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It was a child’s play to configure Linux for GPRS. There was hardly anything considerable I did to get it working. I connect using my mobile, Nokia E50 with Nokia Connectivity Cable (data cable) CA-53 on my historic laptop Acer TravelMate 240.

Before I start, about my system:

Hardware: Acer Travelmate240 with 2.4 GHz Intel Celeron and 768MB memory.

OS: Debian GNU/Linux, Kernel 2.6.8-2-686 (precompiled, from Debian apt system)

So this is how it goes. I connected my USB connectivity cable CA-53 that came bundled with E50. As soon as I connected mobile to the cable, phone poped a message on its screen as shown in the image below.

I selected cancel here. If you select OK, it will treat it as a USB storage media. At this time dmesg registered messages as shown below.

usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using address 7
scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Vendor: Nokia Model: E50 Rev: 1.0
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
SCSI device sda: 2011917 512-byte hdwr sectors (1030 MB)
sda: assuming Write Enabled
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
/dev/scsi/host2/bus0/target0/lun0:
Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi2, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
USB Mass Storage device found at 7
usb 3-1: USB disconnect, address 7
scsi2 (0:0): rejecting I/O to dead device
SCSI error: host 2 id 0 lun 0 return code = 4000000
Sense class 0, sense error 0, extended sense 0

As you see, the device is detected correctly and it has also detected my 1GB microSD card.

Next, it poped a screen asking to select mode. Here I selected “PC Suite” as shown in image below.

At this stage dmesg showed following messages:

usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using address 3
drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c: Ignoring extra header
cdc_acm 3-1:1.10: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
usbcore: registered new driver cdc_acm
drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c: v0.23:USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters

As can be seen from these messages, mobile phone is detected as v0.23:USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters. It also registered the drivers for our device. The line

cdc_acm 3-1:1.10: ttyACM0: USB ACM device

shows that our device is detected as ttyACM0. It means it is placed under /dev/ttyACM0.

Next, since I was not using my built in modem, I did not have a /etc/wvdial.conf file. So I created a /etc/wvdial.conf file with following contents:

[Dialer Defaults]
Init1 = AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”airtelgprs.com”
Modem Type = USB Modem
Phone = *99#
Password = “”
Username = “”
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0
Baud = 460800

In this file, first line is an initialization string. You can obtain this string from your GPRS service provider. If you are lucky and the help desk guy/girl not clueless, you will get this info. In India, my service provider is airtel. Fortunately in the second call to helpdesk, I found the right guy who had a clue about what Initialization string is :). So armed with this info, it is really trivial to write a configuration script.

In connect string, the part after equals sign, i.e. AT+CGDCONT=1 can be different. “IP” is the IP which will be dynamic mostly. Next is the Access Point Name*, which, in my case is “airtelgprs.com”.
Next line specifies a name for this modem, which can be any arbitrary name you want. Third line specifies the number to dial, in my case it is *99#. You have to obtain this from your service provider. For my network username and password is blank. But wvdial does not like blanks. So you need to supply something there as I did, an empty string. The line starting with “Modem” specifies where our device is located. You can keep the Baud rate as it is.

Next I ran the command wvdial in a shell. Here are the messages from wvdial:

swordfish:/etc# wvdial
–> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.54.0
–> Cannot get information for serial port.
–> Initializing modem.
–> Sending: AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”airtelgprs.com”
AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”airtelgprs.com”
OK
–> Modem initialized.
–> Sending: ATDT*99#
–> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT*99#
CONNECT
~[7f]}#@!}!} } }2}#}$@#}!}$}%\}”}&} }*} } g}%~
–> Carrier detected. Waiting for prompt.
~[7f]}#@!}!} } }2}#}$@#}!}$}%\}”}&} }*} } g}%~
–> PPP negotiation detected.
–> Starting pppd at Mon Dec 25 21:54:16 2006
–> pid of pppd: 18155
–> Using interface ppp0
–> local IP address 10.148.27.10
–> remote IP address 10.6.6.6
–> primary DNS address 202.56.230.5
–> secondary DNS address 202.56.230.6
Caught signal #2! Attempting to exit gracefully…
–> Terminating on signal 15
–> Connect time 2.5 minutes.
–> Disconnecting at Mon Dec 25 21:56:50 2006
swordfish:/etc#

You may use other tools like KPPP or whatever you prefer instead of wvdial.

