Dhakoba Trek

Dec'2013, we visited infamous trekking destination call Dhakoba. Name is bit weird but its named to honor the god who use to reside on that mountain peak. History says, eventually, statue of God Dhakoba was needed to move below the mountain peak due to daily to-fro journey for priest was difficult to worship the statue. Now, the Dhakoba temple is below the peak and any local who goes on peak has to remove their footwares before climbing the peak. It's said to be very much local rule and is still being followed by local peoples. Informarion given by local person Mr Damu Supe.

We were 5 guys: Mahendra, Duster-Parsi, SK, Aamly, Bharat-bhushan (Names here are used encrypted to avoid implications with real life people but still they know they are well mentioned here)

Well, coming back to how to plan, how to find the way and other details follows next :

We started rather we planned to start from Pune at 5am morning (well there was delay in start time due to SK :P ) . We started on Nashik road by 5.30am. Quick morning run to Narayangaov till 7 am around. We took nice breakfast (Kanda-Pohe), masala tea at stall outside bus stand on highway. Make sure you have healthy & light breakfast. Do NOT eat too much else you might need an extra stop before or while climbing those steep mountain peaks. Well, one of us - Bharat-bhushan needed an emergency stop for late morning nature's call. Sometimes tea/cigar or good nature could make the call if you didn't had it properly at home :P .

Following are the essentials to be carried for trip:-

1.       Water Bottles – 3 Litres per person compulsory.

2.       Towels + Shorts + Shoes + Sunglasses – Personal choice.

3.       Camera  - Must have

4.       Cap – Must Have

5.       Pay 500 Rs per person to SK, upfront. All the expenses would be done from this fund. (Well, 70Rs was left over after dinner/tea/breakfast)

6.       Glucose – If required.


Here map route from Pune http://goo.gl/maps/pTur6
We reached the base around 9am. Road from Junnar to Amboli 20 km patch is bad. It's under construction and will be ready in few days.

Park the vehicle near last mile-stone to village Amboli. If you notice there are two milestone at distance to 10meter. One indicating 21 km to reach Junnar while other have mark of 20km to Junnar. They got covered 1km in just 10 meter distance ;)

Walk straight as the rough footpath towards two mountains you see on left side. Note that, you won't see Dhakoba until you reach to almost 1/3 of the total trek. It's almost after 1 hour, you can see Dhakoba peak.

You have to follow footpaths on the way and guess your path. Safer way is to reach Dhakoba temple and them go to the peak.

We had small incidence with cattle group. One of us got the shouting sneeze! This disturbed the cattles. All of sudden, all of them charged on us. We were around 100meter away from them so it didn't create major problem. We kept out ground strong. It's important to NOT move around and run away. Bulls and cows kept staring at us from far. Place was rocky so cattle didn't dared to chase us down on rocky area. We took small way around to reach towards path. Eventually, Mr Damu Supe (We called him Supe mama or Supe uncle) saw us and recognized SK as he had visited the place twice before coming with us. Mama helped to make cattles go away. He also showed the path to Dhakoba peak and also joined us to come on the top.

You will see this lonely tree with its beautiful reflection is fighting for its place in pond :

Here are some pics we took at Dhakoba peak:

Beautiful view to mountains on center and right. You might see Harishchandragad if you are lucky to guess it properly and have clear weather. 

Water reservoirs on way down. This way is to climb the Dhakoba from Konkan side. Village Puli seen as base.

View towards fort Durg.

Comments welcome !

My iPhone and its bugs

Nothing is perfect. Its nature's rule but we can develop thing can be close to perfect.

People say Apple stuff is pretty perfect. Lets take example of iPhone - worlds dominant handset manufacturer and seller. Best in feature, app, look and usage. I see some of basic functionality are buggy here.

1. on iPhone4. iOS 5.
We use SMS messaging service as basic tool and way to communication.
Feature, group SMS.

I added some of my friends in sms "To" list.
Put some text.


If some of the text sms failed to deliver. It shows red estimations sign like !
Problem is we never come to know what all sent successfully and which all are failed.

This is strange bug from iOS 5.0.

2. Recently, I tried to delete some pics from photo stream. iOS don't allow you to delete files from your device. 

You have to connect to PC and backup photoes and resync to delete/modify pics on your device.


3. I also have got iPhone 3GS which sometimes have issue of picking up the call. Screen fails to recognize my touch while swapping and accepting the call.

Mumbai Bomb Blasts: 13 july’2011

Today 13 july’2011, it was another black day in history of the Maximum city-Mumbai. I thought to make regular blog on experiences on travelling in Mumbai city. 3 bomb blasts rocked the city which caused death of more than 21 people and injured about 130 people.


