The latest version of Debian, the Universal Operating System, Debian 5.0 (code named "Lenny") has been released as a valentine's day gift on 14th February 2009. For those unfamiliar with the naming scheme of the Debian releases, they are named after characters in the animated film Toy Story and go through four phases - experimental, unstable, testing and stable. So the earlier version - Etch - has been superseded by Lenny (the binoculars in Tory Story) and Squeeze (the three-eyed green alien) will become the current "testing" version.
It had been in freeze for a long time and has come up well within the planned window (two months before maximum deadline). This release supports the 12 architectures and has as many as 23000 packages (almost 6000 more than the previous release Debian etch). The supported architectures this time are : Sun SPARC (sparc), HP Alpha (alpha), Motorola/IBM PowerPC (powerpc), Intel IA-32 (i386), IA-64 (ia64), HP PA-RISC (hppa), MIPS (mips, mipsel), ARM (arm, armel), IBM S/390 (s390), and AMD64 and Intel EM64T (amd64).
There are some indications that there maybe a Lenny-and-a-half release later in the year with support for newer hardware. The release comes at a time when people have successfully installed it on Google's Android Mobile platform (See details here and here). One person here claims that its possible to do so within 10 minutes!
I have been using it for few months and am very happy with it. The GUI installer is much improved over the previous ones and it runs very fast. The shutdown time is also quite reduced compared to the previous version. There are of course many more packages this time. Due to this reason it has as many as 31 CDs (or 5 DVDs) which contain the free packages.
For those interested in upgrading to it from Debian etch please add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list file:-
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
Don't forget to read the release notes and the installation manual before you do the install.
You can easily obtain a copy and install it.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Geeta Dutt: My Favourite Singer
I am a great hindi film music fan especially of Old film music. Of all the singers I have heard my favourite is Geeta Dutt. She has the most beautiful, youthful and energy filled voice. She has sung a variety of songs from the very happy ones to the very sad ones. As one person has said, she could sing for the doll one minute and for the moll the other! That was the kind of variety she had. Not many people know that she has sung over 1200 songs in hindi films. She has also sung songs in other languages including her mother tongue Bengali, Gujrati, Bhojpuri, Nepali and Marathi.
Her voice hits you like a thunderclap. One famous critic had said once, "Singer XYZ gale se gaati hai par Geeta Dil Se Gaati Hai." When one hears the big variety of her songs one realises this very well. Be it the cabaret style Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo, the sadly lilting Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam or the wonderful Ched Chaad songs like Reham Kabhi to Farmao from Society, She does them wonderfully and lending the "Geeta touch" to all of them. It is a pity that due to her bad personal life She could not reach the even greater heights she could have reached. Her voice was thandi hawa and kaali ghata rolled into one.
It would be foolish of me to even think of listing which are my favourite songs of hers. There are simply too many. Most people are familiar with a few popular ones but her range is much more than that. The more I listen to her the more enamoured I am by her voice. Maybe I'll discuss some songs in later posts if it generates interest.
Today is her 78th Birth Anniversary and in her memory I am making the post.
There are many events taking place in memory of it. The first website in her memory www.geetadutt.com has been launched today by some members from www.hamaraforums.com and it is a beautiful piece of work. Her fans would find wonderful reading it. It makes you see her much more than the illinformed opinion heard so often.
Some people say for example, that she couldn't sing classical songs. Many myths like these get blasted when one goes through the site. She was truly an artiste for all time. May god bless her soul.
www.hamaraforums.com has a very active Geeta forum on it which loves sharing her songs and information. There is even an orkut community for her. A mail ID has been created by them geetaduttfans@rediffmail.com where one can post their choice of songs. The password is freely available on the community and one can get all.
Lastly, I'll say in somebody else's words, "Her voice had the sweetness of honey and the sting of the honey bee!"
Her voice hits you like a thunderclap. One famous critic had said once, "Singer XYZ gale se gaati hai par Geeta Dil Se Gaati Hai." When one hears the big variety of her songs one realises this very well. Be it the cabaret style Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo, the sadly lilting Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam or the wonderful Ched Chaad songs like Reham Kabhi to Farmao from Society, She does them wonderfully and lending the "Geeta touch" to all of them. It is a pity that due to her bad personal life She could not reach the even greater heights she could have reached. Her voice was thandi hawa and kaali ghata rolled into one.
It would be foolish of me to even think of listing which are my favourite songs of hers. There are simply too many. Most people are familiar with a few popular ones but her range is much more than that. The more I listen to her the more enamoured I am by her voice. Maybe I'll discuss some songs in later posts if it generates interest.
Today is her 78th Birth Anniversary and in her memory I am making the post.
There are many events taking place in memory of it. The first website in her memory www.geetadutt.com has been launched today by some members from www.hamaraforums.com and it is a beautiful piece of work. Her fans would find wonderful reading it. It makes you see her much more than the illinformed opinion heard so often.
