OpenGuru

Device Driver download link for D-Link products

2009-10-11T08:40:20-07:00

Most of the D-Link products drivers are not available for download from their main website. These products drivers can be downloaded from D-Link's ftp site.

Visit ftp://ftp.dlink.ru/pub/ from your favorite ftp browser and browse through respective category to download the device driver.

Technorati tags: OpenGuru, D-Link , Driver downloads.

How To: Fix Fedora's default open behavior with Nautilus

2009-10-01T08:05:55-07:00

There are many people who just hate fedora because its default behavior related to Nautilus file manager. In Fedora, Nautilus launches a new window for each link/directory you open through it.

This can be seriously irritating for many people, as you will be left with bunch of windows to close even after a small file system browse. Hence many people try to avoid Fedora even though its a rock solid Linux distribution.

Well, many people out there don't know that the fix this default behavior is quite simple. Just follow the following steps to fix this default behavior.

Open Nautilus. This should simple to do. Just double click on Computer icon shown on your desktop.
Go to Nautilus preferences.
In Nautilus preferences go-to the second tab named “Behavior”.
You will see a check-box named “Always open in browser windows”.

Select this check-box to avoid opening a new window for each browse. If you want the default Fedora behavior keep this check-box unchecked.

That's all.

Technorati tags: OpenGuru, Fedora, Fix Fedora's default open behavior with Nautilus.

How To: Find the MAC address of network cards in GNU/Linux

2009-08-30T10:59:47-07:00

This is quite simple. Just type in the following command in the command prompt, to know the MAC address of the network cards present in your GNU/Linux box.

ifconfig | grep HWaddr

Depending upon the GNU/Linux distribution you are using, there may or may not be a frontend to this command. However this command should work in all GNU/Linux boxes.

Hope this helps.

Technorati tags: OpenGuru, Technorati tags: Find the mac address in Linux.

Airtel Explore-1099 Speed Test result

2009-10-31T08:33:09-07:00

The picture says it all. As of now very happy with the speed.

During the day time (6AM-10PM):

During the night time (10PM to 6AM):

Technorati tags: OpenGuru, Broadband, Explore-1099.

Airtel - New super cool plans

2009-07-21T11:19:00-07:00

I just saw new broadband tariff plans released by Airtel. They are super cool and looks much more better than previous outdated plans.

You can check the new plans at Airtel website.

I guess, competition from Reliance & Tata Indicom with their 3G Wireless broadband service made Airtel to release new tariff plans.

Whatever the reason, time for celebration for the end user!

I am planning to switch to Explore-1099 plan, where speed is 384kbps morning and 1Mbps night time. All unlimited.

Time to call Airtel customer care..

Update:

Just called Airtel customer care. Looks like, Airtel is outsourcing their customer support to some other country during the night time. The guy who picked my called definitely wasn't a Indian. Anyways, That guy told me that, Explore-1099 plan's 1Mbps unlimited speed is only on Sunday nights!
WTF? Airtel website doesn't say this anywhere..

So, I switched to another plan which was recommended by that guy. The name of the plan is Turbo-1299. In this plan, I get 512kbps speed during day time and 1Mbps speed during night time. All unlimited.

Tomorrow Airtel marketing people is going to call me to confirm this plan migration. Hopefully, this plan doesn't have any loopholes like speed cap etc.

You can check this Turbo-1299 plan here.

Update-2: 21-Jul-2009

Today Airtel marketing people called me to confirm the plan migration. I asked that guy about the Explore-1099 plan. That guy gave me following information.

Speed during day time is 384kbps.
Speed during night time is 1Mbps.
Night time is defined as 10PM to 6AM.
There is a speed cap of 100GB. Once you cross this limit your speed will reduce to half of the original.
On Sunday, you will get 1Mbps full day!!

YES, You have read it correctly! 1Mbps full day on Sundays. I have triple checked it. After listening to Explore-1099 plan details, I changed my mind and switched to this plan instead of Turbo-1299. After all, my date time broadband usage is limited to Weekends.

As per the conversation, Migration should be done by tomorrow. I hope that, this plan is not just another upto 1Mbps plan, where you will never get full speed. Hopefully, I will get full 1Mbps speed during night time. If not, I will switch back to my previous plan. Any ways, I can cross check and do all my experiments with broadband speed tomorrow. I will post my experience with this plan tomorrow (If it is necessary).

I guess its time for a quick analysis of different new broadband plans from Airtel. Expect a new post in this regard soon..

Happy browsing..

Technorati tags: OpenGuru, Airtel, Broadband plans.

100th post

2009-05-28T11:18:47-07:00

After 3 years of this web blog introduction, here I am with my 100th post!

Technorati tags: OpenGuru, 100th post.

How To: Fix Kannada Font problem in Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope

2009-05-24T12:41:22-07:00

Even though Ubuntu Jaunty comes with Kannada fonts pre-installed, due to some technical problems these fonts never work properly.

For example,

Above screenshot shows the Kannada portal Sampada.net running in default Ubuntu Jaunty installation.

You can fix this issue easily. Just do the following..

install the package named "ttf-kannada-fonts" from synaptic.

or

issue following command in terminal.

sudo apt-get install ttf-kannada-fonts

or

click here to install the "ttf-kannada-fonts" package.

After doing this, same website is rendered perfectly in Ubuntu.

This article is available in Kannada language.

ಈ ಬರಹವು ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ಬಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಲಭ್ಯವಿದೆ.

ಉಬುಂಟು ಜೋನ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬಾಷೆಯ ಫಾಂಟ್ ಲಭ್ಯವಿದ್ಹರೂ, ಅದರಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಕೆಲವು ತಾಂತ್ರಿಕ ತೊಂದರೆಗಳಿಂದಾಗಿ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಕಾಣಿಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ.

ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗೆ,

ಮೇಲಿನ ಚಿತ್ರವು ಕನ್ನಡದ ಖ್ಯಾತ ಅಂತರ್ಜ್ಯಾಲ ಜಾಗವಾದ ಸಂಪದ.ನೆಟ್ ನ ನೋಟವನ್ನು ಉಬುಂಟು ಜೋನ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ತೊಂದರೆಯೊಂದಿಗೆ ತೋರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.

ನೀವು ಇದನ್ನು ಸರಿ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು. ಇದಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಕೆಳಗೆ ನೀಡಿರುವ ಸಲಹೆಗಳನ್ನು ಪಾಲಿಸಿರಿ.

ಸಿನಪ್ತಿಕನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ "ttf-kannada-fonts" ಎಂಬ ಪ್ಯಾಕೇಜನ್ನು ಇನ್ಸ್ಟಾಲ್ ಮಾಡಿರಿ.

ಅಥವಾ

ಟರ್ಮಿನಲ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಳ ಕಂಡ ಕಮ್ಯಾಂಡ್ ನ್ನು ಟೈಪ್ ಮಾಡಿರಿ.

sudo apt-get install ttf-kannada-fonts

ಅಥವಾ

ಈ "ttf-kannada-fonts" ಪ್ಯಾಕೇಜ್ ನ್ನು ಇನ್ಸ್ಟಾಲ್ ಮಾಡಲು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿರಿ.

ಅಷ್ಟೆ!

ನೋಡಿ ಇದೇ ಸಂಪದ.ನೆಟ್ ಈ "ttf-kannada-fonts" ಪ್ಯಾಕೇಜ್ ಇನ್ಸ್ಟಾಲ್ ಮಾಡಿದ ನಂತರ, ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಮೂಡಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ.

ಗೂಗಲ್ ಬಳಸಿ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಟೈಪ್ ಮಾಡಲಾಗಿದೆ.

P.S. Typed in Kannada using Google.

Technorati tags: Kannada, Ubuntu and Kannada, Solution To Ubuntu Kannada Font Rendering Problem.

How To: Hide the mounted Volume icons from GNOME Desktop

2009-05-24T09:45:58-07:00

I have a lot of volumes mounted in my desktop(just about 20!). I really hate to see my desktop being cluttered with the mounted volume icons. So, What do I do with them ? I just hide them!

