Linux Bangalore / 2002: An overview [Deccan Herald]
Frederick Noronha
Linux Bangalore / 2002: An overview
[Published in Deccan Herald, Dec 10, 2002. Author's name not mentioned.]
LINUX Bangalore 2002, the annual national convention on Linux and OpenSource
technologies, organised by the Bangalore Linux User Group, wrapped up on
December 5th. The event was a three day conference (3rd to 5th December) on
understanding and using Linux technologies.
The conference covered a large number of areas that include Core Linux
technologies, Open Source, Embedded Systems and other allied technologies.
It featured talks and demos by a number of speakers from the industry and
academia. Speakers were a balanced mix of Linux technologists, developers,
systems experts and evangelists.
Many well known names, including Atul Chitnis, Naba Kumar, Gopi Garge, Vinod
Unny, Kishore Bhargava, Dr Gurunandan Bhat, Dr Tarique Sani and others were
present at the event and gave talks on various subjects.
Unlike last year (Linux Bangalore/2001), the event was more focussed on
Linux and OpenSource technologies, rather than introducing people to Linux.
Over 70 talks covered technologies such as webservices, kernel-related
technologies, security, robotics, databases, e-governance, etc.
A notable talk was the one by Mrinal Kalakrishnan and Jnaneshwar Das on the
use of Linux in Robotics. Much to the delight of the audience attending the
talk, these two students of PES Institute of Technology did not just talk
about the subject, but actually demonstrated "live robots" in action!
The robots were built by these two budding engineers, using household items,
and powered by a Linux-based "brain".
The Simputer, Encore's computer for the masses, that has grabbed the world's
attention, also made its appearance in two talks -- one on writing
applications for the Simputer, and one on the rationale of using Linux and
OpenSource technologies as the core Operating System of the Simputer.
Samyeer Metrani of Encore provided some fascinating insights into the
technologies involved, and showed several demonstrations of the Simputer.
Much to the surprise of delegates, even Microsoft was present at the event,
and presented a talk using its .NET technologies under open-source operating
systems like Linux and FreeBSD. This was followed by a talk by Delhi-based
technology consultant Vinod Unny, who talked about OpenSource
implementations of .NET.
Well known technologist Atul Chitnis spoke on Linux on the Corporate Desktop
-- a controversial and upcoming application of Linux and OpenSource
technologies. He also gave a talk on the technologies behind eGovernance
efforts, and how Linux and Open Source can be effectively used in this
field.
Anyone who has ever programmed under Linux will have used Anjuta, the
integrated development environment for Linux.
The audience were more than delighted by Naba Kumar, the author of Anjuta,
who gave three talks on C Programming under Linux, Development using GTK and
of course, on Anjuta itself. The halls were so full for his talks that
people were sitting in the control rooms and even on the stage!
Many well-known IT companies, including Infosys, IBM, Hewlett Packard,
Wipro, Exocore, Intel and others also gave highly technical talks, and
judging from the huge numbers attending these talks, interest was extremely
high.
What was especially interesting was the exhibition associated with the
event. Many IT majors exhibited their prowess in harnessing Linux and
OpenSource technologies. Also found at the exhibition was the IndLinux
project that is working on an Indian language-based Linux distribution.
According to the organisers, most of the presentation slideshows used by
speakers during this event as well as reports, photographs and other useful
information would be available over the next week on
http://linux-bangalore.org/2002, the event website. (ENDS)
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