Screen Resolution problems on Ubuntu ?

Did you just do an upgrade in Ubuntu, and are now stuck with a 640x480 resolution ?

This seems like a common problem on machines with Nvidia based graphics cards. There are various solutions given on the net, but the one that works for me ... remove the Xorg.conf file.

Heres how you do it.
1. Start up your linux.
2. press the keys together : ctrl+alt+F1 . This will bring you to the command prompt.
3. Login with your username which has admin privilidges.
4. mv the Xorg.conf file to something . E.g. I used the following :
sudo mv /etc/X11/Xorg.conf /etc/X11/Xorg.bk
5. go back to the UI screen by pressing ctrl+alt+F7 .
6. press ctrl+alt+backspace to restart the X server.

presto , it will recreate the Xorg.conf file and you should be back to optimal resolution now.

If you run into issues, you can go back to the F1 screen, and mv the backup back to the original filename. And try your luck on google.

BSNL broadband on Linux

I did not realize it would be so easy.

The broadband got connected when i was in office. So, I was not able to check out what the guy did to get it to work on windows. Did he do it through a CD or what ? What was the settings that he used ? How will I get it working on linux ? None of these queries answered.

Googled a bit on it. Found that it is a PPPOE modem connection. There are a few howtos in it , which talk about configuring the interface and modifying the routing tables manually. Scary stuff. Then they mention as an alternative the pppoeconf ...

hmmm.

so all you need to do is run the following command on a terminal window :

sudo pppoeconf

and add the username and password when prompted, and just do 'ok' for everything else.

Impersonation

Hi folks,

Someone is impersonating as me, on gmail.

If you get an email from the id : rishi.vibhu@gmail.com - rest assured that it is not from me. notice the switch in surname and first name.

If someone knows how to file a case against impersonation, please let me know. The criminal should be brought to the book.

BMW GINA Light Visionary Model: Premiere

An amazing concept...

... does not seem to be for indian conditions.

With this post, I am starting an "Objects of Desire" tag. This used to be a regular feature on the Sunday newspaper ( I think it was HT), but haven't really seen it much nowdays.

Rain Ride !

A steep downward gradient. Loose stones make up what some say is a road. Slippery mud at places where the stones have been washed away. Heavy rains. My breath mists up the inside of the helmet and my glasses as i mutter 'Oh Shit!'

The plan started off inocculously enough. Meet up at Lonavala to discuss about the upcoming trip to Leh. There were going to be 5 of us meeting up there. Bike ride to lonavla is about an hour. I left home at 10:15am - camera and rain gear in my bags. Not even a drizzle. Around Hinjewadi crossing it started to drizzle. Stopped, put on my 2 piece raincoat. Started off again, and voila .. the sun shines. Damn! It feels hot. This did not last long. The closer i got to lonavala, the darker the clouds looked. Finally ended up there at 11:10 just as the drizzle started. The stopover point was RK.

Waited . Waited some more . Ordered a cup of tea (where are the damn fellows). Smsd them that I had reached. Got sms from Hrishi - hes not coming - rains were too heavy in mumbai. PS was stuck in office. Nalin was on the way and so was Sravanth. Waited a bit more. Ordered omlet bread. Almost noon. :(

Went to buy some chocolate fudge. Called up Nalin - he had just arrived. Called up H, talked to him about the rain. Talked to S, he was 10-15 mins away. Headed over to RK and met Nalin. Decided to wait for S before we ordered anything.

Sravanth arrives on his Eliminator

The main agenda to discuss was the leh trip. Discussed a bit about luggage and the cramsters. It was then we decided to head to mulshi to test the jackets we all had got. N's was a First Gear , S had a DSG, mine was a Frank Thomas.

Off we went.

The first part of the road is great. Nice twisties. Full of water. I was the slowest one. Kind of psycological with me and water. Soon, the others were way ahead of me - i just cant get myself to lean on wet roads!

Stopped just before Amby Valley to call up shaunak who was going to meet us up at Mulshi. It had stopped raining - so took a few pics. We started off again. Just afterwards we hit the first Y junction, and too the one on the right. The road surface dramatically deteriorated then.

Sravanth and Nalin with Tweety

Kissing the Clouds

Ride up into the clouds

Stopped again at this place. It is tough riding on these roads, and the scenery was just beautiful. Had to stop for a few pics. The problem though - the cameras are not waterproof. And it rains incessantly here. These were the last pics i took before I gave up to the rain gods.

