Basic Cellphone and Utility Value

I bought basic phone for utility value.

Number one me is for listening to the Radio and to get local news and number two for an emergency call when out and about.

Having experienced a stolen SIM from me, I do not want to take my expensive phone out.

If I lose it the headache is bigger than losing a SIM, even though I have configured it to be traced by Google in such an event.

Also typing password for Gmail entry is a pain and it needs to be remembered by Google on 24/7 basis.

This basic phone is from Samsung and is cute and not bulky.

First it's Radio was OK.
Sound quality was good and it detected all my downloaded music files.
There it ends my satisfaction.

It took two days to figure out how it works and set the time and date having read the instruction note twice in very small letters.

It was only interested in configuring the SIM.

I get carrier details and that's all.

I removed the battery at least five times to get to start mode and each time figured out what next to come.

I got the vendor to configure it and  I was not happy to give a call unless it works the way I wanted.

Altogether I had about 20 messages from the two carriers but I could not type a single SMS message.

I have to press this or that button to get simple, capital letters and numbers.

Finally I got the wall paper I wanted and switched it off for a break.

If I have to type a message in an emergency, it perhaps need one minute for each word.

I have not tried any contact numbers yet except my own cellphone which I am typing this post.

This is why I always say Radio is the best way to get the local news fast and not a new cellphone with carriers who cannot reach the far corners of this country or the location and the person in distress.

The government has not figured this out.

A scenario like tsunami and how to respond quickly is not figured out.

Leaving it to the individual carriers is not full proof remedy.

They are interested in money making.

During the Coronavirus epidemic getting the base stations working at full throttle was not achieved.

Leaving it to doctors, who are already hard pressed (to get the infrastructure activated) is no good.

Police may do a better job but army is shadowing them.

Having a cellphone as a safety net is not good enough, if the poor farmer does not know how to operate it (SIM response, emergency calls and reaching the nearest police station or hospital).

The guy I gave my android phone version 8 has not figured out how to use it after almost two years.

Majority including my classmates who were in public service do not understand the cellphone as a mini computer.

They feel shy to ask for help.

It is often the son or daughter who is using or operating the cellphone.

Mind you, I leaned a few tricks from my daughter but I have gone beyond that point of entry.

I think Android phone should be the basic but my GreenTel cellphone had more options and also had a version which received analogue TV stations.

I am told GreenTel has gone bust.

I had a GreenTel notebook, too.

The GreenTel has the best phone and its Android version is 6 and Google has fiddled with the photo application and I cannot access the photos stored in the cellphone.

I have activated the Google App store for updates and Google is not responding.

I am not sure whether it is due to  GreenTel had gone bust or Google is interfering or both.

But I am pretty sure Google is interfering and does not let me see the stored up       (not in Google Drive, I rarely use) photos in the cellphone.

Now this was my second cellphone.

The first Java phone I gave free to a guy who depends on cellphone for work and he has gained my trust for a long time and when things were getting bad in schools were demanding cellphones with video conferencing I bought a new one for his daughter.

After 3 months of no work he has found some work.

The GreenTel was taken twice to Singapore  birds park.

The last visit to Singapore was to visit Bird's Park and those photos of birds Google is preventing the access.

I bought a cellphone in Singapore and it is called SeeKen and it had Android version 6 and it's touch screen has gone unresponsive  and is not responding.

Problem with liquid crystals underneath.

The  third GreenTel I gave it to a guy who has not used it for two years. 

This was the phone in which one of my SIMs of Hutch was stolen my a Muslim guy, a crafty manipulator.

Fourth was a Zigo (a Dubai sheikh's company) cellphone with touch screen and it had a pixel burn and white line vertically which was disposed, since I could not find a spare battery.

That is the second telephone company gone bust.

After long lay off I bought a couple of Nokia cellphones for my Internet work and they are the best for me.

I have three of them and my workhorse is one of them.

If you want a robust cellphone buy a Nokia cellphone.

They are out of stock in Ceylon.

They have a rugged one coming soon and I have no commercial interest with Nokia.

Mind you, Nokia coming from Finland introduced the brick like phone in 1980s which did not fit in my overcoat and I preferred the hospital bleeper and telephone exchange for patient care.

I used to put the bleeper into the waste paper busker when  not on call and cleaners always put it back on the side desk religiously.

The bleeper sound mean a sick child has arrived.

I hate to see sick children often neglected by parents and compounded by GP negligence not responding quickly.

That was one reason me leaving UK.

GPs are powerful there and I did not go there to aid and abet GP's mistakes.

So you can understand why I hate cellphones.

Phones always bring bad news and I want pleasant or Somanassa Chitta at least in my retirement.

The land phone is out even after paying Rs.15,000/= well above the arrears and I hate MobiTel for life.

My first SIM was from MobiTel and I stuck it inside the Samsung phone.

I bought a Samsung basic cellphone sometime ago for good some and it was pretty bad with basic applications (I use) and was almost never used.

Only good think was the SD card with all the  Western songs I downloaded is recognized quickly by this cute little cellphone, I bought.

I said I bought it for listening to radio and music and it does a good job at pleasing volume control and not loud.

I had a GreenTel notebook and it's RAM was limited. It was very slow to my liking and gave away to a guy who did not know how to use it and his grandchild broke it.

This comment is coming from a guy who used all the available models from Kit Kat 4.3 to version 11.

I had a cheap tablet with version 4.3 (its battery is gone dead and I won't buy a new one) and a game console which could never download a game due to faulty keyboard that did not let me type my 18 long alphanumeric password.

It is a down to earth comment and I did not use exorbitant gadgets but what was available at the time when I needed the most (upgrading wise).

So going for Android 12 is a waste and I won't go to Singapore again except bypassing it on a long trip to Australia and have a quick visit to Greymouth and remote  ? Rastone (forget the name) looking for ladybirds with kids.

It will be well beyond 2023 and I hope airfare would have come down to manageable level by then.

I feel that cellphone should NOT be a gift to a child under 18 for very good reasons.

The cellphones used in video conferencing are expensive and one can buy two alternative cellphones with android 11 version with that money.

Be wise and mindful when you buy a cellphone.

I have to wait for another two years to see a Steam Deck with Linux Operating System.

What a wait?

Arigato and Thank You to Japanese Olympic Committee

Yes Arigato to the Japanese Olympic Committee.

Sports the winner and the leveller.

Thank you to all who participated athletes, support staff and administrators.

Thank you to Japanese citizens for biting the teeth an tolerating the imposed oppression to mitigate the virus spread.

There are over 40 places one could get Covid including sporting stadiums but only 28 Tokyo Olympic related Covid vases reported.

That is an excellent record.

Yes we can stop the spread of the virus.

But needs dacronian protocol.

In Ceylon, 70% blame goes to citizens and 30% to the government (not imposing the protocol drafted and changing it for many reason).

I have revised the 50/50 blame, I originally  coined.

Granny Award, Nuts and Soya TOFU

Please DO NOT SHARE!
 

Granny Award

 

 I intend to award a “Granny Award” in my mother’s name in her early nineties to any person who come with an English Drama based on the stages mentioned below. 

 

The contents are Open Source and are generally under the Linux GPL Convention. 

1. Originator Unknown Sri-Lankan Author in his late Nineties (I claim he is not my late father).

 2. Recent Rendering by a Bookshop Assistant in Kandy who wishes to be anonymous.

 3. This Edition is by Me (MINIME VERSION) and BABA (one of my dear friends who is no more with us), SAMBA, BIMBA, ZIMBA, SINHA BAR (Lion BAR), ALI (KANDY ELEPHANTS, THE TWOLEGGED VARIETY) and any HORA-BABA (fatherless baby) or any unborn Sri-Lankan Baba (baby) can participate in future developments of this humane animal story (copyleft). 

 

Currently the Pothe-Guru (story Teller) is me, the current author.

 

The Big DADDY VERSION (the language of communication could be from simple to vulgar depending on the alcohol content) is only for private consumption of my friends especially after a suitable

beverage except the Ceylon Dust TEA (not Tiger Wood’s recent TEE) which I use as manure for ornamental plants.

 

Evam Mesuthan Ekam Samayam (So, said and so heard).

1. I was a privy to Relay Carnival (passing the bucks relay, really fast, like the Hedging Deal and now the Bond Scams) in the Animal (they are more humane and eat only when hungry) Kingdom.I was the only Sri-Lankan selected by an island wide Lottery conducted by the Hela Urumaya (or Hela Karumaya) Surakumu Foundation (HUKU-SUMU for short).

