Mahesh K Bhat

Ubuntu 9.10 Boot Performance - It Does Matter

Vyoma — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:02:29 +0000

In his post, Ubuntu 9.10 Boot Performance, and Does it Matter? Christopher Tozzi makes a point that it doesn't really matter that the boot performance has improved since "none of us" shutdown the desktops/laptops, opting instead for suspend/hibernate.

It just seems quite seems like his world view is quite flawed in my opinion. When I was in Denver, and a power outage did not occur for the two years I was there, I did keep my Ubuntu powered Dell laptop up and running all the while.

But back in India, now in Chennai, the power outage is quite frequent. I do not want to keep my laptop hooked on all the time. I do want to shutdown completely and boot in when I want to use it.

I just hope that people who lead the development of Ubuntu as a distribution are not just filled with people with narrow views.

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BloomSpot - Logo Design And Illustration

Vyoma — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:25:43 +0000

I just completed the latest illustration/design project for a client, BloomSpot.

Read more about it at services/portfolio page. The client is yet to take the site live. Hence it will be a while before this logo is actually used in the website.

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Apple - You Lost Me As Customer

Vyoma — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:10:18 +0000

It has been a while since I decided not to use Apple products any more.

Here are some of the reasons I came to this decision:

Their iTunes software required to sync/buy music and to make use of the iPod/iPhone Apps out there is not available on Linux. I hate it these days when someone forces me to dual boot into my Windows partition.
iPod batteries suck. Not batteries themselves, because I do understand the concept of recharge cycles, but not able to replace it yourselves is really a bummer. And sending it in to Apple for a replacement will cost you almost half the price of the device, which is absurd. Read MG Siegler's view at The Short Lifespan Of The iPhone.

Now, I will be using the iPod I bought, until it dies. I am glad I bought an iPod Touch and not an iPhone. But I will not be buying anymore of Apple's products. I will not be buying them for myself, or as gifts for others.

Apple has lost me as a customer.

iPod photo by juanpol.

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What about Google Chrome for Linux?

Vyoma — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:38:12 +0000

I have been tweeting (follow me) my impatience to see Google Chrome for Linux for a while, but this post on them getting it ready for Mac, does make me voice my opinion as a blog entry.

Google, I believe does owe a lot of what it does technologically to Open Source, and I feel they are leaning towards being evil by not committing to deliver a Linux native port for Google Chrome.

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C++ vs Java

Vyoma — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:45:58 +0000

Those who have been following me on twitter, would have realized that I have started to dabble in C++ recenlty. Those who know me personally, would know that I did quite a bit of my programming antics in that language. It is only for the past couple of years that I had gotten involved into Java.

Not to say that I have quit Java, but I find it quite refreshing to work in C++ again. There are some new constructs and features that the language is providing since I stopped working on it. Moreover, it seems like there are lot more standardization effort that has taken place.

Here are some to and fro articles in terms of Java and C++:

I am not really sure of the credibility of these authors, so please do your research before taking them as facts.

Speaking of C++, I do feel obligated to link to the Bjarne Stroustrup - the designer and implementor of C++.

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Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Released

Vyoma — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:22:14 +0000

I am currently in the process of getting the Alternate CD downloaded through BitTorrent since my ISP (Airtel) is pretty bad, and I do not want to rely on their falsely stated 256 kbps connection for an upgrade from 8.10. That said, I have been looking around for news on Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope - Canonical's latest release of the operating system.

Here is one I found on cNet: Ubuntu 9.04 as slick as Windows 7, Mac OS X by Renai LeMay

It definitely sounds like a marketing talk, but then burried in his article, he does disclose that he is no Linux neophyte and had been a Linux and FreeBSD system administrator.

Articles like this: Ubuntu Linux gets a comic book at cNet does tickle my humor, pointing to funny sides of the community that seems like a good break from the stressful rants between OS zealots.

Speaking of the other point of view, we do have one for Microsoft too: Microsoft is doomed! (Again) at ComputerWorld

In my opinion, Microsoft is not going to die. They may see diminshed revenues, but I feel they are not dumb enough to change their tunes if required to survive.

Perhaps we will have a Windows running on Linux kernel?

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Ubuntu on a Windows Upgrade Path Survey

Vyoma — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:45:58 +0000

For those who like to dig into numbers and trends, having overlapping interests in Open Source, here is a intereting PDF by Kace:

Windows 7 Adoption Survey

(Found via ITNews)

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Pantone and Free Software

Vyoma — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:18:58 +0000

I have heard the word Pantone thrown around. With respect to Open Source software like GIMP or Inkscape, I found an interesting article that is worth the read.

Pantone and Free Software

Even though the article is about three to four year old, I think the facts there still hold ground. Goes to show, based on legal bullying, how not just one entity, but many more along with it is able to have a grapple hold on the market.

This has eventually led to designers, illustrators and artists discard Open Source too as a viable medium to pursue their craft. Perhaps my title for the article, Top 3 Reasons To Pirate Photoshop, is slightly misleading. But going through the long list of comments, it does not seem like people understand that when they do pirate Photoshop, it is Adobe they are helping by isolating the Open Source community.

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Can Tata Nano effect Indian Economy?

Vyoma — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:59:15 +0000

Read in Kannada / ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಿ

My friend Deepak came across an article in Rediff and talks about the effect of release of Tata Nano.

The article mentions that Tata is putting Nano to market at the price tag of Rs 1 lakh.

Due to this, car becomes an affordable commodity to a lot more people in India than it were before. As Deepak said, it would have a lot of impact to the already congested traffic situation in most of the cities. My interest though is what effect Nano would do on the economy?

The credit crunch in US has affected India. Reason could possibly be the involvement of India in IT industry. A change in one market of a country would spread to the other markets of that country.

Since more people are able to buy a car, there is possibility of new markets opening up. Even those who are not able to do a full down payment, owing to the fact that the amount is much lesser than before, they will try to buy the car acquiring a loan. This is one of the direct impacts I can think of. This seems like a good time for investors.

Nano may be a small variable, but it would be interesting to see to what extent the wheel turns the other way due to a chain-reaction.

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Self Portrait - 2nd attempt

Vyoma — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:20:14 +0000

I used a photo my friend had taken a year back as reference. But I did change a lot of things in this second portrait, like the hair. I had it much longer than I have painted.

I even made a deviantID out of it for myself. :P

I think I am now ready to take commissions for creating digital paintings from reference photos. So, do not heistate to contact me to ask about the pricing.

deviantART URL: