HNY

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year. May the New Year bells bring joy and happiness in your and your dear ones life. (And marriage bells to some of you ......!)
This post could be a hell of story for a dead become alive.... and it’s only for this midnight until next offer!
Well 8 months is some time not to put anything here, and surprising google found this blog during this period worth putting their ads. What are the odds!
There is two reason, that I am writing this post.... second one is to share some news that you may not know yet :-
It is ...... by the way; have you start guessing it already??
1. Left Cisco: around 8 months before. 24th April' 09 to be precise. To turn some of the dreams into reality. Road is tough but inspiring, full of risks but with thrills.
2. Joined Stupa SoftTech: as partner in July ‘09. Our primary operating center is in Hubli at BVB College campus. We provide software solutions, services and support in various domains like Philanthropy, Finance, Telecom and Findability Sciences and work on better education system.
Path is new and challenging to all of us, but its lot of fun working together and contributing in the way we believe. Hopefully with elder's blessing and friends support, we will have a better place to work and enjoy.

So this year, have as many dreams as you can and reach out for them ....... some of them can be reality by end if next year!
Enjoy Life!!
SA

The test of character

Not so long before we heard the quite, gentle and calm Wall -- aka Rahul Dravid in Indian cricket team fraternity -- hit on the the so called and very commonly used term nowadays in the area called "Natural Game" and emphasis on the fact that the better cricketer is the one who transform himself in the conditions of the ground and situation on the match. This was the first time as far as I can remember to hear Dravid to loose his calm and say anything like that.

You can read more about this here or search google.
[Though being msn I don't trust the source that much but it's true!]

The the wave came yesterday when I had to rub my eyes watching a match past midnight just to check whether its too late to sleep or am I already is sleeping. This one is like winchester -- one is the thousand. It's your vintage man, Roger Federer.

Boy, I must say this guy not only know how to play with the racket, he also knows how to break the racket. Look at that Wilson racket after fedex run over it!!






May be it like they say, a river might be as calm as it can be -- like a still image -- but it tend to wave when the heavy breeze passes over it. Well I would just say, get back on your feet guys. You are privilege to watch when your are yourself -- not like this.

A sick giant

If I am writing something after nearly 2 months, it must be something which made me think, some thing worth to share.

or .... just to screw you! Read on, and remember you are responsible for the consequences ;-)

A software company -- many of you may came in to touch with by using the services it provides -- many others; employees; came is touch by its gates and windows. A Giant -- as its known in its space but cheap on security as many suspects or claims -- pictured another dreadful writing on its shame wall recently.

Microsoft, few weeks ago, let go nearly 1400 employees with a claimed good severance package. This post would have ended here itself, if it wasn't Microsoft. But well, this time they had more in the box like the XP tag - "We serve more", just this time it said "We hurt more". And well ... my friend "THAT's guaranteed".

Within few days, around 24 of those 1400 received a post from Microsoft stating that they are overpaid as part of severance package and ask to pay back the money within 14 days.

Leave aside the fact whether Microsoft can or should reclaim that money or whether stand a chance on court of law, for a minute and think on whether a company should ask to refund money specially when its paid as part of separation which itself a very sensitive matter to handle.

A very wild image here. A picture of no feeling and a picture of completely professional. And I guess no one would understand how it is unless you are the one who receive one of those pay back letter. As one of them said -- "Its like Some one hit you with a sledge hammer on the foot but cause you were weathering it so well and seen with a piece of bandage, he hit you in the head also", .... and they choose the best time to do it, when nearly 13 million unemployed in US.

Understand in such time, severance package is the major source of survival for these guys during such tough times. A little extra can really be helpful. One said on a question whether he would return "Why should I? I am just been thrown under a truck, a little wheel can help"

Well, news circulated like fire within few hours/days from 22nd Feb and no one took it in good sense. So on 24th Microsoft said overpayment is caused by some excel bug and whoever is overpaid (and are overpaid from $4k to $5k) can keep the money. May be a decision cause of strong reaction across the globe.