Some people say for example, that she couldn't sing classical songs. Many myths like these get blasted when one goes through the site. She was truly an artiste for all time. May god bless her soul.
www.hamaraforums.com has a very active Geeta forum on it which loves sharing her songs and information. There is even an orkut community for her. A mail ID has been created by them geetaduttfans@rediffmail.com where one can post their choice of songs. The password is freely available on the community and one can get all.
Lastly, I'll say in somebody else's words, "Her voice had the sweetness of honey and the sting of the honey bee!"
Monday, August 25, 2008
Want to see yourself on a magazine cover?
Have you ever wondered how you would look on a magazine cover?
I discovered some sites which let you do such that:. You can try them out just for fun or positive reinforcements to remind you what you have to achieve still. :-)
Just upload a photo of yours there, choose a magazine cover and voila, it shall appear. Its that simple.
I discovered some sites which let you do such that:. You can try them out just for fun or positive reinforcements to remind you what you have to achieve still. :-)
- http://www.magmypic.com
- http://meonmag.com
- http://www.oncoverpage.com
- http://www.bighugelabs.com
Just upload a photo of yours there, choose a magazine cover and voila, it shall appear. Its that simple.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Virtualbox: Virtual Machines on your OS
Virtualbox is an open source software for emulating one software on another which I recently discovered. To put it simply it allows you to calculate virtual machines on your system. This means that you can install one OS within another. For example you could have a virtual machine with Windows XP on your system. This is what I did. I did this on a Debian Lenny system and am telling how I did it here.
First ensure that you are updated with the debian lenny repository.
1. apt-get install virtualbox-ose virtualbox-ose-source virtualbox-ose-modules-2.6-486 module-assistant
This will install the necessary software including the 486 image. Install appropriate module as per your need and ensure you are in that kernel after reboot.
2. module-assistant prepare
This prepares your module setup ensuring that your headers package is alright because this is the one against whom all the modules are compiled.
3. module-assistant auto-install virtualbox-ose
This installs the necessary modules.
4. modprobe vboxdrv
This loads the module.
5. Open the virtualbox software and follow the gui for making machines. Put type as XP. Ensure you have allowed CDs mounting. You can add XP installation CD and install it.
The new version allows shared folders also. In virtualbox you can decide the shared folders. These can be accessed by settings in My Network places.
1. go to 'My Computer' in WinXP and click on 'My Network Places'
2. select 'Choose another network location' and click 'Next' in service providers.
3. Browse to 'My Network Places' >> 'Entire Network' >> 'VirtualBox Shared Folders'. Here you will find the folder that you shared earlier using 'Devices' menu in VirtualBox VM as '\\VBOXSVR\...' Choose that folder and then click 'OK' to exit. And 'Next' to continue
4, Give a name to it and you are in business!
you may also need to install the guest extensions for that machine.
This gives the stability of linux underneath and an unstable XP inside. It runs really fast on my system!
Virtualbox is an open source software available for Linux, windows and Mac OS X also. But remember its an an x86 virtualization software package developed by Sun Microsystems. So will work on x86 and amd64 machines only.
First ensure that you are updated with the debian lenny repository.
1. apt-get install virtualbox-ose virtualbox-ose-source virtualbox-ose-modules-2.6-486 module-assistant
This will install the necessary software including the 486 image. Install appropriate module as per your need and ensure you are in that kernel after reboot.
2. module-assistant prepare
This prepares your module setup ensuring that your headers package is alright because this is the one against whom all the modules are compiled.
3. module-assistant auto-install virtualbox-ose
This installs the necessary modules.
4. modprobe vboxdrv
This loads the module.
5. Open the virtualbox software and follow the gui for making machines. Put type as XP. Ensure you have allowed CDs mounting. You can add XP installation CD and install it.
The new version allows shared folders also. In virtualbox you can decide the shared folders. These can be accessed by settings in My Network places.
1. go to 'My Computer' in WinXP and click on 'My Network Places'
2. select 'Choose another network location' and click 'Next' in service providers.
3. Browse to 'My Network Places' >> 'Entire Network' >> 'VirtualBox Shared Folders'. Here you will find the folder that you shared earlier using 'Devices' menu in VirtualBox VM as '\\VBOXSVR\...' Choose that folder and then click 'OK' to exit. And 'Next' to continue
4, Give a name to it and you are in business!
you may also need to install the guest extensions for that machine.
This gives the stability of linux underneath and an unstable XP inside. It runs really fast on my system!
Virtualbox is an open source software available for Linux, windows and Mac OS X also. But remember its an an x86 virtualization software package developed by Sun Microsystems. So will work on x86 and amd64 machines only.
Talk and Walk
All talk without walk is meaningless. IBM recently had a set of Ads with the tag line Doing it. In one particular one a lady, presumably a high executive is showing their innovation stations and says lots of things. In another one a lot of people are supposed to be "ideating" on the floor but haven't ideated about how they will innovate. At the end the tagline comes saying about stopping talk and start doing. IBM claims to show you how to do it. (no pun intended).
