Jun 26, 2006

Finally gone to 64 bits !

What you see here is nothing great - just a linux distribution running. So, what the heck am I doing with putting another screenshot up here ?

Well, this is a brand new system. Almost everything has changed. From a 32bit architecture I have moved to the 64bit architecture. From an Intel processor, I have moved to an AMD one. From Fedora , I have moved to Ubuntu.

And the move was rocking - in another way - it rocked my boat. I have never had such a difficult time installing Linux ever before. It seemed that I had one of the chips that is not really being used much, and some alien motherboard. All in all , it was not a straight forward installation - but now I feel great having gotten it done !

For those not interested in technical mumbo-jumbo, I will just describe the above screenshot :-D. This pic was taken at Janjira Fort in Maharashtra. On the desktop you see on the left all my windows partitions mounted so I can access the various stuff I keep there. Also you can see the icon for Google Earth - which runs just fabulous under linux. Right side the tranparent thingys are something you will have to wait till vista becomes available if you are not on linux. Here I have running various small 'desklets' with cpu speed, temp etc. Also am playing some songs ( err. TV is not yet working... ).

For the technically inclined and also for my ref in case I have to reinstall, here's what to do to get AMD64 Athlon with Nvidia graphics card working.
  • Download the Ubuntu alternative CD.
  • Install in text mode from it.
  • Reboot into safe recovery mode
  • run 'dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg . Select vesa (nv will be selected). Press 'enter' for most screens except where it says something about 'glx' . Disable glx on this screen.
  • reboot - viola ! you are in linux
  • Download additional software as your need is.
Next on the agenda to get Neverwinter Nights , my all time favourite game , to run on linux.

Here endeth the lesson for today.

Jun 21, 2006

Wind(ow)s of change ?

Bill Gates Will Retire. One Day. Kinda.

All the news going on in the blogosphere (if you live and breath code that is ) is about Bill Gates saying he is going to step down. As an ex-microsoftie (yeah, my stay there was small, but allow me to rub it in ;-) ) I would say that now Microsoft would not be the same anymore. Its going to be now run by his 2nd in command Steve Balmer. However Balmer is just not as charismatic as Bill. In fact, not many people (lets not talk CEOs here) even knew about SB.

Under Bill Gates, the corporation has become the biggest company as far as revenues go, earning a lot of money, and a lot of fear and hate also. The ethics of Bill were always suspect, and the anti-trust litigations in the recent past proved to many what others had just suspected. Add to it the delays in coming out with Vista , and many were wondering about whether the leadership at the top is ok or not ?

For BillG, I think its the right decision. For the last few years he was more concerned about his donations ( and it looks like it will buy his way into the record books) for AIDS and Malaria etc, than about the running of Microsoft. This move means that he will not have to carry on the sham of being in charge of Microsoft - for better or for worse.

The people stepping into his shoes - namely Steve and Ray Ozzie, dont have an enviable task - but they probably have the best resources around on the planet to use. They have to get out Vista and make more money ( yeah - money is never enough), and contend with the likes of Google and Apple, who seem to be nipping at their heels.

If Microsoft crashes, it would be a collosal crash. I somehow doubt it will happen. But I also doubt if Microsoft will be the same. Everything needs the enigma of an Icon leading. In the companies its mostly run by the individuals and when they leave, the company does not do so well. In the east, it runs into families ( like the gandhi family ) and it keeps the public interested.

More reads :

Jun 13, 2006

What is Feed (RSS/ATOM) ?

I dont know how many of you have seen the "Atom Feed" link on the left of my blog. If you have you may be wondering what it is all about.

First, the problem. I am sure that many of you want to visit a lot of sites - like my blog for instance. But not all sites have updates on a daily basis. E.g. I know you want to read the updates on my site ( what an Ego I have ! ), but I dont update it daily. Sometimes once a month, sometimes once a week sometimes more than that. But you may be feeling that just coming here everyday is just not worth it - there must be a better solution.

There is !

