It's (not) Alright

I have moved.....

2007-11-07T15:09:00.000+05:30

I have moved my blog from blogger to wordpress and to my own domain, www.adityashevade.com.

Please click on the link, if your browser does not automatically redirect you.

Thank you,

Aditya Shevade

No time no time....

2007-10-20T15:42:00.000+05:30

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....

2007-10-14T20:01:00.000+05:30

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....

2007-10-09T21:42:00.000+05:30

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...

2007-10-07T13:39:00.000+05:30

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 :-

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

Cons :-

The H/W detection is still not very good.
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.....

2007-10-05T20:19:00.000+05:30

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

2007-10-05T20:14:00.000+05:30

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......

2007-10-04T22:01:00.000+05:30

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....

2007-10-03T17:25:00.000+05:30

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.....

2007-10-03T17:22:00.000+05:30

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.....

2007-10-03T17:15:00.000+05:30

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......

2007-10-01T15:30:00.000+05:30

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

Had a lot of work and sleep to do......

2007-09-30T01:13:00.000+05:30

Hey... nothing much to write today as I spent the most of the day while sleeping. Watched the Dreamers a bit. Can't say good or bad. Then there were some guests for dinner. And then there was submission as usual....

Nice work by Michael Clarke, hopefully Australia's captain to be, scoring a hundred. Bad rain.... Saved a point for India and lost one for my team...

Gotta sleep now. Have a circuit design competition tomorrow morning at 8:30. Kudos....

Aditya Shevade

I completely forgot......

2007-09-29T00:42:00.000+05:30

To write about how this day went.... As usual, I went to the college and wasted my time in doing stupid practicals on those breadboards. I hate them, the wires keep coming out and that is a real pain in the a** when working on a big circuit, and the part that even sucks more is that we don't have any big circuits to work on... Anyways, then had a couple of off lectures...

After that, we had a meeting about the discussions related to a T-Shirt that we are going to launch. Of our batch of electronics. So, we were chatting and a group 'X' was against my friend (mentioned in the legendary chat) and my choice of design. We had been working on it from our group, say 'Y' for long time. And we were not going to change it just cause 'X' said so.

We showed them a big thumb and said, 'Suggestions come with a responsibility', so if you want to suggest, make sure that the thing actually pays off. And upon hearing this, the 'X' group accepted all that we had suggested, the color, the design, the format... everything.

You might have guessed, but in case not, then this 'X' group was all the girls in our batch and 'Y' was we boys.

Morale of the story :- We are a couple of bigheads who thought that we were doing a good work for the class. But in the end it turned out that brutal refusal and a little frustrated anger was all that we needed.....

A classic chatroom conversation......

2007-09-29T00:31:00.000+05:30

I was chatting with this friend of mine. He has asked me not to reveal his name, so I will say me for myself and replace his name by my own, Aditya. So I was having this conversation with Aditya.

As usual, he posted a scrap in my scrapbook in Orkut, asking me to join Ricky Ponting hate club. I love Ricky Ponting. So, I went on a rampage against him..... It was funny, take a look....

me: scrap

12:13 AM HAD

Aditya: :)

me: no wonder most of the members are from India

12:14 AM I don't see any outsiders.

typical.....

:-|

12:15 AM Aditya: how ca n ther be outsiders because they always support thir players,they r loyal and as our population is big ,people like u support outsiders

12:16 AM me: I am not talking only about Aussies

why not any english people?

siuth africans maybe?

12:17 AM ever wondered why there are no new zealanders ?

Aditya: maybe they r neutral

me: yeah

actually SA is supposed to be like Pakistan for Australia

enemies forever

12:18 AM but they don't say that they hate Aussies

Aditya: and ponting lways such crap thngs only about india not about other countries

me: they either support their team.... or they stay Neutral

and your knowledge about Australian cricket team is not good enough

Ponting says these things before every series

and even others

Aditya: i dont care about it

12:19 AM me: remember the substitute filder issue?

in ashes?

remember him fighting against SA?

you will not

cause you only know one thing. You like India and you hate Aussies

and that is a typical Indian supporter

12:20 AM and you will never care

cause you know

that you don;t have facts to prove what you say

Aditya: xcuse iam not aussies only ponting

me: facts gathered from search

Ponting

replace Aussies by Ponting

and read all sentences

they are still true

12:21 AM you keep supporting India

Aditya: read what symond said

me: don't say a word against him unless you have proof

again, you said Ponting

not roy

roy is Symonds

Aditya: read wht ponting said

me: I know

he did

so what

it's a mind game

12:22 AM and as I said, Indians are too polite for their own good

Aditya: he shud show his game on grnd

me: and even I am like that

Aditya: it is not

me: he has been shwoing his game

he is No1 batsman

in tests since 2005 DEC

currently at number one in ODI ranking

12:23 AM he still reains the best captain in the world

Aditya: his language might be different if aussies shuld have won wold cup

me: he has earned the right to speak

and he will do that

see after 2003 W/C

or, as Aussies say, they prefer ashes over W/C

Aditya: every player has his gud and bad days

me: and, he spoke like this after this years ashes win

12:24 AM he is having good days

Aditya: and ponting is having gud days

me: and he is speaking now

maybe when he wil have bad days

he will not speak

right now

he speaks cause he has earned that

aapan bolato te kon print karat nahi

but he has reached that level

12:25 AM proved himself

Aditya: he has been speeking like this

me: look what they did after Champions Troffy

that is how they arer

aggresive

and I love that

Aditya: is sachin not proved himself

me: and, as I said, I regret that I am not like them

so... no one is stopping Sanchin from speaking

12:26 AM Aditya: hw can all teams be aggresive

me: it's his choice if he wants to or not

who said all teams should be aggresive?

Aditya: no i thnk one shud kno enough wht one shud speak or not

12:27 AM then i like indian attitude

me: and he has not spoken anything bad

Aditya: and u like aussies one

me: I don't see anyone but the indians complaining

yeah that is the point

I like them

Aditya: even they cant praise other team for others victory

me: you like India

so, what I am saying is that

12:28 AM you support your team

I will support mine

don't post I hate them things to me

Aditya: none wl change his side so change the topic

It was over after that and we spoke about usual Submission, the class T-Shirt and other stuff.... Gotta go now, still chatting with him....

Aditya Shevade

Now I am officially a nocturnal animal.....

2007-09-28T02:56:00.000+05:30

Bahh.... it has been 3 days and I have not had sleep for more than 5 hours. I have been awake till minimum 3am and then I have college at 9am so I MUST wakeup at 8am.

This submissions stuff is really bad. It is getting on my nerves. I have to write about 200 pages with diagrams and graphs before the start of next week. And I am very slow at writing. It would have been much better if printouts were allowed. My typing speed is greater than my writing speed.

It is not going to be easy. I also have participated in two contests. One is a mobile movie making contest and then a circuit design contest, the subjects of both will be given on the spot. And it is going to take entire weekend. And I am again going to have to stay up long.

Off I go now, must sleep in order to be awake during the lectures....

Aditya Shevade

Digg digg and keep digging.....

2007-09-27T00:23:00.000+05:30

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You won’t find editors at Digg — we’re here to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and we’re changing the way people consume information online read more...

This is what the about page on the site of digg says. It is a very good place to increase the popularity and traffic of your website. It is very good place for initial marketing of your blog if you are a new to blogging.

You can also use the buttons of digg on your site or the blog, as I have on each post in the blog, on the left. It shows the number of times this story has been submitted on digg.

There is a very good blog on the use of digg on blogger on a blog. Please follow this link for more information about how you can add the buttons to your blog.

Aditya Shevade

You have lost that lovein' feelin'.......

2007-09-26T22:30:00.000+05:30

.
.
.
.

No comments.....

Aditya Shevade

OpenSuSE 10.3 :- Gnome 2.20 Sneak peaks...

2007-09-26T22:07:00.000+05:30

The new release of OpenSuSE... The 10.3 version comes with (will come with) Gnome 2.20. And SuSE developers have added a verity of things to the new release.

1). The World Clock (on the left) that allows you to keep track of the worldwide time.

2). Tomboy comes with a Note Synchronization feature that allows you to synchronize all your notes on the PCs that run Tomboy.

YaST2

YaST2 is now integrated with Gnome and comes with a cool new look and feel.

Desktop Improvements

In the past, extensive usability studies in the SUSE usability lab lead the GNOME team at SUSE to re-design the GNOME menu and panel. The result was SLAB, a new menu for GNOME. After further testing in openSUSE 10.2 and SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, a few additional changes were made to the menu that improve usability, ease-of-use, and of course top it up with a polished and professional look that gives you a better desktop:

Read the full news here...

Aditya Shevade

Yes.... Driving License.....

2007-09-26T18:24:00.000+05:30

Finally, I got free time today and I bunked 2 lectures to give my driving tests. You would know if you are from India, or have seen anyone give a test in India, in small cities, then you would know that this so called test is just a formality.

But finally I did give it and as you might have guessed, passed it as well. So I am waiting now for the permanent license to reach my hands. And then... I will start terrorizing people on highways.... (Not actually, my driving is good).

Aditya Shevade

Convert your media on the fly.....

2007-09-25T23:17:00.000+05:30

Have a piece of audio that won't play on your media player? Or a movie clip maybe that will not play on your mobile.... a ringtone perhaps? No need to worry now, visit Media-Convert for all of your conversion needs.

The site has an online tool that lets you convert media files from size NIL upto 150MBs. Video, Audio, Image, Documents, and much more.

The site is great, don't forget to visit, you will need it at least once in your life....

Aditya Shevade

OpenSuSE 10.3 RC2 LIVE CDs released for public download.... RC2 being tested internally....

2007-09-25T21:50:00.000+05:30

OpenSuSE has released it's latest version OpenSuSE 10.2 RC2 in the form of LIVE CDs of gnome and KDE. You can find then here.

The RC2 of the entire distribution however is internal and will not be made public to avoid the heavy traffic on mirrors all over the world.

One more news is that OpenSuSE survey revealed the information that around 69% of users give very much importance to the multimedia support. So now amarok will be able to get mp3 support directly off the non-OSS repository via Fluendo.

The release also uses the One-Click-Install technology to get the Fluendo codecs (This will be added in the final release) in case you did not add the non-OSS repositories.

Read the entire post here...

Aditya Shevade

OpenSuSE 10.3 RC1 KDE LIVE CD.... my first experience.... a short review....

2007-09-25T18:42:00.000+05:30

I am using the RC1 KDE LIVE CD release of Novell's OpenSuSE 10.3. And I hate to say, impressive though it looks, I am not much satisfied with it.