 

2. I was on holiday in a Forest Reservation (JUNGLE HABITAT).

 

3. I observe an elderly (prostate enlarged) Peter Rabbit grazing.

 

4. Jack the Jackal (with financial interests in Sri-Lanka) greedily waiting for an innocent prey.

 

5. Scene of the Jackal (both hip joints and knee joints are replaced by bionic prosthesis delivered by a Sri-Lankan TELESHOP GIANT on a Plate made of unclaimed Credit Cards-because of his Royal Ancestry) chasing the Rabbit.

 

6. BLIND forest (Hermen) hermit descend from heaven and lands on a busy Junction (Thun-Man Chinthana Handiya) for free dhana.

 

7. Rabbit approaching the hermit with break neck speed without a Crash Helmet.

 

8. Rabbit jumps over hermit visibly shaken up and annoyed.

 

9. Lands a squirt of Holy (Medical) Water (Urine for short) right on the nose and mouth.

 

10. Hermit really thinks the water is holy and ascends to a higher Jhana.

 

11. Jackal approaches the hermit with a bionic speed and put on breaks instantaneously.

 

12. Jackal licks the nose and face of the hermit.

 

13. Hermit rudely awakened from his Transient Trance (Transient Ischaemic Attack-TIA).

 

14. Jackal reprimands the hermit with a nasty comment;

Why don’t you stay a few feet above the ground?

 

15. Well, I was thinking about my Bank Balance of Merit (PIN-Numbers) in Seylan Bank and settled where I ought to be, was his reply.

 

16. Well then, did you see a rabbit running this way?

 

17. Yes, Yes I heard some animal running but I cannot say what species he was but I can very well tell you that he was a male.

 

18. You say you are a hermit and blind.

How can one see the SEX of an animal running fast in a Meditative Mode?

 

19. Didn’t the Master tells you, it is an illegal task to think about sex in Meditative Trance?

 

20. We animals think about sex, only when we are in full sexual flow and not otherwise, he proclaimed.

 

21. Can you tell me how the BLIND HERMIT instantaneously guessed the SEX of the fast moving passerby?

 

Help;

Nothing to do with his urine or prostate and it is due to some other reason. Only a Sri-Lankan would be able to guess the ANSWER and it is a common saying when a policeman is chasing a politician who has

committed a traffic offense.

Postscript:
Purva-Bhava Connections

1. The hermit was a Traffic Warden (an active member of Hela Urumaya) who went to heaven instantaneously when hit by a Guy from the Presidential Escort.

2. The rabbit was a monk who went in search of emancipation in Sri-Lankan Parliament and deposited his hard earned money in a private bank.

The Jackal was a Sri-Lanakan Private Banker, better than an American swindler.

I was of course the CNN Reporter Assistant (only doing the editing) of iReportes, using a stolen mobile telephone.
Corollary

Only a male Jackal with large prostate can squirt a healthy vigorous stream while running, and a man cannot. The rabbit in this story did it due to fear and the anger (monk standing on his getaway flight).

A female (liberal woman) will never be able to perform this act even when standing, the future Female US President or probable female candidates included.

Asoka with special Urine Test for the prostate and prostrated Sri-Lankans without a fee.I have excluded the most important Coconuts and Cocoa Nuts in this discussion.

Going Nuts

If one walks along the streets of Kandy or Colombo it is quite obvious how thoughtful all our road users are?

Both drivers and pedestrian are all in a mighty hurry?

It looks as every body is on a hitchhike and the situation is free for all.

Nobody seems to spare a thought for another.

It looks as if all of them have gone nuts.

Whether they have gone nuts or not what I would like to talk about is not the nuts and bolts inside one’s skull but the nuts that we eat with our bites.

The amount of money we spent to keep our spirits high on holidays may be a bonanza for the exchequer but a bit of nuts with the spirits that one consumes might keep one’s health in trim condition without

any help from the doctor. All nuts come from plants and are cholesterol-free.

They are rich in mono and polyunsaturated fats and help lower cholesterol. They are high in folate (prevent hardening of blood vessels) and help lower blood homocysteine levels and more importantly blood pressure and thereby reduce the risk of heart

attacks. Soybeans are extremely low in saturated fat and free of cholesterol.

Consuming 25 grams of soy protein daily has shown to lower blood cholesterol. Beyond cholesterol reduction, soy foods may favorably affect other risk factors for heart disease (i.e., makes arteries more flexible). Therefore, soy may be helpful for everyone, not just those with high cholesterol. The B vitamin they contain helps the metabolism of alcohol and that is an added advantage for the regular users (I mean alcohol).

