FOSS Nepal at CAN InfoTech 2008

After final hour meetings and planning, we finally were at CAN InfoTech 2008. Please visit us at stall P-8. Thanx a lot to CAN for the complimentary stall.

This is the first time we're at CAN InfoTech and this definitely is a great opportunity to all of us to reach a large mass. This is not like Software Freedom Day; we're gonna have a big impact if we perform well here.

Btw, OLPC Nepal is also in CAN InfoTech. Details here.

Anyway, here're some photos from the first day..

Our Stall


Getting started..


FOSS Logos and poster collection..


On the display..

What did you have for breakfast?

Nepbabu's this post got me speechless for a while. Jus couldn't believe my eyes. EXTREME poverty is forcing Haiti's poorest people to eat mud-cookies (made from dirt, salt and vegetable shortening). Can't even call them cookies. They're not cooked, they're jus sun dried!

Some googling got me to this.

For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years.

Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger.

I jus showed the mud-cookie photos to my lil' bro. He asked, does that taste good? I dont care what it tastes like, but it definitely tastes frustration, anger.. (i'm short of words)

Yipee, laptop wireless finally working!

Finally, my laptop's wireless is working under Linux. Hi5!

Well, my laptop is Acer Aspire 5103WLMi. It came with Windows Vista, but the moment i got it, installed Linux (Ubuntu) and never have used Vista (actually it's in Japanese so no question of using it even if i liked it.. ;))

Every piece of hardware worked fine except the card reader and wireless. Card reader worked as Ubuntu Gutsy came along, but still my Atheros AR5007EG wireless was causing trouble.

But thanx to this post of Ubuntu Forum, i finally got the wireless working! Actually i'd gone through this post before, how come i missed it then?

Now the only thing remaining to work on my laptop is Microphone. It's ATI Technologies Inc SB450 HDA Audio. Do any of u have any idea how to make the mic work?

Gedit Makeover

The default Gedit installation at first feels like a lousy text editor which comes by default with Gnome and often compared with MS Windows' Notepad. But that's the lamest comparison ever.. Gedit can be extended outrageously with the help of plugins. Gedit has become my default Python editor. I sometimes also do C/C++ in it.

The plugins i use most:

• Class Browser - Tree display of classes in the code
• Embedded Terminal - Nice little embedded terminal at the bottom
  
• Python Console - Python Console at the bottom
• Python outline - Python code outline
  
• Symbol Browser - Uses ctag, similar to Class Browser

Gedit has loads of cool plugins. Edit > Preferences > Plugins

Gedit with Class Browser and Embedded Terminal.
Also note the shell output and Python Console tab at the bottom

Besides this, there are some other cool hacks that can turn Gedit into a Web Developer's IDE and Python IDE among others..

If you want to write your own Plugin, it's not that hard too.. You can do that either in C or Python (i'd go for Python). Further instructions here.

The Himalmedia Group Blog

Lil' out of topic this time.. My fren Chetan provided me the link:

The Himalmedia Group Blog (http://blog.himalkhabar.com/)

It's in Nepali so might not make sense for any non-nepali readers. But for all Nepalis out there, check it out.. Most of them are political humor/satire. This is the coolest politically oriented Nepali language blog i've ever read.

The Art of Computer Programming

After two days of download from torrent (thanx to Nepal's internet speed), i finally got (the great) Donald Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming (e)books. I know it's illegal to download that way, but jus wanted to have a glimpse of the epic monograph before i actually buy it.

Needless to say, it's quite impressive. Words cant describe.. No wonder it's among the best twelve physical-science monographs of the twentieth century!

Along with the books, there were two more books in the torrent - Concrete Mathematics and The TeX Book. Both of them are classics in their area. I'm currently goin thru the former..

Finally into Facebook

Had been quite reluctant, but thanx to my good old fren Kundan's suggestion, i finally got into Facebook. Check out..

Which file extension are you?

Got the link from nepbabu's post. Took the test and found out that i'm .mp3. :)


Which File Extension are You?

UPDATE:
I also took OS and Programming Language test. It showed that i'm OS/2 and Perl. The interesting part is, i dont know both.. LOL..


Which Programming Language are You?


Which OS are You?

2008 Resolutions

2007 rocked for me! But unfortunately signs are building up for the 2008 to be very hard and struggleful for me. College will be ending in a few months too. So lets do some planning, here are my primary resolutions (in no particular order).. ;)

• I'm gettin lots of job offers but no matter what, full time job - No nO! Part time home based ones - okay.
• Join masters within this year. Not gonna waste time. Gonna try US for ME (preferred). If not, MBA in Nepal.
• Tests and Certifications: GRE, RHCE and Cisco (all with flying colors :D)
  
• Travel and Adventure: Atleast i'm gonna go for rafting and bungy.
  
• Read a lot: Last 4 years of college didn't let me study anything truly out of study course. So anything that comes my way. Philosophy, journalism, photography.. maybe even porn novels ;).. anything..
• Programming Languages: Atleast i'm gonna learn LISP
• Skills: Linux Device Drivers (and lots n lots but writing all'll take eternity, :D)
  
• FOSS: Complete some softwares that i have started/are in my mind
  
• OLPC: This year would be for OLPC Content/software development
• Blog/Write More: Write everything that comes to me..
  
• Save Money: I know this is something i cant control, but i gotta try. Plus, i cant ask my dad for help for my further education.
  
• Stay busy: As college's gonna be over in a month, if i dont get busy i'll go mad..
  

-- And for private eyes --
This year is for you. We're gonna be together again..