System Used:

HP nx-6110 notebook.
512MB DDR RAM,
Pentium M - 1.6GHz.

Maybe it is because of the Live CD or maybe because of KDE (I use gnome otherwise), but this release, which is supposed to be almost the final release, not an RC, is not what I had in my mind.

The things began with the CD unable to configure the X server. It was not able to recognize the screen resolution. Then, I manually gave the resolution and booted into the system.

I was welcomed by a very good looking welcome screen. The looks are killing. But, when the system started and I was trying to view the installer, I was greeted by an error saying that KDE returned with an error regarding 'su'.

I have been using OpenSuSE 10.2 on this very system for about 9 months now, and never experienced anything of this sort. To add to the problems, the OS cannot recognize the scroll zone of the touchpad.

I will give it another try, but if the final release is going to be like this, then SuSE is loosing it's touch. It may well be dipping low. BUT, I will have a go at this LIVE CD again and then will return with more. Till then, let me enjoy (???) this new release...

For more info, visit the announcement regarding this release.

Aditya Shevade

One of the assignments given to us for the coding contest.....

2007-09-25T01:16:00.000+05:30

Hey, here is one of the assignments that we were given in the C/C++ coding contests. Check it out and suggest any optimization, suggestions, anything....

Code:

/* This program calculates the value of a mathematical function and gives */
/* the output depending on it. The function is defined as follows :-      */
/* f(1)    = 1                                                            */
/* f(2n)   = n                                                            */
/* f(2n+1) = f(n) + f (n+1)                                               */
/* The inputs should be taken till a negative value is inputed.           */
/* The maximum number of inputs is considered to be 100.                  */

#include<iostream>

#define _maxInputs 100

using namespace std;

float Function(int);

main()
{
 int* inNumberArray = new int[_maxInputs]; 
 float* outAnswerArray = new float[_maxInputs];
 int cnt, counter;
 
 cout << endl;
 cout << "Please enter the variable values. Enter negative value to exit";
 cout << endl;
 
 for(counter = 0; counter < _maxInputs; counter++)
 {
  cin >> inNumberArray[counter];
  
  if(inNumberArray[counter] < 0)
   break;
  
  outAnswerArray[counter] = Function(inNumberArray[counter]);
  
 }
 
 cnt = counter;
 
 for(counter = 0; counter < cnt; counter++)
 {
  cout << "F(" << inNumberArray[counter] << ") = " 
       << outAnswerArray[counter] << "." << endl;
  
 }
 
 delete[] inNumberArray;
 delete[] outAnswerArray;
 
 return 0;
 
}

float Function (int inNumber)
{
 if(inNumber == 1)
  return 1.0;
 
 else if(inNumber % 2 == 0)
  return (inNumber/2.0);
 
 else if(inNumber % 2 == 1)
  return (Function((inNumber-1)/2) + Function((inNumber+1)/2));
 
}

Output:


EXECUTING:
/home/aditya/Mathematical-Function-1
----------------------------------------------

Please enter the variable values. Enter negative value to exit
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 -1
F(1) = 1.
F(2) = 1.
F(3) = 2.
F(4) = 2.
F(5) = 3.
F(6) = 3.
F(7) = 4.
F(8) = 4.
F(9) = 5.
F(10) = 5.
F(11) = 6.
F(12) = 6.

----------------------------------------------
Program exited successfully with errcode (0)
Press the Enter key to close this terminal ...

Aditya Shevade

Start page of OpenSuSE wiki website changed....

2007-09-24T23:26:00.000+05:30

The homepage of OpenSuSE wiki website at en.opensuse.org has been changed. The new and improved interface is much better than the old one.

This interface was already in use for the Software and Build section of the website.

Aditya Shevade

OpenSuSE 10.3 Gnome meeting on Thursday 1600GMT.....

2007-09-24T23:23:00.000+05:30

This particular meeting will be centered around 10.3 cleanup, 11.0 planning and the process/planning improvements for the team.

The meeting will be held on the #opensuse-gnome IRC chanel.

For more information about the meeting, please visit this link.

Aditya Shevade

God help my college..... and unuversity.....

2007-09-24T16:57:00.000+05:30

I never thought that I would come to hate the people at our college this much. The reason, they are still living in the 90's.

I just found out that each and every PC in our college, running Windows has Turbo C/C++ 3.0. Build 1990.

The compiler it has, does not know 'iostream' it does not know 'namespace's concept. And this sucks. Even many of the PCs running Linux use Red Hat 9. They don't know other Linux flavors. And there is not a single mac in the lab.

Disgusting.

Aditya Shevade

Due to one reason or another.....

2007-09-23T23:38:00.000+05:30

As usual, you would have guessed that I have not written any journal yet. I am falling back... I have a headache. For reason, consult the last post.

Right now, I am feeling a bit ( a lot) bored. So I am just writing stuff here.... Aaahh.... it's no use...

Aditya Shevade

My debbugging skills were tested by a system with bugs........

2007-09-23T20:17:00.001+05:30

Today, I had to wake up at 7am for the programming contests. And doing that after a short sleep of 5 hours is not enough. But I finally woke up. Then in the college, me and my partner reported at the reception. Then we were given an MCQ paper each for debugging C code and general coding competition. The first impression that paper left on me was.... BAD. scaling 2/10 on the scale of quality. It was based on Borland compiler and Turbo C/C++. Which violate the ISO standards of C. Like 'void main()' which is not allowed. And use of 'getch()' and 'clrscr()' which are not a part of standard library functions.

I am not against those functions, but the contest was a C contest. Not Borland C contest. If I ever use 3rd party libraries, I use documentation. I cannot mug everything up. And so, the papers were poor. I even wrote Turbo C sucks on the question paper, which was submitted later. :-)

We ( me and my partner) were selected. He did most of the work related to Borland.... And I was providing a few logical answers.

After that we had to go through a series consisting of 5 levels. It was very good. Nothing related to Borland. All based on ISO C. There were folders locked containing problem statements. And we were given passwords once we finished the preceding level. (They were also checking the code so no point in cheating there...).

We were doing great until the last stage. Where we took about 25-30 minutes in debugging. And finished in about 1:15hours. We were the third to finish. Then there was judging. We were asked some questions based on the changes made in the code. We did very well scoring 09, 10, 10, 07, 10 in the 5 levels. Scoring 46/50. Our hopes were high. We went to the second event in that heat.

We had to code 2 programs there. Both were mathematical functions. We finished the first one quite well. And even finished the second one, but with problems in multiple inputs. In short, we did not finish the second one properly as asked. But the first one, we did. And then while judging, the judge asked, why we had not allocated the memory. Frankly speaking, I have no idea about thing thing in C. Called 'malloc()'. I only know 'new' and 'delete'. So, I let my partner speak. But he (judge) was not convinced. And he left saying that program will crash for sure. But it did not. Anyways...

So, back to prize distribution. We had our hopes high. But we were not chosen. Only 2 prizes were given and we were third. OK, they wanted to give prizes to only 2 teams. Fine. But at least write that we were third on the certificate that you (they) are giving me. But no. They gave us a certificate of participation. :-| ...

We checked with the judges and found that the first team had scored 47. The second had scored 45. And we had 46. But, as the second team finished earlier (about 25-30 mins) before us, they were declared runner ups.

No complaint there. We were slow and we had to pay the prise. BUT, even Olympics have 3 medals. At least they could have given a certificate for 3rd number......

Aditya Shevade

I have to tell this to someone....

2007-09-23T01:18:00.001+05:30

I am writing this post because of the last post which I had to erase due to some reasons. I cannot hold it off anymore. Read for yourself....

This is it. Today I have decided it.... I am
confused. Why do people behave like that with me? Anyways.

The
trouble I am having is because of the fact that Aussies lost. To tell the truth,
I don't care. But it's the people who always tease me. And I hate that. And it
gives me trouble, and so this thing happens (I get mad).

If only
people would stop teasing me, they would know that I really don't care who wins
and who loses. Cause I just support them. It does not mean that I will kill
someone if they lost. But just to get rid of the teasing thing I do a lot of
stupid things. And it gets me in trouble.

I have decided, no more
'fanboy'ism in these kind of things. I am better off with SuSE Vs Ubuntu or Linux
Vs Windows. (and mac :-D).

Huh... it feels good once I have got it
all out.

Aditya Shevade

... I hate....

2007-09-23T00:43:00.001+05:30

I hate *********************************.....

Content censored. For reasons contact me....

The paradox of our time....

2007-09-22T23:24:00.000+05:30

Is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers
Wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints
We spend more, but we have less.
We have bigger houses, but smaller families
More conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees, but less sense
More knowledge, but less judgement
More experts, but more problems
More medicines, but less wellness.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often
We have learnt how to make a living, but not a life.
We have added years to life, but not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back
But have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour.
We have conquered outer space, but not inner space.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted our soul.
We've split the atom, but not our prejudice.
We've higher incomes, but lower morals.
We've become long on quantity but short on quality.
These are the times of tall men, and short character;
Steep profits, and shallow relationships.
These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare,
More leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.
These are the days of two incomes, but more divorces;
Of fancier houses, but broken homes.

I found this on blog of Goobimama a fellow member of mine on the Digit forum. His blog is quite good... read more...

I hate Yuvraj Sing..... and Aussies play.....

2007-09-22T22:26:00.000+05:30

Yeah yeah... don't flame me. I am watching the semi final. And Yuvraj is hitting the ball like a madman. A maniac. (And they dropped another catch, 96/2). I hate him being a supporter of Autralia.

Now, just waiting for Aussies to fire again. I hate Yuvraj. I really do. He should get out. Rather, someone should nail him down and then he should throw (another catch dropped).

Worst bowling performance I have ever seen.... BAD

Aditya Shevade

Of goods and bads....

2007-09-22T22:10:00.000+05:30

Finally I have reinstalled gnome and am back on my laptop. As mentioned in the last post I had some problems with the installation of OpenSuSE 10.2. I had tried to update gnome. But the version that I updated to did not have any other common package contents in the repository. So the things went bad. And I ended up with a system with the front-end of gnome 2.18 and the common packages of 2.16.

So, when I booted back into SuSE, I was greeted by a new look that did not have any menu items, it did not recognize any other gnome components. So, the system was in a state where I was not able to do anything in gnome. I mean.. not even the gnome terminal was accessible.

