Fedora can actually look much better....

Friends, if you've been using GNOME and are sick of the cream and blue look, here's something you can try out. Visit http://art.gnome.org/ It has a good collection of themes, window fascias, window borders, icon sets and login screens. You can download them and drag-and-drop into the Appearances window found under System > Preferences > Look and Feel (in Fedora 8). Try out those themese until you settle in for one that suits you best..Happy experimenting !!

Up next for upgrade..........the way ahead..

Being bitten by the upgrade bug, I can't help writing more about it. In this article, I'll disclose my future upgrade plans.

Now, there are 2 major things left to upgrade. Considering I've already made a sizeable investment in DDR memory, it implies I'm not looking forward to upgrade either the processor of the motherboard. Keeping in mind the inherent limitation that this PC can never be used for gaming (we have PlayStations for that, don't we?), there are 2 feel-good things that can be done.

1. A 19" TFT monitor, which must have a VGA connector, and
2. A 250GB or 500 GB HDD, which will ofcourse need to have an IDE interface

While the first upgrade is purely aesthetic, the second one is only marginally functional. Frankly speaking, I'm not likely to go in for any of these upgrades ever. What I am considering, though, is installing a TV-tuner card, that'll allow me to screen my DVDs on the TV in the living room, as well as provide for a way to see my own programs when mum wants to watch another.

Current configuration of my PC

• Intel Celeron 2.0 GHz processor
• HIS-manufactured Intel 845-GL motherboard
• 1.25 GB RAM (1 x 1 GB DDR @ 400 MHz + 1 x 256 MB DDR @ 267 MHz)
• Samsung 40 GB PATA HDD
• Samsung CD writer (52-24-52)
• Sony DVD writer DRU-840A
• Sony 1.44" FDD
• Samsung SAMTRON 15" CRT monitor 56V
• Microsoft keyboard and wheel-mouse ( both wired)
• Scientific-Atlanta Cable modem
• HP PSC 500 All-in-One
• Philips HTR-2000 5.1 Home Theatre System with FM Tuner
• Bluetooth USB adapter
• PCI IEEE-1394 adapter card
• PCI LAN card

The Indian way of doing things

The world over, Indians are known for one ability: their ability to extract the maximum possible out of existing resources. And I am no exception.

Stuck as I was with my relic of a PC, I could've easily discarded the machine altogether and gonein for a brand new one. However, I carefully studied my requirements. Since games and me have nothing in common, I figured out I could do with my current Celeron processor. What I needed was not huge instantaneous processing power, but simply more room to accommodate the running programs. Having zeroed in on the issue at hand, I went in for an upgrade that cost me the least: 1GB of RAM for INR 1,550 only.

Now compare that cost to the cost of a new PC: approx 20,000 for a respectable configuration that won't be outdated in atleast a year's time. Even if I had bought such a rig, it would've offered me no real performance gain over my currently upgraded PC.

So, the same result was achieved in a fraction of the cost of a new PC. Thats what the Indian spirit is all about!!

1 GB RAM installed

Guys, you wont believe it. I got a RAM upgrade on 23-Jun-2008, that's a little more than a week back. But owing to sheer my laziness, I didn't update this blog. So, here's the update.

My PC, as you all are familiar now, is a 2004 relic that runs a 2.0 GHz Celeron on an 845-GL. It was bought with only 256 MB RAM. For four long years, I've struggled with this 1-room-kitchen of a memory called 256 MB. For the former part of my PC's life until today, the restrictions weren't as severe. They became obvious when I started using Fedora 6 earlier, and Fedora 8 later. My system was practically living off virtual memory. Every single operation required probably thousands of swaps out of and into the physical memory. The result was a PC slower than a snail, and a wait more frustrating than hearing Atal Behari Vajpayee's slowly progressing speech.

Opening every additional application meant a long-wait...sometimes taking several minutes. Saying that the waits were frustrating would be a gross understatement. To say the least, they were agonising.

Now, the better part. Soon after my vacations started, I decided to look into this issue. I asked Jatin to get me a quote for a 1 GB DDR RAM. Later I realised that the RAM speeds won't match. My motherboard supported a maximum of 267 MHz, while the only ones left in the market were 400 MHz. After discussing the issue out with Jatin, we finally came to the conclusion that a faster RAM would work with a slower board, at the maximum speed that the board supports. With that conclusion firmly in my head, I went to Lamington Road.

Now, a funny thing happened. I decided to check a few shops before buying the memory from the shop recommended by Jatin. So I checked out with not one, not two, but three shops. And all the counter-persons there told me that my conclusion was totally wrong, and that the RAM and board speeds had to match. To my astonishment, they were trying to sell me the slower RAM at double the cost of a faster one !!!

While the 400 MHz variant cost 1,500 bucks, the price quoted for the 267 MHz variant was......2,700 bucks ! Ridiculous! I phoned up Jatin again, and he assured me that our logic was correct and that I should go and purchase the specified RAM from the specified shop. I did as I was told.

Now, both of us has contemplated that the worst case scenario would be that both cards -- the older, slower one; and the faster, newer one -- may not work together. However, I myself had reasoned out that since the speed ceiling of the board coincided with the operating speed of the older RAM, the faster speed of the new one would be neglected, and both woudl operate harmoniously at 267 MHz.

