Jun 29, 2006
Jun 26, 2006
Shelley The Republican » A True History of Linux
Shelley The Republican » A True History of Linux
I read a few posts on this "blog" and I simply CANNOT decide whether it is serious or the writers are merely yanking someone's chain.
If it's a serious site then I am amazed that such clueless people exist.
If it's a farce then I am amazed at the way they manage to troll readers, they've really brought it up to a fine art.
I read a few posts on this "blog" and I simply CANNOT decide whether it is serious or the writers are merely yanking someone's chain.
If it's a serious site then I am amazed that such clueless people exist.
If it's a farce then I am amazed at the way they manage to troll readers, they've really brought it up to a fine art.
Jun 25, 2006
Worst game ever?
I got the King Kong game along with my 7900gt video card and yesterday I actually got down to installing it. I'm not really a fan of movie-games and I didn't expect much from this one. I got even less.
It's SLOW. On a 7900 and a dual core Opteron running at 2.4GHz and 1GB RAM, this game is dead slow. And I was running at the lowest resolution possible. I can't believe I would have some setting wrong on such a system that would make me exit from the game and switch it off altogether in disgust. The other gripe I have is that the load times were huge. I was delighted at first when I saw the progress bar zipping away, it reached the end, stopped, backed up one step and then started again from zero! After enduring one such load, all I got to see was the scene where the characters get off the ship and row to the shore; then another load screen starts.
The first time I ran the game, I had a Sidewinder gamepad connected and somehow that managed to put the game into a tizzy. My character wouldn't stop looking at the sky! I had to quit from the game and disable the gamepad and start the game again. For some reason, the display was very... shaky is the best word. And slow. Looking around was painful.
I continued on anyway, hoping things would get better. Then I saw my entire party of "friends" climbing up some steps and vanishing. They didn't climb all the way up and over the steps, they disappeared halfway up! I followed them up the steps and got killed. I don't know what killed me or how, but it happened consistently - walk up some steps and you're dead. I then tried climbing up while crouching and surprisingly got all the way to the top, and then I didn't know what to do. I could hear people shouting for me, but I had absolutely no idea about how to proceed. There was a crack in the rocks from which I could see some spider like creatures, but I wasn't allowed to enter that area.
I gave up and returned to playing NFS MW.
It's SLOW. On a 7900 and a dual core Opteron running at 2.4GHz and 1GB RAM, this game is dead slow. And I was running at the lowest resolution possible. I can't believe I would have some setting wrong on such a system that would make me exit from the game and switch it off altogether in disgust. The other gripe I have is that the load times were huge. I was delighted at first when I saw the progress bar zipping away, it reached the end, stopped, backed up one step and then started again from zero! After enduring one such load, all I got to see was the scene where the characters get off the ship and row to the shore; then another load screen starts.
The first time I ran the game, I had a Sidewinder gamepad connected and somehow that managed to put the game into a tizzy. My character wouldn't stop looking at the sky! I had to quit from the game and disable the gamepad and start the game again. For some reason, the display was very... shaky is the best word. And slow. Looking around was painful.
I continued on anyway, hoping things would get better. Then I saw my entire party of "friends" climbing up some steps and vanishing. They didn't climb all the way up and over the steps, they disappeared halfway up! I followed them up the steps and got killed. I don't know what killed me or how, but it happened consistently - walk up some steps and you're dead. I then tried climbing up while crouching and surprisingly got all the way to the top, and then I didn't know what to do. I could hear people shouting for me, but I had absolutely no idea about how to proceed. There was a crack in the rocks from which I could see some spider like creatures, but I wasn't allowed to enter that area.
I gave up and returned to playing NFS MW.
Jun 24, 2006
Xbox 360
Someone I know at work wants one. That set me thinking, because he claimed that the specs were much better than the price warranted. Twenty thousand odd rupees, and you get a triple-core 3.2GHz CPU, a decent enough GPU, 512MB RAM, etc. etc. and I spent almost that amount in getting ONLY a dual core Opteron processor. Where's the mismatch?