I tried using FFWM, TWM and even CLI, but was not able to restore the system to the initial stage, before the upgrade. So, I used the final option and restored the entire gnome system right off the installation DVD.

Now I have to spend hours again on system upgrade. But I have a better option. Wait for the stable release of OpenSuSE 10.3. That is scheduled to release on the 4th of October this year. And I think that would be better. So, no updates, just wait for some 15 days + the time required to D/L the DVD on this so called crap broadband connection.... Time off....

Aditya Shevade

The battle.....

2007-09-22T21:07:00.000+05:30

Finally.... moments away from the big game. Australia Vs India. T20 semifinal. Do you know that saying from the lord of the rings? "Fighting in a battle is bad but waiting on the edge of one you cannot escape is even worse" (Not exact sentence... )

So.. Aussies will bat second. Good for them. They have lost both their matches when they batted first. So.... good.

I am on my old PC currently. Will catch up later with both the stories.

Till then....

Aditya Shevade

last.fm.....

2007-09-22T16:47:00.000+05:30

Hey.... I found a website today. last.fm. It's an internet radio station. I am embedding the widget here on the sidebar. Enjoy.

Waiting for the big game..... And to get flamed.....

2007-09-21T23:28:00.000+05:30

Aah.... This is it. The moment of truth. India Vs My (Favorite) Team. I mean Australia. The last time these 2 teams clashed in a World Cup, Indians were thrashed by the bat of Ponting and then the Bowl of McGrath by removing Tendulkar.

But this is not a 50 over match. Ponting is not there, so is McGrath. So the task is a little difficult for the Aussies. And, Indian team has got the ideal people for T20. Many are there with almost NIL test and ODI experience. So it's gonna be a big match. I wish that Aussies will again repeat the history and thrash India.

Now back to the flaming part. I am again behind on my submissions. I wasted the whole week sleeping and stumbling. StumbleUpon is the best and the worst thing to have happened with my internet life (If you know what I mean ;-)).

So, I have to write about a 100 pages with diagrams and thats not cool. Thats bad. And I hate when something like this happens. But again, as usual I am here writing a blog post. And as I already mentioned, I am not even sure that even 10 people read it in a month. (And you have blogs with more that 1000 hits a day). That is not the point however. I know I am not a very good writer and maybe most people hate my writing and the way I write. But the point is that even though I have to write all this, I am here writing blog.

This has to change (Don't worry, I am not going to stop writing). I must find a way....

Aditya Shevade

Getting used to the basic idea now....

2007-09-21T08:45:00.000+05:30

Finally, after reading some tuts and watching the visual tuts provided by Joomla on their site, I have begun to get used to this idea of a CMS managing a site.

The tuts are very well written (sometimes annoying for people like me, because many too basic things like editing a file using notepad in windows (I hate windows) have also been added. But that is required for people who are new to this world of computers. Anyways....

So, I am sitting tight, listening to songs and reading the tuts. First I was thinking that I hate this CMS thing, but managing a site is easier there. So what to do? Now, I am starting to like it (Looking forward to the day when I will start liking the subjects I have to study for my engineering... which seems highly unlikely). Change is good.

Aditya Shevade

I think choise has been made....

2007-09-21T00:08:00.000+05:30

I was just browsing through the website of Joomla. And found some very good tutorials. And extensive 183 paged user manual and visual tutorials on their help site. And, it's forum is very popular with more than a million posts. And it is looking very good.

I also compared the CMSs on CMSMatrix website and found that Joomla was best suited for my purpose. So... I think there are 99% chances that I will be using Joomla.

There might be this kind of tuts and a very big support for other CMSs also, but I am unaware of that fact right now.

Aditya Shevade

Pulp Fiction...

2007-09-20T23:30:00.000+05:30

Before a few days, I was just browsing through the site IMDb. And I came across their top 250 list. And saw that there is a movie named Pulp Fiction on the 5th number. I read the synopsis and felt that the movie might be good. (Of course... being 5th on that list means a lot). So I decided to watch it.

I watched it today. And I cannot say if I loved it or not, but I liked it. Worth watching more than once for sure. It's weird in it's own perspective. And that was what I liked in that movie.

I was searching for a movie similar to Frank Miller's 'Sin City'. And this was one which went close to it. But Sin City is a classic and that is another story. As far as Pulp Fiction is concerned, it's a crude movie in somewhat comical way.

The theme of the film is related to lives of 4 people. A gangster, his wife, two people working for him and a boxer who kills his opponent in a match.

The movie has been given 'A' rating for a reason. There are more than 250 uses of the word, Fuck and other variations. There are a lot of things related to Drugs. Then there is violence. But nothing has been exaggerated in the movie. Everything gels in perfectly.

My recommendation is, you must watch the movie at least once. And I am sure you will like it. My rating, 'A-'

Aditya Shevade

Which way to turn now?

2007-09-20T17:22:00.000+05:30

As mentioned in one of the last posts of mine, I am finding it very difficult to manage the website using nothing but a web browser and a text editor. And updating content using this way will be a lot of pain in the a**.

I tried to make a way out of it by adopting the virtual pagination concept. But that too will get out of hand once the size increases. So, it seems as if there in no way out for me from learning CMS.

I have shortlisted 3 candidates.

Joomla
Mambo
Drupal

Right now, from all that I have read, I am a little bent towards Joomla. Please suggest. For blog, I have chosen wordpress.

If I adopt a CMS (which I will have to), then I will have to make a CMS theme out of my CSS theme. For that I will have to learn PHP. And I also have to learn the CMS that I will finally choose.

Hm... it seems like the god himself has decided that he will not let me rest until I learn PHP, CMS (and also will not let me publish my site till then).

Aditya Shevade

Aussies are the best.....

2007-09-20T16:11:00.000+05:30

Australians again showed today why they are the best cricketing team out there. They simply blasted Shrilankan team away. I loved the encounter.

Highlights were that Stuart Clark (The same man I was very offended to see in the first T20 W/C match), took 4 wickets for 20 runs in his 4 overs. And one of those wickets were actually picked up by Michael Clarke. The catch that he took was splendid. The batsman (I think Maharoof) was stunned. The way Clarke dived to his right, right along the ground and took the catch.... Simply brilliant.

And then there were Gilly and Haydos. Both blasted the Lankan bowling for 102 off 10.2 Overs. But it was not all well for the Aussies today. After their skipper, Ponting suffered the first ever hamstring injury he ever had, Shane Watson was out of the match due to his some 'x'th injury. And it was his hamstring as well.

But still... Aussies won. Meaning that they will now be playing the Semifinal. Most probably against South Africa at Durban. I am hoping for another great win by the Aussies.

Aditya Shevade

Website Design Progress Report.....

2007-09-19T18:13:00.000+05:30

Hey.... The design of the new website is not going as per my plans. The reasons were many and the most of them were unavoidable. But I guess it happens. Life would be much more easier if I had the source code. But, the only source code I have got at my hand is of that site of mine. And I have not been able to put up with my schedule. I had planned it to be over within this month. But that seems highly difficult, if not impossible.

I have designed only 7 pages so far. No sitemap. No articles written. No photographs sorted and selected. And, to add to my worries, I have been having a trouble deciding whether or not to go for a CMS (Content Management System) for my website.

The benefits are many. The most important one being the ability to update the content dynamically. So, I gave a try to some CMSs. But, there were many problems. The major one being that I do not know PHP yet, and knowledge of PHP is a must to use CMS effectively and to create custom themes. Also, getting full knowledge of a CMS is not as easy as it looks, especially when it is an Open Source one. You have to digg and digg to get the info.

So, due to lack to time, I decided not to go for a CMS in early stages. Just create a base site. Upload it and run a test site on some subdomain and get familiar with the CMS and then start using it. Till then the only CMS I will be using it wordpress. That too because I found the theme I was looking for.

Until further news....

Aditya Shevade

La Isla Bonita

2007-09-17T23:50:00.000+05:30

Found a great video today. 'La Isla Bonita' from 'Alizee', a French singer.

The video rocks. The facial expressions, the just about sufficient amount of dancing around and very good cinematography makes this video one of my favorites.

To watch it, please follow this link.

Aditya Shevade

At last.... Aussies show some respect towards the T20 format of the game.....

2007-09-14T21:06:00.000+05:30

At last... Aussies have begun to take things seriously. (It seems like that....)

They won the match against the English team by 8 wickets. And it was a very good display. Their attitude towards the game had certainly changed and it looked good.

I just wish that they continue this splendid display of skill, throughout the tournament.

Aditya Shevade

For the first time in my life... I am happy that Aussies lost.....

2007-09-13T01:27:00.000+05:30

I am happy, for the first time, that they lost. Cause they did not show any of the trademark spirit of theirs. No fire, nothing.... I hated that. And so, I am happy, for the first and maybe last time, that they lost.

Stuart Clark was stupid in the field. So was symo on some occasions. Hodge had taken up the job of Michael Clarke to trow the ball every time he got the hold of it. But he never made sure of hitting the stumps.

Clark Was ugly....I mean, that drop catch, that miss fielding... What the hell was that. Again, Symo, the way he fell when he got out.... It all sucked. And then that run out chance from Mitchell Johanson. Why the hell did he not appeal? That was out. You can always appeal. But what was going on?

The part that troubled me the most however was that Ponting had a bad luck with that edge flying to third man, but after that, he never showed any sign of tension... The whole team lacked their usual attitude. He even seemed to be relaxed at the presentation. That is bad.

I think what people have been saying, that Aussies do not take T20 seriously, is in fact true. Cause, they were just a bunch of crazy people out on the field, who seemed as if they had gathered there for fun.

I say it again... I am happy that they lost, cause they did not deserve to win. One of the worst performances ever.

Aditya Shevade

My Style of Learning ..... Visual / Non Verbal.....

2007-09-11T20:37:00.000+05:30

I was just taking a test on DVC Learning Styles to checkout my learning style. This is what I found.

The results of Aditya Shevade's learning inventory are:

Visual/Nonverbal 40 Visual/Verbal 32 Auditory 18 Kinesthetic 32

Your primary learning style is:

The Visual/ Nonverbal Learning Style

You learn best when information is presented visually and in a picture or design format. In a classroom setting, you benefit from instructors who use visual aids such as film, video, maps and charts. You benefit from information obtained from the pictures and diagrams in textbooks. You tend to like to work in a quiet room and may not like to work in study groups. When trying to remember something, you can often visualize a picture of it in your mind. You may have an artistic side that enjoys activities having to do with visual art and design.