Still unsure if I had blown up 1.5 grand, I reached home, anxious to test the card. First, I removed my old card and plugged in the new one. It worked!! Then, I plugged in my old card as well, and both worked!! I was the happiest creature on the planet alive. My PC's memory had just gone 5x. The machine ran fast. There were no hold-ups. From a time when my HDD access indicator used to flash all the time.....the indicator now acted as if it was off -- the disk being used only for loading programs once, and not for virtual memory swapping every millisecond.

Since then, the Fedora system manager has never shown a RAM utilisation of over 50%, and virtual memory has never been used since that day. Today my PC works really smooth. I'm happy and satisfied that I managed to identify the (performance) problem correctly, find the optimal solution (in terms of cost), and had enough knowledge and skills to rightly implement the solution. Equally important is the fact that, in Jatin, I had the right consultant at hand, and that I didn't hesitate to avail of his expert services.

Now, my PC has 1.25 GB RAM, and is one of the coolest machines in the world....atleast from my point of view.

Earlier, I had contemplated putting in a 512 MB card that would've cost me half as much. But I had turned down the proposal, because it wasn't future proof. Now, my PC can run smoothly for at least another 2 years. Besides, when I join the company, I might be posted out of this city. And it'll mean the PC is left only to be used by my folks for communicating with me via chat/video-chat, and for some internet-browsing and documentation work. So, the current rig should suffice.

CD Writer back in action !

Proud to be an Indian!

Finally, I achieved today, what I had been wanting to do for a long time. Not that its any great achievement. Nor that it couldn't have been achieved earlier. Just that didn't find the time and motivation to look into the problem with a view to solving it.

So, what was the problem, you may ask? If you've read my older post, you'll know that I had to unplug my CD drive to accommodate my newly purchased DVD-drive. Today, I asked my dad to get me an IDE (PATA) cable. For those, not in the loop, my PC has an 845-GL motherboard of 2004 vintage, that has no SATA slots, and no PCI-Express slots either.

I opened the cover of my PC to plug the new cable. But silly me that I am, I realised that both, Primary, and Secondary IDE slots had already been occupied: the HDD was sitting on the Primary, as expected; while the DVD-drive was connected on the secondary. "Now what to do?" I asked myself. The most reliable person in such situations is Jatin, my hardware-guru friend. I phoned him and hebrought it to my notice that every IDE cable has an additional connector approximately mid-way along the length of the cable. He mentioned that it can be used to connect another device on the same cable.

However, I was sure that both drives were set to be 'Master' according to their default jumper settings. I knew that if my new configuration is to work, one of them has to be made a slave. But I had no clue which jumper setting will be interpreted as slave. Thanks to my systematic approach to filing of device manuals, I was able to quickly locate the Sony manual. I saw the installation instructions chart, and figured out the way to connect my old drive as a slave on the secondary.

Fortunately, there also existed 2 extra 4-pin mole connectors, more than my requirement of a single-one. To sort issues out, I removed all IDE and power cables, and after a few rejigs, everything was set right. All drives had power and signal cables; they were connected in not only correct, but the optimal fashion; and the CD-drive was now a Secondary slave, while the DVD-drive was the Secondary master.

Another thing I'd like to bring to your notice, guys. Sometimes, simple solutions elude us. Unlike, I mentioned earlier, the extra connector on the IDE cable is not located exactly mid-way, but is rather close to one of its ends. Now, stupid as it may seem, I was connecting one of the two closely-placed connectors, onto the motherboard, and wondering how to connect the remaining two to the two drives. The solution, as I saw from Sony's manual, was to connect the far end on the motherboard, leaving the two closely-spaced connectors to be connected to the two closely-spaced drives. Simple!

So, what did we learn?

1. Always preserve device manuals in an easily retrievable manner
2. Analyse the situation at hand before ordering parts
3. Apply your logic to other peopls's advice, instead of following it blindly
4. Look for simple solutions when you are stuck in a problem
5. Remember, there is no problem without a solution, only if you are willing to devote enough resources to solving that problem

DVD Writer Installed

I have no clue as to how I forgot to write this post, which, by the way should have been written long back. I bought a Sony DVD-Writer DRU-840A in mid-March this year. It was a small celebration of me being placed in Asia's foremost IT company.

The drive cost me around 1,500 bucks. I bought it from Anupam Stationers (Borivli). It was box-packed and a completely legal purchase. Got home and connected it the same day. However, since I did not have any spare connecting cables, I removed the cables on my existing CD-RW Drive, and plugged them into the new drive.

So now, I finally had a DVD-Writer, which had been overdue. However, I regreted the fact that my old drive had to be unplugged from the system. Now see guys, I'm not the kind of person who runs behind new things. Although I fully acknowledge that adopting new technologies is essential if we are to progress, I'm also quite attached to old things that I've been using for a while.

Anyway, since I was in one of the two most traumatic semesters, I couldn't ever find the time and thinking resources to find away of keeping both drives plugged in. Of course, buying additional cables was always the option. But it was simply never implemented.

However, the DVD drive brought one of the most important change, that is, I was able to install Fedora 8.