I purchased Indosat IM2 which is an unlimited mobile broadband connection a few days ago. It was a 50-50 choice between this and Telkom Speedy. In the end I chose it as the marketing people at Telkom didn’t call me. Congratulation you guys lost a potential customer

Anyway, the Indosat technical support at Sarinah wasn’t able to configure the connection on Ubuntu. I managed to configure the connection the next day after searching around the web and forum. Thus, I’d like to create a simple guide that I hope will be beneficial to others.

The easiest way is to use wvdial which is an utility that helps to make a modem-based Internet connection. I used my mobile phone as the modem as I thought it doesn’t make sense to spend more than 1 million rupiah on a modem when we can acquire a 3G mobile phone for about the same price.

Wvdial depends on a configuration file, wvdial.conf, which is located on the /etc directory. The file is empty initially and thus, the first thing we have to do is fill it in. The easiest way to configure it is to run

sudo wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

from the terminal with the modem connected to the computer. This will detect the modem and fill-in the configuration file with various default settings. Then we need to fill-in the specific details regarding the connection we’re using such as the phone no, the user name and the password.

Here is my configuration file

[Dialer Defaults]
Auto DNS = true
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Init3 = AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”indosatm2″
Modem Type = USB Modem
Baud = 460800
New PPPD = yes
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0
ISDN = 0
Phone = *99#
Password = your password
Username = your username

I added the followings to the default configuration file:

• Auto DNS – automatically obtain DNS.
• Init3 – contains the APN of Indosat IM2 which is indosatm2.
• Phone – the no to dial.
• Password and username – the password and username we obtained when we activated our im2 card.

That’s it then. When we want to connect to the Internet, open up a terminal and type sudo wvdial. Use control-c to terminate it.

Hope it helps.

Wow, it’s been more than a year since my last post. I intended to keep on writing after going back home to Indonesia. A combination of laziness and having no broadband connection has managed to prevent me from doing so (which is the bigger factor bty ). Anyway, now I have a mobile broadband connection and thus, I’m determined to continue on writing. Most my posts have been about a bunch of random stuffs happening in my life. I’d like to start writing about technology and programming. I am after all a computer science graduate.

So first thing, where have you been dude? Here, so much and so little things have happened. Got home just before or during ramadhan last year. After 5 years of living in the UK, I finally did fast again back home. It’s quite different as the fasting period is constant over here. The sun rises and sets about the same time everyday which differs a lot from a four seasons country like the UK. I celebrated eid at my home town in Bandung with my extended families something that didn’t happen for a long time.

I start looking for a job after eid as I originally intended. The biggest hurdle for me was passing the psychometric tests. They were rock hard unlike the tests in the UK which usually were limited to verbal and mathematical reasoning. In here, the tests take a day to complete and I don’t get most of them. WTF is the point in drawing things? Hello, I have long realised that I don’t get art. Thanks to all the psychologists that designed the tests

In the UK, the biggest hurdle was passing the initial application form and if we’re lucky the assessment center. The assessment center is the final and toughest test to be passed. In my opinion it is the fairer way to assess a candidate as he’s assessed on a variety of conditions. Anyway, assessment center is expensive and I realised that most companies here don’t have the resources to do that.

I was close to getting two jobs that I badly wanted; a job in banking as a management trainee and a job as an IT auditor. But, I failed at the final hurdle for both jobs; an assessment center and the final interview To be fair I didn’t even know how I pass the latter psychometric tests as I didn’t have a clue on most of the questions on accounting. They asked the Indonesian version of Generally Accepted Accounting Principle (GAAP). How the hell am I supposed to know that? One thing for sure, the assessment center was great. It was held at a five-star hotel for a start and the lunch buffet was superb.

Finally I get a job as a software engineer at a national courier company in February. Started the job in March and have been doing so ever since. I took the job because the company is looking to develop an Enterprise Resource System that will replace their current system. The project is hugely challenging and I believe I will learn a lot from it. I ended up with a purely technical job. After university, I planned two career paths: start with a purely technical job or start with a half technical and half business job. Both converged on the same path though as I don’t want to stay pure techie for a long time. Doing different things interest me. Let’s see how it ends up.

