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· 2 min read
Rajat Dahal
cute_president

On August 09, 2024; us here at Kathmandu University Open Source Community celebrated OpenStreetMap day.

What is OSM?​

Founded by Steve Coast in 2004, OpenStreetMap(OSM) is a collaborative, open-source mapping project with its aim being to a free and editable map of the world.
And no, it's not same as Google Maps, while Google Maps is proprietary and focuses more on providing polished user interface but limited access to raw data, OSM provides full access to it's underlying geographical data.
Which makes it a goto choice for developers interested in customizable mapping solutions.

Why was OSM founded?​

Like many other open-source projects, the OSM was founded in response to the lack of liberty.
The project was largely motivated by the restrictive policies of national mapping agencies like the Ordnance Survey, which did not release their data for public use.

Peeking into its history, after the project started in 2004, the OpenStreetMap Foundation was established in 2006 to support the project's growth and manage its operations.
This nonprofit organization promotes the distribution and development of free geospatial data.

Likewise, in 2007, OSM hosted its first annual conference, "State of the Map," in Manchester, further strengthened its community and outreach efforts. By this time, OSM had grown to over 9,000 registered users.
To date, OSM has millions of users around the world.

The event​

Moving toward the event, the speaker for the day was Mr.Suraj Thapa.
He shared his previous experiences and his ideologies toward the OSM project. In addition, he also shared problems that could be solved using OSM, he gave examples of: Disaster and Climate Resilience, Humanitarian Mapping, etc.
We learned about the impact of the OSM community.

We progressed toward the end of the event by sharing our experiences with OSM or open-source in general, and ended the event by cutting the cake brought especially for this day.

mata cake khana gako

Resoucres:​

  • Slides presented on the event here.

· 4 min read
Sakshyam Sigdel

Linux Bootcamp​

resources
A three day session which initiated hands-on experience on Linux, and Vim.

Day 1: Linux Introduction and Installations​

May-13-2024


I, presenting about the linux-filsystem

This was the first day of the Linux Bootcamp, the number of participants were enough to fill all the benches in the classroom. The program began by simply stating about the outline of the bootcamp, and what to expect (slides can be found on the link below the heading of Linux Bootcamp). Mr Sugat Sujakhu and I presented about the linux ecosystem and the Linux file-system hierarchy. After the presentation ended, we started to install Linux on the participants computer under their consent. The installations were a bit of a hiccupss on some computer due to Windows Bitlocker Encryption, but after a while every computer were running linux (some did dual boot, while some chad people performed linux installation as their one and only operating system). Post installation, a few basic linux commands were taught. The day was success, with a few installations happening in the College's library by my and my friends.

Day 2: Essential Commands, Installing Applications, Learning About Processes​

May-14-2024

Shriharsh,the most handsome guy I've ever seen, teaching about advanced linux commands

Well then came the second day. We had expected a drop in members given the complexity of the operating system; however, to our surprise, the number of members were maintained, and even a few new people came into the workshop to learn more about the knowledge they had in the past. This day, the presentation was done by the combined effort of me, Rajat, and Shriharsh. I explained about the package management and file ownership, while Shriharsh showed his expertise on text-based pattern mathching, and Rajat explained about the Processes and how they work in Linux. The participants of the workshop also replicated the commands, on their machine, that were projected on the smart-board through our computer. The program ended by installing linux again in some systems that were missed the day prior. Lastly, cheat-sheet resources were put for people who wanted to learn more about the given topic.

Day 3: The final showdown: VIM​

May-15-2024

Rajat, the vim-lord himself, teaching Vim

Vim Workshop​

This was the last day of the bootcamp, and the vim-lord (Rajat) himself single-handedly handled this event, everything from presenting to creating resources. This was by far the most interesting and wonderful session that I had ever been into, even better than the one I had done in the past. Rajat not only explained vim, but created an interactive workshop where people attending would follow him in a way that's constructive. Me, and Shriharsh were volunteering and we could see the interactive-ness of the people who were intruiged into learning vim. The session taught almost all the basic commands required to efficiently edit text in Vim, and some advanced motions as well.


