Exams from tomorrorow

and I am here!
Just opened up an IBM and site and well in my mind hoping that sometime in the future I could join the company. Okay dreams apart...
I just wrote my proc-list viewer for Windows in VC++ (what else?)... I worked around the problems of last time and it's working fine! I am also getting the modules loaded... but some functions need to be added... like kill task and reading the process handles (how?)... also perhaps information about it's windows (if present) and threads... but not now! Exams are TOP priority...
I just installed MANDRIVA and it didn't quite live up to it's reputation of being the easiest Desktop Linux distro around... perhaps I just don't like KDE much... but yeah some parts were fine...
well as of now... lets see tha IBM site and Khitij.. what's going on there?
Bye for now.

Diwali time... tubri timE!

I just cannot forget the huge tubris (you need to be Bengali) my friend made for Diwali. They were 4x4 inches and man was that a beauty to watch! Cost me a hole-in-the-wallet though... worth it.

Aw-right... I just tried edubuntu ... it's awesome...

Trying my hand at some SDL programming... after I edited an error in a game called brickshooter... resolved after a few tweaks. Well, for me life is all about computing now-a-days... so much to do... so little time.

Well.. that's it for now. Bye!

Here's another poem

Was written 3-4 years ago... inspired from a painting I will never forget!

The Returning

Through the yellow dunes,

women and playful children on

slow camel-drawn chariots-

veiled women, all but red, move on.

In one slow but massive track,

as if in the dusk, a snake

crawls muscularly through debris-

of their last ones, now a fake.

The setting sun through hills,

mark the falling of coldness;

run down pale yellow cheeks-

they had to pay, Hatred, the cess.

He comes when the melon goes,

arrives with all the widows

leaving with their happy children-

the camel slowly moves, it goes.

The red aura of the sunset,

eclipsed by the red sand

beneath the long feet of camels.

They return along with their band.

Honourable men gone to return,

even they do return there

as the ones they leave behind-

Their children ask, "Where ?"

My past poems

I've decided to post my poems on my blog. I have a little collection of sorts....

SOLDIER

There I stand all alone,

Roaring winds, dusty leaves-

holding in trembling hands

the ruins, through fine sieves.

The barren below me-

I am liberated, am free!

Brother, you are my target,

stand still, let me murder-

Deadly, bloody, violent our fame.

we create... go no further.

The ruddy pools flank me,

I am fearless, am free!

In a hellish place at last,

Perhaps some peace we get-

Frustrating, this hollow peace

of searching hopelessly, no outlet.

The wreck less carnage surrounds me-

I am hopeless, am free!

Synaptic Temporary Files

I spent so much net-time updating my ubuntu 8.04 LTS system and now when I re-installed it I had to do the same... and I was so tired using up double net-space. Luckily I found a permanent solution... all packages for updates that apt downloads are kept safely in a folder and for a reasonable amount of time.

I just happened to find out the temporary folder of synaptic (rather apt)...
It's: /var/cache/apt/archives

Well then, off to the remaining downloads and creating a new BOLD Version of ubuntu that contains all RESTRICTED codecs and everything to make it one-time-install-and-use-ready!

TECH-COM TV Tuner card on Linux

I finally got TV working (I had a TECH-COM SSD-670) on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop edition and what a struggle was that!

Okay I'm enumerating my experience in short for others :----
I downloaded XAW-TV and SCANTV... so these are the basic requirements.
(or TV-Time perhaps; but I didn't try that)
Then run these :

sudo rmmod saa7134_alsa
sudo rmmod saa7134_dvb [ Optional since, DVB module might not be loaded: check out lsmod ]
sudo rmmod saa7134
sudo modprobe card=3 tuner=69

awright! Now everything should work fine and if you don't have sound it's because the Line-In is muted. Un-Mute that from the main volume controls.

With a bit of modifications you can get it working. Say the card=3 and tuner = 69;; these numbers vary depending on your card and Tuner.