* GSM GPRS/EDGE cellular data networks use a mechanism called an APN (Access Point Name) to determine how a Mobile Station (MS), communicates via the GSM network to a host site (i.e., how the carrier network passes IP traffic to the host network). An APN determines what IP addresses are assigned to the mobile station, what security methods are used, and how the GSM data network connects to the customer’s network.

On 22nd Dec, for the first time I heard this little girl’s song and I absolutely liked it. The name of the song I heard first is “Nu mi-e frica de Bau-Bau” which means “I am not afraid of Bau-Bau”. Here bau-bau is a sound made to scare children off. In my opinion, this and Ghita are her best songs among 10 songs I heard so far.

Cleopatra Stratan is just 3 years old. She already have her debut music album released. In her first live concert sometime in August 2006, she sang 20 songs from her own album and her father’s album. In this concert she was accompanied by her father on guitar. Looks like music is in her blood. Her father, a Moldovan-Romanian Pavel Stratan is also a singer with a few albums released.

Cleopatra’s first album La vârsta de trei ani (At the age of 3) is being admired all over Romania and rest of the world. I am absolutely loving her songs and sweet voice, though I do not understand the meaning of her songs.

Hope someone will put translations of her lyrics on the web soon.

It is the world’s biggest crater in basaltic rock. Located in Buldhana district of Maharashtra, India. Co-ordinates: 19 degrees 87 minutes longitude (N) and 76 degrees 43 minutes latitude (E). Scientists estimate its age to be ~50000 years. The meteorite hit the Deccan basaltic trap near Buldhana. The thickness of basaltic rock around this region is believed to be between 30 to 1000 meters. The basaltic rock is in many layers or flows in this region[1]. These flows were created by volcanic activities over several million years.

The meteorite hit created the crater which is about 165 meters deep and 1830 meters in average diameter. This meteorite hit exposed a few basaltic layers at the rim of crater. The elevated rim around the crater is 12 to 15 meter in height. It is covered with 5 meter ejecta over it. The rim can be clearly seen in the satellite image[3]. The rim is mostly made of ejecta blanket spread over the distance of 1.5 kilometers around the crater with slope of 4-7 degrees and approx 15-30 degrees inclination at the inner edge of the rim.

Early in the 19th century, when a scientist pointed out this crater, it was believed to be a volcanic crater. Almost one and a half century this belief was intact. In 1961 two scientists named N. C. Nandy and V. B. Deo. They found breccia in drilling done at site. Breccia is another feature of shocked rocks found in impact craters.

This inference was reasserted by the studies conducted by Eugene C Lafond and Robert S Dietz in 1964. They conducted a survey and studied the crater. Based on their study they concluded that the crater is not of volcanic origin but it is of impact origin.

For the support of their conclusion they provided several reasons.
1 The crater is highly circular in diameter and has a characteristic depth-to diameter ratio of an impact crater.
2 The crater has a raised rim, about 20 m above the surrounding.
3 The surrounding rock dips away from the crater edge at inclinations of 15-30 degrees.

The theory of impact crater was further affirmed when V. K. Nayak of Center for Advanced Studies in Geology, University of Sagar, M.P., India, found glass like objects near the site. In drilling he also found breccia with shocked features, broken and twisted, highly oxidised. All these features indicated towards high velocity impact.

In 1973, some US scientists along with India scientist from GSI worked together to establish its impact origin. They discovered breccia with shatter cones and material containing maskelynite. Maskelynite formation requires very high pressure almost 4 lakh times the average atmospheric pressure on the Earth. And this is created only during hypervelocity impact. No volcanic process can form maskelynite. Thus impact origin of Lonar crater was proved. Three other scientists estimated its age to be about 52000 years.[4]

[1] http://www.virtualexplorer.com.au/journal/2003/12/tewari/
[2] http://www.mantleplumes.org/Deccan.html
[3] http://www.whoi.edu/hpb/viewImage.do?id=20170&ppid=153&sid=67&cl=2&isProj=1
[4] http://www.khagolmandal.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=4

After quite a long time I traveled to an amazing destination - Lonar Crater. On this evening of 25th June ‘06, me and Chetan were having an evening tea at Bandu Bhau’s tapri :-), pondering over our long-back-planned visit to Lonar. Both were really unsure whether we should go or not. After passing almost half an hour we finally decided to have dinner first and then rethink about after getting revitalized with ’saojenergy’ (’Saoji energy’).

