AMD vs Intel

I am thinking of buying a new PC in the recent future (come on, I need to graduate from 550Mhz), and this led me to research on some of the processors available today. A bit of searching on the key "Intel vs AMD" led me to the following comments by Linus Torvalds :

"I'm a bit disgusted at Intel for not even _mentioning_ AMD in their documentation or their releases, so I'd almost be inclined to rename the thing (x86-64) as "AMD64" just to give credit where credit is due. However, it's just not worth the pain and confusion.

Any Intel people on this list: tell your managers to be f*cking ashamed of themselves. Just because Intel didn't care about their customers and has been playing with some other 64-bit architecture that nobody wanted to use is no excuse for not giving credit to AMD for what they did with x86-64.

...
...

What I found so irritating is that _hours_ after the Intel announcement, people were _still_ confused about whether the new intel chip was actually compatible with AMD's chips. Why the f*ck not just come out and say so, and talk about it? It took people actually reading the manuals (which didn't mention it either) to convince some people on the architecture newsgroups that yes, 'ia32e' was really the same as 'amd64' except in the small details that have always set Intel and AMD apart."

The basic conclusion of the discussion was that AMD had been there, done it, while Intel was just about jumping on to the 64-bit bandwagon (with full 32-bit compatibility). Somehow, the Internet seems to be against the popular perception in India, where processor==Intel.

Back to my original problem, I realise that buying a new PC involves more than just selecting a processor - the motherboard etc. are important as well. I looking into those too. One thing is for sure - I am going to build the baby with my own hands.

Merry Christmas

From the TOI :

"Today is Christmas. the day christ was born to save the world. It's a day of remembrance and celebration of the great Saviour."

More than just words

I am just about realising it now.

Reading between the lines is not that difficult an art, but I think it's been long forgotten. Next time someone says something, or writes somethings, or even sends an SMS to you, rather than paying attention to the messge as a whole, pay attention to the words used, the sentences formed. The structure of the message sometimes tells an entirely different story from the message itself.

Many times, you'll sense emotions in words. I don't mean emotions that the person on the other side wished to convey. When you know someone for some time, you know the words (s)he generally makes use of. Deviations from those, average lengths of sentences, the adjectives, adverbs, nouns ... all go a long way in telling you what was the state of the person while writing the message.

Or maybe I am just too sceptical to trust anyone.

A different kind of 'code'

I am not someone who reads a lot of novels, in fact, I wonder if I have even ever read one. But these vacations have given me a lot of free time, and some friends of mine told me what a good read 'The Da Vinci Code' was. I decided to give it a try.

I started reading, and I must admit, I kept the book down (rather, closed 'xpdf') only after I finished it. Took a good eight hours or so. The book had enough to keep me hooked to it all through the night.

But frankly, I was a bit disappointed. The book, or rather the plot, promises that there are certain hidden secrets, and brings us tantalizingly close to them. But the end was a dud. The author never reveals the secret. Come on yaar, I know the book is fiction (at least most of it), give me at least one more piece of fiction that I could believe was a secret worth keeping for millennia! If there was a secret plot for the reader to uncover, I am sorry, I missed it. There was a feeling that I had been taken for a ride. A ride that lasted a good eight hours.

In the middle though, I had taken a break, and searched Google for more information about the book. I reached the author's official web-site, and in one of the FAQs, the author said the story would be continued in the next book. Maybe that is the reason behind the secrets not being revealed, the author wants to guarantee that his next book will sell at least as much as this one. And this one sold quite a lot, I hear.

Frankly, I like Tanenbaum better. At least, he doesn't keep his secrets for long ;)

Swades - We, the people

Went to watch a movie today after a long time. Granted, the theatre wasn't the best (a lousy K.T. Vision somewhere in Vasai), but the movie just about made up for it.

I am not an NRI, nor do I have any NRI friends. So I don't really know how NRIs feel about India. But still, the movie did a pretty good job about portraying the mindset of an NRI. (For the record, I do know some Indians who ready to leave India at the drop of a hat).

I won't let out the story here. But I will tell you one thing - don't expect to watch the movie and come out a proud Indian, this movie is not patriotic at all. The director has been very true to the script. It is all about the emotional turmoil the NRI faces when he has to decide between staying abroad and returning to India. In fact, the NRI admits that India is not the best country to live in, but he is willing to make a difference.

The rural shots in the movie to a large extent portray my native place (Varanasi, or Benares), so I did get pretty nostalgic a few times. It's been five years since I last went there, God knows when will I go there next. In a way, I am a non resident Benarsi.