I woke up late in morning at 8.40 am. I had to reach in office around 12.00. I was living in Airoli-New Mumbai area. Airoli is bit old style peaceful area with native Mumbai people living in small houses. As it was was hardly 10 min walk to Bus depot, I decided to walk my way to Bus depot from my place. It was just another Wednesday for me. I carried “Mumbai Mirror” news paper to read while travelling my way to office in Andheri-east. After hardly waiting for 5 minutes, I managed to get the 10.20am direct bus to SEEPS, Andheri-E bus number 545.


We were hardly 10 people in bus. I can still remember faces. Lady with dark blue silk saadi with her husband was sitting in front of my seat. Few guys with office dress to catch their office time. Noticeable person was old drunkard sitting on very first sit close to front door (The seat is reserved for handicaps only. In fact, such a drunkard was greatest handicap in bus!). He had few strong drinks of local alcohol and was continuously chit-chatting with bus driver in loud voice. He was repeating, “Smile and make others smile!”! For most of commuters, it was entertaining. Uncle sitting on next bench was imitating him by giving me look and laughing. It was very strange incidence. It rare happens on long route bus. Drunkard wasn’t sure of where to go. He was shouting to go sometime at Goregaov or Mulund or Andheri. Finally he agreed to go to SEEPZ by taking 14/- Rs ticket and kept his entertainment going. Drivers usually need someone to talk while driving. This makes their work easy. Eventually, bus moved to Nahur village area and starting gathering more crowd on the way. Still it was below normal. Drunkard was exhausted by shouting his words and fell slept on this reserved bench.
I started reading Mumbai Mirror after completing Sudoku and Loop puzzles on second last page of newspaper. It has been my hobby since couple of years. I was at SEEPZ by 11.40 and reached office on my time. Day and work at office was just fine. We had couple of meetings, calls with mates and teams. As most of work load was well shared among the team, it was altogether good day.


I left office at around 7.00 pm. It was usual evening. I walked to nearest bus stand and travelled to Marol depot to catch direct regular bus to Airoli. As I reached bit early than usual peak hours, it was no crowded. I got call from my friend at 7.15 asking my where about. He asked me to stay and wait in office as bomb blasts have just rocked the Mumbai! Hell, it was shocking news for me. I googled the news on mobile but didn’t showed any update as it was very fresh news and media had not grasped & posted any content on web. 


I asked fellow commuters in line. One of them knew about the bomb spots.
1. Zaberi Bazzar – Prime Diamond merchandize place in Mumbai
2. Opera House/Khau galli – Charni road, Open place with crowd.
3. Kabutar khana – Dadar. Very crowded place in evening

Important observation from somebody revealed that it was Kasab’s Birthday and Terrorist group wanted to give him the birthday gift in such a terrific way. Eyebrows are raised on questions like
1. Why Kasab is still not hanged?
2. Does he believe in our justice system? Its infact, biggest shame for us to not punish him on time! It’s been 2 years.
3. Why governments take action on Kasab case?
4. Why governments don’t have enough security, cameras, CCTV and high tech securities inspite of repeated bomb blasts in high end place like Zaveri bazaar?
5. Why Home ministry says, “it’s not Intelligence failure!”? Rather Mumbaikar’s say “Its huge shame!”

Citizens of India need results and not just reports and committees to analyze the impact of bomb blast! As usual Government announces 2 to 5 lakh rupees compensation to deaths and about 50K ruppes to injured people. Is it enough for somebody’s wife? or Somebody’s mother? or Someone’s brother? Somebody lost their only son in their old age and left newly married wife behind. Can government money cheque of 5 lakh going to give them their dear ones?
Questions of last terror attack are still unanswered! It’s futile to expect more from government when they can’t fulfill our promises. Forget the growth; we need basic livelihood and security to our lives while living in Mumbai!!


Aggressions of Mumbaikar’s are very obvious reactions. Relatives of injured people didn’t allowed Chief Minister of Maharastra Prithviraj Chavan to visit hospitals. It was more like pouring salt on injured wounds of affected people.


