The origins of the Free software community in Thiruvananthapuram can be traced back to the group of TeX users around the University of Kerala [1] in early 1980s. The community then later named themselves Thiruvananthapuram LUG (Indian Linux Users Group), [1] GNU/Linux Users Group, Thiruvananthapuram [2] and then ultimately [3] Free Software Users Group, Thiruvananthapuram. The community has worked with the government in helping with key Free software initiatives [4] in the government and also in promoting [5] and supporting [6] Free software among the general public. [7] The community has also been instrumental [1] in creating an IT policy [8] favorable to Free software in the state of Kerala.
One of the organized activities of the community was to organize GNU/Linux install fests in and around the city. These were usually organized in educational institutions [9] or public places [6] where the general public could bring their computers to get a GNU/Linux distribution installed on them. As GNU/Linux distributions became more and more easy to be installed and configured the community has stopped organizing these.
The group has also worked with SMC in organizing developer camps [10] in Thiruvananthapuram and outside. During developer camps developers are given hands-on experience in working with Free software tools and primarily around localization initiatives which SMC is involved with.
The Free software community in Thiruvananthapuram has also been involved in organizing Software Freedom Day celebrations [2] [5] [11] and Hardware Freedom Day celebrations [12] [13] in the city.
The community has also organized release parties [14] to celebrate the release of the different Free software like Ubuntu, [15] Firefox etc.
One of the first large-scale events organized by the community was a week long Free Software Install Fest [16] [17] [18] [19] at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram organized in 2008. The event was co-organized by SPACE, Zyxware Technologies and Kerala State IT Mission
The community worked together with Zyxware Technologies to create India's first Freedom Toaster [20] [21] which is a kiosk which can vend Free software CDs and DVDs. The Freedom toaster was made available at Technopark [21] and at different engineering colleges to make available its services to the public.
The Free Software Users Group, Thiruvananthapuram along with Free software communities across Kerala [22] and Zyxware Technologies [23] organized a 44-day peace walk called Freedom Walk in 2008. [24] Three volunteers from the community walked from Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram covering all 14 districts in the state on foot and conducted Free software events in schools and colleges to promote the message and philosophy of Free software. [23] [25]
The community has been jointly involved with organizing of the Free Software Free Society conferences [7] conducted by the government of Kerala through ICFOSS and SPACE.
Thiruvananthapuram, commonly shortened to TVM or by its former name Trivandrum, is the capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration population is around 1.68 million. Located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland, Thiruvananthapuram is a major information technology hub in Kerala and contributes 55% of the state's software exports as of 2016. Referred to by Mahatma Gandhi as the "Evergreen city of India", the city is characterised by its undulating terrain of low coastal hills.
The Free Software Foundation of India (FSFI) is the Indian sister organisation to the US-based Free Software Foundation. It was founded in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) in 2001 as a non-profit Company. The FSFI advocates to promote the use and development of free software in India. This includes educating people about free software, including how it can help the economy of a developing country like India. FSF India regards non-free software as not a solution, but a problem to be solved. Free software is sometimes locally called swatantra software in India.
A Freedom Toaster is a public kiosk that will burn copies of free software onto user-provided CDs and DVDs.
gNewSense was a Linux distribution, active from 2006 to 2016. It was based on Debian, and developed with sponsorship from the Free Software Foundation. Its goal was user-friendliness, but with all proprietary and non-free software removed. The Free Software Foundation considered gNewSense to be composed entirely of free software.
The Napier Museum is an art and natural history museum situated in Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is a state-owned road transport corporation in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the country's oldest state-run public bus transport services. The corporation is divided into three zones, and its headquarters is in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Daily scheduled service has increased from 1,200,000 kilometres (750,000 mi) to 1,422,546 kilometres (883,929 mi), using 6,241 buses on 6,389 routes. The corporation transports an average of 3.145 million commuters per day.
Kundara is a census town in Kerala and is part of the Kollam Metropolitan Area, India. Kundara is situated 13 km east of Kollam city, 14 km west of Kottarakkara, and 24 km north of Paravur. Kundara is significant for its historic involvement in the Indian independence movement.
