteveHargadon. com – (Blog on Educational Technology)
www.K12Computers. com – (Refurbished Dell Optiplexes for Schools)
www.TechnologyRescu e.com – (Linux Thin Client Solutions)
www.LiveKiosk. com – (Web Access and Content Delivery Solutions)
www.PublicWebStatio ns.com – (Disaster & Shelter WebStation Software)
www.K12OpenSource. com (Public Wiki)
www.SupportBlogging .com (Public Wiki)
Posted in Open Source | Leave a Comment »
Posted by egovernance on September 25, 2006
| Open Source software: Taking on the giants...
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?rep=2&aid=324206&ssid=29&sid=ENV |
|
“The war is already brewing between software majors and proponents of open source and free software, which is becoming popular in developing countries, where high costs of the proprietory software is the major cause of rampant piracy,” says a new book “open source and the law” by legal counsel, Priti Suri. The worldwideweb is the most successful example of open software. The Indian Institutes of Technology use open source software for research; and the government is also promoting its use in education and financial services and multiple E-governance projects, says Suri. Unlike proprietory software, where every time a new user has to buy the software, open source allows the users to view and modify the source code, a set of instructions used in the creation of the software. When the source code is viewed by other users, who can make improvements to it, the modified versions of the same software are further redistributed to subsequent users to do similar things. Technology research firm Gartner Inc has forecast that open source computing holds great promise in India and that the country’s technology adoption is gaining momentum. It expects a growth of 20.8 percent for the next four years in business spending on computer hardware, software and communication products, notes the book. Trade associations including Nasscom and Mait believe that Linux and open source products can play an important role in spreading E-governance in India, with low cost local language applications. Deployment of open source software is also considered critical in it education at school level where low cost software is to be the real impetus, says the book. “In capital starved economies like India, Open Source Software (OSS) is one of the most viable way of tacking technologies to the people and ensuring that the disadvantaged section of society is also a part of the technology wave that is sweeping across the world,” say Suri and her associates in the book. The licenced software being developed by Microsoft and Oracle, is expensive and buying software at higher prices is the least of the concerns of the people who are more concerned with earning enough to support their livelihood, she says. “OSS offers these people a better opportunity to avail the technology as it can be made available at a cheaper rate. Another benefit of this software is that in India, a large volume of rural population does not understand English, this Doftware can be converted into local languages, as the source code of the software is made available along with the program,” she says. The governments of countries around the world like India, Brazil, South Africa, Vietnam, Malaysia and China have either started to adopt or feel the need for specific policies on OSS. In India, though there is no specific legislation dealing with OSS, the free software foundation of India has submitted an opinion to the government. The OSS, however, has been able to make specific inroads into the country. President Kalam is also a supporter of OSS. In one of his speeches, President Kalam called for the usage of non proprietory software especially by the military to ward off cyber security threat. The emphasis was on the fact that India should strive for self-reliance in software required for the development of critical weapons systems reminding that technology embargoes were imposed on India when nuclear devices were tested. “The positives of OSS are immense for any country. However, these benefits can manifest only if a policy can truly capture the spirit of OSS, which has the inherent ability to give the right boost to the economy of any developing country,” says Suri. Bureau Report |
Posted in Open Source | Leave a Comment »
Posted by egovernance on September 3, 2006
Open Source Windows
Free and open-source software is good for you and for the world. This is the best Windows software that we know of. No adware, no spyware, just good software.
http://www.opensourcewindows.org/
The premier free, open-source browser. Tabs, pop-up blocking, themes, and extensions. Considered by many to be the world’s best browser.
Download Page
Connect to multiple IM accounts simultaneously in a single app, including: AOL IM, MSN, and Jabber.
Download Page
Powerful spam filtering, solid interface, and all the features you need.
Download Page
Simple, lightweight aggregator.
Download Page
Solid cross-platform RSS client.
Download Page
Subscribe to internet TV channels (video RSS feeds), download and watch all in one app. Built-in Channel Guide and torrent support.
Download Page
A simple, easy to use filesharing program. Gnutella network.
Download Page
A very good Gnutella search and download filesharing program.
Download Page
Download large files from multiple people simultaneously.
Download Page
A more complicated BitTorrent client. So many features you’ll lose your mind.