I followed tweeter stream. Here is mine http://twitter.com/#!/mahendrat :
• @timesofindia he dont understand terror attack! bullshit comments by chchota gandhi. Seems Diggy is teaching him to give such comments.
• Maximum city! We love!! @meerasapra I love how Bombay comes together at times like these. This is what defines the true character of a city.
• oh hell! 13/7 Its all like 2006, 1993 central mumbai & town rocked! @mid_day Also at KEM, Varsha Kariya. #MumbaiBlasts
• Let's stop turning the other cheek each time someone slaps us. Whack someone back! Hard! Our restraint is not our weakness! Enough is Enough
• Govt need to prove! Figure of dead is now 10+ ! @TIME What we know so far about the blasts in #Mumbai | http://ti.me/pNlFc6 (via @TIMEWorld)
• why dont first hang kasab? #mumbaiblast @starnewslive PM asks Maharashtra CM to keep him posted on the developments related to blasts (PTI)
• true! Why dont make #govt #deathday? #justice @BDUTT @dharmeshG It is actually Kasab's birthday. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajmal_Kasab
• every kid of mumbai knows it :P ! Tell #ministry tell something new!!@BDUTT home ministry calls it a terrorist attack #mumbaiblasts
• More blasts.More people dying.Quick Mr Prime Minister, shuffle your fucking lame-duck cabinet again. #mumbaiblasts #fb #yam
• Action needed?? @mid_day 3 blasts reported. Home #Ministrysources claim 10 people dead.6 killed at Dadar,4 at Zaveri Bazaar. #MumbaiBlasts
• no screening on roadways/bus? Why? @mid_day Terror attack confirmed in #Mumbai. Both airports sealed. CISF screening airport parking lots. • why #police never warn ever before any blast/riot?? @starnewslive #Security alert in Delhi following #blasts in #Mumbai: Delhi Police.(PTI)
• Why bloody terrorist choose 13 again?? Its not with bad lucky but bad people made 13 bad! He is prime & good number. #fb #mumbaiblast
• Oh Shit! Serial blasts in Mumbai!! 13/07.! Hope people r safe!
• any more update on central, western areas? @starnewslive #Mumbai: Blast occured inside a taxi in Dadar
• @ndtv any update on mumbai bombs?? Pls update us.
• Why it dont rains on #mumbai bombs to #defuse #terrorist plans !!! #fb
• 3 Bomb spots in #mumbai !! Dadar, zaberi baazzar and mumbadevi!

More detailed streams are: 
http://twitter.com/#!/search/mumbaiblast
http://twitter.com/#!/search/mumbai


At end of the day, i reached at home in another AC bus. I and many of fellow commuters couldn't hide the shadow of fear on their face. It was silence all over but it meant to mourn for those who lost their life in blast. 


Mumbai - the Maximum city never stops. 
Rain keep on pouring more water.... 
Terrorist keeps on pouring more deaths and bombs.... 
and 
our lame-duck corrupt politician keep on pouring money in their black holes!!! 

Paris to Mumbai 3rd time!

Two days ago news headlines was showing bad weather reports for the day. Air France and most of airlines were running in late or functioning badly. Chales De Goule airport was down. Winter came suddently to make French lifes difficult. Metro & RER local trains were running late or were not functioning well. Many people had to sleep in cars as roads were filled up with snow. People were not ready for the change so suddenly. Car tire changing is always necessary before winter. In fact, some people had to stay in subways and cars to survive the cold.

It was 11^th December'2011, i was suppose to reach on flight in morning 10 am. On day before, I tried hard to get taxi booking. All of the taxi services rejected request to take morning reservation. Finally, I decided to get any taxi while on the way. I got up early and stated moving! Couldn't found a single taxi on the way, most of taxies were parked or busy to attend me. I walked to nearest railway station Duplex with my friend. I had metro pass for zone 1 and 2 so I took metro Denfer Rouchor to get direct RER train to CDG International Airport. I reached Denfer Rouchour by 8.15 am, was running short of time to reach Airport. My metro pass was not valid to go Airport, so I joined the queue to get the ticket. It was figure of 8.70 Euro. I had couple to big notes of 20, 50, 100 Euro so had no worry about money. But to my surprise, ticketing machine had "no input" take notes. Hell!! I checkout few coins I had. I started putting them together to get 8.70 Euro. It was just 7.90 Euro! I had no idea what to do now?? Even if you have money, it hardly helps in such situation!!! You are damm stuck!

I remembered the similar incidence in my last visit to Paris in Feb'2010 with French guys. I was taking RER ticket to reach Champs-de-Mars from Porte-Nuilly-Malliot with my collegues. I was barely able to speak French at that time. French man started asking me if I have spare coin of 10 cents. There was no way they could tell same thing in English. I just spread hands before them showing all coins I was having. They picked up few small coins and said, "Ok?". It was understandable, i said "its ok and left for my journey". One of the guy who could speak a bit of English said, "next time, i pay"! I just said,"merci!". That was only word I could speak properly.

In same way, i found someone who could help me. Young couple behind me where French but fluently speak English. They understood, i 'm facing problem with getting ticket. I asked them, if its possible to insert these notes in machine. Girl was speaking fluent English. She said,"Machine don't take notes, you have insert coins. Let me help you in getting ticket." . She took the charge. She choose French language, asked couple of details about the travel. I told her, I want to go CDG airport. Again, we started putting coins and it stuck at 7.80. I had no more coins. I had few Franks (Currency used in nearby countries. I had saved few while coming for Switzerland in last visit). I showed all available coins to her. She had an Euro coin whic she inserted. Finally, I got the ticket!! hurray! But I had to give exchange of 1 Euro to her. I had no option other than 50 Euro note and few coins of Frank. I tried to give her 5 Franks as exchange. She kept on refusing to take it. She kept on saying."Its ok. Its ok my friend". She finally refused to take any coins. I could only say,"Merci beacoup"!

