tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527698670471000672023-08-23T06:06:42.130-07:00dailychronicleMayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-42487937905310556982009-03-21T22:08:00.000-07:002009-03-22T11:30:43.636-07:00A Day that would be etched in my memory Forever.<span style="font-size:85%;">We all finally decided to head to Sikkim (after considering tens of thousands of destinations like purulia, tawang, auli, vaishno devi and dunno what else) for the customary final year trip :D. Am really glad that we went ahead with Sikkim.<br /><br />So, all 13 of us left for Gangtok in merely half an hour of planning. I dont want to write my trip report but there was a day that needs special mention, lets jump to it. This day, began really early (read 4.30 AM) at Lachung which is some 120 kms and 8 hrs drive from Gangtok. Take into consideration the temperature which was around 4-5 degress. We had to leave for Katau, the place where we were assured of finding snow. So, we left at around 5.30 am only to find that we cannot reach Katau because our crappy jeeps could not run on snow coverered roads as the tyres were skidding. We stopped at about 10 kms from Katau and played like little children on the road itself for 3 hours. Really it was nature at its best. First rays of sun on snow covered mountains, pine trees coverered with snow. I mean I am at a loss of words to express the scenic beauty that we experienced. It was not India for me.<br /><br />On the way back to Lachung, one of the tyres got punctured (same tyre 2nd time by now) and it took an hour for the driver to change it as neither did he have a spare tyre nor the jack. And this delay was the reason for the events that took place later during the day (atleast some people feel so). Then we went to Yumthang (or Yunthang, wotever) to find that valley of flowers was all barren that time. Thus, nothing much to say about it. We just clicked some snaps and came back. I am damn sure that we have 7-8 GB of snaps for the entire trip...phew. We started for Gangtok at 3.30 pm and from here begins the adventure that all of us wound never forget.<br /><br />After about 10 mins of the ride, the two cars that were carrying us collided and thus, showing some ominous signs. When we were 50-60 kms away from Gangtok, the radiator of one of the cars got blown up and was beyond repair. This happened at 7.30issh pm. Let me write something about the setting that we were in. It was pitch dark, you cannot imagine a more blacker (if that is a word) surrounding. We could not see anything, not even our faces. We did not know which way was the mountain and which way the cliff. There was not a single car moving on that road at that time, not one during 5 hours that we were there. It was like a set straight from some movie when they show that the actor is left stranded on the road at midnight, finding no one help, all by himself. It could have been an ideal horror film location, just the sound effects were missing. Next started our ordeal to find a new car which could take us to Gangtok. We looked for about an hour but no one was willing to take us at that time of the day. So, finally we had to call a car from Gangtok and it took 4 hrs to come. As soon as we were about to start, the psychotic, idiotic driver of our car found that that tyre got punctured again (3rd time) and he took another hour to mend it. So we finally left at 12 midnight from the realm of darkness.<br /><br />Both the drivers drove fast or rather dangerously enough to cover 45 kms in an hour. It was like a roller coaster ride for us, swaying side by side. Then, the only thing which was left, happened, LANDSLIDE and there was a road block, we could not go ahead. This is at 1.30 am. Nothing to be done, we all sat in the car waiting for the day to break, so that some one comes to our rescue, intimates the police and gets the road open. It was about half an hour when we started hearing some loud noises of rocks falling. The darkness quotient was exactly same as mentioned in the above paragraph. We could hear thumping sounds of rocks, ground was shaking, but we could not see anything. We did not know as to where all this was happening, how much far from us. Nothing. The situation was such that we could help but prayer for our safety. We did not know whether we would reach Gangtok or not. It was so cold that we could not get outside of the car and it was so tacky inside that we could not sit in the car. You can well imagine how do you feel when you sit cramped in the same position for 9 hours. But there was nothing we could do, not knowing whether we would be alive or under some huge boulder. We waited for the dawn to usher in, lucky enough to be alive, it was a bit calm by then, and we were awestruck to find that all that rock falling was taking place at just about 100 m from where we were. So the snenario was landslide-100 m-our car-100m-another landslide. We were sandwiched in between huge mass of boulders on either side. The 2nd one that took place was more deadlier, localites said that it would take 10 days to get the road motorable again as the whole mountain had crashed and would require blasting to clear. I well believe that you can imagine the potency of the situation that we were into.