Learning Strategies for the Visual/ Nonverbal Learner:

Make flashcards of key information that needs to be memorized. Draw symbols and pictures on the cards to facilitate recall. Use highlighter pens to highlight key words and pictures on the flashcards. Limit the amount of information per card, so your mind can take a mental "picture' of the information.

Mark up the margins of your textbook with key words, symbols, and diagrams that help you remember the text. Use highlighter pens of contrasting colors to "color code" the information.

When learning mathematical or technical information, make charts to organize the information. When a mathematical problem involves a sequence of steps, draw a series of boxes, each containing the appropriate bit of information in sequence.

Use large square graph paper to assist in creating charts and diagrams that illustrate key concepts.

Use the computer to assist in organizing material that needs to be memorized. Using word processing, create tables and charts with graphics that help you to understand and retain course material. Use spreadsheet and database software to further organize material that needs to be learned.

As much as possible, translate words and ideas into symbols, pictures, and diagrams.

Comments :-

Completely Agreed. I cannot say much here. But if you meet me in private, then.....

Aditya Shevade

I am sorry... but there was nothing I could do.....

2007-09-11T09:16:00.000+05:30

Hey.... I am sorry for the post where I have shouted against ICC.

But, as explained in the last post, I was checking cricinfo. They also have updated their article now. So, you will not find the same quote there. But, it was there a few hours back.

Sorry again, but as I said, I had no option.

Aditya Shevade

Some good News..... And Confusion.....

2007-09-11T00:42:00.000+05:30

RICKY PONTING RETAINS THE PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD

And Ricky Ponting was named, Captain of the Year 2007. No surprises there also.

Matthew Hayden was named the ODI player of the Year 2007. No surprises there.
Mohammad Yousuf won the Test Player of the Year 2007 award. It was a tough competition between him and Ponting. But, the hard work of Yousuf played off.

Now the confusion part. There is some problem with the cable network. So I am getting all the NEWS from cricinfo. And they have reported that Ponting is not in the Test Team for the year. But, some time later, they have written that Ponting is in that team.

They Report :-

Michael Vaughan capped a great return from an injury that nearly ended his career by making it to the Test Team of the Year. In the period under consideration - August 9, 2006 to August 8, 2007 - Vaughan scored 493 runs in five Tests at an average of 61.62, with two glorious centuries against West Indies and India. The side was dominated by the Australians again, which wasn't surprising considering the way they have demolished all opposition. Adam Gilchrist missed out, though, with Kumar Sangakkara taking the wicketkeeper's slot. Team Matthew Hayden, Michael Vaughan, Mohammad Yousuf, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Hussey, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Stuart Clark, Muttiah Muralitharan, Makhaya Ntini, Mohammad Asif. 12th man: Zaheer Khan.

And then :-

In a year of spectacular success for Australia it was only fitting that Ricky Ponting won the Player of the Year and the Captain of the Year awards and was named in both the ODI and the Test teams of the year. His efforts with the bat were outstanding - 576 runs in five Tests at an average of 82.28, an ODI average of 51.52 during the period August 9, 2006 to August 8, 2007 - while as captain he won the three huge series over the last year: the Ashes, the Champions trophy and the World Cup. Ponting couldn't have asked for much more.

If Ponting is really in the Test Team for 2007, then I take back all the foul words I used against ICC in the last Post, and apologize for my actions. It was inevitable in my situation.

For the entire article, visit CricInfo.

Aditya Shevade

ICC Sucks.....

2007-09-10T23:59:00.000+05:30

ICC has announced their Test Team for the year 2007. And The team is as follows.

Team Matthew Hayden, Michael Vaughan, Mohammad Yousuf, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Hussey, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Stuart Clark, Muttiah Muralitharan, Makhaya Ntini, Mohammad Asif.

12th man: Zaheer Khan.

Thats the worst team I have ever seen. Ricky Ponting, who has dominated the test cricket for over a period of around 2 years, is not in that team. And what the hell Michael Vaughan is doing in there? He is one of the most inconsistent players out there. Same thing about Zaheer Khan. How can a person like Ponting, who has scored 7 100s in 10 matches, rocked the ashes and stayed at the top since Dec 2005 be out of this team? A man who has got nominations in 4 top categories this year also? I hate ICC.

In another event, the ODI team of the year 2007 is :-

Team Matthew Hayden, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Kevin Pietersen, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher (wk), Chaminda Vaas, Shane Bond, Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath.

Now thats a relief.... Somewhat....

Simon Taufel picked up the Umpire of the Year award for the fourth year running, and Shaun Tait was given the Emerging Player of the Year award.

More News to follow....

Aditya Shevade

I think my brain is corrupting.....

2007-09-10T23:43:00.000+05:30

Ahh... This is nuts. I was playing sudoku, easy level on websudoku. And, my average time, after solving 18 games is 8 minutes. Where it should have been somewhere around 5 - 5.5 minutes.

I think all this duration, where I have not been solving any aptitude level exams, has caused my brain to become inactive. I must do something.

One more thing. Another challenge given to me. Do the swapping thing mentioned in the post I wrote yesterday, in one line, without making use of brackets. And the hint given is, make use of bitwise operators. As I already said, I cannot figure this one out. Not right now. Have a headache. Did not sleep yesterday night. So, I am off to sleep now.

One more thing I have been wondering lately is, which language I should learn now that I have completed C and C++. Python, PHP or Java? Can someone please suggest?

Aditya Shevade

Correct way to pronounce Linux...

2007-09-10T01:49:00.000+05:30

I am on a roll here.... 2nd post of the day... at 1:50am..... Anyways, I have heard many people pronouncing the word 'Linux' incorrectly. That pisses me off. Now, here is their chance to listen the correct pronunciation from the inventor himself.

Linus Torvalds pronouncing the word, Linux.

For more information please visit the website of Paul Sladen.

Aditya Shevade

A new way of swapping values in C.... The one line method...

2007-09-10T00:39:00.000+05:30

I was just wandering in the digit forum and came across a query by a user. Or a challenge rather. How to swap values in a program using only one syntax line? I found the answer.

Most of the people use the following method for swapping. They create a temporary variable and swap values.

Code :

int a = 5, b = 7 ,temp;

temp = a; // temp = 5
a = b; // a = 7
b = temp; // b = 5

There is nothing wrong with this method except that is uses another variable. Meaning more memory. Alternate way to do this is making use of only the 2 variables and using the following code.
Code :

int a = 5, b = 7;

a = a + b; // a = 12
b = a - b; // b = 5
a = a - b; // a = 7

But there is another way. I scratched my head a little and found this out. If this is an old trick then I am sorry for repost. But I found it by myself (imagine... no google :-D).

Here it is :-

Code :

#include<iostream>

using namespace std;

main()
{

int a, b;

cout << "Enter A and B" ;
cout << "a = ";
cin >> a;
cout << "b = ";
cin >>b;

a = ((b - a) + (b = a));

cout << " a = " << a << endl;
cout << " b = " << b;

return 0;

}

And the output of the program is :-

EXECUTING:
/home/aditya/test
----------------------------------------------
Enter A and B
a = 7

b = 23

a = 23
b = 7
----------------------------------------------
Program exited successfully with errcode (0)
Press the Enter key to close this terminal ...

The main line that does the swapping is this :-

a = ((b - a) + (b = a));

First the value of (b-a) is calculated. In the above example, it is 16.
Then 'b' is assigned the value of 'a', that is 7.
And a is the sum of (b-a) which is 16 and 'b' which is now 7 so 'a' becomes 23.

Thus values are swapped.

I think it's a cool way to swap the values.... Nice find. At least the start of the day was good. (It's after midnight :-D).

Aditya Shevade

New scheme by Auction Ads....

2007-09-09T23:28:00.001+05:30

Auction Ads are giving away free 25$ as a bonus for new advertisers. If you want hours then follow the link below.

Auction Ads. Free 25$

Aditya Shevade

College life is so prototype....

2007-09-09T22:35:00.000+05:30

Here I am, sitting in front of the laptop, writing another blog post about the way my life, more particularly my college life is going on.... The more I write, the more I wonder about one thing. You also might have wondered about it. (No, it's not that I never write anything about gals... although some content may appear some time later I dunno when... :-D).

So, what was it? Yeah, the thing I am wondering about, as I have mentioned in one of my posts earlier this month that, I am not at all paying attention to what I am doing with my life. All I do is waste time browsing the net. Then I attend the college. Thats it. Even today, I spent the entire day sleeping and when I was awake, I was busy completing the assignments given to me.

This sucks. I still have to finish one assignment before I sleep and then 2 tomorrow in the college hours and submit it at the end. That means no lunch tomorrow. It's getting ridiculous. I also have an oral on C programming tomorrow. I mean... come on... oral on C? Thats too much.

I am wondering when will I be able to live my life as the way I want. There is no way of getting out of the system, trying to be a hero. Cause if you do that, and you are not prepared, then the system comes back and kicks your butt... And I am not prepared.

I am falling back on my website design schedule. Plus, the festival of Ganapati (I dunno the correct English term for it) is approaching and all the responsibility of the decorations is on me. And I just don't seem to get time from this all.

I know many people have gone through this and they never complained. Maybe they did not. I don't know the reason. But I have heard that one should always aim high. My way of looking at it is, if there is something I do not like, then I am going to criticize and aim high that maybe someday someone will hear my voice and things may change. If possible, criticize publicly. And I am doing that. And I am happy with that.

But right now, the only thing in my hands is writing the assignment. And submit it in time if I am to get good marks. (Well... no complaints there. There is no free lunch in this world. But it can be cheaper someplace than the other... I am in a five star hotel).

Aditya Shevade
(Wondering.... Maybe I oughta use the F word from now on....)

Apple Rocks......

2007-09-08T11:24:00.000+05:30

Apple Rocks

I will have to make sure to clean the keyboard of the laptop now.... cause it's messy. I am drooling on it over the new release from apple. The upgraded versions of iPods and reduction in the prise of iPhone.

Apple rocks. The new iPod nano has video support. iPod classic has upto 160GB memory. And the looks of both have been upgraded.

But the main thing is iTouch. It's similar to and iPhone but does not have a phone. But who needs a phone.....

I say it again, Apple rocks.

Aditya Shevade

One more sentence for the T-Shirt... or is it my life?

2007-09-08T00:40:00.000+05:30

I was stumbling again, in the 'humor' section today. And came across a site. I quickly copied all the funny one liners from the site for our batch T-Shirt. Later I was surfing through them and found one, 'None of us are virgins, as life has screwed us all'.