Of course I know that consoles are not meant for general purpose computing, but the PS3 will apparently be able to run Linux as well. And all said and done, the only general purpose computing I do at home is games, browsing, playing music, watching movies; all of which modern consoles can do (after a fashion). If at all there is something consoles cannot do, one always has a cheapo PC/laptop lying around to solve the problem. Is there a need for the dual core Opterons and the 7900GTs?
I tried to verify the difference between the PCs games and the Xbox, but a lot of them are released for both platforms. With support for HDTV, consoles are not limited to low resolutions either. Since I've never seen any console in action I cannot comment on the quality, but websites assure me that the Xbox's (360, not the original one) graphics quality is as good, if not better than high end video cards'.
Availability of games? I buy my PC games from legal sources so console games would not be that much more costly either. I believe the Xbox 360 has a VGA connector so I need not buy an HDTV.
Non-standard peripherals? Aha. HDD is probably not user replaceable. Can I plug in a 250GB SATA disk instead of the measly little thing that MS provides? Probably not. Can I use my Logitech Momo racing wheel with the Xbox 360? I have no idea. Can I plug in an optical mouse and USB keyboard and play strategy games? I have no idea. Can I post to my blog? I have no idea. Consoles in earlier times were simpler, they played a specific category of games and did nothing else.
Will someone with an idea respond and let me know the facts?
Of course I know that consoles are not meant for general purpose computing, but the PS3 will apparently be able to run Linux as well. And all said and done, the only general purpose computing I do at home is games, browsing, playing music, watching movies; all of which modern consoles can do (after a fashion). If at all there is something consoles cannot do, one always has a cheapo PC/laptop lying around to solve the problem. Is there a need for the dual core Opterons and the 7900GTs?
I tried to verify the difference between the PCs games and the Xbox, but a lot of them are released for both platforms. With support for HDTV, consoles are not limited to low resolutions either. Since I've never seen any console in action I cannot comment on the quality, but websites assure me that the Xbox's (360, not the original one) graphics quality is as good, if not better than high end video cards'.
Availability of games? I buy my PC games from legal sources so console games would not be that much more costly either. I believe the Xbox 360 has a VGA connector so I need not buy an HDTV.
Non-standard peripherals? Aha. HDD is probably not user replaceable. Can I plug in a 250GB SATA disk instead of the measly little thing that MS provides? Probably not. Can I use my Logitech Momo racing wheel with the Xbox 360? I have no idea. Can I plug in an optical mouse and USB keyboard and play strategy games? I have no idea. Can I post to my blog? I have no idea. Consoles in earlier times were simpler, they played a specific category of games and did nothing else.
Will someone with an idea respond and let me know the facts?
More on traffic
Regardless of my outburst about the PM advising motorists to be polite, I must point out that he is not quite off the mark. My comment was about the PM making such remarks when he and his kind are obviously not in touch with the common man's life and what provokes the incidents one sees on the road.
But it is clear that there are idiots on the road and I come across them all the time. There is one particular traffic signal which is completely disregarded by almost everyone. Sometimes I feel foolish, waiting for the signal to turn green when traffic flows all around me, in all directions. Getting through the crossroads is a big hassle even when I have the green light, because people simply don't care. I am sorely tempted to simply walk up to one of these folk and hit out at them. As it is, I try to convey my anger by frowns and gestures and loud honking when I have the right of way, but I don't think anybody is bothered much by all that.
What is it that makes otherwise decent (and I am going out on a limb here) people behave so oddly on the road? I assume that they wait at all other traffic lights since I don't see the same problem anywhere else. So what's different about this particular set of signals? Are they some mystical lights that only I (and a few other fools) can see? I have never had to wait more than 30-40 seconds at this crossroads. I don't understand the big hurry.