Let's play together

Most animals do it well. Ants do it the best perhaps. In fact, even robots are being taught to do it now. But strangely, sometimes humans fail miserably when trying to do the same thing.

Working in a group. No, I am not talking about managing a group, or it's workflow, I am talking of the people within. Many times people just don't seem to get along very well. I have seen a group that wasn't ready to work with another because they had problems with one of it's members. Many times, there are leadership issues. Too many people trying to control the same thing, and none willing to give up. When they do give up, they leave the group itself. Somehow, if three or more people get together to do something, politics almost always creeps in. Quotas, chamchas, money ... All wreck havoc with the working of a group.

There have been so many instances where sports teams have revolted against their captains. The no-confidence motion in the parliament is another example. Heck, even I have been told by some of my teachers that I can't work efficiently in a group, though none gave me any specifics.

The sooner we learn to leave our egos and differences behind, the better. We need to see the larger picture or the bigger good. Learning to work in a group is important.

Tap - a - tap

After banging my CPU for hours, here I am, on my friends laptop. Hail Sidd, for letting me use it.

Actually, my CPU fan is spoilt, and it somehow worked when I tapped my PC at a rate of no less than one tap per two seconds. Understandably, I got tired after a few hours and have decided to get the fan replaced.

Also, I'll get my photographs from Goa scanned in a few days. Don't worry, they are all the kind you could watch in front of your parents!

Holidaying in Goa

Well, I am leaving tomorrow to spend some time in Goa. I still can't believe it, the whole thing was planned out in less than three days! I know Goa may not be as glamorous as some of the places my friends are going to, but still, this is the FIRST time I am going out for a vacation of any sort. What's more, it's the first time I am traveling without my family ... you can imagine the thrill.

For those of you who want to know more about Goa, here are a few links :

Goa tourism official website

Lonely planet on Goa

Some naughty humour ...

Does anyone out there like naughty, raunchy humour? Then there's this great show on Star World, "Coupling". It seems it was running for quite some time, but my exams prevented me from finding that out.

The humour is pretty ok, and doesn't leave much to the imagination (pun intended). Great for dimwits who don't like to work hard to crack their jokes.

Expectations, means, and variances ...

Exams are finally over. And so is the silence of this blog.

I have had these conversations with people, where they tell me that we should not expect a lot from others, cause it doesn't do any good to us. It puts pressure on the person being 'expected from', and we risk getting hurt in case our expectations aren't met. Keep things easy, and life will roll on smoothly. Ignorance is bliss.

[south indian accent] What rubbish I say! Expectations are a part and parcel of life. We invariably come to expect so many things from so many people around us. We expect the milkman to come on time, we expect the cobbler to not make a mess of our shoes, we expect the vegetable vendor to show us exactly where the fresh vegetables are kept when we ask him ... Is it then so wrong to expect a little more from our friends?

Maybe people look at it in a wrong way. The word 'expectation' itself is a bit negative, let me suggest a better word for it. How about, say, 'trust'? The more you trust someone, the more you come to expect from the person. It's natural, it's reflexive. I believe if we find ourselves expecting a lot from someone, it's probably because we trust that person. And the more we like the person. more trust naturally goes into the relationship, leading to more expectations. There's no escaping this simple fact.

What does this mean to the person who is being trusted? It is only justified that we look into the other side as well. I say, enjoy it! So many people long for someone to trust them. Remember, if you find someone who expects a lot from you, it's probably the trust showing. Congratulations, you may have just found a good friend. Or a stalker. Whatever. Anyway, sometimes, we know we can't live up to the expectations of others. But most of those times, it's not the 'living-up-to' that matters, it's the 'trying' that matters. And if the other person is really a good friend, you will be understood.

I know some people probably won't agree with me. That's all right though, I don't mind. I don't 'expect' everyone to.

I am thinking quite a lot about this, more stuff will probably show up in the future.

How deep does this hole go?

Just when you thought the hole couldn't go any deeper ... it turns into a bottomless pit, leaving you helpless as you fall into nothingness.

New feature added

Ok, I am in trouble.

Barely nine days to our exams, and I spent over five hours today trying to get the 'read / unread' feature going. Try it for yourself ! You can mark some of my messages as read or unread, and they will be either hidden or shown accordingly. Saves a lot of screen space, don't you think ?? And you only see the posts you haven't yet seen !!