Upon starting the job, most of the analysis and design has been finished. Ended up with the human resource part of the system. It was interesting as I got to know the inside out of HR. The payroll sub-system was challenging as we wanted to make it really flexible. Over time I learnt the whole of the system and it’s fascinating how they interact with and complement each other.

It’s the end of the year and the analysis and the design part has now been completed. The fun part which is the implementation / development part will start from the beginning of next year. It will be a web-based system which will be implemented using Java as the programming language. The problem is, there are so many Java web frameworks out there and choosing the right one is tough. The only web framework that I had serious experienced with was Ruby on Rails. Ruby on Rails is a simple, elegant and yet powerful framework. It doesn’t get in the developers’ way and it gets job done.

Naturally, I began searching for the web framework that provides similar productivity gains as Ruby on Rails. In the end, I managed to shrunk the list to two frameworks: Stripes for action oriented framework and Wicket for component based framework. I really have soft spots for those two.

Stripes is a really clean and simple framework that gets the jobs done. I seriously doubt anyone will have any trouble in understanding Stripes. Too bad it’s not as widely supported as the other big boys. Hopefully it’ll change with the recent release of a book on Stripes.

Wicket is a component based framework like Java Server Faces and Tapestry. It’s a bit weird to get your head around at first, but once you get their model concept then the rest will come to pieces. Also, it’s very Java centric as all the logic is placed on the Java code with HTML ONLY responsible for presenting the view. It’s a departure from the norm where in other frameworks the view usually has some logic for presenting data. We might end up with a bit more code to write, but we’ll be more productive in the long run as all the logic is placed in one place. It will be a hell lot easier to debug the program and we’ll be able to fully utilise the power of our IDE for example in refactoring stuffs.

The thing that I like the most about Wicket is its Ajax support. We don’t have to write any Java script at all. Everything is done in Java. Ajax in Wicket is conceptually clean and simple.

In the end, it seems that the project will be done using Spring MVC because it’s the framework preferred by our partner which does half of the project by the way. I think Spring MVC is a decent framework but it’s way too bare. It doesn’t provide support for things we take for granted in modern web framework like Redirection After Post pattern and even Ajax. We’ll sit again some time to finalise the things we’ll use and hopefully, I can persuade them to change the web framework

It’s late and I have rant quite a lot. So I guess it will be it for now.

I’m having my last assessment centre tomorrow with the interview held next Wednesday. The interview is supposed to be held tomorrow as well, but the partner that’s supposed to interview me is away. Thus, I have to do it next Wednesday; such a drag as I have to return there again next week. On the other hand it might be a good thing as I have one less thing to worry about. Also, I’m fasting starting from today for the next 30 days or so as it is the month of Ramadan now. It will be interesting to see how it will affect me; be strong dude

I feel surprisingly calm and I hope I will stay that way throughout the assessment. I think I was a bit nervous on the other assessments that I’ve attended especially in the group exercise. Maybe it was down to my inexperience. But I didn’t really have this problem back in University when I did numerous group works. Guess familiarity was a factor back then as my team members were people that I had known (usually). Even if I didn’t know them, I had seen them in the class which provided some sort of familiarities. Fingers crossed, it will be okay tomorrow as long as I maintain my calmness.

The task that I worry the most is the presentation. It’s not that I’m bad presenter (I think I’m OK), but it’s more about gathering the information and deciding which to present. Also, usually I practise my presentation by going over it many times until I know it by heart. Time is limited in the assessment centre which makes it impossible to practise it over and over. I need to gather all my concentration and skills tomorrow.

Good luck tomorrow dude and hope it will go well

This is a kind of late entry. Was planning to write this article a long time ago after reading this article.

