More photos available in my /gallery.

More photos available in my /gallery.

More photos available in my /gallery.

I conducted couple of sessions for the ECE, EEE and EIE department students of Jaya Engineering College, Thiruninravur, Tamil Nadu, today, Saturday, March 24, 2007.

I started off with an introduction to Free/Libre/Open Source Software, taught them examples of Alliance VLSI CAD tools, and embedded GNU/Linux HOWTO. I gave a demo of an embedded development kit. After the sessions, we had an informal discussion with the faculty of EEE, EIE.

After lunch, we had an informal discussion with few students in the FOSS lab about their final year project work. Most of them knew only about Java, as that was what was “prescribed” in the syllabus. But, I gave them an insight on the different domains that they could work on, and possibilities available in the Industry.

The FOSS lab is running Red Hat 9. The systems have 256 MB RAM, so, I asked them to upgrade to a recent distro ASAP. They also are in the process of moving to PHP, MySQL for their website.

Their servers have been obtained from our good friends at DeepRoot, so they can try to setup an internal portal (PHP, mysql) for intra-department communication.

The system administrator in the lab wanted few tips on networking with Red Hat. I showed him how to use scp to transfer files between two Red Hat systems. He was so happy! During summer holidays, Prof. Kumaran wants to do some FOSS camp for the staff. Should be fun, if you guys can help out, and if you are in town.

I would like to thank Prof. Kumaran for his continued support. Special thanks also to Harish for coordinating and organizing the event.

I conducted a “Careers with GNU/Linux and Free Software” workshop on Saturday, March 10, 2007 at Osmania University, Hyderabad.

This is the first time that I actually “flew” to a workshop. Indian Airlines flight was delayed by two hours. The workshop was to start at 10:15, but, I reached Hyderabad only at 1200 noon. Hyderabad is a Pretty Hot Place (PHP?). It was 30 degree celsius, but, felt like 50! I presented the following: Careers with GNU/Linux, Free Software, GNU/Linux desktop, Embedded HOWTO, Alliance VLSI CAD Tools HOWTO.

The posters made for the workshop are available: [Flyer I] [Flyer II]

There were about 180 students from in and around Hyderabad. There were students who came all the way from Vijayawada (300 km) by bus, overnight, and I was elated. Students from other colleges who participated in the workshop were eager to have similar workshops for their colleges. I have agreed for the same.

I was able to meet folks from Free Software Foundation, Andhra Pradesh Chapter. I shall provide the organizers’ contacts to NRC-FOSS.

I would like to thank Dr. Atul Negi (Vice-Chairman, IEEE Hyderabad Section), Dr. Madhav Negi (Chairman, IEEE Computer Society, Hyderabad Section) for their support.

Thanks also to Santosh Arjun (Vice-Chairman, IEEE Student Chapter, Osmania University) for working with me for more than a month in organizing this workshop.

I gave a couple of talks: “Alliance VLSI CAD Tools”, and “Careers with GNU/Linux” at National Institute of Technology, Calicut, Kerala on Saturday, March 3, 2007.

The code examples and presentation are available. I’d like to thank Praveen for inviting me over (which he didn’t have to do). The interaction with the students was good.

The schedule was a bit tight, and I didn’t take any pictures.

Deepan Chakravarthy and myself conducted a one-day workshop for the Bioinformatics department, Karpagam Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India on Saturday, September 9, 2006.

I introduced them to FLOSS, and then Deepan spoke on how FLOSS is useful in bioinformatics. He showed a demo of Emboss, and lot of other applications. After lunch, I gave a demo of the GNU/Linux desktop environment, and also explained basic commands that they can use in the console environment. Deepan then continued with his demo of bioinformatics applications and discussed about FLOSS projects at bioinformatics.org.

The students/faculty were really enthusiastic, and wanted follow-up sessions. I emphasized that they should get started with setting up a FLOSS lab, and a GNU/Linux user group on-campus. They are ready to provide facilities, stay, food even if you want to spend a week there, and give them hands-on training. There are no distractions until October 5, 2006, after which they have model exams, followed by holidays and exams.

I would like to thank Prof. Hemalatha for working with us for the past couple of weeks in coordinating and organizing this event. Special thanks to the department faculty and management for the facilities and hospitality offered.

The photos taken during “FLOSSAGE 2006”, between August 19-20, 2006 at Jaya Engineering College, Thiruninravur, Tamil Nadu, India can be viewed from my /gallery.

I shall make a CD copy of the photos (high resolution) and send it to Harish (Secretary, Jaya Engineering College GNU/Linux Campus Club). Thanks to Harish for coordinating and helping us around. I must congratulate Prof. Kumaran for doing a very good job in organizing the whole event. Thanks also to the management, faculty, students of Jaya Engineering college for the wonderful hospitality offered.

Students were very enthusiastic about FLOSS. It was something very new to them, and they were very eager to learn it and try it. I was particulary impressed by the ‘Blender team’ who picked it up so easily, and were doing cool animations! If we can continue to guide them, they will definitely make good contributions to FLOSS.

Thanks to the other ILUGC, NRCFOSS volunteers too. I had a great time!

Members of ILUGC, NRC-FOSS conducted a FLOSS training session to Jaya Engineering College (Thiruninravur) students, today, Sunday, August 13, 2006.

The photos taken during the session can be viewed from my /gallery.

Please contact Raman P (raamanp at yahoo.co.in), if you are interested in volunteering for the LDD at Jaya Engineering College, on August 19-20, 2006.

I conducted a full-day “Introduction to Free/Libre Open Source Software” workshop on Saturday, August 5, 2006 at Karpagam Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

I covered career opportunities with FLOSS, Free/Libre Open Source Software that is available for students/engineers, the GNU/Linux desktop, localization with GNU/Linux, and played the movie, “The Revolution OS”.

The students were from the CS and MCA department. Usually, I prefer to speak in Tamil within Tamil Nadu, but, because the audience comprised of people from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, English was preferred. The college has recently received autonomous status. I have given AU-KBC contacts to them to take up FLOSS projects, and to start taking FLOSS initiatives to serve the community in and around Coimbatore.

They will be starting a GNU/Linux Campus Club/User Group on campus, soon. They do require technical support and guidance (initially, atleast) from ILUGC, AU-KBC members for FLOSS work.

I would like to thank Prof. E. Karthikeyan, Senior Lecturer, Computer Science Department to have arranged for the workshop in one week’s time, and for the wonderful hospitality offered.

You can check out the photos from my /gallery.