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.

Published on by Nayar

We’ll miss you Mrs Hema

There are lecturers who are hard working. But there are some who are even passionate about it. Mrs PUTTAY Hema was one the most passionate lecturers I’ve got.

She really loved and cared for her students despite she might be appear to be very strict and severe on the outside. On our last lecture, she brought sweets for all us. She had the greatest smile that day. She felt the satisfaction in her work. That was really touching. Think i’m going to cry la. :'(

Anyways, it is was great working with you. We’ll miss you.

Published on by Nayar

Still no UoM Results. WTH!?

I have already paid for the next year. The mail asking us to register for new modules have already been sent. Our dissertation list has already been sent with deadline to be submitted in 6 days. But not yet received the results.

snapshot485

I know i didn’t fail in any module but i need to know my CPA. I think i heard something about results would be coming earlier.

Neways, crossing fingers is all i can do..

Published on by Nayar

HRs in Mauritian Software Companies

This was my first meetup with the MSCC (Mauritius Software Craftsmanship Community). It was awesome despite low number of people were present. Guess this made me more confortable. Yep, i’m a socially awkward guy. lol 😀

I met Ish who was a Linux user. Was really nice exchanging some words with him.

At some point in time, we were talking about job interviews. I’ve never been in an interview before. So, it is usually the HR guys who do interviews. What are the qualifications of HRs in Mauritian software companies? Do they have an computer related degree or they are just “generic” HRs? Are they really efficient and needed in a company?

I’d highly recommend anyone in the IT field to come and hang out in this community especially students. What i learnt was priceless. 🙂

Published on by Nayar

God = E = mc2?

Once my uncle asked me what is God? As always, I replied dunno. He said:

God is a “set of attributes”. I was like that’s it? o.O

Seriously, what is God? Is it just a concept after-all?

Hypothesis: God is Energy
This is a concept that has become quite popular. Let’s put this theory to test.

The famous law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change form.

Traditional Muslim belief is that God is formless and omnipresent. Energy is formless and omnipresent.

Does an idle stone also posses energy? Yep. That’s what “temperature” is all about. Even at 0 Kelvin (-273 C), electrons of the rock’s atom are still spinning. This means they possess Kinetic Energy.

What if we isolate the electrons and protons/neutrons? We all know the famous theory which Einstein formulated . Mass and energy are therefore commutable. Everything around you can be converted into energy and vice versa.

The Origin of Universe
What was there before the Big-Bang? Some say the energy was “created” by an external entity (God) while others say it from a previous Big-Crunch. But from where did the previous universe get the energy? The law of conservation of energy itself says it cannot be “created”. God is also known to not having created and being here since even before time started.

So far, Energy = God seems to be a consistent theory.

Weaknesses of this theory.
God is omniscient to the extent that even a leaf falls and he knows it. Is energy too? Let’s consider gravitational potential energy. It is defined with the following formula:
GM/r.

For 2 point masses in space, even if their distance r tends to infinity, they will always be in the gravitational field of each other. If the distance changes, both parties experience a change in attraction.

If the relative position changed so as the distance r remains constant such as an object in orbit, both parties would be able know the direction of the pull. Forces are vector quantities anyways.

But in real life, wonder if falling of a leaf can be detected far away in space with a gravity detector with ‘infinite’ precision. And also, is there a propagation delay for electromagnetic forces if an object comes closer? Don’t think my college physics knowledge can confirm this. From what i understood from a quick search in WikiPedia is that the speed of gravity is same as speed of light according to theory of relativity. ref

Intelligence
I don’t think i can analyze this part. Energy as we know it doesn’t inhibit “intelligent” behaviors. Here is where maybe a soul theory might come handy. Maybe the soul is special type of energy…