If you are like me, and want to stop GNOME from showing up the mounted volume icons on your GNOME-desktop, here is the trick!

Step 1: Press Alt+F2

this should open up "Run Application" dialog box, enter "gconf-editor" in this and press enter.

OR

open Terminal from Applications->Accessories. and type "gconf-editor" and press enter.
Step 2:

First Step should launch a separate application named "Configuration Editor". This is the front-end to the settings of different GNOME applications.

This is more or like registry editor or regedit in Windows.
Step 3:

In Configuration Editor, traverse to /apps/nautilus/desktop/

here you will see many key value pairs.

We are interested in a key named volumes_visible, uncheck the check-box in-front of this key. That's it!

P.S. If you are interested you can play with rest of the nautilus settings. From same place you can show/hide Trash icon, Computer icon and Home icon from your desktop.

Also, you can change the name of the Computer icon and Home icon.

Technorati tags: GNOME, GNOME Hide mounted volume icons from desktop, gconf-editor, Changing nautilus settings.

Ubuntu 9.04 -Jaunty Jackalope - How To enable alt-ctrl-backspace

2009-04-25T11:55:24-07:00

In Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope, the X11 restart keyboard shortcut alt-ctrl-backspace is by default disabled. This is done to reduce issues experienced by users who accidentally trigger the key combo.

However, I feel this shortcut is very useful and is a lifesaver in several situations.

If you want to enable this shortcut then either you have to edit the xorg.conf file or install a command named dontzap.

To install this package search in synaptic for package named dontzap or issue following command.

sudo apt-get install dontzap
Once you have installed this package, type following command in terminal to enable this X11 keyboard shortcut.

sudo dontzap --disable
For some reason, If you want to disable this shortcut again, then either modify the xorg.conf manually or issue following command,

sudo dontzap --enable
That's it folks.

Ubuntu 9.04 - Jaunty Jackalope looks solid!

2009-04-25T11:58:37-07:00

I just switched from Ubuntu 7.10 - Gutsy Gibbon to Ubuntu 9.04 - Jaunty Jackalope.

wow! I am really impressed! Jaunty really looks solid. GNOME 2.26.1 is just awesome! Everything looks tightly integrated and working!

Thanks and congrats to the Ubuntu team and GNOME team for a solid release.

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon reached end of life on 18th of this month, which forced me to do this switch. After installing Jaunty, I am very happy that I switched!

RIP Gutsy Gibbon, and welcome Jaunty Jackalope.

Oracle buys SUN, what next?

2009-04-20T12:09:31-07:00

You people might have read this NEWS by now.

Oracle and SUN announced today that they have entered into a definitive mutual agreement, under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion or $5.6 billion net of Sun’s cash and debt.

Yeah.. This move make sense under SUNs current situation, but what about the future of SUN?

I am kind of excited!, as well as confused or worried about the future. Here are my worries, which only time has to answer!

What is going to happen to MySQL? Whether Oracle is going to kill it?

I still wondering about the fate of MySQL. I still feel that, MySQL was better on its own, before it got itself acquired by SUN. Anyways, its too late now.

Even though we have PostgreSQL, web development using LAMP incomplete without MySQL.

I don't think Oracle will maintain two version of RDBMS, as it will only create confusion among its potential customers. Instead it may either kill MySQL or Merge MySQL with its RDBMS and create a single product.

Either way, It's still OK I guess, Even If Oracle kills MySQL, as MySQL source code is available under GPL, somebody will fork it. This is what I like about GPL.
What about the future of Btrfs and ZFS into Linux?

You people may be knowing that, Oracle is currently developing a new generation file system named Btrfs (pronounced as ButterFS) for Linux. Now that Oracle has SUN, it can stop developing Btrfs and just make ZFS available under GPLv2. or at-least combine the part of ZFS into the Btrfs.

Whatever the case, the future is more bright at-least in this case!
What about the future of commercial Linux support?

You people may be knowing that, Oracle is also into the service business, where it sells support to the Redhat Enterprise Linux under the name Orclae unbreakable Linux.

What about its future? What about the existing customers? Now that the Oracle has to give support Solaris also, I guess Oracle will stop selling Linux support! or Who knows? It may stop selling Solaris, even though its highly unlikely to happen.

