Kunal Deo Live On Internet

Why You Should Not Go Public

2011-01-03T13:34:00.002+05:30

Following are the reasons why you should not go public:

Facebook
Groupon
Zynga

By that note I end this post. Common I’m joking. After all this is a blog post not a twitter status message. Back in the day releasing an IPO (Initial Public Offering) was a big thing. Still is but lot of new players have changed that. Yesterday The New York times reported that Goldman Sachs have invested $ 500 million based on the $ 50 Billion evaluation. $ 50 Billion evaluation !!!! Can you believe that ? Of course you can believe that if you have been following the wall street for past few months. I mean if a company like Groupon can reject Google’s $ 6 billion what do you expect from Facebook. Instead of buying Groupon Google can build there own groupon for less than 100 million, heck I will make them a Groupon clone for less than a million dollars. (Google if you are reading this, be smart about it :) ). But building Groupon wont give them members, that is like the supreme factor for any online service. That is the same reason why Microsoft Bing will never be able to beat Google, we are just lazy to give another search engine a try no matter how great it is. Zynga is also sailing on the same being private boat. You know Zynga right, makers of the infamous FarmVille. I think this game is the stupidest thing I have ever seen but what do I know ? Millions of people play it, including lot of my friends. Zynga like Facebook and Groupon would like to be private (for now). Typically a company wants to go private when they need money and they can bear the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) rules, declarations and finally visits. But these companies have got the Russians to pay for their business and they don't need the public money. And with companies like Goldman Sachs poring in, the private sector is getting better day by day. But evaluations like $ 50 billion is pissing SEC off. SEC is pretty sure that these companies have something to hide, The Securities Exchange Commission is looking into the trading of Facebook in the private market. The SEC inquiry includes transactions in Zynga, Twitter and LinkedIn shares within the same private markets that Facebook stakes have exchanged hands, you know the Russians. I dont think the SEC investigation would do anything wrong, if it have been the European Union something may happen. So be smart about it, if you have your own company want to go public or want to sell it to a company like Google, you may loose a very valuable opportunity to write “I’m the CEO bitch” on your business card.

First Awesome Android IDE; MOTODEV Studio

2010-03-29T01:06:00.001+05:30

If your read my last post you will realize that android has pathetic support of developer tools when compared to iPhone and windows tools. Not only that, for a newbie compiling a helloworld application with Google's official ADT (Android Developer Tools) is pain in the ass. Before you think that I am overreacting look at the Google search results for errors like "Project is missing required source folder: 'gen'" . Little bit of explanation about this error. Android projects come with a free class called 'R' (short for Resource). This is an automatically generated class which you use to reference resources in your project. It is created separately from your source folder (typically locates in /src) in it's own folder called /gen. As a result, /gen is always part of your project. If it is missing, your project is incomplete. Now you may think that it can be fixed by just creating the folder "gen", but you are wrong. "gen" folder is already there so what would you do. It is just that Eclipse has created it in read only fashion. and you need to fix that by hand to go about building the application. Look at the following screen shot.

Now this is really stupid error and discourages a lot of new developers because it does not work it is supposed to be. Thankfully Eclipse is an open source project and anybody can make modification to make it better. Motorola one such company with one of the iconic Android handset Motorola Droid/Milestone has created an excellent IDE for Android called MOTODEV Studio for Android. For starters it does not have any of the frustration the the ADT has and offers a lot of features that really makes it stand apart. My favorite features are:

1. In built SDK Downloader: This may not sound useful for pros but definitely a plus for new users.

2. Code Snippet Support: Code Snippets provides a very easy to use way of doing common tasks such as Setting Database, getting GPS coordinates etc. Definitely a big plus.

3. Emulator Dock: This may not be a big deal but for me it is nice to see the application running seamlessly without launching it in a separate window really matters.

4. In-built Application Signing and Publication Support: If you are in it for money you will definitely appreciate the streamlined application signing and publication process. It supports both Android and Motorola market place.

5. More Project Type Support: You can create more types of android project when using the MOTODEV Studio.

6. Now, lets looks at what Motorola's Marketing department has to say.

Package" width="78"> Complete Development Package: One installer ensures an integrated development environment with Eclipse 3.5 and Android Development Tools (ADT) plus automatic download and configuration of the latest Android SDK. Or use the plug-in version with your existing Galileo Eclipse IDE.

Code Snippets: Add often-used code from templates for more stable and better performing applications.

Creation Wizards" width="78"> Application Creation Wizards: Create essential Android classes simply and easily, e.g., Broadcast Receiver, Content Provider, Service, and Activity.