It brings up a very important point. Many people across cultures, jobs and races talk more and work less. This is detrimental to our progress as a civilisation and ultimately manking. We need to be helping each other to become better as a manking. I had read this book called "The Sigma Protocol" by Robert Ludlum (grab it. a good one). The villain makes a very valid point at one place (although i didn't like his solution's implementation!). The tragedy of mankind is that experts in each field have a great learning curve and often when they really become the experts their body is old. So they have very few years to actually give quality work. (Very true. Most nobel prizes are given to scientists for their work done at young ages in their old ages!). This is a global problem.
The only solution for this is to maximise the little time we do have and thus increase the global quality work output.
So help others. Share all that you know (US can start with sharing military and nuclear technology with India ;-) for example). This will help all of us get strong.
So stop talking and start doing.
It brings up a very important point. Many people across cultures, jobs and races talk more and work less. This is detrimental to our progress as a civilisation and ultimately manking. We need to be helping each other to become better as a manking. I had read this book called "The Sigma Protocol" by Robert Ludlum (grab it. a good one). The villain makes a very valid point at one place (although i didn't like his solution's implementation!). The tragedy of mankind is that experts in each field have a great learning curve and often when they really become the experts their body is old. So they have very few years to actually give quality work. (Very true. Most nobel prizes are given to scientists for their work done at young ages in their old ages!). This is a global problem.
The only solution for this is to maximise the little time we do have and thus increase the global quality work output.
So help others. Share all that you know (US can start with sharing military and nuclear technology with India ;-) for example). This will help all of us get strong.
So stop talking and start doing.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Rumour Mongers
There is one more tribe of people I don't like. They are the rumour mongers.
Some people love making gossip. I believe that its a myth that women make more gossip. Men make their own sort of gossip without even realising they are gossiping.
But what really gets my goat is malicious rumour mongers. They make unwarranted, absolutely false gossip which causes damage to others. Please refrain from doing this. It is a character flaw in my opinion.
Make the world a more wonderful place by being nice to all. Life is short. Spend your time in making something of it rather than indulging in gossip.
Small people make gossip. Grow up.
This particularly makes me angry when it comes from people in high positions and journalists. People in high positions must live a life of dignity. Journalists should never forget what they owe to the people. In the fight to make ends meet they should not tamper with the very fundamentals of the job. Much of the breaking news on news networks these days are too broken. They create a controversy out of totally different comments made by celebrities. Anyone with average intelligence can make out their fibs. Whom are they trying to make fools of? They should behave more responsibly and give good short news. There is enough happening in the world to more than fill the 24 hours.
Some people love making gossip. I believe that its a myth that women make more gossip. Men make their own sort of gossip without even realising they are gossiping.
But what really gets my goat is malicious rumour mongers. They make unwarranted, absolutely false gossip which causes damage to others. Please refrain from doing this. It is a character flaw in my opinion.
Make the world a more wonderful place by being nice to all. Life is short. Spend your time in making something of it rather than indulging in gossip.
Small people make gossip. Grow up.
This particularly makes me angry when it comes from people in high positions and journalists. People in high positions must live a life of dignity. Journalists should never forget what they owe to the people. In the fight to make ends meet they should not tamper with the very fundamentals of the job. Much of the breaking news on news networks these days are too broken. They create a controversy out of totally different comments made by celebrities. Anyone with average intelligence can make out their fibs. Whom are they trying to make fools of? They should behave more responsibly and give good short news. There is enough happening in the world to more than fill the 24 hours.
Obstructers
The success of any nation is determined by how hardworking and cooperative the people of that nation are. I believe there are intelligent people everywhere. Not all countries are born with opportunities but any country can make opportunities for its own people. There are many countries which are great examples of what a country can become if its people are good. Israel, singapore, japan, germany are just some of the examples for this. They have gone from being in very bad state to being world leaders in various fields.
The biggest reason for this in my opinion is that the people are very hard working, visionary and support each other. Even if i cannot do something but help another who can do it I would be doing a big service to the community.
Unfortunately that is not true in many cultures and it never ceases to annoy me. People don't do things themselves also and obstruct others too. I will not do and i will not let you do also. You have a fresh idea which is very different , revolutionary and does not fit my ideas. Therefore I will obstruct you. I will not encourage you. I cannot come to your level therefore I will bring you down to my level.
This is the attitude these people have and I find it very disgusting.
May their tribe reduce.
The biggest reason for this in my opinion is that the people are very hard working, visionary and support each other. Even if i cannot do something but help another who can do it I would be doing a big service to the community.
Unfortunately that is not true in many cultures and it never ceases to annoy me. People don't do things themselves also and obstruct others too. I will not do and i will not let you do also. You have a fresh idea which is very different , revolutionary and does not fit my ideas. Therefore I will obstruct you. I will not encourage you. I cannot come to your level therefore I will bring you down to my level.
This is the attitude these people have and I find it very disgusting.
May their tribe reduce.
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