Education

Scientists in UK claim to have effectively solved the traffic jam problem. Their simulations show situations where traffic slows to a crawl with their being no real obstructions in the road. From this press release from the University of Exeter:

The team developed a mathematical model to show the impact of unexpected events such as a lorry pulling out of its lane on a dual carriageway. Their model revealed that slowing down below a critical speed when reacting to such an event, a driver would force the car behind to slow down further and the next car back to reduce its speed further still. The result of this is that several miles back, cars would finally grind to a halt, with drivers oblivious to the reason for their delay.

More importantly:

When you tap your brake, the traffic may come to a full stand-still several miles behind you. It really matters how hard you brake - a slight braking from a driver who has identified a problem early will allow the traffic flow to remain smooth. Heavier braking, usually caused by a driver reacting late to a problem, can affect traffic flow for many miles.

What's surprising is that UK which has such a well-managed transport system has researchers optimizing it. I wish someone in India could do the same. I don't even need Google Map Traffic to know that most of Delhi's (only for example, the situation is the same across most metros) roads are clogged everyday during rush hours.

Bear with me as I offload some of my frustration after another endevour across Delhi roads. Now, I know that driving home after a hard day's job is a daunting task. If possible, try practicing these trips the next time you are in a traffic jam:

• Prepare ahead - You know how much time it takes going down that road every day. Compensate for the time. Try leaving before or after the rush hour. Let people at home know that you are going to be late so that you don't have to rush.
• Choose your car wisely - You spend up to four hours in it every day. Go the extra mile and choose one that you love and enjoy being in.
• Make it comfortable - Dish out the moolah to get comfortable seat covers (and a neck support if you like it). Find the angle that you are comfortable sitting in. Spring for a state-of-the-art music system. Buy/burn music that you like and keep a collection of feelgood music handy. This will ensure that you remain entertained along the way and are not quick to loose temper. Trust me, it's worth the extra money. I'll be glad to offer suggestions.
• Try forming a car pool - And not just because you'll save petrol. Hopefully, you'll find someone interesting to speak to during the way.
• Try different ways of going home - Maybe, you'll enjoy a change in the scenery/buildings.
• Keep your cool - Feeling too tired? Stop at a coffee shop on the way and reload on caffiene.
• Don't make sudden changes in your driving pattern - Comes directly from the advice of the scientists in UK. Makes for a better drive and avoids traffic jams. Also, try to anticipate changes that others make and gradually adjust your driving.Be compassionate - Let ambulances and police cars through.
• DRIVE IN YOUR LANE - If there is one thing that you should take home, it's this. Changing lanes does not help. Movement of traffic is usually cyclical. Unless you are stuck in a lane for a long time while other lanes keep on moving (implying that there is an obstruction in your lane) try being patriotic to your lane for a change. More often than not, you will notice that just after changing your lane, traffic appears to advance in the lane you were in. Also, if the person in front of you stops to take a turn - wait! It's easier, and less disrupting than forcing yourself into another lane and becoming a public nuisance.
• Smile - Last but not the least. Smile condescendingly at people becoming public nuisances. Smile at someone who gave you a chance to enter a lane to know that they are appreciated. Even smile at the cabbie who butted into your lane. He might be having a bad day.

End of rant. Anything that you would like to add? Leave a comment.

At the risk of sounding overtly geeky, here's what my boot process in Ubuntu looks like (click to show full size):



There's nothing special in the content itself (apart from my boot time of 30 seconds - woohoo!). What's special is Bootchart - a software that traps and records all boot processes, and creates a lovely chart that you can analyze your boot process with. My guess is that it would be a boon to developers. Yes, the same can be obtained through a boot log - but as they say - a picture is worth a thousand words. This chart can help in determining that are increasing startup time and hogging memory, etc. The program was created in response to this challenge:

"The challenge is to create a single poster showing graphically what is going on during the boot, what is the utilization of resources, how the current boot differs from the ideal world of 100% disk and CPU utilization, and thus, where are the opportunities for optimization."

I wonder if any similar utilities exist in Windows. If you know of any, do let me know.

As a follow up to my post on Ubuntu, I'd like neo Linux-enthusiasts to read this wonderful article (titled - Linux is Not Windows) I found through StumbleUpon. The article describes the hardships that Windows users feel while transferring to Linux. Here's an extract:

You'd be amazed how many people complain that Linux is not exactly like Windows. They come to Linux, expecting to find essentially a free, open-source version of Windows. Quite often, this is what they've been told to expect by over-zealous Linux users. However, it's a paradoxical hope.