Database Management: Conveniently view and edit SQLite databases on handsets and emulated devices.

Files Editor" width="78"> Localization Files Editor: Easily create and manage localized strings files.

Emulators"> Handset Emulators: Test applications on an integrated Android emulator within MOTODEV Studio without switching between IDE and target, and make use of Motorola-specific handset emulators as they become available.

Deploy Packages: Load your applications onto a target handset or emulator through an easy interface instead of tedious command lines.

Signing" width="78"> Application Signing: Create and import certificates to sign applications.

Marketing Integration: Connect to Android application stores from within MOTODEV Studio.

Target Motorola Handsets: Debug and run applications on connected Motorola Android handsets.

Translate Your App: Target new customers by translating your app with MOTODEV Studio.

Screen Capture: Take a screenshot from any device listed in the Device Management view, including both emulated and physically connected handsets.

-------------------

So, if you are about to jump or already jumped to Android bandwagon this is the IDE you should use.

Google Nexus One, Great Hardware but What About the Developer Experience

2010-01-06T15:50:00.003+05:30

It is so great to see iPhone having a real competition. Google Nexus One
which was released yesterday (Jan 5,2009) is being marketed by Google
as "Web Meets Phone". To me, bringing web experience is all about
carrying a really great web-browser (preferably WebKit based) around.
But then, web-browser does not really require a powerful hardware. But,
Google Nexus One has a pretty decent hardware. Specially with 1 GHz
processor, 512 MB RAM and an OpenGL ES 2.0 based graphic chip.

It has some amazing features for end users too. But there is one place
where Nexus One badly lacks or for that matter any Andorid device
lacks, and that is the developer experience. I just cannot tolerate
laziness of tech companies in building good Integrated Development
Environment and using Eclipse as their pathetic excuse everywhere.
Every tom dic and harry is coming with their Eclipse based IDEs, that
just really sucks. Eclipse is good for Java and thats it.

Andorid IDE is a Eclipse with Android Development Tools (ADT) plugin. That gives you nothing special but Eclipse with very dumb android support.

There is another product called IntelliJ IDEA . IDEA is also a Java IDE, but does way a better job than eclipse.

It has lot of amazing features like seamless SDK integration, Code
Completion and Navigation, Android Manifest editor and Deployment from
IDE.

Nevertheless, it is nothing when compared to the development environment for for my iPhone (Xcode) and Windows Mobile (Visual Studio). (Screenshots Below)

So until Google really comes up with a really great developer experience for Android (which hardly seems possible, by looking at Google's philosophy ultra simplicity) it will only be a great consumer device and less device to develop for.

There are other problems with Android as well. (From a developer angle):

Android does not let users install application on secondary memory (like memory cards). So you are always limited with the ROM memory. Nexus one has 512 MB.
Even though Android is using Java it cannot run standard Java or J2ME programs. It has its own set of Java philosphy that is not standard in any possible way.
Highly googlish, thinks web is everything. I like having native apps. I dont mind
connecting to web services but I would like to have native applications.

Visual Studio (For Windows Mobile)

Xcode (For iPhone)

Eclipse (Android)

Hardware specs (From Wikipedia)

Manufacturer	HTC (Designed and branded by Google)
Type	Candybar smartphone
Release date	January 5, 2010
Introductory price	$529 unlocked $179 with 2 year contract^[1]
Operating system	Android 2.1 (Eclair)
Power	3.7 V 1400 mAh Rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery^[2] Audio - 20 hours Video - 7 hours Talk time - 10 hours (2G) or 7 hours (3G)
CPU	1 GHz Qualcomm QSD 8250 Snapdragon
Storage capacity	Flash memory: 512 MB microSD (Class 2) slot: 4 GB included, expandable up to 32 GB
Memory	512 MB DRAM
Display	480 x 800 px, 3.7 in (94 mm), 3:5 aspect ratio, WVGA, AMOLED with 100,000:1 contrast ratio and 1ms response rate ^[3]
Input	Capacitive touchscreen display, trackball, headset controls, proximity and ambient light sensors, 3-axis accelerometer, digital compass
Camera	5.0 megapixel with video (720 x 480 px at 20 fps or higher), geotagging, LED flash and auto focus ^[4]
Connectivity	Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Micro-USB, A-GPS Quad band GSM 850 900 1800 1900 MHz GPRS/EDGE and Tri band UMTS 900 1700 2100 MHz HSDPA/HSUPA^[3] ^[5]
Online services	Android Market

Playstation 3 Slim Now in India

2009-11-27T22:59:00.004+05:30

After a really long wait Playstation 3 Slim has finally arrived in India.