Now, maybe, for some people outside of India, or even ones from metropolitan cities, this might be a routine sentence. But it is not the case with this place where I live. The more I thought about it, the more I began to wonder.... Is it what we, what I am doing with my life?

All I do is spend time on the computer and attend the college. When the exams come up, I stay up at night and study. And then give the papers. What the hell am I doing? What is wrong? Or nothing is, but the way my thinking is?

I need to sleep on this.

Aditya Shevade

Yes.... and Proteus sucks.....

2007-09-07T13:00:00.000+05:30

Finally, I had the time, rather we, me and my partner had the time to build the project for that proteus thing I mentioned a few posts ago. We have to build a priority encoder. We were on to it. We designed it as per the equations and even referred a ready-made circuit from a book.

It should have worked flawlessly, but either there is a problem with the software or there is one with proteus. When I went to the college, I found that many of the other teams were having the problems with proteus. As the logic circuits grew complex, the output got screwed.

Maybe they have mentioned it as a bug in the software and maybe they are working on it. (They is the people making the S/W). But, then the problem is with our instructors. Cause they are supposed to be the experts in the use of this S/W. Anyways, the conclusion is that we are yet to finish the project.

And, that Yes in the heading is for marks of the third paper. Digital Systems. Our teacher came to me and asked, "Is your RN 44?", I said yes and the told me that I was the topper.
I topped the class with 40/50. Actually I had written worth of 45 marks due to my own foolishness of reaching the paper late. And, in the hassle I had made a mistake of 2 marks. So, I should have received 43. But I think 40/43 is good. But then.... Lets see the assessed answer paper.

So, I am happy today. Also, I am happy with the haircut I had yesterday. Looks good. I turned it to 'Beatles'. (Like David Beckham in World Cup '98). :-D

Aditya Shevade
(Happy)

This is violation of human rights.....

2007-09-05T22:51:00.000+05:30

Well... yeah maybe I am a little exagurating.... But you know. We have been given an assignment for electronics, and we have to design it on proteus software only. Nothing else permittedand....

Now, I have many tools like gEDA and KiCad in Linux, using which, I can always build them. But, no... They need proteus only. This is not fare :-(

Aditya

Site Building News.....

2007-09-04T20:51:00.000+05:30

The website building is going at the fastest speed manageable to me, in these conditions. I have to complete 2 assignments on Linear Circuits. 4 on Digital Systems. 1 on Electronic Devices and Circuits. 1 on Electrical Machines. I also have to prepare for oral exams for C++ and Electronic Devices and Circuits. And all this must be done in this week. So the fastest manageable speed for me right now is covering 1 page design in 2 days. Which is lame.

So, at this point in time. Only the matter and format of the homepage have been decided. Also he directory structure is all worked out.

The first things to do now are, learning to build a sitemap on my own. And trying to learn to manage the site using one of the free content management systems listed here.

Aditya Shevade

Results.... Aaaaahhhhh.....

2007-09-03T18:53:00.000+05:30

Finally the results of the midterm are getting out.

First one to come out was Electronic Devices and Circuits. I did pretty well I think. When you consider that about 40% students failed. I got 28/50. It is poor score. I am about some 10-15th in the class.

Then, the problems. I was sure that I had scored 31. But when I confronted the teacher, he just did not listen to me. I stretched the issue up to the point where he said, "OK, you know better than me, and my concepts are not clear. Write whatever you want". I shut up. Just for the sake of those internal marks.

Then Linear Circuits. I was sure that I had solved 5/6 questions and that at least 4 were correct. But I got only 27/50. :-(

Again, it looks good, cause about 25 people have scored 0. Yes zero. And more have failed. At 27 I stand 7th in the class of 80. But still, the first one has 47/50....

I hope for the best now.....

Aditya Shevade

I never experienced anything like this before.....

2007-09-03T16:18:00.000+05:30

Life can be very harsh most of the times. And I have experienced it more than you can imagine. For instance, I am going to give the example of my yesterday's adventure.

There was a freshers' party and BE farewell, arranged at the same occasion. I performed a song, "Pehla Nasha" on my keyboard. But, when I started playing, there arose some problems with the electric supply. And I was sick, wondering if I will ever be able to perform. But, after many shouts of "Hawa" and many adjustments, they (technicians) were able to sort the problem and I played it. Everyone liked it. It was good according to most of the comments.

Then, I went home to change into something more comfortable for the dance (there, there, nothing like a ball dance.... a disco type one ;-)). And when I came back, I learned that there was a fishpond on me. And it was announced before I came back. Another sweep of bad luck....

Then, during the dance, I found a 2/- coin on the floor. So, I thought that it would be better if I drop my wallet and phone into the compartment under the seat of my Scooty pep. So I did that. Went back in. Danced a lot, enjoyed. And during the dance I fell on my back. My friends hoisted me up in the air and dropped me. Another bad event.

Then, I went back to my Scooty, after the dance, to get the dinner coupons. Only to find that my wallet was stolen..... That was it. The worst day of my life..... I had that wallet for 3 years. There were some X rupees and some Y credit/debit cards in it. I reported them stolen and had them blocked. (and it is confirmed that there were no transactions made on them.... thank god). But the most important thing which was in there (not the photo of my GF) was my driving license.... Now I will have to make some Z number of trips to get a duplicate one. Or get a new one, with the 4 wheeler and with gear one. And, I am falling back on the assignments. And there is not enough time.....

Aditya Shevade
(Got nothing to say and plenty to do)

Finally Exams Over.....

2007-08-29T21:34:00.000+05:30

YES.... I am happy. Finally the mid semester exams are over. I had the final paper today. Digital Systems. It was piece of cake. But due to my own foolishness, I was not able to finish the entire paper in time.

Let me start from the start. As usual, I had gone to my friend's place to pick him up for the paper. We both know the subject very well. So we were a bit relaxed and were chatting about the possible questions and all. His mother then asked for a cup of tea, he said yes, and during that time we realized that it was 5 minutes for the exams to begin and we had to travel about 3.5Km to the college and then get the answer sheets from the store room.

So, we were about 5-7 minutes late for the paper. And so, due to my own foolishness, I lost an opportunity to score 100% in at least one paper. :-(

But I guess this is life. It never happened with me ever in my entire academic life. I guess, that after all, this was that first time......

Aditya Shevade

Stage one finished.... two more to go....

2007-08-27T21:30:00.000+05:30

Huh... Finally.... The first day of the exams was quite ok. I think I am going to score more than what I was expecting in Maths. And as far as Electrical Machines is concerned, I think that I did ok there also.

It was a great fun. All the BE guys (and gals) which were giving the exam with us (of course, different papers :-)), were all chatting, using mobile phones for copying and all. It was fun. And, you know, one cannot be a saint in this world anymore. Or at least I can't. So if I see someone copying and getting more marks than I, then I am going to follow them (Well, when you see, you will find that I say this every time and never do that.... but of course you can always take hints and tally answers.. ;-)).

So, it was fun. Now, two more days and 3 more papers to go.... I am looking forward to it.

Aditya Shevade
(Still not in a good mood, but not a bad one either)

One more post on "HP SUCKS"

2007-08-27T09:40:00.000+05:30

I am cutting all the crap and coming straight to the point. HP sucks. I lost my 9th DVD this month on the second drive HP provided. They really suck don't they....

Gotta run, got exams in about 45 minutes.....

Aditya Shevade
(Pissed Off)

Exams..... I hate them...

2007-08-26T19:10:00.000+05:30

This again has been a very bad week for me. First thing was because the college management has decided to reform all the batches. And so, I will again have to be with new guys (actually my friends only, but never practical partners). And it will take time to adjust. I mean, you can never really understand what I mean unless you experience it yourself. (In short, I am not a very good writer).

Then, one of my most favorite teachers left our class and the new one... well I am not gonna say anything here (you know, public place). And now, I have 2 papers tomorrow. It sucks. They are only taking the papers cause they have been ordered to do so (seen a few good men anyone?, my men follow orders or people die.... like hell they die, but why exams?).

I still have to read about 400 pages and write something that will get me some good marks... And this all has driven me crazy. I have been having constant headache and nausea for last 4-5 days. How the hell am I supposed to write papers like this? It's going to be the worst exam ever.

I have never failed an exam in my entire life, or have came below distinction. In spite of knowing that theres always a first time for everything, I wish that this is not the first time for me to fail in anything.....

Aditya Shevade
(frustrated..... more than you know...)

GOD HP sucks or what.....

2007-08-24T19:44:00.000+05:30

I have had enough. This is nuts. CRAZY. It's been only 4 days and the new DVD drive that HP gave me is giving more problems. I have been using the emergency open butten (the small hole and pin thingy) to open the drive. It does not recognize DVDs, it does not burn them at full speed. It does not open as I already mentioned. And it even cannot spin the disks as it seems.

So now I am going to shout,

HP SUCKS.... BIG TIME LOOSERS......

PS.... I could not make it bigger

Aditya Shevade

I am thinking (just thinking) business now.....

2007-08-20T15:48:00.000+05:30

I was surfing through the web today and came across many blogs which claim that they earn a lot of money from various sources from the net. One site caught my attention in perticular. It was about earning money from your blog. John Chow. Its really good article. It helped me a lot.

So, I just went on and subscribed for ReviewME then I subscribed for Auction Ads and then I created a PayPal (use the donate button if you can) account and now, I am here with the Technorati Profile of mine. I am working on it. It will be completed soon.

I am also thinking of redesigning my website. But I have exams from 27th of August. So, this will take time. But I am working on it.....

Aditya Shevade

Some work done.....

2007-08-20T01:03:00.000+05:30

Hey... I am back as I said, with a customized dialog box. The Windows shutdown box. Check it out...

Aditya Shevade

Ready for some work now.......

2007-08-19T23:47:00.000+05:30

Finally as I said, my laptop is back and I have installed Windows XP on it. (You know, some of the proprietory software that I use forces me to use Windows, not to forget Visual Basic which I am planning on learning.....) and my most favourite game, Railroad Tycon II Gold Edition... I tried using is in Linux through wine.... it does not support my hardware....

So, I am thinking.... What am I going to do with this OS other than this stuff? I don't think anything once I install Debian. So, I am going to play with some files using Resource Hacker and then make my system just the way I want it to be.

So I am going to start the work right now and change some things... Will be back with a post in an hour or so. (Actually it does not take an hour but I am too lazy to post it all...)

Aditya Shevade

HP really sucks.... But their service is good....

2007-08-18T22:18:00.000+05:30

This is getting riddiculous.... I finnaly got my laptop back from HP, but this is bad. Now my laptop has had.....