But it is clear that there are idiots on the road and I come across them all the time. There is one particular traffic signal which is completely disregarded by almost everyone. Sometimes I feel foolish, waiting for the signal to turn green when traffic flows all around me, in all directions. Getting through the crossroads is a big hassle even when I have the green light, because people simply don't care. I am sorely tempted to simply walk up to one of these folk and hit out at them. As it is, I try to convey my anger by frowns and gestures and loud honking when I have the right of way, but I don't think anybody is bothered much by all that.
What is it that makes otherwise decent (and I am going out on a limb here) people behave so oddly on the road? I assume that they wait at all other traffic lights since I don't see the same problem anywhere else. So what's different about this particular set of signals? Are they some mystical lights that only I (and a few other fools) can see? I have never had to wait more than 30-40 seconds at this crossroads. I don't understand the big hurry.
Where are your manners, PM asks motorists
Where are your manners, PM asks motorists
Apparently, the PM has no clue what the ordinary people of the country go through; but then again, he's a politician, what was I thinking?
Apparently, the PM has no clue what the ordinary people of the country go through; but then again, he's a politician, what was I thinking?
Jun 20, 2006
IBM and Georgia Tech Set Silicon Speed Record
Georgia Tech Phd student Ram Krithivasan examines a 'frozen' Silicon Germanium chip inside a cryogenic station at the Georgia Electronic Design Center in Atlanta. IBM and Georgia Tech today announced that they have broken the world silicon speed record with a chip that operates at half a trillion cycles per second, some 250 times faster than chips found in conventional cell phones.
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/photo/19844.wss
Of course, this probably just means a single transistor switching at 500GHz, not that you'll have a 500GHz CPU tomorrow.
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/photo/19844.wss
Of course, this probably just means a single transistor switching at 500GHz, not that you'll have a 500GHz CPU tomorrow.
Women in the armed forces?
I found the ongoing controversy about whether there should be women in the armed forces a bit ... amusing.
A career politician lashing out at something a career soldier said, and the politician implying that the soldier doesn't know anything about the army and should leave policy to the politicians.
Well, OK, it didn't happen quite like that; but the above is what it sounded like to me.
Gender equality is a funny notion. Especially when people start taking the equality part a bit too seriously. If we were all equal then there wouldn't be any debate over equality, would there? Everyone would think the same way, behave in the same manner, and do exactly the same things.
Prejudice is perhaps a better word. Making decisions about a person's worth or capabilities or shortcomings based on a generalization.
But here too we hit a wall. Generalizations can come in handy. "Indians live in India", would not be completely accurate, but making that kind of assumption about an Indian is perhaps valid (till he tells you otherwise).
Here we come across the gender based generalizations - "women are physically weaker than men". Is that always true? Certainly, women weight lifters and wrestlers might be physically stronger than many men. But a few exceptions do not invalidate the usefulness of the generalization. The trick is to decide how much is a "few", how many are "negligible". "Men refuse to ask for directions"? "Women can't keep secrets?"
One wonders how many of the strident female voices shouting for equality would be willing to take over all the roles of men. Being the sole bread winner, putting up with a nagging spouse, er... come home drunk and beat the spouse and kids, etc.
Jesting aside, I see so many women who prefer to live in comfort off the earnings of their men, and perform the "household" chores like a dutiful housewife. Interestingly, most men don't even have that choice.
Should women be "allowed" to join the armed forces and participate in combat? I don't know. It would be a fearsome sight indeed, a line of ladies charging down the hillside with guns and war cries. On the other hand, I can see how a handful of females in a million strong army could pose problems. In our jargon, they would be corner cases and would need special handling.
Case in point - call centre cabs. They apparently have rules about a girl not being the last person to be dropped off. Corner case with special handling. For safety's sake. Why don't I see anyone protesting this? Don't women have the "right" to be treated as any other poor geek and be dropped off at the nearest traffic light? What happens if the whole cab is full of girls? What happens if the cab is full of girls and one man?
Gender equality? Would the girls at work accept being hit on the back like I do with the guys? Would they stay back till 1 o'clock in the night to finish off some code like the guys do?