On the dinner table(?) after having a little more brainstorming, we finally decided to visit Lonar. You see, we are the biggest believers of the great optimist, Edward Murphy, who said “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong”, so why be afraid? Immediately we started to our respective places to gather very necessary stuff like toothbrush, paste, Binoculars, Camera and other stuff.

Having gathered everything we went to Chhatrapti chowk to catch the bus to Wardha from where we were to board the train to Shegaon and from there, our destination Lonar. It was little too late to discover that there were 3 travelers and not 2, third being our beloved Edward Murphy. We missed the bus and so the train. In an effort to catch another vehicle we lost our map as well. With these two incidences we were about to drop the plan. Thats when Anup came to help and suggested us to catch a bus to Washim and from there find a bus to Lonar.

With this new plan we again went to the bus stop. The bus was already there about to leave for Pusad, which is located just before Washim on the same route. So we boarded the bus with smiling faces. Afterall its Murphy’s law’s another derivation which says “Smile, tomorrow is worse”. Reached Pusad at around 6 in the morning. The bus dropped us in front of ST stand of Pusad. Luckily there was a bus to Lonar in an hour. Thanks to Murphy (not being sarcastic here, really!).

We boarded once again at 0700 Hrs and left for Lonar. Reached there at 1130 Hrs in scorching heat. There we bought some water bottles and Haldirams’ packets, took an auto to reach the rim of the crater. From Lonar bus stand, Lonar crater is 1.5 Km away. Autorikshaw took 15 Rs to drop us there.

Just near the rim there is a Restaurant named Gulmohar where we dumped our extra luggage and left for the Lake Lonar. At around 1230 Hrs we reached near the Basin of Lake and started to take a walk around the Lake. In 3 hours we finished the round (6 Kilometers) about the Lake. Climbed back to the rim, reached the Restaurant and collected our stuff. Rested there for about an hour, had some food. By this time the weather turned good and it started raining bringing a little relief for us. We reached back to the bus stand at around 1800 Hrs.

According to plan we would have reached Akola directly from Lonar. Here too we missed the bus and Murphy’s law of late-comers which says “those who have the shortest distance to travel invariably arrive latest” came true. There was no direct bus to Nagpur or Akola until next day. So we decided to reach Akola by any means. Finally at 1730 Hrs we boarded a bus to Mehekar from where we were supposed to get a bus either to Akola or Amraoti according to some locals.

We reached Mehekar at 1900 Hrs. There we came to know that were not going to get any bus direct to Akola so we had to take the bus to Washim. We took the bus to Washim from there and reached at 2030 Hrs and from there to Aakola at 2245 Hrs. Till Akola we were totally exhausted so we decided to take up train which would have let us sleep in the night. According to the decision we reached Akola Railway station and luckily found a suitable train. So we bought tickets for Nagpur and boarded the passenger train.

The train took freekin 10 hours to reach Nagpur (which is actually 5-6 hours’ journey) but in the night we got good sleep - the best part of entire return journey. That was end of another freak travel decision.

Looks like google.com is still running orkut on M$ plateform. It keeps failing every now and then. Sometimes I wonder if they ( DefectiveByDesign.org ) refer to M$ ?

Is it just me (poor victim of Murphy) or you too see one of these often these days?

Here is a “Sad PHP Poem” Martin posted on php-general list.

======================

List: php-general
Subject: Re: [PHP] Sad PHP Poem
From: “Martin Alterisio”
Date: 2006-06-26 6:07:43
Message-ID: 52dbac0f0606252307q109d866fp59a86d35f099c43e () mail ! gmail ! com
2006/6/26, Ligaya Turmelle

:
>
> Martin Alterisio wrote:
> >
> >
> > A sad poem of an algorithm where solitude brought excessive use of cpu
> > cycles and memory allocation for redundant data (it copied over and over
> > again the same image till all memory was filled with it)
> >
> > ——————————
> >
> > $timeWaiting = 0;
> > while (!$you->near($me)) {
> > $me->thinkAbout($you);
> >
> > switch (true) {
> > case $timeWaiting < 5:
> > $me->wait($you);
> > break;
> >
> > case $timeWaiting < 10:
> > $me->worry();
> > break;
> >
> > case $timeWaiting < 20:
> > $me->lookFor($you);
> > break;
> >
> > case $timeWaiting < 40:
> > $me->worry();
> > $me->lookFor($you);
> > break;
> >
> > case $timeWaiting < 80:
> > $me->worry();
> > $me->cry();
> > $me->lookFor($you);
> > $me->lookFor($you);
> > $me->lookFor($you);
> > break;
> >
> > case $timeWaiting < 160:
> > $me->worry();
> > $me->cry();
> > $me->drink();
> > $me->lookFor($you);
> > $me->lookFor($you);
> > $me->lookFor($you);
> > $me->thinkAbout($you);
> > $me->thinkAbout($you);
> > $me->cry();
> > $me->lookFor($you);
> > $me->lookFor($you);
> > $me->drink();
> > $me->drink();
> > break;
> >
> > default:
> > throw new CantLiveWithoutYou();
> > die(”alone”);
> > }
> >
> > $timeWaiting++;
> > }
> >
> > $me->happy = true;
> >
> > ——————————
> >
> > I hope you enjoyed the poem and the fact that I didn’t ask you to fix it
> or
> > find the bug in it =D
> >
> > PD: Run in your web server at your own risk.
> >
> >
> >
> See we do have a softer side. Outstanding!

