Bankim Bhavsar

Readings in Distributed Systems

2011-12-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

This is a meta-list of readings in Distributed Systems. I'll update them as I come across more papers or lists.

Nicely categorized list by Marton Trencseni of Scalien
http://bytepawn.com/readings-in-distributed-systems/

Quora answer by Alex Feinberg of LinkedIn includes great list of seminal papers in Distributed Systems:
http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-seminal-papers-in-distributed-systems-Why

Another good list by Swami Sivasubramanian of Amazon
http://scalingsystems.com/2011/09/07/reading-list-for-distributed-systems/

List of advanced CS courses (not limited to Distributed Systems)
http://the-paper-trail.org/blog/?page_id=152

HD Audio in VMware Fusion 4 and VMware Workstation 8

2011-09-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

I was part of Interactive/Virtual devices team at VMware and it was a great learning experience. Last month Aug 2011, I joined a startup called AeroFS and enjoying learning and solving interesting problems in the space of Distributed Systems.

In my last 18 months at VMware, I worked on designing and implementing virtual HD Audio device and now since releases of VMware Fusion 4 and VMware Workstation 8 have been made public I can talk about it :)

In addition to Windows Vista and above guests, virtual HD Audio device should work out-of-box for Mac OS Lion 10.7 guests on Fusion 4.0 and hence Fusion users will be able to get sound from their Mac OS guests.

Virtual HD Audio supports upto 7.1 surround sound, 192kHz sampling frequency, 32-bit samples.

I just downloaded the Fusion 4.0.1 GA and was eager to checkout how well the feature works with Windows 7 guest. Here is a screenshot...

From Blogger Pictures

We've had trouble getting good sound quality with surround sound on Linux hosts with VMware Workstation 8 with default settings.

If you want good quality surround sound support on Linux hosts with Workstation then I'd recommend using channel-mapped device string as follows: (We couldn't implement this programmatically because of stability issues with alsa-lib that enumerates devices on Linux).

1) Suspend/Power off the VM.
2) Run `aplay -L` on your Linux host terminal
3) If you are playing 5.1 surround sound from the guest then copy surround51:CARD=vendor-name,DEV=num
For e.g. `surround51:CARD=Live,DEV=0`
4) Open .vmx config file of the VM in a text editor and edit sound.fileName field
For e.g. sound.fileName="surround51:CARD=Live,DEV=0"
sound.autodetect = "FALSE" should be edited too.

5) Resume/Power on the VM

Similarly if you face quality issues with regular stereo sound on Linux host with Workstation 8.0 then you can try the above mentioned suggestion with device string starting with "front".

UseTheSource

2010-07-03T09:05:00.000-07:00

Recently I've started following a bookmarking website called UseTheSource that mentions beautiful and interesting code samples.

Check it out...

http://news.usethesource.com/news

Update: Looks like usethesource.com is dead. Anyways you can always follow Hacker News where I found out about usethesource.com

ALSA sound support for VMware Workstation 7.0 and VMware Player 3.0

2009-10-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

I work in the Interactive Devices team at VMware, focusing on the virtualization of sound device. The company will be releasing VMware Workstation 7.0 tomorrow that includes the long overdue ALSA sound support for Linux host operating systems.

The Open Sound System (OSS) API used in earlier versions of workstation didn't support software mixing of sound streams and therefore the infamous "Sound will be disconnected. /dev/dsp is busy" message when powering on a VM. With ALSA support, the VMs and sound applications on host operating system can access the sound card simultaneously.

The technical details for configuring sound device in VMware Workstation 7 are documented here .

I encountered some inconsistencies while enumerating sound devices using ALSA. So if your system has multiple sound cards and your sound card isn't listed in the VM Settings UI then follow the instructions under "Using an ALSA Sound Device that Does Not Appear in Virtual Machine Settings".

Workstation for Linux also includes the ability to change the sound API used on-the-fly. For instance, if your physical machine has multiple sound cards, where one sound card is dedicated for VoIP and other for music applications, then you can direct sound output to desired device/interface by navigating in the UI to VM --> Settings --> Sound Card --> Specify host sound card --> Save.

In order to maintain backward compatibility if for any reason ALSA cannot be used then automatic fallback to OSS is provided.