Eating lot of meats with alcohol is a bit of a myth that we carry on from our early days. Valuable potassium, magnesium and copper are all linked to heart health and probably nuts replace most of the salt losses that result from alcohol-induced diuresis. One can go on and on, with the benefits of these plant products which include various phytoproteins and phytochemicals (plant proteins and plant chemicals) and the antioxidant Vitamin E (also heart protective). If with the holiday consumption of alcohol cannot be cut down a bit of nuts might save one’s nut in posterity. Additionally extra sweets that one indulges in holiday time soy may be a blessing in disguise. Soy foods may slow absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. May also protect against damaging effects of glucose-induced oxidation, common in people with diabetes.

The only controversial area probably is its content of

phytooestrogens and I had the belief that it may in one-day help very elderly with prostate cancer. Limited data available indicate that it may be so. For the very old who enjoy a bit of spirits having few soy nuts may be desirable after all.

Soy contains high levels of the phytoestrogens (also known as isoflavones) genistein and daidzein, which mimic and sometimes block the hormone oestrogen.

I had my reservation of soya milk for children and this reservation may have to be extended for girls going through their puberty because of its high content of phytooestrogens.

But that reservation cannot be extended to the elderly females. Apart from some beneficial effects of post-menopausal symptoms the soy protein helps conserve body calcium better than that of animal protein. Compounds in soy called isoflavones may simultaneously increase bone formation while decreasing bone breakdown.

The next question is what the best nut for the purpose?

We have a narrow selection. Peanuts, cashew nuts and soy nuts are the ones available and unfortunately the cashew nuts are not within the reach of our purse

nowadays. Since all the foreign nuts are expensive I go for the soy nuts. It is pertinent to talk little about the soy nuts since it is comparatively cheap and readily available because of its high nutritive value (proteins). I had my reservation about soy because of high aluminum content but 20 years ago when I was searching for the reason there was no literature available. Now it appears the aluminum came from the tanks (aluminum) used in soy preparation. It was common sense that aluminum kitchenware is not safe but why the researchers kept this as a secret for so long if not to kill the soy industry (just like the way coconut industry was sabotaged) is obvious.

Now that the bio-diesel is emerging, if the food industry is not destroyed by it (now, before it is firmly established in the West) the price of soy nut is going to go up since production cannot keep pace with the demand. Surely peanut price is going to go up.

I am relaxing my reservation little by little. For children the best milk is the breast milk and I have no reason to change that and I do not recommend soya milk for children. There is concern for mercury in soymilk and this is probably as a result of some contamination down the production chain. There should not be any concern about soy yogurt. The choice of nuts depends on the price and the availability.

Cocktail of nuts is probably the best choice.

For price soy beats all the other nuts in price.

It is probably the best nut commercially exploited in our set up.

All nuts have common features than not.

A few differences set some apart from others. Walnuts are highest in omega-3 fatty acids (also found in fatty fish), popular for helping lower cholesterol. Almonds are good source of calcium. Brazil nuts are high in the antioxidant selenium, linked to helping prevent some

cancers. Chestnuts have the least calories and fat, while macadamia nuts have the most. Dry-roasted nuts have the same fat and calories as oil roasted. Nut butters have the same nutritional advantages as nuts. Peanuts are similar to other nuts nutritionally, but are part of the legume family, which includes dried beans and peas. Fortunately the high fat content of nuts makes them very filling, helping curb hunger for long periods of time. An ounce or two a day of nuts or nut butters is all you need for valuable health benefits.

Health Canada recommends we enjoy at least two plant based, vegetarian meals per week; hopefully nuts will find a place in your home.

2nd of January 2006

Messing Up with USB Sticks

Little problems get magnified when due care is not given.

I sorted it out eventually and using it to copy my next book.

Below is a series event that followed due to OEM guys of the USB having a script to protect manufacturing problems and put the blame on the customer who purchased it.

I have figured it out and somehow erase the script.

I have written a script myself on a 16 GiB USB which Even I cannot erase and it is Read Only now.

If one wants to save warranty period do not fiddle.

I do it for fun and to kill Coronavirus botedom.

Yes I messed up with 32 GiB USB 3 for two days.
I wanted to make a bootable Linux USB.
I tried with BSD but it won't without bootable DVD. It cannot make a ZFS file.

I tried Debian but it could not make a swop partition.