Pattom is a dense commercial region of Thiruvananthapuram city in Kerala, India. It is located approximately 4 kilometres north of centre of Thampanoor. Pattom is largely a residential area, also housing few important administration offices of Kerala State and a few shopping complexes. It has offices of Kerala Public Service Commission, Kerala State Planning Board, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Office, LIC Housing Finance Limited, State Resource Centre, District Panjayat Headquarters, Fire and Rescue Department Headquarters, Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma), Employees Provident Fund Regional Office and Kerala State Electricity Board. The Traffic Police and Telecommunication department, and the Kerala Science, Technology and Environment Head Office are also located in Pattom.
Technocity is a technology park that is an integrated township currently under construction in Trivandrum, India dedicated to electronics, software, and other information technology (IT). It was conceived in 2005 as the fourth phase of development of Technopark. Technocity is a complete IT City, spread across about 500 acres (200 hectares), which includes not just space for IT/ITES firms but also residential, commercial, hospitality, medical, and educational facilities. The project is a new self-dependent satellite city, which would not strain the resources and infrastructure of the city of Thiruvananthapuram.
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre is a free and open-source Linux distribution based on Arch Linux and Arch Linux ARM for the x86-64, i686, and ARMv7 architectures. It is distinguished from other Arch-based distributions by offering only free software. It includes the GNU operating system components common to many Linux distributions and the Linux-libre kernel instead of the generic Linux kernel. Parabola is listed by the Free Software Foundation as a completely free operating system, true to their Free System Distribution Guidelines.
Tiruvalla railway station is an NSG–4 category Indian railway station in Thiruvananthapuram railway division of Southern Railway zone. It is one of the busiest railway station in Thiruvananthapuram Central-Kollam-Kottayam-Ernakulam route, located at Thiruvalla town in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, India. Tiruvalla is the only railway station in the Pathanamthitta District. The station is under Thiruvananthapuram railway division of Southern Railway. It is an NSG 4 category station and has daily trains to cities like Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Madurai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Tirupati, Pune, Bhopal, Mumbai and New Delhi.
The history of Free Software in India can be seen from three different perspectives - the growth of Free Software usage, the growth of Free Software communities, the adoption of Free Software policies by the governments. India was quite late to the free software scene with adoption and penetration growing towards the end of the 1990s with the formation of pockets of Free Software communities spread across the country. The communities were typically centered around educational institutions or free software supporting organizations.
The state of Kerala, in India has had an active Free software community since early 1980s. The initial users were those who started using TeX in the city of Thiruvananthapuram. Subsequently Free software users groups were formed in some of the different cities like Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and around engineering colleges in the state. The Free software community in Kerala was instrumental in creating a policy environment at the state government level that was biased towards Free software. The government of Kerala policy on Free software gives first preference to Free and Open Source software for its IT requirements. The state claims to be the only state in the world where IT education is imparted over a Free software operating system.
Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) is a state owned special purpose company under Department of General Education of the Government of Kerala. It was developed to support ICT enabled education for schools in Kerala. The erstwhile IT@School Project was transformed into KITE for extending its scope of operations in August 2017. KITE was the first SPV company to get funded by KIIFB.
Heritage Walk Trivandrum (HWT) is a voluntary, non-profit initiative in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India to educate people on the history and heritage of Thiruvananthapuram city and district.
Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology,Trivandrum also known as Digital University Kerala (DUK), is a state university located in Technocity, Mangalapuram, Pallippuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It was established in 2020 by upgrading Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala (IIITM-K), established 2000. It is the 14th State University in Kerala and first Digital University in the state.
The Digital Science Park at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala being constructed will be first digital science park in India. In the 2022−23 state budget, the Government of Kerala announced four science parks with an investment of Rs 1000 crore to utilize the achievements in the field of science and technology. The first park among those is being set up close to the Digital University of Kerala at Technopark Phase IV-Technocity. The foundation stone of the park was laid on 25 April 2023 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