Play with it - and tell me if you see any problems. But I don't think I'll be able to fix it immediately ...

Best 'o luck !!

Typical study routine

... lie down ... pick up a book ... read two paragraphs ... get bored ... switch subjects ... read few more lines ... doze off ... get up, sit on the chair ... put on the computer ... headphones ... swing with the beats ... oh yes, read ... one more page ... continue ... until ... a really good song comes along ... increase the volume ... sing along ... hunt for more songs ... line up your favorite songs in the playlist ... wait for the *really good* songs ... oh yes, read ... listen to a few more songs ... suddenly realize the time ... curse yourself ... put away the songs ... turn off the computer ... lie down ...

God save me.

Bush on the rampage

Damn !! Bush is winning. Not that I have anything against him. I am not even a Kerry supporter. I am least bothered about American politics, their policies will continue to SUCK no matter who is there at the top.

But it feels so nice to root for the supposed underdog, doesn't it? Why do we like the David and Goliath story? Because we like the notion of people overcoming difficulties, no matter how large they are. We all like to believe we'll succeed against all odds. Bollywood thrives on it - it's the quintessential Bollywood hero theme. Leaders (religious / political / social) also milk people using the concept of hope.

Hope. That's the word that keeps us going. It keeps the world ticking. If it weren't for hope, we wouldn't have the light bulb, or the telephone, or any of these things that we see around us. Damn, we wouldn't even be a free country, if our leaders wouldn't hope for it.


At least, hope is what I think is keeping ME going these days. I am lagging way behind in my studies ... but ... hum honge kamayab. Wish me luck, people. And best of luck to you too - in whatever it is that you are doing.

PS : Kerry was not an underdog, really. But I do believe the odds were stacked against him. American history has shown that a President usually gets re-elected for a second term. And if I were an American, I would probably have voted for Bush too. No one likes to change leadership at difficult times, unless you are sure the new leader is REALLY going to lead you out of trouble. And most Americans feel these are times of trouble for them. They should have a look at what their government has done to other countries.

Happy Halloween !!

Happy Halloween to everyone !!

Hopefully, u didn't waste your whole day watching the Simpson's Halloween specials ... like me (!)

Picture of You

Didn't they say that I would make a mistake

Didn't they say you were gonna be trouble

People told me you were too much to take

I could see it, but I didn't wanna know

I let you in and you let me down

You messed me up and you turned my whole life around

Left me feel that I had no where to go

I was alone, how was I too know that



You'll be there, when I needed somebody

You'll be there, the only one who can help me



I had a picture of you in my mind

Never knew it could be so wrong

Why'd it take me so long just to find

The friend that was there all along



Who'd believe that after all we've been through

I'd be able to put my whole trust in you

Goes to show you can't forgive and forget

Looking back, I have no regrets cause



You'll be there, when I needed somebody

You'll be there, the only one to help me



...

...



[ Boyzone - Picture of You ]

Osama is back !!!

Osama is back to haunt America. And perhaps with intentions in mind. Not only has he repeated his rhetoric in his latest appearance, he has also commented on the political situation. This being election time, there is little doubt that his speech might have an effect on the outcome of these elections. I don't know which candidate is going to be affected and in what way, but I am sure political analysts are burning their midnight oil over this.

Some good words from Linus Torvalds ...

Nobody should start to undertake a large project. You start with a small _trivial_ project, and you should never expect it to get large. If you do, you'll just overdesign and generally think it is more important than it likely is at that stage. Or worse, you might be scared away by the sheer size of the work you envision.

So start small, and think about the details. Don't think about some big picture and fancy design. If it doesn't solve some fairly immediate need, it's almost certainly over-designed. And don't expect people to jump in and help you. That's not how these things work. You need to get something half-way _useful_ first, and then others will say "hey, that _almost_ works for me", and they'll get involved in the project.

And if there is anything I've learnt from Linux, it's that projects have a life of their own, and you should _not_ try to enforce your "vision" too strongly on them. Most often you're wrong anyway, and if you're not flexible and willing to take input from others (and willing to change direction when it turned out your vision was flawed), you'll never get anything good done.

In other words, be willing to admit your mistakes, and don't expect to get anywhere big in any kind of short timeframe. I've been doing Linux for thirteen years, and I expect to do it for quite some time still. If I had _expected_ to do something that big, I'd never have started. It started out small and insignificant, and that's how I thought about it.

What is life ... continued ...

Someone made a comment on my earlier post, here's something that'll make him think.