Somehow I got the right train to airport and catched my flight. Flight and company for journey was good. I spend time chit chatting with Australian uncle and aunty who were also stuck in Paris in snow fall evening. I said, it was bad duing snow night, many of friends had to stay in cars or subways on that night, it was really bad. Aunty couldn't resist herself, she said, "It wasn't bad! We had to walk 2 km on open road to get safe place to stay for night!! That was really bad!" They had to walk 2 kilometer to get to safe place. Vacations were bad experience for them. Girl sitting next to me was French. She could hardly speak any English and was travelling to Sydney. We played "Reversee" game in LAN. Talked few things in French to make her know English place. I found a nice facecut which was good to make a sketch. I made a sketch of her on back side of Passport xerox. It was good timepass as I had seen most of the movies they had in collection. One of the air hostess got the sight on it and she complimentes it well! It was wonderful flight to Abu Dhabi. Journey was good and reached on time for next connecting flight at Abu Dhabi.

I checked for mobile network, got some sms from friends. I came on airport and checking status for my next flight to Mumbai. Oh boy!! it was "delayed"! I asked the Etihad guy, he conveyed message that, its been delayed by 2 hours. Matter of fact, it was delay of 4 hours! I woundered around airport. I did my chocolate shopping. People were really arrogant while taking food. No queue, no manners. Most of them were middle-east uncles. Somehow I checked for compatible food for me and joined the Indian people staying at departing gate. I met some Mumbai guys who were waiting to catch the same flight. Most of them were flying from US via connecting and connecting flights. While waiting for delayed flight, I got couple of calls from friends from India. My roomies were waiting for party and car driver waiting at Mumbai international airport to receive me. I texted him to come on airport after 7am! So, somehow I reached at my place at 8 am instead of 2.30 am !! It was bad but wasn't too bad! I had nice sleepy in morning at my home. It took couple of days to adjust the 

Richard Stallman at IIT Powai - Founder of GNU

Bio:

Richard Stallman launched the development of the GNU operating system in 1984. GNU is free software: everyone has the freedom to copy it and redistribute it, as well as to make changes either large or small. The GNU/Linux system, basically the GNU operating system with Linux added, is used on tens of millions of computers today. Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award, and the the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment, as well as several honorary doctorates.

It was wonderful.

Talk were on, free software stuff. GNU+Linux philosophy.

nice jokes on bush, iBad,supposed owner of your machine when using billy’s MS OS… it was fun

last event of group photography was good.
i ‘m waiting for group pics 
i’ve audio footage of event. I’ll convert the audio to be supported by Free codecs .oga .. as Richard asked all of us to do !..

I can do it with ffmpeg ! i love it.

Links:

http://www.techfest.org/lectures/richard_stallman/

http://iitb.mycollegediary.in/2010/09/05/richard-stallman-in-my-campus/

I will share audio links & pics with you soon.

As asked by Richard Stallman, I've created free video codec video to host on internet : 

You may not see this video if you are normal MS Win users as they may not have free codec! Its theora ogg video

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b3456d8/n/robert_stallman.ogv

 

Why I don't like Microsoft

Recently I had conversation with one of my friend Amit. It explains well why i dont like microsoft. I dont see windows unless I have to play counter strike !

Still I don't hate them.

(12:02:28 IST) Amit: hi
(12:02:33 IST) Mahen: hey
(12:02:37 IST) Amit sali: have you used MS office 2010?
(12:02:42 IST) Mahen: no man
(12:02:46 IST) Mahen: i never use MS :P
(12:02:52 IST) Amit: :)
(12:02:57 IST) Mahen: no MS office. only openoffice :)
(12:03:01 IST) Mahen: what happen?
(12:03:02 IST) Amit: linux pro ... hhhhmm!!
(12:03:23 IST) Mahen: yup
(12:05:14 IST) Amit: MS 2010 has upgraded my outlook profile ... then I unistalled 2010 and reverted to 2007 ... now I cannot have my old system as before .. not able to view my older emails in pst and archieves
(12:05:15 IST) Amit: :(
(12:05:36 IST) Mahen: Oops
(12:05:40 IST) Amit: F**K MS
(12:05:40 IST) Mahen: thats terrific !
(12:05:44 IST) Mahen: ha ha
(12:05:53 IST) Mahen: u r in trouble dude
(12:06:01 IST) Mahen: call sys admin & go home
(12:06:06 IST) Amit: :)
(12:06:46 IST) Amit: I need to again install 2010 to get my old emails
(12:06:56 IST) Mahen: oh yes. probably
(12:07:03 IST) Mahen: copy ur .pst to backup
(12:07:12 IST) Mahen: & then revert back to MS2007
(12:07:20 IST) Mahen: may be it'll work
(12:07:27 IST) Amit: I hope so
(12:07:34 IST) Mahen: best luck :)
(12:07:51 IST) Mahen: MS may deliver another patch or service pack to resolve this issue :D
(12:08:02 IST) Amit: hahaha

Women are always complex :D

Interesting !

