Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

.avi file compression

March 24th, 2010 Sanjib

Uncompressed video files ( .avi) which are recorded from cameras or webcam use a huge file size. A 25 sec moderate quality video takes 150 mb of space. It is not possible to share this raw format with others through internet and so I was looking for a method to compress the file and keeping it as a .avi file. After searching the net and testing with a few softwares I was finally able to compress my 150mb .avi file to 5 mb without losing the framerate or quality of the video.

VirtualDub was the answer to my problem. You can download VirtualDub from here. Its a zip file which you can extract and start using by just running the file VirtualDub.exe

You will also need a Xvid Codec for the compression, a good codec is Koepi’s XviD Codec 1.2.2 which you can download and install. I got an error to override the deafult codec while installing it, but I Ignored the error and everything worked fine after that. (more…)

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Cloud Computing

March 9th, 2010 Sanjib

So what is Cloud Computing ?

I was looking around all the definitions on cloud computing over the net but all are too complicated. Finally I found the easiest definition to understand it. Cloud computing is a network of servers that involves delivering hosted services to customers over the Internet. A cloud service has three unique characteristics that differentiates it from traditional hosting. It is sold on demand, typically by the minute or the hour. A user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time and the service is fully managed by the provider . The consumer needs nothing but a personal computer with an internet access.

These services are broadly divided into three categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that’s often used to represent the Internet in flow charts and diagrams. (more…)

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Cube Workspace in Ubuntu 9.10

January 26th, 2010 Sanjib

I have now successfully enhanced my Ubuntu 9.10 desktop with several effects and now I love Ubuntu more than I ever could. A few hiccups during the changes but ultimately everything is now resolved . I will first let you know how to make your desktop cuboid and make it rotate.

Firstly you will need to install compizconfig-settings-manager, if you already have it installed ignore the next few steps. (more…)

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Reliance Netconnect in Ubuntu 9.10

January 21st, 2010 Sanjib

Mobile Broadband connection setup was a cake walk in Ubuntu 9.04 , where I could just use the Network Manager and edit a mobile broadband connection as per my Reliance Netconnect credentials. After the release of the Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koyala the network connection got messed up. The revamped network manager in 9.10 is exceptionally buggy and even after a full upgrade the issue was not fixed. Searching the internet I found a way around and it is quite useful. Use WVDIAL

If you dont have another connection , download the wvdial software for karmic koala install it in ubuntu and use it to connect to the internet and update your system . (more…)

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Reliance Netconnect review

September 20th, 2009 sanjib

After getting frustrated with the poor internect infrastructure of our beloved city, I finally lost all hopes on all the ISPs ( already tried Airtel and Sify ) available and decided to purchase a USB Modem from Reliance at Rs. 3500 + tariff . This will atleast keep me connected even when the power is off ( which is now very frequent ). Inspite of the big hoardings promising 3.1 Mbps connection, when I tried to check for the broadband speed , I was only able to extract nothing more than 30KBps downloading either popular torrents or regular download sites like yourfilehost.com . Further checking with online speed tests, 2wire.com reports the speed at around 84.10 kbps .

Sounds weird? not exactly..promises are meant to be broken ;) . However, my conclusion is “beggars can’t be choosers” – so whatever price you may spend it is is sin to expect good connectivity.

I will add to this post after testing it for a couple of weeks more.

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Update : Oct 12 : For certain downloads like updating Ubuntu I get an average download speed of 180 KBps. Also I tried a few more torrents and at an average I could download at 120 KBps. I am now satisfied with the speed although it still doesnot match what the company advertises.

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