Power of FOSS. This is fantastic....

Stani Michiels designed a coin in Holland using OSS. His design was selected amongst many others (which were made using proprietary, professional and expensive softwares)



Here is what he writes about the technology that he used. Entire post is here.

The whole design was done for 100% with free software. The biggest part consists of custom software in Python, of course within the SPE editor. For the visual power I used PIL and pyCairo. From time to time also Gimp, Inkscape and Phatch helped quite a bit. All the developing and processing was done on GNU/Linux machines which were running Ubuntu/Debian.In the end I had to collaborate closely on location together with thetechnicians of the Royal Dutch Mint (coin factory). So all the lastbits were done on my Asus Eee PC.(I am still wondering why Asus doesn't offer Ubuntu on its netbooks.)The Eee laptop took a bit longer (30 seconds instead of 3 seconds togenerate a whole coin), but did the job just fine. For looking up thenumber of hits on the internet, I rediscovered Yahoo, which provides a much better apifor automatic querying than its competitors. Of course the jury judgedonly the design and not the software used as others used Maya,Illustrator, ...

CrossOver Linux is free now

I got a mail from CodeWeavers today with a registration code to download CrossOver Linux Pro for free. CodeWeavers programs enable you to run many popular Windows programs, such as Quicken, Microsoft Office, and Photoshop CS2 etc. on your favorite operating system (in my case Ubuntu).

To get a copy of a CrossOver Mac Pro, Crossover Linux Pro, CrossOver Mac Games or CrossOver Linux Games, visit the company's Web site and download the software. You will, eventually, get a deal code that fully enables the software and gets you six-months of support as well.

I would like to use this for:
a. Google chrome (though I am not sure if this with work)
b. some games (specially Spore by Electronic Arts)

You can read more about it here.
ComputerWorld story

no stream found to handle url dvd://1

On Ubuntu, I got this error when I tried to play a DVD using mplayer.

no stream found to handle url dvd://1

I googled but interestingly, could not see a solution anywhere. Thats when one of my geek friend helped me figure this out.

PROBLEM
The problem here is that of incorrect device path set in mplayer

SOLUTION
a. check the device path for your DVD drive. (can do this via sudo mount)
b. Open mplayer
c. Right click in the mplayer window >> choose Preferences >> MIsc
d. Enter the correct device path against DVD device and CD ROM device
e. OK and you are ready to play the DVD properly

The Tata Sky Challenge

Try opening www.TataSky.com website on any linux distro and you will find that it does not work.

Whereas, on Windows, it works very well. I tried both IE and Chrome. (didn't try firefox on windows though)

Interestingly, www.TataSkyplus.com opens nicely on Linux also.
Tata Sky Plus offers a TV recorder (Hard Disk based). It costs around 9K for new customers. Tata Sky plans to offer a special deal to exisitng Tata Sky users but has not announced the details so far.

Free online file conversion e.g. PDF to Word doc

Earlier a friend asked me if I could help him convert a PDF into a word document.

I only knew how to :
a. copy text from a PDF document
b. convert a PDF into a Jpeg or Png (using GIMP)

Today I learnt about Zamzar.com. This site:

• allows you to convert files from one format to other
  
• supports image numerous formats for images, docs, music, video etc
• offers free conversion (in addition to paid options)
• is very easy to use. You upload the file and indicated the desired output format. It will send you a mail with a link to the file within 24 hours

Migration is almost complete... Ubuntu rocks

Last fews weeks were very hectic and I got very little time to migrate my stuff from old laptop to the new. Finally, I completed my migration today and highlights of this exercise are:

