However this time since I had my work duplicated on the desktop as well I though i’ll give it a try and upgraded my base OS to 11.10 and “BANG” I lost vmware in this process.
After the Kernel upgrade I was not able to use vmware. After reading a bit I figured that various vmware driver modules also needs to be rebuilt in accordance with the new kernel.

So here I have the procedure to install vmware “correctly” on linux beyond 3.x kernel.

For 3.0.x kernel releases.
1.)  cd /tmp
2.) wget http://weltall.heliohost.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/vmware2.6.39patchv3.tar.bz2
3.)  tar -xvjf vmware2.6.39patchv3.tar.bz2
4.) ./patch-modules_2.6.39.sh (become root)
Once done you should be good to go.

For 3.1.x releases.
1.) cd /tmp
2.) wget http://weltall.heliohost.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/vmware8linux31fix.tar.gz
3.) tar -xvzf vmware8linux31fix.tar.gz
4.) ./patch-modules_3.1.0.sh (become root)

NOTE:: The above mentioned procedures are for VMware workstation-7.1.4 ( At least that’s what I’ve tested it on.) If it works on higher version as well then “good luck”. Also let me know about it.

For VMware workstation-8 or VMplayer-4 take a look at this

On my older build I had hit issues with libglib causing problems with the VMware interface and it constantly crashed.
“The solution was to preload the vmware’s own lib in /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0/libglib-2.0.s0.0“

I’m not sure if this is required on the new version. I’m still figuring it out. I will update this post if need be on that later.

Enjoy you’re vmware now.

After leaving Blr and passing the final toll at Tumkur we stopped for a round of Tea and some chit-chatting(As all of my friends were fast asleep). We left that place by 6:30Am and reached Davanagere(290km from Blr) by 10Am. The drive was stupendous to say the least.
It was one of the best roads I’d ever driven on in India and my god I can continue to admire it all my life
Maintaining 140-160kmph was extremely easy and as you move out of Tumkur the truck traffic reduces and you have the entire road for yourself.
Holding on to good speed we reached Davanagere by 10Am and as expected we went into the city for the very famous “Davanagere Benne(Butter) Dosa”

Its a must on anyone’s plate and considering you will get it anywhere in Karnataka its a definite try.
So moving on we spent a lot of time just catching up on stuff discussing about the drive (whatever little my sleepy friends could remember). By the time we left Davanagere it was roughly 11Am and we decided that the next stop would be Goa. Moving ahead at a healthy pace we reached Hubli and took the diversion towards Yellapura.
“Its must be noted that one should take this diversion or else you will follow the NH4 all the way to Goa, via Belgaum and that roads are HORRIBLE(as we would find out later)).

Taking the diversion was one of the best things we could have done. The drive up to Yellapura again was marked with spectacular scenery one can imagine. Lush green trees on both sides of the roads, dried up leaves and twigs on the sides of the roads making the side look dark brown with green leaves was just a feast to watch.
As the kilometers started to tumble we just went on admiring the route more and more.

We reached Panjim at 4PM (with a few quick stops on the way for some photos). But then we were in for  a nightmare.
We had decided to stay in a hotel somewhere close to “Baga Beach” and the drive is just about 15km from Panjim but as we found out later New year’s eve is just not the time to be driving in Goa AT ALL.
the 15km drive will take you through one of the narrowest roads you will ever see, not to mention the crazy 2 way traffic. Buses from both sides on a 30ft wide road along with cars, bikes, 2 wheelers, people walking(and drunk) is just not the scene one would expect at arrival. But then what has to be ,has to be and we just lugged along.
By now my legs had given up after 700kms of constant driving of which 15kms was literally killing my patience.

So anyway we managed to reach Baga(with a few beers down already) and parked the car near the hotel (hoping that the next time we take it out, we will be going back to Bangalore).

We reached the place, took a shower and hit the beach at around 11PM for a walk but as expected no one was in the mood after a tiring 15km(the 700km journey was less taxing than the 15km ordeal) drive and so we ended our first day in Goa all safe and sound.

The next day (30th) we went to fort Aguda and spent some time there before heading back to the hotel to swiftly park the car . In the mornings and even till 5PM the traffic there is quite bearable . Anyway we managed to get out of that place and hit the beach for a nice round of beer on the beach as we discussed even more things about the whole place, casinos and what not. That was the end of another day in Goa.

