The Operating System

Most computers come pre-installed with Windows these days. So, by and large, the Operating System installation is taken care of. If not, and if the end user in question wishes to have Windows in the long run- the first thing I do is to install Windows.

If you’ve bought your computer recently and it came pre-installed with Windows Vista- you may have the option to upgrade to Windows 7 when it releases. (Bonus tip: You could try your hand at winning a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate at Manan’s launch party in Mumbai on October 24th). If you want Ubuntu, you can download a copy here or request a CD here.

During the Windows installation (ideally during- but you can do this after the installation also) one of the most important steps I take is to make sure that there is a separate partition made for the data and for the OS install. For Windows- the OS is installed by default in the C drive. I usually keep about 15-20GB for the C drive. The remaining space on the hard drive is kept for one or more partitions in which the data is going to be kept.

Even if I install Windows, I usually (for me- always, for others- depending on whether they want to do so) also keep an extra 10-15GB partition vacant. I install a Linux distribution in this partition- my favourite is Ubuntu. I recommend this to others because a Linux distribution serves as a great backup to boot into and gain access to your data should you face any problems with corruption or viruses with Windows. You can easily set your computer to boot into Windows by default for everyday usage- by modifying the bootloader settings. The bootloader is what enables you to select and starts which Operating System you would like to use when you turn on your computer. Prolific Ubuntu user, Aysiu’s most excellent tutorials should help you with your Ubuntu install. Again- if you’re installing only Ubuntu- make sure you have a separate partition for your data. You can do this by setting the mount point of your root directory (denoted by a single forward slash- /) to a small 10-15GB partition and setting the mount point of your data partition to “/home”.

When I get a computer for myself- I always install Linux because there are a lot of things I prefer to do only in Linux. The key here is to install Linux after you’ve installed Windows- if you’re installing Windows at all. The bootloader installed by Linux is usually much better at dealing with multiple Operating Systems than that installed by Windows. Dealing with a dedicated data partition can get tricky here. What I do is to create a separate data partition during the Windows install (let say the D drive), then log into Windows, remap all the folders in the home folder (My Documents, My Pictures, etc) to equivalent newly made folders in the D drive thus: Right Click on the folder > Properties > Location > Move > Select the equivalent folder you’ve created in the D drive. Then, during the Ubuntu install, I simply set the mount point of this partition as “/data”. Then, in order to remap the folders in the home folder here, I add entries to the fstab file. For example, if I have to remap the Documents folder in my home directory (my username is “sengupta”, so my home directory is “/home/sengupta”) to the Documents folder in “/data”, I add the following line to the fstab file (located in /etc/);

/data/Documents/ /home/sengupta/Documents/ none bind

You can modify your boot menu order by modifying the file “/boot/grub/menu.lst”. You can change the countdown time by modifying the number next to “timeout”. You can have the menu hidden by default (and have it reveal itself only if you press ESC within the countdown time, you can change the default OS selection, you can reorient the order of the Operating Systems and more. Make sure you back up your original menu.lst though. Also, you can only make changes to the menu.lst file (or for that matter to the fstab file) using superuser privileges. You can perform the two actions on the terminal thus:

sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.backup
sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

I strongly suggest you have a friend around who is more experienced in these matters while you’re making such modifications to your computer.

Setting up Windows

Now that the Operating Systems have been set up, we see how to go about setting up Windows.

The first thing I do is to fire up Internet Explorer- then download and install Firefox. I then proceed to install my favourite addons. To make this easy, I’ve made them available here. The best of the lot is the addon XMarks (formerly Foxmarks). This enables you to sync your bookmarks across computers. It also syncs bookmarklets- making things even more convenient. I also download and install Opera and Google Chrome- both excellent browsers. Opera syncs my bookmarks across devices- such as my phone. Its session management features are better than any other browser I’ve come across yet and the notes feature is an excellent addition- great for research. Having access to these notes on the go is a blessing. Chrome’s raw speed and performance makes it perfect as a quick-launch/quick-read browser. At this point, there is fairly limited extensibility for Chrome compared to the others, so I use it as a secondary browser.