I would suggest trying to improve the participation of women in the normal work force before hitting out at the army. And reservations for women are NOT what I mean!
To be very crude about it, men have proved over millenia that they are stronger, faster, more agressive, perhaps dumber (at least dumb enough to accept orders without question) and hence thoroughly suited for fighting each other. If women want in on the fighting, they should prove themselves (that means more than being shrews at home). The question of treatment of women PoWs is still open.
A career politician lashing out at something a career soldier said, and the politician implying that the soldier doesn't know anything about the army and should leave policy to the politicians.
Well, OK, it didn't happen quite like that; but the above is what it sounded like to me.
Gender equality is a funny notion. Especially when people start taking the equality part a bit too seriously. If we were all equal then there wouldn't be any debate over equality, would there? Everyone would think the same way, behave in the same manner, and do exactly the same things.
Prejudice is perhaps a better word. Making decisions about a person's worth or capabilities or shortcomings based on a generalization.
But here too we hit a wall. Generalizations can come in handy. "Indians live in India", would not be completely accurate, but making that kind of assumption about an Indian is perhaps valid (till he tells you otherwise).
Here we come across the gender based generalizations - "women are physically weaker than men". Is that always true? Certainly, women weight lifters and wrestlers might be physically stronger than many men. But a few exceptions do not invalidate the usefulness of the generalization. The trick is to decide how much is a "few", how many are "negligible". "Men refuse to ask for directions"? "Women can't keep secrets?"
One wonders how many of the strident female voices shouting for equality would be willing to take over all the roles of men. Being the sole bread winner, putting up with a nagging spouse, er... come home drunk and beat the spouse and kids, etc.
Jesting aside, I see so many women who prefer to live in comfort off the earnings of their men, and perform the "household" chores like a dutiful housewife. Interestingly, most men don't even have that choice.
Should women be "allowed" to join the armed forces and participate in combat? I don't know. It would be a fearsome sight indeed, a line of ladies charging down the hillside with guns and war cries. On the other hand, I can see how a handful of females in a million strong army could pose problems. In our jargon, they would be corner cases and would need special handling.
Case in point - call centre cabs. They apparently have rules about a girl not being the last person to be dropped off. Corner case with special handling. For safety's sake. Why don't I see anyone protesting this? Don't women have the "right" to be treated as any other poor geek and be dropped off at the nearest traffic light? What happens if the whole cab is full of girls? What happens if the cab is full of girls and one man?
Gender equality? Would the girls at work accept being hit on the back like I do with the guys? Would they stay back till 1 o'clock in the night to finish off some code like the guys do?
I would suggest trying to improve the participation of women in the normal work force before hitting out at the army. And reservations for women are NOT what I mean!
To be very crude about it, men have proved over millenia that they are stronger, faster, more agressive, perhaps dumber (at least dumb enough to accept orders without question) and hence thoroughly suited for fighting each other. If women want in on the fighting, they should prove themselves (that means more than being shrews at home). The question of treatment of women PoWs is still open.
Jun 10, 2006
Traffic shaper
I've been using cfosSpeed, which is a traffic shaper. I've been searching for something like this for quite some time now, but I never found any software to be quite what I wanted. Basically, I wanted a shaper that would be able to prioritize my HTTP traffic so that my browsing would not be affected while a download was in progress.
cfosSpeed seems to do that, and it seems to get me a faster response while browsing even when there are no downloads going on in the background. They claim better responses for online gaming, VoIP, and other such applications, but I haven't tried that out, and I probably won't. All in all, a good bit of software - it's shareware and I might just end up buying it at the end of my 30 days trial.
cfosSpeed seems to do that, and it seems to get me a faster response while browsing even when there are no downloads going on in the background. They claim better responses for online gaming, VoIP, and other such applications, but I haven't tried that out, and I probably won't. All in all, a good bit of software - it's shareware and I might just end up buying it at the end of my 30 days trial.
Much awaited N80 review.
It's been a few days since I got the N80 and it's time to put down my thoughts on the device.
Awesome.
