No time no time....

This has been very bad week for me in terms of finding free time. I think it's the first time since last 2 months or so that I have failed to update the blog for a week.

Not much time right now also. Got to study. Exams.

Aditya

Finally stage one passed....

I am very happy that my oral exams are finally over... well the internals are. The externals will begin from the 18th and go on till the 26th.

Sorry people. Not enough time to update the blog.

Keep in touch...

Aditya Shevade

Oral exams, Practical exams... submissions.... No time to wrote blog....

Well the title says it all. I have got practical and oral exams from today till 20th. So I may not be able to update the blog with the same frequency as was in the last month. I am not even able to finish the website of mine. And it is getting delayed day by day. Please, all of my loyal readers, don't stop reading....

Just as a sneak peak, I have to design and code a library management program in C++. And that is consuming most of my time on the computer.

I will still try to write a review about openSUSE desktop experience with Gnome tomorrow if I get free time, but that seems highly unlikely. Please be patient. I will be back. B-)

Aditya Shevade

OpenSuSE 10.3 - Review - Part 1 - Installation...

Finally I did download the DVD of OpenSuSE 10.3 and installed it on my computer. The configuration of the test machine was :-

• HP nx 6110 laptop
• 512MB RAM (DDR)
• Intel Pentium M (centrino) 1.6Ghz processor
• 2MB L2 cache memory.

The DVD booted into a very cool and refreshing looking welcome screen. Then I began the installation. The DVD however had a default video resolution of 800X600. My screen has 1024X768 resolution. And because of this, I was not able to see the installer of SuSE, YaST. I rebooted and selected the video mode to 1024X768 and it worked seamlessly.

Then I was asked some typical language selection questions and stuff. Then I was surprised to see that I was able to add the OSS and NON-OSS repositories before the start of the installation. I clicked the option to add the repositories. Then I was asked to configure the networking. The network manager detected both the wireless and lan cards on the laptop, but showed them as disconnected from the motherboard. It warned me not to proceed. But I knew that the cards were connected and I proceeded. And it worked fine again.

The next step was partitioning and software selection. The default partitioner scheme was good for me. Use the existing Linux partitions (root and home for SuSE 10.2) after formatting and then mount windows partition. I selected some additional software from the manager and proceeded to install.

The installation went pretty smooth. I was asked to chose a desktop environment. I selected gnome as I prefer it over KDE. But I am going to get KDE 4 once it's available. Another addition is XFCE is on the DVD. No problems encountered. The additional packages from the repositories were downloaded and installed. An addition made is that, you can view the release notes while the system is being installed. An upgrade from previous version.

Then the user configuration and root password setting was done. After that I was asked to configure networking and online update configuration. As the networking was already done for adding repositories, the installer just checked if I was still connected to net by downloading the release notes. Then the online update repository was added and I proceeded with the update.

After that the system configuration screen greeted me. Bluetooth was disabled. When I clicked on enable. The installer said that I did not have some essential S/W for Bluetooth. And that the installer will have to install the S/W. I clicked on install and the installer installed the S/W. One thing to note here is that, the S/W was not on the DVD but on the repositories. And so I dreaded the parsing of files as in 10.2 version of SuSE. But, as promised by the team of SuSE, the parsing of files is no longer required.

The package manager is improved a lot. It took literally 30 seconds to find the S/W on the repository and download it (I have 256kbps connection and in the 10.2 version, it used to take about a minute and half).

After that, I was shown the release notes and the the new system booted. The visual effects are great. Some new additions have been made. But for that stay tuned till the next part, Desktop - First look is published.
Total points for the installer :- 9/10

Pros :-

1. The installer is quick.
2. User friendly.
3. New features like adding repositories are very good.
4. The ability to download additional S/W after installation, for system configuration is very good.

Cons :-

1. The H/W detection is still not very good.
2. Too many options can confuse new users. A newbie friendly installation should be provided.

Screenshots :-

( I was not able to take screenshots during the installation process. Once I get them, I will put them here).
(you can enjoy the screenshots of the distribution on the official openSUSE website).

Aditya Shevade

I am ill.....

Hey all of you 'readers of my blog' (thought that it might look/read good) out there.... I am ill. Suffering from cold, cough and a little fever.

That is why, I won't be able to post much soon. Seeya when I get better. Till then, enjoy the earlier posts of mine.