I was a hard man till she threw me a ImNotSoSureAnymore exception =S

PD: I’m on fire today, maybe AJAX and the greek muses are behind my
inspiration

===========================

Assume that the alphabets A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L.. bear points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.. respectively till Z = 26. What exactly constitutes 100% success..?

A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4, E = 5, F = 6, G = 7, H = 8, I = 9, J = 10, K = 11, L = 12, M = 13, N = 14, O = 15, P = 16, Q = 17, R = 18, S = 19, T = 20, U = 21, V = 22, W = 23, X = 24, Y = 25, Z = 26.

H + A + R + D + W + O + R + K = 8 + 1 + 18 + 4 + 23 + 15 + 18 + 11
= 98%

K + N + O + W + L + E + D + G + E = 11 + 14 + 15 + 23 + 12 + 5 + 4 + 7 + 5
= 96%

L + U + C + K = 12 + 21 + 3 + 11
= 47%

Clearly its not any of the above, then what it is? Is it money? Is it faith? .. or something else?

How we see a problem and how we think of a problem is a prime thing in most of the situations.

A + T + T + I + T + U + D + E = 1 + 20 + 20 + 9 + 20 + 21 + 4 + 5
= 100%

So attitude is the key to success.

Do not dig here until 12000 AD : Hazardous and Radioactive waste buried here

Yes, that is the warning that will prolly be displayed on The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP. It is an underground repository licensed to safely and permanently dispose of transuranic (TRU**) radioactive waste left from the research and production of nuclear weapons.

The facts about WIPP are stunning for example: it is built to last for next 10,000 years; USD 9 billion spent on this dump; it will accommodate waste of 40 years; the storage is 2,150 feet underground. After knowing these facts, one obvious doubt came to my mind was ‘how the hell will they ensure its safety against earthquakes?’. But as I dug deep, I found that it is located in the remote Chihuahua Desert of Southeastern New Mexico, project facilities include disposal rooms mined 2,150 feet underground in a 2,000-foot thick salt formation that has been stable for more than 200 million years. This cleared my doubt that it will remain safe for a few thousand years to come (wishful thinking?).

How is TRU’s safety ensured while transporting to the WIPP facility? An organization named TRANSCOM is responsible for monitoring its safety from beginning to end, which has facility to monitor movements round the clock. It uses satellite communication and computer networks to monitor. The control center houses databases containing scheduling, routing, shipment content and emergency information about each WIPP shipment. Vehicles transporting waste to WIPP are tracked by satellite. It has a stateful monitoring and planning systems in place in case of abnormal events and changes in weather or road conditions.

Guarding the facility for its lifetime isn’t a very appealing idea when we look at its budget. So will it be guarded? for how long and who will guard it? Well, the facility will be guarded for next 100 years after 2033 AD, until when outside experts with the task to design a 10,000-year marking system for the WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant) site, and estimate the efficacy of the system against various types of intrusion. The goal of the marking system is to deter inadvertent human interference with the site. The panel of experts was divided into two teams. This is the report of the A Team; a multidisciplinary group with an anthropologist (who is at home with different, but contemporary, cultures), an astronomer (who searches for extra-terrestrial intelligence), an archaeologist (who is at home with cultures that differ in both time and space from our own), an environmental designer (who studies how people perceive and react to a landscape and the buildings within them), a linguist (who studies how languages change with time), and a materials scientist (who knows the options available to us for implementing our marking system concepts). The report is a team effort. There is much consensus on the design criteria and necessary components of the marking system.it will be full. Guarding it will be responsibility of US Energy Department. After that it will be abandoned. That is when prolly the caution message will be displayed all around the place: “Do not dig here - forever!!”.

