After much agonizing, Microsoft finally decided to let go of its long outdated Windows XP on April 8, 2014. Although many state agencies in Europe overslept and ended up paying for patches for common vulnerabilities with tax money, those responsible in multicultural India took another route: They parted from Microsoft and migrated to Linux.

Late Sleeper

India has been committed for some time to a consistent open source strategy. To act on it, the country with its more than 1.2 billion inhabitants has worked with the research and development teams of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and National Resource Centre for Free and Open Source Software (NRCFOSS) to get its own Linux distribution on its feet.

C-DAC provides the Indian Linux with various guises for different purposes. The distribution is supposed to enable a cost-effective modern IT structure on clients and servers for agencies as well as schools. A focal point for the development of Bharat Operating System Solutions (BOSS) [1] Linux is the support for as many local languages as possible to provide citizens access to computing systems in their mother tongue, thus eliminating the entry hurdles into the world of data processing.

BOSS Linux is based on Debian and, therefore, is extremely stable – and not just because of Debian's long release cycles. It also provides a wealth of software applications, ranging from servers to student desktops. The operating system also brings native development from the Indian software forges. The developers also organize regular workshops for users and solution providers. To facilitate easy entry into the world of free software, they give free disks with BOSS Linux to C-DAC related organizations across the entire country. Interested parties also get free onsite phone or email support.

In the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where BOSS Linux development is taking place, the strategy has already been fruitful. At the end of Windows XP support cycle, agencies are moving over to the native Linux system [2]. India's banks are also planning a large-scale migration to BOSS Linux after the end-of-support for Windows XP Embedded on January 12, 2016. This migration should affect around 115,000 ATMs from NCR and Diebold [3].

The Indian ATM manufacturer Vortex [4] is first and foremost responsible for Linux making quick strides in the previously Windows-dominated Indian subcontinent – and in many other countries in the future. With its 450-kg Ecoteller, the company is providing the world's first ATM completely running Linux. The ATM is extremely energy efficient and can run on solar power. It's also compatible for use in the hot tropical temperatures common in South Asian countries.

Free Choice

The freely available BOSS Linux is downloadable in various versions as ISO images [5]. The universal desktop in version 5.0 includes a roughly 3.5GB image appropriate for 32-bit architectures. The current kernel in version 3.1 contains the Physical Address Extension (PAE); however, so some older mobile Intel processors and many Atom CPUs can't handle it. Other than that, the extension allows access to more than 4GB working memory even on 32-bit systems.

If you have a processor that doesn't support PAE, a version of BOSS called NetBOSS Linux is available especially for Atom processors. The Indian Ministry also provides EduBoss for educational applications and a BOSS server that provides a wide range of services and many – among them graphical – administrative tools. New to the program is the MOOL project [6] that, by decoupling the kernel and driver modules, aims to improve the system's maintenance capabilities.

A First Start

BOSS Linux welcomes users with a conventional, visually slightly revamped GRUB menu that provides live operation as well as direct installation on a mass storage device. The live version starts with a Gnome desktop that informs you about the system and its free licensing on a splash screen. The system presents no driver problems even when running on advanced mobile hardware.

A glance at the Gnome interface submenus reveals the usual range of today's programs, including the GIMP image editing tool and the lean Chromium web browser.

Several self-developed applications from the BOSS team are found in various submenus. Under Office are the two programs BOSS Bulk Document Converter and the BOSS Presentation Tool . Whereas the document converter allows entire file folders to be converted from one format to another in one go, the presentation tool facilitates handling of slide shows and documents in multimedia presentations. It allows automatic presentation to run on a projector and provides various effects that make the transition between slides more interesting (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The BOSS Presentation Tool allows eye-catching presentations.

In the System Tools | Administration submenu, you'll find the BOSS Utilities , which you can use to install additional programs from a separate utility CD for older BOSS versions. These utilities have been part of the DVD image since version 4, so you do not need additional disks to install the software. The term "Utility CD" is misleading in that the provided applications are not just utilities but full-blown programs that the menus place into various groups (Figure 2). After you choose a group, the software provides a selection of programs in it, which you can check off for installation. By clicking OK , the tool loads them in one swoop with all of the dependencies.

Figure 2: The BOSS Utilities let you install additional software without using Synaptic.