If you really just want Windows without the malware and security issues: Read up on good security practices; install a good firewall, malware-detector, and anti-virus; replace IE with a more secure browser; and keep yourself up-to-date with security updates. There are people out there who've used Windows since 3.1 days right through to XP without ever being infected with a virus or malware: you can do it too. Don't get Linux: It will fail miserably at being what you want it to be.

If you really want the security and performance of a Unix-based OS but with a customer-focussed attitude and an world-renowned interface: Buy an Apple Mac. OS X is great. But don't get Linux: It will not do what you want it to do.

If you want an OS that doesn't chauffeur you around, but hands you the keys, puts you in the driver's seat, and expects you to know what to do: Get Linux. You'll have to devote some time to learning how to use it, but once you've done so, you'll have an OS that you can make sit up and dance.

I couldn't have summarized it better. If you do decide to stay with Windows, read my previous post on securing Windows.

There - I did it. I have totally shifted to Ubuntu. It's a breath of fresh air, and it has breathed new life into my old laptop (an HP Compaq nc6230). The latest release, Gutsy Gibbon is not exactly for the feint of heart, but with the right kind of browsing through the Ubuntu Forums, you'll get everything working. Well, it took me a sabbatical and a break from blogging - but I think it was worth it.

And if you think, graphics on the Vista are cool - check this video out - you are bound to be impressed (yes, the cube and the dock work on my laptop).

About the best thing of Ubuntu are its repositories. With a click of a few buttons (just click on 'Add/Remove' in the applications menu), you have access to programs that:

• Convert metres to feet (ConvertAll)
• Synchronizes your music collection with your iPod (RhythmBox, Amarok, Banshee)
• Burn CDs/DVDs (GnomeBaker, Brasero)
• Edits images as well as Photoshop (the Gimp)
• Take notes - Wiki style (Tomboy)
• Read comics off the Internet (Comix, Buoh)
• Edit documents (OOO, Abiword), make presentations, create databases, and work on spreadsheets (all OOO)

And all are free!

Of course, popular applications seen on Windows like Firefox, VLC Media Player, BitTornado and Google Picasa work too.

Take a day off, install Ubuntu, and let me know of your experience by leaving a comment below.

You can download Ubuntu using normal download or a torrent (intel computers). You can even request for a FREE installation CD to be sent to your house by clicking here.

PS> This post has been written in 100% Ubuntu :)

My first attempt at Linux was 5 years back when I had given it up with a 'too difficult to handle' tag. Just installing the operating system was a big event in itself with tons of caveats and configuration changes. The release of Ubuntu made things a lot better, but still, I wanted a safe and easy way to experiment without making any significant changes to my PC configuration.

I read about Wubi - a program for installing Linux on a virtual drive in a Windows computer and allowing it to be loaded at boot time. I craved for more ease. My efforts led to VirtualBox - a virtualization software that can install and run Ubuntu in a window within Windows XP. Virtualization is a method of creating a virtual computer for an operating system that makes the operating system believe that it is working in a computer of its own, whereas it is actually working in an environment created by another operating system. You can do whatever you want to inside the environment without affecting the main operating system. To see the results, click on the screenshot.

Here's a step-by-step of getting your own Ubuntu system up and running:

• Download and install VirtualBox from here (choose the Windows x86 binary if you are running an Intel based PC)
• Download an Ubuntu ISO (I would suggest the Desktop version) from this page (it will be ~700 MB in size)
• Run VirtualBox, click on the New Virtual Maching button and give it a name (I chose Feisty after Ubuntu's current release codenamed Feisty Fawn), select the type as Linux 2.6
• On the next screen choose how much RAM to offer to Ubuntu (I chose 256 MB on my 512 MB RAM laptop, and it worked wonders - Ubunty was quite breezy :)
• In the next screen, click on 'New' to create a virtual hard disk for Ubuntu to use
• You can create one that is 'Dynamically increasing in size' in the screen that follows
• I chose to make the drive 6GB in size - this left a good 4 GB for me to experiment in
• Back in the Virtual Machine screen, 'Finish' to create the drive
• Your drive should appear in the main VirtualBox screen
• Next, click on the settings button, and then select the 'CD/DVD-ROM' tab
• Check the 'Mount' checkbox, select the 'ISO image file' radio button, and navigate to the Ubuntu ISO you downloaded
• That's it, click on OK, and double click on 'Fiesty' to start Ubuntu's installation.