Here are some of the other softwares I install:

• Microsoft Office: The only real reason I still use Windows. In my honest opinion- the Office suite is their finest work yet.
• 7-Zip: A great hassle free tool to open and create most types of archive formats.
• µTorrent: A lightweight, but powerful bittorrent client for- you know- seeding Linux distributions and other FOSS software.
• VLC: A very useful media player that can play pretty much any media format you throw at it.
• Foxit Reader: An excellent alternative to Adobe’s Reader. Very fast and does not hog system resources.
• IrfanView: A small but incredibly powerful image editing application.
• Picasa: A great photo management tool- I use this to upload photos to Picasaweb (for backups), to Facebook and to Flickr.
• Security: I prefer ESET’s Smart Security suite- it’s core antivirus program, NOD32 is written extensively in Assembly which makes it fast and nonintrusive. Free antivirus programs such as AVG and Spybot are pretty good too.
• Dropbox: Excellent for backing up important files and syncing them across computers. Also allows you to share certain folders with friends.
• CCleaner: Great for maintaining your computer- helps remove unnecessary data, cleans up your registry, helps manage installations and allows you to modify which applications are launched at startup.
• iTunes/Songbird: To manage your music collection. I’ve prefer iTunes thus far primarily because of iTunes U.

Optional:

Filezilla, CutePDF, Nokia PCSuite, Notepad++, TeraCopy, Infrarecorder, Auslogics Disk Defrag

Setting up Ubuntu

I choose Ubuntu because it is, in my opinion one of the more user friendly distributions around. Of course- when I say “user” friendly- the term is very relative- it depends on the user. But generally speaking- it’s a great distribution for someone who is interesting in learning about Linux to start with.

As far as installing software is concerned- things are very simple indeed. In the Linux world, large numbers of software packages are generally housed together in “repositories” on certain Servers around the internet. These repositories are generally very well maintained and regularly updated. These repositores can be located in multiple locations. There is in fact an internal Ubuntu repository at IIT Bombay as well. For Ubuntu, there are two main ways of installing new software:

The first is a GUI based method. Open up “Add/Remove Applications” (last option under “Applications” at the top of the screen). Either search for the applications you want or scroll through a category of your choice. Select all the applications you wish to install and hit “apply changes”. That’s it. The required packages will be downloaded and installed. The second method involves the command line. Say I wish to install VLC and Opera. I can achieve that using the following command:

sudo apt-get install vlc opera

Of course- I can install as many packages as I please- by replacing “vlc opera” in the above command by the names of the packages I want. A typical command I issue to set my Ubuntu up would be this:

sudo apt-get install vim-full build-essential manpages-dev gparted scilab octave3.0 python-matplotlib python-profiler python python-scipy python-numpy python-sympy python-doc mayavi2 maxima opera vlc mplayer gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly cheese amarok ssh wine texmaker

Issue this command- leave your computer for a while to allow it to download and install everything- when you’re back- everything’s installed. Of course- there are a couple of hoops to go through if you need to install something that’s beta, or commercial- fairly simple for the most part- they usually involve adding/enabling the repository sources and authenticating them.

To know more about any of the packages, say vim-full, type:

aptitude show vim-full

In Ubuntu, you needn’t upgrade every individual package- you can upgrade all packages at once. To do this- your package manager must first be updated about the status of new packages- and then your package manager must to told to upgrade all your packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Distribution upgrades require a dist-upgrade. And of course- you can use a GUI if you’re more comfortable with it- Go to System > Administration >Update manager.

I keep a list of useful Ubuntu Packages here for my reference.

#mumbai: three days as a Twitter journalist

LAST Thursday’s terrorist attack in Mumbai in which more than 180 people were killed was a watershed moment for citizen journalism. City residents published minute-by-minute updates to the internet using social media platforms like Twitter, providing the latest facts along with local detail and context as the atrocity unfolded. Major news outlets could not match the detail and pace of their reporting. Aditya Sengupta, a 21-year-old Mumbai student, was one of them. Here, he reflects on the attack and the role of citizen journalists in the event.

I had just gotten home from a very long day at college and was going through my recent emails and social network updates when I saw a couple of very shocking messages.