It has lot of new features but here is what I like

Power Savings : With almost half the electricity usage you can easily save big bucks on electricity bill.
More Storage : So 120 GB is a big deal. If that is not enough for you, you can always upgrade it with any laptop hard drive.
Better Processor : With latest 45nm processor architecture, it loads game faster.

I will come to specs in a moment. But trust it is one of the best console. So you want to get it. Here is how to get it. Ofcourse you can buy directly from Sony World or Reliance Digital or Chroma but they wont give you any discount. One of my friend Karthik (Gaming Dealer), is offering it INR 18,749 only. Retail price is 19,990. You can order it anywhere from India, Bangalore guys would get free home delivery. More details are available at http://www.indianvideogamer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12904 . Karthik can be contacted at techg33ks@gmail.com .

Playstation 3 Specs

Sony PS3 Slim 120GB Console

Boasting blistering processing speeds and eye-popping graphics, the PlayStation®3 will change the way you think about gaming. In addition to an ever-growing catalog of games, the PS3™ features the Cell Broadband Engine™, integrated Blu-ray Disc™ player and 120GB hard disk drive to deliver the ultimate high-definition entertainment experience.

It Only Does Everything™
While the form factor may have changed, the new slimmer and lighter PlayStation®3 120GB system still comes with free PlayStation®Network membership, integrated Wi-Fi and 120GB of hard disk drive storage for your games, music, videos and photos. Plus, every PS3™ system comes with a built-in Blu-ray Disc™ player to give you pristine picture quality and the best high-definition viewing experience available. Whether it's gaming, Blu-ray movies, CDs, DVDs, music or online services, you can experience it all with the PlayStation®3 system.
Note: This model will not play PlayStation® 2 games, but is backwards compatible with select PS one™ games.

Did you know?
PlayStation®3 and PSP® play nice together. Easily exchange media like photos, videos and music from your PlayStation®3 system to your PSP® system. Plus, get ready to witness an explosion in creativity as developers take on the challenge of integrating the PSP system into PlayStation®3 games.
Not all video and audio formats may be supported.
** Online connectivity requires broadband internet service and network devices such as a DSL or cable modem.
Video output in HD requires cables and an HD-compatible display, both sold separately. Full HD 1080p requires an HDMI cable and a 1080p native display with an HDMI input supporting HDCP. Copy-protected Blu-ray video discs can only output at 1080p using an HDMI cable connected to a device that is compatible with the HDCP standard.

What's in The Box:

* New slimmer and lighter PS3 system with a 120 GB HDD, Internet-ready built-in Wi-Fi, 2 USB ports and HDMI + Bravia Synch output for 1080p resolution and connectivity between other Sony HDMI products.
* Dualshock 3 wireless controller.
* AC power cord, AV cable and USB cable.

Note: Comes with 1 year national warranty, Tax Invoice along with the product.

First Indian CocoaHeads Group for Mac Developers

2009-08-04T14:45:00.005+05:30

The first CocoaHeads Group in India has been founded in Bangalore. Head over to http://cocoaheads.org/ for more information.

If you live in India or Bangalore and you are a Mac (or iPhone Developer) please join in.

To join in, leave a comment and I will contact you.

S60 is Gone

2009-07-08T17:19:00.001+05:30

Not Any More

Nokia's favorite platform is gone now. www.s60.com no longer works. This is really a subtle decision to scrap something that has a huge install base. I am not a fan of Symbian OS all together (Read Why Openmoko at www.openmoko.org). But still, there are so many users still using S60 platform. In other words all high end Nokia and few Samsung phones. But above all, the really worst thing is that they cannot upgrade their platform. So basically they are stuck with an age old platform.

Although there is nothing much to complain they any way cannot upgrade the OS of the phone.

Java Developer News and Bihar News

2009-07-07T21:14:00.001+05:30

I have been learning the Objective C and Cocoa Touch (and still learning) and came up with two nice applications Java Developer News and Bihar News. These apps are available for free from the iTunes App Store.

Java Developer News :

This iPhone application displays the headlines from NetBeans, Sun Developer Network and Webtier in a nice and elegant format on iPhone and iPod Touch devices and links to them. The application features a built-in browser that enables users to view SDN and netbeans.org without leaving the application.

"Java Developer News" is available in the 62 countries around the globe. It can be installed on any iPhone and iPod touch devices running iPhone OS 3.0 .

