Before following what is said, you should check your WLAN manufacturer. You can do this by executing “lspci | grep Network”. Mine is Broadcom Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).

Just run the following two commands, and your system should work fine -
$ sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-karmic-generic
$ sudo apt-get install bw43-cutter

Package linux-backports-modules-karmic-generic enables Fn + F2 key to enable WiFi hardware (do that! The led should be on). bw43-cutter gets the proprietary Broadcom drivers and cuts out whatever is relevant to Ubuntu, places in the right directories, updates config etc. Sometimes you would need to update aptitude repository info by doing “apt-get update”.

Now do -
$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 up

These tips should also work with older versions of Ubuntu like Jaunty and Hardy, just update the package name “linux-backports-modules-XXXXX-generic” accordingly.

That’s it ! Enjoy !

References:

• http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=947644
• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx

I would recommend non-geek beginners to read a simple guides to getting started on Ubuntu -

My favorites Localphone and Rebtel are both offering ~1.8-2.0 cents/minute calls to India during while the festivities last! Try to realize that it is cheaper than Rs 1/minute, rate of STD calls within India for many, this is the level of competition in this business [good for customers, yay!].

Last year, at this time I was a user of Airtel/Reliance calling-cards and it was a very bad experience. I am not sure if they have improved by now, but last time, their lines were busy most of the time and there were a number of dropped calls (for no reason).

I am hoping this time Locaphone and Rebtel will not let the same happen (I’ve had no complains with them so far).

Here’s the email from Locaphone announcing the rate cuts -

There are multiple ways to call these days. One can calling cards, VOIP – [PC-to-Phone VOIP like Skype, Yahoo], [PC-to-PC Voip like any instant messenger Yahoo, MSN, GTalk etc], [Phone-to-PC voip - Skype again], [Mobile/Phone-VOIP network-Phone has LOTS of players], and ofcourse you can directly make international calls and be ripped off (I have done it and those were the most expensive phone calls of my life, ever). In this post I will not comment on the services where you get a VOIP telephone and make calls, as I have never done that myself. Reason being that I am mostly on the move, and also because I love to talk while walking! So, lets talk about the best way to call India!

The calling card/VOIP market is pretty crowded, and I have tried many of them. Amongst these services, were some trusted Indian brands like Airtel, Reliance and Trueroots – Tata, which all Indians who are new to the calling home business try, just because of their brand. Then there were companies like Jaxtr, Pingo, Rebtel, Localphone, Yahoo and Skype.

For me top factors for choosing any service are -

• Cost (ofcourse!)
• Voice quality (No use paying if you just hear mumbles)
• Convenience (Calling home should be easy)

For the first few months here, I stuck to Airtel and Reliance.

• They offered some decent first user discounts, but I was not aware that they were ripping me off. Both of them have really crappy customer care which takes weeks to send back zero information replies.
• I never tried Tata, their rates were (and still are not) competitive. Right now they offer calls at 5.8cents/minute!
• Airtel comes out with lots of different offers that seem nice at first, like 1cent per minute, but these are mostly marketing tactics to lure users. For the 1cent per minute offer the cheapest plan was for 10$ which would give you a talk time of 6$ at 1cent/minute, and would last for only a day or two. WHAT? So you pay 10$ to get 600 minutes that is 10 hours of calls to be used in just 2 days. That’s definitely more than 1cent / minute, and worthless unless you plan to do all the talking for a month in a weekend ! They have had many other sugar-coated plans like this.
• My other crib about Airtel/Reliance is the convenience of making calls. They have pretty crappy user-interfaces (IVRS), that ensure you can not call your friend without really listening to their messages. Other players like Rebtel, Localphone do much better.
• They also SPAM my email inbox with their offer mails, I have tried unsubscribing, but they just wouldn’t stop!
• Also, on many weekends/festivals/holidays, I faced the problems of dropped calls and busy lines. So they charge you more, do not offer convenience of calling, drop calls and have a bad customer care Lets move on with the review!

Soon after this, I moved on to PC-to-Phone players – Yahoo, Skype and Localphone.

• Yahoo had pretty good offers, but their call quality is pretty bad. So I would not recommend them. Strangely, right now they have increased their call rates to India to an obscenely high 7.9cents/minute!!!
• Skype offers pretty good UI, and excellet call quality. They are a well known brand, however, their costs for calling countries other than Europe/America are pretty high compared to other PC-to-Phone players, so I did not continue using them.
• Localphone - Excellent! Very competitive rates and very good VOIP softphone (that’s what the software for making PC-to-Phone calls via VOIP networks is called). I used their service for a long time, with no problems and never having to contact the customer service.  ** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED **

Later, I got bored of making PC-to-Phone calls, as that limited my mobility. So soon after getting my cell phone, and tried the services like Jaxtr, Pingo, Localphone and Rebtel.

• Jaxtr - I got some free minutes from them, but did not like their voice quality much. So did not try them further.
• Pingo - I committed a grave mistake by paying them 25$ in one go, without trying a single call with them. They had some tempting offers like half the rate on Tuesdays or something. Turned out that the voice quality was so bad (worst of all the providers I tried), that I did not want to use their offers!
• Rebtel - I tried their first free call, and was most impressed by their voice quality. They allow new users to have half the normal calling rate for their first recharge. So the rate for me came to be around 2.9cents/minute (that’s around 1.4 INR/minute, competitive with the rate for long distance calls within India!). They also have really nice user interface online, and the best feature is that they give US numbers for your contacts in India. When I call that number, it is directly connected to my contact in India! This way, I do not have to go through the hassel of entering a PIN code, and remembering any phone numbers at all. This can be set up online, and changes are reflected instantly. Other cool feature is that it is possible to call people in some countries like UK, England for absolutely free using Rebtel! I never used this feature, so am not so sure how it works. They also offer 10$ bonus talktime when any of your referred friend joins. However, if you want to continue getting the 2.9cent rate, you have to do recharges of above 25$ (I do not remember the exact amount). Also, they do not have a softphone interface. ** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED **
• Localphone - This is my favourite service. They have everything that Rebtel has, plus they have soft-phone interface, plus they offer the low rate of 2.5cents/minute (that is 1.2 INR/minute!) on ANY recharge value (lowest being 5$). I have been using Localphone since almost 4 months now, with no complaints. They offer the best quality, lowest calling card rates for India! ** THE BEST **