<br /><br />It does not end here. In the morning, luckily a tanker reached the spot and the driver told us that we could walk for some distace to find a taxi. We decided this was more wise and thus started. We hiked for 6 kms to find a taxi that would take us to Gangtok. I enjoyed hiking a lot when I was in US for my intern. But hiking after a whole night of agony and anguish and sleeplessness is BAD. Finally, we managed to make it to Gangtok at 10 am in the morning, when we were supposed to reach at 7 last evening.<br /><br />It was adventure at its best for us. We experienced everything that we could have. We played in snow, got stranded in dark, sandwiched between landslides, hiked for 6 kms and yeah, savored my best momo ever, early in the morning after the hike at Tashi View Point. But am sure, I would not want to be in that situation again, for sure.<br /><br />P.S.: There are many anecdotes to be mentioned about the reaction of the fellow passengers, but some other time.<br /><br />Cheers to our trip to Sikkim.<br /></span>Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-26096218991989074242009-03-05T02:14:00.001-08:002009-03-05T02:28:46.303-08:00Installing ns2 on Linux.<span style="font-size:85%;">First step is to get the source. The source can be found at:<br /><br /><a href="http://isi.edu/nsnam/ns/ns-build.html">http://isi.edu/nsnam/ns/ns-build.html</a><br /><br />If you are an expert, then you can download all the parts separately otherwise get everthing at once and download the allinone source from:<br /><br /><a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=149743&package_id=169689&release">http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=149743&package_id=169689&release</a><br />Currently, the latest version in ns-2.33<br /><br />After downloading the source, perform the following steps:<br />1. Log in as root.<br />2. Copy the .tar.bz2 file to the /usr/src directory.<br />3. Untar the file using tar xvzf "filename"<br />4. Go to the /ns-allinone-2.33 directory and run ./install. This would install ns2 into your system.<br />After this, we need to add certain paths to the PATH variable, so that ns2 can be run from anywhere.<br />5. Thus, perform PATH=$PATH:/usr/src//ns-allinone-2.33/bin:/usr/src/ns-allinone-2.33/tcl8.4.18/unix:/usr/src/ns-allinone-2.33/tk8.4.18/unix:<br />Export PATH<br /><br />We need to store these things in the PATH permanently as normally these are stored just for the current session. So for this, we need to add the same thing exactly in one of files mentioned below:<br />Add "PATH=$PATH:/usr/src//ns-allinone-2.33/bin:/usr/src/ns-allinone-2.33/tcl8.4.18/unix:/usr/src/ns-allinone-2.33/tk8.4.18/unix:<br />Export PATH" to /etc/bash_bashrc for openSUSE<br />If you can find .bashrc file in the root folder then add the same thing at the end of it.<br /><br />Hopefully, this would work and your ns2 is now ready for use.<br /><br />I would also like to mention the best tutorial for beginners: It is the MArc Greis Tutorial and it can be found at:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.isi.edu/nsnam/ns/tutorial/">http://www.isi.edu/nsnam/ns/tutorial/</a><br /><br />If you want to download the ns manual, it can be done from:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.isi.edu/nsnam/ns/ns-documentation.html">http://www.isi.edu/nsnam/ns/ns-documentation.html</a><br /><br />This manual would help you understand how ns2 works and all the intricate details about it.<br /><br />Hope it turns out to be useful for people new to ns2.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-85770385617015468172009-03-04T06:40:00.000-08:002009-03-05T08:10:21.148-08:00MUKTI '09 - Zenith Scaled.<span style="font-size:85%;">Well.. its been a high time that I write a blog on<a href="http://mukti09.in/"> MUKTI' 09</a> since I am the President of the Group which had organized it, i.e., <a href="http://lug.nitdgp.ac.in/">GNU/Linux Users' Group, NIT Durgapur</a>. So, today I finally sit to write about it. I would say that <a href="http://mukti09.in/">MUKTI' 09</a> has been one of the most important if not the single most important event of my college life at NIT Durgapur.