Then I could not erase its contents.
I could not read or write files on it.

All Linux distributions I tried, stated it had input output error.

Of this happens to a SD card mounted on a USB mount, that is the end of the SD card.

I have lost at least two SD cards trying to mount a Linux distribution.

This is probably due to manufactures having installed some identification data for future use (covet the warranty period).

Fed up, I decided to install Debian 10 on the spare disk of the PC.

It went all right but I messed up with the GRUB boot record.

I installed Emmaantus (Debian 11) first but it could not dual boot with Debian.

On the second attempt I got Debian install the boot record on the second hard drive.

The first hard disk is SSD and they do not support MBR booting. The SSD support only one operating system.

So if have rotating old disks protect them with due care.

Finally I stuck the USB stick in with Emmabantus running Gparted and erased the content of the USB and formatted with FAT 32 (I tried NTFS and failed).

The USB stick even though it is 3, still stuck with   FAT 32 and cannot think of booting with ZFS, UFS and Linux Swop.

I bought three 32 GiB USBs and I do not know what to do with the other two.

My Laptop after installing Endless OS won't let me boot a USB mounted Linux.

It takes USB for data only.

Endless OS is good but bit on the slow side.

All these hassel is me wanting AbiWord.

Now I have AbiWord in both PC and Laptop.

After all, I have Libre Office 7 Emmabantus and Libre Office 6 on Debian.

I am waiting for Debian 11 and Ubuntu 21-10.

Both may not be ready by December due to Coronavirus slowdown and I may have to wait till July next year for Steam Deck and Dock (Drop and Dump) Console.

I decided to erase my PCs.

My 5 S Principle of Paradox

1. Uncertainty and Doubt

2. Speculation Up, Down or Stable stick market principles

3. Panic Mode with Coronavirus and Job losses

4. Buying and Selling to make a fast buck

5. Eventual Collapse

The Coronavirus has brought the reality in life and science or economics could not foresee or predict.

Stock market principles are not scientific.

I am not defending science and there is a recent trend where scientists duplicate studies and manipulate data sets to point to a wrong direction of study flow.

Many scientists can be dishonest by nature and set their mental biases on the greater public who are gullible by nature.

6. Then after a long pause incomplete Recovery sets in.

In Sigalovada Sutta 25% for one's use, 50% for business and 25% for saving or future use.

In modern times it goes as 50,30 and 20.
50 for business, 30 for personal use and 20 for future use.

In reality of life today 75% for use and 25% for settling the loans and banking rates are low that one cannot make a living on savings.
The pension scheme is the only security even though the amount is small and going down rapidly due to Rupee depreciation.

All Carriers Leach You to Nanoseconds

I have so many SIM cards and only three Voice Mails.

I have forgotten their numbers except 5 of them I have used on regular basis.

1. Oldest one of a Combo of Voice and Data has my oldest email from Yahoo.

Thank You Yahoo and I learned about Internet because of you and the email is working perfectly.

I have forgotten the password but Yahoo let me sign in with a coded number to the cellphone.

Yahoo is a top class email provider.

That is very cool on travel abroad.

I started using Gmail much later but that again, starting with Kit Kat version on a Chinese made Tablet. However I could never add new games due to faulty keyboard (no virtual keyboards then).

I got fed of the carrier due to many reasons mainly due to the poor work ethics of workers.

2. I joined a new carrier which excels in customer care even though the service may not be powerful in mega bytes.

All five of them I remember (not by memory) and I did not upload enough data so one of them I could not locate in which cellphone.
Without data one cannot send a SMS and verify.

I now communicate mainly by SMS to save earth and money.
So after uploading Rs.500/= I fiddled two days and by sending only SMS messages and got it by its neck.

Uploading Rs.100/= is not enough for me.

Put that SIM in a cellphone rarely use and stick the other in the Mobile WiFi I bought a long time ago for using on the move.

It had over Rs.2500/= data.

I had been loading it thinking it is the one I used in the WiFi.

Now the point I want to convey here is even though they promise Mega Byte of speed they never touch above 100 Kb per second.

Only way to test is using Transmission torrent and I am trying to download 2.9 GiB Endless OS image and it is taking over one day or more than 24 hours.

This is where WiFi sucks compared to Wired Ethernet connection.

I disconnected the Ethernet to save my wife's data which used to finish in 3 days.

Me going WiFi is for not to have domestic conflicts due to carrier slowdown.