Some free advice [muft ka gyaan ] for noobs -

• Whenever trying out a provider, buy their smallest plan, which is mostly worth 5-10$. This way, you are not stuck with a service you do not like.
• Most of the providers have auto-recharge facility. Make sure you uncheck this facility when just trying out a provider, you can always turn it on later.
• If offered, do try the first free call (many providers have such offers), to see the voice quality of actual calls. I saved myself from some lousy providers this way.

References:

• VOIP Guides
• FreeVcalls
• Airtel – Callhome
• Reliance – Globalcall
• Tata – Trueroots
• Pingo
• Jaxtr
• Yahoo
• Skype
• Rebtel
• Localphone

I am still looking for cheapest ways to SMS to India conveniently (that said, I know of services like way2sms). Right now my AT&T plan charges me 25cents/message OUTGOING and 20cents/message INCOMING !! (Yes, they charge for incoming too. Suckers!).

PS: Post after a long, long time! Sorry for the “cheap” title Just doing some optimizations for search engines!

“Auron ko hanste dekh Manu,
Hanso Aur sukh pao,
Apne sukh ko aur vistrit kar lo,
sab ko sukhi banao”

- by Shankar Prasad “Kamayni”

Sometimes (no, most of the times) just a few lines poetry capture more thought than hundreds of pages of philosophy can**. For me, this pretty much sums up the tao of happiness, the secret ingredient of eternal joy, that is, finding happiness in everyday things. Enjoying your tea to the fullest (and taking a bigger cup of it, strictly to gain more happiness), and laughing at everything laughable.

By the way, I heard the above lines while watching the movie “Oh my God!”. Well, the quarter’s over, and one can take the liberty of relaxing and going back to enjoying a slow and laid back life. Phew, those 10 weeks seem short now, but if you’d been working for two years, you’d realize that you forget much of your advanced probability and algebra. While I was in it, many days were excruciatingly painful, but its so good to be back in academics, a world of possibilities, amongst the best brains I have known. (and they are all rounders!) Am lovin’ it !

For those who do not understand Hindi, here’s a not-so-good translation -

Watch others smiling and enjoying themselves human,
and learn to smile and be happy youself,
increase the range of things that make you happy,
and make everyone around you happy.

** apne vivek ka itemaal karein.

dil dhoondhataa hai, fir wahee furasat ke raat din
baithhe rahe tasawwoor-ye-jaanaa kiye huye

jaadon kee narma dhoop aaur aangan mein let kar
aankhon pe khinch kar tere daaman ke saaye ko
aaundhe pade rahe kabhee karawat liye huye

yaa gamreeyon kee raat jo poorawaaeeyaan chale
thhandee safed chaadaro pe jaage der tak
taaron ko dekhate rahe chhat par pade huye

barfilee sardiyon mein kisee bhee pahaad par
waadee mein gunjatee huyee, khaamoshiyaan soone
aankhon mein bheege bheege se lamhe liye huye

Movie: Mausam
Singer(s): Bhupendra

PS: Photo taken at around 3am in the night, around 6-7 months ago, back in India.

so high..

PS: This is a continuation of the “parting-shots” series of Upper Lake, Bhopal that were taken by me on August 31, 2008. Am missing my brother’s point&shoot Canon Powershot SD 850 IS, but I prefer the power and control that my Canon S2 IS (yeah, baby!) provides. A post on unleashing the monster within your Canon coming up! (hint: chdk)

All my bags are packed I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’ it’s early morn
The taxi’s waitin’ he’s blowin’ his horn
Already I’m so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

There’s so many times I’ve let you down
So many times I’ve played around
I tell you now, they don’t mean a thing
Every place I go, I’ll think of you
Every song I sing, I’ll sing for you
When I come back, I’ll bring your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go …

- John Denver

…and if you have not already heard this song, you can catch it on YouTube.

Well, I am still packing my bags, but the time to leave is not so distant. I’ll leave for Stanford on morning of (not so spooky) Saturday the 13th. I still got to buy my $$$$ and wind-up my act here. Ever heard of being happy and sad at the same time…?

PS: Above lonesome, melancholic and romantic photo is a continuation of the “parting-shots” series of Upper Lake, Bhopal that were taken by me on August 31, 2008. I have a few more of them coming up..

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

- Edgar Allan Poe

I have witnessed some of the most beautiful mornings, days, evenings and nights in this city. Its lush green, especially in the areas I have lived in. Its adorned with many lakes, Upper Lake (Bada Taalab), Lower Lake, Shahpura, Kaliasot Dam.. which are great places to hang out and make Bhopal a paradise for morning walkers. I can not count the number of times, I have just went to any of the above lakes, just to hang out with friends, for morning walks, for being alone, or with someone special. This is where I bought my first bike (A blue 150cc Bajaj Pulsar – motorcycle), and drove it on the perfect curves and open roads in pure bliss. This is the place I’ll always root for. Bhopal.. the city of my dreams.

PS: Above photo is of Upper Lake, Bhopal and was taken by me on August 31, 2008. I’ll be posting more from the same day in coming posts.