Posted by hatim
Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:18:00 GMT
I have to confess that I have never owned a DSL connection. It was always a Fiber optic connection or a shared T1 line at the workplace/university. With the ongoing price wars for DSL connections I decided to get a connection for my self at home (actualy it was for my sister). The connection was ordered in April 2008 and then there was a long wait. Every time I would call to them they would make up some excuse. In the end around June 15th I decided to lynch the call center guys. In limits of decency I lynched him on the phone, and the next thing you know that with in 24 hours the installation of modem was done. It was running fine for one week, when it suddenly it stopped working.
On inquiring from the people in Tech support I was told that this connection was not installed to begin with. I admit that there were probably few loose ends to tie, for example when ever there was an incoming or outgoing phone call the DSL connection would drop. And even though the connection was dropped if the DSL device was on, there would be noise. I had to literally beg the equipment installation guy to make my connection work as I had lots of work to catch up to, he gave me some one elses ID (how typical of Pakistan, solve a problem by breaking rules).
Then I lodged a complains a few times with PTCL(the telephone company) to clear the noise and they always give me a token number (like its a big prize). In short getting a DSL connection in Pakistan is not easy even though as compared to previous years prices have come down considerably. With no electricity or sane internet I wonder why people think Pakistan is an ideal place for outsourcing.
Posted in Technology | Tags Internet, review | 1 comment | no trackbacks
Posted by hatim
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:28:00 GMT
My telephone line at home was out of order for about 3 weeks now and I was in need of an internet connection at home. I decided to give using internet through my cell phone (GPRS) a try. The reason for this was simple, I needed an internet connection which would make me truly mobile and was cost effective as well. And ofcourse an implied requirement was that it should work with Linux(easily). So I searched up the internet for tarrifss of local cellular companies and compared them with other options which I had. I decided to go with Zong's (a China Mobile comapny) unlimited GPRS package. I was skeptical about the internet speed and was not even sure how I would be ablt to connect my laptop with the internet as it was only recently that I had begun using internet through my Mobile.
First I got hold of a Sony Erricson data cable as I had lost the one which came with my phone. This cost me 200Rs (3 US$), then I purchased some Zong credit for testing. Then using another internet connection I searched on how to use ubuntu with GPRS enabled phones. I found an article at softpedia to be very helpful. I found through dmesg that on my system, my phone was registering itself at ttyACM0 as well
[528.702039] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
[528.873965] usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[528.987405] cdc_acm 4-1:1.1: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
[528.989688] cdc_acm 4-1:1.3: ttyACM1: USB ACM device
[528.991639] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_acm
Then I installed gnome-ppp and used it as per described in the article. The APN for Zong is zonginternet and apprently there is no username and password, but I still used zon/zong so that gnome-ppp could dial out. I also had to ensure that my user was in the modem/dial_out group. I tested the internet connectivity and was delighted to see that after dailing in there was nothing else to be done. Later I called up Zong customer services after feeding in some extra credit of 550 Rs (roughly 8US$) and activated my monthly unlimited internet package.
Later I tried watching a Youtube video, the bandwidth was not enough for me to stream it live but I was able to download a 9 MB file in a relatively short time compared to dialup connection. I was able to go to a download speed of 15KB/sec which I think is more than enough for day to day browsing and coding related tasks. I am looking forward to using this connection for my summer of code activities.
Posted in Technology | Tags gprs, Internet, linux, ubuntu | 1 comment | no trackbacks
Posted by hatim
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:10:00 GMT
There was a suicide attack outside the Danish embassy on 2 June. The Embassy is located in a posh residential area of F-6/2. The attack claimed 8 lives and 24 injured almost all of them Pakistanis and most of them belonging to the office adjacent to the Embassy. The attack has triggered few other embassies to close down operations temporarily including embassy of Sweden of whose closure affects me personally. There are few problems which I think need to be addressed.
In entire Islamabad there is a severe shortage of housing and office space. On top of that all the good spots are taken up by foreign missions etc. They should be moved into an isolated locale so that they don't affect day to day operations of Pakistani citizen.
The Danish could have made an exception in exercising freedom of speech. They could have just stopped printing of those cartoons the second time. The only messege those cartoons were giving was that freedom of speech is more important than caring about the feelings of millions of muslims. If they had stopped reprinting of those cartoons perhaps it would not have come to blasts in Pakistan. I think there are sensible people in EU and US who would agree with me, freedom of speech does not necessarily mean saying what ever you want, some times making sure that hurtful and hateful message never get across.
Posted in Rants | Tags blasta, islamabad, Politics | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by hatim
Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:41:00 GMT
On this previous monday I recieved my Google Summer of Code payment card. Its a Master Card from some finance related company run by General Electric. It does not have my name on it, instead it has a number and GSOC 2008 Stundet written on it. The card had no value on it and had a number written on it to enable it. It was a US 1-800 number. I had a hunch that skype should let me call 1-800 numbers for free, and a google search confirmed it. I activated my card at no cost :).
