Slashdot Mirror
More On The Open Sourcing Of Iraq
popdookey writes "
The BBC's broadcast, The World,
has run a piece on the growing Linux movement in Iraq as was previously reported
here on Slashdot. 'In Iraq, a group of
computer users has started writing open source
computer code. They're Linux enthusiasts. The idea is to make low-cost,
home-grown software and is said to hold great promise for developing
countries. It could leapfrog Iraq into a more competitive future. The
World technology reporter Clark Boyd reports.'"
There is a, IIRC, recently formed Linux user group in Iraq: http://www.iraqilinux.org/ IMHO it's a good change for open source to make an impact if Iraq's public services are going to have the opportunity to make a fresh start on handover.
You've probably noticed that people's noses get bigger as they get older. That's because old people are huge liars.
Does mplayer not cope with wma files?
Debian doesn't include mplayer...but you can still download it from their website.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
Possibly the cryptoloop stuff, but remember that Linux is a global project.
That's why distributions like Debian distribute encryption-related stuff from servers outside the US.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
No, they have PlayStation2s running Linux.
This might be a troll, but I'll bite.
Don't like GNOME? Use windowmaker. If that's still too fat for you, use oroborus. Still too big? Try setting your window manager to "twm".
Don't like OpenOffice? MS Office isn't much better...maybe you'd better stick to HTML and CSS with Bluefish. Or maybe vim or Emacs.
FireFox still too slow? As long as you're dropping features by moving away, try w3m or lynx...two very capable text-based browsers.
Don't have a 3D accelerator? Play software-rendered Quake. Or (using that same project) use the SDL's aalib target.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
The exemption is for source code in general (as opposed to binaries). So you can ship $DISTRO with the full kernel and gpg sources, as long as you include neither cryptoloop nor gpg in binary form. It's a rather strange law...
I love C++
use vlc (apt-get install vlc), it plays wma files out of the box.
Linux is the Free/Open Source UNIX-like operating system kernel that runs on many modern computer systems. Linux is available under the GNU General Public License, which means that users may freely copy, change, and distribute it, but must make source code available to recipients and may not impose any restrictions on further distribution. Linux does contain some security features that use encryption. As such, it is classified under ECCN 5D002. Because Linux is open source, it is eligible for export under License Exception TSU in accordance with 15 CFR 740.13(e).
On May 7, the President exercised his authority under the Wartime Supplemental Authorization Act of 2003 to suspend most of the provisions of the Iraq Sanctions Act of 1990. On June 27, 2003, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published an interim final rule (68 Fed. Reg. 38188) amending the Iraqi Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 575, to include a general license authorizing certain new transactions. The export of items controlled by the Department of Commerce was addressed in 31 CFR 575.533(b)(2):
The exportation from the United States or, if subject to U.S. jurisdiction, the exportation or rexportation from a third country to Iraq of any goods or technology (including technical data or other information) controlled by the Department of Commerce under the Export Administration Regulations (15 CFR chapter VII, subchapter C) for exportation to Iraq must be separately authorized by or pursuant to this part.
The term "controlled by the Department of Commerce" means subject to a license requirement under the Department of Commerce's Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Items subject to a license requirement under the EAR include items on the Commerce Control List that are listed in 15 CFR 746.3 as requiring a license for exportation or reexportation to Iraq.
Under Section 746.3 of the EAR, an export license is required to export or reexport to Iraq any item on the CCL containing a NS Column 1 in the Country Chart Column of the License Requirements section of an ECCN. Software classified under ECCN 5D002 is controlled for NS Column 1.
It is important to note that proprietary operating system software such as Microsoft Windows and Sun Solaris have been classified as mass-market encryption products and are eligible for export under ECCN 5D992. These products may be exported to Iraq without a license under the interim final rule (68 Fed. Reg. 38188) amending the Iraqi Sanctions Regulations.
Under the provisions of License Exception TSU, open source and the corresponding object code may be exported to all destinations except Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Thus, open source and the corresponding object code are treated as if subject only to AT (anti-terrorism) controls. Items subject to AT controls may be exported to Iraq under the interim final rule (68 Fed. Reg. 38188) amending the Iraqi Sanctions Regulations.
Source: http://linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7318
I don't know about everyone else, but I have two programs, xmms and mplayer. mplayer has never failed to play, absolutely perfectly, any video file I ever throw at it. Which is more than I can say for any windows video player. Likewise xmms does not fail to play any audio file I ever throw at it. If yours doesn't, maybe you didn't choose the right options at compile-time or maybe you are using a binary distro that didn't add those things in for you. Either compile them yourself from source or use a source based distro like gentoo or lunar linux. However I do have a friend who runs debian and his mplayer/xmms is as good as mine. Maybe you just don't have the codecs installed or something?