<br /><br />At the very onset, I would like to mention that <a href="http://mukti09.in/">MUKTI' 09</a> was in true terms for the very first time a National Level "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Technical Symposium</span>" on GNU/Linux and Free Software. It was not a cake walk organizing and we had to go through a lot of tumultuous times. The first hurdle was that of getting the college administration to agree to our demand of having MUKTI organized seperately rather than with some other event of college. Surprisingly enough, the Director agreed to it fairly easily. The catch being, Govt. of West Bengal suddenly wanted to promote Linux and Open Source in West Bengal and our college was one of the prospective Nodal Centers for this cause, so there would be influx of funds in the college.<br /><br />Anyways, whatever the case, we managed to have a stand alone MUKTI. For the very first time, we had MUKTI which spanned across one week, right from Monday, 2nd February, 2009 to Sunday, 8th February, 2009 and we promoted it as "FOSS Week". We had the inauguration on 2nd February and had Prof. Debesh Das, H'ble Minister In Charge, Dept. of IT, Govt. of WB, gracing the occassion as the Chief Guest. This was another first in the history of NIT Durgapur that a Minister had come for the inauguration of any event organized by the students' body. But as happens with white collar people, our schedule for that day got hay wire as the Minister was 3 hours late and due to this delay Mr. Shyam Sundar, M.D., Durgapur Steel Plant, could not attend the inauguration. We also organized a Sit and Draw competition and a Quiz for the school students with FOSS being the central theme for both events. The attendance for the inauguration was way beyond our expectations, with many faculty members joining in to hear the Minister speak. Students from DAV School won in both the events and it was a very successful and satisfying 1st day for us.<br /><br />For the next two days, we had Workshops organized in association with <a href="http://nrcfoss.org.in/">NRC-FOSS</a>. The following workshops were organized:<br />1. How to write C/C++ programs in GNU/Linux.<br />2. Python - an interpreted programming language.<br />3. FOSS Electronic Design Automation Tools.<br />4. FOSS CAD/CAM Tools.<br />5. Collaborative Software Development using SVN.<br />6. Computer Typesetting for Engineers using LATEX.<br />7. SCILAB, an alternative for MATLAB on GNU/Linux.<br />The workshops had a fairly good number of students attending them. The best among them was the Python Workshop which was taken by Shreyank Gupta, a final year student of CSE, NIT DGP and a Core Member of GLUG, NIT DGP.<br /><br />For the next 3 days, we had many competitions, ranging from 2 programming competitions, a system admin competition, a quiz, web development competition, paper and project presentation. But the highlight of this year's MUKTI was the emphasis which we had put on Talks/Workshops. We had talks from stalwarts in the world of FOSS. They are:<br />1. How to run a successful free software business - Abhas Abhinav, CEO,<a href="http://deeproot.co.in/"> Deeproot Linux</a>.<br />2. How to contibute to FOSS - Satya Komarigiri, a GSOC participant.<br />3. Ruby on Rails - Anurag Patel, <a href="http://cleartrip.com/">cleartrip.com</a><br />4. KDE - Pradeepto Bhattacharya.<br />5. Managing your online Profile - Yu Yu Din, <a href="http://123greetings.com/">123greetings.com</a><br />6. Indian FOSS Community, Indranil Dasgupta, <a href="http://ilug-cal.org/">ilugcal</a>.<br />We were really indebted to have Abhas Abhinav and Pradeepto Bhattacharya, the FOSS Rockstars among us.<br /><br />Oh ya, we also had a Light Painting Show by Patrick Rochon and Nicolas Maranda, from Canada. Their group, ALPHA C9D is incidentally the only group in the world who perform such magic with the camera. They say that they just play with the shutter speed of the camera but what they did, completely left all us enthralled and mesmerised. I mean I have never seen the crowd shouting "Once more...Once more" twice. It was truly an out of the world experience for those who attended it. It was intended to lighten the mood of the crowd after those series of events and talks and it exactly did that.<br /><br />Well, we did falter on the participation front. But I believe what we have achieved is far far more satisfying than just getting the people to attend the talks unwilling just to fill in. We have inspired the opening of 3 LUGs in NIT Agartala, NIT Jamshedpur and Kalyani Govt. Engg. College. This is the real victory of ours and we are totally proud of it because we never performed gimmicks to alure people to participate and were through out transparent. I believe that these things would really translate in getting many more people to participate in MUKTI next year. We have sowed the seeds and would definitely have the flowers blooming next year. Even the participation was not that bad when I hear what happens in other FOSS conferences. I am happy because we did what had set out to do and never ever compromised on that....an out and out promotion of GNU/Linux and Free Software. We could have easily done away with the talks and include many crowd pulling events, but we did not do so because what we did would provide us with long term benefits rather than short term satisfaction. I am already hearing that the present 2nd year of our college has become very enthusiastic about using Linux and is very quickly migrating from Windows. This has been our primary aim, to Linuxise NIT Durgapur and we are on the right track.