Nayar's Blog

UoM Wi-Fi on Linux (Kubuntu)

Nayar — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:37:01 +0000

The long awaited Wi-Fi at The University of Mauritius has been officially released since 2 weeks i think. It is a really good move.

As for me, i was concerned whether it would work on linux operating systems. I’ve completed switched to Kubuntu since some time now.

I tried the procedure on https://mysites.uom.ac.mu/wifi/. I managed to connect to wifiprovisioning successfully

But when i open Firefox and when to google.com. It would redirect to some to some page in “uom-wifi-ca.uomwifi.local” but it would stop there. It was supposed to ask me a username and password and give me a certificate.

The Solution?
I booted on Windows 7. Tried connecting to wifiprovisioning. Downloaded the certificate and saved it on my hard-disk. The file name is “certnew.cer”. I switched to Kubuntu again.

I tried connecting to uomstudent directly. It asked for some security fields. I loaded the certificate i downloaded from Windows 7 there. The window should appear like this at the end:-

Connected!

The procedure is a PITA for someone who is not an IT guy. I managed to connect after lots of trials and errors. I would be very cool to officially support Linux OSes. Anyways, i am very happy i managed to connect my Kubuntu. I thought it would have been impossible for a Linux device to ever connect (despite having to download the certificate using a windows device).

Change v/s Self-Improvement

Nayar — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:34:11 +0000

Last semester at the University, i would be late almost everyday when i had classes early in the morning at 08:30. However, this semester i took a resolution to not come late anymore.

However this positive resolution started to haunt my thoughts.

If x = 2 ,then -x = -2

When i would do things badly, the results were kinda good. Now if i do it the correct way, the results might be the opposite

I started to think resolutions should not be considered as an act to *change* yourself. It is to make the same “old you” better.

We remove a negative value y,

x – y = 5

Someone wanting to change himself is a coward IMO. He doesn’t has the guts to admit he has flaws. He prefers instead to throw his ownself away and install someone else’s mind which he considers better.

But, no one is Perfect!

The person above will copy the flaws of the role model too. What would he do next? Enter in an (infinite) loop to search for a new role model?

A wise man can learn, even from a fool, but a fool cannot learn, even from a wise man.

To become a better person, it is important for one to remain himself, improve his own good qualities and eliminate his own bad qualities. Just copying someone might lead him to have a troubled personality. His life would be the most boring of all.

Live your own life. God gave you life as a gift. Don’t waste it

Thoughts?

Taking the “191 Express Curepipe” bus

Nayar — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:16:31 +0000

It’s the first time i saw the bus “191 Express Curepipe” passing through The University of Mauritius at Reduit. I boarded the bus without knowing it’s route. It did the same route as “173 Curepipe” does till Pont Fer i.e. it passes at Ebene first.

At the round about near SUPERCASH, the bus did not go in the direction of sir Abdool Razack Mohamed Hall. Instead, it continued on the motorway until it reached the Aux Coulee round about.

It then went through Aux Coulee till the Aux Coulee Police Station. From there, it went to Curepipe as other buses usually do.

Images from Google Earth

I can’t tell exactly if the journey took less time. But it was definitely more comfortable

Wi-Fi @ University of Mauritius: How Soon Is Now?

Echdee — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:02:02 +0000

The Mauritius Wi-Fi project was approved by the minister last July. Objective: Every one of us can benefit from free internet. There will be a pilot project, whereby 10 Wi-Fi spots will be installed across the island. One in each district and one in Rodrigues. The most common Wi-Fi spots so far are, Mc Donald’s (Port-Louis), Dias Pier (Caudan Waterfront) and Rose-Hill Transport.

While they’re busy making big plans, the University of Mauritius itself doesn’t have a proper Wi-Fi system. We’ve been told that they will soon implement the Wi-Fi system but how soon is now?

We have assignments, research and so on to do, we can still get access to the internet in the library and in labs; but there’s lot of waiting. But what will you do when all the labs are occupied and you have to wait like a really long time before you can use the computers in the library? What are we exactly suppose to do? Use Skype for group assignment at home?

I probably wouldn’t have written this article if we didn’t have the means to use Wi-Fi. But many of us own laptops, smart phones and tablets. But at some point, these gadgets become useless without an internet connection.

