My computer shuts down reaaally fast!!

Everybody sort of keeps on discussing the bootup time of their PCs in the forums. The technical tests are conducted thoroughly to find exactly how much time (in micro-seconds) it takes to boot the system.

According to a relevant source, Windows 7 boots up in about almost a minute from the start time, when you assume that you take approx 5 secs to login as the relevant user. Now, if you check the article, it is soo bloody full of facts and results and the type of PCs they have used and what not.

Well, I do not see any such study conducted about the shutdown time. Well, why not I ask? I like to sit at my computer until the laaast minute and then rush out the door to do the other chores. And when I leave, I want my computer to shutdown FAST.

Now, I had XP installed in my computer, and then I had Vista and then Windows 7. All of them take a loong time to shutdown and I am there staring at the BLUE screen (I hope it would be blue screen of death, then I can just press the power button and turn it off for good ) waiting for it to shutdown. I want my shutdowns fast.

Well, now that I have switched to Linux Mint 8 – Helena, I find my bootups as well as shutdowns to be exceedingly fast. My boot up time has gone down to almost 30 secs while shutdown is 5 secs. I think this is acceptable for me. Linux Rocks!

Anyway, on my same machine, Windows 7 dragged and dragged me with it shutting down and I am here drooling and waiting and *&^”%”*.

Anyway, I noticed that Windows 7 also slowed down a bit after the initial month (exactly like XP and Vista) and once I had a few apps running in my taskbar, opening a Word doc took me more than 10 secs, which is really unacceptable, right?

On this same machine, in Mint, I have more than 6 apps running (opera, firefox, twitter app for opera, multiple pidgin windows, rhythmbox and this openoffice writer on which I write my blogs) and I open up Thunderbird to check my emails, and Viola!, it only takes 2 secs to load, if even that!!!

I used to love Windows, used Linux from time to time but then eventually came back to Windows due to drivers and functionality and other issues. But now, I must say, everything I can do in Windows I can do it in Linux with more customizations and faster! I love my desktop right now (it has a cool Orange fire theme that I created myself, its that easy ! And the best part, it is ALL FREE!!!

Opensource is the way of the future, and sooner the people adopt it, the better.

GO LINUX!!! PENGUIN RULES!

Ricoh webcam on HP Pavilion dv6000 series laptops work with Linux!!

I have been trying to setup my Linux system to recognise my webcam for a long time now, but somehow, was never successful. And this one time when I was successful, I rejoiced and removed my Windows completely and installed Kubuntu alone to test if I can survive without Windows altogether.

However, after the re-installation, the webcam never did come up in Kubuntu again (after some very rigorous efforts). And I ended up installing Windows again only because of the webcam (I need the webcam. I talk to my family regularly from Skype.).

Then, I tried out LinuxMint 8, which is bloody awesome! Below is a screenshot of my Mint OS:

I know ! It does look awesome, doesn't it? ;)

Anyway, coming to the point. Well, I looked at a lot of forums and but could not get my webcam to work. And then, I found this website

http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownload/ricoh-webcam-r5u870-Download-30296.html

I was able to download the Deb package for my webcam and installed XAWTV (sudo apt-get install xawtv) and voila! , it worked!!

Doesn't work with Cheese though (dunno why!!??). Anyway, here are my specs:

HP Pavilion dv6000 series laptop

Webcam: Ricoh 1.3M Webcam

Specific model: dv6244eu

Installation Procedure:-

The procedure is simple:-

1. 
   
   Download the firmware first from here for x86 architechture or here for amd64 architechture.
2. 
   
   Next, download the modules here. For x86, click here, and for amd64, click here.
3. 
   
   Now, since it is a Deb package, your Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Mint should automatically recognise it. Install the firmware first and then install the module.
4. 
   
   To verify, use the command below to check if the module shows up fine in the lsmod.

oem@Abhi-laptop ~ $ lsmod |grep r5u

r5u870 24132 0

usbcam 41212 1 r5u870

oem@Abhi-laptop ~ $ ^C

oem@Abhi-laptop ~ $

5. 
   
   You should see the above two entries in your output. Once you have verified this, install XAWTV: 'sudo apt-get install xawtv'
6. 
   
   Once done, run XAWTV and you should see your webcam recognised. If it still doesn't work, try 'xawtv /dev/video0' and check.

If the above steps do not work, let me know here.

Thanks for reading and hth.

CHEVRON/TEXACO – The great oily mess of the Amazonian Ecuador

I was just watching an amazing documentary in regards to the Amazon forest. Now, to watch the whole documentary and the full story, you will need to watch the documentary “CRUDE” (trailer below).

Here’s the brief about what the documentary is about. In 1970’s, TEXACO setup a crude oil plant in Amazonian part of Ecuador. Now, an oil plant can generate a LOT of dump and waste. Now, this being a third world country and a poor country and TEXACO being all BIG, american company and all, this has what it has come down to. TEXACO dumped all its wastes and other things into the jungles of Amazon, without so much as a consideration to the local, indigenous people already living there. After about 20 years, the local people who washed and bathed in the local river where the waste was dumped, started to develop skin diseases and cancer.

And this is a mere sauce on the whole muddled pudding. TEXACO  created pits where they dumped this waste (the number almost made me cry, more than 900) and when it rained, they also created pipes where the excess water collected in these pits would go straight in the river, polluting the core river sources.

In 1993, this cause was taken up by a local, recently graduated lawyer (Pablo Fajardo) and the case ran on for 17 years and still no decision is expected for another few years. The case was filed in the US on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadorians by this lawyer in co-ordination the local US lawyer (see video below). However, the case was then moved to Ecuador by the US court. Also, in 2000 (or around that time, I forgot the exact year), CHEVRON took over TEXACO, and in turn, this case. Once in the Ecuadorian court, and after more than 15 years of fighting for justice, the Ecuador court appointed an independent surveyor to take samples, conduct the study and assess damages that CHEVRON needs to pay. And the study conducted by the independent surveyor appointed by the Ecuadorian court put the damages that is to be paid by CHEVRON to 27 Billion.

The clip below shows the other lawyer talking about the lawsuit.

As for the CHEVRON’s stance on this, see the video below where Sylvia (CHEVRON manager) talks about how this is all BS and there is nothing CHEVRON can do and ladidahdidah…

Here’s her video below:-

Well, she’s a bitch for sure. I cannot fathom how she can go home and sleep or even face her family after lying so publicly and openly.

The litigation will go on there is nothing that is to be gained from it by the local people. In the end, the BIG company will keep on buying the judiciary process and delay the justice system. The game is now to wait-and-watch, as it has been for the last 17 years.

All the best and good luck to the lawyers fighting for justice in this case. And my heartfelt prayers to the people of Ecuadorian Amazon.

www.crudethemovie.com

If you care about the environment, please do visit the site below and sign the petition to do something about the litigation and help the people of Ecuadorian Amazon.

http://chevrontoxico.com/

Your little effort and help will go miles in winning the justice they have been long bereaved of.