-Mahendra

Air France took my luggage for 3days.

Story of my luggage n travel thru AF !! I can't belieave AF flight had more mosquitoes than any of Mumbai's Guttar or nulla..

Worst flight experience for me in life !!

http://www.google.com/buzz/106641652710990032488/hoRzKPDa26R/Finally-reached-Paris-Oops-Air-France-said-luggage

Mar 3 Mahendra Tipale: Finally reached Paris ! Oops. Air France said, luggage will come with in 1-2 days!Its bad.I hardly have cloths to change.got to shop.
Mar 3 Sunil Bhatia: Man this is bad... same case with Basheer... What did they say? Why is the luggage delayed? I am now considering to book Emirates instead of Air France for next week!!!
Mar 3 Sumit Rusia: ur screwed man... :(
Mar 4 Mahendra Tipale: yup guys. It was really bad. we purchased few needful stuff today. I think so luggage will come 2maro evening or day after 2maro.

Its not for me & Basheer but it happened to all passengers. We r lucky ones who r staying in Paris. Many had to go to US or something countries & their plans r cancelled or may not be feasible.

Anyway, AF keep on saying sorry sorry many time.

i brought new shoes as i had forgot my shoes while coming..

Underwares too.. cant live with same undiz for long time... JJJ
will rest for next 10 hr in peace. no worry.
i hav 1 dress n laptop.. nothinig else !

Cheers!!
Mar 4 Mahendra Tipale: ha ha .. I got 5 new undiz. multicolored , multi designed.. n few more cloths. yest day we did shopping of ~100Euro each @ La Defence to servive another 1-2 days in paris.

we r gonna su AF if the baggage didnt came b4 weekend. we hav lot of stuff in checkin.

Apache httpd benchmarking

Simple command to check apache httpd benchmarking. Goes in similar way for DSS.

====================================================
[root@mahendra ~]# ab -n 100 -c 10 http://IP/webapp/xyz.jsp
This is ApacheBench, Version 2.3 <$Revision: 655654 $>
Copyright 1996 Adam Twiss, Zeus Technology Ltd, http://www.zeustech.net/
Licensed to The Apache Software Foundation, http://www.apache.org/

Benchmarking (be patient).....done


Server Software: Apache
Server Hostname:
Server Port: 80

Document Path: /webapp/xyz.jsp
Document Length: 292 bytes

Concurrency Level: 10
Time taken for tests: 0.691 seconds
Complete requests: 100
Failed requests: 0
Write errors: 0
Total transferred: 54200 bytes
HTML transferred: 29200 bytes
Requests per second: 144.68 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request: 69.118 [ms] (mean)
Time per request: 6.912 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate: 76.58 [Kbytes/sec] received

Connection Times (ms)
min mean[+/-sd] median max
Connect: 19 30 5.4 31 53
Processing: 23 37 8.0 35 59
Waiting: 23 36 7.6 35 59
Total: 44 67 9.9 64 92

Percentage of the requests served within a certain time (ms)
50% 64
66% 71
75% 73
80% 76
90% 82
95% 86
98% 92
99% 92
100% 92 (longest request)
====================================================

Pdf documet creation & encyption

Just encounted with pdf creation :

One can simply find our Oracle's (earlier Sun's, although i'm not too happy to say non-open oracle) OpenOffice ! U can convert any doc, ppt, xls to pdf file.

Now comes the important part of protecting the document.
Here are some FOSS tools to get it done
[root@mahendra ~]# yum -y install pdftk*
Not loading "blacklist" plugin, as it is disabled
Not loading "whiteout" plugin, as it is disabled
Loaded plugins: refresh-packagekit
Config time: 1.676
Yum Version: 3.2.24
Setting up Package Sacks
pkgsack time: 4.772
rpmdb time: 0.424
Setting up Install Process
Building updates object
up:Obs Init time: 0.272
up:simple updates time: 0.479
up:obs time: 0.016
up:condense time: 0.000
updates time: 36.928
Resolving Dependencies
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependency Process ending
Depsolve time: 161.988