A quick search through the web and a couple of frenzied phone calls confirmed the start of what was going to be one of the bloodiest and most horrific days in Mumbai’s history.

One of the most interesting things to have emerged from last week’s terror attacks in Mumbai is the significant role played by social media in the coverage of the tragedy – particularly the micro-blogging website Twitter.

While chaotic, disorganised and unverified, Twitter provided fast and helpful updates to the carnage that was underway in the heart of the city.

Updates started appearing on Twitter several minutes before those on local news channels and roughly an hour before they did on CNN and BBC, with Twitter users speculating about loud blasts emanating from various places in and around Colaba, South Mumbai.

Reports of gunshots at several places soon followed, sparking speculation of a clash between gangs and police. Subsequent updates about grenade attacks, fires and hostage situations at other locations made it clear that this was no gang war.

Because of the nature of Twitter, updates were passed on by “retweeting” them – reposting someone else’s update and, ideally, giving credit to the original author. Because of this the information was spread far and wide very fast indeed.

After the initial incredulity and shock, and after the news channels had well and truly caught on, a lot of speculation and guesswork gave way to more accurate updates, largely sourced from various local news channels.

Several constructive actions and initiatives were taken by Twitter users, such as publicising the descriptions of one of the terrorists, the cars that they were said to have carjacked and the fact that they had even carjacked a police vehicle.

Other useful information such as links to video streams of local news channels and lists of important phone numbers (helplines, embassies and consulates) were quickly posted and disseminated.

The human face of Twitter took on another dimension when local users offered to try and call the friends and family of foreigners. What started on Twitter eventually grew into the Mumbai Help blog. I remember trying to call the phone numbers that a commenter on the blog said belonged to Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg. They were eventually found dead at Nariman House (Mumbai Chabad House).

Scans of the lists of dead and injured obtained by a blogger were sent to and posted on the Mumbai Help blog. A request for help on Twitter resulted in the images being transcribed into searchable text and republished. Calls for donations of specific types of blood were also posted and widely retweeted.

In a very short while, several websites and blogs collated much of the information on Twitter, the mainstream media and other websites to create pages that served to be real-time compendiums of information – such as those at Pinstorm, my own website Vignetting Life and of course, Mumbai Help.

Twitter users, photographers and bloggers Vinu Ranganathan and Arun Shanbhag posted several first hand photographs of the event, which were eventually used widely by the mainstream media.

As the hours wore by, the importance of attribution of one’s source of news for each tweet became clear when rumours started spreading through the micro-blogging site. One particular rumour spread very far – that the terrorists may have been accessing the internet and the Indian Government had asked Twitter users to stop reporting.

The appearance of the tweet on the BBC website added to the confusion, since a number of Twitter users cited the same BBC article as a source of their information, creating something of a circular reference. Subsequent rumours were quenched quickly, with Twitter users correcting other Twitter users and providing references.

The truth to the speculation as to whether Twitter was actually used as a source of information by the terrorists remains to be seen. Most Twitter users sourced a majority of their tweets providing information about the siege from the mainstream media and by retweeting others who had sourced their posts from the mainstream media. Furthermore, many Twitter users showed a substantial amount of restraint regarding operational details and troop positions, despite the fact that such details were broadcast on some news channels.

While the primary source of information on Twitter about the Mumbai attacks, the #mumbai search, had a substantial amount of redundant, unusable and irrelevant information, it nonetheless provided for a lot of important updates and clarifications. While Twitter might not necessarily be a reliable source of information, it sure is a quick and useful one.

One reason I put the help page on my blog and started going on a Twitter “marathon” was because of the desire to use the resources at my disposal in the most productive manner I could.

Another reason is the fact that I used to study about 10-15 minutes away from most of the attack sites back in junior college. Most of them are places I have been to and have some familiarity with. I would regularly frequent the British Council library which is pretty much in between the major attack sites.

Most of my updates regarding the attacks were sourced from several mainstream media channels and from other Twitter users I trust.