1. Reducing the size of pre-installed windows partition was easy with QTParted. Windows XPs inbuilt disk manager was not helpful at all.
2. Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 installed like a breeze. No issues whatsoever.
3. Dualhead monitor support is also working now thanks to this post
4. VirtualBox allows me to run XP op top of Ubuntu. one of my legacy windows based application works smoothly on the same. At times, using VirtualBox and dualhead feature, I make presentations to people whithout them realising that I am running XP in a virtualised environment.
5. Fingerprint reader works fine on Ubuntu. (Not only can I swipe my finger to login using GUI login page, it also works on command line. I am using ThinkFinger)
6. Gnomad2 works with Creative Zen Vision M like a breeze.
7. J-Pilot syncs with my Treo 700p
   

Things that could have been better are:

1. Lenovo rescue and recovery CDs for my X61 laptop do not allow me to install in the virtualised environment. I wish it worked .
2. X61 has an integrated graphics card. Moving from and SVGA (1440x 1024) 14.1" to a XGA (1024 x 768) 12.1" screen is stressful. Firstly I miss the screen real-estate that I earlier had. Second, display of letters (esp. on terminal and midnight commander- mc) is not as smooth as it used to be. It will take me some time to get used to it.

Overall..... I am loving it !!!

For Airtel Users: Test your internet speed

http://speed.ncr.airtelbroadband.in/

On this page you can test your internet speed if you are an Airtel DSL subscriber. Its a god way to check and be able to report speed issues to Airtel customer service.

I have a 128 kbps plan and got:

• 77.4kbps download speed
• 44.3 kbps upload speed

When i called Airtel to check why the d/l speed is lower, they indicated that they promise upto 128 kbps speed and not 128 kbps. Smart product design ;)

I love tools that help increase productivity :)

I read this article Be a Productive Linux User

It lists some amazing tools that help increase productivity. I was already aware of Pidgin but Terminator and Gnome-Do are new to me and really neat.

1. Terminator : allows you to split same terminal window into multiple terminals. Power users will love it even more.
2. Conky : light system monitor
3. Pidgin : Chat client
4. Gnome-Do : Application launcher similar to Launchy in windows
   

Lenovo not offering Bluetooth on Laptops

My new Thinkpad X61 does not have bluetooth...... why? Because Lenovo says that bluetooth is in short supply. They say they may be able to offer it after one month or so.

Could this be because of the Beijing Olympics 2008... May be...
Infact I heard one of my friends complain that due to Beijing Olympics, he was unable to get a continuous supply of raw material that he had been buying from China.

Anyway.... here are the specs of my next BlackBeauty

Thinkpad X61

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz, 3MB L2, 800MHz FSB)
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Business
Recovery DVD: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Recovery DVD - US English

Display: 12.1" XGA TFT, 2x3 Ultraconnect II antenna

Total memory: 4 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)

Hard Drive: 160GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm

Intel® Turbo Memory hard drive cache: Intel Turbo Memory 1GB

Mobile media base:ThinkPad X6 UltraBase

DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim

Wireless card: Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro)

Battery: ThinkPad X61 8 Cell High Capacity Battery

Its migration Time again!!!!

I have purchased another blackbeauty for myself... this time its a machine from the ultraportable category of the Thinkpad family - Thinkpad X61.

Choosing what to buy was a very hard decision. I was sure that I wanted a light weigh notebook with a screen size of less than 14.1". Other options I considered :

1. Thinkpad X300 : I dropped it because it is expensive ($3000) and still not the best processor (only 1.2GHz)
2. Thinkpad T61p: I would have loved to pick this had it been available in 14.1" screen but these days they are only offering 15" that too wide screen notebooks in this category.
3. Other brands or model : No way! After working on a thinkpad, I don't think I will be comforatble working on any other brand
   

echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_window_scaling

This post is to ask Linux Experts to answer the puzzle above.

Situation (puzzle):
At home, I use Airtel DSL Broadband connection to access internet.
Hardware used: US Robotics ADSL router modem.

When I connect my Ubuntu notebook to this router modem, I am unable to access the web. Also, surprisingly (rather shockingly) only google owned websites are accessible. e.g. I can access google.com, orkut.com etc. No other site can be accessed. I do not get an error message but the browser does not return any thing.

ssh, ping also do not work.