I guess, only time can answer these question. If you have any idea, please leave a comment..

Links:

Zoundry Raven - Awesome blog editor

2009-04-20T12:22:22-07:00

Finally I have found a awesome free desktop blog editor. And good thing about this free blog editor is that, its free as in Freedom.

Zoundry LLC. has released the beta version of their blog editor named Zoundry Raven. Actually I am posting this article directly from Raven. Even though Raven is a beta software, its fully functional and can be used for day to day blogging.

The best feature I liked in Raven, it works without any fuss. As soon as I installed Raven, I was able to import my profile from previous version Zoundry blog editor and Microsoft Live writer and this import actually worked!

The blog editor setup hardly took few seconds, and within one minute I was ready to blog with Raven being up and running. This time includes the time taken to download the English dictionary, my blog posts and blog templates.

Second feature which I liked in Raven is the live preview. This is same as in Scribefire or in Microsoft writer. Raven will download your blog template and can show your post preview as it would like in your blog.

Other features I liked in Raven:

XHTML Everywhere!: wow! This is something, which I was missing in almost all the blog editors. I actually like to write the post in XHTML editor and Raven has a good XHTML editor which has features like auto complete, XHTML validation and auto conversion to valid XHTML.
Fast and Lightweight: I felt that Raven is very fast and is NOT a memory hog.
Dictionary support: Raven support many language dictionaries and You can install them from Raven itself. Raven will automatically download it.
Media Storage support: Raven support different API for uploading images. They are flickr, imageshack(wow!), custom FTP site and Picasa web.
Table support. Blog editors like Scribefire and all still does not have this support.
Great tagging support - You can add tags to websites such as Technorati, Del.icio.us, Zooomr and Flickr.

These are the features which I liked very much.

Don't remember Raven is still a beta software, it will only get better and better.

Things which I am missing from Raven:

Raven is available only for windows at this time. However, since Raven is entirely coded in python and the source code is released under GNU GPL v2, I guess soon somebody will port this to Linux and Mac.

Once some body does this, I can ditch that stupid blogspot editor.

I wish Zoundry Raven very best of luck.

Links:

p.s.: I heartily thank you Zoundry LLC. for making this wonderful software source available under free source license.

Technorati : Blog Editor, Desktop Blog Editors, Zoundry Raven

Del.icio.us : Blog Editor, Desktop Blog Editors, Zoundry Raven

Zooomr : Blog Editor, Desktop Blog Editors, Zoundry Raven

Flickr : Blog Editor, Desktop Blog Editors, Zoundry Raven

Blogger finally gets a new revamped post page

2009-04-20T12:19:51-07:00

After a very long time, Google has made changes to the blogspot posting page.

The new posting page looks clean and neat. It also has a option to set your location. (Geo tagging everywhere!)

Now its possible to resize the post edit box. (This is the features for which I was waiting since ages!)

Also, post previews are shown in separate pop up window. Also, you set how you want the typed HTML code to be interpreted.

Here are the some other new features I have noticed.

In Edit HTML page, blogger warns you about wrongly placed XHTML tags.
The Image uploader also revamped. Now its a simple UI with no options to specify the image size.

Once the uploaded image is shown on your blog post, blogger shows the popup link to resize your image.

However there is no way to change the image alignment. (ie; like the one is used in this post. If you need this kind of image alignment, you need to specify it manually.)

Overall, nice set of useful features.

Next change ? Google, please introduce some cool blogspot themes! Current themes are ages old!

You can check the all new blogspot post page by visiting http://draft.blogger.com/

How To: Fix shared library load problem in GNU/Linux

2009-04-12T04:44:32-07:00

I recently started learning/using Google C++ Testing framework.

I compiled and installed Google testing framework as per the instruction. But still I wasn't able to run the sample applications compiled by me.

