misc

A usual dilemma before starting a Rails project: Rails (Well known, well documented api, blogs, books) or Merb (Speed, Lean core, fresh framework, alternative ORMs). Today Rails and Merb core team announced their decision to merge into what would be known as Rails 3. Its a good thing since people would stop writing blogs about Rails vs Merb, and talk more about getting things done. I'm looking forward to a faster and less memory hogging version Rails.

I've been using Tata Indicom's data card based internet services for the past 2 years or so. and my experience about the internet service quality has been above satisfaction so far. After filling up the application form, and paying 4990 INR upfront for the data card, i got the card delivered at home in 2 days. Pretty fast indeed.

Data card connectivity speed: The Huawei EC321 CDMA card is rated for about 156Kbps. Initially at the place where i used to live, i used to get about 140 Kbps speed without fiddling too much with the antenna and direction. At my current residence too, i manage about the same speeds, which is more than enough for my email and IRC applications

Setup and installation: The data card comes as a PCMCIA device which can be plugged onto the PCMCIA slot of your laptop. Its probably straightforward to install it in Windows. There's a desktop manager application included in the installation CD with puts a dialer-cum-sms inbox checking app shortcut on the desktop. Getting the internet working on linux is even easier. Check how to get the data card running with wvdial here.

Tariff plans: The data card costed me around 4990 INR some 2 years back. It should be cheaper now. The USB pen drive shaped Plug2Surf ones are definitely cheaper. I am under 1GB plan which costs me less than 800 INR per month with taxes included, as i never cross my 1GB limit.

Network coverage and roaming: Its based on Tata Indicom's CDMA network, so internet services work wherever there's tata indicom's mobile phone network. So far, it has worked for me in all the cities i've traveled in india. There are no charges on national roaming if you are using the data card only for internet services.

Verdict?: Its a good gadget to keep along if you are traveling. Internet works just out of the box, without having to ask anyone for network access or proxy authentications. I haven't used data card services from Reliance or Airtel, but i dont really have a reason to switch services as yet. Lately there have been days when the internet is pathetically slow but then it comes back again.

Where to buy?: You can visit their website ichoose.in and place an order. If you are in Mumbai then let me know, i can pass over the contact information of their sales representative and he'll take care of the rest. My email address is anurag (@) gnuer.org

Railways is running in profits since last couple of years and the feel good feeling is coming soon to Indian Railways website too. The recent tender notification from IR attracted almost everyone from the industry to apply for tender and profit! With TCS/CMC, Accenture, SISL India, Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, BEA, Broad Vision, IBM, HCL, DELL, HP and of course Microsoft applying for the tender and planning to use technologies as diverse as TIBCO, Biometrics and BS 7799 compliance - this surely is going to be a major face lift to Indian Railways.

Got a chance to watch Das Leben der Anderen. Story is set in East Germany, around and before the fall of Berlin Wall about how the Stasi agents used to control the private lives of people. Very well made movie i must say. It reaffirms the human ability to do the right thing, no matter how much wrong has already been done.

There was a time when i used to have a watch, a bedside alarm clock, deskside calendar, el-cheapo calculator, a camera, a paper address book. And i was planning to buy a digital diary too.

Now i just use my cell phone to do all that. Wonder which other daily life gadget is the cellphone going to replace.

Looking for a cheap VPS provider? Head over to http://www.vpslink.com and signup for a plan starting from 64MB. Server uptime, bandwidth, pricing and customer service, everything has been reasonable for the past 6 months.

today morning i went to Siddhivinayak temple after couple of years. the whole outlook of temple has changed drastically in the past few years.

now there are walls, cops, metal detectors, snifer dogs all around... if you dont want to stand in loooong queues then you can get yourself silver or gold entry passes, or you can make a donation - which enables you a direct entry into temple... or if you are female, you can stand in the shorter ladies-only queue.

for the rest of us, well we can always stand in the general queue by which you get to enter the temple in 4 hours..

Got my copy The Debian System delivered today. Author Martin Krafft has covered all the aspects of using Debian based system to its fullest. A must read for all debian users, administrators and enthusiasts. At around 600Rs, Sarge DVD, and thick hardbound cover, this book is a fantastic deal..

geezz.. first the dev server's sata harddisk gives up, and when we finish replacing and reinstalling debian, then mail server's motherboard goes dead.. this was yet another test case for murphy's law..

when things have to go bad, they will, and at the worst possible time

After all this turmoil, we have ordered a new server. An HP Proliant ML350 , complete with dual xeon processors, 4 GiB ECC RAM and SCSI harddisks in RAID1. It should get delivered by this friday it seems.

its been 1 year that i installed my mail server.. its been running flawlessly (it has to, its Debian..).. except for the power faliure during last year's deluge, and a ram upgrade, its continuous uptime could have been 365 days today

btw, this giant penguin is worth a look..