Doing my bit

In combination with kernel janitors (described in my previous post), this
information should prove useful when I decide to get into this for real.
Let's see when I get around to doing this, but it should be soon enough.
Diff and
Patch info
More
compilation info

Kernel Module programming

Kernel Janitors

This is an interesting project for newbies who want to start contributing
to the Linux Kernel. It has an explanation, and a list of TODOs for the
kernel that a newcomer can use to get his feet wet, so to speak. These
people can, then, of course, move on to heavier things.

http://kerneljanitors.org/

Fedora links

Whoopeee!! Finally , I find NTFS support for Fedora that doesn't require me
to re-compile the kernel (and break a few dozen things on the way, since RH
insists on its own kernel tweaks)

http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/index.html

excellante. Another website that looks good (where I found this link in the
first place) is:

http://www.fedoraforum.org/

apt-get for Fedora

I've been hearing a lot about apt-get being this really cool utility, and
it makes Debian a breeze to update. I've been using rpms so far for my
Fedora Core I, and the whole installation process isn't the easiest. Lets
see if this improves things.

http://www.fedora.us/wiki/FedoraHOWTO

Windows XP services guide

There are loads of services which come with WinXP that come loaded by
default. The sole reason is that it is easier to leave them on than
teaching a user how to set them up if s/he needs them. A security
nightmare, especially if the service is compromised. With even the RPC
service in Win32 being compromised once, I think it makes sense for a power
user to learn how to disable services he doesn't want/need. A good guide I
found a link to is here:

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Windows Registry khel

The Windows registry is one of those few places I never really ventured.
Maybe it was the lack of enthusiasm, maybe the fact that it wasn't as
easily visible or user-friendly. Plus ominous-sounding warnings about
tinkering with it, though never a deterrent for me, put me off "till I get
some more free time". Which I never do. Then I found this, which I fully
intend to look at

http://hacks.oreilly.com/pub/h/658

O'Reilly produces amazing books, especially on open-source related tools
(though i liked their C# / .NET books a lot too). The "hacks" series is
pretty interesting. I'll probably pick up one of those when I get some more
free time...

Immigration Blues

As my quest intensifies, uncomfortable questions on my immigration status
and the new H-1 B quota arise. So here goes - tracking information for H-1s.

There are couple of forums and threads on

http://immigration.com

This one's the official website of an immigrant attorney.

http://www.murthy.com

and of course, mai-baap sarkar ... http://uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm

The Creative Commons License

A topic that has interested me a lot has been the debate over how copyrights go against the interests of genuine users/connoiseurs who cannot afford to buy copyrighted content, and are deprived of its use. Numerous debates rage, from illegal downloads vs. RIAA, to DeCSS for the use of DVDs on linux. An interesting way out is the Creative Commons License. I found this interesting article

http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,608619-1,00.html

This book (available under the same license) talks about the same issues.

http://free-culture.org/index.html

Have got to read it. I might not buy it, unless I see compelling value to do so. After all, that is what it is about :-)

Cool Acrobat Hack

I found this really useful hack to make Acrobat Reader 6.0 load much
quicker on your PC. Since Acrobat loads a lot of plug-ins that you don't really
need, this helps remove superfluous plug-ins that you don't require for normal
loading, and loads them only on demand.

"Go to your Acrobat\Reader folder and take everything from the "plug_ins"
folder and move it into "Optional" except the following: Search.api,
Search5.api, IA32.api, EWH32.api, EScript.api. Printing and search will
still work, and it will load 75% faster."

This is on Reader 6.0.

HTTP Performance benchmark tool

httperf is a good tool to do benchmarking for performance of HTTP servers.
It gives pretty good results, taking out the pain of a lot of measurements
for a tester. Has proved a god-send while trying to decide how to evaluate
the cool stuff I'm doing for my thesis.


Official Homepage

EXt2 partitions on Windows

This is a cool utility that lets you view your ext2 partitions on windows.
Worked pretty well on my Windows XP home/ Fedora Core I laptop. I tried it
read - only though.

http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm

first post!

Here it is, finally. My blog. I have been unwilling to put my life on public display for so long, but some of blogger's features, (especially the one where you can email in your posts) tempted me enough to think of this. This is not so much for personal musings, but more of a personal scratchboard. I would like to use this to put up my opinions on all things tech, hacks that I figure out, or find on the WWW somewhere. Might prove useful if I keep at it.