The screen hits you first, because that's what you see first. Crisp, bright, colourful. Waaay better than any of the normal phones you see around you, and certainly no worse than the high-end PDA-phones that you come across. It's a slider phone, the first one that I have had, and nothing to complain about in the slider mechanism. Camera is decent, flash is probably OK too, but certainly not comparable to a "normal" digicam. On the other hand a digicam can't make phone calls.
Tried out the bluetooth to transfer data from my previous phone, worked flawlessly. Also managed to use the Wifi to connect to my laptop and used the phone's browser to wander around the web. That was a nice experience too. Setting up the WLAN took some time, but that was on the laptop. Once set up, the phone recognized it immediately, but refused to browse. Turning off the firewall helped, so it wasn't the phone's fault really. It even managed to find a very weak WLAN signal from someone else's network.
FM radio is great, had a hard time using the inbuilt tuning, but works like a charm when you type in the correct FM frequencies. Looks like the tuning feature is only for fine tuning? Looks like the radio can't be recorded, but I guess that could be fixed by a firmware update - looking forward to that feature.
Music player is great too, limited only by the available space, 128MB mini-SD card doesn't look too big in front of my 60GB iPod. But it's nice to have a music player with some good songs on the memory card for times when the iPod is not around. Sound quality was good to my untrained ears - as long as it sounds OK, I don't care.
The phone's HTML browser is pretty good, you have to see it to understand what I mean. It simulates a little mouse cursor that can be moved around with the directional keys and it highlights any links over which it passes. Works very well.
All said and done, I like this phone. Cost was, of course, astronomical, but I, for one, think it's worth it. For people who just like their phones to be able to make phone calls - this device is absolutely not meant for you, go away.
Awesome.
The screen hits you first, because that's what you see first. Crisp, bright, colourful. Waaay better than any of the normal phones you see around you, and certainly no worse than the high-end PDA-phones that you come across. It's a slider phone, the first one that I have had, and nothing to complain about in the slider mechanism. Camera is decent, flash is probably OK too, but certainly not comparable to a "normal" digicam. On the other hand a digicam can't make phone calls.
Tried out the bluetooth to transfer data from my previous phone, worked flawlessly. Also managed to use the Wifi to connect to my laptop and used the phone's browser to wander around the web. That was a nice experience too. Setting up the WLAN took some time, but that was on the laptop. Once set up, the phone recognized it immediately, but refused to browse. Turning off the firewall helped, so it wasn't the phone's fault really. It even managed to find a very weak WLAN signal from someone else's network.
FM radio is great, had a hard time using the inbuilt tuning, but works like a charm when you type in the correct FM frequencies. Looks like the tuning feature is only for fine tuning? Looks like the radio can't be recorded, but I guess that could be fixed by a firmware update - looking forward to that feature.
Music player is great too, limited only by the available space, 128MB mini-SD card doesn't look too big in front of my 60GB iPod. But it's nice to have a music player with some good songs on the memory card for times when the iPod is not around. Sound quality was good to my untrained ears - as long as it sounds OK, I don't care.
The phone's HTML browser is pretty good, you have to see it to understand what I mean. It simulates a little mouse cursor that can be moved around with the directional keys and it highlights any links over which it passes. Works very well.
All said and done, I like this phone. Cost was, of course, astronomical, but I, for one, think it's worth it. For people who just like their phones to be able to make phone calls - this device is absolutely not meant for you, go away.
Jun 9, 2006
Jun 7, 2006
Jun 2, 2006
Filing I-T return? Don't attach Form 16
Filing I-T return? Don't attach Form 16
Bad, bad move. Now I have to remember everything I bought so that I can tell the IT dept?! How about small amounts I give to people? Or large amounts that I give or get from my family? Aren't they happy enough with keeping track of how much I get?
Bad, bad move. Now I have to remember everything I bought so that I can tell the IT dept?! How about small amounts I give to people? Or large amounts that I give or get from my family? Aren't they happy enough with keeping track of how much I get?
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