Do we only exist at the physical level? If this is all there is to our existence, why do we think about it? What is it that makes us sentient? What is it that seems to live two or three inches behind our eyes and that looks out into the world? Why do we exist?
Without getting too philosophical [Sidd :)], we can reasonably assume that chemistry, maths or physics dont define our existence completely. Can chemical compounds love each other? Can they feel sad? Happy? Can they grieve when other chemical reactions have run their course? Can they wonder where they came from and where they will go? Can they "live"?

Eh, Pascal??

What is Life ??

Our existence as a physical being starts at the moment of conception, when the nucleus of a sperm merges with that of an ovum, and a new DNA-pattern is formed. To put it very simply, the DNA in the cells merges into a new combination of molecules, which then splits in two separate halves. Both parts accumulate new material and, in the process of cell division, they grow back into an entire nucleus, and now now there are to cells. Then the whole process is repeated, again and again, forming new cells from 'raw' material. The building blocks are very complex, and we do not yet understand all the chemistry involved. But if we look at it this way, conception and growth of a human being is just an enormously complex chemical reaction, of which we are the end product. This reaction goes on and on, until we die. Then the body decomposes, and the chemicals bonded in it are released to be used again as raw material for other, similar reactions. In other words, at the physical level we are nothing more than a very complex chemical reaction.

There u have it. One of the biggest questions in life, has now been answered.

Object Oriented ... Friendships

I am an object orientation (OO) freak. OO allows to model your program like real life, which makes programming a bit more natural.The few programs that I do write, are invariably OO. Sometimes, I feel my fascination for OO does more harm to my programs than good.

Anyway, the basic funda of OO is that your project is split up into objects. These objects strictly mind their own business - they dont, and shouldn't, interfere with other objects in the program. If an object 'A' deals with an object 'B', it has no business knowing what 'B' does with another object 'C'. Each object has it's own set of public 'methods' which is known to every other object, and some private data that NO ONE is allowed to see. As long as the objects retain their 'public' appearance, everyone in the project is happy, and life goes on smoothly. Internally, each object may undergo various changes, new private properties may be added, some removed, but what matters is the methods they expose.

This is supposed to model the real world, but I guess the real world could learn something from all this. Just replace the word 'project' with life, and 'object' with 'friend' ...

Just my two cents worth ...

Scientific Method

The other day, my good friend Dhruv and I were discussing how modern discoveries are being made in science. Here's the algorithm -

1. Observe some aspect of the universe.
2. Form a hypothesis to explain the observed phenomenon.
3. Test the hypothesis by matching it against other observations.
4. Develop a theory that is consistent with what you have observed.
5. Use the theory to make predictions.
6. Test those predictions by experiments or further observations.
7. Modify the theory in the light of your results.
8. Go to step 5 ...

Sticky things

How do u get rid of things that seem to have just got stuck in your mind? My exams are coming closer, and I just can't seem to get some things off my mind. Try as I may, they remain stuck there somewhere. Even if they do disappear, it's only for a short while. And the more I think, the more intriguing the matter becomes. I am really beginning to hate it now ...

But then, some things just can't be wished away, can they? If that was the case, the world would be a much happier place today. One of the problems I face is that until the exams are over, there is no realistic chance of resolving the matter. A tough situation, isn't it? I can't say my performance in the exams won't be affected.

So, if any of you is actually reading this, wish me luck. Hopefully, I'll get over this.

Happy Dussehra !!

From the Times of India :
"Dussehra marks the triumph over demon king Ravana, the victory of good over evil.It's a reminder to people to burn the evil within them and follow the path of virtue, bearing in mind the example of Ravana, who was destroyed for his evil ways. Ravana was a great scholar and devotee of lord Shiva, but the powers bestowed upon him proved to be his undoing, because he misused them."

Sidd reloaded

Just updated Sidd's website link to his brand new blog (check out sandesh247 on the www). Things should get more interesting now ;)

GNU/Linux and MS - Windows : a comparision

Could they ever be compared ?? I don't know, but I have used them both, and see many "reviews" floating around, so I might as well have a say ...

Well, frankly, Windows XP IS faster than my Fedora Core 1 installation. Explorer is faster than Konqueror, IE is faster than Firefox. I haven't used MS-Office at home, but it seems to be faster than OpenOffice in college. XP, in fact, all windows systems are pretty user friendly too - they allow me to install and remove programs pretty easily. Yeah I know, RPM supporters might cry foul here, but at times even RPMs gave problems. For instance, you may never come to know if there were any errors installing an RPM if you use Red Hat's graphical installer (ask Pascal too ...). Admittedly, things are a lot clearer if you are adept at using the command line. But most people dont do that.