Whenever I run them, I used to get following error.

error while loading shared libraries: libgtest.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

But I had installed Google test framework properly. The install script had properly placed the libgtest.so.0 into /usr/local/lib

So, to check which all shared library are failed to load, I issued following command

$ ldd a.out

and the output was

raghunayak@raghu-desktop:~/google_test/samples$ ldd a.out
        libgtest.so.0 => not found
        libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00002b2897d75000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x00002b2898080000)
        libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002b2898301000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002b2898510000)
        /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002b2897b57000)

Which showed that, only libraries placed in /usr/local/lib are failed to load. This gave me a hint that, /usr/local/lib is not the ld library search path.

To confirm this, I entered following command, which lists all the libraries that ld can load.

$ ldconfig -p

This confirmed that, /usr/local/lib is indeed missing from ld library search path.

So, to include /usr/local/lib into the ld library search path, I typed following into the terminal.

$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/lib/

after this, I typed

$ ldd a.out

and this time the ld was able to properly find the library gtest.so.0 placed in '/usr/local/lib'

raghunayak@raghu-desktop:~/google_test/samples$ ldd a.out
        libgtest.so.0 => /usr/local/lib/libgtest.so.0 (0x00002ae54f520000)
        libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00002ae54f772000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x00002ae54fa7d000)
        libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002ae54fcfe000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002ae54ff0d000)
        /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002ae54f302000)

After this I was able to run samples without any problems.

Temporary Solution:

Temporary solution is to add '/usr/local/lib' into the environmental variable named LD_LIBRARY_PATH

so, the solution is to add /usr/local/lib into the enviornment variable named LD_LIBRARY_PATH, by typing

You can do this by typing

$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/lib/

Permanent solution:

permanent solution is to modify the file /etc/ld.so.conf and add the path /usr/local/lib into it.

You can do it manually by typing

$ sudo gedit /etc/ld.so.conf

or type following into the terminal

$ sudo bash -c 'echo /usr/local/lib >> /etc/ld.so.conf ' && sudo ldconfig

P.S.: I think GNU/Linux distributions by default should include /usr/local/lib in /etc/ld.so.conf or at-least the install script of the libraries should have this intelligence.

Ubuntu - Changing default Java version

2009-04-12T07:33:25-07:00

I recently installed Frostwire, but somehow I couldn't able to even start Frostwire. In command line it used show following error log:

An unexpected error has been detected by Java Runtime Environment:

However, other Java applications such as Vuze were working perfectly.

Later I found that, If have a 64 bit machine and have installed both 32 bit and 64 bit version of Java, then you can have only one among them active at a time.

ie; You can use either Vuze or Frostwire, as Vuze requires 64 bit Java, whereas Frostwire needs 32 bit verison of Java.

By default last installed version of Java will be used as the default Java. This can be changed by issuing following command:

$sudo update-alternatives --config java

When you issue this command you will see something like this:

There are 4 alternatives which provide `java'.

  Selection    Alternative
-----------------------------------------------
          1    /usr/bin/gij-4.2
*         2    /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java
          3    /usr/lib/jvm/ia32-java-6-sun/jre/bin/java
 +        4    /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-icedtea/jre/bin/java

Press enter to keep the default[*], or type selection number:

In this list, entry number 2 corresponds to the 64 bit Java and entry number 3 corresponds to the 32 bit Java version. The star (*) present over the second entry, means that 64 bit version of Java is in use presently.

Whenever you want 32 bit Java, issue above mentioned command and press 3 to select 32 bit Java. Similarly, Whenever you want 64 bit Java, issue above mentioned command and press 2 to select 64 bit Java.

Same command can be used to select SUN Java package instead of GNU Compiler for the Java or GCJ.

Hope this helps you people..

Facts about Linus Torvalds

2009-03-22T12:29:32-07:00

Check Linus Torvalds Facts website. If you know Linux, then I'll bet that, you will die out of laughing.

Deadliest among all the facts ? According to me, this one..

Linus Torvalds doesn't wear glasses anymore.
not because he had laser eye surgery,
but because he finally got his xorg.conf properly configured in his head.

I am gonna learn how to fly Boeing 737-400

2009-04-12T12:19:11-07:00

I very excited about tomorrow. From tomorrow onward I would be attending training classes to learn about flying Boeing 737-400.