3 DVD drive replacements.
3 Hard Drive replacements.
1 Mother Board replacement.
1 Bluetooth dongle replacement.

And god knows what esle till the end of the warranty period (which is about 19 more months). So right now, all the tuning and tweaking is under progress.....

Aditya Shevade

Another problem with my laptop.......

2007-08-14T21:56:00.000+05:30

Shit man. I am sick and tired of this now. This time it is again the DVD drive that is out of order. I wasted 8 sony DVD+Rs with it. Sick. I tried writing the DVDs from 5 differant apps on 3 different OSs. All failed.

So now, the laptop is in HPs service centre. And this old PC of mine is not much of a help either. 500MHz, 96MB RAM. It sucks also. And the keyboard is ancient. (7 years old). The keys are hard and they stick. (Not sick. I don't use the same word more than required :-)).

So, I am not posting much right now, though there is a lot to write. I will just skip it for now, and maybe continue when I gewt my laptop back. It took me 8 minutes to write this, where in I would have done the same in 3 minutes.

Aditya Shevade

My Linux T-Shirt

2007-07-29T19:43:00.000+05:30

I was waiting for this thing for a long time. And finally I had some time to find an image or two and some lines. And I used the online designer from T-Shirt Studio to create a T-Shirt based on Linux. I think it's pretty good. Share your thoughts please.

All suggestions, critisisms and ideas are welcome.

Design:-

Aditya Shevade

The output of a very busy week.... I get to do anchoring....

2007-07-24T22:00:00.000+05:30

This has been again a very busy with studies in the college. Or I should rather say that I had been busy attending the college, in a false hope that I might get some time off, in which I might be able to do something good. But alas, I never had that kind of liberty.

First there was this assignment that was given to us. And as I was one of the only handful students who were able to understand what the teacher had taught, it was upon me to finish it and then pass it on in order to make sure that everyone finishes their assignment in time. I did that, spent an hour solving all the problems (I hope that I solved them correctly). And the next day, everyone copied the assignment from my notebook. I don't have any complaints, but at least they should have shown some common sense while copying them down. I saw 3-4 notebooks which contained the exact same matter as mine. I mean, even the way that I draw circuit diagrams was copied....

I was, not angry, but frustrated by them. But I kept my nerve. There have been many things going on and around my life that I am not getting bothered by such little things anymore. Then, there was a meeting to form some committees for the arrangement of the freshers welcome party. And I was absent for that meeting cause I was over worked that day and even the previous, due to the assignment. So I skipped it only to find out later that day, that I was included in the committee of the anchors. So, now I have to do anchoring with some girl in my class (I dunno whom yet), and that too with 5 more pairs. And the total time for which we all (the 12 people) will be on the stage is around 30 minutes. I mean that sucks, 30 minutes and 12 people? But I think it's the policy of all colleges, that everyone should get a chance in anything they (college) do.

Then, the next day, during the next meeting, I was watching them for 30 minutes while they were debating on the menu for the party. I mean, why the hell even bother to form the committees, if everyone has a say in every decision? Me and 3-4 other, I will call, sensible students, sat it out. All the other were fighting on the menu.

And even today, no one turned up with the program. I mean, how are we supposed to write the script without that? No one (well, the most of them) wants to do any work. They just turn up and pass time and give us headache.

In short, I am not at all looking at anything but am focusing on the work that has been given to me. I neither have any interest in other things nor am I responsible for any work others do not finish in time. I have learned the lesson the hard way, that you are not supposed to take all the responsibilities on yourself. Now, I play the game for the sake of that game itself......

Aditya Shevade

Few more changes to my desktop....

2007-07-14T23:45:00.000+05:30

It's been hard on me.... (there there now.... I mean very hard for me...;-)) to know that those mind blowing 3D effects and the compiz manager will not work on my hardware.....

So, since then, I had been wondering.... How to make my desktop look great and yet not use any 3D effects and still make it look as good as it can.

And I found the solution. As I have already provided one screenshot with gDesklets, you know what it is. But, then, I did not have the time to fully explore it. And now, I have come up with this....

The procedure to accomplish the act :-

1). My OS :- OpenSUSE 10.2
2). Desktop :- Gnome.

3). First, I shifted the default panel to top of the screen. Then, created new panel and filled it with icons and set it at the bottom.

4). Then I downloaded OS-X icon set and 'tish' theme from metacity from http://gnome-look.org and used them.

5). Next was, I removed all the icons from the desktop. The home, trash and volume were removed using G-Conf editor. Go to apps, nautilus and desktop and un-check appropriate boxes.

6). Then I installed gDesklets. And downloaded some desklets from http://gdesklets.zencomputer.ca/ and placed them on the desktop. The photo frame was downloaded from http://gnome-look.org . The apple icon in the top panel was downloaded from google images. And the background, I created in Gimp.

7). The wallpaper is from the website of Lauri at http://www.taimila.com/ubuntuosx.php .

Thats pretty much it.

Aditya Shevade

gDesklets.... My First Try......

2007-07-12T22:14:00.001+05:30

I was bored (again as usual), and while Stumbling through Stumble Upon, I found some screenshots with gDesklets running on the desktops. I liked the idea and decided to give it a try.

Then I searched for gDesklets in YaST in my OpenSUSE 10.2 distribution. And installed it. Then, I googled for some desklets and found a site with Unofficial gDesklets, Desklet repository.

I searched for some desklets and downloaded them and I am currently using them. And I like it a lot. It’s like the Mac widgets which now is copied by Windows VISTA (Anyone startled out there?).

My advice, one should give this a try and use it at least once. I think you won’t regret it…

Aditya Shevade

Aaahhhhh......

2007-07-12T16:43:00.000+05:30

Finally, the college has started and, our results are declared. But we don't have the marks yet. Only thing displayed is the numbers of the students who have cleared all papers.... Needless to say that I am in that list.

Been busy lately due to the college.... Got some nice subjects this semester. My favorite Digital systems....

Gotta run again.... No time.... This is too much considering that it's just the first week....

Aditya Shevade

Results..... (not declared yet).....

2007-07-04T22:09:00.000+05:30

I was just surfing through the university site today, and saw that the results for the second end semester exams for first year engineering are out. With my heart pumping very fast, I opened the page.

And there it was, the numbers of the students who had passed the examination those who had received atkt (allowed to keep term (or turn)). And then, at the bottom of the page was a list of numbers of those candidates, whose result was (is) to be declared later. And guess what... my number was there in that list. And not only mine, but the numbers of all the students from my college.

Now, I have a very good (and possibly very correct), idea why that might be happening. But you know that if I spill the truth out here and someone reads (who does not wish my welfare), then I might get into trouble. So I am not going into the details out here.

But the problems do not end here. I was going to buy a keyboard, a musical keyboard, YAMAHA's PSR-E403. And when my mom heard about the results, then she said that she will buy it only once the results are out. And if, my interpretations are correct, then I don't think that our results will be out anytime soon. So I am in more dismay. First it was bad, then it went on to become worse and now, it's the worst since... well since the start of this month ;-)

So, it's bad. And I hate that. Now, all I can do is to wait for the results to come out, and then I will finally get that keyboard. As far as the results are concerned, there are very good chances of, getting the marks I expect.

Aditya Shevade

I got a 3rd PC (Nothing to get excited about though)...

2007-07-02T23:03:00.000+05:30

I just got my 3rd PC. Bu the fact is that, it's a Pentium-S, 75 MHz, 8 MB RAM. Moreover, it's HDD is just 850 MBs and now that PC cannot detect that HDD. It asks for a Floppy to boot.

I do not have a Floppy drive on my other 2 PCs with net connection. One is a laptop, so, I cannot connect the FDD of this new (?) PC to that. And the other Desktop does not have any BUSes for the connection.

In short, I am confused about what my options are with this PC.

Gotta go.

Aditya Shevade

3D effects sweet..... But......

2007-06-29T00:31:00.000+05:30

I was very very excited when I first enabled those effects that I have described in the post below.... But as good as it gets when all correct, it's not at all good if it goes wrong....

I ignored the hardware requirements for the graphics card, required for either beryl or compiz. I just installed them on my laptop with 915GM chipset having on-board graphics. And, after I finished the last post and then woke up next morning to switch on the laptop, I found out that I was locked outside all WMs (Windows Managers). I tried Gnome, KDE, icewm, xfce, but all crashed. So, I disabled XGL from command line (thank god I payed attention to people telling me to learn the shell....). Then I logged in.

The system was behaving strange. All apps kept crashing. And windows kept switching by themselves. I didn't know what to do. I spent all the time since then trying to sort things out. But alas, I had to reinstall OpenSuSE 10.2 again on my laptop. And now the system is back in it's formal glory (whatever it had).

So, good as they are, those graphics. Unless you have a graphics card or a chipset that is supported by them, don't go for them. I thought, at most they won't run as my chipset is not supported.... but it ran, and crashed the whole system.....

Aditya Shevade

XGL + Compiz..... and the result is..... Fantastic.....

2007-06-26T01:18:00.000+05:30

I am bored. I mean that is the only this that I do these days.... Be bored and drive other around you nuts....

I had gone to a friends' place today and saw his laptop with Ubuntu installed. He also had beryl and XGL enabled on it. It looked great (for more info visit this). So I had been wondering, if my laptop will be able to get the effects ready with OpenSuSE 10.2. And the answer was complicated.

I first installed beryl. Then enabled the 3D acceleration for the on-board graphics card. And then restarted X as usual. But it crashed. I tried again, but it again crashed. So I disabled XGL from command line and started X. It was alright. Then I reinstalled beryl... no change, then I removed it and went on with XGL-Compiz combo. And it's been working flawlessly (almost) since then. I also installed GL Desktop from OpenSuSE's XGL repository. It's a good tool to configure XGL-Compiz.

I have provided some screenshots of what you can achieve with this. If you want to see what beryl can do, then I suggest you take a look at this. For me, compiz rocks.

Another Screenshot for you......

I am back...... So is the flood.....

2007-06-22T21:31:00.000+05:30

I am well and back from Pune.... It was a fun trip. Bought 8 books in the end. All 3 from the Bartemius trilogy, The Godfather, Couple of Tolkien books, one on the world before Tolkien and Professional C++ by Wrox.... In short, I had gone to Pune to spend a lot of my parents' money :-)

And, when I was in the train, I called my mom and she told me that it's raining.... That was 5pm and now, I am writing this post at 9:35pm, and it's still raining out there... It's close to flood already (well not really). There are a lot of trees, fallen on the roads, the railroad from Miraj to Sangli (a Junction and my home city (or town?)), is under water and all the rail traffic is jammed....And I had plans to play football tomorrow... :-(

Huh.... I am really tired right now and I cannot write much right now, cause there are 35 emails waiting for me in the mailbox. Plus many other things to take care of.... Catch you later (all those who read regularly... ;-)).