Its called a Feed or a Syndication. There are two types of syndicaitons - a RSS and an ATOM. These are basically XML files and dont get displayed properly in browsers as they are . So, for these you will need a Reader.

There are many readers available . Eg Firefox and Thunderbird can also act as feed readers. But these only work well if you have only 1 machine from which you check all these websites. If you want to browse from multiple machines, then its best that you get a web based reader. Something like Bloglines. Add the feeds to it and everyday when you login to it, you will see which blogs/websites have changed over your last visit ! No need to go and keep checking each individual site everytime - bloglines will do it for you.

Here are some of the websites I use in my bloglines :
In each of the above sites you will find a link or an icon with either 'rss' or 'atom' written , or the symbol for rss which is what is next to the atom link on this site. You will need to enter the url in that into bloglines. Also bloglines comes with some inbuilt feeds which you can add at will.

Although in most blogspot accounts you will not see the atom/rss link, its very easy to get it. Each blog has an atom.xml file which has this info. The url is typically the /atom.xml . Eg. for my blog it is http://vibhurishi.blogspot.com/atom.xml . Replace vibhurishi with the blog name of your choice on blogspot and you can get their feed.

Have fun. Let me know if you have any problems.

Jun 6, 2006

666x2

Be wevy wevy scared ( as Elmur would like to say).

Today is 6th of June 2006, or as some people would like to write 6/6/6

As per christian beliefs go , this is the number of the beast. A huge number of doomsday scenarios were bandied around that said that --- oh! the world is going to end !!! Check google for the number ... and you will have a whole years worth of useless talk to read about !

I think people just need some excuse ( UFOs, Millenium, day of the beast etc) to start preparing for doomsday. Why is there no day where you start preparing for something good ???

But, that's not all that is to the number. Check the trivia section on Number of the Beast. Some gems ;-) :
  • The first apple was sold for $666.66
  • The anti-impotence drug drug Viagra has a molecular weight of 666.7 g/mol.

Well, the day is almost half done - but no doom till now. (unless you are playing DOOM ! )

And if you are wondering about the x2 above ... at 6 sec and 6 minutes past 6 it was : 06:06:06 06/06/06 ! (it will come today evening also if you are on 12hr time and not 24 - reset your watches if you are!).

Jun 5, 2006

नमशकार

If you cannot see the text in this post, please check http://devanaagarii.net/ on how to get Hindi on your system.

नमशकार

यह मेरा पेहला पर्यास है हिन्दी मै लैख लिखने का ।

ईसे मैने लिनक्स पर ग्नौम मैं लिखा है । हिन्दी मै लिखे काफी अरसा हो गया है , ईस लिये मै ईस पोस्ट को छोटा रख रहा हूँ ।

विभू

Jun 2, 2006

Cursed by Inactivity

The country is in the throes of a debate of the question of reservations. Lots of people have given their opinions about it. How its good or how it is bad.

But have we stopped to realize how this all has come to pass ?

I call it the CURSE of INACTIVITY that we have invited on ourselves.

We are so bent on doing nothing that it surprises me sometimes as to why does a person exists. I think it has to do with how kids are brought up. The focus is only on studies in most of the houses. So, little by little all the inquisitiveness of a person, all the curiousity to check out things get stifled in the books of learning. Parents are happy if the kids are studying and doing nothing else.

Living all the life in the comforts of home a person reaches a kind of blind faith that everything is ok outside. If someone makes noise - they look up with a frown - why is someone making noise just go back to what you were doing. As such it becomes difficult for them to fathom that something else also happens in the world. At max, they will go and meet friends at coffee shops and crib about how some people have been making noise all around. They will agree that yes - things are not ok in the country and just go back to their homes.

I remember when I started biking long distance. Till the time I was in the city commuting to the office on bike, it was ok. There were stray comments on how I should become 'responsible' and get a car. But when I started to travel long distance, the bedlam of protests grew more. People would come up with 'expert comments' as to how dangerous it was.
"Have you travelled on the highway?" I would ask.
"No." was the answer.
"Do you know people who have travelled on the highway?"
"No."
"Then how can you say it is dangerous?"

