Movie Review: Rang De Basanti

This is gonna be nice movie I guess. Basically, a women from England comes to India to make a documentary about her grandfather’s diary which was written in the 1920s about the Indian Independence with five young men… It is director by Rakesh Mehra. It will feature Aamir Khan, Atul Kulkarni , Arjun Rampal , and Kunal Kapoor etc. Note sure bit my firend told me that this movie may be available in English version and it may be called paint it yellow.

I will update you guys later on movie… Sorry folks I was busy. Yup, go and watch movie it is really nice one.

Rang de basanti

Animated epic HANUMAN movie

Yup finally our own superhero’s movie is set to release on 21st Oct-05. This movie is set to release on the time of Diwali festival so kids and everyone can enjoy it. HANUMAN Animated epic movie

HANUMAN is about the extraordinary journey of this mythical superhero – from his days as an adorable, miracle-working baby, to his ultimate triumph in the army of Lord Shri Ram.

As a kid most of us use to read stories of our superhero, and now it like dream come true to see it on screen :) oh boy i’m awaiting for release…

But hold on it has very nice soundtrack composed by Tapas relia along with playback singers like Shaan and Sonu nigam. Hanuman’s voice has been dubbed by Mukesh Khanna.

Sahara One Motion picture is behind this movie, they spent around Rs. 2,50,000,00 for production and additional Rs.1,50,000,00 for marketing movie.
Update See my review of the movie and more photos :D

Check out exclusive photo gallery (turn on popup blocker) here

Google messed up home page

Well main home page looks same but when you put search text and hit enter key you will notice something different at bottom of screen. Yup they got Copyright and other links at bottom repeated twice. Very bad even these days smallest site don’t have this kind of goof ups.


If that is not sufficient they have also messed up top of page by displaying link to all other search engine and blog site, where you can do additional search. C’mon we know google is the best and we don’t need other sites ;)

Microsoft Windows XP Legal version for Rs.1000

Yup Microsoft India to release a low-cost version of its Windows software for India in an attempt to check high piracy levels. It will cost us Rs.1000/- only. So you don’t have to purchase Rs.200/- pirated CD now. Just get legal version :)
Full article here.

Mobile phone for less than $40 (INR. 1800)

Yup. The sub $40 mobile is here. Motorola, in a bid to tap into ultra low cost mobile handset segment in new markets like india, has introduced a phone in the sin-$40 category. Motorola announced C series phone at 3GSM Asia show in Singapore:

  • C118 – Bare bones, focused on battery life and basic functions like SMS
  • C139 – Adds more style with a color screen, increased battery life and enhanced usability
  • C168 – Builds on the feature set of the other two, and adds things like an FM radio
  • C257/261 – Ultra-thin design with a basic feature set similar to the above handsets

It befits both consumer as well as mobile operators as dropping handset prices has always led to an increased subscriber base. All these new phone will be available by April 2006 in India.

Update: Philips to make sub-Rs 1000 ($20) mobile :)

Exploring Linux Kernel

Your Linux kernel compiled and always installed in /boot directory:

To list of all installed kernel in your system, enter:
$ ls -l /boot/
Outputs:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   106172 Mar 23 03:07 config-2.6.32-5-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   130657 Feb 11 15:14 config-3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root     4096 Mar 28 19:21 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10332764 Mar 28 19:21 initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11650089 Feb 26 03:50 initrd.img-3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    12288 Jan 11 03:19 lost+found
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   165084 Oct 21  2010 memtest86+.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   167264 Oct 21  2010 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1665393 Mar 23 03:07 System.map-2.6.32-5-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1992422 Feb 11 15:14 System.map-3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2424256 Mar 23 02:58 vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2813456 Feb 11 15:11 vmlinuz-3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64

Where,

  • config-3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 –> Kernel configuration file generated by make menuconfig/make xconfig/make gconfig.
  • System.map-3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 –> This file has a map of positions of symbols in the kernel. Device driver such as USB pen uses hot plug, which depend upon symbols generated by depmod utility.
  • vmlinuz-3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 — > Your kernel file.
  • initrd.img-3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 –> Contains device drivers which are required to boot and load rest of operating system from disk. Usually SCSI,IDE, software RAID drivers are stored in this file.
  • grub –> It is a directory, which stores grub Boot loader configuration file.

You may also find the following files:

  • config –> Soft link to current kernel configuration file
  • vmlinuz -> Soft link to current running kernel file
  • System.map –> Soft link to current running kernel system map file

Please note that 3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 is kernel version.