Aditya Shevade

The man with the broken neck (well... not really)....

2007-06-15T22:39:00.000+05:30

Huh... It has been a funny period of 3-4 days since my last post....

One of the happiest incidents was that I found my football. It was lurking in an old box full of coconuts. The day before I found the ball, we (around 16 people) were playing football. My team was ahead 5-1 and then, suddenly, before anyone got hold, we were trailing 5-6.... Can you believe it? Read more, 4 goals out of our 5 were scored by single person, and an own goal. (It was not me, I am a midfielder). And I didn't even give a single assist.....

It was bad. Though we won 8-6 at the end (courtesy, 7 goals from the man who had scored 4 of the first 5 and a chip in from one more from the second attacker... I wondered when he was gonna score...).

Then I found the ball and practiced. And fell in my front-yard (well the front-yard of my house not my front-yard), on a hard surface. And hurt my neck.... It's pretty bad. Still hurting after some 30 hours.... But that day (Friday) during the game, I just rocked (again not really).

I was playing a defensive role that day, and I was taking all the goal kicks, since I was the only one with studs and I am the only one who practices free kicks (sometimes). So, I took 'em and, surprisingly, 3 of my goal kicks were the assists for the first 3 goals we scored. (It's a small ground, about 125 feet from pole to pole). And I even hit a goal kick that went directly in the net, but that was not counted. (obviously). I was happy (even though my neck was bad).

Then I rushed to my synthesizer class. Score was 3-1, and then I found out that we drew 6-6, cause my attacker friend had to play defense as I was gone. And the worst part was that my tuition was canceled. So, I missed the better part of the game for nothing.

I am still not able to turn my head completely from one side to other. It still hurts a lot :-(.... And, I am going out of the city for a week from tomorrow. Hoping to catch some good books and CDs... Seeya later (I am not sure if anyone ever reads what I write, but if you do, then seeya later....)

Aditya Shevade

My first LONGGGG drive....

2007-06-13T11:03:00.000+05:30

It was very good.... I just sat in the car, and began to drive... It was great, I pushed it right up to 90Km/hr.... I feel good.....

About 40 Km... nice hard, and the road was almost empty throughout, so it was great....

A light... of hope... but.....

2007-06-11T21:17:00.000+05:30

A light of hope indeed.... As I have mentioned in my last post that I am learning to play a keyboard. Today I had one more lecture. And at the end of the lecture, my sir said that I should get a new big keyboard now.

He said that he thinks that I have improved and am improving. But the only thing that is holding me back is the small keyboard that I have. It does not have a bender, a touch sensitivity, ability to change the tones (synthesis)....

So I came home and spoke with my parents. And they said no.. :-(.. According to them, I must continue learning for about 6 months and then they will buy it... Cause they think that I never stick to one thing... Well I am going to prove them wrong and going to show them that I do care about this and I WANT to learn this... So, forget 6 months, I am going to get expertise with this one that I have and then they will have to buy it.

And sir said that I 'should' get a big one, not I 'must'... So, right now, it's alright, but soon, I am going to have that big one on my doorstep.....

Aditya Shevade

Summary of the whole week...

2007-06-11T00:07:00.000+05:30

I cannot say anything... It has been one of the best and worst weeks in my life..... First good news (good for me) is that I have finally started to learn to drive a 4 wheeled vehicle.... And I am doing pretty good.. It's been a week (as I already have written in the heading) and I have not scratched the car (that does not mean that I have crashed it, it just means that everything has been going pretty well....).

But the joys and thrills of this driving thing are not enough for me to keep enjoying what has been going on... So there were more things. I have been learning to play an electronic keyboard for a little over a month now. And there was a get together of my tuitions, and I performed in it in front of some 400 people (mostly parents of the students in the class). I played an old Hindi song, "Jeena Yahan", on a huge synthesizer... It was a big moment for me, the first time I was ever going to perform on the stage with a keyboard and that too on a synthesizer? I mean what I have got at my home is a very very small one. (half the size of what I had to play to be precise). But as I said, I did perform and it went well.... (Except for the starting music, where I was so tense that I pressed one button too lightly that no sound came out...).

In between, I went to a friend of mine and bought home a book from him, 'The Amulet of Summerkand' written by 'Jonathan Straud' (hope the spellings of the names are correct, I don't have the book with me right now). And I have been able to read only the first 60 pages of it... Had been very stressful week....

Apart from that, my laptop was behaving strange (again), so I took it to the service station, and they said that we (HP) provide support only if the laptop behaves strange on Windows XP, and not on OpenSuSE 10.2 (which I was and still am using)... So I had to install XP, and guess what, everything was OK. So I came home.

But having had enough experiences with XP, I reinstalled SuSE, but, in the midway, my father spoke with me and I dunno why, but I reinstalled XP, and was going to install Ubuntu on a pen-drive and use it with XP.... I did that in a single day.... 3 OSs installed in a day.... It was bad....

And after proudly (???) using XP for a week, I have switched back to SuSE (:-)) yesterday... And I am lovin' it...

What else?... Yeah, I also have been trying to expand my skills (Whatever I have) in C and learn C++. (We have a subject C++ in this semester for exams). And am thinking of joining the 2 games that I have so far created Tic Tac Toe and Bulls & Cows and present it as the project for the subject....

So, even if these are holidays, I have been nothing but busy... I mean I sleep around 1am or 2am and wake up at 7am... Then sometimes I sleep during the afternoon, but my friends drag me out of the home to play with them.... It's so tiring.... I just want a break... A big break from this stressed life....

Aditya Shevade

4 down.... 2 to go.....

2007-05-21T19:04:00.000+05:30

Finally it's going to be over in less than 4 days..... 4 papers over..... Today was chemistry. I was not sure, what was going to be the difficulty level of the paper, but when I saw it, I was mad at myself. I spent hours and hours studying all the crap which was not even mentioned anywhere in the paper....

But, thanks to some good study material and whatever I had studied, the paper was fine. I have tried my best. You know, when you get in a kind of uncertainty, then just go on writing the same sentences again and again and just change the sequence of the words, and you are done.

From what I have heard, they (paper checkers) just measure the length of the answer paper and give the marks accordingly, and the height of it all was when I heard that one boy had written names of movies in his answers and he still managed to get 40/50.... Can you believe it?

Only 4 days to go......

Aditya Shevade

From the bottom of my heart......

2007-05-20T20:28:00.000+05:30

From the bottom of my heart.... Don't get excited.. this is not my love story..... What I am saying is that I hate exams from the bottom of my heart.....

Still 3 papers left... first 3 were good.... The problem is that there are 3 more.... 5 more days..... x-( .... I am just waiting for 25th, when it all will be over and there will be a LONG vacation of about 2 months.......

Till then... enjoy my website at Aditya Shevade.

Aditya Shevade

My life is getting worse and worse.......

2007-05-08T16:13:00.000+05:30

I have never been more frustrated in my entire life. First I have got the exams coming up from the 14th and then I have not studied as much as I would have wanted to....

Let me start from the beginning.... On the 1st of May, my cousin was getting married at a place about 400KM from where I live. After a lot of discussion and thinking, I decided to go with my parents on the 28th of April.... As it was marriage time, there were about 16-18 people constantly in the house and sometime even up to 30.... How the hell was I supposed to study? I absolutely wasted 5 days.... But it was worth it... I had a lot of fun.

Then I came home... I was kinda hoping that I might start with full speed, but I dunno how it happened but all of a sudden I am thinking of creating a website... A full fledged one, with all my photos, projects some tutorials and even a blog. And so, I have been spending about 3 hours a day in searching all that I need.... Now, if I fail to get a distinction, I think the computer is going out till I get a VERY good score.... (OK... it's not that bad.... I can still get a distinction..... but I know I can do more....)

And because of all this, the exams, my experiments with linuxes and multibooting and all has kept me from writing the posts here.... It's really frustrating as I said..... And I need a break, and I think I will get one after 25th.... Till then, I think this irregularity of the posts will continue. But I am thinking of writing everyday or at least every alternate day in my vacation....

Aditya Shevade.

Making your own Linux..... It's hard, but working on it is a wonderful experience....

2007-04-01T22:48:00.000+05:30

Regarding this post, first let me tell you that this time, it was my mistake that caused the trouble. I will start from the beginning, or shall I say scratch?

When I was stumbling on the net using stumble upon... I came across a site where all the information about building your own linux distribution from scratch is available. (click here for more info).

I read the information, then proceeded with the download. Read the first introductory chapters in the book and then thought that I might be able to get it working. So I downloaded all the necessary packages and then proceeded with building. At the first time it did not work, but then second time, it looked like I might get it working (for the second time on this day).

First thing was to create a dedicated partition and install the OS there, so that it does not interfere with the existing system. I did all that was described. I succesfully installed 4-5 softwares as well. But as soon as I came to the place, where I had to install gcc for the second time, all the problems started.

It did not pas the make test. I waited for 1 hour for the whole process to get executed, but I just could not do it. Then my parents began to remind me of my upcoming exams. And eventually I had to give it up, so as to study a bit.

But it really was a great feeling. I mean, I am not an old wise owl of linux. It's only been about 3-4 months that I am using it. And after that much of knowledge, I feel quite satisfied, still it hurts deep down inside that I was not able to finish it in the first go. But I guess that is life after all.....

And as I said above, this time it was my fault that things went wrong. Now I have decided that I should better get my hand on a good guide to learn linux shell scripting. And then, as soon as my exams are over, I am going to have another go at this.....

Aditya Shevade

Mr. Gawaskar has lost his head........

2007-03-15T12:50:00.000+05:30

My first question is, why? Why did he have to begin with this issue before the world cup? The more I think on it, I am beginning to feel like that the old man is losing his head.

First of all, the statement that he made that Australia are not popular winners is wrong. Only if you do not support them, it does not mean that the rest of the world does not. Australia have a very big fan support around the globe. You cannot say that they are not popular, there are plenty like me, who support Australia, even after being Indians. So that is completely crazy.