Its the ostrich mentality. Stick your head in sand and everything around you is ok , seems to be the thought. The richer someone gets - the more smug they become that everything is ok - after all everything is ok in their house right ?

So, when suddenly people making noise about giving reservations, they faces go up from their books (or comps nowdays?) , startled ... how can it be they say. Everything is ok they say. But is it ? How many people have actually travelled around India ? Of them , how many people have actually helped out people from rural background ? INACTIVITY.

All of a sudden, they find themselves surrounded by people brandishing some millenia old numbers saying how they have been oppressing the masses. Suddenly, when the likely hood of loosing their seats in colleges or companies rears its head, they start looking out. Coffee table discssions increase - but the eventual outcome is just INACTIVITY.

"No... it cant be happening" they say. "It wont happen to me" they say. "It wont happen in pvt sector" they say - and go back to the comforts of their homes. INACTIVITY.

A few people shrug of the inactivity. They look around and realize that the cure being bandied about is the medicines from quacks. They come out and realize that coffee table discussions are not going to achieve anything. They start doing something. They try to pull out the ostriches - but to no avail. The ostriches agree - yes there is a problem. Being the intellectual elite they start arguing how the actions cannot achive anything. They find fault with all actions. To them, if the problem does not get solved in 1 day it is the wrong solution. Finishing their arguments, feeling smug for having delivered the fantastic speech about how its going to fail, they go back to their houses. INACTIVITY.

"Oh ! I will go abroad" they say if confronted. "I dont want to get lathi charged" they say. "Its not gonna work" they say. And then they go and crib about how bad the world is. Do they still have the right to crib ?

In India, people follow Hinduism in some way or the other. Buddhism, Jainish, Sikhism are all derived from it. Even Christians and Muslims follow it - because its more of a way of life than a religion. Its Epics are known to everyone - none so well as the Bhagwat Gita. One of the things it says is "Do your duty , and leave the fruits to me".

Are we doing our duty ? INACTIVITY means that no - you are not doing your duty. So, dont bemoan your 'fate' or blame the gods, as we are most likely to do , when your would collapses around you.

If you read this and still dont want to go out and make a difference - then I pity you, because one day the house built of a pack of cards around you will come crashing down. But even that , I feel will not move you.

Ask yourself a simple question : "If i was to die tomorrow - have I dont everything I wanted to ?" Its the basic philosophy that drives me. Tomorrow if I die - I dont want to think "Shit ! I did not do that and that and that". Get out of your apathetic state of INACTIVITY and start doing something. Educate someone who does not have the means of getting educated. Be Bold. Take on the false promises of Politicians and make them eat crow. Make your difference in this world. If you ever fall in the trap of thinking how can 1 person make a difference, or that your work will make a very small difference, just multiply that difference by a billion and see the results. Shrug off the Curse of INACTIVITY. Do Something.

For the Working Class

This is for all the smug working class people who sit in their plush offices, grumbling against the govt., forward all kinds of emails - and yet dont do anything. Well guys, you are just going to become victims of your own inaction.

Lets see what the latest machinations of the govt has got up. Yesterday Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar has said that "The Government doesn’t want to force the private sector to implement reservation and would prefer that companies do it voluntarily."

So - still sitting comfortably in your seats ? If you are the best of the best, I dont think you will need to worry. But if you are not - then it may just not be in your luck to keep the seat for long - as someone who knows less than you will take up your place.

And what about your kids ? TN has already passed a bill for 69% reservation ( hey govt, why dont you say 31% for general ?).

Are you still complacent ? Do you still think you are not affected ? Do you still need to be told that your livelihood is in danger ?
OR
Maybe now you will have some courage that your livelihood is in danger. Maybe now you don't want to see your hard earned seat go to someone who does not even minimally qualify for it ?

Do Something !

If you don't know what to do - join the YFE at least. Contact your local chapters and get out of the cocoon of your houses and offices. Stop waiting for someone to take the lead - be leaders.

OR else ... be prepared to loose everything you have worked hard for.