Task: Find out version of running Linux kernel

Use any one of the following command:
uname -r
OR
cat /proc/version
Outputs:

Linux version 3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 (Debian 3.2.4-1~bpo60+1) ([email protected]) (gcc version 4.4.5 (Debian 4.4.5-8) ) #1 SMP Sat Feb 11 08:41:32 UTC 2012

Task: Find out where running kernel modules (device drivers) are stored

Use any one of the following command:
ls -l /lib/modules/$(uname -r)
OR
ls -d /lib/modules/$(uname -r)
For 64 bit system, use /lib64 directory:
ls -l /lib64/modules/$(uname -r)
Outputs:

total 2864
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     42 Feb 26 03:50 build -> /usr/src/linux-headers-3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root   4096 Feb 26 03:49 kernel
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 671461 Feb 26 03:54 modules.alias
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 656721 Feb 26 03:54 modules.alias.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   2732 Feb 11 15:11 modules.builtin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   3701 Feb 26 03:54 modules.builtin.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 328629 Feb 26 03:54 modules.dep
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 454611 Feb 26 03:54 modules.dep.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    325 Feb 26 03:54 modules.devname
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 108688 Feb 11 15:11 modules.order
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    131 Feb 26 03:54 modules.softdep
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 286127 Feb 26 03:54 modules.symbols
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 362552 Feb 26 03:54 modules.symbols.bin
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     43 Feb 26 03:50 source -> /usr/src/linux-headers-3.2.0-0.bpo.1-common
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root   4096 Feb 26 03:50 updates

How do I load kernel modules at boot time?

/etc/modules file contain the names of kernel modules that are to be loaded at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with “#” are ignored.Parameters can be specified after the module name
$ cat /etc/modules
Sample outputs:

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.
# Parameters can be specified after the module name.

firewire-sbp2
loop

However, modern Linux distribution uses the following location or configuration directory/file for modprobe kernel device driver:

  • /etc/modprobe.conf file
  • /etc/modprobe.d/ directory

How do I install latest kernel version?

Find out if latest version available or not via following command:
apt-cache search kernel-image| grep VERSION
An example to see if 2.6.xx.xx series new kernel available or not (Debian Linux):
apt-cache search kernel-image| grep 2.6
Compare version with existing running kernel if it is greater than running kernel, run following command to install new kernel (run it as a root user and assuming that 2.6.12.1 is latest the kernel available):
apt-get install linux-image-2.6.12-1-386

Difference between Monolithic and Modular kernel:

Monolithic kernel

  • Single binary file [ directory ls -d /lib/modules/$(uname -r) does NOT exists ]
  • All drivers included in kernel itself

Modular kernel

  • Multiple files for kernel
  • Drivers can be loaded or unloaded into kernel using modprob command, see man page of
    lsmod, modprob etc [directory ls -d /lib/modules/$(uname -r) exists to store drivers]
  • Almost all drivers are build and linked against kernel

How do I build modular kernel?

You can built modular kernel by setting option in kernel configuration option:
Enable loadable module support (CONFIG_MODULES) [Y/n/?]
If you set above option to Y then kernel becomes modular and three possibilities occurs for each and every feature/driver:

  1. m – you can compile driver as module
  2. y – built into kernel itself
  3. n – Don’t include feature/driver

Type the command make menuconfig:
make menuconfig
1) Select Loadable module support and press enter/return key:


Loadable module support
Loadable module support

2) Select Enable Loadable module support option and other options, see following figure:


Loadable module support
Enable Loadable module support

For more information see the followin links:
* Compiling Linux kernel 2.6
* Text books :

This book covers Memory management including file buffering, process swapping, and Direct memory Access (DMA), The Virtual Filesystem and the Second Extended Filesystem, Process creation and scheduling, Signals, interrupts, and the essential interfaces to device drivers, Timing, Interprocess Communication (IPC), Program execution etc. A must read to master kernel concepts
If you wants starting hacking kernel then this perfect book for you. This book can be also use with your CS (college course) to get more indepth information on operating systems – it helps gain a better idea of kernel conepts. Try following book:

1&1 Offfers Private Registration With $5.99 Domains

Yup 1 and 1 hosting/domain service provider offers Private Registration With $5.99 Domains. 1&1’s new plan is stilll priced at $5.99 for a one-year .com registration, but will now include private domain registration, a feature that is a paid add-on at other providers. The enhanced plans also include a 1 gigabyte e-mail account and a web starter page at no additional cost. Now how cool is this?

Yup you will not get those spam email and your private information remains safe. But it is not a limited-time promotion and bundled with standard domain package. :D