Three commands to get your Wacom Bamboo Working in Linux

This is due to Frank Gorenveld and all you need to do is
1. Connect to internet
2. Execute these commands on a terminal one after another
and your Wacom tablet will work flawlessly

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:doctormo/wacom-plus
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wacom-dkms

Please register your product at Wacom so Linux support becomes mainstream

Persistent Linux

Persistent Linux is a Linux which is flash bootable and unlike the live USB which doesn't retain changes after you unplug it persistent keeps the installation you make when you use the USB. To have a persistent Linux I would recommend at least 4 Gbytes of space.
The easiest way to create Persistent Linux is to use the software Universal USB Installer. Its available for windows and its pretty small. I had a hard time finding this software as there are many pages on internet which tells you how to make persistent linux but are way too cumbersome. Even a video on You tube was useless. I highly recommend the above software considering it makes persistent linux such a breeze and the good thing is that almost all major linux distributions can be made persistent with this software.

Linux Mint

Well I have been using a persistent version of Linux Mint for now some time and I must confess I am mighty impressed by it. I can use my USB drive in different computers and all my configurations appear the same. All my most used softwares are installed and it doesn't take long to boot. My USB drive also doubles up as a storage device. So its almost like carrying your computer without the need to carry the bulky hardware. Linux Mint is perhaps better in some case than Ubuntu because you have access to all the software Ubuntu provides plus some of the quirks of Mint. For ex ctrl-alt-del is not in Ubuntu and so its hard to kill a task when some process gets stuck. The navigation menu and categorisation of software is better done in Mint. I also installed on my sister's 4Gb drive and I wonder Linux has now more bells and whistles and pretty much any software you find for windows now also has a linux installation. I now use both Maple and Sage on my Linux. For paint I use Gimp and mypaint. My Wacom is detected automatically as I plug in. I have Geogebra, Gap and Maxima for other Math related work. My VLC player plays my DVD. Rythym box gets my pod cast. I have a torrent client too. The Xournal lets me do presentation and annotations. Cheese for web cam and empathy and google talk for instant messaging. Open office for my presentation needs. Freemind, mnemosyne and Parley for learning. What more can you ask ? Its time you should switch to Linux too :)

Gimp Painting on Linux Mint

So I installed a persistent Linux Mint on my 4Gb flash drive. To celebrate this occasion I drew this painting.

Fun with tablet

I always nursed the desire to do paintings on a tablet, I surmise the reason for that is you don't have to muddle with colors and the flexibility to experiment. So here is a shot of what I did.

Certificate

Breakfast

One of the habit I acquired over last 5 years is to include lots of fruits in my diet. Here is what I had in the morning yesterday. It includes Guava, Apples, Rassberrys and not showing is glass of Malta Juice. One good thing about New Delhi is Juice shops are ubiquitous. Where you can buy freshly squeezed juice of Mousmi (Sweet Lime), Oranges, Carrots, Pomegranate, Mango etc.

Its cold in delhi and I have become insouciant about my stubble which is morphing into a beard. I haven't had shave in past 8 or 9 days. Today, I went for a demonstration class at a local place here and I think did a good job. I have been trying to get a handle on some concepts and I am happy about the way I am approaching it. Its good that I don't have to worry about anything and I have ample time to think. From tomorrow, technically today I have a week long online training. Again this is some unchartered territory in which I am trying to get my feet in.

Wanted

Another day, another movie. This time it was wanted. The movie has Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. Its one of those non stop riveting action movie which don't give you any time to think while you are watching. With computer graphics these days pretty much anything that your imagination can construe you can show and wanted epitomizes that. The story is about a demure guy seething with anger but helpless. He hates his imperious boss, he is helpless to occlude his friend's advances. Anyway such movie do not purvey good value system in society. I mean revenge, blame game and self pity. So why would you watch it as I said before to watch spectacular action!

Year One

I watched year one. So it was another Michael Cera's movie after watching Juno the other day. The director took the liberty to poke fun at religion and so I don't think if you god fearing, religious person you would enjoy that. Otherwise its an average movie and not bad to get few laughs out of it.

Juno

I watched Juno today. I think it was great. The story is about a young teenager who finds herself pregnant and her struggle to find a nice home for yet to be born child. I haven't read any other reviews about this movie but I am sure it did hit the chord with lot of people.

Struggling to get up early in the morning. My lifestyle in Delhi is all upside down. I am not sleeping early in the night and consequently getting up late in the morning. The only sunshine to this routine is that I am not wasting away my time. I am toying with the idea of doing some teaching besides working on other projects that I have assigned myself. I am talking to a couple of places and hopefully something interesting will show up.
Just to let you know that Linux is now much more integrated in my life. I am not talking about as a programming platform but as a primary operating system. Most of the softwares I need for my learning and research are on Linux and ofcourse one feels more secure using Linux on internet. I now using more and more of Sage for my math work. Pdftex for my Math typing needs and Geogebra for geometry and drawing pictures. I am using more softwares like Mnemosyne, Parley and Kwordquiz for flash card based learning. Rythmbox gets my podcasts update. Igoogle serves a portal for my bookmarks and blog readings. Chromium and firefox for web browsing. Freemind for drawing quick maps instead of mind manager. So in a nutshell everything is either on linux or on cloud.

Bucket List

I just finished watching Bucket List starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Its been after a long time that I treated myself to a good movie. Bucket list is outstanding movie about two terminally ill patients who happen to find themselves in each other's company. One who made plans but circumstances and his reluctance didn't let them materialize and the other who got too busy climbing the ladder of minting money didn't realize that it was leaning on the wrong wall. Jack Nicholson plays the intransigent billionaire and Morgan freeman is the demure, god fearing mechanic. Together they compliment each other and both of them manage to break out of their quotidian existence. Well worth a watch.