Winners of the Kahoot Session

Kahoot session​

The end of the workshop was done by commencing a Kahoot session, where questions were asked about the different commands and the participants answered the questions on their device. This was a session filled with joy, and enthusiasm from the people who participated. I was happy to know that the winner were the people who were newcomers to Linux. Moreover, the winner got stickers and chocolates, which were a motivating factor. And by the end of this very session, the entire linux bootcamp was ended.

Acknowledgement​

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Abhiyan Dhakal, Nirjal Bhurten, and Sugat Sujakhu for providing this wonderful opportunity to orgnize and tutor Linux Bootcamp. Moreover, I would like to thank my friends: Shriharsh Acharya, and Rajat Dahal on collaborating to create this project a massive success.

· 3 min read
Sakshyam Sigdel

Pizza and OS Talk​

pizza talkMay-12-2024

Ahh, who doesn't love to talk about OS while taking a tasty bite on a pizza? Maybe not all the people on the world, but we had an awesome opportunity to do so. This event began by bringing the orders of delicious Pizzas from "The Pizza House, Banepa" and subsequently having a gathering in the Lotus Fountain at Kathmandu University. Then, we all circled up and gave our introduction, and in-addition, what we expected from that session. Many were there for the pizza; the outcome changed however.

The talk's main objective was to distribute the ideas that we had among the people who participated. And I got to know about the different initiatives KUOSC had put forward to promote open-source. Below listed are the projects that were discussed:

Neplib Linux​

This is an Operating System project that KUOSC has been working on to provide to the schools of rural areas, where there hardly is infrastructure of internet. This system bundled content from Help Nepal Network for providing materials to primary and seconday level students. In addition this operating system also provides a telementry side for monitoring the computer systems deployed and maintaining them. The main objective of this project was to provide a user-friendly interfacd, specifically designed for beginners who may not have used a computer before. The operating system project intends to update and upgrade the previously built software, bringing a fresh content to E-library deployed in remote Nepali regions.

OS for Lab​

The OS for Lab project is something that aims to provide a operating system, that is to be implemented in computer labs of high-schools in order to have interactions within the same network: sharing files for assignment, and lab works. This OS project uses Cisco for netorking and databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL to serve the content and create a database. Although this project was initially thought to be made for Kathmandu University, implementing in other schools and colleges seem to be a good idea, rather than confining it within the walls of the college.

After discussing, I was truly impressed, and contributed ideas of my own in the talk as well. Then came the fun part: PIZZAS. We all started to take a slice and had our conversation topic diverged from operating systems to programming languages to web and application buildings. I personally thank Mr. Pranish Kafle for providing me with insight of the significance of Java and Kotlin programming language. Then came the second round of PIZZAS, we all took our slices and started to continue the conversation, which at-last made sure that no one was there for only the pizzas, but the knowledge as well.

· One min read
Shriharsh Acharya

Linux Talk: Unveiling the Power of Open Source​

peoplef_attendingu_linuxc_talkk

On April 19th, Linux talk a yearly event hosted by KUCC and KUOSC was held that offered an exploration of open-source software. The session went into a discussion of the collaborative nature of open-source development, where source code is freely available for contribution.The Linux talk was accompanied by the inauguration of GNOME Nepal.

This ceremony promises to be a valuable resource for enthusiasts of the GNOME desktop environment, providing a platform for collaboration, learning, and promoting the adoption of open-source software in Nepal.

With that, the representative of GNOME Nepal, Aditya Singh shared his experience working with GNOME and his contributions to the GNOME Project, and how we could also help and interact with the community. A particularly engaging element of the event was a Kahoot session. It enthralled the participants and brought a spirit of competition within the peers.

After the Kahoot session, there was an interactive session with community members and heads of communities under KUCC, which was beneficial for new members of the club and community.