Recently, Microsoft tried to fast-track its Office OpenXML document format as an international standard alongside Open Document Format (ODF). From Microsoft’s perspective, the economic gain is there if its standard is accepted as an international one. Governments and organisations are weary that they have to bow to the software vendor if they keep storing documents in proprietary formats. Thus, they encourage documents to be stored in an international standard. However, there’s only one international standard at the moment i.e. ODF which Microsoft doesn’t support in its Office suite. ODF is natively supported by several programs including Open Office; a free, as in free lunch, office suite. Microsoft could lose a lot of money should the move happen.

The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has rejected Microsoft’s move, although Microsoft still has a chance for its document format to be accepted as a standard in the next round of voting. I think this will happen sometime next year. Personally as a user I support the ISO’s decision. I believe that there should be one international standard that every office suite should support for the following reasons:

• Freedom

Everyone should have the freedom to choose what product he uses. If there were two competing international standards which are not supported by every software then we will end up in a messy situation. Consider this scenario: Alice uses Open Office which stores document in ODF format and she sends a word document to Bob. But, Bob uses Microsoft office that only supports OpenXML format. Thus, Bob can’t read the document sent by Alice and vice versa. Wait a minute, am I missing something important here? Why can’t every software support all international standards? It’s possible, but why should they? At the moment, Open Office support Microsoft Office format (up to Office 2003), but Microsoft Office doesn’t support ODF. There’s no reason for Microsoft to support ODF because they’re the dominant player in office software and they want everyone to use THEIR product. If Microsoft Office supports ODF, then I bet there will be people migrating from Microsoft’s Office to the free Open Office.

I believe that everyone should have the freedom to choose the product that he wants. Having multiple products that supports ONE international standard will allow this.

• Choice

The other great thing about having one international standard is it promotes competition and ultimately it offers product choices to users. If there was only one standard, then every software vendor will compete to provide the best office product for the customers. Consider the case with mobile phones and GSM which is a 2G international mobile phone standard. Everyone can choose any GSM mobile phone that he likes be it a Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, etc. The thing is it will work; he can use the phone to make a call, send text, etc because the standard is supported by every phone manufacturer. We don’t have that luxury yet with office suite

I hope that Microsoft’s OpenXML format won’t be accepted as an international standard and Microsoft will support ODF in its product. If Microsoft believes that ODF lacks something, then it should work towards improving it instead of proposing an alternative standard. Then we will be able to use any office suite that suits our needs. Nothing wrong with a wishful thinking right

Crap it’s been a long time since my last post; a bit longer to my liking anyway Since then, I’ve removed Windows XP from my laptop and installed Ubuntu which is one of the many GNU / Linux distributions to replace XP.

I was dual-booting XP and Ubuntu for quite some time; since I started this blog if I’m not mistaken. However, my first encounter with Linux was at University where I had to use the tools available on Linux to do my coursework. Mandriva and openSuse Linux were the two distributions I used back then. At that time I thought Linux wasn’t ready yet for to be used as an everyday Operating System (OS), although from a technical point of view it was a great OS. One of the main reasons was the RPM hell I had to go through to install certain software

Linux has improved a lot in terms of usability in the last few years. One of the distributions that clearly shows this is Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a relatively new distribution that in just a few years has managed to become the most popular one as shown by the statistics at Distrowatch. The improved usability piqued my interest to once again used Linux and naturally I chose Ubuntu. I wanted to see how far Linux has improved on usability front and whether it’s good enough as my main everyday OS. XP has been my main OS for a long time and it’s done its job well. But it’s beginning to show its age and I’m not interested in running vista due to its ridiculously high hardware requirements.

At the beginning I evenly (just about) divided my times between using XP and Ubuntu. But then over time, I began to use Ubuntu more than XP. The only time I had to use XP was when I had to use the software that was only available on Windows. Ubuntu was good enough to be used as my main OS and I was close to ditching XP completely. But, the thought of not being able to use that one important software prevented me from doing so. This didn’t last however as I found out Windows Emulator (wine) which allows me to use that software from within Linux. Well, it doesn’t run as well as it does on XP. It looks ugly for a start, but it’s good enough and I don’t use that software regularly anyway. Sound strange eh, an important software that delayed my transition to Linux is one that I don’t use regularly

The transition to Linux (Ubuntu) took place afterwards. God I hate reinstalling OS which involves reinstalling all the software I need and backing up & restoring my data.