The 3rd day (31st) we were all fully excited as it was the last day of 2011 and had made plans to visit another beach called “Anjuna”, Its like a mecca for new year wannabes and whose who of Goa will turn up there on the eve for some amazing fireworks show.
As expected we landed there with a beer in one hand and a 500Rs note in the other(entry fee for the beach).
The fireworks is a must watch for anyone .. What a show it was. Once you’re there you will forget the world for the next 30mins and just feel happy all the way.

After the show was over we left at 1Am from that place for another round of beer and then back to the hotel. But my god were we in for a shock.
I’ll just say from Anjuna Beach to Baga Beach its about 6kms and we took 3 hrs.( That’s it.)

The final day(1st, New year -2012) we just woke up packed our bags and headed out of the hotel and bid Goa a Good Bye ,never to visit it again in a car on New year.
But our misery was just beginning.

We left goa at 12:45Pm ,1st 2012 and headed towards bangalore. The first 60kms through Panjim were good and we covered good distance but then we hit the NH-4A(By-pass), and OH MY GOD. Little did we know that it would take us through the Dandeli forest( A thick natural game reserve) and the roads were a piece of crap. We could hardly maintain 40kmph and it began to get worse as we went ahead. After reaching Belgaum (I guess) the damn roads are non existent and its fully mud roads , Absolutely no asphalt. It was then that we realized that this was a bad decision but we had come too far to take another look so went ahead with the plan and thus reached Hubli (all the way on NH-4A) at 6:30PM.
“In all we had taken 5 hrs to cover 160km”.

Once we reached Hubli it was back on the NH-4 and back to driving heaven. I started to claw back the miles and with small stops on the way we reached Bangalore at 2AM.

This was one of the longest drives I had undertaken till date covering nearly 15ooKMs.
The drive was just superb and breathtaking scenery all around. It was a complete trip.
Some picks are here on my flickr account :

NOTE:: Roads are superb all the way.. Just make sure you stick to NH-4 ONLY and not take the by-pass (NH-4A) then you will enjoy the journey a lot..

Cheers..

In the recent past Vodafone (for whom I’m a customer since 8-9 years) has made me go from a satisfied to an extremely dissatisfied customer, so much so that today I’ve literally thrown the SIM and walked out of their office.

The whole issue started a few months ago when I complained about bad 3G network in most of the places I usually go to. After having taken my request ( 2-3 times in a span of few months) one would expect some sort of response from them but that was not to be.
(I will not get into the details but hopefully this will serve as an eye opener for people planning on migrating to vodafone.)

I lodged a complaint about bad network and hopeless 3G service in November and was given a due date for recitfication some 15days thereafter , I waited and waited not a bloody soul even bothered to call me and ask for full technical deatails of my problems.
Then I realized I’ve played this game of “Snake and ladder” a bit too much for I went ahead with “Mobile Number Portability”(MNP) to switch to another carrier.

Little did I know that these guys were useless and they are masters in buying time.
So then, I applied for MNP over a message and guess what within a few hrs there was a call from vodafone back-end( wow.. What a surprise!!) asking for a week or so to rectify the problem and I gave them another opportunity (only to be fooled again).

Hmm… As always the time requested by them lapsed and there was no response of any sort from them.. This time I got really pissed and again applied for MNP (with full intent to make it stick ,come what may).

As expected, there was another call within a few hrs but this time I asked them to do what they want to resolve my complaint but I would grant them time only until i got my MNP-ID.
But as usual I did not get any response in the stipulated time (which ended on Thursday, 8th dec). So today I entered the Vodafone office with full intentions to resolve this ‘AT ONCE’.

The customer care executive to my surprise was again asking for time, but this time I would have it my way and my way only.
I “RECORDED” the whole conversation and at the end simply pulled out the SIM and threw it on the table and walked off.. ( Yes, I threw it on the table and walked off)

PS::
VODAFONE…
If you’re really a DOG that follows your owner anywhere you go , Learn to stick with the owner, If you get cocky and run away with a stray DOG this is how your owner will hit you.
(Hopefully you’ve leaned a lesson, I think otherwise.)

One can leverage this to pretty much anything that an Indian in India does.. So please read it carefully and understand that we all live for and because of another one.
Bangalore is known of its traffic situation and it was also listed in TOI(Times of India, A daily) . You can find the full transcript here.
“Bangalore is the 6th worst city in the WORLD for commuting”.