<br /><br />I would really like to thank all the speakers who graced<a href="http://mukti09.in/"> MUKTI' 09.</a> An event can never be possible without sponsors/partners and yes, we did manage to find some during these times of Recession/Economic Slow down :D. We thank, <a href="http://nixi.in/">NIXI</a>, IOTA, <a href="http://accenture.com/">Accenture</a>, <a href="http://nrcfoss.org.in/">NRC-FOSS</a>, <a href="http://careerlauncher.com/">Career Launcher</a>, <a href="http://bsnl.co.in/">BSNL</a>, <a href="http://hp.com/">HP</a>,<a href="http://lfymag.com/"> Karukrit, Linux for You</a>,<a href="http://newscientist.com/"> New Scientist</a>,<a href="http://oreilly.com/"> O Reilly</a>,<a href="http://indyarocks.com/"> indyarocks</a>, <a href="http://dominoes.co.in/">Dominoes</a>, <a href="http://coffeeday.com/">Cafe Coffee Day</a>. Last but not the least, I would like to extend my sincere and heartfelt thanks to the IT Dept, NIT Durgapur, especially, HOD Sir, Prof. S. Choudhury for his unfaltering support to us. Seriously MUKTI would not have been the MUKTI it was without your support, Sir. I dont want to thank my committee because I feel we all did what we were responsible to do and what was expected of us. We all rose to the occassion and worked tirelessly towards making MUKTI '09, a SUCCESS.<br /><br />On the personal front, <a href="http://mukti09.in/">MUKTI '09</a> has been the best "subject" in my curriculla at NIT Durgapur. It has taught me which none of the text books could have done. I learnt something everyday, since I started working for MUKTI. It helped me acquire leadership skills, taught me how to work as a team, helped me shed my inhibitions and become a little more extrovert than I was, I also learned the way of talking with the most conservative people you could find, the professors and staff of NIT DGP and in turn my Bengali has improved considerably :). Most importantly, I have learned the skill of getting things done. Being in an Engg College, I always wanted to acquire some managerial skills too and MUKTI' 09 was the platform which helped me do so. I met so many different kinds of people and have made some of my best friends on this journey called MUKTI '09.<br /><br />Now, let me tell you the real reason, why I wrote all this today. We had a GLUG meeting today and after a long time I did not preside over it. It was the 3rd years who co-ordinated everything today. It felt a bit awkward to be on the other side again after so long. I had this itching sensation and felt that "that" time has come which is dreaded by most of us, the last days of college life and the time to GO. I may sound greedy and self centered but I did not like it at all. I am feeling very nostalgic right now but cannot help it. I am very very proud of what we have done and am pretty sure that my juniors would continue the good work which we have started. We, final years always discussed that what would happen to GLUG, NIT DGP after we leave but now I am satisfied that there are more able people than us to take care of it. I congratulate all and wish all the very best for future endeavors.<br /><br />Well has been a fairly loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg blog but jab likhta hun toh dil khol ke likhta hun.....<br /><br />Signing off...... finally :).....uhhh<br /></span>Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-83346681426691496432008-12-01T12:47:00.000-08:002008-12-01T12:51:15.996-08:00MUKTI '09After lot of efforts, finally we would be having an independent <a href="http://mukti09.in">MUKTI<span><span></span></span></a>. It would be held from 6-8 Feb, 2009. MUKTI is an annual national level technical symposioum on GNU/Linux and Free Software. It is organized by Linux Users' Group, NIT Durgapur.<div><br /></div><div>There would be a plethora of events and talks/workshops. So Be there and Celebrate FOSS with us.</div>Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-11631813758253971532008-06-07T16:00:00.000-07:002008-06-24T14:39:25.182-07:00First Taste of Copyright Infringement.Hello All. This post is a piece of news for everyone.<br /><br />In Virginia Tech, we all have ethernet connections in our dorms and the download speed easily touches 750 Kbps. We all were happy seeing that and as usual started downloading movies and tv series as was expected of anyone studying in an engineering college back in India.