Solution:
After reading various posts on the web, I learnt that the following command solves the problem. As root, run :
'echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_window_scaling'

After this, all sites are accessible.

Questions for the Experts?
a. What is the issue here?
b. What does the above command do?
Looking for guidance.

P.S. There is nothing wrong with Ubutnu or my notebook setup, Fedora also behaves in the same manner. Other users also faced the same problem at my house.

Correcting Windows crashes & FIXMBR vs FIXBOOT

Lately, every time I boot into windows, the system crashes after after a few minutes. Therefore I decided to do a re-install (from the IBM Pre-Desktop partition). It started fine but soon I encountered a small problem.

Windows made some changes to MBR. As a result, GRUB started hanging (I have a dual boot system - XP and Ubuntu). Earlier it used to give an option to choose Ubuntu vs XP. But now, it just did not move. Thus, Pre-desktop utility could not complete windows xp installation (as computer is rebooted many times when installation is done).

Following steps solved the issue:
a. I booted the machine using a Windows XP retail install CD
b. When uit asked me to choose whether to install or go to recovery console. I chose recovery console by pressing "R"
c. Here I ran "FIXMBR"

The above fixed the problem and after this when I rebooted, IBM pre-desktop was able to continue windows installation. (infact its going on as I type this from my home laptop)

Also, whule looking for a solution I learn the following two options to cure booting problems. Both are available in the Recovery console of Windows XP.
1. FIXMBR
2. FIXBOOT

FIXMBR vs FIXBOOT : whats the difference?
(taken from a post by bbz_Ghost here
FIXMBR grabs the original MBR code from the drive's EEPROM chip and restores it, effectively wiping out anything that might be in there, be it LILO, GRUB, a Windows bootloader, and any possible traces of a virus, etc. When that command is finished, the MBR is as good as it was the moment the drive passed QA testing at the factory.

FIXBOOT restore the native ability for Windows to boot with the NTLDR file and bootloader, simply put.

There's also BOOTCFG which lets you modify boot time parameters just like you can inside Windows by modifying the boot.ini file under Advanced System Properties.
There's also a proper order for the commands if you need to use them from the Recovery Console:
FIXMBR first, then FIXBOOT right after that, then type exit and press Enter to reboot.

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.

My new toy........ Nokia E61i

Few months back I had started my search for a new mobile and bought the HTC TyTN I or HTC Hermes. Its a nice and powerful device but I had to give it up because :
a. I am so much used to the Treo form factor that the sliding QWERTY keyword did not work for me.
b. HTC Hermes is a battery guzzler. I was not using the device for voice but still I had to charge it atleast once everyday unlike my Treo 600 that runs for 2 days even with voice usage.
c. Though Hermes has a 400 MHz processor, the speed still sucks. Probably the 64MB RAM acts as a bottleneck.

Anyway, this time I had to buy a phone for my wife and I got her a Nokia e61i yesterday. Its got everything that I wanted (listed here). My initial reactions to the phone are:

POSITIVES
1. E61i runs S60 3rd edition which has a nice/ user friendly interface. Infact one of my biggest worries has always been that no phone offers an interface as convenient as Palm Treo but e61i seems to take care of this issue.
2. The screen size and clarity of e61i is very good. Allows for easy browsing of sites.
3. The built in browser has two very nice features :one- when you scroll on a page, it shows a thumbnail of the entire page and shows a small windows that indicates what part of the entire page you are on. two- when you press the back button it shows all previously visited sites/ pages and gives an effect similar to the switch applications effect in Windows Vista or Compiz.

NEGATIVES
1. Though its nicely/ neatly built, it is huge. Does not fit my palm comfortable.
2. Very less freewares are available for S60 3rd edition. e.g. I have been searching for a freeware messenger that support MSN, GTalk, Yahoo and Skype. So far, I could only find Agile Messenger but it seems that its not a feeware. For some reason some sites indicated that it is freeware.
I don't want to spend on buying basic softwares and normally use freewares on my Palm Treo which work very well.