You can use the following link (You need iTunes to open it). You can also do a search for Java Developer News in the iTunes Store or the iPhone App Store.

For the Java Developer News use the following link

Download from the App Store

Bihar News :

For the Bihar News you can use the the following link

Download from the App Store

My KDE 4 Desktop with Cairo-dock

2009-06-30T16:45:00.001+05:30

KDE 4.3 RC 1 Release

KDE 4.3 Beta 2 Release

iPhone 3GS : Not enough reasons to upgrade

2009-06-21T09:18:00.002+05:30

Ok so iPhone 3GS has been released and most of us may upgrade to it. But here is the thing. iPhone 3GS is not a revolutionary thing its just an upgrade over iPhone 3G and that is mostly in terms of speed. It is like buying a 1080p resolution tv over 720p tv where your real eyes cant actually tell the difference unless you have a very big screen. To me i don't think iPhone 3GS is necessary here is why :

iPhone OS 3.0 is already fast: This new iPhone OS has done some wonderful things my phone is better and faster now.
Developer Friendly: Since iPhone 3G is going to maintain its position as mass market phone, probably its better to stick with iPhone 3G for a while
Save Money: If I stick to iPhone 3G I am going to save lots of money. With that money I can buy something more like ... Sony PSP GO (Awesome portable gaming platform) or the new PS3 possibilities are endless. Think about that.
iPhone 3GS has mostly not needed new features:

Speed: I think its enough on iPhone 3G with OS 2.0
Compass: It is a nice thing to have but not necessary. Specially in India.
Video Recording: My digicam is doing that job for years
3.2MP Camera: Again my 10MP digicam is unbeatable. It has optical zoom too.
HSPDA 7.2 MBPS: Again thats not available in India not in US too.

To me, I would have gone for iPhone 3GS without a blink of eye if iPhone OS 3.0 was not available on iPhone 3G. But fortunately it is.

MAC OS X and Open Source

2009-06-08T11:42:00.001+05:30

I come from a Linux background. Now I have used Linux in and out being a KDE developer I know the wow factor that is associated with Linux. Until now, I thought nothing can compare Linux. But after meeting Mac OS X. My Opinion changed a little bit. I know it is a commercial platform attached to hardware and all that. But core of the Mac OS is Open Source. I can easily port my existing Linux code to Mac OS X easily.

Here is why I love and hate MAC OS X.

Love:

Mac OS X's XNU Kernel: The fact the XNU (Although it reads as X is NOT UNIX) combines the beauty of BSD Kernel and MACH kernel together. Its ability to switch between 32bit and 64bit capability on the fly awesome.
Mac OS X's Universal Binary: In other systems such as Linux or Windows. When you cannot run an 64 bit application on a 32 bit system. Although you can run a 32bit application on 64bit computer but it needs to be passed thorugh emulator. yes its true. Mac handles this problem very elegantely. In this you can generate a Universal binary that will basically contain four version of you application, inside single binary file. 1) Intel 32 bit 2) Intel 64 bit 3) PowerPC 32bit 4) PowerPC 64bit. This way application will be always native on a large number of platforms
Xcode: I had always dreamt of using a great IDE with my favorite Linux libraries, but most of the times I need to settle with nano or pico. Kdevelop was also good enough for an IDE. And QTCreator was next to awesome C++ IDE. But nothing came as a full Ide. Then I met xcode. Where I've found the best IDE for all the open source libraries and fantastic GDB front end.
Cocoa and other Core APIS: I would simply say it as Aladin's Genie.

Game Piracy & Industry Mentality

2008-10-21T12:02:00.003+05:30

Gaming Piracy & Industry Mentality

Last night I was not quite surprised to note that Gears of War 2 was available via torrents. I am not going to talk about how this will impact the industry on whole. I have something else to say. Remember the latest blockbuster game, that broke the sales record of books, dvd & movies combined. Yes I am talking about Grand Theft Auto 4. I remember the opening line from one of its promo, "I killed people, smuggled people, sold people perhaps here things will be different. Stealing or Robbing cars is an important aspect of that game. If you dont know how to steal a car in the game you wont able to play it forward. Not that I am criticising the game, I love the game. All I am saying is the game portrays stealing. So how it is this going to affect the game being stolen itself.

The more people indulge in such kind of games (& movies), they think that stealing is not a big deal. And whole feeling of stealing something makes up to some kind of pride. Kind of pride that stars of Oceans 11 (&12,13) have at the end of the movie. If you have got a chance to look inside the .nfo (Release Information File). There will be lines like "We were the first one to make this available", "This Release works perfectly, and screw xxx this release". There is a competition out there for stealing and giving you the best of stolen release.