<br /><br />It was about a week after we had come and had already downloaded around 50 movies and some 11 seasons of various series, when we got a mail from one of co-ordinator professors that we have breached Virginia Tech Policy # so and so and one of the possible consequences of that was being sent back to India.<br />It was a forwarded mail from the person who tracks the network out here and the mail said something like this:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Title: Accepted</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Infringement Source: BitTorrent</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Initial Infringement Timestamp: 28 May 2008 00:00:50 GMT</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Recent Infringement Timestamp: 28 May 2008 00:00:50 GMT</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Infringing Filename: Accepted[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Infringing File size: 735180504</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Infringers IP Address: </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" href="http://198.82.62.195/" target="_blank">198.82.62.195</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Infringers DNS Name: </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" href="http://hc6523ec3.dhcp.vt.edu/" target="_blank">hc6523ec3.dhcp.vt.edu</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Infringing URL: </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" href="http://tracker.torrent.to:2710/announce:6969/announce" target="_blank">http://tracker.torrent.to:2710<wbr>/announce:6969/announce</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> ==============================</span><div id="1fun" class="ArwC7c ckChnd"><wbr style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">==============================</span><wbr style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">=</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">/*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Names Mentioned Here<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>*/</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> It has come to our attention that copyrighted material is or was</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> available for public access from a computer in your room. Specifically,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> (a) copyrighted copy(ies) of...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Accepted</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> ...has (have) been found available to the public via network connections</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> numbered TP02A 232 Newman Hall and TP02B 233 Newman Hall. The computer</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> plugged into these connections, at various times that include the</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> timestamp above, has MAC address number 00-16-D3-9F-E3-91.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> It is our understanding this (these) copy(ies) is (are) not authorized</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> for reproduction or distribution at your site. This notice is sent to</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> all roommates in the identified room. It pertains to the individual</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> whose computer is connected to the previously-listed portal (or Ethernet</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> connection).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Unauthorized use of Virginia Tech communications facilities and</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> disregard for intellectual and artistic property rights are violations</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> of Virginia Tech's Policies: #7000 - "Acceptable Use of Computer and</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Communication Systems" and, "Acceptable Use of Information Systems at</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Virginia Tech".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Additionally, ***>this activity violates federal and/or state copyright</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> laws and may constitute a criminal violation, subjecting you to both</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> criminal and civil legal charges.<*** Information on related legal</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> issues my be reviewed at the URL:</span><br /><br /><a style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" href="http://fairuse.stanford.edu/" target="_blank">http://fairuse.stanford.edu/</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> >>> READ THIS CAREFULLY...