Another feature of BOSS Linux is in the Sound & Video menu. Developers integrated the XBMC Media Center (Figure 3) so that you can turn your PC into a home multimedia center without installing anything else. You can also use the well-known VLC Player and Banshee for playing movies and music, along with various image viewers and audio rippers.

Figure 3: Thanks to XMBC, BOSS Linux turns your computer into a media center with a push of a button.

Installation

To install the distribution on a PC, choose Install BOSS Graphically from the GRUB menu when starting the DVD. The graphical installation process, with which you may be familiar from Debian, helps set up the system on your local storage.

Two unusual features stem fromBOSS Linux's geographic and technical roots. First, the installer provides multi-language keyboard layout, but only a few Indian languages and English are available for the desktop layout. That means you have to install the system in English first before making localization changes.

A second peculiarity concerns certain Intel wireless hardware. Because Intel provides only proprietary firmware for many of its wireless cards (which Debian and most of its derivatives don't support) you need to install the firmware later on. This requires a functioning Internet connection, so it's advisable to connect to a wired network when installing BOSS Linux. Apart from that, installing the desktop version of the system went without a hitch in testing.

Multilingual

Although the distribution supports only Indian languages apart from English during installation, you should have no problem preparing the operating system for other countries. BOSS Linux doesn't provide a graphical environment for this, so you will have to use the console.

Perform any localizations first with

# dpkg-reconfigure locales

and enter the language code, such as de_DE UTF-8 for German, for example, or es_ES UTF-8 for Spanish.

Next, open the empty /etc/environment file with a text editor and drag in the two lines that are like LANGUAGE="de_DE.UTF-8" and LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 or LANGUAGE="es_ES.UTF-8" and LANG=es_ES.UTF-8 (Figure 4). After saving the file, restart the system. Now all the menus and most of the applications should appear in the language of your choice.

Figure 4: Localization is fairly easy with BOSS Linux.

Exceptions to this rule include the programs written by BOSS developers, Chromium, Iceweasel, and LibreOffice. Although the BOSS-specific applications cannot easily be localized, you can use the corresponding language packs from Synaptic for LibreOffice, Iceweasel, and Chromium.

To set local time, open Applications | System Tools | System Management | Date and Time menu on the Gnome desktop and change the time zone from Calcutta/India to your local one.

EduBOSS

To show the benefits of Linux to kids and to give them some confidence with technology, some advanced schools include Computer Science as part of their curriculum. For them, the BOSS team developed a special distribution for teaching and learning called EduBOSS. The Indian ministry provides a 3.8GB image that downloads EduBOSS version 3. Its software catalog deviates from the regular desktop, as it provides various educational programs for the youngest students, such as Gcompris and Childsplay. Older students get mathematical and science programs. The system also provides many teaching programs from the KDE environment.

At the heart of it all is iTALC, which EduBOSS uses to make the system fit for use in classrooms. This client-server based program is platform agnostic and integrates with computers with various operating systems. iTALC provides the teacher with a complete computer-driven lesson plan plus interactive exercises and tests. It also manages the individual classroom computers so that the teacher has central control. The options iTALC provides range from switching on a student PC to shutting down individual computers.

iTALC, which is open source, is also suited for managing larger CS installations. Because it supports tunneled client-server connections, home computers outside the classroom can access the EduBOSS network via VPN. The only shortcomings of iTALC are the rather hefty hardware requirements. Single-core CPUs can be sluggish when running the software, because iTALC uses multi-threading intensively; thus, it works better on multi-core machines. The entire Debian software collection is available for EduBOSS. You can easily install your favorite applications via Synaptic.

Conclusion

India has proved to be one of the free and open software pioneers in Southeast Asia. The nationally coordinated policies aren't limited just to influencing adopting or rejecting industry standards but extend to a long-term strategy toward a solid adoption in free software. India has developed a successful, national languages-specific Linux distribution with BOSS Linux that has its main use in schools and agencies, but which will also gain increasing favor in the private sector.

The operating system works well on older and newer hardware alike and provides a few software treats that make it interesting in the Indian market. The "great new experiment" that Microsoft promised with its changeover from Windows XP has become a reality for Indian users thanks to BOSS Linux – which is not what Microsoft intended.