Open Source Projects for 2011

I have always agreed with Linus Torvalds on a few statements,one of them is: "The best way to do software is open source". Over the years my experience in the telecommunications industry has helped me understand that there are a few needs that still have to be satisfied.
Some technologies have come of age and are used heavily, however businesses continue to operate at high cost due to the use of proprietary software and they end up suffering limitations bound by the purchasing of such software. My motivation is simple: Provide high end technology,done correctly and free of restrictions.
I chose 3 main projects to initiate and it has attracted the attention of very experienced programmers across Africa like Kennedy Kasina of the Fedora Project and Bernard Owuor who recently won an award at the Samsung Apps Contest all from Kenya.
We believe this is our way to give back to the community and we believe this will go a long way to put Africa on the technology front and to make software more Open.

The 3 projects are:
OpenUssd: USSD Technology is been used for services such as media download and mobile commerce. Our objective is to provide an interface that allows businesses to connect into operators who provide standard integration interfaces. OpenUSSD addresses a simple objective of giving companies an all-in-one Enterprise USSD Client platform for integration into almost any USSD Gateway with support for SOAP,RAW-XML,XML-RPC,SMPP and HTTP POST.

OpenSMS: One may argue that there are so many sms clients available for download. Our goal behind opensms is to provide a very light weight yet Enterprise Level SMSC Server and Client based on SMPP 3.4 and HTTP interfaces that allow for integration into almost any type of Network Operator's SMS Gatway.

OpenCafe: Internet Cafe's across Africa mostly use pirated copies of proprietary internet cafe management software. We want to be a part of a generation that cuts down the use of stolen software. The alternative is to provide a better solution free of charge. OpenCafe follows a server/client model for operation with features such as remote control of client machines,ticketing,accounting,activity monitoring and the like.


We will announce commencement of project activities soon. Keep watching this space or follow me on twitter for updates.
So get your python hats ready and lets do some real coding..


Till then,
Freedom Regards,
(d3vnull)

FAD 2011 in Ghana

I get excited any time I have to share something about Fedora with the community. Fedora made a massive presence in Ghana during IDLELO 2010 held at AITI where Pierros(.fas:ppapadeas) and myself(.fas:linuxthomass) represented the Fedora Community.
Next year, we make our presence felt again with the Fedora Activity Day(FAD) 2011.
Fedora has a dedication to spreading the word about Freedom in software development and by living a true FOSS life. This is manifested in what is contained in Fedora.
In 2011 we hope to extend the fever of freedom to Ghana once more. So come get some swag(stickers,t-shirts,badges,laptop stickers and many more..)
Activities to be held are as follows and not necessarily in the order below:

1. Installfest. Liberating imprisoned computer application developers and users users into freedom. From other OS's to Fedora Linux. 100% Software Freedom.

2. How to join fedora and contributing to subprojects.
a) Getting a mentor when you join the Fedora ambassadors.
b) Packaging applications from sources into RPM.

3. Getting personal on Fedora:
a) Tweaking your Fedora to speak Ghanaian languages.
b) Tweaking configurations for increased performance
b) Basic ways to hack and secure your personal computer or enterprise servers.

4. Systems administration of up to 8 servers(Clustering,Monitoring,Security) using tools on Fedora/RedHat/Centos.

5. Virtualization using KVM from GUI to terminal .

6. Understanding and Applying Software Engineering principles in Fedora.
Case Study: Coding away with Python for (systems administration and general application development-GUI with PyGTK2.0)

7. Creating your own spin(version) of Fedora.

8. Hacking competition(Phase 1- Code hacking and packaging applications into Git. Phase 2- Hacking the network-Setting up services and the network,Phase-3 Setting up a Fedora mirror for LAN based updates)

NB://The items on this list are subject to change as its still under review at the moment. But this is a tentative activity list.

The 2 major questions I have received before this blog post are:
1. Where and when will it be held?
2. How much will it cost to signup for FAD?

Well..guess what...we at Fedora believe in freedom and giving to the community so we say
1. It will be held at either Ashesi University Campus in Labone or at AITI-KACE. Date to be announced soon.
2. And guess what...its free. Redhat has decided to bare the cost for all who visit this massive 3 days event.

So get your laptops ready for some real geeking and freedom the Fedora way...

Drop a question or comment and I will be glad to respond.


Freedom,Friends,Features,First

Till we meet...its
Freedom Regards,
(d3vnull)