Gears of War, a game which has a long list of die hard fans. Fans who will do anything to play this game. and the eagerly awaited sequel Game released on newsnet 2 weeks before. How they will resist this? May be true fans will buy the Game any way. I have seen many have downloaded newsnet release of the game and purchased it as well. Whatever is the reason. Because 50 % of the fun lies in Multiplayer. Or they want games like this to be made in future as well.

Industry have to think about that. What is the moral they are spreading (to make more money) and how they are coming back to them. Every body does illegal stuff these days without thinking on long impact or even thinking that this is wrong. When in mid 90's every body was using Netscape Browser, Microsoft threatens OEM manufacturers that if they carry Netscape browser, they will loose Windows license and hence Microsoft made Netscape out of business.

Developing for XBOX 360 with XNA Game Studios

2008-08-26T21:59:00.001+05:30

I have already said that Microsoft Development tools are always top notch in the industry. With XNA creators club you it is very easy to program for XBOX 360. But it comes at a price. So here is the good news. Free XNA membership is available to all who apply for Dream-Build-Play 2008 challenge. Submit your game and get 4 month premium membership for free.

What is this XNA:
Microsoft XNA is a set of tools with a managed run time environment provided by Microsoft that facilitates computer game development and management. XNA attempts to free game designers from writing "repetitive boilerplate code"] and bring different aspects of game production into a single system. It make use of dominating DirectX technologies.

See MSDN India: http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/xna/default(en-us).aspx

XNA Creators Club

Steps to do that:
1. Register yourself at http://creators.xna.com, associate it with your gamertag.
2. Register yourself for dreamplay contest at http://www.dreambuildplay.com/. At the end of the registration you will be provided with a key.
3. Login to http://creators.xna.com
4. Click on Home>Membership, At the bottom of the page click at Creators Club Premium Membership.
5. Select Redeem code, and enter the code that has been provided to you. If it doesnt work. I guess it is not available in your country. Try it with the gamertag registered in US
6. Download XNA game studio at http://creators.xna.com/en-US/downloads. For this you will need:
*Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (Commercial) or Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition (Free)
*dotnet framework 2.0
All the necessary downloads are provided there.
7. Connect XBOX 360 and your PC at on same subnet (means connected to the same router).

On Xbox360
8. Start XBOX 360
9. Go to Game Store section of the Dashboard
10. Go to All Games
11. Scroll to the bottom of the list you will find an entry called XNA Creators Club. Go inside it.
12. Download Game Studio Connect and Game Studio Launcher
13. After the downloads are finished, got to games section of the dashboard.
14. You will find a new Category called XNA Creators Club.
15. Launch XNA Game Studio Connect. Wait until it gives you a 20 character key. Make a note of it. Keep XBOX running.

On Development machine
16. Open All Programs> Microsoft XNA Game Studio 2.0> XNA Game Studio Device Center
17. Click Add Device. Enter a name for the device. Then enter the connection key that you have noted down in step 15.
18. If firewall prompts you for connection say yes. If it doesnt work I would suggest to disable the firewall.

Good, you are all set and done. Download few samples from http://creators.xna.com and try running on your xbox 360. Personally I love the marblets game. Download it at http://creators.xna.com/en-us/starterkit/marblets.

And yes be it touch with the XNA guys http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/default.aspx

Enough playing games. Time to build a few. Take the pride of playing your own games. If Randhir can do this you too can do this.

Screenshots:

Downloading XNA Software from dashboard

Reduced: 32% of original size [ 1600 x 900 ] - Click to view full image

Adding XBOX in XNA Game Studio

Reduced: 69% of original size [ 733 x 499 ] - Click to view full image

2008-08-23T08:17:00.000+05:30

SuperTux is a free software, classic style 2D jump and run game inspired by the Nintendo Super Mario series. It was originally created by Bill Kendrick and is currently maintained by the SuperTux Development Team.

Instead of Mario, the hero in this game is Tux, the mascot of the Linux kernel, albeit the game's only reference to Linux. Many of the in-game graphics were created by Ingo Ruhnke, creator of Pingus.

I have ported the development version of this popular game on Playstation 3. So go ahead and enjoy.

All libraries are included in the package.