Download Page
Compact, but powerful media player. Plays anything under the sun. No install necessary.
Download Page
Plays more video files than most players: Quicktime, AVI, DIVX, OGG, and more. Pretty good interface.
Download Page
Similar to VLC– plays loads of video formats.
Download Page
Great tool for ripping CDs, DVDs, etc and converting between tons of video formats.
Download Page
Big, full featured suite of tools for word processing and spreadsheets. Compatible with and a free replacement for Microsoft Word documents. Also supports OpenDocument Format.
Download Page
A word processor. Leaner and quicker than OpenOffice. Compatible with Microsoft Word documents and OpenDocument Format.
Download Page
Solid podcasting client.
Download Page
DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter.
Download Page
Simple sound recording tool.
Download Page
Photo editing application that rivals Photoshop in features.
Download Page
Graphics editor with a very nice interface.
Download Page
Vector graphics application.
Download Page
Excellent FTP program.
Download Page
IRC client.
Download Page
HTML / Text Editing
–>
About this Site
Open Source Windows is a simple list of the best free and open source software for Windows. We aren’t trying to be a comprehensive listing of every open-source Windows application, instead we want to showcase the best, most important, and easiest to use. This page should be a handy reference and a useful tool for getting more people to start using free and open-source software. If you think we’re missing any great apps, please let us know.
Note to software creators: first of all, thanks for making free, open-source software– we love you. Second, many F/OSS projects have very confusing download pages, and this prevents a lot of people from using free software. It’s usually very easy to improve– just add a big ‘Download Now’ link towards the top of the page, without too much clutter around it (use mozilla.org or adiumx.com or bittorrent.com for inspiration)– people do not need to see every version and every mirror. Here’s some more unsolicited advice for getting more people to download your software: a. if you have a nice icon, show it off prominently. b. put a download link and a screenshot on your front page. c. if you use mirrors, use a script to pick a random mirror and just give people one link that says ‘download now’ d. if there’s any way you can avoid sending people to the sourceforge download mirror page, you should (we know it’s not your fault, but it baffles lots of folks). e. if you really want to make things easy for people, and you have a cross-platform app, detect what OS they are on and give them the correct link. f. test your page on a novice!
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email us: hi@opensourcewindows.org
Some more specialized free and open-source Microsoft Windows apps.
Open Source IDE for the .NET Framework. Utilizes the multiple programming languages and Windows forms
Download Page
Open Source programmers notepad for Windows
Download Page
Open Source C++ IDE for Windows, can use the Visual Studiops Toolkit 2003 or MingW
Download Page
Open Source tools for development. Includes Dev-C++ 5 beta, Dev-C++ 4 CD version, Dev-C++ 4.01 update, Dev-C++ for Linux,Dev-Pascal, QuickInstall 2.0, Avi Creator 1.0, Dev-C++ 4 sources, Dev-Pascal 1.9 sources, Multibox 4.0, Fast Cleaner 1.0, LaserWar, LaserWar sources for Delphi, Calc-By-Step 1.0, Dev-C++ Packages.
Download Page
Dia is a Visio type clone for Windows and UNIX/Linux systems. It has many templates included and very useful for flowcharting etc.
Download Page
An innovative application for note taking and outlining. Takes time to get used to, but some people swear by it.
Download Page
Open Source note taking application written in Java
Download Page
Open Source note taking application, very good. I use this myself extensively
Download Page
Simple, easy to use application for managing personal finances.
Download Page
Easy to use Accounting package
Download Page
MSN Messenger client written in TCL/TK AMSN Messenger
IRC Client X-Chat
Fast, nice web browser.
Download Page
W3C developed web browser and editor for multiple platforms
Download Page
Immersive, trippy screensaver.
Download Page
Download torrents. Nice and simple.
Download Page
Download torrents.
Download Page
Powerful 3D Modeling software.
Download Page
The worlds first OpenSource Realtime Editing and Effects System.
Download Page
Also see: Persistence of Vision Raytracer,Quesa
Open-source 3D planetarium software. Akin to traveling through space (outer space).
Download Page
“Renders realistic skys in realtime.” See what you would see if your city wasn’t so light-polluted. Used in real planetariums.