Dependencies Resolved

====================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
====================================================================================================
Installing:
pdftk i586 1.41-21.fc11 updates 90 k
Installing for dependencies:
bouncycastle i586 1.44-1.fc11 updates 3.3 M
bouncycastle-mail i586 1.44-1.fc11 updates 502 k
bouncycastle-tsp i586 1.44-1.fc11 updates 107 k
itext i586 2.1.7-5.fc11 updates 3.1 M

Transaction Summary
====================================================================================================
Install 5 Package(s)
Upgrade 0 Package(s)

Total download size: 7.2 M
Downloading Packages:
(1/5): bouncycastle-1.44-1.fc11.i586.rpm | 3.3 MB 00:21
(2/5): bouncycastle-mail-1.44-1.fc11.i586.rpm | 502 kB 00:05
(3/5): bouncycastle-tsp-1.44-1.fc11.i586.rpm | 107 kB 00:01
(4/5): itext-2.1.7-5.fc11.i586.rpm | 3.1 MB 00:23
(5/5): pdftk-1.41-21.fc11.i586.rpm | 90 kB 00:01
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 125 kB/s | 7.2 MB 00:58
Running rpm_check_debug
Adding Package pdftk-1.41-21.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-tsp-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package itext-2.1.7-5.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-mail-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
rpm_check_debug time: 0.336
Running Transaction Test
Adding Package pdftk-1.41-21.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-tsp-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package itext-2.1.7-5.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-mail-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Transaction Test time: 1.141
Adding Package pdftk-1.41-21.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-tsp-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package itext-2.1.7-5.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-mail-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Running Transaction
Installing : bouncycastle-1.44-1.fc11.i586 1/5
Installing : bouncycastle-mail-1.44-1.fc11.i586 2/5
Installing : bouncycastle-tsp-1.44-1.fc11.i586 3/5
Installing : itext-2.1.7-5.fc11.i586 4/5
Installing : pdftk-1.41-21.fc11.i586 5/5
Transaction time: 15.280

Installed:
pdftk.i586 0:1.41-21.fc11

Dependency Installed:
bouncycastle.i586 0:1.44-1.fc11 bouncycastle-mail.i586 0:1.44-1.fc11
bouncycastle-tsp.i586 0:1.44-1.fc11 itext.i586 0:2.1.7-5.fc11

Complete!
[root@mahendra ~]#
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependency Process ending
Depsolve time: 161.988

Dependencies Resolved

====================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
====================================================================================================
Installing:
pdftk i586 1.41-21.fc11 updates 90 k
Installing for dependencies:
bouncycastle i586 1.44-1.fc11 updates 3.3 M
bouncycastle-mail i586 1.44-1.fc11 updates 502 k
bouncycastle-tsp i586 1.44-1.fc11 updates 107 k
itext i586 2.1.7-5.fc11 updates 3.1 M

Transaction Summary
====================================================================================================
Install 5 Package(s)
Upgrade 0 Package(s)

Total download size: 7.2 M
Downloading Packages:
(1/5): bouncycastle-1.44-1.fc11.i586.rpm | 3.3 MB 00:21
(2/5): bouncycastle-mail-1.44-1.fc11.i586.rpm | 502 kB 00:05
(3/5): bouncycastle-tsp-1.44-1.fc11.i586.rpm | 107 kB 00:01
(4/5): itext-2.1.7-5.fc11.i586.rpm | 3.1 MB 00:23
(5/5): pdftk-1.41-21.fc11.i586.rpm | 90 kB 00:01
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 125 kB/s | 7.2 MB 00:58
Running rpm_check_debug
Adding Package pdftk-1.41-21.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-tsp-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package itext-2.1.7-5.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-mail-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
rpm_check_debug time: 0.336
Running Transaction Test
Adding Package pdftk-1.41-21.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-tsp-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package itext-2.1.7-5.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-mail-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Transaction Test time: 1.141
Adding Package pdftk-1.41-21.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-tsp-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package itext-2.1.7-5.fc11.i586 in mode u
Adding Package bouncycastle-mail-1.44-1.fc11.i586 in mode u
Running Transaction
Installing : bouncycastle-1.44-1.fc11.i586 1/5
Installing : bouncycastle-mail-1.44-1.fc11.i586 2/5
Installing : bouncycastle-tsp-1.44-1.fc11.i586 3/5
Installing : itext-2.1.7-5.fc11.i586 4/5
Installing : pdftk-1.41-21.fc11.i586 5/5
Transaction time: 15.280

Installed:
pdftk.i586 0:1.41-21.fc11

Dependency Installed:
bouncycastle.i586 0:1.44-1.fc11 bouncycastle-mail.i586 0:1.44-1.fc11
bouncycastle-tsp.i586 0:1.44-1.fc11 itext.i586 0:2.1.7-5.fc11