On the other side, may be by court of the law and if stated differently on the termination letter, company can ask to repay or may be not on account of moral obligation ... but its better to return the money that was overplayed by mistake or something and more importantly if asked. Yes its a sick for a company to do something like this, but if you are a nice guy, don't be mean to even a sicko. Say "Get well soon, Mamu ;-)"

So what if you were the one who got that extra money, would you pay back ? return ?

Language Translation Plugin for Pidgin 1.0

Last weekend, I wrote a pidgin plugin which translates English words into selected language. Its kind of google transliteration where you actually type in English and when you hit the space, word is converted into other language equivalent word. This can help if you want (or need) to chat in your native language (or in any other language).

Plugin is in very first stage but will grow based on its use and need. You can get the plugin here. It contains a few more plugins which may be of interest to you.

In case you have a question/suggestion, drop a mail ... and spread the word if it helps you!

More later.
SA

HNY

An year is passed by and its time to take the good out of it and throw the rest.

I wish you all and your family a very happy and memorable year. May the coming year bring more joy and happiness in your and your loved ones life's.

Enjoy,
SA

random

जाम भर दिया आंसूओ से, जिस दास्ताँ पे साकी ने |
उसे करते हुए तेरी आँख से, एक मोती भी न गिरा ||

कहते है मिल जाता है सुकू दमन-ऐ-यार मैं |
कुछ नींद मुझे भी ऐसी आए, की जागने न पाऊं ||

सब बेखबर है कि यह शाम किधर से आई है |
एक झोंका जो छू ले तो उसके साथ हो जाऊं ||

सुनते है सदा आपकी रोज़ खामोश खवाबो में |
पर मेरी आवाज़ तुम तक पहुचे वो फिजा कहाँ है ?

मिलेंगे राह-ऐ-ज़िन्दगी में बहुत तुम पर मरने वाले |
लेकिन तेरे चेहरे अमें खुदा न किसी ने देखा होगा ||

चले कुछ सिलसिला फिर जिन्दगी-ये-यार-ऐ-सितम का |
इस जिक्र में सही, तेरे लब पर मेरा नाम तो आए ||

मैं तनहा धूप में खड़ा था, सायादार दरख्त की छाओं में |
तू आया तो यूँ लगा की पुरबाई आ गई हो जैसे ||

जो काट रहा है मेरे जहैन् को धीरे धीरे रोजाना |
वो खंज़र तेरी तीखी सवालिया निगाहो का है ||

बहुत हसरत से कहा मैंने

बहुत हसरत से कहा मैंने, तुमसे मोहब्बत है मुझे |
दिल-ऐ-नादाँ इतनी ज़ोर से धड़का, मैं जबाब सुन न सका ||


कहने को तो बहुत कुछ कहा मैंने आंखों से |
वही धड़कन-ऐ-दिल हमारी आंखों मैं पढ़ न सका ||

दास्ताँ-ऐ-ज़िन्दगी सुन कर मेरी, नम आंखों से कहा खुदा ने |
मैं यह रिश्ता बनाना चाहता था, पर बना न सका ||

उसके चेहरे पर भी शायद, प्यार बहुत था मेरे लिए |
पर वोह कुछ ऐसी आयेते थी, जो मैं पढ़ न सका ||

वो समझ भी जाता जो दर्द देख लेता मेरा |
पर दर्द-ऐ-दिल दिल मैं रहा, बहार आ न सका ||

दोष न देना उसको, मेरे ही सर है मेरा कत्ल-ऐ-इल्जाम |
ज़िन्दगी तो बहुत लम्बी थी मेरी, मैं पूरी जी न सका ||

मस्जिद मैं बैठा था लेकर जाम, साकी के आशियाने मैं |
रोकने आया मुझे खुदा, मैं पहचान न सका ||


बहुत हसरत से कहा मैंने, तुमसे मोहब्बत है मुझे |
दिल-ऐ-नादाँ इतनी ज़ोर से धड़का, मैं जबाब सुन न सका ||

14:00 CET (13:00 GMT)

T-08, that's what is on the home page at this moment .... and it also say no party in Bangalore ;-)

Anyway 14:00 CET (13:00 GMT) , is the time set for the birth. So if you want to have a look at "to be born" beautiful baby, check some snapshots here.

