Dennis Ritchie (September 9, 1941 – October 12, 2011)

Another great pioneer passes away.  Just a few days after the death of Steve Jobs, Dennis Ritchie the man who gave us C and one of the great influences in Unix, passed away. May be less famous than Steve Jobs for non-techies, but in no way lesser.

Steve Jobs (Feb 24, 1955 – Oct 5, 2011)

The irreplaceable loss of a business visionary, innovator, creative genius and thought leader.

Setting up Reliance Netconnect on Linux

It can be a very confusing and frustrating to setup wireless broadband like Tata Photon, Reliance Netconnect, etc. on Linux. Here's my experience on successfully setting up Reliance Netconnect on Fedora 15 using the wvdial PPP utility. The same could work for Tata Photon or any other modem based Internet service.

The concept is fairly simple. All such services work through a modem connected to the computer via the USB interface. We need to setup a PPP connection to the service provider via the modem. the wvdial command is more intelligent wrapper over the basic ppp utility.

1) Connect the USB Modem (Huawei EC 150 in my case)
2) Open terminal as root (or run the commands using sudo)
3) Type wvdialconf on the command prompt. This will create a default configuration file /etc/wvdial.conf with the following contents

[Dialer Defaults]
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
Phone = Phone

ISDN = 0

Username = Username

Password = Password

Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0

Baud = 9600

Note: The values for some of the properties might be different based on your modem type

4) Modify /etc/wvdial.conf as follows:

[Dialer Defaults]
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
Phone = #777

ISDN = 0

Username = your MDN number
Password = your MDN number
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Baud = 9600

5) Type wvdial on the command prompt. By default it takes the setting from  /etc/wvdial.conf if required you could place this file anywhere and pass it as the first argument to wvdial.

[root@juby juby]# wvdial

--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.61

--> Initializing modem.

--> Sending: ATZ

ATZ

OK

--> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0

ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0

OK

--> Modem initialized.

--> Sending: ATDT#777

--> Waiting for carrier.

ATDT#777

CONNECT

--> Carrier detected.  Waiting for prompt.

~[7f]}#@!}!}!} }8}"}&} } } } }#}$@#}%}&"7Hj}'}"}(}"e[12]~

--> PPP negotiation detected.

--> Starting pppd at Fri Sep  2 10:38:55 2011

--> Pid of pppd: 1836

--> Using interface ppp0

--> pppd: <

--> pppd: <

--> pppd: <

--> local  IP address 115.242.244.59

--> pppd: <

--> remote IP address 220.224.141.145

--> pppd: <

--> primary   DNS address 202.138.103.190

--> pppd: <

--> secondary DNS address 202.138.117.60

--> pppd: <

6) Add the primary and secondary DNS addresses to /etc/resolv.conf with the following entries:

nameserver 202.138.103.190
nameserer 202.138.117.60

7) Make sure that Internet traffic is routed through the PPP interface using ifconfig command.
If there are other interfaces (say LAN) turn them off by typing ifconfig if-name down
8) Ensure that the default traffic handler goes through the PPP interface. Type route on the command prompt. You should see something as follows:

[root@juby etc]# route

Kernel IP routing table

Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface

220.224.141.145 *               255.255.255.255 UH    0      0        0 ppp0

192.168.122.0   *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 virbr0

default         *               0.0.0.0         U     0      0        0 ppp0

The default entry ensures that Internet traffic is routed through the PPP interface.

Till step 5) is usually straightforward and the procedure is explained in many other articles and blogs. However many people typically face problems from  step 6) onwards, wherein inspite of having their modem setup and connected, they are not able to access the Internet.


Note: Please see the man pages for wvdial, wvdialconf, ifconfig, route for the details of these commands.

This approach should work on most Linux distros and versions provided wvdial is installed and the system is able to detect the USB dongle.

Innovation is as much about "not doing" as "doing"

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away..

 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Steve Jobs says: “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on.  But that’s not what it means at all.  It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.  I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done.  Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”

Full article here.

 

Osama Bin Laden (March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011)

Afghan terrorists (back then they were called freedom fighters) were heavily supported by USA in order to fight USSR in Afghanistan. In a way Osama Bin Laden and the bunch of Afghan terrorists groups bearing different names have received direct/indirect help from US in its war against communism. "Our enemy's enemy is our friend" kind of logic.


May be its right to say "The terrorist Osama Bin Laden: created and destroyed by the USA"

Sai Baba: The death of a human God

Self proclaimed human God Sai Baba estimated to have about 6 million followers worldwide, died yesterday at the age of 84. The term "human God" need not be considered derogatory as a human God is by no means lesser than an imaginary God.

He (or his disciples) not only claimed him to be a Purna Avatar in the Hindu tradition, but also claimed that his divine incarnation was predicted by Bible and Muhammad. He has predicted that he will be reborn as "Prema Sai Baba" in 2012 somewhere between Bangalore and Mysore.


The good news for the Guru/Baba/Amma worshipers is that, 100s (if not 1000s) of Gods are still left in our country. We may have shortage for food, water & shelter; we may have shortage for jobs; we may have shortage for  natural resources; but its unlikely that we in India will ever have shortage for Gods.

Kissing Hank's Ass

A satire on religion: Kissing Hank's Ass