Complete!
[root@mahendra ~]#

Examples :

Merge Two or More PDFs into a New Document

pdftk 1.pdf 2.pdf 3.pdf cat output 123.pdf

or (Using Handles):

pdftk A=1.pdf B=2.pdf cat A B output 12.pdf

or (Using Wildcards):

pdftk *.pdf cat output combined.pdf

Split Select Pages from Multiple PDFs into a New Document

pdftk A=one.pdf B=two.pdf cat A1-7 B1-5 A8 output combined.pdf

Rotate the First Page of a PDF to 90 Degrees Clockwise

pdftk in.pdf cat 1E 2-end output out.pdf

Rotate an Entire PDF Document's Pages to 180 Degrees

pdftk in.pdf cat 1-endS output out.pdf

Encrypt a PDF using 128-Bit Strength (the Default) and Withhold All Permissions (the Default)

pdftk mydoc.pdf output mydoc.128.pdf owner_pw foopass

Same as Above, Except a Password is Required to Open the PDF

pdftk mydoc.pdf output mydoc.128.pdf owner_pw foo user_pw baz

Same as Above, Except Printing is Allowed (after the PDF is Open)

pdftk mydoc.pdf output mydoc.128.pdf owner_pw foo user_pw baz allow printing

Decrypt a PDF

pdftk secured.pdf input_pw foopass output unsecured.pdf

Join Two Files, One of Which is Encrypted (the Output is Not Encrypted)

pdftk A=secured.pdf mydoc.pdf input_pw A=foopass cat output combined.pdf

Uncompress PDF Page Streams for Editing the PDF Code in a Text Editor

pdftk mydoc.pdf output mydoc.clear.pdf uncompress

Repair a PDF's Corrupted XREF Table and Stream Lengths (If Possible)

pdftk broken.pdf output fixed.pdf

Burst a Single PDF Document into Single Pages and Report its Data to doc_data.txt

pdftk mydoc.pdf burst

Report on PDF Document Metadata, Bookmarks and Page Labels

pdftk mydoc.pdf dump_data output report.txt

Most imp command to set read passwd for pdf :
pdftk my.pdf output mydoc128.pdf owner_pw foopass user_pw passwd



Reference :
http://angusj.com/pdftkb/
http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk/

NOTE: Use pdf OR ps before thinking twice to print the doc & sending on snail mail..

save nature.. save humans

Creating a bot!

How to create a simple bot to your service :

Service something like dictionary or movie search is cool on automatic bot. The basic service should be available on line anytime to serve your request. I searched a lot to find good, useful bots around the globe. Here are some which are really interesting to use on daily basis :

url@askme.im

webtoim@gmail.com

googlesms@bot.im

cleartrip.trains@jabber.org

bots@gtalkbots.com

jobs@chat.naukari.com

quotes@askme.im

I've added above bots on my gtalk !

another one I just tried with http://www.imified.com/ is mahendra@bot.im :

You just need to create your own free account on imified.com and host a php, jsp logic URL on some hosting site.

Its pretty easy to create your own bot to do basic operations.

Are you a page addict ?

Something being hobby or use to is kind of okey but "Addiction" is bad !!

Now a days people gets addicted to cellphone, PC, TV . Earlier trend was old with cigar, drinks, gambling, etc

I came across addition of browsing over similar set of page again and again on net. Something like, just visiting google.com even u don't have any thing in mind to be searched. Too frequently checking mails are kind of such additions.

Today's blog is too control Web page addition. Use a simple browser like Firefox. Pretty secured and equipped with billions of plug ins try various things. Get a plugin called http://pageaddict.com/ , available to download in xpi format at http://pageaddict.com/download.html

It supported on Firefox 3.0 & 2.0 so no worry. U just need to install and config it. U can find plugin link in Tools-->Pageaddict

Click on it, it'll take u too its site. U can do required setting on site itself. Its very simple !!

Here are some screen shot to make it more comfortable.

History of visited time along with tags/groups.

Its stores all history from day1 to yesterday.

Another screen shot showing daily config and site browsed.

World Environment Day 2009!

The day was June 5th ! We had environment day celebration at office. We had a small kiosk rather just a gardener with handful of small plants for selling. The guy was illerate and wasn't even knowing names of the plant. Every time we ask something .. he always said,"saab, ye accha hai.. ye bhi lo"
Every plant was prices based on how much it has grown and the quality, health of plant. It was average ranging up to 100 bucks.
I took the below one :
 

2 days later, we have celebration of "vad savitri pornima" .. where Ladies- married women tag a thread around tree and ask for blessing for god of tree for their husband ... 
I came across a tree which they use to ask for blessing. It was a small brank of tree somebody brought after cutting from tree..  It was shame of human being to ask blessing from almost dead tree .. what a culture we follow. Can't we save some of geniun plants, trees and our nature to avoid such situation.