Do send your feedback and bugs at kunadeo at gmail.com. All the credit goes to original developers at http://supertux.lethargik.org/authors.html

Download SuperTux2 For Playstation 3

Download SuperTux2 for PS3

Installation Instructions

Download the file in root directory. And enter following commands

$ su

--enter root password--

# cd /

# tar xvfz Supertux2.tar.gz

Run the game by entering command supertux2

$ supertux2

Running On Playstation 3

The True Open Phone Platform

2008-06-13T13:40:00.003+05:30

This article discusses the pros and cons of various operating systems for the mobile platform, and tells us why OpenMoko is the true ‘open’ platform. There are many mobile platforms that exist on this planet today. The situation is very similar to the desktop segment, where we have operating systems like Linux, Windows and a few others. To me, the fact that Linux is an open source model makes it a much better OS. We also have great mobile operating systems like Symbian, Windows Mobile Platform and Linux. But none of these are really ‘open’. Surprised to see Linux in this list? Linux as a mobile OS comes in different shapes and sizes that are not very compatible with each other, as there are many different implementations of the platform. There are no common APIs available for developers to build on top of. Examples include implementations from Motorola and MontaVista. At least, this is not the case with proprietary OSs such as Symbian and Windows Mobile. They provide abundant अपिस to aid third-party programmers to build on their platform. Let us now set aside all this for a while and concentrate on a Linux-based mobile platform project called OpenMoko—a project that combines the true essence of open source with a rich application-programming interface. OpenMoko is a true conversion of the desktop Linux into mobile Linux, which doesn’t bring in any non-standard or hidden aspects. It was built using standard X-server, GTK, ALSA, Dbus and so on. The beauty is that even the hardware platform is as open as the software platform. OpenMoko makes use of a standard platform to make the mobile environment complete. Even the circuit-board hackers will find OpenMoko a dream come true!

What is wrong with the others?

Let’s now take a look at what is seriously wrong.

Symbian OS

First up is the Symbian OS, considered the Windows of the mobile world. More than 75 per cent of the smart phones sold today, run Symbian, and it’s perhaps the most developed mobile operating system, backed by such industry leaders as Nokia, Motorola, Sony and Lenovo. But there are a few things I don’t like about Symbian, which I’m listing below.

A proprietary OS: Symbian is a closed source OS developed by Symbian Ltd, and perhaps the worst thing about it is that it uses open programs like GCC, Java, Perl and many others in its SDK, but doesn’t share its code base or support any open source OS for its application development.
A restricted development environment: Symbian only supports Windows for application development. There is no official SDK that can be used with Linux or Mac OSX. What is ironic is that most of Symbian’s SDK components will fail without the supporting open source programs.
Poor backward compatibility: Every new version of the OS breaks the code. You can’t just recompile the code and run the application on a new platform. You need to re-write the whole application to support the code.
High-end systems requirements: Symbian phones require a pretty decent hardware configuration to run properly. Even if you do have that, you may come across messages like “Out of Memory”. I am sure that many of our readers using Nokia smart phones are already aware of this.
Difficult to program: Even though it offers a rich set of APIs, these are difficult to program. You may say that Symbian supports many programming languages, but remember — if you really want to program, you must know that Symbian C++ is very different from the standard C++, and hence has a very steep learning curve.
Confused UI platforms: Symbian uses two confusing and mutually incompatible UI platforms— namely, S60 (formerly Series 60) and User Interface Quartz (UIQ). For developers, this means that even though you are developing for Symbian, you need to learn UI specific details in order to be up and running.
Poor developer support: Starting with Symbian 9, the company has started punishing third-party developers. Most of the phone features are open only to subscribers of Symbian Signed. If you are not a member of the Symbian Signed programme, then you won’t be able to make use of many core features of the OS.
Version lock: The OS doesn’t support OS upgradation—if your machine has got Symbian 9.1, it will remain as it is as long as you use it. You won’t be able to upgrade it to a later version of the same OS. So you are bound to live in the Stone Age unless you spend a fortune on getting a new device with a newer OS.
Symbian is a mobile-only OS: You can’t use your existing skills to build on it. Or, in other words, you can’t use your Symbian skills anywhere else.

Windows Mobile

Considering Symbian drawbacks, Symbian is not exactly like Windows on the desktop, even though it is doing quite well. Windows is better than Symbian in some ways. It has got better developer support and has a plethora of developer documentation available. Visual Studio is an excellent IDE for it. But there are a few things I don’t like about Windows Mobile too.