</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> If you do not send an e-mail reply to this message within twenty-four</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> hours (one business day) of the time this note was sent, commenting on</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> your involvement or knowledge of this incident and confirming you have</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> ceased unauthorized sharing of copyrighted files, your network access</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> will be curtailed. It will not be reactivated until you send e-mail to</span><br /><a style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" href="mailto:dmca-admin@cns.vt.edu">dmca-admin@cns.vt.edu</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> to confirm that the problem with your computer has</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> been resolved.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> THIS CASE IS BEING REFERRED TO THE UNIVERSITY'S JUDICIAL AFFAIRS OFFICE</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> FOR FURTHER ACTION. Judicial Affairs may be contacted by phone at 1-3790</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> or by e-mail to </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" href="mailto:judicial@vt.edu">judicial@vt.edu</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">.</span><br /><br />I was shocked to see how accurate the system was even telling which movie it had been and the software and everything.<br />We all had hearts in our mouths and contacted our professor immediately about this issue. He was very calm about the whole episode and said that this happens every year as students from India are not aware of such things so we need not to worry much. Then he explained that the problem was not in downloading but rather that some one was uploading copyright stuff from the Virginia Tech Network.<br />So, guys please remember that this is not India and the copyright laws are real strict here and we do not have the liberty to do anything and everything as back home.<br /></div>Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-47053705899611618612008-06-04T22:08:00.001-07:002008-06-04T22:08:49.213-07:00Windows XP Lives, Thanks to Linux<i>Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols puts his thumb on what really happened to spur Microsoft's change of mind on sparing Windows XP: The smashing success of Asus and others' Linux-powered UMPCs and mini-notebooks <a href="http://blogs.computerworld.com/xp_lives_sort_of">caught Microsoft completely by surprise</a>. It turned out people wanted inexpensive, hard-working Linux laptops rather than overpriced, underpowered Vista PCs. If anyone thought this was a flash in the pan, that Asus just hit it lucky once, they haven't been paying attention. <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=mobile_and_wireless&articleId=9093038&">Intel is putting big bucks into its Atom family of processors</a>, which have been designed for UMPCs, or as Intel would have it, MIDs. Intel has encouraged both the computer makers and the Linux companies in its <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9073619">Moblin initiative to run desktop Linux</a>. The Linux companies have picked up on this. Canonical, Ubuntu's dad company, has come up with an UMPC-specific version of Ubuntu 8.04, the latest version of this popular Linux distribution, for Intel Atom UMPCs. At Computex, by my count, more than a dozen new UMPCs were announced both from vendors you've never heard of and from big name companies like Acer and Asus. You can also expect to see Dell releasing its 'mini-Inspiron' with Ubuntu by June's end."</i>Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-56556790783391615072008-05-30T12:35:00.001-07:002008-05-30T12:35:50.248-07:00MS Office 2007 to Support ODF but not OOXML<p>Microsoft Office 2007 will support ODF in full, but not fully implement OOXML. <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Office 2007 will also support PDF 1.1, PDF/A, and Microsoft’s competing fixed-text format, called XML Paper Specification.</span></p> <blockquote><p><span id="ctl00_SDTimesPlaceHolder_articleBodyLabel">In a surprise move, the company also announced that it intends to participate in the OASIS ODF working group and the corresponding ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 Subcommittee 34 working groups for ODF, as well as the ISO Technical Committee 171 working group for PDF, said Doug Mahugh, senior product manager for Microsoft Office.<br /></span></p> <p>…</p> <p>However, the company is not quick to embrace its own creation. Mahugh stated that Microsoft would not implement the final ISO version of OOXML until Office 14 ships at an unstated date in the future. This variant of OOXML was designated ISO/IEC 29500 at the time it was <a href="http://www.sdtimes.com/content/article.aspx?ArticleID=31940">certified</a> as an ISO International standard in April.