Next thing, it was Ponting's turn. Of course, when someone criticizes your team like that, anyone would lose their head. I completely back Ponting on this issue. Not just because I am a hardcore fan of his, but because this time it was Gawaskar's fault. What Ponting said is all true. The man who left the crease with his partner has no authority whatsoever to lecture anyone. Had it been anyone else, then that person would have been criticized around the world. It's only his name and fame that has kept people from going against him. Old man is really losing his head.

What Ponting said is true. Look at India. Why should Gawaskar always have a go at the Aussies? Look what Pakistani players are on the stadium. Why he never criticizes them? Due to national relations? Or because we have been defeating Pak for a long time, and not Aussies, and he cannot digest it, and that is why it's Aussies and not Pak? Coming back to Indian team, it's only because Indians lack professionalism and the attitude and urge to win that holds them back. Look at the last WC. They were terrified by Aussies. Our Mr. Opening Bowler started of with a wide and then gave it all away. Look what is performance of Sachin in big games. They are afraid and they lack the attitude. Had I been in any team, I would have done what Aussies are doing right now.

Then, what Gawaskar said on this statement of Ponting is... “We are not discussing the performance of any team, but their behavior on the field”. Then he defends his decision to leave the crease. In short he is just having a go at Aussies cause he has nothing else to do. Now my question, on one hand he says that he is talking about the on field behavior and then he says that if Aussies behave like this in a bar then they will get whacked. Now I don't think that there are bars on Cricket ground. Why do you care? They might get whacked or might hit someone, or get killed. Why are you brining this issue?

And in fact, Ponting was involved in a bar fight once and he is still standing. He is right now, arguably the best batsman in the world cricket. Best batsman in test for sure and one of the best captains and fielders the game has ever seen. And according me, unless you have a mindset and attitude like Ponting, you cannot perform that well.

To sum it all up, I would say that Mr. Gawaskar should stop criticizing Aussies now. It's been quite a long time that he is having a go at them. And in my opinion, it's the attitude of Aussies which makes them the world winners and that too popular winners.

Aditya Shevade

And we were not selected......

2007-03-02T13:45:00.000+05:30

Again, I really do wonder how these things happen in life. Today, we had a competition, we means me and my friend. It was a PowerPoint presentation competition. We were to face a screening test first and then we were going to be given some not technical subjects, on which we would have had to prepare a presentation, with the help of the Internet in one hour. That was, of course, given the fact that we were selected.

But, it all went wrong. First, the time management. The screening was scheduled at 8:30am. We were present at the spot at that time, but we came to know that screening was on 9:30. But it didn't start at 9:30 as well. Then finally it did begin at 11:30am.

We were under the impression that the screening was going to be an aptitude test, but alas. We are not that lucky. Only some 12 out of 60 questions were based on the Mental Ability Test (MAT), rest were stupid general knowledge questions, like who is president of LETTA. I don't have any idea what the hell is LETTA. Cause, I am not at all concerned with it. And I really can't see how can it be a screening test for a PowerPoint presentation contest.

They could have checked out PowerPoint knowledge or our language, the ability to present our thoughts and such things, but no, they wanted to see if we knew where the hell are the "Venkatgiri" or "Devangiri" or something like that Saree's are manufactured, like we want to start a new business there.

So, in the end, only 10 teams were selected out of some 60. And the saddest part is that ours was 11th. (I know people will not believe in me, when I say ours was 11th, but believe me, they had sorted our name, but I think they received 2 papers with scores more than ours, so my team and one more were rejected). They said that 24/60 was the last team and so, we must have had got anything from 23.75 to god knows what.

There was 1 mark for correct answer and -0.25 for a wrong one, and now I only wish, that we should not have hit arrows in air to see if we catch a pray. Those -0.25 marks did make a difference and we lost our spot. Bad luck. Maybe next time.........

Aditya Shevade

And I wasted half an hour in my life......

2007-02-24T16:31:00.000+05:30

Actually it should be..."And my old computer wasted half an hour in my life". Let me start from the beginning. As you would have read in the first post here, that my new computer, the laptop has been busted and so I am back to using the old 'box' of mine.

It is working great as I said, but the fact is that, it is celeron, 500MHz, 96MB RAM, and I have installed XP on it. I think you got the idea there. It takes almost 12-13 minutes to start working since the start button has been pushed. I mean, just now, some 2 hours ago, I had begun writing my last post about my worst day in February 2007, and suddenly there was a power cut. And the UPS gave away before the computer could shut down. I mean, that is ridiculous.

Then, I again started it on inverter supply. And again, after some 15 minutes, as I was about to begin the post again, someone switched the TV downstairs and again, the computer crashed. And so, another 15 minutes gone.

And now, finally I am writing this post. And now I am getting tired of this. There is only one way that can stop this, and that is my laptop. And finally I got a good news on that point. The HP people have replaced the motherboard, optical drive and HDD. But they are not sure yet. (Think that something else is in bad condition). So I am yet to receive it.

Aditya Shevade

The worst day of my life in February 2007...

2007-02-24T13:57:00.000+05:30

Huh.... I really don't know how these things happen... Me and a few of my friends, had decided to go to a movie and before that, a dinner. I wish that I had done nothing of the two.... It was one of the worst movies and dinner ever.

We all had gone to a veg hotel, as a coupe of my friends don't eat non-veg. And so, as me and a friend of mine are not very good foodie people, we decided to order American Choppsie (I am not sure about the spelling.... do tell me what is the correct spelling to help me edit) and Hot and Sour soup. Everyone else had ordered usual Maharashtrian or Punjabi food, but there were we, a couple of bigheads, who decided to get themselves Chinese food in a hotel where even local food is of a very poor quality.

First the soup.... only 2 words, very poor. It was hot and it was sour, so technically it was the correct soup, but apart from that there was nothing in it. Only plain water. We were looking at each other with an expression that I cannot explain in words. But as we had ordered it in one by two quantity, we were saved from the trouble of drinking the whole bowl.

Before the two of us could get ourselves back to normal state, there came American Choppsie. And I am telling you, find a place where this dish is worse than what you get in this hotel, and I will throw you a party. So, we started eating... and I just could not get it down through my throat. I mean, there were some pieces which initially looked to be of potato, but I soon discovered that it was not potato but it was Pineapple. And then there as cherry, Nuts, apple. I mean, it was more of a fruit salad than what it was meant to be. It really did suck. Urrghh......

And nobody even joined in with us, so we had to finish it all by ourselves. (I can't say I would have done anything different than what my friends did..). It was really bad. Then the movie.... Again, the title would be enough to let you know that the day was a bad one for me. It was 'Salam-e-ishq'. I am yet to see any movie (any other movie) with 6 so called love stories which actually are tragic stories. Only the songs were of any relief.

In short, what I learned is that, never order something in a hotel that you have no idea about, and be careful about hindi movies. Don't waste 150-200 rupees. Instead grab a cool DVD, Pizza and some drink and enjoy them in your home with the home theatre system. (Get one if you don't have one!).

Aditya Shevade

And I decided never to buy an HP product again.....

2007-02-08T19:54:00.000+05:30

It was a fine day. 4th of June 2006. I received my first laptop and second computer that day. I was very happy. It was HP's nx6110 model. I was in love with it the moment I saw it.

I began my work with the computer very enthusiastically. I was liking it more day by day, and then came the day, when I was watching a movie on it, and as I moved the laptop, the playback suddenly stopped, and the laptop hanged. I thought that it must be some problem with the software. (You must have guessed which software I am talking about). So I did the same thing again, and laptop hanged for second time in succession.

I filled the complaint, the month was Jully. No notice was taken by HP personnel. Then eventually the problem disappeared. So I was happy again, but then in the month of September, the hard disk started behaving like a lunatic. And before I could have done anything, the whole system came down crashing. It was in October that the hard disk and optical drive was replaced by HP for the first time. And guess what, they gave "Toshiba" hard disk and "Matshita" DVD Writer as a replacement.

I was angry the moment I knew about this, first thing was that the HDD did not come with the preloaded S/W and OS. Second thing, it was from Toshiba not HP and third thing, the DVD drive had problems. I will come to that later. First the Hard Disk. I had payed extra for the preloaded S/W. And as the first HDD was replaced due to manufacturing defect, it was HP's responsibility to give the new HDD with the S/W. But they did not. And no sooner than I had installed all the S/W and OS, the replaced HDD, the 'Toshiba' one, came down crashing. I was mad. I wanted to hit those people. I had complained on the very first day, but no, they said 'Toshiba' is better. So they replaced the HDD for the second time.

Meanwhile the DVD-Writer. The one that came with the system originally could write DVD-RAM disks. But this replaced one could not. It also had problems with the writing speed. With a speed of 11800KB/S, it takes some 15 minutes to write a DVD-5. Which is almost 5 minutes more than the first one took. And again the DVD-RAM problem was always there.

I contacted the HP customer care online chatting. First, I did not get any reply at all. The second time I complained about this, again, the person was not chatting well. First he took a lot of time to reply, secondly when I told him about the problem, he started saying, that I should use the bundled S/W with the laptop for best results. Hello, the bundled S/W sucks. I told him that. He said, try writing a DVD with that. I said OK. And again, the drive took 8 minutes to write 700MBs and moreover, the DVD was not created a multisession one as I had directed. So I told him for one more time that the bundled S/W sucks. Then I made a statement, "You say, use bundled S/W for best results, I want to edit photos, why don't you give me Photoshop CS2 preloaded?" He did not reply.

I then asked him about the fact that this drive could not write DVD-RAM. But he did not reply t that as well. I was so mad at him, that I logged off. This happened in the month of November-December.

Then, again as soon as everything seemed to have settled down, and only after some 15 days that I had installed opensuse 10.2 on my laptop, the 3rd HDD crashed. On the 7th of February 2007. I want to go and hit the people at HP on head with the laptop now. This is really bizarre. I mean, how many times more? I used to think that this was a good company, but not anymore. I have been using an old desktop for 6.5 years. It's HDD was replaced for the first time after 5 years and CD drive after 4 years. Maybe, it worked well because it is not made by HP. The only thing I want to say is that, it is not user's fault, or I would have had faced all the problems with the desktop as well.

What problems are there are with the laptop. Right from month one. I have never heard anything like this before. 3 HDD and 2 Optical Drive replacements in 8 months? And that too because of companies fault? I have been asking for entire piece replacement from the first month itself. But the company is reluctant. I still say, that as a goodwill, HP should look into the matter. This is all theirs fault, and it's me who is suffering from it. Not the company. I am going to try for the last time to see what do they do, but one thing for sure, I am never buying an HP product again.........

Aditya Shevade