No OS is perfect and I’ve managed to compile my own list of advantages and disadvantages of using Ubuntu. The main three advantages are:

• The number of freely available software on Ubuntu is staggering (more than 10k). They’re by no means inferior to their commercial equivalents.
• The community support is great. I just need to post a question at the forum every time I have a problem that I can’t solve on my own. I usually get a reply within an hour. Plus there are many good websites out there that provide tutorials.
• Better security is a big important factor in my decision to move to Ubuntu. I don’t have to deal again with anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc which is great and saves me a lot of time.

The main 3 disadvantages are:

• Fonts in Linux are not as good as those in XP or MAC OS X. This makes reading a bit unpleasant as I spent a lot of time reading on-line.
• The other thing I’m not fond of is the inconsistent interface used by the software. Software that is not available in / targeted to Gnome (the default windows manager in Ubuntu) uses different interface than those that do. Here is an example of the difference between save dialong box in Firefox and Opera consecutively:

• A few hardware don’t work without a bit fiddling around. I can’t blame Linux for this though as the blame lies on the hardware vendor for refusing to provide the open source device drivers. The funny thing is people say that hardware support on Linux is not that great, but Vista has the same hardware support problem even when every hardware vendor is committed to support their product on Vista

I’ve been extremely happy with Ubuntu and I don’t plan to return back to XP or God forbids Vista. But, I will try the other variants of Linux and Unix derivatives / variants in general. I’m planning to install PC-BSD on my ageing desktop PC back home. Recently, I got an email from my sister asking me to teach her how to use Linux as it’s used at her university. Seems that I’m going to convert another XP user

Got the final book last Saturday i.e. the release day. But, I didn’t have to queue up like some people did though as I live in a small city. I went to the book store in the afternoon and picked up a copy; god I love living in a small city Finished reading the book on Sunday evening. I have to say it’s a great ending to the story.

Harry, Hermione & Ron go on to fulfill the task Dumbledore left them i.e. to find and destroy the horcruxes; items that hold a fragment of Voldermort’s soul. Voldermort can’t die unless every horcrux is destroyed. The journey is tough as they don’t have a plan and none has any idea where the horcruxes are. Dumbledore left them each an item on his will to aid them in their journey. Those items help them to discover the existence of the Deathly Hallow which consists of three magical items; a wand, a resurrection stone and a invisible cloak. Each of which is the best in its class. Harry now has to decide his priority; find horcruxes or the hallows first. Needless to say, they succeed in their journey. As to which items did Harry prioritise, you have to find it our your own

Harry Potter is highly successful due to its story which progresses nicely. In the earlier books the story was lighter and more about ‘wow magic exists’ as Harry himself was really young. It then becomes darker as Harry grows older and the story captures nicely the ‘insecurity’ of teenagers. Also, the plot becomes more complicated as Harry begins to understand more the situation he has to deal with.

A top notch set of characters sets Harry Potter apart from other series. Harry himself is a flawed hero. He’s far from an exemplary student and he’s gotten through so far due to luck, bravery (or recklessness) as well as the help of his friends. Out of all characters in Harry Potter, Severus Snape is my favourite. His love to Harry’s mother is so pure that he dedicates his life to protect the child of the only woman he loves. He might think of Harry as the child he might have had things worked out with Harry’s mom. His bravery is unquestionable; he has to play both Voldermort and Dumbledore side convincingly. In the process, he willingly take the accusations and blames other make towards him. In a nutshell, he is the definition of ‘gray’ character.

I reckon the most profound impact of the series is that it brings back joy to reading especially to the younger readers. Make no mistake Harry Potter books are not typical children books. The latest volume has 607 of solid pages without any picture in it. Unless I’m very wrong, most kids nowadays prefer to spend time on the Internet; social networking site, surfing web sites, chatting, etc. It’s fair to say that reading is not on top of their list. Harry Potter changes that and hopefully, there will be other books that will have similar impacts

For the most unimportant announcement of the week, I’ve started playing Dragon Quest 8: Journey of The Cursed King again Been playing for about an hour everyday for the last few days. I can’t give a thorough review of it at the moment and I don’t plan to, but I want to say a few things about the game.