</p></blockquote> <p>I wonder how long it will take them to implement the enormous spec.</p>Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-45729784679547537462008-05-27T17:39:00.000-07:002008-05-27T17:46:33.343-07:00Indian Food in BlacksburgYesterday, I had the opportunity to have Indian Food in Blacksburg. Was really bugged up of having bread and butter all these days.<br /><br />So, thanks to Ramu, my Research Scholar, who is taking real good care of me. He took me to India Garden for lunch. It felt heavens after so many days of bread butter.<br /><br />Looking forward to many more outings there.Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-82967109729730130142008-05-27T17:29:00.001-07:002008-05-27T17:31:42.943-07:00SSH Accounts SetAll thanks to Shreyank, LUG NITDGP is doing some great things this year.<br /><br />First, we had set up the Time Server and we can boast ourselves to be one of the very few time servers in ASIA.<br />Next up, we have set SSH Accounts on the LUG SERVER. This has been a big achievement..<br />More to come soon...Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-84922228073803806022008-05-24T18:56:00.000-07:002008-05-24T19:31:20.869-07:00I am among the Research Group.Hello...The day started normally and I was in the lab trying to figure out was happening in a Program given to me by Ramu. Was trying to trying apprehend and mann its really true that it is very difficult to understand someone else's code, no matter how well it is commented. I knew what is happening but could not figure out how it was happening.<br /><br />Highlight of the day was when Ramu came to me and asked whether you could care for a break. I obviously had no answer other than "NO". So we went down stairs and to my surprise the whole Research Group of Dr. Onufriev including himself, was waiting for me. Dr. Onufriev introduced me to everyone else and mentioned that I am part of the Group for this Summer. It felt very proud to be called a part of the Research Group where everyone was else doing his Phd and I am not even a Graduate yet. Then our dear Professor took us all to a Coffee Shop named Bolos and gave us coffee treat. Seriously it was an awesome feeling. I wonder when our Professors back there would be so open, accessible and friendly.<br /><br />It was Friday so had next two days off. We thought of going out in the evening to a place named RadioShack. Had heard it is a nice place to buy electronics so we all planned going there. We just had some directions to the place and had no idea as to how far it was. So we started to walk. After walking for about a mile and still no where near the place, we all got a bit apprehensive as to whether we were on the right path or not, so asked some one the way and got to know that we were on the way and it was ahead. Again after walking for sometime, still no signs of Radioshack we again asked and again got to know that it was straight. This thing happened 5 times until we reached RadioShack..yippie....But wait there was something else in store for us...The store is open only till 8 and we reached at 8.30....So after walking for 5 kms what we found was close doors of RadioShack and we were very flabbergasted...disgusted and what not....<br /><br />So none of us wanted to walk back. We decided of taking a lift. Asked 2 people directly but they refused. So thought of trying indirectly. I approached man for the way back and bugged him for 15 mins about the way and modes of transport. And then he himself said that he would give us a ride back....We all were very happy.....On the way back, got to know that tnis person had studied in India 30 yrs ago and remembered a bit of Hindi of too...It was great talking to him and he even gave us some ideas of recreation activities in Blacksburg....This would be a memorable experience. It was a coincidence that the person who helped us had some Indian roots too....<br />Signing off...Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-81511574779796352542008-05-24T18:32:00.000-07:002008-05-24T18:55:03.467-07:001st Day in OfficeAfter sleeping for over 10 hours, I went to Torgerson Hall to meet my Professor, Dr. Alexey Onufriev and his Phd student, Ramu Anandakrishan, under whom I am working.<br /><br />I was allocated a cubicle and a Computer to work. Ramu took me around the campus towards the Main Street and we had a coffee. He showed me various cafes and other hangout places in the campus. I was very happy to know that there is an Indian Restaurant out here. Can check that out in case I get bugged of my "Mess" food.<br /><br />He then gave me an overview of the study he and Dr Onufriev are doing and told me what they want me to do. It is on Molecular Dynamics Simulation. We have to find an efficient way to compute electrostatic potential between the atoms of protein molecules. These forces determine the shape of the protein which in turn is very important for drug design for diseases. Uhhh..It is not that difficult as it sounds. I have to simulate an algorithm in NAB (Nucleic Acid Builder). The language is much similar to C/C++.