And in case you can't wait for her, set your alarm and wait or .... use something like this :

#!/bin/sh

while true
do
if [ "`w3m -dump_head http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/iso/dvd/ | head -1`" == "HTTP/1.1 200 OK" ]; then
echo "Starting download for OpenSuSE 11.1 ...."
proz http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/iso/dvd/openSUSE-11.1-DVD-i386.iso
echo "Done downloading OpenSuSE 11.1 ... Enjoy !!!"
break
else
sleep 10
fi
done

Enjoy the weekend,
SA

Losedows, The Enterprise and The open

--- Not the review, just the feeling and thought I gone through in last few weeks. ---

Losedows
First of all few weeks before -- 4 week to be exact -- I couldn't accept anymore that Windows (OS) has a "WIN" word in it and more importantly its right there out in my eye on my laptop. I thought better call it losedows (and you can replace 'w' with 'g' if you like), all the creepy CPU killing, memory eating, waiting and close to no control is too much for me and those of you who know me, would agree with that. I hit 120 keys per minute (yeah maybe 30% incorrect ones) and I really don't want my keyboard to act slower than me. When I hit a key -- I want it printed, accepted, acted instantly. I gotta know that my machine is responding ... The minute its not, its like its dead, it lost, its dow with a 'g'.

Well that's not the all of it, hell how much time it takes to boot the system up ... and how many times it need booting. You know I think to avoid showing that "BSOD", you gotta boot everyday or so, and if you don't -- you see the blue hell. Well I saw that quite often (on the second note, I can actually trade with God now, .. you know like I been already there, Sir!), and that "Loading your personal setting" ... I feel like each day I gets old, loading my personal setting too getting older ... how many times does it hang ... I mean its windows for god sake, its not curtain!!!

Even that's not the all of it, take these --

1. Exchange: That's kills almost half of my processor, got the ability to hang the system anytime , and I got no control!! What is it exchanging man!! Well, I tell ya what you could do, exchange it with evolution. That's better bet any day.

2. Explorer: More software you have on your machine, more time explorer takes. Again no control, it just eats – CPU and your head. -- alternative, use terminal.

   Start menu, dll problems, Eclipse, bugs, viruses: Who the hell allows network query on start menu load! and that software -- works sometime, crashes others, licenses etc etc and top of it all that viruses that's can screw all your data just like that. I tell you with the kind of viruses, bugs and security issues and thinking that anti ones will save you ... staying with windows is like standing in the middle of the highway covered with little windshield 'n' closed eyes hoping for none of those truck will hit you.

Well, that's some of it ... I can keep writing, but I don't want to waste my like anymore on it.

So I had *NIX on my desktop in office and home and losedows on laptop ... but actually if you have a laptop, well that's the your most used machine -- 'n' I tell you those *NIX development teams, get all laptop support smoothly out there 'n' you will find your head further in .. -- and as any in house IT support team, they always say "Sir we support just windows on laptops (&desktops), we can not support any other operating system and we suggest your to stay with window there".

The Enterprise

So finally I decided to clear off IT support number of my telephone and install Linux on my box. As the history has it, I started with AIX and RH and little look on mandrake, then moved to SUSE when Novell took over even before they made it kind of mandatory for every employee -- (In case you don't know, I worked with Novell for a good time), NLD 9 and finally SLED 10. So I went for latest release of SLED which actually is SLED 10 SP2. Read the release notes, what's new and all (a quick overview), made a CD cut, installed it, booted ... quite good so for. It felt nice to be back home, but it got the old bricks and an unpleasing paint. (well at least its old now).

Please don't take this wrong, but SESE Enterprise release got to be faster and synced. You know one problem with Open source projects are the dependency tree can be really tricky. and Enterprise vendors got to have some way to get users on the latest stable versions. I'll just quote a few missing stuff from it:

1. Glib and gtk too old:

Which means no Firefox 3, no empathy and many more no more.
[ if you are looking for a solution here -- a better way could be to install those core versions in separate location (say /opt/updated/gtk, /opt/updated/glib) than to override the existing ones (and possibly screw other apps) and then set lib, ld_lib and path correctly before using those applications. ]

2. Kernel version was compiled in '07:

'08 is almost gone. 1 year is two late. That's 33% life of my laptop! Do I need to say more.

