Free Wi Fi Internet Access for Passengers at Bengaluru International Airport

My first flight from the new BIAL (its just opened 2 days back)

It offers free internet access to all passengers for one hour (per login; so you can request a new password if you are waiting over an hour)

How to get password:
Send an SMS to 56677 with the content "WIFI BIAL".
You will get a password by return SMS

I received the password with 45seconds and was able to logon quickly. (adding this post through the same connection)

a. browsing worked
b. messengers worked
c. ssh did not work
d. It did not allow POPping mail
d. ip assigned 172.16.0.207

Healthy (Unknown) Partition issue solved

After re-installing Windows XP from Pre-desktop area, one of my FAT 32 partitions was not visible to Windows. Disk Management utility was reporting this partition as "Healthy (unknown) Partition - FAT 32"
... I found this funny

Anyway, here is how the problem was solved (with help from a geek friend)
PLEASE NOTE : Take backup of your data before you try these steps.

1. I booted into Ubuntu. Ubuntu had not problem in identifying and accessing the same FAT 32 partition
2. As root, I started FDISK using the following command
   fdisk /dev/sda
   entered p to print partition table
   This displayed the following:
   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
   /dev/sda1 * 1 2042 15437488+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
   /dev/sda2 2043 5418 25521615 c Hidden W95 FAT32
3. In the above I noticed that the partition type was set as Hidden W95 FAT32 instead of W95 FAT32 (LBA). So I changed the same with following steps
   t (to change a partition's system id)
   Enter the partition number. in my case its 2
   Partition number (1-7): 2
   Enter the Hex code for the partition type W95 FAT32 (LBA) i.e. c
   Hex code (type L to list codes): c
   
4. Commited the above changes by entering w
   
   

The above solved my problem. Next time when I booted into Windows, I could see and access the FAT32 partition.

Upgraded to Ubuntu 8.04

Last week I upgraded to Ubuntu 8.04. Again, like earlier Ubuntu installations, the installation was easy and trouble free. I decided to do a fresh install instead of an upgrade.

Why did I upgrade?
No specific reason. I just love Ubuntu and was keen to see what new it has to offer.

Did I find anything GREAT after install?
Not really.... (but I do not care.... I am not a techie) ....
I do however like:
a. World Clock Applet with multi city display
b. all new Firefox
c. The wallpaper

The installation experience was really neat.

The link below has an official list of what's new in 8.04, just in case you would like to read.
What's new in 8.04

Interesting I also re-installed WinXP using my Tinkpad Pre-Desktop area. Surprisingly, Ubuntu installation and setup was easier. :)
But that's a different story. I am still struggling to get my FAT32 partition visible in windows. The Disk Manager shows that partition as HEALTHY but not recognised partition. I do not know what to do with it...... will search for a solution soon.