The return of

When life hands you lemons, make squash. A rusty old cliché, but how true!

I am back after a long, long time...what have I been up to?

1. I was trying to get my career on track. I was looking for a new job and was ready for big changes. Suddenly, things took a change for better (I hope this stays true in the long term), so I am now doing something I have come to enjoy, that too in a familiar environment, but in The city.

2. Fiddling with Linux. I am on Fedora Core 6 now - a forced choice, as a bad Mandriva 2007 DVD from Linux For You magazine ruined my working installation. I managed to get a replacement, but had grown to again get comfy with FC6. Better, I had already figured out through lots of trial and error and some help from the community how to connect to VSNL broadband. So I now have a multimedia-capable (!) installation of FC6. My only complaint is that VLC (0.8.6a) on FC6 is horrible for playing movies: the sound output is unbearably choppy. Perhaps this has to do with optimization parameters in the FC6 kernel.

3. I was fed up with the high price and low volume of VSNL broadband, so I managed, with ample help from my father, to get a BSNL broadband connection, and blindly bought the Netgear DG632 ADSL router/modem/firewall. Again, after lots of heartburn (I did not request the engineer to install it) I managed to get it working, first on Windows XP.

4. Lastly, the new broadband connection did not seem to work with FC6. After reinventing the wheel again and again, I have learnt that the problem only arises when I use Firefox (and Yum). Konqueror and the shell can see the connection fine, and use it without problems. However, when Firefox only accepts IP addresses, and not URLs. Something must be wrong with the DNS configuration. Yum also doesn't work, from the shell or through Yumex. So more research is called for. Oh, how I love Linux. I now live in the constant fear of not knowing what to do once I have a perfectly functioning system.

5. I have of late been very busy with my new work profile - talking to investors, analysts etc. I hope to improve my diction and presentation skills very soon - I need to, actually. I got a Lenovo R60 laptop from the company, plus a CDMA data card. The darn thing is heavy as rock, but has really good specs. It's a pity I cannot install Linux on it.

6. I read somewhere on the fora that one user was facing a problem similar to mine with Fedora and router-based connections, but when he popped in a Knoppix live cd, the connection worked flawlessly. I have the Knoppix 5.1x live DVD, and I tried it too. It is TRUE!

I have some scores that I need to settle, but before that, I need to get my tax planning in order and recover my outstanding tour expenses. I am out of money by thousands now.

And just for the record, I hate VSNL. I registered a domain with them, but they did not give me enough options/tools to configure it for use with Google Apps. So I bought web hosting from them, but they aren't still providing the required options. Wait, the best is yet to come. I did this a month ago. VSNL still hasn't been able to make my website (actually, just an under-construction page) operational.

Their call centre-based help is pathetic, and the executives are unable to escalate my call. I have asked them for a refund, but they say it cannot be done, which I don't understand. OK, domain name registrations cannot be undone, so that money is gone down the drain, but what about web hosting? It is just a service, and it has not been rendered to any measure of satisfaction. In the mean time, Google has withdrawn the App service offered to me.

I am taking VSNL to consumer court. I will make them change their ways.