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I’m blogging here today just to tell everyone that I’m still alive, despite the fact that my last post was well over a month ago.
So, what has been keeping me busy from updating this blog? For one, I’m into developing this web based college management system, http://mohdshakir.hopto.org/administration_dev.php/config, which is a live development system, hosted in my PC at home.
The system indeed is in it’s infancy, as I’m still in the process of figuring out what features to have, and to design the database schema accordingly. With that, I would really appreciate if anyone (especially those from academia) can actually give me inputs, say if they have a feature suggestion to the system, of simply to suggest adding some new fields to the existing tables.
I’m currently developing this for fun, as I just want to practice my long abandoned n00b level programming skill, so that it won’t just die. Accessing the system can sometimes be fast, and sometimes slow, as it might be struggling for bandwidth with all the torrents I currently download using my Streamyx broadband at home 
Here’s a screenshot of the current system (as of this blog is posted la);
I can say it’s somewhat functional already, but is far from perfect. One can basicly see how would the finished system be by looking at what the current system is.
I’ve been a KDE user since I started using Mandrake Linux 8.0, which if I remember correctly by that time bundles KDE 2. It was until recently that when Kubuntu 8.10 includes KDE 4 by default rather than KDE 3, I switched to GNOME.
KDE 4 at that time for me was an unfinished product where it’s not ready for prime time. The desktop effects were slow, many features of KDE 3 programs were still not ported, bluetooth was not working, and most important of all I can’t run it in dual screen.
This has changed recently when KDE team released KDE 4.2. There were so many bugfixes and improvements that I think it’s time for me to go back to KDE.
I’ve published an article on how to install KDE 4.2 in Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) at Techrecipes.
LPI (Linux Professional Institute) is revising it’s current LPIC-1 and LPIC-2 certification programs and the updated certification program is set to be launched in April 1, 2009.
What this means to me is that if I am to take any of the exams, I better do it before the updated certification program take place, or wait at least for another year. This is because it’s gonna take quite a while before books that are based on the new objectives to be made available on the shelves. This is true especially for the LPIC-2 certification, which even for the current certification program, there’s only one book (to the best of my knowledge) that covers it which is O’Reily’s LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition.
I can just hope Ditesh to organize a new el-cheapo LPI exams as it’s gonna cost RM574 per paper for the exam, and with two papers to pass per certification, it’s gonna hurt my budget big time.
/* I’ve started studying for the LPIC-2 exams (I’m already LPIC-1 certified, but is due to expire later this year), and it would be nice to know if anyone else is to join me taking the exams */
Not the best sunset photos around, shot during my November 2006 visit to Kota Kinabalu using my Sony DSC H5 prosumer digital camera.
| Photo Title |
 shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | DSC-H5 (SONY) | Shutter: | 1/160 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/4.0 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 80 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 21.1 mm |
| Photo Title | Tree |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | DSC-H5 (SONY) | Shutter: | 1/60 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/3.5 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 80 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 23.3 mm |
| Photo Title | Generation |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | DSC-H5 (SONY) | Shutter: | 1/400 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/4.0 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 80 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 16.5 mm |
Pantai Sabak is a once famous fishing village in Malaysia’s tourism map. It is located 13 kilometres from Kota Bharu, the state’s capital of Kelantan. Among other attraction to the village is the fact that it was a historical battleground between the Japanese and British forces during the World War 2.
After series of serious coastal erosion which happens every year during the monsoon season which I remember claiming over 50 metres of the seashore at it’s worst, the government decided to place wave breakers to protect the village.
The following shots were from my collection circa 2003-2005, where my family actually lives a bit less than 50 metres from the shore now..
| Photo Title | Survivors |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/400 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/3.5 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 100 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 7.7 mm |
| Photo Title | Ruins |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/400 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/4.5 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 100 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 10.3 mm |
| Photo Title | Remains |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/125 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/3.2 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 100 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 11.1 mm |
| Photo Title | Hstories |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/160 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/2.8 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 100 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 5.9 mm |
| Photo Title | Dusk |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/650 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/6.3 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 100 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 5.9 mm |
| Photo Title | Fishing |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/800 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/3.2 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 100 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 14.1 mm |
| Photo Title | Shells |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/400 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/3.2 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 100 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 9.7 mm |
| Photo Title | Protecting |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/400 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/8.0 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 100 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 5.9 mm |
| Photo Title | Morning |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | DSC-H5 (SONY) | Shutter: | 1/1000 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/4.0 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 125 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 6 mm |
| Photo Title | Fishing 2 |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | DSC-H5 (SONY) | Shutter: | 1/1000 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/5.6 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 125 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 16.5 mm |
Description: During Trans Gopeng-Cameron Expedition
Date: October 2004
| Photo Title | Butterfly |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/160 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/3.2 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 100 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 9.7 mm |
| Photo Title | In The Dark |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/40 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/3.2 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 100 | ||
| Flash: | Flash fired, auto mode. | Focal Length: | 9.7 mm |
| Photo Title | View of Gunung Batu Putih |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/400 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/5.6 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 64 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 5.9 mm |
I’ll be posting more of my photo collection in this blog, starting with the old ones; the time when my gear was point-and-shoot cameras and photography to me really was to point, and shoot..
As a start, the following was taken at Sungai Gabai waterfall, Hulu Langat. Selangor, circa 2003
| Photo Title | The Frog Prince |
|
shakir digital photography |
| Camera: | C730UZ (OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD) | Shutter: | 1/160 s | ||
| Create Date: | n.a. | Aperture: | f/4.0 | ||
| Lens: | no lens info | ISO: | 400 | ||
| Flash: | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode. | Focal Length: | 5.9 mm |
In a not so recent past, I’ve got myself a Nikon D90. It’s my first dSLR and as of now I’m very pleased with what it can do. The only problem now is that I’m probably still not good at making it do what it do best, taking great photos.
For that I’ve also got myself a Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8, a great lens from Nikon. I hope this will bring me a step closer to taking great shots.
Gadgets aside, I also tried to understand the bits of what the tutorials at Cambridgeincolour was trying to tell, and the following is the first few shots that I’ve had with the camera:
* Nikon D90 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 photos are taken from Nikon USA website
** Other than resizing, my "sample" photos are un-doctored in any way.
And I’m downloading it now..
Though I’m not a Fedora fan (I’ve had bad experiences with rpm), but I just want to try it out under Virtualbox to see how much has it changed since the last time I tried it. I never was a Fedora user though, and the last time I used Redhat was it’s 7.3 release.
This has put my 4Mbps Streamyx to the test, and man I was surprised!
** I’m downloading it from a Japan’s mirror
4Mbps broadband in Malaysia, is it for real?
I know the title is gonna be a joke in a couple of years, but I finally got my TMNut Streamyx 4Mbps broadband to my home today, after applying for it 7 months ago!. Previously I was solely relying on my unreliable Celcom 3G for broadband at home, and while on the road.
I’m not sure if this 4Mbps package is for real, and so I test my broadband speed using speedtest.net, and here’s the result;
Pretty impressive I would say, but when I start downloading from international servers, my download speed rarely exceed 100KBps, which translates to speed of less than 1Mbps.
I guess I’ll just wait for the High Speed Broadband project to become a reality as being recently announced by the government, and see if things do get better.