One can only Imagine how life will be if it takes 1hr to travel 6-7kms and all you need to do to flood the roads is to open your taps and let the water run, Just that simple.

So having been through all this ,I started to look for solutions (Not much you can do if your on the road for 1 hr ,you see )
Today when you ask the “Average Bangalorean” ,he/she will definitely point figure at the ‘Traffic police” / Traffic management , civil admisintration so on and so forth…..

Guys here is my 2cents on this finger pointing game…
1.) Traffic would not exist if we hadn’t created it in the first place.
2.) Unruly cops would not exist if we decided to raise our voice rather than making a dinner time story of how one managed to  bribe and escape.
3.) Horrible/Uneducated foolish politicians would not exist if we didn’t put them there in the first place.

So now what’s my point then?
Very simple, we just need to begin adopting simple/doable changes in our life style such that we benefit the society…

Look at it this way..( Let me take this point by point…)

1.) Traffic management is horrible in India/Bangalore ,everywhere….
Is it really?
How many of us park our vehicles under a NO PARKING board? and what difference does it make if you sit inside the car while you let your family members shop? “NO PARKING MEANS NO PARKING, NOT PARK AND SIT INSIDE THE CAR“, and one blames the cops?
Lets look at how cops react to this…Even in the worst case a cop approaches you asks you “if you cannot see the sign” and the moment he says you scoot from that place “ONLY TO STOP A FEW YARDS AWAY”.

Excuse me but if the cops weren’t friendly you would have had an offence under your name but rarely do they resort to such things.
NOW, ARE YOU A MORON to not understand that you should not park where you’re not suppose to? So what if you dont have a place to park close to where you want to get down.. PARK AND WALK.

2.) Our able citizen especially in Bangalore say they don’t have proper footpaths to walk on. Here is a bit of my analysis..
I can positively say that 70-85% of the people who walk , walk on the road and not use the footpath(even when its available).
When such is the case are you again a MORON to complain that the city has no adequate footpath facility while you don’t bother using one even when you have it?
WE MUST ACCEPT that we all do this and stop blaming the cops for what they do..

Perhaps a small justification by the pedestrians is that vehicles are parked on the pavements and thus obstructing their path.. Even though I agree to this point, there are still lots of places where this does not happen and if you begin to walk on the pavements ,vehicles will automatically have to move…(Think about it.. If you put across a point that you WANT  to use the footpath ONLY and its being blocked , do you think the police will not take action?) If there are many people raising the same voice then surely the cops will act.
BUT WE DONT CARE, BECAUSE WE DONT WANT IT …

Now comes the biggest point.. I’ve mentioned at the start of this post that this is a problem with “Indians in India” ..
Most of us in Bangalore are IT professionals and have visited other countries definitely, top on the charts are the US and UK..
Think about it yourself and please analyze…
Would you “DARE” to do the same things there? The answer is a sure NO because you know that if you park where you’re not suppose to or drive in a manner your not suppose to, or so much as to sit in a place where you’re not suppose to , you will be “BEHIND BARS” or will lose your “CREDIBILITY” …

Now my fellow countrymen use your “BRAINS” and just think what could change if you simple stopped doing these 2 things mentioned above..

People will being to park at the right places thus making the roads a better place to drive. Better roads means faster drive to get back to our families.
Slowly the pressure on the govt mounts to provide adequate places for parking as people would being to demand for it and our demands are justified.
We will begin to have better/bigger and cleaner pavements free from shit and vehicles so we can substitute roads with pavements for walking.
Thing could get better and will get better..
Just let go of the “Indian” attitude and just think what you were taught in “CLASS 5″,

PS:: what is the use of studying in a grad school or working with the top brains in the “US” when all it takes is a “CLASS 5″ understanding of how to live life.

What a PITY.

Having decided so at least, Ive bought the ‘HTC desire s’.
After having researched I realized how dual core runs out of juice when u need it and how the sloppy low end phones have no juice to run out of….

Hence bought a single core 1Ghz , 768M ram phone..(faster than my first computer).

Here is a small review…
In a nutshell… You cannot possibly want or expect more… It delivers on all fronts..

What I like?
Battery life: honestly for a 3.7″ super lcd display with a heavy processor I expected a max of 1 day, but was pleasantly surprised to see it lasting for another half a day:…
To test it out thoroughly I had used it on WiFi , with  2hr call time and nearly 4hrs of continuously trying to acquire 3g, I ended up with a full day of happiness..