This training would teach me how to do takeoff, landing (day and night) and communication during the flight path for Boeing 737 jet.

However, the most challenging and exciting part of this training is on the fifth day, where I need to fly the Boeing 737-400 from Bangalore to New Delhi on my own.

Now, If you are surprised about this, then don't worry. They are not gonna allow me to fly a real Boeing 737 in just five days. Actually I am gonna do this in a Boeing 737 flight simulator. However, this is a state of the art simulator, and includes both hardware and software from Boeing 737-400 aircraft.

Yeah, I know, these cockpit photos looks messy & scary, but I guess I can cope with them.

Happy Birthday twitter

2009-03-21T23:04:02-07:00

Twitter has just turned three!

Happy birthday twitter.

I am really feeling very bad about myself. I took 3 full years to discover twitter. Its just two weeks ago I started using twitter and now I am kind of addicted to it. Now I can't live without it.

Between at least good that, I registered for twitter a year back. Now days so many people are registering with twitter. All names are in use. I was trying to setup a different name for my blog, and I was shocked to find that name "openguru" was already in use.

My bad, it looks like somebody registered name "openguru" just a week ago.

Anyways, I have created a new twitter account named "open_guru" for my programming blog OpenGuru.org. Please follow, if you are interested in programming stuffs.

Enjoy.. Keep twittering!

A practicle analysis of Airtel fair use policy

2009-03-16T11:54:58-07:00

From the moment Airtel introduced the speed cap, I was thinking of doing a analysis of download loss due to Fair Usage policy. Finally the time has come..

Here is my practicle analysis of Airtel fair use policy.

In this article, I have done some assumptions for ease of calculations, They are

Broadband usage is assumed to be download only. ie; you use internet only for downloading purposes. (If you torrents then this assumption no longer holds good, as torrents generally upload huge amount of data)
All calculations are based on theoretical download speed. The actual download speed which you get may vary depending upon several factors.

So, here I begin..

Let me first start with 256 kbps unlimited plan,

Theoretical Maximum download speed: 256 kbps

256 kbps mean 256 kilo bits per second, Not 256 kilo bytes per second as people think. Also, here kilo is 1000, not 1024.

so, 256 kilo bits per second means = 1000 * 256 bits per second = 256000 bits per second.

8 bit = 1 byte, so in bytes this becomes

256000 / 8 = 32000 bytes

Now 1024 bytes = 1 KB

32000/1024 = 31.25 KB or kilo bytes per second

per minute download = 31.25 * 60 = 1875 kilo bytes = 1.8310 MB (1 MB = 1024 KB)

Download per 1 Hr = 1.8310 * 60 = 109.8633 MB

So, you keep downloading something whole day, you can download 109.8633 * 24 = 2636.71875 MB or 2.5749 GB per day

so, per month (thinking a month has 30 days) theoretical max download possible is 77.2476 GB.

Now you may be wondering what happened to upload?

In ADSL, upload is a separate stream. which is separate from the download bandwidth.

So, unless you do a lot of uploads (which will happen if you use torrents), most of your bandwidth will be download only. (say 95% to 98%)

P.S.: All calculations done based on theoritical speed. Remember that speed cap limit includes download + upload usage!

Thinking that your usage is download only, with 256 kbps plan, you can download 77.25 GB of data per month. (When there are no speed restrictions)

Similarly with 384 kbps unlimited plan,

speed = 384 kbps
384 kbps = 384 * 1000 kilo bit = 384000 bits = 48000 bytes = 46.875 KB
per minute = 46.875 * 60 = 2812.5 KB = 2.7466 MB
per Hr 2.7466 * 60 = 164.7949 MB
per day = 164.7949 * 24 = 3955.0781 MB = 3.8624 GB
per month (30 days) = 3.8624 * 30 = 115.8714 GB

and with 512 kbps,

speed = 512 kbps
512 kbps = 512 * 1000 bits = 512000 bits = 64000 bytes = 62.5 KB
per minute 62.5 * 60 = 3750 KB = 3.6621 MB
per Hr 3.6621 * 60 = 219.7266 MB
per day = 219.7266 * 24 = 5273.4375 MB = 5.1498 GB
per month (30 days) 5.1498 * 30 = 154.4952 GB