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
I couldn't RTFA so I don't know if it's the same group but the Iraqi Linux Users Group headquartered in Baghdad is here.
No, uCLinux doesn't support the 8086, but try ELKS. (reference)
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Current state of affairs in Slovenia:
- officially joined EU May this year
- may adopt currency (Euro) in next couple of years
- inflation some 4% and dropping
- cost of living close to EU, paychecks lower, though
- parrent is correct, no globaly-strong economic players there
- only suitable for investors and VC with thich skin and stamina
- too expensive and inflexible public administration (could be true in a lot of places, though)
- taxes the life and blood out of decent citizens and straight businesses
- little to no perspective for young people & families
Developing country is a wrong label for Slovenia. The correct indication is that Slovenia is a country that could be well off and has every chance of being a member of the 'developed' club; however, with a self-centered attidute, minorty complex of a small nation and a prevailing sense of envy and narrow-minded greed in most of the population, the nation is draining its resources the wrong way.
As a non-fitting member of this Slovenian society, constantly contemplating a well known sport of the nation: emigration (or e-migration, for that matter) I still have to develop a term like 'Retarding' country for the state of affairs...
Damn retards even renewed the M$ licenses without a wink of an eye - for big bucks; at the same time the news was out that M$ flexes to zero to stay in business against the cheaper and the better.
The attempted assassination (April 1993 in Kuwait; 11 Iraqia arrested) of an ex-president (and yes I'd feel the same if it had been Clinton) is internationally accepted as an act of war.
The contents of this message have been doubly encrypted by ROT13
Wrong.
US is anti-Iraq : AFAIK, Iraq never invaded nor bombed US.
A lot of the world is anti-US. Doesn't mean they're bombing or invading the US. That isn't the definitive guide to who is or isn't anti-US
A lot of the world is anti-US.
Or maybe it's just the US which is paranoid because as far as I see here in Europe, we just pity you for having such corporation, or testosteron-driven presidents.
Really : we like American people, we felt sorry for you when 2 planes hit the WTC, we even told you at this time, if you do not remember how compassionate we sincerely were, then you definitely have a problem.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
... whose graves are mysteriously not turning up.
The largest mass grave had under 2,000 bodies in it, and these were from the 1991 Shia uprising. There have been about 50 of them found so far, most of them small (50 bodies), and most of those dating to times of war or uprising.
Tony Blair gave a figure of 300,000 and credited it to the UN. However, his figure came from HRW, which is not UN affiliated, and HRW stated that their figure was simply a pre-war estimate based largely on talking with Kurdish sources and asking them how many were "missing" dating as far back as the Iran-Iraq war.
I just invaded Grammar Czechoslovakia and duped Grammar Neville Chamberlain; now it's on to Grammar Poland.
You mean the thing that was at its very worst a depleted chemical so far gone that its side effects were "nausea and dialated pupils"
Congratulations everyone: We've found the "Weapons Of Mass Inconvenience" that we invaded Iraq for. We can pack up and go home!
A single shell of what is at *worst* decayed-to-the-point-of-worthlessness chemical weaponry that has undoubtedly been sitting in some field for the past decade is nothing. The US has chemical weapons shells strewn across testing ranges in several parts of the country; Iran and Iraq were in a *chemical war* with each other, and you expect this third-world banana republic to know where every last one is?
When you're not looking "at worst", one might be cynical and note the fact that the US has proclaimed "WMD FIND!!!" about 50 times thusfar in this conflict, only to be later proven wrong with each one. The rate of false-positives with soldier-carried WMD detectors is god-awful, and the mobile labs are simply "pretty bad". The big problem is that organophosphates tend to show up as nerve gas, and other phosphorous chemicals as blister agents, unless studied in a fully equipped stateside/base-side lab.
Lastly, some loony in our country - a first-world, wealthy, *relatively* uncorrupt nation - managed to acquire and send anthrax to dozens of people. Are you saying that in some backwoods country like Iraq, with a very educated workforce, an equivalent (and even far less successfull) thing couldn't be done?
I just invaded Grammar Czechoslovakia and duped Grammar Neville Chamberlain; now it's on to Grammar Poland.
In the interest of balance and intellectual honesty, you might wish to also link to the Iraqi Torture Video
hand amputation
finger chopping
beating with metal pipe
arm breaking with metal pipe
... presumably more videos exist but DOD refuses to release them
From the Wall Street Jounal Online Edition:
I believe Juanita