3. Network Manager, wpa_supplicant and vpn:

Network manager is running some 0.4/0.5 version, wpa_supplicant some 0.4 version, and vpn I couldn't even care. So Network manager doesn't work with wireless connection in my office (which is really important) and at my home. wpa_supplicant works at home, but doesn't have support for my office wireless. (for security authentication protocol EAP-FAST). So I have to get updated version of wpa_supplicant and openssl and patch it for EAP-FAST support. Too much pain, isn't it?

As for vpn, well I got a cisco vpnclient, matched the version with the libraries I am running in, and use that one.

4. Driver supports

This is kind of persistent problem, but still a problem. They gotta get some way to include those nvidia and ati drivers included and appropriately installed during installation. I don't care if other distro does it or not, but SuSE can. And support for those audio and video ones. May be there are problems with xine, that's fine .. get some other open source ones .. working for today's most common audio and video formats.


The lesser problems

5. compiz, printer

Well rather than saying too old, actually all other distros (including open SuSE) latest release has the updated version (and include compiz and compiz-extra). Printer setup was really hitting one, but any way I don't use printer much now -- and I think will all those hard disk space and laptop, we don't need. So the lesser one. But actually enterprise one, need to have a good one.

Well let's say everything else is really good.

Just a suggestion, try to get some VOIP stuff in for desktop release. (counter part for netmeeting, and IP Communicator, etc). I hope Nat is reading and I hope they are working on code 11 as greatly as they worked on code 10!! All the wishes frome me ... just in case if they need any ;-)

The Open

So I setup Firefox 3, wpa_supplicate (for home and office wireless), vpnclient, hplip, and few more, but anyway that was too much to handle every day for me. 2 days before, I tried to find out the code base that SLED built on top of and the latest stable one. Somewhere on novell forum someone said SLED 10 SP2 is built on openSuse 10.1. I am not sure how authentic that is, but I am sure its not based on latest stable version of OpenSuSE (which is 11.0). I gave it a try and guess what I found out -- Network manager is great (workes great for wireless and wired -- home and office with vpn!), Firefox is good, compiz is good, sound is good, video is good. and all other softwares are good --- feeling is good, and I like that online update repository and one click install idea. (Though that one click install have a long way to go).

Few which could be better:

Or I say good now and hope will be better in next one.

1. konsole:

Top on the list, cause it was better before actually, and it mostly used app!. it seems to be screwed up a little. This is the only app now on my machine which is slower than my keyhits :-(

2. One Click install

Takes more time than yast standards. Specially when used with yast (console mode). To tell you the bottleneck, it key import. First its takes way too much time, secondly sometime (or most time), it doesn't ask for confirmation and I hope they know and tested it with CLI based browers like w3m and lynx.

The Future

"Now openSuSE 11.1 will be out on 18th Dec, and I hope they make it a great Christmas gift for its users."

Enjoy,

SA

Disclaimer: All views and thought expressed in this post are solely belogs to me, and has no relation with any one else.

Free Indian language software

Recently I needed a software which can convert English transcript in Indian languages -- more specifically in Hindi. Being the pidgin user, I tried to look for a plugin for pidgin but to my luck, there was none except one which does translation for tamil called ezuththaaNi but even that one was poorly written and causes pidgin to crash very frequently. So I decided to write one for hindi. Not to my luck again just before submitting the plugin (which suprisingly turned out very well) to pidgin community I found one free language software which translate English transcript in many indian languages and can do it for any application. Basically it reads any keyboard input and convert it to selected language unicode.

Further to its credit, you can select which application you want to use native language and also can switch between english and native language with a hotkey. This software is called Baraha. You can know more about it here.

Note: Unfortunately for pidgin users, it doesn't works well. May be if I get some time, I will update my plugin for other languages (or if you want to do it, just let me know) and upload it.