Netra’s Weblog

Since the day I began to gain understanding of the word “kernel”, I was always curious to know more and more about it. I was trying since few days to write a very simple “hello world” module but couldnt. Today I came across this link http://tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/2.6/html/index.html … By following the instructions given in that tutorial, I was able to write my first kernel module, compile and load it successfully.

I am sssssssooooo happy about it

Well, ” A journey of thousand miles begins with a small step”…

I am trying to connect my Nokia 6020 handset through DKU-5 to my laptop for a project. I am unable to find drivers. The handset is not being recognized by the system. I use Ubuntu 7.04. I searched the web for info but couldnt find any. Can anyone let me know about the driver? Or some other data cable that can be used on linux wil also be helpful.

If I fail to explore a way to connect the mobile to my comp, i ll be forced to do the project on Windows Please help me…

I had never thought that I could stay awake all night anytime. Innofest 2008, a technical fest by IIIT, Bangalore had an overnight programming contest named CODE BUTTER on 22nd night. In a team of 3, we were supposed to solve one problem ( which was actually a mini-project) in 12 hours.

The competition was awesome. The most wonderful thing was the confidence I gained from the event. I forgot everything when I started coding at 9.30 pm at night. It was like addiction to programming. Its a good experience to work under stress.

Our team coded a utility to search files on Linux/Unix system. We used UNIX APIs for the functionality and Qt for the front end. We knew the details and usage of most APIs that we used. Qt assistant helped me a lot. We were given access to internet and that was very useful in certain special occasions (like converting a QString to char * for use by the APIs etc. ). IIIT, Bangalore is about to release our code under GPL.

We have created a mailing list for RVCE lug on Google Groups. Currently there are two projects going on in association with KK Mane sir from TIFR, Mumbai.

1. Free money project- Accounting package like Tally, basically an open source alternative to Tally.

2. Book reader project

As a part of activities on campus, I conducted a session on Shell Basics because we wanted the fundamentals to be strong and work culture to be efficient. The response was overwhelming.

Last Thursday, we had Hiran in our college. Hiran had participated in Google SoC last year. He gave a session on font development and it was very interesting. Many student from our college are now interested in designing Kannada fonts.

On Saturday….Kartik Mistry, Praveen, Shyam, Vikram and srijit had come to our college. Praveen and Shyam gave lecture on GSoC. Kartik spoke about debian. Vikram talked about localization. All the lectures were awesome. Please help the swatantra project in translation on http://translate.swatantra.org if you know Kannada.

Recently, my friend informed me that v can browse the internet using emacs. I tried doing it and it is an awesome feature.

I downloaded the packages w3m, w3m-el and w3m-img.

Started emacs, Alt+X typed w3m

This loads the w3m.

Pressed the open button in the 2nd row to enter the URL

Pressed Enter and there it is!!!

We can also use the images option to display images in the page.

Nice feature… right????

Thanks to RMS( Richard M. Stallman) for such a rich text editor

and..

Thanks to Prabhanjan ( www.prabhanjan.wordpress.com) for sharing this tip with me

I was directed to this article by one of my friends..

http://blog.anamazingmind.com/2008/02/why-linux-doesnt-spread-curse-of-being.html

It explains the user reaction from psychology perspective. Never the less, I feel very comfortable with Linux, specially for programming, with its rich set of development tools.

I was really excited to see NITK with its vast campus, well maintained buildings and bbbeeeaaauuutiful beach infront of the college. It was a great experience away from the crowded city life. My dream of visiting the sea came true after a long time.

I participated in Rectifier and Marathon. The events were well organized and it was highly competitive. Rectifier was a debugging event. Marathon tested us in all the aspects of Computer Science including Programming, Algorithms, Data Structures. It also included IT Quiz. Marathon contained five rounds and i thoroughly enjoyed each round. I qualified to the finals in both the events but the failure in the finals taught me good lessons It often happens that you learn more from temporary “FAILURES” than “SUCCESS”.

The best time perhaps was the time spent on beach with my friends. The sound of the waves was soothing. It was Valentine’s day. There were a few young couples on the beach It was nice to watch them happy together. One of my friends said “I personally believe there shudnt be a valentine’s day …bcoz u need to love ur loved ones everyday. Everyday is a valentine’s day. Every occassion when u r with that person is special”. Great feeling indeed!!

The Surathkal beach was relatively less crowded, very calm and relaxing. The students of NITK are lucky to study in such a great environment.

… loads to study for exams… see u all after exams..

We now have the support of our teachers.. We have started a lug for rvce students and its guided by Krishkant Mane Sir ( from TIFR) and RP Sir … KK sir is planning a lot of things for the group. I am very very happy for this.. Thank God things are improving

I picked up the spirit of FOSS( Free/Open source Software) from foss.in 2006. The most wonderful aspect about foss is the community that guides u, the community that supports u. You tend to explore more and more.. The open source philosophy offers you a lot of freedom. Being a student, the availability of source code is a boon to me.

Even technically, Open Source Software is far better than the Proprietary Software. Again, the dedicated community is the key factor here. I salute all those contributors!!!

Many people ask me why I want many people to work on foss(or linux platform for that matter).. I believe that open source is a way of life.. I am not forcing people to use foss. But how wil people compare proprietary software and foss if they are ignorant about foss? How wil anyone know that foss is better if they dont know whats offered by the foss world?

I have been trying to make my friends aware about foss.. The initial response wasnt encouraging. I discussed the same matter even in foss.in 2006 (I think sm people do remember that..).. That time, Tarique, Sudha and others suggested me to start working on foss.  They said “Ur peers wil listen to u if they find that your work is good and interesting”.. Since a year, i have been doing the same.

We had a techno-managerical fest infinity ‘007 in our department.. V organized an event called “Bond with Linux”. It was a unique event of its kind.. introduced for the first time. It was to encourage the participants to know more about linux and FOSS in general. The response was good.. We hope to conduct many such events in future.

Personally, I did my curriculum project on File Structures on Linux. While the rest of the class did the project on W* platform, i faced a bit of opposition and discouragement initially (people said its very difficult to do it on linux!!!).. But i must admit, some people really supported me a lot. Now, when I am done with the project, every body is appreciating me for doing it on linux.. Great to see this…