Going to start with the most obvious thing, the graphic. It’s simply gorgeous; the characters, the enemies, the landscapes, etc. I’ve been playing games since I was a kid and thus, I can say the game arguably has the best graphics for RPG on PS 2. Seems like it pushes the console graphical power to the limit.

The game has a few tricks on its sleeve that make it more realistic in terms of character movements and physical appearance. The game takes into account the properties of the different terrains / landscapes the characters are in. For example I can see the remnants of the grass when the character runs on grass and similarly I can see the dust coming off when the character runs on dusty path. I can also see changes in the weapons & armor the characters carry when I equip them with new weapons / armors. It’s quite impressive considering other RPGs don’t show these changes. So what’s next? The ability to see changes in the clothes worn

I bet Chen, Jonessy & their army will be pleased to see the graphical changes in the game

As usual, nothing is perfect. There are a few thing that I hope were done differently:

• The game uses the church to save the game and the inn to rest / heal the characters. The inn does both in other RPGs. I know this is the tradition in DQ series, but I feel this should be let go. Sometimes we have to let go something no matter how fond we are of it.
• The menu could have been better especially when it comes to equipping equipment. Each character has his own personal belonging / storage in addition to the group storage. This is fine and in-line with other games. However, when I want to equip new stuffs I have to store the thing I want to equip in the character’s personal belonging. That means I have to transfer the item from the group storage to the character storage. This is too cumbersome as there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to equip the items straight from the group storage.

I can only say this much because I’ve only played for less than 10 hours so far. I just hope that some stuffs I find irritating will be fixed in the next installment of the series. The thing is the next game will be released on Nintendo DS. This is odd because RPG is an intensive game and the DS excels not in that type of games. The DS is amazingly suited to play fun, attractive & short-burst games like Mario Cart, Brain Training, etc. I guess they want to take advantage of the dual screen feature of the DS. But, I wonder how the graphic will look like. PSP would probably a better choice graphic wise if they want to port the series to portable platform, But there’s nothing unique in PSP I guess; no offence to you PSP guys

DQ 8 shows the evolution of games up until recently. In my opinion most games are the prettier, sexier version of the previous ones. If I go back from the days of Atari to PS 3 / XBOX 360, all I can see is games that are better looking than the previous generation with nothing truly new being offered. Then the Wii came along and offers something truly unique with its motion sensing controller. It’s aimed for broader audience including those that were alienated to games previously. I’m really glad that Wii came along because it opens up a whole new playing field. No doubt the others will in one way or another offer unique innovations of their own. That can only be good for all of us

It’s midnight of Saturday 21 July; the release date of the latest Harry Potter book. Kudos to you guys that have been queuing up for the book at this moment. I am just too lazy to do that kind of thing Will get it in the morning / afternoon depending on the weather; a very wet summer over here much to my liking.

It will be a weekend of reading for me and for lots of Harry Potter fans

Our life pretty much follow the same pattern. We go through childhood with lots of scars & memories (I know I did), school times including the university and then get a job, settle in & get married and someday we die. Well the order will slightly vary for different people.

There is one thing that we all will experience i.e. finding our loved one, the person that we will spend the rest of our life with (hopefully) Finding that person is quite tricky as he / she is the source of joy and despair. Some people might go out with lots of them before hitting it off with the right one and some only need a few attempts. Anyway all hell can break loose in the process.

Once I helped my mate to get him out of the messy situation he was in; a situation Victor Navorsky said as “too crowded”. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy by any means. We are after all an emotional being; we don’t always follow what our head says. Getting our head and heart to agree is one of the arts we have to master in life I read my mate’s blog recently (won’t tell which one it’s a secret ) where he wrote about a time when he fell for the wrong woman. I always believe that not to get involved with someone that is taken is the right thing to do. There are still many fishes in the sea than the one that is already taken Having said that, there are many people that do get involved. I believe it is wrong, but I do wonder how wrong it is. Is this a fight worth fighting at all costs? I don’t know the answer, but I hope I won’t have to do it as like I said it’s wrong.