Rainy Lake

Over the mountain, and on the other side is mulshi lake. But just before that the road almost disappears - or rather becomes like the one I mentioned at the start of the writeup. Gingerly we went down the slope, and stopped at a vantage point. Oh man ! that place was worth it ! A gorge made of vertical cliffs, with the fog moving there - below your vantage point. The cliffs which towered above you had a thousand small fountains, the while lines squiggling off their surface.

Nature is amazing!

It was already 5pm now. Headed towards mulshi now. Did not stop at the lake for any pics, but headed towards Disha Dhaba where Shaunak was waiting. A cup of tea, and me and shaunak headed off towards Pune, while N and S decided to laze around a bit more.

Drenched . Cold. Heart in mouth most of the time. But oh - what a ride ! :D

Yahoo! Moderators conference

As being Moderator / Owner of yahoo groups, I was made aware of the Yahoo! Moderator's conference by Ashish (another Mod on BN). He had added my details, but I did not get any mails. Then, seeing the 'join' button on the yahoo group, I again entered the details.

As such, I finally got the invite, and was to report at 4pm at Sahara Star hotel in Mumbai.

No sweat. Plans were made, I was going to go on the bike, attend the conference, stay over at a friend's place and head back the next day.

Monsoon threw a spanner in my plan though, and from the mid of the week, it started to rain cats and dogs. Quick pulse check with friends in mumbai told the story - its raining quite heavily there. Last minute plan changes, and with my wife wanting to come with me, we decided to go in the car.

Usually it takes around 3 hrs to reach the airport (where the hotel was ), but with rains, we started with a buffer of another hour. 1200 hrs we left. Going was smooth with a few splatters of rains, but with each km nearer to lonavala, the rains started pouring in. Just after the Talegaon the rains really started pouring in. Rains by themselves are great ! Rains with spray from the trucks and cars in front ... oh boy ! no visitbility at times ! Speeds dropped.

Droplets on the windscreen

Monsoons

The Verna and the Expressway

Smokey Clouds

Around 3pm left the expressway and got into the mumbai traffic ! Oh man ! What a pain. Traffic was crawling everywhere ! :( , but still better than in Pune as people were driving mostly in their lanes. what would have taken around 40mins took 1h30min. Reached the hotel at 4:30pm - which was ok, as the start was delayed due to rains !

The moderator's union is an effort by Yahoo! to reach out to the moderators of various groups, and hear their voices. Each moderator was to come up and present about their group. Just 2-3 mins per person, but many took more than that.

At the end there was a poll for the following categories (2 winners in each category):
1. Most Unique group.
2. Best introduction.
3. Best dressed moderator.
as well as an award for the most punctual.

Well, I was there representing BN and I am proud to say that we were voted among the top 2 most unique groups !

Me at the conference podium

After the moderators, it was the turn of the Yahoo folks to tell us the goodies in store for us. This is what I am assuming many people will like more instead of my dreary writeup of travel ;)

Yahoo! Groups 2.0

Yahoo groups is going to be revamped fully. The concepts they showed us were great (but with a disclaimer that things are likely to change). Heres the feature set that I remember :

1. Customizable homepages.

What this means is that moderators can have different elements on the home page instead of the current static one. E.g. instead of just showing the current description and a few messages, one can customize to also show pics, calendar agenda etc. Kinda like what you can do on a google homepage, but I am not sure if the widgets are going to be customizable.

2. Custom user profiles.

So, today you got a yahoo id - and you join a group. No other info is available. The moderators will be able to provide custom fields on a profile which they would want users to fill up.

3. Group discussions on Yahoo pages.

This is the example given to us. Say there is a discussion on NBA, and there are NBA centric yahoo groups. If the group has opted for the feature, then current discussions will be shown next to the news item on the Yahoo page. Pretty neat IMHO.

4. Allowing attachment Archives.

Storage space is going to be unlimited. With that, YGroup also will provide for a means for archiving any attachments sent to the group. Hmm.. Unlimited Storage space : check. Archive of attachements ... what if they are viruses ? I do not think I will still be in favor of attachemtns, but there are many other groups out there who do allow attachments - it would be great for them I believe.