[original location]

It was originally meant to be an article for the Technology section. So you can imagine my surprise when I received a flurry of messages saying that my article was on the front page of the website. I was in college at the time and knew that it would not stay there for long. So I asked my friend Kushagra to get a screenshot of the page for posterity’s sake:

Now Google Calendar is a pretty powerful tool. You can use it to create custom events (such as repeating events, shared events, etc) without having to spend much time trying to figure out how to do it. Anyone who has tried creating custom events in other programs will appreciate Google Calendar’s simple yet powerful approach to calendaring.

Here’s a run-through of how I put up my semester’s time-table on Google Calendar and then synced it back with Windows Calendar (You know- for all those times when you don’t have internet access)-

• Go to Google Calendar and create a new account. If you already have a GMail account, you should find the direct link to your Calendar at the top of the GMail page.

• Use the ‘Add button’ on the left to create a new calendar. Give it a creative name, like ‘College calendar’. There are other options on the page which we won’t concern ourselves with for the time being.

• Now with this particular calendar selected, create a new event using the link to the left.

• We’ll call this subject DSP-ANC (My subject and professor code. Give it a name you’ll understand and remember). Fill in the appropriate date and time. In the “Repeats” drop down box, select “Weekly”.

• In the “Range” section, under “until” select the date your term ends. Mine ends in October.

• In the options section, you could have Google send you a reminder. Via SMS even. I’d suggest disabling this unless you want a reminder before every lecture for the entire semester.

• Hit the save button.

Now repeat the above procedure till you’ve covered all your subjects. Once you’re done, select the week view (upper-right), sit back, and admire your new calendar.

To sync this with your Windows calendar, go to Settings> Calendar Settings> Calendars> “College Calendar” (or whatever creative name you’ve given to it). Under “Calendar Details” scroll down to Private address and select ICAL. In the pop-up, click on the link and download the file that appears (basic.ics). In Windows Calendar, go to File> Import> (Folder where you downloaded the file)> basic.ics. And voila! You’re done. (These instructions are for Windows Calendar in Vista- other systems and apps should have similar instructions).

Now you can go share the calendar with your class by going to Settings> Calendars> “Name of your calendar”> Share this calendar> Make this calendar public. Go back to “Calendar Details”, scroll to the bottom of the page, and under “Calendar address” select “HTML”. Copy the hyperlink that pops up and send it to everyone in your class. If you have a blog or a website, you could use the Configuration tool to generate an iFrame that you could paste to a page on your blog. Like this

Happy Calendaring.

(If you have any problems viewing the images above, right click> “view image” to see the image in its entirety)

P.S. To add SMS reminders to your Google Calendar (which can be really handy at times), go to Settings> Mobile Setup. Follow the instructions there. You’ll need to enter your phone number, after which Google will send you a verification code. Put that verification code in the field provided in Google Calendar, and you’re done.

Here is a gist of the main talking points during the presentation:

1. Ideas come from everywhere
   Google expects everyone to innovate, even the finance team
2. Share everything you can
   Every idea, every project, every deadline — it’s all accessible to everyone on the intranet
3. You’re brilliant, we’re hiring
   Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin approve hires. They favor intelligence over experience
4. A license to pursue dreams
   Employees get a “free” day a week. Half of new launches come from this “20% time”
5. Innovation, not instant perfection
   Google launches early and often in small beta tests, before releasing new features widely
6. Don’t politic, use data
   Mayer discourages the use of “I like” in meetings, pushing staffers to use metrics
7. Creativity loves restraint
   Give people a vision, rules about how to get there, and deadlines
8. Worry about usage and users, not money
   Provide something simple to use and easy to love. The money will follow.
9. Don’t kill projects — morph them
   There’s always a kernel of something good that can be salvaged

Anyone who knows me or has followed my blog (I’ve posted on life at Google earlier) will know just how much I respect the Google culture. I find it unsurprising that an entity that follows such a path towards innovation gains so much success and respect. My personal favourites are #2, 7 and 8. Although each point is one that I think should be followed everywhere, I see a particular need for these points to be highlighted amongst the people I work with, or don’t, or can’t. You get the idea. I wish this approach to innovation, and the Google philosophy, were more prevalent.

Here is the original stream. Click the play button below:

To attribute this as best I can: this cast is hosted by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program.