Aditya Shevade

Beware Windows Vista here comes Linux Vixta

All you windows lovers out there... especially those who are drooling over Vista and it's eye candy. Linux has come up with a bang. Presenting, Linux VIXTA.

A clone of Windows Vista, but much more stable and FREE.

Screenshots :-











More Screenshots...

Download Link :-

Download here...

Aditya Shevade

OpenSuSE 10.3 released......

Download it here

Sneak Peeks at openSUSE 10.3: A Plethora of Improvements

With this last article the Sneak Peeks series comes to an end for this release. But don’t worry: it’s tightly packed with an extra share of information on the latest openSUSE 10.3 goodies! Today we’re going through all those things that either didn’t get the chance to have their own article, or are extra convenient small improvements that haven’t been properly covered. As you will know, it is all those extra little things that really contribute to a great user experience on the Linux desktop.

Today we’ll be taking a look at: the new updater applet; redesigned network card module; OpenOffice 2.3; Xfce; the new Kontact; Giver, an easy file sharing tool; KIWI, a system image generator; and much more! We’ll also be getting some closing thoughts from Andreas Jaeger, director of openSUSE, to find out about plans for the future and community contributions.

openSUSE Updater as an Upgrade Tool too

RPM “updates” are specifically defined to refer to RPM patches; for example, as issued in the openSUSE 10.3 Update Repository. RPM package “upgrades” refer to any newer, full RPM package, as you would see in Packman or the openSUSE Build Service.

In openSUSE 10.2, the openSUSE updater acted as just that — simply an updater, providing you with all the official RPM updates. In openSUSE 10.3 however, it provides you with he option of acting like both an updater read more...

Aditya Shevade

The truth about engineering that I am going through....

This is getting worse day by day. I have thought many times and even had decided that I will not have a go at submissions from now on. But the way they frustrate me and all..... it's too much for me to handle.

Not much time to discuss more now. A detailed post on this subject will soon come. But, for the moment, what I am thinking is, the only things I have been learning in this engineering course are that,

• You must be very good at writing. Or copying from others notebooks. If you are not, then you cannot survive.
  
• It does not matter if you have understood the subject. You can write whatever you want and still get marks.
• It does not matter if you don't have any skill other than mugging up and writing it down. These two make up for brains, understanding, ability to analyze things, coming up with ideas and much more. Actually, almost everything.
• There is nothing as, how, why, what like questions. Everything is as it is being presented in the books. You either mug it up and score or you get out or fail.

As I said, there is much more and with evidence, but I have to sleep now... Have slept only 4 hours out of last 30 odd....

Aditya Shevade

YaST survey has begun.....

OpenSuSE team has just published a survey on YaST, our systems management and
installation framework.

If you use any of the distributions openSUSE, SUSE Linux, SUSE Linux
Enterprise Desktop or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, I encourage you to
participate in the survey to support the team improving YaST. The survey will
be online until mid November and the results will be published on
openSUSE.org.

Click here to take the survey:
OpenSuSE YaST Survey

By the way, if you like to know more about YaST, visit the openSUSE YaST wiki
at YaST Wiki.

Aditya Shevade

Another T-shirt Design.....

Hey... I got some good response to my Linux T-Shirt (from my friends, not on the blog... :-) and :-()

Here is another design.

I have embedded this picture into the shirt which gives me :-

Aditya Shevade

Design Demystified......

Had a great weekend. And because of that I was not able to post much about it. Me and my partner came second in a circuit design contest.

It was arranged by the Electronics Engineering Students Association on University level. And the circuits given to us were.

• Design an XOR gate using IC 7400 (NAND TTL).
• Design 4 bit Adder Subtracter using IC 7483 (4 bit Adder) and IC 7486 (TTL XOR).
• Design BCD adder by modifying the above circuit.

Now, we finished the first two stages. And the first team designed the third circuit on paper but did not build it. So we came second. Still I am happy. Especially after that C debugging contest where we did not get a prize even after coming third. :-(

But, this was good. The only fact is that there were only 6 teams. :-| And the winners were having the degree of Diploma in Electronics. So, I am still happy that we were first among those who have joined this degree course after doing 12th.

Nothing much. Got a nice shield, some 200/- and a certificate (the most important... it actually mentioned that we came second.... refer debugging C...). Apart from this, I have taken a recording, visual one, on the mobile of my partner after the completion. I will soon post it, but first I have to get it.

Aditya Shevade