Yahoo! Glue

The other thing that was shown was yahoo glue. Its a search with a difference. It searches different places for the item. you can check it out on :
http://in.glue.yahoo.com
Search for something - say - Yamaha. You will get pics, videos as well as the regular search.

Left Mumbai around 9:30pm and was home at 1am ! Next day was to be a meet at lonavala.

Most pics taken by my wife

Beer will break your heart..

From Hugh's website - the guy who gave us the Blue Monster.

First Rains

Originally uploaded by vibhu

After a few blistering days, it started to rain in Pune. The weather is lovely, but the roads are a nightmare. This shot taken from the office window overlooking baner road.

Never Give Up

Sometimes , it feels that inspite of all you do, suddenly you are back to square 1 ! Do you relate to this feel ? :)

It does happen. People make you fell so. Circumstances don't go your way. All the effort you have put in suddenly go for a toss. All the dream castles you build - come tumbling down. Life happens !

What do you do ? What will you do ?

Going through something similar. Then happened to have the IPL on (and I dont usually watch cricket) - when the '60 secs with Shane' came on.

Q. What is your philosophy
A. Never give up

Woowie ! The lamp in your head lights up. You find your mojo ! Rock on ! Never give up !

Night stay at Murud

Last weekend ended up in Murud by chance. The initial plan was to go to Alibag, spend the evening there and be back the next day. This time by car, as S and another friend couple were going to join us.

Left Pune around 2pm and headed out via the old NH4. I wanted to take the khapoli exit after a stop at the hotel RK (Ram Krishna) in lonavala. However, being a sat afternoon, Lonavala was choc a block, and so we decided to move on. Exited at khapoli , went to Pen and crossed over to the road to Alibag. Reached there around 5pm - and oh boy - what a disappointment it was ! The small beach was overflowing with weekenders. Tried to find a hotel - and the best over there did not meet with the ladies approval.

A lunch break later ( it was late for lunch, but still too heavy for being called a snack !), we decided to head out towards Murud and try to find a place. The reasoning was that even if we did not find a good place, we can drive through the night and be back in Pune.

Sunset on the way

The first stop was at Prakruti Beach Resort - which strangely was in a direction opposite from the beach. Next to it was also Sea Touch hotel - again without the sea in sight. The guard at Prakruti disallowed us entry as we did not have a booking ! Hmm..

Kept heading towards Murud and at Murud came to the Golden Swan Resort. It was a neat place - which was really next to the beach ! Luckily for us , there were a couple of rooms available, which after some barganing we got for 2800 per room. Steep price but good rooms. A/C , Tv, the works. Food not included.

Dropping our luggage in the room we had dinner (it was already around 9pm by this time ) and headed out to the beach, where we stayed chatting till midnight. There is something about being out there on the beach in the dark , listening to the sound of the ocean, which is really soothing ! Pitch dark, with a half moon. That did not deter me, and i started experimenting with taking night shots (and cursed myself for not getting my tripod along !). The results are as below.

Moonlit sea

Also tried a shot of the moon at the max 12x zoom afforded by the S5 IS. And the result is something which is on my desktop now !

Cresent Moon

We all turned in at 1am with plan to get up early morning and take pics of the sunrise ( not matter that we were west facing, and the sunrise wont be seen). Alarms set, we dropped off to sleep...
... and promptly turned off the alarm as soon as the cellphones buzzed.

ah well - thats what a holiday is for anyways !

Went into the sea and frolicked there a bit. None of us knew swimming, but we had a great time! No pics, as the camera is not waterproof ! Canon does come out with water proof casings, but I did not have one.

Returned around 10 to the cottages. We had to vacate by 10am actually as the resort was to be shut down for 2-3 days for pest control. Breakfast was quite pathetic. This place has buffet for meals, and by the time we went for breakfast, most of the things had finished off - and still they wanted to charge 150 bucks per plate. Finally after a bit of convincing got them convinced to charge per item basis.

Quack ?

We did plan to go to Janjira, but the plan was dropped as my friend's wife was not feeling well. The way back was almost the same , except at khapoli i took the expressway to pune. We got back quite quickly - took around 4 hours - with a break for lunch on the highway cafe (not good food, but no other option on the expressway).

I would recommend the resort for anyone going to stay. Don't eat there - try other places around if you can.

TFD : You cannot schedule creativity