Author: Nayar

Published on by Nayar

Printers for Dummies

Some History

Source: Wikipedia.com
Source: Wikipedia.com

Before the printer existed, people used to write with pens. Then came the era of type-writers. It kinda revolutionized office work. I’ve read somewhere that Russian top secret officials usually use type-writers because it would be possible to know the authenticity of the document due to the different character had striking the paper at different angles and force. Each type writer has like its own identity. Well, let’s move on now.

The Printer

The printer came along computers. It allowed people to preview their documents on their screens before “materializing” it. Mistakes can be removed at an early stage 😛

Categories of Printers
The most popular ones are ink-jet and laser printers. These can be either color or monochrome.

Ink-jets project ink particle on the paper as it prints. The print head passes over the paper printing line by line.

Laser Printer
Source: zinetic.co.uk

Laser printers are much faster than ink-jets. Electrons are fired on a drum hence ionizing it. The ink liquid are charged positively. The ink particles would be attracted to the drum. The drum is then rolled on paper resulting in a print off. lol 🙂

Connectivity

Back in the days printers were connected using parallel ports. Nowadays, the USB meaning Universal Serial Port is used in almost all models.

On top of that, wireless printing is also possible. Bluetooth enabled printers would allow one with a Bluetooth phone or camera to print directly. This forms part of PAN.

Source: printerhacks.com
Source: printerhacks.com

LAN printing involves connecting your printer to your router. An IP address is assigned to your printer. This could be either wired using RJ45 or using Wifi.

Controversies involving Printers
Printers require paper. Paper is made from trees. Cutting down trees just worsens the global warming effect.

I hope this little expose de-mystified printers a bit.

Do print only if you really need to and plant more trees than you’re killing 😉

Published on by Nayar

O motherland! You’re not ours anymore

Public beaches would soon be extinct just like the Dodo. Local Mauritians would be able to see the beach only in photos.

The beaches are being sold or given away for free. Mauritians no longer feel at ease on existing beaches. I <3 Tamarin beach. But Hotels have been built there. There is no shade at all now on the other side of the river.

Tamarin Beach

While making the beach available to tourist is a good thing. It increases revenue. But living is not only about breathing. The beaches should have been for us sharing with tourists. Not the inverse.

Now, our limited beaches are still being distributed away. A pundit has been given permission to build a restaurant in Trou-Aux-Biches. Read more.

Mauritius has been sold off completely. I don’t think Mauritius can be called as “ours” anymore.

Next time you sing the national anthem. You’ll think twice when you’ll sing

“Motherland, O motherland of mine“

Published on by Nayar

Mera Final Year Project

So we got our dissertation title:-

Fuzzy In-Vessel Composting Model

Area: Sustainable development and AI

Problem Definition: Mauritius being a Small Island Development State faces new environmental challenges such as preserving its fragile ecosystem. One scourge that is actually hindering our environment is the amount of waste that is being generated and ultimately landfilled. Much of the waste generated is organic and can therefore be biodegraded into compost, a natural fertilizer which can substitute chemical fertilizers. Moreover, compost has the pontential to enrich the soil content. in-Vessel composting is one whereby organic waste is filled into a large vessel with special mechanism to control the oxygen and moisture content and other factors that will help in the production of the compost.

Project Aim and Objectives: this project will deal with the simulation of an In-Vessel Composting system using Fuzzy Logic. Making compost is not a straight forward science. understanding the different processes that take place during composting can help in monitoring the different factors that influence the production of quality compost.

Project Output: investigate into the composting system, understand the use of fuzzy logic in uncertain variables, critical analysis of existing system, design and develop a system with a decent user interface that will allow for monitoring the composting process.

Software/Hardware Requirements: to develop a simulation software that will mimic the In-Vessel composting process and eventually providing a monitoring system to predict type of compost.

Fuzzy Logic Toolbox, Python or C++ or C Sharp or matlab

Lecturer: Mr Somveer Kishnah

Me and my friend Nawsheen would be working together on this. Hope we manage to get an A+ in it 😀

Published on by Nayar

Anil Bachoo. What is it that you do?

Last time he increased the price of transport was because bus owners simply wanted to.

This time, one specific company, The NTC, cannot function properly because of corruption. He decides to increase all bus fares. Other bus owners are like “OK” to this decision.

Since i don’t have the balance sheet for NTC, here’e how i imagine it to be:

Income: Rs 100, 000, 000

Salary of management: Rs 70,000,000
Salary of workers: Rs 10,000,000

Maintenance: Rs 10,000,000 (Rs 9,000,000 stolen by managers)
Fuel: Rs 20,000,000

Loss: Rs -10,000,000

Let’s say with increasing bus fares, what guarantees us more money will be given to “real” workers? Even if the budget for maintenance increases theoretically, what guarantees us that the money won’t be held by the management? There is NONE!

I heard a bus driver with about 20 years of service gets around Rs 11,000 per month. A newly recruited creole teacher gets Rs 13,000 per month? They are mostly imams or something. A school cleaner, pion as we know it, who works day and night gets about Rs 3000 per month. Seriously!? Who is a more important asset in the development of the country?

Wonder when we’ll have a government with real brains and hearts.:-/

Published on by Nayar

Hands on Raspberry Pi

Had ordered a raspberry pi last Saturday. Received the parcel this Thursday at home.

Raspberry Pi

Took a 2GB micro SD card and tried to flash raspbian on it using dd command on linux. But it was saying the card is read only or something. Went on windows and downloaded the flashing tool and it flashed correctly.

Putting the card into the raspberry and powering it up would make the pi flash eight times indicating something’s wrong. The firmware was not able to connect to the sdram. Had to sacrifice my 32GB micro sd to be able to flash the NOOBS on it as it requires 4GB. I could flash my card from linux itself this time.

The raspberry pi finally booted! The problem is i don’t have a usb keyboard at home. Lent a keyboard from my cousin to just setup the system and allow ssh connections. Then i’d control it using my laptop or phone/tablet.

I was able to install webiopi. I could control the GPIO pins using a web interface. Then i tried writing a python script (RPi.GPIO) for automating a change in voltage for a pin.

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
GPIO.setup(23, GPIO.OUT)
masaw = False
for num in range(0,10):
if(masaw == False):
masaw = True
else:
masaw = False;
GPIO.output(23, masaw)
time.sleep(2)

It worked like magic :3

GPIO on Raspberry

I need to have some switch relays to be able to control real life objects such as my home lights, my washing machine and stuffs. The possibilities are endless.