Just my two cents anyway …

Went to work earlier and surprise, surprise there were lots of leftover food yet again. Apparently there was a graduation ceremony today and the food was provided for those students; last chance to meet up & wrap up arguably the most interesting bit of our life. Too bad not many came judging by the amount of food left. So, I diligently did my duty to reduce the amount of food thrown away I don’t like to waste food because I feel bad about it considering there are still many people that can’t afford to have meal on their plates everyday. The sight of people begging on the roads back home also leaves a bitter taste on my mouth. Sometimes, we just take things for granted; as they say we’re only human. Moreover, I grew up listening to my parents’ stories about how tough life was when they were young as they lived during the turbulent period in our country’s history. Thus, food wasting is a big NO NO.

Speaking about graduation, mine sucked big time. It was boiling in that room & more importantly, the whole occasion was really boring. I was looking forward to that day; the day where I was going to get a stupid piece of paper as a proof that I was clever enough to pass the university hurdle. The only great thing about that day was hearing Sharpy speaking in Welsh – didn’t see that coming

During the last few nights before the last exam, I had mixed feelings. It’s like I couldn’t believe it’s going to end pretty soon. It seemed like yesterday (so cliché) and yet, it had been four years. Four challenging years where I spent countless nights working instead of sleeping. My junior high school times was great; I was old enough to do something, but still too young to do many things. First crush, spending crazy amount of times playing the arcades & video games, football, etc, met lots of friends whom I’m still in touch with (some of them), etc. But, university times was something different. It wasn’t as fun as my junior high school times, but I can’t say it’s inferior to it. I got a part-time job for the first time in my life (don’t count the time when me & my cousins ran the family’s inn & took most of the money when everyone was away ), bought stuffs using my hard earned money, intellectually challenged, etc.

Nothing lasts forever and I am on the next phase of my life which coincidentally why I started writing in this blog. Hope it will be a meaningful one

Haven’t written something in almost a week now. Not so busy & as you guess nothing much have happened. Waiting for next week when the last Harry Potter book is out; I’ve the feeling that both Harry and Voldermort will die. Still facing the day on a daily basis. For some reason, I just don’t plan my days. I guess this is because I think facing the unknown is fun.

Anyway, I’m going to apply for a job at a company. As usual, have to fill in the application form. I feel that I’ve lost my application form (exaggerating the truth) skills because it’s been quite some time since I filled in one I’m still waiting for my mate to check my form; more eye balls the better. Hope I can submit it by end of today or tomorrow at the latest.

On Thursday, I went to work at the University on an empty-ish stomach. Saw lots of food when I got there; guess there was an open day at that time. The food was still there after I finished working. I then just gorged myself on those leftover food – cakes & snacks; ate most of the cakes (that brown one was really good) & lots of garlic bread with cheese on top. It reminded of the times at uni; back then the secretary would come to the lab where the geeks were working to tell us that there were leftover food from the open day. We, the pack of hungry geeks, would finish without a trace any food left. I was the cake master at that time as I ate all the cakes & sweets Speaking of uni, I got a new MSN emoticon recently from my mate. It’s an icon of the smiley guy having a cup of coffee / tea whilst staring at the computer screen. It really reminds me of the days; those long nights spent perfecting the system. It was tough and yet, it was really enjoyable. Really miss those days

I’ve seen some movies this weeks including Four Weddings and A Funeral and Everyone Says I Love You. I’ve finally seen the former after hearing about it in a long time. It’s probably British romantic comedy at its best; certainly it’s better than any of Hugh Grant’s movies I’ve seen to date. Well, About a Boy might be an exception. The latter is a Woody Allen’s movie; it’s full of witty dialog typical of Allen & the last scene where Allen & Hawn dance by the river side is amazing; watch it & you’ll know what I’m talking about I wonder how he did that scene.

Anyway, this is it for now. So long and take care.

ps: I haven’t played Dragon Quest 8