That said next question came to my mind was ‘who will ensure that the message will reaches to everyone who may or may not understand English?’ Actually this is one question that will rise only after 2030. But for curious, the answer is its not just the English in which they will be displaying the message. The message will be displayed in many languages like French, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Navajo and provision for any contemporary languages that might exist then. But are language enough for communicating the danger message? Will there be any illiterates? Perhaps there will be people whose language isn’t there warning them.

To address this subject I will be writing another blog article in a day or two.

** TRU: All TRU elements are heavier than uranium, have several isotopes, and are man made. Key radionuclides found in TRU waste include americium-241 and several isotopes of plutonium (plutonium-238, plutonium-239, plutonium-240 and plutonium-241). The half lives of many are considerably longer than 20 years. For instance, the half-life of one isotope of plutonium 24,000 years. (Reference: http://www.wipp.energy.gov/library/acrsl/Chapter1.pdf)

This I found on Ravi Ratlami’s blog:

He writes, “मेरे मुहल्ले का राजू पनवाड़ी चीज़ों को दूसरी दृष्टि से देखता है. उधारी मांगने वालों से पीछा छुड़ाने के लिए उसने अभी-अभी ही यह सूचना चिपकाई है-”

Visit his blog here.

At 2350 Hrs on 24th night I saw the news about hot air balloon fiesta reaching Jaipur on the Net. I went on reading and discovered that 25th is the last day. In the spur of moment I decided to go to Jaipur to see the event. Amol tagged himself along. We got ready at 0030 Hrs and set out for Jaipur. At 0100 Hrs we boarded the Jaipur bound bus from Iffco Square, Gurgaon.

Just before dawn we reached Jaipur’s Central Bus Terminus. Before leaving our place I made a futile effort to search the info on the net from where the hot air balloons will take off on 25th. I also tried to ask a few locals about the fiesta but they were clueless so we bought some local news papers in hope that they might have some coverage about the event. No newspapers had any news of our interest so we went to the spot from where balloons took off last. We somehow reached to the location near Sawai Mansingh Stadium to find that balloons took off an hour ago. Balloons were scheduled to land about 10 minutes so we followed to the place where they were expected to land and captured a few snaps of landing balloon.

It was 1000 Hrs in the morning and the day was already getting hot, we were hungry too. We found a good restaurant named Surya Mahal on railway station road. The food was testy and reasonable. We then went to see Hawa Mahal, one of the major landmarks of Jaipur, located near Badi Choupad.

After visiting to Hawa Mahal we boarded the bus to Delhi. The bus driver was nothing less than the pod racer “Sebulba”. He brought us back in 4 Hours flat, with 30 Minutes break on one of roadside dhaba.

All the photographs of my Jaipur visit cat be seen in this album.

Hawa Mahal

Hawa Mahal also known as “Palace of Winds” was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. It was an integral part of the City Palace. It was built for Royal Ladies so that they could enjoy the royal processions and day to day activities on the mail avenue of Jaipur. This majestic facade is located at the corner of Badi Choupad (big square). This five storey building of unusual architecture designed by Lal Chand Usta. It is a stunning example of Rajput artistry made of red and pink sand stone, beautifully outlined with white borders and motif’s painted with quick lime.

The monument with a spectacular view of Jaipur city with road avenues, intersections and colourful crowds in the market, was originally conceived with the aim of enabling ladies of the royal household to watch the everyday life and royal processions in the city without being seen by others.

Its facade from the road side makes Hawa Mahal look more like a delicate screen than a palace. This five-story, pyramid-shaped structure has tier after tier of 953 niches, 152 windows, which are exquisitely encrusted with lace fine screens, overhanging latticed small balconies and arched, curvilinear roofs with hanging cornices, exquisitely modeled and carved. These small windows circulate cool air (Hawa) even in hot months. The pyramidal outline is even throughout by cramming and multiplying casements; and uses repetition of motifs to enhance its beauty.

The entrance to Hawa Mahal is from the City Palace side, through a stately door which opens into a spacious courtyard. The courtyard has a double storied building on three sides. There is a small archaeological museum here. Only the eastern wing has three more stories above, which are just a single room thick. The building, standing on a high podium, is a fifty-foot high thin shield, less than a foot in thickness, with small intimate chambers , which give this palace its unique facade. There are no regular stairs to reach the upper floors, but only ramps.