It is running now at 50 Kb and I will run it untill Laptop is fully charged.

I did not charge it since I was using the PC a lot last two days and since the plug had two USB port connected to thr cell phones it is advisable not to do so prevent overheating and fire in your bedroom.

I have two other WiFi gadgets from the same carrier and a Voice Mail that I rarely use.

3. The third carrier did not have the range to provide WiFi service to our home
I bought the Mobile WiFi from them and use the second cariier SIM in it.

I went there to buy a similar (cute one) and they were out of stock and said they are expecting a new stock soon.


4. Fourth carrier is the one I named yesterday with absolutely hopeless customer service and I waited for one hour to erase one data SIM out of use and blasted the woman receptionist in that process.
Since I was getting rid of their service I had no hesitation to be rude.

Naming it here give them advertisement.

It is said that any advertisement good or bad is good in business world.

The piece below is not relevent now since the carrier has clamped down the download speed to 50 Kb per sec.

In passing I could not run a live session of BSD while having USB and double density DVD.

Its image was 4.8 GiB and I could not write it on a 4.7 GiB DVD

After lot of searching I found 8.4 GiB DVD in Kandy city.

I have used Rs.5000/= overnight.

What I did in 8 hours.

Installed Transmission, Deluge and Translation package.

There were no packages to update.

Downloaded 4.5 GiB BSD Image into a 32 GiB USB 3.

Tested it but cannot have a live session without a DVD image.

I bought 3 DVD with capacity less than 4.7 GiB and BSD Image is 4.8 GiB and I need a high capacity DVD and not available on my city.

I did not have any spare DVD with high capacity.

It is safer to write the image (1GiB ) to a 4GiB USB 2 and run it live.

Deluge was very slow and I had to download Transmission and finish downloading the image.

My data upload finished with 4 MB short of the full image.

So I had a few hours of sleep and got up.

Removed a SIM from one of my unused cellphones and stuck it to a Mobile WiFi, which I bought a few years ago (the price is double now due to Rupee depreciating) and download the remaining 4 MiB of the image Data in few seconds.

I have used two WiFi connections and two SIM cards of two different carriers and used less than four hours and I was down with Rs.5000/=.

That's it.

They Leach you and it SUCKS.

If you are fully retired and live on hand to mouth existence throw away your smart phone.

Do not pay through your ARSE for the rentals.

SOLUTION.

1. Use only Prepaid services.

2. Do not go for monthly rental for a few calls a week.

3. Have one Voice SIM.

4. Have another DATA SIM which is cheap and use only SMS messages.

5. If your friend cannot use a cellphone (I have become an expert in one finger typing on a cellphone) for SMS messages delete him from your list of contacts.

6. I forgot to record that I downloaded the Telephone Utility which is faster than Facebook and one can create a Chat Group.

I believe it has added video function recently.

7. If you are are not a techie please do not use a smart cellphone with touch screen but use an old Nokia with big number pads.

Nokia is the originator of all cellphones.

8. Do not throw your old cellphone.
It is very useful.

I do not have one but then I used only the land phone.

Land phone is out of order currently, after I installed a new receiver to get rid of smell of our own saliva.

It harbours the Coronavirus.

All cellphones carry this virus especially if it a second hand one.

To mitigate Coronavirus we need to incinerate all cellphones made in China.

WHO has not realized or figured out  this danger or hazard yet.

Not only bats but cellphones too carry the virus.

9. The cellphones are made for ladies for gossip rounds and not for intellectual men (but only for dumb guys) for creative work.

10. Do not let the cellphone takes your freedom away.

By the way, I gave a call to the guy I donated my cellphone.

This guy does not know how to use it and has no email.

11. If you do not have a Google Email, one cannot use this little computer for productivity.

Google is updating at a rapid speed and if you do not have the Android version 11, you may not be able to use your phone by 2025.

BEWARE industry is moving very fast and they are worried about only 5G for sucking money out of you for a Film you missed as a kid in a Cinema but NOW you have to pay (not the 60 cents we paid for a gallery seat) through your ARSE.

Life is to enjoy at a slow pace but not to sit in front of a Idiot Box.

Torrent Download Transmission or Deluge

I have always used Transmission as a client and never tested any other clients including K-torrent,

Transmission is absolutely fast and one can have several torrent files simultaneously downloading.

It has lot of peers and seeders.