Will write more once I get more time to play with it.

Can Ubuntu damage my hard drive.... NO WAY

Yesterday I read a story on Slashdot which claimed that the power management features of Ubuntu kill the laptop's hard drive faster if you run it on battery. I got worried and started searching for more info on the same.

Today, I read another story on Digg which clarified this issue and also lead me to this post. It clearly explains that :

1. this is not an ubuntu feature/ issue by default
2. yes, Ubuntu offers a setting which, if enabled,could lead to decreasing your hard disk's life span. This setting is however desabled by default.
3. usually, Ubuntu uses the same power management settings that are set in the BIOS. Thus one needs to check the BIOS settings first and then worry about Ubuntu settings.

Thanks to Matthew Garrett for the clear description.

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Gutsy Gibbon - Ubuntu 7.10 is super cool

This is the first time that I have adopted a new linux distro within 2 days of it being launched. Ubuntu launched Gutsy Gibbon (code name for Ubuntu 7.10, the latest Ubuntu release) on oct 18 (press release) and I managed to install it on Oct 20 and its fully functional...... yes all eye candy, desktop effects, also work and they are GREAT!

I am truly impressed and here are a few reasons why :

1. Installing Gutsy gibbon was easy and fast. It took me exactly 35 minutes to install it. Before you compare it with benchmarks, please note that I am not a geek.... i do not understand kernels and more. Infact I still remember that installation of windows XP from the IBM Pre-desktop area took me more time.

2. Everything worked out of the box. I did not have to download or install any proprietary drivers. Ironically, with Windows XP (retail version) installation earlier, I was forced to download some drivers from the IBM website.

3. I have an ATI FireGL card on my laptop and Compiz is working fine without the need of installing the proprietary drivers. I am amazed. With Dapper Drake, I tried and tried but could not get compiz to work. Here it is working from the word go. I have also installed CompizConfig Settings Manager that allows additional desktop effects. Again installation of CompizConfig Settings Manager was also very smooth. I used the Synaptic Package manager and it only took 3 clicks.

So this is a good start. All I need to do now is to get the other essentials like thunderbird, mplayer etc....

:)

Thanks Canonical!!!!

Forlong's blog has a great description of the advanced desktop effects and their 'real' benefits. you can read it here.

Command Cheat Sheet for Linux Newbies like me.......

Found this cool Linux Comand Cheat Sheet on Fosswire.

Download

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A Pocket PC : HTC TyTN/ Hermes/ Cingular 8500

I am a Treo 600 user. Lately, I had been wanting to upgrade my mobile device. I wanted something which would offer :
1. a QWERTY keyword (.... Treo spoilt me)
2. WiFi capabilties
3. EDGE Support
4. No Camera (I use the phone at work and a number of my clients do not appreciate camera phones in their offices)
5. 3G support (not too critical though)

A Treo 680, 700 or 750 would have been a natural choice for me. However, Treo's still do not support WiFi. Treos running Windows mobile OS support the WiFi SD Card but ones with PalmOS do not. So I thought that if I have to move to a windows mobile then why not try something different than a Treo.

After reviewing all other options available, I settled on HTC TyTN or Hermes. It met all my requirements as it has a nice sliding QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, Edge, 3G.........but only one problem....rather two.... It has two cameras. One 2 MP camera at the back for taking pictures and one VGA camera on the front for video calling.

I learnt that AT&T (formerly Cingular) in USA offers the same phone without the camera. The model is called Cingular 8500 or AT&T 8500 (detailed specs). So I picked up one Cingular 8500 in US. It was locked to Cingular network and I had to unlock it to be able to use it in India. After unlocking, Cingular 8500 works nice. But I seriously hope that it lives up to my expectations. I now need to find applications for this new device.

P.S.
I still LOVE my Treo. I wish it supported WiFi :(