Friday, February 20, 2009

கவிஞன் என்பவன் ....

மனிதனின் உள்ளக் குமரல்களே மொழி
சரியான வார்த்தை கொண்டவன் எழுத்தாளன் ஆகிறான்
சிறப்பான வார்த்தை கொண்டவன் கவிஞன் ஆகிறான்

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

ogg123-(02-Jan,2009)

One Day One GNU/Linux Command
=============================

ogg123 -- Plays Ogg Vorbis audio files.

Summary:

Ogg Vorbis is a new audio compression format. It is different from
these other formats because it is completely free, open & unpatented.
It is roughly comparable to other formats used to store & play digital
music, such as MP3, VQF, AAC, and other digital audio formats.

ogg123 reads Ogg Vorbis audio files and decodes/play them to the (by
default) standard sound card or specified device(s). Input files can
be read from the system, or URLs can be streamed via HTTP.

Press Ctrl C to stop.

Examples:

$ locate .ogg -- Search for some OGG files in your system.

$ ogg123 my.ogg -- Play on the default soundcard.

$ ogg123 -q my.ogg -- Quiet mode. No messages are displayed.

$ ogg123 -v my.ogg -- Verbose mode. Show more info.

$ ogg123 -x 4 my.ogg -- Play the file in 4 time faster.

$ ogg123 -y 2 my.ogg -- Play the file in 2 times slower then the
normal speed.

$ ogg123 -d esd my.ogg -- Play the file using ESD Device.

$ ogg123 ~/MusicDir -- Play all of the files in the ~/MusicDir
and its subDirs.

$ ogg123 -d wav -f my.wav my.ogg -- Convert the OGG to WAV.

$ ogg123 -d oss -d wav -f my.wav my.ogg -- Listen to a file while you
write it to a WAV file.

Read: man ogg123 (More examples are available in man page)

Monday, February 02, 2009

guide-to-bangalore

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/34709834/m/115000716931

What You Should Know Before Going to America - Topic Powered by Eve For Enterprise

After reading the above, I'd like to write one which is part fictitious and part real.
I landed/un-boarded the bus at 4.00am at madiwala and one more wise gentle man, asked the driver after getting down, will i get bus to airport? wtf?..
i told him, you'll endup paying twice your airfair if you take auto and other ways, and took him till Hal and put him in BIAS-4 bus, so may be next time when someone comes to Bangalore, should take necessary precautions he he :-)

first things first, Bangalore is well connected but disconnected, from my experience, if you want a bus from Hal to banashankari, then you are dead, first take a bus to domlur "bridge", which is not actually a bus stop (nor a bridge), don't insist on a ticket, you'll save 2 rupees(in other words, the conductor is kind enough to make you save), and walk towards kormangala under the "bridge", again at the end of the bridge there is "not-a" bus stop, unless you are really unlucky your bus will stop there(actually the number of buses are overwhelming), in similar ways, there are (or will be many more routes), good luck

so all those from chennai (who probably thinks that auto-wallas are bandits) here is a welcome break, in most of the cases you wont be charged more then what the meter shows, so for short distances dont hesitate to take a auto-rickshaw.
its cheap (3 people to mg road in bus, Rs. 24, hell yeah, 30 in auto), and fast (do i have to say), and you really dont have to wait for the bus.

but the situation changes drastically, after 10pm and before 6am, that is when the entire Bangalore sleeps either in home or "pub", so there are only few problems, auto-walls behave like they are in chennai, so do the single driver buses, so i advice caution, dont reach Bangalore after 10 and before 5, if you happen to reach then pray the almighty, that you get a cab (a separate post is required to "praise" the cab wallas), to some what near locality and WALK (the weather is pleasant, and i have not been robbed even once in these 3 years)

so since we have looked into travelling, next is FOOD, so the ground rule is, EAT WHAT YOU GET, unless you have a really rich father, or you grow money in trees, food in Bangalore falls into either of the two categories, one, stand-and-deliver (kai yeendhi bahavan), two, super dooper places where the cost per head will be soo much you dont want to go back home and tell others how you got robbed.
but thankfully, MOST sagars/dharshinis/upahaars serve good edible food, at reasonable price, dont waste time in deciding the menu, you have only few options, the most popular one are.. (look at the menu).

next is stay, IFF you dont get free stay in someone's place (be it friend, relative or even enemy) DONT come to Bangalore, hotels/lodging in Bangalore is the worst decision one can make, even if your father is rich or you grow money, so orkut-facebook what ever the hell is available find "some" friend with whom your elder brothers friend went to kinder-garden, so you can stay there.

the next step is HELP from locals, even though its madness to expect people to help in a big city (what ever the reason maybe), help in Bangalore is Hmmm.. how should i say... NULL
sine the majority of Bangalore people are outsiders, its a criminal waste of time asking a techie(including me) for help ( i mean directions or bus timings ... ).
most importantly if you think that a BMTC bus conductor or driver can/will answer you questions, then you are doomed... so whom can you ask, "ask yourself", and if you find an answer then tell me.

how the fuck, i can miss the real fun of Bangalore, the trrraaaafficc, man i should say this, i love Bangalore traffic, its just impossible to ride/drive, however i'll blah some safety precautions for both you and vehicle to be safe.
first, we DONT respect signals
second, if it means RED, DONT stop if others are not stopping, coz, it might turn green in next few seconds, if we assume the signals R-right, L-left, S-straight, then if the flow is in all three directions, if they want to allow only one direction S, then the flow will b e like this
Green L S R
Yellow
RED
Yellow
Green S
so if you stop for that RED, then i'll curse you, so keep going,
so if you ask when should you stop, then wait for some poor soul, who'll come to the middle of the road and stand with his arms open, so if you want to go further, you'll have to kill him, ha.. then you stop.
third, respect the locals, we drive so damn fast/harsh/violent we wont hesitate to damage you, your vehicle (not to mention we have less regard for our life and vehicle too).
fourth, if you have some appointment to keep, leave before 3-4 hours, trust me i got caught in heavy traffic for 1/2 hour at 11PM (yes you are right, its PM)
fifth, have faith in GOD almighty, so you dont get mugged for drinking juice in large beer glass.

now i should say something nice, i am not the right person to ask about Bangalore, i am here for less then three years, so i dont have any clue of how many more years, i'll be here, so i did not have or have or will have any intention to search and figure out the Best-of-Bangalore and give it to you, now if you'll excuse me, i have a day job, and i should not be doing this

-- Auf Wiedersehen