Me and Linux!

Hello world! :) I did my schooling in Boiler plant HSS,Trichy,Tamil Nadu.Did B.E(Mech) from ACCET,karaikudi(1984-88).During our college days there was just only one computer (Pragati) in the Electronics Engg dept.And in our course curriculum also we had just one programming language paper on FORTRAN.

My first exposure to computers was through ICL(International Computers Ltd,UK) mainframe that was in BHEL,Trichy those days(1988).My final year college project was done using FORTRAN in the R&D department of BHEL.GEORGE operating system used to run in that mainframe.After my college days I attended a C course that was conducted in Sir CV Raman Science center in Kailasapuram,BHEL.Xenix OS used to power those HCL supplied network.This was my first introduction to UNIX!(1989)

As i moved to my design engg job in Dalal consultants,Mumbai i had to extensively use DOS based programs like TC++,wordstar,BASIC for my work(1993).Later in my job as EDP Engineer in Devendra Machinery,bhandup i did extensive programming in FoxPro in DOS environment(1994).And later in Expo Gas Containers Ltd,Mumbai as EDP engineer I was doing extensive windows programming using Borland C++ 3.1(1995).Hence after 1989 my programming work was more on DOS/Windows platform!On one visit to Nehru planetorium Dr.Bharat Adur mentined to me about Linux and said that he is going to use that for his research computing needs..
Before that i just heard somewhere about this new OS called Linux and its free!

Later as a student trainer in Syspro,Andheri i used to request my center manager to have linux installed.But it never happened(1997-99).I was training students(mostly from programmers in near by SEEPZ) on higher end MS tools like VB,VC++ etc.
In December 1999 I joined Synergetics,Mumbai a leading corporate training in Mumbai.There under the leadership of Mr.Sanjay Vyas,a well known IT guru i got my first chance to work in Linux (RedHat 6.0).But Synergetics was a Microsoft trusted partner.And I was furiously working on Linux in a Microsoft Company!!!
After so many years of programming in DOS/Windows platform now i was exploring Linux!AND I SIMPLY LOVED THIS OS!

Later I was the Head of a IT Training company in Trichy,Tamil Nadu again(2001-2003).Here I went around colleges conducting seimnars on Linux!In my company I first Installed Redhat 6.0 then upgraded to 7.2,then finally to 8.0!!I also conducted Linux seminar in Sir CV Raman science center where learned Xenix in 1989,almost twelve years back.

After that I made my move to Bangalore,I conducted a 18 days long Linux system administration training programme in IAF(2005-Jan).Now I am working in a UK based MNC with name Datafort Inc in Bangalore.I use PCQLinux 2005,which is based on Fedora Core 3 for development work 8 hours a day!

After so many years of DOS/Windows usage I can say without partiality that Linux is the best OS i have ever used!

GLUG-Trichy

As the former IT head of Nirmal WebTec,Crystal plaza ,Trichy(Now rechristened as Techzone under a new management) I used to go around conducting Linux seminars in colleges in Trichy.
1.IG College
2.Bishop Heber College
3.Christuraj College
4.Sir CV Raman Science center,BHEL etc

But I was pleasantly surprised to know about GLUG-Trichy who are meeting regularly @ NIT-Trichy.Mr.Zachariah Ninan , former student of Bishop Heber college took me to one of their meetings in 2002!Students from non-comp science backgrounds also attend this meetings , learn and share about Linux!Its wonderful to know that students are neatly organising and conducting these meetings!
you can see for yourself @ http://glugt.linuxisle.com! keep up the goodwork GLUG-Trichy!!

Linux for you Magazine!

On Mon, 18 Sep 2000 I initated a discussion on the need for a monthly magazine for Linux in India.You can see that in the following link!http://www.mail-archive.com/linuxers@ilug-bom.org.in/msg01769.html
You can also go through the replies to see the pulse of linux guys on those days!

But now we all konw that Electronics For you group has brought a beautiful monthly magazine on Linux!The Linux for you magazine!I was plesantly surprised to learn about this in a GLUG meeting held at NIT,Trichy in 2002!Now i am subscriber to this magazine and the articles are really good!keep u the good work LFY!!We love you!

Linux in College syllabus!TN Universities please Note!

As a person who has spent quite a many years in training industry, i have interacted with college students,who are still studying or just out of college.Most of them being from computer science stream ..(B.Sc,M.C.A,M.S(IT),B.Tech,M.Tech) etc.I was quite surprised by the lack of knowledge on Linux by these students.They have told me that they were not taught on Linux!And even B.E/B.Tech students had the same problem.My Suggestion to Universities in India,especially TN would be to introduce atleast one paper on Linux in both UG and PG curriculum for computer science streams!We need to build a strong OpenSource India!!