Download Page
Also see: macORSA – Orbit Reconstruction, Simulation, and Analysis
Engine for Bungie’s free FPS series Marathon. Play online, solo play with rich original story, many total conversions and thousands of maps.
Download Page
3D zombie strategy game.
Download Page
3D Tron game.
Download Page
First-person tank game.
Download Page
Fantasy / Strategy Game
Download Page
Also see: Snes9X (SNES emulator), Frozen Bubble
Host Creative Commons video or audio files for free on archive.org with this easy uploader.
Download Page
Easy to use port scanner for Windows
Download Page
Network Protocol Analyzer
Download Page
Creates encrypted virtual hard drives for extra security
Download Page
Open Source Anti-Virus. Very good at detecting viruses. Can be plugged into hMailServer for e-mail protection LIMITATION: Real Time scanning not implemented yet
Download Page
Delete files securely off your hard drive utilizing DoD standards
Download Page
Easy to use MP3 manipulation tool for Windows. adjusts sound levels on MP3’s so they are all the same
Download Page
This program provides rapid Mp3 (ID3v1, ID3v2) and Ogg/Speex/Flac Vorbis tags editing and file renaming functions. Mass Tag editing is done using special variables and Regular Expressions.
Download Page
Open Source MP3 Player, ripper and organizer written using the .NET Framework
Download Page
Mapping tool similar to Google Earth for Windows. Must have the .NET Framework installed
About this Site
Open Source Windows is a simple list of the best free and open source software for Windows. We aren’t trying to be a comprehensive listing of every open-source Windows application, instead we want to showcase the best, most important, and easiest to use. This page should be a handy reference and a useful tool for getting more people to start using free and open-source software. If you think we’re missing any great apps, please let us know.
Note to software creators: first of all, thanks for making free, open-source software– we love you. Second, many F/OSS projects have very confusing download pages, and this prevents a lot of people from using free software. It’s usually very easy to improve– just add a big ‘Download Now’ link towards the top of the page, without too much clutter around it (use mozilla.org or adiumx.com or bittorrent.com for inspiration)– people do not need to see every version and every mirror. Here’s some more unsolicited advice for getting more people to download your software: a. if you have a nice icon, show it off prominently. b. put a download link and a screenshot on your front page. c. if you use mirrors, use a script to pick a random mirror and just give people one link that says ‘download now’ d. if there’s any way you can avoid sending people to the sourceforge download mirror page, you should (we know it’s not your fault, but it baffles lots of folks). e. if you really want to make things easy for people, and you have a cross-platform app, detect what OS they are on and give them the correct link. f. test your page on a novice!
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email us: hi@opensourcewindows.org
Posted in Open Source | 1 Comment »
Posted by egovernance on September 3, 2006
Debating Open-Source Software at the U.N.
Pogue’s Posts September 1, 2006 <http://pogue. blogs.nytimes. com/?p=127>
[excerpt from http://pogue. blogs.nytimes. com ]
On Tuesday, I moderated a panel at, of all things, the United
Nations. It was pretty cool to sit down in a U.N. conference room,
complete with those little earpiece thingies for hearing translations
(although no translators were on duty–rats).
Anyway, the panel was all about free and open-source software and how
it might benefit the U.N.’s member states. The panelists included six
advocates of free software–for example, representatives from Novell,
I.B.M. and Red Hat, all of whom have developed thriving consulting
and support businesses around free software like Linux–and a
Microsoft rep. He valiantly enunciated Microsoft’s current attitude
toward the open-source movement: for example, that Microsoft welcomes
and has learned from the competition, and that the market has plenty
of room for both proprietary and free software.
What made things especially interesting was that only two seats away
from him was Richard Stallman, the influential founder of the Open
Source movement and a man who does not mince words.
Mr. Stallman does not like Microsoft. Wow, does he not. He mentioned
that when the U.N. sent him the information about the panel in a
Microsoft Word document, he refused it and requested a different
format. During the panel, he called Microsoft evil, said that the
U.S. government is in Microsoft’s pocket, and at one point faced the
Microsoft guy and shouted, right there in the United Nations
conference room, “You are a deceptive person!”
A good time was had by all.