Now the cost analysis,

Broadband plan	Speed Cap (download+upload)	Normal Speed (Before crossing Speed cap)	Reduced Speed (After crossing Speed cap)
256 kbps Unlimited	50GB	256 kbps	128 kbps
384 kbps Unlimited	75GB	384 kbps	256 kbps
512 kbps Unlimited	100GB	512 kbps	256 kbps

Now the analysis, with old broadband rate plans,

Broadband plan	Monthly rental	Theoretical max download	Cost per GB	Max download with Speed Cap (normal speed + reduced speed)	Cost per GB	Total download loss (GB)
256 kbps unlimited	Rs. 799	77.25 GB	Rs. 10.3430	63.625 GB	Rs. 12.5579	13.625 GB
384 kbps unlimited	Rs. 999	115.87 GB	Rs. 8.62173	102.2467 GB	Rs. 9.7705	13.6233 GB
512 kbps unlimited	Rs. 1499	154.4952 GB	Rs. 9.70257	127.2476 GB	Rs. 11.7802	27.2476 GB

If you are wondering about how I got "Max download with Speed Cap" field, here is how,

for 256 kbps plan, Only for first 50 GB you will get 256 kbps download speed later the speed is reduced to half.

So, total downlaod possible with speed cap = 50 GB + (Max download possible - 50 GB) / 2

= 50 GB + (77.25 - 50) /2 = 50 GB + 13.625 GB = 63.625 GB. Here 13.625 GB is your loss in GB.

For 384 kbps, Once you cross your speed cap, The speed is not reduced to half. instead it is reduced to 256 kbps.

So, total download possible with speed cap = 75 GB + (Max download possible - 75 GB) * 256/384

= 75 GB + (115.87 -75) * 256/384 = 75 GB + 40.87 * 256/384 = 75 GB + 27.2467 GB = 102.2467 GB

and same calculations with the new rate plans,

Broadband plan	Monthly rental	Theoretical max download	Cost per GB	Max download with Speed Cap (normal speed + reduced speed)	Cost per GB	Total download loss (GB)
256 kbps unlimited	Rs. 899	77.25 GB	Rs. 11.6375	63.625 GB	Rs. 14.1297	13.625 GB
384 kbps unlimited	Rs. 1199	115.87 GB	Rs. 10.3478	102.2467 GB	Rs. 11.7265	13.6233 GB
512 kbps unlimited	Rs. 1499	154.4952 GB	Rs. 9.70257	127.2476 GB	Rs. 11.7802	27.2476 GB

As usual, 384 kbps is the best plan to go for. It has the best "cost per GB" when you do lot of downloads. Also, once you cross your speed cap, virtually there is no difference between 512 kbps and 384 kbps unlimited plans. (Both gives you 256 kbps download speed)

Conclusion: So, what is the final conclusion ?
Nothing! These are just numbers, and they them self have no meaning! Speed cap still sucks!

However, when compared to previous speed cap limits, current speed cap limits are not that bad. (Check my previous article for more info.)

Note: If you do lot of uploads, above calculations are no longer significant for you.

Please comment..

Early pictures of Linus Benedict Torvalds

2009-03-14T08:02:08-07:00

I found these photos when I was digging for my previous post. I found these photos in kernel trap node. These photos are taken during his student life.

Original story from kernel trap:

I finally got these made, and even managed to persuade Linus into
allowing me to publish three pictures instead of only the first one.
(He still vetoes the one with the toy moose... :-)

linus1.gif, linus2.gif, linus3.gif

Three pictures of Linus Torvalds, showing what a despicable
figure he is in real life. The beer is from the pre-Linux
era, so it's not virtual.

Links:

Kernel Trap node.

Linux, Photos, Linus Torvalds, Photos of Linus Torvalds

Linux - 15th birthday ?

2009-03-14T07:39:03-07:00

I just saw an article in Gizmodo about Linux kernel's 15th birthday. I was just digging on this, I found the initial Linux v0.01 release announcement page at kernel trap.

Also, the archive of the original Linux announcement on comp.os.minix archive.