I could not download it but had downloaded  Deluge instead in my Laptop running Endless OS.

I wanted to download BSD.
After about 1 GiB of USB image was downloaded I tried, 4.5 GiB of DVD image.
It Froze after about 300 MiB.
It was very slow.

I closed Deluge and activated Transmission  it will finish 4.5 GiB in about an hour.

Sri-Lanka Internet-Download Speed

 An Old Piece for Reflection

Sri-Lanka Internet-Download Speed

 

I must report to you my elation of fast download speed was very short lived. It lasted little over two hours.

 
Most likely server script blocking customer service was out of order for a while. 

 
It is currently ZERO for my download.

 
It took half an hour to download 580 kB file (1 MiB when installed) of Gparted.
 

It is a joke to talk about Data Super High Way .

I will keep what is below for posterity.

I decided to Install Debian due to many reasons.

It took nearly 4 hours to finish, for 1.8 GiB of resourceful DVD with live updates from a repository in USA.

Si-Lankan servers are very poor and Singapore is much worse (there is no reliable Linux community base there).

Then, our Telecom has a habit of slowing the speed to 5 KB/sec, once one has downloaded 20 GiB, (an arbitrary limit) within a month.

I pay a huge bill sometimes more than for electricity.

I have cut down my downloads due to slow speed and particularly to cut down on my electricity bill.

Having said that I was downloading Linux images for upgrading and on the 29^th the speed was very very slow, I could not even download the tiny torrent link file of SkoleLinux, a Debian Derivative (dedicated for school work).

I thought this was due to me exceeding the 20 GiB.

I have to wait for the next month to get my usual download speed.

I had to stop downloading Emmabuntus, a French derivative specially dedicated to schools in Africa.

Just little while ago, I activated the torrent to see that it is running at over 100 KB/sec.

I had a thought for a while.

A miracle?

Couldn't be?

But my gut feeling is that the ruling party is using its final thrust with the Internet propaganda and we have got a little bonus till January 8^th.

I hope Telecoms take a giant leap (in other countries including Singapore download speed is in Giga bites and Terra bites), come next year and speed up our Super Slow Internet Highway.

I do not think it does cost as much as, the down to earth, building a Speedy Motor Highway.

If they use tiny fraction of the money that were wasted for motor ways, it can make a big change in the IT industry.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Good Bye, to my Old Flame PCLinux-KDE

Good Bye, to my Old Flame PCLinux-KDE

Please bear with me for the unkind words.

PCLinux was my old flame.

I entered into Linux Live with a CD, I found in a stall selling pirated copies of multimedia including Microsoft Windows 98, with PCLinux xfce desktop.

I have been using Redhat, Mandriva, Fedora and with lot of pain Debian (that experience with Debian come good even now, namely expert or text based installation, with adequate warning) and Live CD was a new and welcome experience.

Why take the trouble to install.

 

Test it first.

Try Live, and then use it if it suits and agrees with your taste.

That is what I do NOW, since I need to test my old hardware, which are working well except the excessive consumption of electricity (I have discarded all 13 of them in one go).

I have dismantled 7 of the 13 old computers and two computers irreparably damaged due to Power Outage (which is common in Sri-Lanka and UPS batteries do not last long and are of poor quality).

Now I use only three computers, one for my wife (32 bits) and two for me (one 32 bits and one 64 bits rarely used).

 

I am bit like Textstar of PCLinux, who took a long hard look at 64 bit before retiring from active work.

? Why Change?

I hate KDE (there is KaOS a lighter version which I have not tried regularly to give you any recommendation) due its bulk and excessive resource hunger when in use.

That is why I use Peppermint, the best currently available light weight, Ubuntu derivative, cloud enhanced, and a Google based distribution.

As I said I have already gone back to the versatile Debian Linux and I am currently working on it with a SkolLinux theme behind my LibreOffice 3 application (it is currently on 4.3.3).

Debian is stable (there is also testing unstable version) and won't change to new versions by default (Texstar Wisdom) and use stable applications and probably have removed all utilities with fringe benefits by conviction.

Now I  come to PCLINUX without Texstar Wisdom.

It loads all the latest WiFi blue tooth, USB SATA ultra ports without testing the current but MY OLD hardware (deamons).

It is coming from America and like an average American thinks that all global citizens have;

1. Everybody has an email.
   
   
2. Everybody has a private jet.
   
   
3. Every body has a private holiday villa (Americans never use their holiday wisely, always it becomes a working holiday).
   
