ILUGC in collaboration with CIOSA organized a GNU/Linux workshop for NGOs on Sunday, October 16, 2005 at Ma Foi Academy, Chennai.

It was an introductory session on Free Software, OpenOffice, desktop applications, Internet applications, multimedia on GNU/Linux. Thanks to Prasanna (CIOSA) for taking the initiative, Asokan Pichai (Ma Foi) for providing us with the facilites at Ma Foi, and Vamsee Kanakala (Ma Foi) for coordinating the events.

Thanks also goes to ILUGC volunteers Bharathi, Raman, Hariram, Sudharshan, Ramanathan and others. You can check out the photos taken during the workshop from my /gallery.

I would like to thank the Computer Science Department, Adhiparasakthi Engineering College, Melmaruvathur, Tamil Nadu, India for inviting me, and for helping me organize a GNU/Linux workshop for CSE students. Special mention goes to Mr. Ramabadran for working with me for the past three weeks in coordinating this event.

The workshop was held today, September 24, 2005 at the college premises. The topics covered: career opportunities with GNU/Linux and Free Software for engineers.

The engineering college is interested in working towards bringing more FLOSS industry exposure to their campus, and for conducting more workshops. If anybody is interested, I can put you on to the concerned individuals.

I organized a GNU/Linux workshop at Stella Maris College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, today, September 10, 2005.

I discussed the various career opportunities related to GNU/Linux, gave a demo of the GNU/Linux desktop, and gave an introduction on Free Software for engineers.

I would like to thank the faculty, CS department, and management of Stella Maris College for the opportunity.

Few photos taken during the workshop are available in my /gallery.

I would like to thank Srinivasan, from Saveetha Engineering College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India for taking the initiative for a GNU/Linux workshop, the faculty (CS and IT departments), and management of Saveetha Engineering College for making the necessary arrangements for the workshop.

The workshop was conducted, today, Saturday, September 3, 2005 at the college premises. I addressed the following: Introduction to Free Software, Careers with GNU/Linux, and the GNU/Linux desktop.

More photos can be viewed from my /gallery.

I would like to thank Senthil Kumaran, Arpit Sud, Praveen, Joe Steeve, Prof. Shalini (HOD, CSE), and other volunteers for working with me for the past one month in planning, and coordinating the GNU/Linux workshop that was held on Saturday, August 20, 2005 at Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.

The following topics were addressed: careers with GNU/Linux, Free Software for Engineers, and the GNU/Linux desktop. An interactive Q&A session was also organized. We also played “The.Code.Linux” movie.

You can check out more photos from my /gallery.

I would like to thank Hariram Aatreya for the opportunity given to me to accompany Murali, Chandrasekhar, and Venkatesh from the AU-KBC center, Madras Institute of Technology for the FLOSS road show to Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam, Tamil Nadu, India on August 6, 2005.

The faculty, management and students were very much interested in GNU/Linux, and are planning to start a GLUG and increase their activities with GNU/Linux. Representatives from seven different colleges in and around Sathyamangalam had also come for the workshop.

On the way back we checked out the FLOSS lab at Kongu Engineering College, Erode, and the projects they had been working on. I must thank them for staying back till eight in the night as we finished late in the evening at Bannari Amman Institute of Technology.

Kongu Engineering College LUG started with six members in 2003, and it has now grown to 170 members from all the departments. They meet every week. A former student (just graduated), Arvind Kalyan, was responsible for taking the initiative in 2003. Professors (like Prof. Jayapathi, HOD, CSE department) and the management provided the support for the FOSS activities, and continue to do so. The juniors are now continuing the tradition :). They have also agreed to collaborate with Bannari Amman Institute of Technology for FOSS projects.

You can view the photos of the trip and the workshop from my /gallery.

I would like to thank the Correspondent, Dr. (Tmt.) Umayal Ramanathan, the Registrar, Mr. Dhandapani, CSE HOD, Dr. S. Sakthivel, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India for providing me with an opportunity to conduct a GNU/Linux workshop for the MCA students on Saturday, July 23, 2005.

The labs already run Red Hat, but, it is used at a basic programming (bash scripting, desktop usage) level. I conducted the following sessions: career opportunities with GNU/Linux, and on Free Software for engineers.

The download speeds are not that high at the Institute. I gave them Knoppix 3.6, Fedora Core 3, The.Code.Linux.avi, C-DAC tamil fonts, and the presentation slides in CDs. BSNL provides Internet connection facilities for the University. Sify has netcafe centers in the city, which have much better download speeds. Most of them have a computer at home. I have told them to send e-mails if they require any CDs, and we can simply send the CDs to them through courier.

The students were very much interested in GNU/Linux. You should have seen their eyes, the eagerness and willingness to really learn, and to understand the fundamental concepts.

Few photos taken during the trip can be viewed from my /gallery.

I would like to thank the Tiruchirapalli MySQL group and CSE department faculty, students, and the management of Saranathan College of Engineering, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India for giving me an opportunity to conduct a one-day GNU/Linux workshop. The workshop was announced in the newspapers, “The Indian Express” and “The Hindu”.

The following topics were addressed: Careers with GNU/Linux, Free Software for Engineers, and a demo of the GNU/Linux Desktop.

The MYSQL group is working on using LAMP on GNU/Linux for the Pulivazham village cooperative society milk center farmers. They require to keep track of accounts, volume of milk stored in the facilities, and general book-keeping activities. Good luck to the Tiruchirapalli MySQL team for this project. Hopefully next time when we visit, we will see Pulivazham farmers using GNU/Linux for their day-to-day activities.

Thanks to S. Srinivasan, T. Shivakumar, Arul Jeeva, and Lakshminarayanan of Tiruchirapalli MySQL group, Harsha Infotech, and Rajaram Systems.

Special thanks to Ramkumar L who has been working with me in planning this event for the past two weeks. Thanks to Prof. Venkatasubramanian, HOD, CSE Department, Saranathan College of Engineering for coordinating the sessions.

The photos of the workshop (and the trip) can be viewed from my /gallery.

The photots taken during the GNU/Linux workshop on July 2, 2005, for MCA and M.Sc. IT students at St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India are available in my /gallery.

I conducted the following sessions: careers with GNU/Linux, and Free Software for Engineers. The.Code.Linux movie was also shown to the participants.

I would like to thank Parvathavarthini Mam (HOD, MCA), Faculty (MCA, M.Sc. IT departments), Anandhi Subramanian Mam, and the Management, St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai for providing the Audio-Visual hall for the GNU/Linux workshop.

I would like to thank the Computer Science Department - the students, professors, HOD and Dean, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India for giving me an opportunity to conduct a one-day workshop/seminar on “GNU/Linux/OSS” on January 17, 2005 (Monday).

Special thanks to Arvind Kalyan (final year, CS) who has been working with me for the past three weeks in meticulously planning the seminar, and answering my questions. Special thanks goes to the Management for the good hospitality and stay provided at the guest house. The infrastructure at your college is state-of-the-art. Thanks for providing all the required facilities for the seminar.

The following is a summary of the workshop events:

Session I: “Careers with GNU/Linux/OSS” (morning)

Session II: Introduction to device driver programming (morning)

Session III: Knoppix demo and GNU/Linux installation (afternoon)

Session IV: Watched the movie, The.Code.Linux.avi (evening)

We shall organize more events in future as a collaboration between ILUGC and Kongu Linux User’s Group.