You'll go straight to the Ubuntu Live desktop. Click on 'Install' and just follow the instructions. When asked for hard disk options, let Ubuntu take the entire virtual hard disk you created. The installation will take some 20 minutes - so you can grab a cup of coffee in the meantime (or play Jetman!).

Once the installation completes, do remember to unmount the Ubuntu CD-ROM ISO so that 'Fiesty' goes to the installed OS and not the live OS the next time you start the virtual machine.

Wasn't that easy? I hope to open a world of Linux applications with this soon. Let me know if there is any particular application that you want me to cover by leaving a comment below. Also, do let me know if you run into a problem installing Ubuntu.

Sometime back, I mentioned how using the keyboard (as opposed to the mouse) dramatically increases the speed of interaction with a computer. Well, the biggest drawback to using the keybaord is the lack of visual cues. A computer screen gives visual cues to what clicking an icon or button does (for example, clicking on the desktop icon in the Quick Launch toolbar will show the desktop, and clicking on the B button in the Word toolbar will bold selected text). That the same actions can be done easily and much faster with the keyboard (Win-key + D and Ctrl-B, respectively), are less known facts.

Well times are a-changing, and so are keybaords. The Art. Lebedev Studio in Russia obviously identified this shortcoming and came up with a (very effective) solution shown below. The Optimus Maximus has LCD screens under each key. The key displays change with keypresses and software events. You press Ctrl on the keypad, and the key displays change to show the options available to you.

One place I immediately see the advantage - games. I could never remember what all the buttons in a game such as Quake III, Half-Life, CounterStrike and the FIFA football series stand for. The keyboard can be configured according to any game and the displays change to help you change weapons, view your surroundings, move slowly and crouch.

Another area is graphic design and CAD, although I have yet to come across a graphic designer worth anything who does not know his/her keyboard shortcuts like the back of his hand.

Of course, the yet-to-be-released keyboard comes at a good price. It is currently slated for release in March 2008 at a price of more than USD 1500 - Ouch! Till the prices come down, I'm better off with a printout of this.

See a demo here. Read more here.

I am always on the look out for open-source (as in free!) and freeware alternatives to paid applications. I found this list of open-source/freeware applications through Digg.

It seems like there is no paid application out there that is not under threat from open-source applications. From the mighty Windows (Ubuntu gets more popular by the minute) to Adobe Photoshop (you should really try GIMP) to Internet Explorer (switch to FireFox already - you won't regret it). You can get rid of all the Windows Media Player codec problems by using VLC Media Player or the Democracy player, and uninstall Winzip with its countdown because 7-zip does a much better job, and supports more formats (including rar). Even the basic version of Trillian incorporates more (useful) features than Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and Google Talk combined (well - the emoticons could do with some redesigning). You could also try Pidgin (earlier GAIM). IrfanView is great for basic image operations and NotePad++ and Crimson Editor are good replacements for the basic Notepad.

The only place where I exercise caution is a replacement for Microsoft Office, and more specifically Microsoft Excel. I believe that the Microsoft Excel team has really made an outstanding product that I have no qualms in paying for. Don't get me wrong, OpenOffice.org's suite of products is a good replacement, but for official work, I'll stick with Excel. For the SOHO user, OpenOffice.org is a good alternative.

Unfortunately, most companies insist on using paid products citing them as 'industry-standard', even when good (sometimes better) alternatives exist. This paradigm needs to change. A good place to start searching is SourceForge. This site hosts open-source software. You can find solutions for calendars, e-mail, PIMs, graphics, and system utilities and lots more.

I am sure that I have not covered all the great open-source applications out there. What are your favorite open-source alternatives? Leave a comment...

Update: Amit's comment below reminded me of another solution. To remove dependency on Adobe Acrobat, try a combination of PDFcreator and PDFfiller. Create PDF files from any application using PDFCreator and add text directly to them using the PDFfiller online application.

From time-to-time, I like to dabble in HTML, which is the programming language I'd recommend that kids should start on. It has a well defined syntax, simple declerations, and best of all, you can see the results quite easily - in any browser. Plus, the results are usually quite good, as little errors get ignored.

So I was quite impressed to find this online real-time HTML editor that lets you practice your HTML and shows you the results in a separate frame. You can even insert an image tag (exemplary syntax: <img src="http://www.google.com/intl/en/images/logo.gif">) and the image gets fetched as soon as you type the closing '>'.

And as you would probably have guessed, it's implemented in AJAX.

For further reference to HTML, I recommend this W3Cschools tutorial. Notepad++ is my editor of choice - it boasts of features such as syntax highlighting, macros, and many more, and best of all - it's totally free.