Messaging: I’ve finished my schooling a long time ago but still my not so dexterous fingers were playing with the keys like a pianist… For a phone with no hard keys I must say the layout of the on screen pad is much to talk about…really liked it.

Video: its not particularly great like the iPhone simply be because it does not contain the retina display but then I’ve used the iPhone and videos are mostly dependent on the encoding and recording… Having said that is still say u sol not be disappointed if u watch a movie on this….

Auto completion: now this is really fantastic.. it manages your mistakes quite well and the pallet appears just at the right place so as to not obstruct ones viewing angle while typing…

WiFi Hotspot:: This is one of the features i like the most. What it does is rather clever. If you have any Data connection(2G/3G/4G) you can create a hotspot for that via WiFi and let others access “your” Data connection to procure internet on their phones.. I’ve tested this out too with another android device and it works brilliantly , better than tethering, I must say.

What I don’t care about?
Camera: I already have a nice dedicated equipment and don’t feel the need that much, although its not too great , u can still shoot decent ones…

Summary….
All in all this is good phone to buy considering its price point and the longevity one can be sure it will serve you well.
All the hype about dual core phones are silly, at least for now..
What are you going to do with a dual core phone if your batt cannot keep up…
The most important thing for a phone is to be able to call, not run out of steam when u want to do so……
So keeping that in mind is say this is a worthy buy…

So cheers…
Ps: this was Blogged in 15mins from my phone….
So messaging does work fast, aye!!

This next installment to photography I shall discuss a few things I’ve realized about lenses, Namely Fast/Slow Lens..

So without wasting much time..(And presuming that you guys have read my previous post about Aperture and shutter speed)
If you’ve not read it,(This is not Engineering where you can skip chapters and yet score well, GO BACK READ IT FIRST)

To begin with, Speed of a lens refers to the size of the ‘Aperture’. The larger the Aperture ,faster is the lens.

Hmm…I still didn’t understand!!!!
As you are already aware that Aperture dictates the light gathering capacity of a lens. (High Aperture == more light).
Now when such is the case you can use a very high or ‘Fast’ Shutter speed without the worry of the image blacking out or turning out dull…
Since you can use a ‘Fast’ shutter speed the lens is called a Fast lens.

So where is it used?

Generally a fast lens is used in low light conditions, sports photography.
In both these cases either there is a requirement for hight amounts of light or a “Fast shutter speed” respectively, or both.

Now,
What is a Slow lens?

Is there an explanation still needed for this?

Pros and Cons::
Fast lenses are quite expensive, nearly 2-3x costlier than a slow lens with the same focal length.
For this you get a great deal more in terms of light gathering ability nonetheless.
Most prefer to use a flash on a slow lens to provide the light effect.. But flash photography is one tough nut to crack

Even thought its expensive, a fast lens has lots of benefits (which make it a really wise choice to buy) that I will discuss in my next  post.

Signing out at 2:30AM
(Finally)

So then moving on…
Q:: “What is Aperture and how does it affect a photo??”
A:: (If you want to become all savvy and read the complete document on it here you go ) .
Aperture settings basically let you obtain varying amounts of “Depth of field“(DOF). If you dont want to read through everything in that link provided here is a small run down on what it means… Basically DOF lets you adjust the amount of background that needs to be in focus along with the indented foreground.

Aperture is read and understood as “f-stops” or “f-number” and is denoted as 1/number and more commonly as f/<number>
High aperture = low f-number  and lots of light enters the sensor and the field of view is small
Low aperture = high f-number and minimum light enters the sensor and the field of view is huge.

Ahhhhh…… So when to use what??
As a thumb rule one uses High aperture when there is a need for lot of light, as in case of indoor/ low light photography and the converse is true for low aperture.
As as example thing of the time where you want to shoot some portraits and now would it make sense to include the background in focus too? while your actually trying to photograph a model?. The answer is no and you need a lot of light to be captured so the picture is nice and crisp.. So what do you choose?
Here is a good example of what I mean.

(if you can answer this question then its time you started playing with aperture or else revisit the links above )

Q:: What is shutter speed
A:: Shutter speed lets you manage the amount of time the sensor is exposed to the subject, in general. Its read/understood in terms of 1/<x>secs
eg:: 1/20s, 1/2000s and so on.
As its evident from the example the following settings mean that the shutter remains open for the specified amount of time in seconds after which it closes .