We, the students will benefit a lot from the Wi-Fi, and we can get all our research/group assignment done at the University itself. But how long do we have to wait?
It wouldn’t be so bad if the government think of us first, before implementing Wi-Fi spot across the island. But to be honest, I don’t see it coming anytime soon.

-Echdee

DTC: The New SMS

Nayar — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:57:57 +0000

Since last week in Mauritus, SMS prices of Orange and Emtel has risen up to 70cents/- and for MTML 10cents/- i’ve heard. So, instead pf using SMS, why not make calls of 0.5-1 mins known as Do Tiny Calls . Call rate is 1.20/min.

Pros:-

Information can travell in both directions
Costs almost the same or even less.
Only the person needing you pays

Cons:-

It is cheaper for people on the same network only
Girls might have a *little* difficulty to have conversation of less than 1 minute

VCILT site of UoM now uses Adsense link ads

Nayar — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:54:29 +0000

Link

Unprofessional!

1st day of Semester 2 at UoM

Nayar — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:14:22 +0000

Our first class with Zakobi got canceled as another lecturer was doing lecture in the class we were supposed to work. It is not unusual for Zakobi to cancel any class at anytime.

Afterwards. We did a labsheet on Python which went rather fine.

Then we were supposed to have another practical from 12:30 to 14:30. But since we did not do any theory for the module, the lecturer only introduced the module and the class finished around 13:30. We were allowed to go anywhere we want but on the campus itself till 14:20. She told us to come in her office at that time so as she’ll check who are the one who left. WTF!? This is just abuse of power by lecturers :@

Mauritian Holiday Files for KDE

Nayar — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:59:23 +0000

Wanna have our National Holidays and special days get shown in your KDE calendar?

Here’s the way to get it:

You can checkout from SVN here or download the files here (might not be up to date):

svn checkout http://kde-for-mauritius.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ kde-for-mauritius-read-only

Copy the contents of “Holiday Files” to “/usr/share/kde4/apps/libkholidays/plan2″. You will need administrative permission to do so. Open the destination location with this command (kubuntu). Then you will be able to paste the files

sudo dolphin /usr/share/kde4/apps/libkholidays/plan2

Right click on the time widget in the lower-right section of your screen and select “Digital Clock Settings”

Now go to calendar, nect to Mauritius, select “Days Off”

U’r Done!

Notes:

1. This calendar is only valid for Year 2012 only. The following Holidays won’t appear in the following years:

Spring Festival
Thaipoosam Cavadee
Maha Shivratee
Ougadi
Assumption // This holiday did not appear in year 2011. I did not put it reccuring for this reason cause i’m not sure when they decide to put it
Ganesh Chaturthi
Divali

If you know in advance when the above events will occur, please let me know. Events like Eid-Ul-Fitr and Eid-Ul-Adhia are approximated yearly like this:

“Eid-Ul-Fitr” weekend on hijri 1 shawwal // weekend makes it appear as a Day off
“Eid-Ul-Adhia” on hijri 10 thualhijjah // this will appear in green in the calendar as it is not a holiday

2. Send me a list of cultural days which mauritian celebrate such as St. Valentine’s day, Father Laval day and birth of Sir Ramgoolam etc.

3. If you want to help, here’s my project page hosted on Google code: http://code.google.com/p/kde-for-mauritius

Next, i’ll be doing a calendar for the Major activities organised by The University of Mauritius. Stay tuned to the SVN

2 Things i expect to change when UoM resumes

Nayar — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:39:50 +0000

University of Mauritius will resume courses as from Monday 16 January. Here’s the 2 things i hope have been changed most.

1. No traffic jam from Pont Fer to Ebene.

There has been works on the roads since months now. Increasing the width of roads doesn’t neccessarily mean a more fluid traffic.

If at one point there is a blockage, the traffic will be jammed. The wider roads would then just allow more cars to drive idle. Hope the situation would be much better.

2. Wifi available at UoM

We were told that WIFI will be available at UoM since Nov 2011. But we heard no news of it yet.

Students need this facility very much. We are fed up listening to Students’ Union representatives say we’ll have it soon.

Go to sleep Akismet, Stop Forum Spam is coming

Nayar — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:01:56 +0000

Akismet is activated on my MyBB forum. It comes by default. But still there are load and loads of spammers signing up and posting on my forum.

There is not an option of deleting all the posts of spammers at once which sucks. I decided to give Stop Forum Spam a try.

Let’s hope it does the job better