Seriously, though, many countries (or departments within them) are
already making the switch to open-source software. They save money up
front because the software doesn’t cost anything, but there are other
motivations, like security (they can inspect the source code) and, in
some countries, the hope of generating jobs for local programmers and
administrators.
If you believe the companies who are offering open-source
packages–and not everyone does–the momentum is clearly on the
free-software side, that the tide is turning, and even that the days
of the proprietary- software monopoly are numbered.
As I mentioned at the end of the seminar: Let’s all meet back here in
ten years and see how things turned out.
Posted in Open Source | 1 Comment »
Posted by egovernance on August 26, 2006
Unicode Font Guide For Free/Libre Open Source Operating Systems
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— -
Special thanks to Ed Trager and Ann Arbor for their contributions to the
FOSS Movement
Source: http://www.unifont. org/fontguide/
Introduction
Unicode Font Guide For Free/Libre Open Source Operating Systems is a
selective guide to Unicode-based fonts and script projects that are ideal
for free/libre/open source (FLOSS) operating systems like GNU/Linux and
FreeBSD.
The project includes those fonts only that:
1. Contain Unicode CMAPs for mapping Unicode values to glyphs.
2. Can be downloaded and used legally for free.
3. Preference is given to high-quality vector fonts that have been released
under SIL International’ s Open Font License (OFL), the Free Software
Foundation’s GNU General Public License (GPL), and similarly open licenses.
4. Also included are other important Unicode fonts, including a few notable
shareware fonts where the authors request payment of a fee after an initial
free evaluation.
Although the focus of the project is on vector fonts that would work well on
free operating systems, the fonts presented will also work well on
Unicode-capable Windows operating systems (Windows 2000 and XP) and on Apple
OSX.
Also worth noting is that other, more extensive online font guides do exist.
In particular Alan Wood’s “Unicode fonts for Windows computers” is an
extensive resource which covers commercial, shareware, and free fonts. In
contrast to Mr. Wood’s site, this project focuses on Open Source,
non-governmental organization (NGO), and government-sponsore d font and
script initiatives that aim to facilitate computing in national and
indigenous languages throughout the world.
Some of the included font projects provide numerous fonts. An effort has
been made to include images of a representative sample of the available
fonts. For many of the sample font images, the project has made use of the
first article of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) which has been translated into hundreds of languages. If anyone wants
to compare translations of just the first article, they can try Xavier
Nègre’s excellent déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme page at
www.lexilogos. com.
Instructions on installing these fonts on GNU/Linux and similar free
operating systems are provided on the project’s main Unicode page. It is
worth noting that many fonts are packaged in .zip files for the convenience
of Windows users. Under free Unices, just use the unzip utility from your
terminal. Some fonts are packaged in self-extracting .exe packages for
Windows. Here again one may simply use the unzip utility since the .exe
basically consists of a short executable stub with the zipped font files
attached to it.
A new tool for the impatient
If today anyone is feeling impatient and wishes to just download all the
fonts referenced on this site while blithely sipping their coffee or tea –
well, they can almost do just that by using a simple shell script on the
link provided. The script will attempt to download the vast majority of
fonts referenced on this site. The script requires that one has the wget,
tar, and unzip utilities, as well as the fontforge font editor. The script
will download font files to a fonts subdirectory under the current working
directory. Everyone can try it!
The project complements and appreciates support by Ritu Khanna and Monisha
Sharma for their generous help with testing and preparing the Indic font
samples which appear in the South Asian section of the project guide.
The authors may be contacted at
<ed dot trager at gmail dot com>
Regards
———— ——— –
Fouad Riaz Bajwa
General Secretary – FOSS Advocate
FOSSFP: Free & Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan ® Secretariat
Office of the General Secretary
E-Mail: bajwa@fossfp. org
URL: www.fossfp.org ; www.ubuntu-pk. org
Disclaimer:
This e-mail message is intended for its recipient only. If you have received
this e-mail in error, please discard it. The author of this e- mail or
FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan (R) takes no
responsibility for the material, implicit or explicit.
Posted in Open Source | Leave a Comment »
TN may shut door on Microsoft
New Delhi, Sept 20: Free and open source software is fast taking on licenced software giants worldover, and in India too, it is catching the fancy of IT industry.