Here again a fast shutter speed(1/100, or 1/2000) would mean that the shutter is open for that period of time and shuts after that.

So again…. How does that affect my photo?
A fast shutter speed would mean that an immediate motion of the subject can be frozen in time as is.While a slower speed would mean that the image might turn out hazy
I found out a good example here that shows the difference.

NOTE:: Both shutter speed and Aperture needs to be adjusted carefully in order to get the right exposure intended. One without the other is like “food without spices”, You got to eat it but it wont be tasty.

The best way to figure these out is to experiment and see the various changes .

Armed with these details you can start shooting better!!
Now that you are aware of these details it would be appropriate to begin understanding what a fast or a slow lens is all about and that’s for the next post.

Ciao

So here are some changes that are a “MUST” if you need to use rcp.

1.)create/edit ~/.rhosts and add the following
<IP-ADDR> <username>
eg:: 10.0.0.10 root

2.) edit /etc/default/login and comment out the line that reads “CONSOLE=….”

3.) edit /etc/user_attr and change the “type=” section under “root” to “normal” , By default it assumes “role”

4.) svcadm enable svc:/network/login:rlogin
svcadm enable svc:/network/shell:default

Do this on both client and server and your good to go.

PS:: rcp is a dangerous protocol to use as it sends password in “plain text” . Unless  under a NAT or have a local network I would highly discourage anyone to use this protocol as you have better substitutes in the from of “ssh” or better yet –> “rsync”

Cheers

Anyway this will do the trick for you..
Edit the following files and add the new name you want to in place of the existing ones.

1.)/etc/hosts
2.)/etc/nodename
3.)/etc/ipnodes

Edit these 3 files and reboot to permanently change your hostname.

Some other methods include
$hostname <new-hostname>
(however this changes the hostname only for 1 logged in session.Although useful at times it will be a pain in the long run if you fail to remember that the change has to be done every time.)

$sys-unconfig
(I’ve read and used this cmd to try and change.. but this cmd unconfigures the running machine entirely and a complete overhaul is required.. something that I would not recommend.)

Choose the first option and your good to go.

So recently I had been to Yercaud(A hill station nestled in the heart (well head) of “Tamil Nadu”).We left bang on time(Not surprising if I’m in charge) at 6:30AM on a quiet friday morning.

The route I took was ::
Bangalore -> Silk board junction -> Hosur Highway(NH-7 Entrance)-> Krishnagiri-> Salem->Yercaud.

If your used to carrying plastic money, make sure that you carry at least 500Rs in cash for this is completely a toll route(Both ways.)
Having said that though the drive was just fantastic. I mean there were numerous occasions where I felt I was not driving on Indian roads.. It was that good. Simply fantastic.!!!

We stopped on the way near hosur for a quick breakfast(which stretched for 45mins) and the best part of it all was that we carried homemade stuff.. So the whole idea of “eating out in the car” really did come true.

HUGE and WIDE roads with well behaved truckers meant that I could cover the 275km in roughly 3hrs.

On reaching yercaud the faint memories started kicking in for I had been there with my family earlier when i was a kid.

This place really does not have much in it though.. Its simply a really quiet place that shuts down by 6:30-7PM. So if your looking for a “happening” place, this one is not for you(And hence the title!! ).

We stayed in ‘Shevaroys‘. This is perhaps the only sad part of the trip as the hotel is poorly equipped. The service is just about average and the food they serve, my god!!(Thats all I’m going to say)

There is however another enticing approach to this(which we exercised) , just about 2km down the hill there is another resort called “SkyRoca” and as we found out its quite an expensive place to stay but the food was fabulous..

Advice:: Stay at Shevaroys and go there to keep your tummy happy

We stayed there for 2 days simply to get away from the noisy weekend and it was well worth the drive ,I must add.
The green hills, misty weekend mornings and clean/quiet winding ghat roads are all a pleasure for a bangalorean.
Before we knew it , it was sunday and time to head back but this time the way back was also filled with joy as NH-7 welcomed me with open arms and in 3 hrs flat it threw me back out (entered hosur).

To round it up then, the trip has been yet another success.
Rejuvenating and refreshing escapes now have become an important part of my enjoyments…

Cheers.