So .. its must for all of us to observe World Environment Day !!! 
Save nature ! before it ends !!!

VirtualBox by Sun

VirtuaBox :

Sun took over Innotek VBox. Master class product to use multiple OSs on Linux box. I have became huge fan when I tried it. Most imp thing is no sign up, trial version OR registration headache.. Goes very well as open source.

As Linux user, I had limitation while using Microsoft supported stuff. As company intranet & many websites are still IE crazy. I installed Xp with Vbox on my Linux FC6.
Product site Download Page
ScreenShot

Win Xp on Linux Box :



Its was of great use when I started playing Counter Strike. I can start Vbox & play CS. Only you need to care is space & physical memory allocated should be good enough to do your stuff on VBox.

If you go for multiple OS on Vbox.. Physical memory allowed to allocate reduces as underlined OS need to have enough memory..

Guys you can enjoy all your games, movie, other utils of Win environment which may not work in Linux with WINE. Most of n/w stuff don't work with WINE.

Enjoy !
Keep posted if any issue.

Ssh on Mobile !

Guys,

Many of mobile phone user wish to access their server through Ssh proto. I got something for you. Only thing you should have is basic midp1.0 supported phone

You can download the app from http://www.xk72.com/midpssh/download.php here . Depending on phone capabilily you should donwload java/midp app.

Only you need is Gprs connectivity to download and connect the server. App has nice functionality like macro, store session, font change.


ps -eaf Screen Shot 2

Here are some screen shots :

Top command o/p on N72 with midp ssh. I even have putty for Symbian client. But I think this is the best ssh client.








TOP Screen Shot 2


Another with dynamic screen. I feel only drawback is connectivity handled by java. S60 Putty work in better manner for connectivity.. Its bit obvious as java has to access native API of Symbian/Proprietor OS of the Phone.

You can download Putty for S60 from here

Download Page S60

If you are facing any connectivity issue.. Let me know. Would like to share some more stuff.. :)

Pls make sure you have unlimited data plan for GPRS access. :) ... Should not get heart attach on seeing mobile bill ;)

Enjoy

Ssh stable reverse tunnel

Many servers are being accessed using tunnels and we are tired of recreating the tunnel again & again. Here is script which can sure the availability of tunnel.
The solution to use ssh command without using the console(tty) is to add -t -t option. Option can be used for remote/local tunnels also.
Eg : ssh -t -t -R 2222:localhost:22 username@

This will create a pseudo terminal which will login to remote server. So, actual terminal is not engaged by ssh proc, which makes the tunnel more stable & consistent. To add on further check, we can check if ssh proc is running & create new ssh tunnel using shell script with a cron job at hourly interval. Shell script can be changed to reset tunnel every hour using kill $PID & recreate tunnel to insure availability.
For further details check man pages. Such tunnels can be configured to allow remote login to office machine. Feel free to ask if have any query. Sample tunnel script attached with mail.

Further suggestion are welcome !

Outing at S'pore East coast

Most memorable thing was roaming testing done with Starhub team. We actually went for outing on east coast. It was great fun. Testing was a nominal thing. Team had planned for lunch in coastal area Indian Hotel. I was accompanied by Sabrina (The lady boss), Rachel (The cute lightweight girl), Fiona (Fairly family lady), Gek Choo (Elderly religious vegetarian lady). All ladies with Chinese origin/look but very caring attitude. We placed the order, I still remember the order :

1. Dal Makhani - Sabrina asked to have bucket full of daal after seeing same on next table
2. Butter chicken- As it was must to have non-veg
3. Naan- 1 Mango, 1 cheese, 2 butter.
4. Veg rice + some spicy sup for Gek Choo.

I went to wash my hands as Indian culture. Ladies were confused, why this guy went away.. when lunch is ready. I started eating with right hand.. cutting piece of naan with fore finger & support of mid finger & thumb.. as typical roti eater does. It was amazing thing for ladies. Sabrina tried cut roti with fingers but couldn't.
And Rachel was cutting her naan with fork & spoon. Some how she managed to finish her stuff but couldn't digest it. As on next day she told she had bad stomach & had to go bathroom many times. Gek Choo had ordered some spicy rice which to too much hot to eat. She keep on drinking water along with sup & rice.

I tell you, I really enjoyed the lunch. I guess, it was very difficult thing to digest for ladies. Before landing to hotel, I was agreed to sponsor the party. Bill was some 80$ = 80X33 = 2640RS which will go for party of 15 people in India. Never mind. Bill was refunded by my company & that lunch was most memorable lunch in S'pore.

Great stuff..
Great people... to keep long lasting memories..