   
4. No wonder they are the sickest and global leaders of proprietary drugs use (in addition to hashish, OTC) them for mundane medical issues, like cholesterol.
   
   
5. The average income of a citizen is 5 million dollars a year.
   
   
   Let me explain, the Sri-Lankan context.
   
   
   a. Old guy above 55 (regularly go to temple to browse the Internet FREE, often to browse porn on Nena Sala) now well into retirement never wants to pay for any service. 
   
   
   His pension is not enough for 10 days.
   
   
   b. Does not have an email but uses his son's email. 
   
   
   c. Never returns a call from his mobile and often at 10 am in the morning it is switched off.
   
   
   d. Mobile is exclusively for Private and Selfish (survival instinct) Work.
   
   
   e. Never send a greeting card to a friend to say he or she already exists on this planet.
    
   Only browse and never answer or say OK or return kind regards or Cheers (he/she is unhappy and wants others to be the same).

f. His existence is for a better life NEXT birth but judiciously postpone his retirement (in other words become veritable pest like our politicians) from this planet gracefully.

Never want to bite the dust except his/her enemies.

Thee are many others issues like, over 40% children are under nourished and leave school at about (too competitive for an average child) 13 to 14 years.

They are easy prey to drug lords (who are Ministers of the ruling class) and become three wheeler drivers peddling drugs, often to young students in the universities.

I think with election campaign in full swing and floods in many parts of the country, few lines on, those issues are relevant.

1. Coming back to PCLiux KDE, only 10% in this country uses Internet.


2. Most of the MPs have a laptop but does not know how to use it but sell it on the black market.
 

3. We use pirated copies of operating system even in the universities.

4. Only 32 (thirty two) in the entire country of 24 million, uses Linux as a regular desktop according to Distrowatch Counter Statistics for the last five years (of achieving the miracle IT Status).


5. Many use old computers discarded from USA/UK/Canada, poorly refurbished.


6. ALL the software copies are pirated or used by foreign residents (duplicate the foreign users identity, authentication here).


7. They want the cheapest but the most modern utilities (coming from the background of FREE TEXTBOOKS) without any cost. 
 
They do not respect copyright law or use Open Software as an alternative.


8. They pawn parents' gold and jewellery for a smart phone or a second hand laptop.


9. Most of the visitors to my Linux 100 are foreigners including, USA, Russia and Ukraine. 


Very few Sri-Lankans visit my site but they are for my political satire (not Linux).
 
I have removed the political stuff. 
 

Often editors of the national papers who run short of ideas for editorials.


10. Editors of the national papers are stooges of the ruling elite and write only items that pleases the rulers, never for Yatath Vasiya (the subjects).


11. On that scenario PCLinux has failed me.


My RAM is 1 GiB and many has less RAM on a refurbished computer (mine too but well maintained due to use of Linux) often discarded from USA (just like in some African countries).


My Hardware is old.
 
PCLinux KDE;


It boots up very slowly.


It freezes without any warning (both mouse and keyboard).


It looks for non-existent  WiFi.


It looks for non-existent  Sata USB (I connect SATA it only when I need).


It does not configure the Ethernet and Internet is disabled.


So I will continue not use it with my previous experience of burning irreplaceable graphic cards.


It has a pleasing theme with a non functional desktop probably due to excessive use of RAM and resources.


Worse of all, after one our of patient waiting to FREE the RAM, I could not restart. 


For my luck, while waiting for it to recover and release the RAM, I picked my mail to see Linux Magazine, February issue had arrived.


Hang PCLinux, I have to read it before even I have my regular cup of coffee.


It is my current flame, anyway!


Lot of nice articles and an issue I had been pondering while (Flash of ADOBE in its final lap with HTML 5 in USE) installing Debian, Flash or gnash?


While, I was reading the Magazine and sipping the coffee, electricity went off and my agony of restarting it off from the PCLinux KDE was solved by our exorbitant BUT poor Electricity Board.


I sometime think it is a better alternative to wait for the electricity to FAIL, than to PRESS the off button of my OLD computer.


Doing that will effect the BIOS, Graphic Card and sometimes the RAM with irreparable damage.


So Good Bye to my Old Flame (no flame wars intended) PCLinux but a Happy New, (2015) Year, all the same.


I must tell you, I won't download and test or use LXDE or KDE mini (there is hardly any utilities to use in them).