<br /><br />Then completed various formalities at Cranwell International Center, where its Director, Mrs. Kim Biesecker was waiting for us but we got lost and were late by an hour. Filled 3-4 forms and then went to Students Center to get the HOKIE PASSPORT (it is the I Card). Guess what got the I card in 2 mins flat with photo. I was literally awestruck when the woman behind the counter said that the Passport would be ready in 2 mins. This process generally takes months in our College but this is Virginia Tech and yes man these guys are well ahead of us.<br /><br />Well, in all talking I have forgotten to mention about the Dining Hall. Its name is D2 (Dietrick Dining Hall). Its great. Its like a food court with 6 different restaurants all serving different cuisines. And yes there is a Vegetarian Section. Was really happy to know that but the taste of the food is very bland and peculiar. Trying to get accustomed to it. There is also a Dessert Section which serves amazing desserts. There is no limit on the quantity of the food to take and it is all included in our Internship Program so we dont have to pay anything extra. The charge for the meal for one time is $10. Its a buffet and a very good one too. I have been to buffets of 5 stars and I can say that it is of their comparison. So the biggest problem that of food is solved, just the taste which I am sure I'll get accustomed to by the time I leave. Oh the timings.....the breakfast and lunch times are fine. But the Dinner is served only between 5 and 6.30. Can you beat that...Dinner before sunset which normally happens at 9.Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752769867047100067.post-11733052240517284202008-05-24T17:38:00.000-07:002008-05-24T18:32:02.143-07:00Dreamcome trueWell Hello All. So, finally I decided to write my own blog and why not, now that I have so much to say. Here is my first blog.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">It all started on 19th May, 2008. I finally left for my VT (Vocational Training) at VT (Virginia Tech) :-). Had to take flight from Kolkata to Delhi to save money of Virginia Tech :( The Delhi Airport was like a fish market. Had never thought that an airport in India would ever be so congested. First had to stand in a queue for an hour for the boarding pass and then an hour for the immigration formalities. It was very very tiring. Even the KLM people had never managed such crowd. But none the less, I was more than excited to be on the flight. I had a stopover at Amsterdam and the temperature was 4 C and it was summer time. I was freezing and did not have any warm clothes either. Then the next stopover at Detroit. The Detroit Airport is awesome. And then I took a flight to Roanoke. The flight was a small one with just 30 seats. It was so small that there had to be proper balance of weight on both sides for the flight to fly. And this took 15mins. Then when it took off, it was going tipsy turvy sideways and I had my heart in my mouth. Felt damn scared. Then there were some turbulences on the way. One was so bad that it felt that I was traveling on one of the worst Indian roads filled with potholes. But all was well and I reached Roanoke. From Roanoke, I took a Smartway Bus to Blacksburg, an hours drive. So after traveling for nearly 30 hours, I reached Virginia Tech.<br /><br />At the bus stop, there was a surprise in store for me. I had my Professor waiting for me. It was very kind of him. Moreover he even helped me pick my bags. Does this happen in India. He then showed me my room and we took a walk around the campus and found where the Dining Hall was.<br /><br />In my Dorm, I was more than amazed to see my room. Its no less than a 5 star compared to the rooms that we have in our college. Dont know how would I again settle down in the pathetic rooms of NIT Durgapur. We also have a huge Kitchen on each floor fully equipped with ovens and all other stuff required for cooking, though I have no plans of cooking, I still liked it a lot.<br /><br />Melissa from Pertorica in the Caribbean helped me explore the Dorm as she had been here two days before. She is also an Intern but in a different program. People here are damn friendly and dont have any apprehensions as back there. Also made friends with Tim, Nex, Hectar and Lauren.<br /><br />Off to sleep.<br /><br />P.S. Writing this blog so late, i.e., 4 days after arriving because dint have charge in my Laptop because everything here runs on 110V supply unlike 220V as in India. So had to buy a 220-110 converter.<br /><br /></span>Mayankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300171039331596024noreply@blogger.com0