[Fsf-friends] Fwd: funds wanted for bangla book on gnu/linux

[Tathagata Banerjee]

forwarding a slightly revised form of the mail posted by me on fsf-wb and 
ilug-cal lists.

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: [ilug-cal] "Free Software Foundation - West Bengal" 
<fsf-westbengal@gnu.org.in>
Date: Tuesday 14 September 2004 13:06
From: tathagatabanerjee@softhome.net
To: "Free Software Foundation - West Bengal" <fsf-westbengal@gnu.org.in>, 
ilug-cal@ilug-cal.org

dear all,
as many of you may already know, dipankar-da (known to some as
prof.dipankar das since he teaches economics at jaipuria college, but he has 
strong objections to this salutation) has written a book for teaching 
gnu/linux for the beginners-to-intermediate level.

i have been one of the first readers of the book through its many revisions 
and fine-tunings, and know it to be a unique work not only because it is (as
far as i know) the only substantial (a little less than 400 A4 pages) bangla 
book on this subject, but also because of its friendly and unconventional 
approach that simulates the average learner's first steps in learning 
gnu/linux. his tone is humorous, semi-serious and conversational, and his 
material is carefully researched and well-presented. as and when it is 
publicly available, this book should be a priceless possession to all who 
have been wanting to learn gnu/linux, but were rebuffed by language barriers 
or by the beginner-unfriendliness of texts commonly available.

dipankar-da has decided to release the book under the GNU Free Documentation
License, or some similar free licensing scheme, and the Free Software
Foundation of India has agreed to publish the work. but this has become
difficult because of a shortage of funds. it is estimated that it will cost
somewhat more than Rs.1,00,000/- to print 1000 copies without compromising too 
much on quality. it was possible to cut the cost to this level mainly because 
dipankar-da has given up all royalty claims to the work. but even of this 
amount, only a fraction has been promised to FSFI by a certain sponsor. we 
need to generate funds of our own if we want to see this work published. the 
West Bengal Chapter of FSFI has taken on itself the task of organising the 
collection of funds to the extent that its limited capcity permits. on behalf 
of FSFI and FSFI-WB, i appeal to all supporters of 'linux', gnu/linux and 
Free Software on these lists to donate to the cause. modalities of payment 
and receipt can be worked out on a person-to-person basis, as soon as 
interested people contact me by e-mail or telephone. my contact details are 
given below. please DO NOT reply to the ilug-cal list but write/call me 
directly. fsf-wb listers, however, are welcome to discuss this on their list.

also please note that we shall make every effort to repay the sponsors as we
recover the cost, and given the unique placement of the book we can expect
this to be a fairly rapid process. but of course nothing can be promised.
profits, if any after repaying the sponsors, shall go to the FSFI.

thank you.

Tathagata Banerjee
Co-ordinator, FSFI West Bengal Chapter.

Lecturer in English
Bangabasi College
19, Scott Lane, Calcutta - 700009.

e-mail:	tathagatabanerjee at gmx dot net
		tathagatab at gmail dot com
phone:  	(+9133) 98301-66313


addenda:

1. a few chapters of the book are available for free d/l in pdf form at 
www.geocities.com/ddipankardas

2. a (full) pre-release version of the book is available on cdrom at cost 
price + shipping. you have to write to glt-mad@ilug-cal.org

3. an attempt is on to make the book available for free d/l at fsf india's 
website.

4. dipankar das makes the apology that the book was written and pdf-ed with 
the help of proprietary software, because of the unavailibility or poor 
usability of current bangla writing technologies using Free Software.

- t.
-- 
cogito, ergo es.