Microsoft vendor lock: Nothing is worse than a vendor lock-in, where the keys of the locks are with Microsoft.
Closed source: I don’t need to stress on this, do I?
Microsoft’s partiality: When it comes to a Microsoft product, there is always a reasonable amount of partiality. One example is in Windows Mobile 6, where some of the improvements to email and the calendar application require that you have Exchange Server 2007. The situation is exactly like that on the desktop, where you can’t have DX 10 if you don’t have Vista. Remember all those anti-trust cases that Microsoft is facing?
Poor API support: Not all the Windows APIs are available for third party use. You may need to sign an NDA with Microsoft before you want to fully unleash the OS’s potential.

iPhone

With Apple launching its iPhone this year, we must take that into consideration as well. iPhone is not exactly a mobile application platform – rather, it is a product name. And, unfortunately, as of today, there is nothing much in store for the developers and end users. Let’s list the disadvantages here as well:

Apple’s insane vendor lock:This phone is locked in to Apple and the cellular company, and you as the user, end up paying both.
No third-party application development support: I end my argument with that!

Why OpenMoko is the best

Linux is the best way to program. All that still stands true, as OpenMoko is all about programming on Linux itself. And here’s why I think so:

Open source: It is truly open source—not only in terms of software, but also in terms of hardware. You get to see all thenuts and bolts behind your excellent phone.
Built from open source: OpenMoko is an amazing collection of already popular open source programs to build a mobile development platform.
Cross-platform development: Moving forward, OpenMoko SDK will support Windows and Mac too, thus giving you the option to develop on your choice of platform.
Easy application development: Since it makes use of popular technologies, it’s pretty easy to get up and running with OpenMoko in a very short period of time. All Linux programmers will feel at home, as OpenMoko makes use of popular open source components like GTK, X server, ALSA and so on.
Low on hardware requirements: It doesn’t require a very high-end configuration to run on.
Great developer support: Even though the project is in itsinfancy, it already has got great community support. Apart from this, all the components used in building OpenMoko have their own communities. So, there may already be someone to help you out.
A very rich API: OpenMoko has got a very rich set of APIs. A few have been developed exclusively for OpenMoko, while the others are simply derived from other projects. OpenMoko enables you to use your existing skill set to create the phone applications that you want to.

The OpenMoko Architecture

The OpenMoko architecture is simple, yet very powerful. Most of it is based on already-available open source technologies. However, new technologies have also been developed exclusively for the platform. OpenMoko consists of the following major components:

Linux kernel 2.6 and associated device drivers: The project makes use of the vanilla kernel 2.6 series, patched against OpenMoko-specific patches. The patch set includes additional support for various embedded devices like USB, SD, touch screen, and communication drivers. All these drivers reside in the kernel space, and are loaded at boot time.
Linux Core (or system) services:

udev: It acts as the device manger and maintains all the device nodes in a pseudo /dev filesystem. udev provides a standard way for device components to interact.
blueZ: It is the official LinuxBluetooth stack that is responsible for all Bluetooth related activities in OpenMoko.
Dbus: This provides an IPC (inter-process communication) framework. In other words, Dbus allows applications to talk to each other.
GSM: It consists of GSM (the core GSM module), GSMd (a daemon to manage the GSM backend) and libgsm (an API to communicate with the GSM subsystem).
GPS: It consists of GPS (a core GPS module) and GPSd (a daemon to manage the GPS backend).

The user interface (UI)

kdrive: It is the thin X server for embedded platforms, which runs directly on a frame-buffer device and supports OpenGL.
matchbox: It is a window manager for embedded platforms. Matchbox has been very popular with its recent adoption in Nokia’s Linux tablet and the One Laptop Per Child project.
GTK: This cross-platform widget toolkit is popular due to its truly open source nature and wide cross-platform support. GTK sits behind the popular desktop environment GNOME. UPDATE: Qt is now supported widget.
ALSA: The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) provides the audio functionality. ALSA is already very popular in Linux systems and is now part of the standard kernel.
Qtopia: It is the robust and commercial-grade mobile phone and PDA platform from Trolltech, and arguably much more than just a GUI toolkit.

The application framework:

Core (libmokocore): This provides the core functionality to the framework, such as the switching device, reading/ writing data, application-toapplication signalling, etc. It makes use of the Dbus and Gconf packages.
.Net (libmokonet): It provides the core networking functionality to the framework. It makes use of libgsm, bluez-lib and libgps.
UI (libmokoui): It provides the UI programming capabilities to the platform and makes use of GTK and ALSA (for applications interacting with audio devices). The standard GTK has been customised to provide a rich mobile application-development experience.
PIM (libmokopim): Provides the core PIM (personal information management) capabilities. It makes use of the embedded Evolution data server.

