Re: RE : IITK Linux mirror

[Suresh Ramasubramanian <mallet@xxxxxxx>]

Saurabh Garg [Thu, Mar 08, 2001 at 12:26:30AM +0530]: 

>                    Your post was so venomised that I cant find useful
> snippets ! As for your IITK love, go ahead no one stops you. But please as a

Hi - you are raising a lot of valid points, but please cool down.

You two are just approaching the same problem in different ways - and yeah, he
does have a point.  However much the bandwidth sucks at iit-k (or iit-m) having
a local mirror helps.  You can go to the IIT campus and burn CDs as well, you
know ...

> list. You can mail me personally for that. This list is for discussing Linux
> and helping the movement, rather than trying to prove that you're the only
> *non-radical* and active member around.

He's never claimed that ... and he isn't the only such guy around :)

> Also, our aim @ Linux India is to take Linux to the masses, as You have
> already mentioned in your futurustic and San Antonio oriented mails. Teach
> them first, and then show them how to compile the kernel. I indeed seem

This is also a good way - from the grassroots up, sort of.  Ruchir is doing
something with a top-down perspective.  Both these viewpoints seem to be based
on how much bandwidth people have at hand.

So if you two would just start working from both directions, you can shake
hands and go have a dinner with each other somewhere midway - faster, fuller
coverage ensured this way :)

Plus, most IIT activities are campus centric because of two things - one, they
are located at the back of beyond, in some distant part of the city, and two,
their workload is not just tough, it's killing.  So, whatever people do, they
generally do it within their (rather large) campuses. 

I assume this - I haven't studied in an IIT but I do have a sister at BITS
Pilani, so this is just a wild guess based on facts).

> We speak loudly because we act bravely. I have been personally coaching
> interested students and professionals about Linux. HAVE YOU BEEN ????

How do you know what Ruchir has done or not done?

>         I spend my evenings with youngsters. Does the mirror help in
> increasing Linux user base in any way ???? I know how the IITs function. You

Yes.  Definitely.  With the mirror, one guy (who perhaps runs a cybercafe with
an isdn line / works at an office with a leased line etc) downloads images.  He
passes them to his friends / fellow LUG members, who burn CDs (surely finding a
CD writer is not rocket science ...).  They pass these on to their friends etc
etc.

> see into you. Just mail me about how your mirror would help the Windows user
> switch to Linux, and I quit this list.

I'll tell you.  A user need not download the images himself buddy - having a
mirror close at hand means he can ask his friend to download it, and then there
are all the goodies (linuxdocs, rfcs, perl modules, kernel etc) which will take
the fraction of whatever time it took to download from some mirror stateside.

If you say $ISP has screwed up its routing tables so that the mirror is not
accessible, routing tables can be fixed.  Not rocket science - definitly
possible (if the tuner knows what to do).

>         In fact, your blind advocacy shows misdirected zeal and energy. Try
> to see reason. The people of UP, if like me, are in the majority, and thus
> you gotta think their way. They cant shed their laziness for this new

He does have a point, Ruchir ... maybe you two can arrive at some middle
ground?
 
> And by the way, that link issue was not for linux-india. and the matter has
> been discussed with Atul. It wasnt any of ours fault. I have strong faith in
> the capabilities of listers like Hon. Raju Mathur, Atul Chitnis, Suresh,

Simple thing - there's no need or reason to single out any lister here (Raju,
Atul, me etc) re this.  We talk about stuff we feel comfortable talking about
(and that we know something about).  That's all :)

> Atul et al. They are the best folk with the best brains and the most capable
> minds. Sit in any of their talks and you'll know.
 
 He has, in fact.  And made extremely valid points each time.

>     See Ruchir, I may be wrong, but please dont  misunderstand me. Instead
> of bashing each other publicly, we may as well collaborate and think
> together to give others the same joy that we experience on our Linux boxes.

Please folks, collaborate.  Please!

>         I support the Mirror, but I think that it wont be a great
> achievement for the Linux movement in India. PERIOD.
 
Whether it's a great achievement or not, please get the mirror up and running
... time will tell re how useful (or useless) the mirror is.

	-s

-- 
Suresh Ramasubramanian  <-->  mallet <at> efn <dot> org
EMail Sturmbannfuhrer, Lower Middle Class Unix Sysadmin
"What separates normal people from kooks is how they react when people disagree
with them or tell them "NO"  <-- Ron Ritzman on news.admin.net-abuse.email