Posted in LifeLog | Tags google, soc
Posted by hatim
Wed, 28 May 2008 12:36:00 GMT
I have always wanted to try out skype. I had an idea about it's excellent voice quality from guys a Twit, but today I witnessed it first hand. The thing which was holding me up was the unavailibility of Mic (input sound) on my laptop. Today I figured out what the problem is. On my Acer 7720-6604 I have an internal mic, for some reason it does not work, but an external mic does. I for some reason was thinking that no mic works what so ever. I added a line in /etc for proper module loading (I didn't have it in my fresh Hardy installation) and in options for volume control I chose Mic as input source. When recording from Gnome's sound recorder I chose Digital as input of recording. So atleast I am able to record sound now (although not with my internal mic)
Then I checked out this link for installation of Skype on my linux box. On 64 bit machines you have to fool the thing to use 32 bit libraries. I made a test call and it soudedd perfect. Then i even tried a call with webcam and it worked well too. I actually have a conference call with browzow from OpenNMS regarding my summer of code assignment, which has started since this Monday. I have not coded any thing worth committing yet and lets hope I have some small stuff cooked up by the end of this week.
Posted in Technology | Tags opennms, skype, soc, ubuntu | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by hatim
Sun, 25 May 2008 11:57:00 GMT
I have started preping for my forthcoming stay in Sweden (I am quite hopeful about the visa). Since there is no tution in Sweden so the biggest expense one has to bear is accomodation, clothes and books. I registered my self to one of the housing comapnies in Gothenburg few days after I recieved my admission offer. The rents begin at around 280 Euros / month (including electricity and internet). I am targetting for an apprtment complex which is very near to the university and is frequented by international students.
As for clothes I am hoping to get some clothes stiched up within coming few months. I will rely alot on Jeans and Tshirts :) but would definetly get a black 3 piece suite. Sweden is a very very cold country so I need to buckle up (I also need some good shoes).
As for books I am on the lookout to buy them from here, but it seems very few books will be available in Pakistan. I will try to put a list of all the required books for software engineering and technology on my blog soon.
Posted in LifeLog | Tags chalmers, studies | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by hatim
Thu, 22 May 2008 15:39:00 GMT
Since I recieved my admission letter from Chalmers University, Software Engineering Masters program, I have been preping to apply for visa. This year's visa process for studies in Sweden for Pakistani students has few changes. First of all one would need to apply through Visa drop box (which is essentially Gerry's/FedEx office). They handle visa documents and fee. Swedish Embassy charges 10500 Rs (roughly 100 Euros) in form of Bank deposit and visa drop box further charges 1000 Rs (10 Euros) cash. I also got my pictures snapped from a studio in F-6 Super, they knew exactly how to snap the pic. The toughest past was to get a Bank Statement, I had to borrow some money from my parents and buy Euros of it. Euro is becoming expensive by the day. They have other requirements filled in on Embassys's website. One thing which people don't know is that all photocopies should be on complete A4 page and should not be torn in any way.
I went to FedEx Gerrys office on Thursday (before I submitted my docs) only to find out that they only accept documents from Mon-Wed , 9 am-12 pm which is really a pain. So finally I reached the visa drop box office, this Monday early morning. There was atleast one more student there before me, also applying for Visa. After submitting my documents I was given a date of June 9th for intreview. Hopefully it will be a breeze :)
I am already looking out for cheap air travel from Pakistan to Sweden. It seems that one has to reach Sweden directly or has to fly through France, Netherlands or Germany for some new European Immigration procedure. I am eyeing on a late bird Luftansa from Lahore on Aug 25th now, costing me about 490 Euros. Not bad for half way around the world eh.
Posted in LifeLog | Tags interview, visa | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by hatim
Wed, 21 May 2008 07:02:00 GMT
Well its no longer a surprise that Google sends out goodies to its Summer of code students before the start of Summer of Code, but it is still a surprise that which title would they be sending. I recieved (with apologies to those who still want this surprise to be secret) Beutiful Code by Andy Oram & Greg Wilson. I had this book in e-format previously, but i would probably never have read it. I already started reading it's Chapter 20 which is reltaed to a Java based information portal which was devloped for Mars Rover missions. This is an excellent gift for an aspiring Software engineer like me. Thank you Google :)
Posted in Technology | Tags coding, opennms, soc | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by hatim
Tue, 20 May 2008 18:33:00 GMT
I have finally broken the taboo. I am posting this blog from my Sony Erricson W810i.
Edit: Actually the above two sentences were the only things which i was able to post from my cell phone (this I am posting from my Desktop at work). Yesterday I decided to enable WAP over my cellphone. It was much easier than the last time I had tried. My cellphone service provider is an old memoth and is loosing its customers fast to new rivals, so I guess they have made their customer services much better. Any who I only used it to reply to one messege which i got on my gmail and to post this blog micro entry above. Poisting blog from a cell phone like mine is a big hassle in my opnion, but still its better than not posting at all.
Posted in Technology | Tags Blog, mobile | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by hatim
Fri, 16 May 2008 14:56:00 GMT
I had been reading up on the Ubuntu security breach since this Tuesday and was concerned that my system would also have been compromised. A little searching yielded a site which described the venerability in some detail and shows how to exploit it. It also has a bunch of private/public keys which were generated on a 31 core machine (some thing which only a serious computer venerability researcher would do).
I looked up into the keys and I was not able to find my public keys. Perhpas the vernerability is more than it seems (or perhaps lesser). But In any case I have changed my keys :)
Posted in Technology | Tags linux, ubuntu | no comments | no trackbacks