From these I found that the very first Linux announcement was made on comp.os.minix at 20:57:08 GMT of 25 Aug 1991.

The first version of Linux (v0.01) was released on September, 1991. Which makes Linux kernel 18 years old, not just 15 years old as given in Gizmodo.

Indeed, the first stable kernel (v1.0) was released on March 13, 1994.

However, while counting age, we have to count the very first release, not just the stable release!

What you say ?

Links:

Linux, Gizmodo, Internet-News, Linux News, Linux Birthday

Mac OS X - Show hidden files in Finder

2009-03-14T04:59:41-07:00

I have created a simple application, which can be used to show/hide the hidden files in Mac OS X - Finder.

Requirements:

I have tested this application in Mac OS X - Leopard but it should work with Mac OS X - Tiger also.

Usage:

Just launch the application named "Show Hidden Files in Finder"

Download Links:

To download this Application click here.
Download the source code of this application from here.
Download both source code and the Application from here.

Source code released under the terms of GNU GPLv3 or above.

Enjoy..

Apple, Applications, Development, Experiments, Free Softwares, FSF, Hacks, Mac, OpenSource

Life always balances out..

2009-03-14T03:32:18-07:00

Just few years ago, when I took my very first Airtel broadband connection, Airtel used to double the broadband speed during night!

and see Now, Airtel reduces the broadband speed to half! (if you cross your speed cap.)

See, how quickly life changes..

Airtel, Broadband

Airtel has finally increased the speed cap

2009-03-14T02:09:05-07:00

At-last one good news! (At-least among all the news which we are getting..)

Airtel has finally increased their speed cap limits. Also, Now users can get 256 kbps unlimited plan once again (of course, for a higher price).

So, Except 1 mbps unlimited, all old unlimited plans are available once again. (For, much higher monthly rental)

The new speed caps are as follows,

For 256 kbps unlimited, the new speed cap is 50GB.

For 384 kbps unlimited, the new speed cap is 75GB.

For 512 kbps unlimited, the new speed cap is 100GB.

Please refer the following table for more info,

Broadband plan	Old Speed Cap (download+upload)	New Speed Cap (download+upload)	Normal Speed (Before crossing Speed cap)	Reduced Speed (After crossing Speed cap)
256 kbps Unlimited	15GB	50GB	256 kbps	128 kbps
384 kbps Unlimited	25GB	75GB	384 kbps	256 kbps
512 kbps Unlimited	40GB	100GB	512 kbps	256 kbps

Pricewise,

Broadband plan	Old Monthly rental.	New Monthly rental.	Increase
256 kbps Unlimited	Rs.799	Rs.899	Rs.100
384 kbps Unlimited	Rs.999	Rs.1199	Rs.200
512 kbps Unlimited	Rs.1499	Rs.1499	Rs.0

Notes: Speed cap size includes both download+upload usage.

Links:

Airtel broadband tariff webpage.

Tata Indicom follows Airtel's dirty path..

2009-03-14T02:11:51-07:00

Well, there is nothing surprising, in this news..

Private companies always keep a eye on their competitors and they change their policies quickly when it comes to their profit.

But, I must say that, I am very lucky that Tata Indicom quickly decided on their Fair Usage policy introduction.

How?

Just few days ago I saw a Tata Indicom's advertisement for Photon wireless broadband. Which promised unlimited browsing for Rs.1500/- (upto 3.5 mbps download stream) and I was kind of thinking to migrate my broadband connection from Airtel to Tata Indicom.

Yeah, I was aware about pathetic customer care unit of Tata Indicom, but, 3.5 mbps download speed is kind of tempting..

Luckily before I migrated to Tata Indicom, Tata Indicom launched fair use policy, making me to change my decission. (Thus, saving me from another loss.)

That way, a big thanks to Tata Indicom for launching Fair Use policy on time.

I guess, soon or later every major broadband player will introduce this fair use policy, so there is no point in hurrying and shifting our ISP.

I guess wait and watch is the only way to go..

Tata Indicom website, still has no information about the Fair Usage policy. Also, no information available about this, in their official weblog and user forum.

Links: