Its all over

its all over.... good bye..

Happy Birthday!!

To someone special... truly special..

How swift have flown
To me thy girlish times,
A woman grown beneath
My heedless eyes!
In vain I rack
My fancy to believe
The almanac,
That speaks thee twenty-one.
- Charles Lamb.

Wishing you on this blessed moment, the choicest, prettiest and happiest of everything you come across. The path thy nimble foot take you across, be laid of the most fragrant roses from the garden of Athena. My dear, let the year ahead bring you what you always cherished, dreamed and prayed for.
The solemn prayers of my heart shall always seek the one above, blessings, and care on every breathing moment of your life, so precious to me that these words alone can't describe.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! :)

BSNL EVDO and me!! :)

Ever heard of EV-DO - the revolutionary 3G product of modern communication scenario. Well I hadn't untill recently. Came across it as my old broadband connection( RIP :D ) was performing ever so disgracefully..

I bought the BSNL EVDO connection last week. The procedure was pretty simple-

a. fill the form

b. attach a photo

c. attach an ID and address proof

Voila! within two hours I got moi EVDO USB dongle. At a monthly charge of Rs.850(which includes Rs.200 as rent of the device) its definitely a bargain for me, reason being the fact that the EVDO enabled BSNL tower is just over 100m from moi place :). EV-DO comes with an unlimited plan only which is, coincidentally my favorite choice as well :D. 

Coming back to "Evolution-Data Optimized" or "Evolution-Data only", abbreviated as EV-DO or EVDO, EV, and blah blah is a standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically for "broadband Internet access". Yes, you heard me correct, "Wireless broadband". It uses multiplexing techniques including code division multiple access (CDMA) as well as TDMA. 

In simple words, EVDO is the answer to people on the move, ranging from Business executives, IT professionals to students(that include me ! :) ). The most striking statement about it would be the fact that EV-DO devices provide typical speeds of 50-150kBps and 500-800kbps upload completely "wirelessly". EV-DO routers can make it possible to share it with other users as well. EVDO can provide all the features that the cable broadband can provide :).

It allows realtime streaming and viewing of videos from sites like Youtube, basic operations viz, email, file transfers etc. My eyes swelled with tears watching Barso re Mega video streamed live for the first time since I bought it:).

How does EV-DO operate: The EVDO modem receives the signal from the tower and allows you to connect to the internet. One needn't worry if their locality doesn't fall under 3G coverage, as EVDO comes with downward compatibility with available CDMA signals or 2G signals. EV-DO devices come with driver software for DOS systems. For GNU/Linux based systems, minor tweaks with dialing tool(wvdial) config files puts you right on track and ready to go online. :) I was able to run it smootly on my Ubuntu 9.04 as you can see below :). 

As wikipedia says, In India, EV-DO services are provided by Tata Indicom, BSNL and Reliance. Essentially a USB device, it comes at a wide price range. EV-DO services, with all its pompous outshine, suffer the drawback of being unreliable in rural areas(i.e, in areas without 3G enabled towers), though I haven't tried it yet. But still since it supports available CDMA signals or 2G signals, one needn't worry about being isolated from civilisation completely!! EV-DO service is highly efficient in our Metros and major cities, including Thrissur. So,if you are a person like me who's suffering with cuthtroat download limit wala broadband connection, this is your right choice buddy!Enquire about the tariffs at your nearest ISP office and go grab one !!!

:)

P.S: 1.Thanks to wikipedia.org and evdoforums.com for providing the technical information I included here.

2. Thanks to ubuntuforums.org and bsnlevdoclub.com for their help in configuring and troubleshooting the problems I had while running it under Ubuntu.

The Great Indian Road Trip- Thrissur,Kerala to New Delhi, New Delhi Part Zero

Hell yeah!!! What you read is true, every word of it !!

Its been a while since I blogged here. Been on odd errands all these time, and add to it, what can be called a "writer's block" :) . But never did I dream that my return to blogosphere would be with something this joyful, that I can't still contain the sheer thrill of it!

Yes! We are embarking on our dream tour, from GEC, Thrissur, Kerala to Delhi( or New Delhi, New Delhi :) )( An ~2900km journey one way). A 12 day journey which includes about 5-6 days on road and a 2-day trip back home in train(courtesy: Indian Railways). No strings attached( except those budget ones :) ). Here's how it all came about:

I wouldn't disclose the entire details verbatim, but the capsuled data is here:

Rohit's dad has been transferred with promotion( cheers!!) to Delhi.

Problem: Make sure uncle wouldn't have no trouble whilst commuting in the Metro.
Solution: Their KL-08 P XXXX Maruti Zen :D!!

Rohit suggested, got approval and thus took birth the crazy idea of taking car to Delhi, driving the entire stretch from TCR! Not to mention the compulsive, obsessive, certified brain-damaged lunatic what-not-ic Bristow to boost the whole concept, the next thing left was to decide fellow tourers- Denny, Raman and Myself!
To put in simpler words, Drivers- Denny Machan n Brittoli, Tourers- Me :) n Raman, and
Last but the best Moyalali of the Vandi- Rayappan!!!

The trajectory and pit-stops haven't been yet decided but I'll update it soon here. Initial suggestion is Thrissur-Mangalore- Deviation to Goa- Pune- Agra- Delhi.

Return Journey tickets have been booked in Mangla Express on July 13th. Surprisingly, a sleeper class ticket from Delhi to Thrissur costs Rs. 600/- only( I ain't much of a rail gadi yathri hence moi ignorance to be tolerated!)

Rest of the details shall follow soon! Meanwhile, you can keep track of me on twitter as well.

FSUGTSR: A Window to Freedom

Its the time of the year when all that happens, is for good- Its December. And December fourth shall also be remembered by few of us for being the day of FSUGTSR renaissance.

FSUGTSR , i.e, Free Software User Group, Thrissur made its first(citation needed) contribution towards the common goal- A Free and Open Source Software Society, today with the one day event " A Window to Freedom". COSTFORD, CenSE, P G Center and I C Software were the sponsors of the event.The program was held at Sahitya Akademi Hall, Thrissur and was inaugurated by HOD of Computer Sciences and Engg. Dept., Govt. Engineering College, Thrissur, Prof. K.V ManojKumar. Mr. Jayan from COSTFORD, sponsor of the event, presided. K. Venu presented an in-detail description about Politics of free software. Krishnanunni, delivered the vote of thanks.

Audience was a mixed lot, people from different walks of life- students, office-goers, teachers and lot many more. Talks followed the Inaugural session. Hiran spoke on the philosophy behind Free and open Source Software. The session by Mahesh was all about the Gnu/Linux Operating systems. Hussain sir followed with a talk on Malayalam Computing.Aswin, my junior at college, took the session on Compiz fusion and desktop environments( check out his blog to view some interesting visual effects supported by Gnu/Linux). Suresh sir summed up before the break after providing an insight into Malayalam Input Methods.The post-lunch session was initiated by Alex Poovathingal and myself on Installation of Ubuntu 8.04 Ultimate edition.Jain introduced Commonly used GNU/Linux Tools, especially Firefox, GIMP, Stellarium and so on.
The tail was Unni's session on Troubleshooting.Day ended with an open discussion on future proceedings of FSUGTSR. Pramode Sir from I C Software, Renjith Sir from P G centre and others participated in it. The Crowd response was positive and supportive throughout the days' events.

The whole concept of "Free as in Freedom, not Free Beer" registered well in their minds as we were charging Rs.30 towards copies of Ubuntu 8.04, Debian Lenny and Fedora 10 :) . BOSS DVDs were being given free of cost.
Join our mailing list at discuss@lists.fsugtsr.org for being part of FSUGTSR and its future ventures.

The media coverage was excellent as evident from the 400+ crowd which had gathered. All leading news papers had reported prior to and after the event as well. Here's the link to The Hindu’s e-news bit on the event.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/05/stories/2008120550580200.htm

In toto, FSUGTSR has made an impression in the minds of public in Thrissur which needs to be kept up by the works that should(read as would) follow....

National Conference on Free Software and protest against Novell Microsoft tie-ups

The natinal conference on free software was venue for a turmoil today when renowned Free Software activist Anivar Aravind and few other activists were man handled out of the venue by the organisers and police.

Anivar being dragged by the Security personnel

The cause, as I came to know, were the posters made by Anivar and colleagues against the Novell-Microsoft deal, by which Novell pays for distributing copies of GPL-licensed software and Microsoft gives the customers of Novell a limited patent licence which is conditional of them not exercising many of the rights that GPL gives them.


View the following links for more pictures and enhanced details on MICROVELL ( Microsoft-Novell)
Visit following links for more information:

• http://playingwithsid.blogspot.com/
• http://boycottnovell.com/

I Love Dogs!!

Was browsing through the pics I had taken so far since the time got my cell[Sony Ericsson K550i Cybershot], and I stumbled upon this- I have a general liking for dogs!! ( n bitches of course!! :) ). SO this post here is dedicated to all those of you who own/like the most faithful breed of beings on the planet.

well, here are those K9s...
That's my friend Safir with his pet - WILD DOG!! Yup, that's what he's named this poor lil thing.. And interestingly, wildy(nick name :) ) heeds to his owner's call, eager to get something to chew upon and take a lazy nap...

Well, here is someone i met on the road, taking a walk with her owner. Aged three, she is quite an uneasy in the chains and was showing her dislike by runnin n jumpin around her owner!!
somebody tell me her breed!


And now, Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present, Kuttu...

Well, Kuttu here is my friend Rakesh's(he runs a bakery at Mannuthy, Thrissur) Rottweiler. Kuttu is just 6 months old when I took this pic. Though beastly, he is quite playful but make a mental note not to get anywhere near him... His daily diet:? Morning: A litre milk + chicken. Lunch: Pedigree biscuits( don't remember the count!) + Milk(a litre again!) + Protein tonic Dinner: More milk, more pedigree and more chicken!!( or beef!!)

last in the list, and the best, is my dear Puppy.. She is our pet dog. Six years old as of August, '08.. Breed: Pomeranian. No words to describe her love and affection. As my dad says" Puppy comes to me at my first call, where as you people(me and bro) don't! " One thing that she hates-Lightning...
and while I was writing this, here is a website that I stumbled upon:
dogsindia, a site all about dogs, breeders and A-Z of dogs..

and finally, I dedicate this post to Tippu, my Pomernian and Puppy's play-mate, which died last year, of anemia and medicine overdose.