KExplorer for Linux

KExplorer offers the same functionality as Windows Explorer

and has the same look and feel. It even integrates a Network Neighborhood from

where you can see all the Windows machines on your network. But, for this you

must have the client package of Samba installed. To check whether it’s been

installed, type the following on your Linux console:

rpm —qa | grep samba-client

If you don’t see an output, mount the PC Quest June 2000

Red Hat CD and change to the RedHat/RPMS directory. Install two RPMs called

samba-common and samba-client as:

rpm —ivh samba-common*

rpm —ivh samba-client*

Installation

Now we’ll proceed with the installation of KExplorer from

this month’s CD. Login as root and create a directory pcq in the /opt

directory. Mount the CD and copy the file kexplorer.tgz from the cdrom/linux/Kexplorer

directory to the /opt/pcq directory. Change to /opt/pcq directory and issue:

tar —zxvf kexplorer.tgz

Now, type the following commands:

cp usr/local/kde/bin/kruiser /usr/bin

cp -r usr/local/kde/share/apps/kruiser /usr/share/apps

cp -r usr/local/kde/share/locale/* /usr/share/locale

cp -r usr/local/kde/share/icons/* /usr/share/icons

At the last command, you may get a warning of overwriting /usr/share/icons/mini/mini-term.xpm.

Type y to overwrite it and type:

cp -r usr/local/kde/share/doc/HTML/en/kruiser/* /usr/doc/kde/HTML/default/kruiser/

To start KDE, you first have to edit or create a file in your

home directory called .xinitrc and type kde in it. Now start X Window by issuing

startx at the console.

Open a terminal window from within KDE and type kruiser in

it. This will fire up KExplorer for Linux. If you get an error message like

error in "loading shared libraries: libjpeg.so.6", type the following

in the terminal window:

cp /usr/lib/libjpeg.so /usr/lib/libjpeg.so.6

Type kruiser again after this.

Create a shortcut

If you don’t want to open the terminal window every time

you want to start Kexplorer, you can create a link to the kruiser executable on

the kde desktop. For this, right click on the desktop and select

New KExplorer.kdelink. Now in the presented window select the Execute tab and in the

text field named Execute, type /usr/bin/kruiser. Press the icon button if you

want to change the icon for the link. Select an icon from the number of icons

shown. You can also find KExplorer.xpm icon and the other KExplorer icon files

which we have copied to the /usr/share/icons directory. Finally press Ok. The

next time you want to fire up KExplorer, click on this icon.

Shekhar Govindarajan

The Indian scenario

There are many who would like to believe

that Open Source software is ideally suited for a resource-challenged country like India.

Those who do so, miss the point that lies at the core of the Open Source movement. The

success of Open Source software has very little to do with the fact that it’s mostly

(though not always) without cost. While many Open Source users are attracted to it because

it’s free, almost always, they stay with it for a much better reason—Open Source

products are also better. A quick look at the list of Indian corporates who’ve

embraced Open Source solutions will drive home a pertinent point—not one of them is

on the list because they couldn’t afford a commercial solution. Free beer gone flat

never attracted anyone.

As one regular poster to the Linux-India

mailing list said: "To believe that cost is an issue with Open Source, is to

misunderstand the etymological roots of the word "Free". Indians are Free, but

Indians are not cheap". He wasn’t just waving the tricolor. He was talking

reason—pure, sound, technical reason. That he was economically right too, was

incidental.

The success of the Open Source development

model derives from the opportunities provided by the Internet. It’s commonly

acknowledged that cheap (free) Internet access in American (not to forget Finnish)

universities was the fuel that drove the movement. The corollary to this is also sadly,

true—since the bulk of Indian universities took an inordinately long time to get

connected, the list of native Indian Open Source products while growing, still remains

miniscule. What little (but commendable) development that exists here is initiated by

commercial firms porting popular Indian applications to Linux (Tally is a superb example).

The message is clear—as you sow Internet access, so shall you reap Open Source.

It’s time to reverse the trend now.

And fast. Several institutions and universities, notably the IIIT (Hyderabad), as well as

small universities like the Goa University are setting up infrastructure and facilities

for students to jumpstart local Open Source development. Short-term training

programs—like the recent ones on the Linux kernel at the IIIT and on Open source for

corporates at Goa University—are first lunges in clawing our way back into the race.

The list of speakers and resource persons at these two programs reads like a who’s

who of Indian Open Source gurus. The Advanced Center for Informatics (ACI), set up at Goa

University with generous support from the National Informatics Center (NIC) of the

Government of India, aims to promote development, and disseminate support and training for

Open Source products in India. With a firm and steady eye on the economic opportunities

presented by Open Source, the ACI even plans to set up an Open Source incubator for

student projects to help them raise venture capital. It always helps to have a bank next

to a lab.