Applications:

X11 applications: Standard X11 applications linked to libX11.
Finger applications: Includes the dialler, menu, media player, etc.
Stylus applications: Includes contacts, messages, search applications, etc.
Third-party applications: Various heavy-duty applications like Web browsers, instant messaging applications, etc.

Subsequent to this quick introduction to the upcoming OpenMoko platform, in forthcoming articles I’ll show you how to build and run OpenMoko applications. The experience is like hacking the world’s best phone environment at your workbench—and yes, nobody is going to sue you! Dont forget to post in your comments

Home Sweet Home: Sitamarhi

2008-06-13T12:16:00.001+05:30

Introduction

For those who are new, let me introduce you to my home town Sitamarhi.This is the place where [[Sita]] was born, the main character of the epic [[Ramayana]]. The town is situated along the border of Nepal. The district of Sitamarhi was carved out of Muzaffarpur district on 11th December 1972. It is situated in the northern part of Bihar. Its headquarter is located at Dumra, five kilometers south of Sitamarhi.

Sitamarhi is a sacred place in Hindu mythology. It’s history goes back to Treta Yug. Sita, the wife of Lord Rama sprang to life out of an earthern pot, when Raja Janak was ploughing the field somewhere near Sitamarhi to impress upon Lord Indra for rain. It is said that Raja Janak excavated a tank at the place where Sita emerged and after her marriage set up the stone figures of Rama, Sita and Lakshman to mark the site. This tank is known as Janaki-kund and is south of the Janaki Mandir.

From Sitamarhi, if you like, you can have a foreign tour also. You travel by bus upto Bitha Morh (Where Kendriya Vidyalya, My primary and Secondary school is located) on Indian border and next to Janakpur in Nepal. Ram Sita's wedding was celebrated in Janakpur, next to the site is a pagoda style Sri Janaki temple built in 1895 by the dreem- inspired Rani of Tikamgarhin Madhya Pradesh. Bases ply from Janakpur to Kathmandu, capital of Nepal- and to Pokhra. The RNAC flies to Kathmandu from Janakpur. From Janakpur one may visit Jayriagar (India) by Nepalese train. The palace of Rajnagar is worth visiting. It is 22 km from Jaynagar. The palace is built on four elephants made ..of stone. The Government has set up a college there. There is also a Durga temple where is installed the Goddess Kali, made of white stone.

Weather Advisory : Very Cold

Its very cold in here, specially in January so make sure that you carry all your woolen cloths.

Getting In

Sitamarhi is a small town we don't have direct Trains and Air connections. However Sitamarhi is Well connected by near by districts Muzaffarpur (By Bus), Darbhanga (By Train and Bus) and Patna (By Bus).

It is preferable that you first reach Patna (See Ref A) and then take a Bus to Sitamarhi from Patna bus stand. It is quite possible that you need to change the Bus at Muzzaffarpur to get to Sitamarhi. At sitamarhi bus stand ask Rickshwala to get you to the Baidyanath Bhawan, Bhavdaypur or give me a call I'll arrange your arrival from Bus Stand.

I agree that reaching Sitamarhi is a time taking thing, but let me promise you that this will be a big adventure. So here is a step by step guide of how to reach.

Step 1: Reach Patna

First reach Patna. Its very easy. You can take trains or flights to reach there. It is advisable that you reach during day time that is before 1 Pm. So than you can easily take a bus during day time only becuase you still need to travel around 4.5 hours by Bus.

Step 2: Take a Bus to Sitamarhi/Muzaffarpur

Take auto rickshaw to Private bus stand. Look for the buses for Sitamarhi or Muzaffarpur. You may need to change your bus at Muzaffarpur. But ask conductor for direct services. You may get a chance to watch movies during your travel. . From Patna it will take around 2 hours and from Muz. to Sitamarhi it will take 2.5 hrs. So a total of 4.5 hrs journey from Patna to Sitamarhi.

Road conditions are excellent from Patna to Muz but average from Muz to Sitamarhi. So be prepared for Hitch hacks.

My Article: Linux As Programming Stronghold

2006-11-13T13:28:00.000+05:30

Linux is widely regarded as one of the best programming platforms available today. In
this article, we explore the features that make the OS a programmer’s paradise. Acquire
the holy weapons of development that all Linux programmers should add to their
arsenal of skills!

This article will explain why Linux is such a great platform specially for developers and boon for creative minds

Read Full Article At:

http://www.lfymag.com/admin/issuepdf/Linux%20Stronghold.pdf