Windows systems also have so many applications that I had gotten so used too ... (not any more :-). Macromedia, Adobe, Corel - so many applications you felt you couldn't live without. But believe me, you can. At least the normal user can.

However, when it comes to stability, GNU/Linux beats XP hands down. Yes, XP is much better than the 9x series, but it does crash. There ARE blue screens in XP (ask Shrek). Application crash, and surprisingly, more frequently than in the '9x' series. There were many things that had gone wrong in my XP installation : Explorer and IE used to crash frequently, IE used to freeze etc. Mind you, these are not 3rd party applications, these are bundled applications. I reinstalled XP. For a few days, there were no problems, but again, my "Find Files ..." dialog does no finding at all, it just shows an **EMPTY** message box, with a single OK button to click. Strange, huh??

In contrast, my Fedora installation has never kept any mysteries. I always know what is happening, why it is happening. True, sometimes it takes me a couple of days to find out. But when I do, it is almost always an EXPECTED behavior, caused due to some settings that I myself changed. Also, native programs run faster in GNU/Linux. Write a processor-intensive program in C/C++. Compile and run in both Windows and ZGNU/Linux. At least on my PC, XP loses.

If you want reasons to hate Microsoft, you might want to check out this page. And if you dont believe that XP crashes, take a look here.

Blame the rain Gods ...

Well, India was well on to victory against Australia, but curse the rain !! It was after quite some time that India seemed to be getting back to it's former self ... too bad the rains played spoilsport.

Talk is cheap, show me the code ...

For quite a few days, this was my favourite one-liner. Supposedly said by Linus Torvalds, this statement for me carried the true attitude of a programmer. Someone who loves coding, and doesn't care for much else. It's the I-don't-care-for-the-world attitude that struck me, much like Eminem, to whom I listen a lot.

Then the other day, Pascal told me that he was preparing for his project demonstration (he has implemented a chess game playable over a network with his friends). The code was in Java, and they spent an entire day preparing for the 'big day'. It seems they were coaching themselves to explain their code to the instructor. This seemed unnecessary to me, I told him - 'Function is more important than form'.

What went wrong here?? I myself can't understand it, on one hand, I believe in 'Show me the ...', on the other, I advised Pascal to not give the code much importance. What part of me was right? Any suggestions?

What separates us from chimps ...

How many of us CREATE algorithms? Most of us have learnt how to FOLLOW algorithms ... in the lab - we follow the procedure, to make our own website - we go and follow a tutorial, to write a program - we follow the alogrithm, in fact, we can collect reams of knowledge and follow the algorithms within to create things which may seem new, but which in fact are nothing but a recreation of someone else's ideas.

Which makes those that create algorithms really special. People like Djikstra and Knuth and others. This does not mean we should not study algorithms, rather, we should study them as foundations for creating our own.

Which is again why the open source movement is important. Here, people are recognised for their work, not companies. Algorithms are recognised, not products. Take the GNU/Linux system for example. All the credits are in the right place ... you want to know who implemented what part in the kernel, go have a look at the sources. How I pity those at Microsoft ... even though someone might have done something really important in the OS, no one will ever know.

Creator? Or Createe?

Ever wonder why people do some things? It amazes you sometimes, the way people make decisions. What is right or wrong anyway? Who decides them? It always turns out that whatever is right is usually what suits you best, caring little about others.

Why, some people would say, hasn't God made all the choices for us? It's all there in the [your-favourite-holy-book]. Well, there again we have something debatable. Did God create humans, or did humans create God? Maybe we had some Neanderthals who couldn't understand Nature around them, so they cooked up a story about some super being that made all the explanations really simple. And thus God was 'created'.

Or maybe it was God who got bored with all the emptiness, and created us in his pass-time. Which REALLY explains why we all are far from perfect ...

Me and exams ...

What is it with exams, anyway? They just keep coming. They keep lurking round the corner, and pounce on you when you least expect it. It's bad, you know, you are just about getting into the scheme of things, and the semester is gone.

I had just started to make progress on some of the more interesting stuff that I do at home. But the darn exams. Had to start studying sometime though, I was just dreading WHEN the time would arrive.

Just started ...

Just started blogging ... all the fun begins in a few hours from now ....