For comments/feedback I can be reached at bbhavsar at vmware dot com

Coldplay

2009-07-13T00:06:00.001-07:00

I've been hooked to Coldplay lately. They are performing live tomorrow in Mountain View but sadly I won't be able to attend it. As always late in booking tickets for such events...
Anyways "In my place" and "Clocks" from the previous album "Rush of Blood to the Head" are my favorite Coldplay songs.
Recently I stumbled upon music video of "Warning Sign" and really liked it. Apparently this one is made by a student who won award for best music video :)

China Trip experience

2008-12-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

Currently I'm at the Shanghai airport heading to Bombay thinking what to do. So I thought lets write about my experience at China :)

I was in complete awe when I went from the Shanghai airport to my sister's home. Very good multiple lane roads with directions in English and Mandarin. Skyscrapers and huge apartment buildings and bridges with neon lights everywhere.
I spent in all 3 days in Shanghai. It was very easy to get around as my sister took me to all places with a chauffeur driven car :) Covered places including the Yuyan garden, Jade Buddha Temple, Longhua Pagoda etc. Most impressive was the recently inaugurated Shanghai World Financial Center. It has a
shape of a bottle opener. I think currently its *one of the tallest towers* in the World (yes taller than Petronas in Malaysia). Visitors can go all the way to the top level where flooring is made of glass tiles! So you can actually see the bottom and I can tell you it was very scary to step on it :)

Next I went to Beijing for 2 days by myself. On the first day I visited the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square and strolled around in the neighbouring areas. My life was made easy by the Lonely Planet Beijing City Guide that I was carrying with myself from the US. I could see the influence of Olympics as I could still see signs of Beijing 2008 at most places. Also Olympics contributed towards many infrastructure developments in the city. They added around 5 additional subway lines from the earlier 2! It was very easy to get around using subway. I could see lot of buses plying but it would be hard to figure which bus to take, where to get off etc. Taxis are relatively inexpensive starting from 11 Yuan.(1 USD == 7 Yuan approx)

I stayed at an international youth hostel which was pretty cheap for around 60 Yuan for 1 night. I met groups of backpackers there. It was just amazing to hear about the plans they had. Some heading to Africa from Beijing, some going to Moscow taking the Trans-Siberian train which will take them 15 days!

Next day early morning we headed to visit the Great Wall. We took the 10k trek on the Wall starting from Jingshanling which is 120 km from Beijing. Trek was hard, really hard as the Wall has steep inclines. Moreover it was made difficult by the first snowfall of the winters on that day. But the experience was just breathtaking!

About the food, I could see that Chinese are big on pork. Inspite of being non-vegetarian it wasn't easy to find food with just chicken/sea-food. Also even at the upscale restaurants the waiters won't understand English much, so its hard to customize your dish like replace pork with chicken, no mushroom etc. I relied on the McDonalds/KFC for my meals. If you are a vegetarian visiting, hmmm.... I noticed that the decibel levels at the restaurants are relatively high. Initially I thought there is some fight going on in the restaurant but that was the case at most places.

I would highly recommend visiting China, Shanghai in particular just to have a look at the pace at which the city/country has progressed. We keep reading about articles suggesting the shift of power from West to the countries in Asia specifically to China and I won't be surprised that in next 25 years China emerges as the new superpower. Also the talk about transforming Mumbai to Shanghai, I would be glad if that does happen :)

Golden Rules of Career Success

2008-09-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

I'd come across Golden Rules of Career Success by Richard Moron during Infy days.
I had taken a printout and put up at my desk in Infosys. I did the same during my 1st week at VMware as well :)
With the recent financial turmoil happening in Wall Street those rules seem to make much more sense.

Esp "Job security does not exist. Always have an answer to the question, “What would I do if I lost my job tomorrow?""

Interactive VMW Wikichart

2008-07-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

I know that the VMW stock isn't doing great these days but I thought this was cool....

Sparks: Speech by Chetan Bhagat

2008-07-21T08:35:00.001-07:00

Though I haven't read his books, the speech is very inspiring.

read more | digg story

Insecure routing redirects YouTube to Pakistan

2008-02-25T14:23:00.001-08:00

A black hole route to implement Pakistan's ban on YouTube got out into the Internet's routing system, which can't effectively protect itself against this type of mistake—or attack.

read more | digg story

Pictures of Last Night's Lunar Eclipse

2008-02-21T18:19:00.001-08:00

The Earth passed between the sun and a full moon last night, sending our interstellar sidekick into rusty shadow and Wired Science readers to their cameras.
Pictures Link

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Addicted to a song!!

2008-02-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

Usually my day starts by turning on the laptop and starting some music. This continues in the car as I drive to work. Well I'm not boasting but my Acura has one of the best sound systems!! Its a pleasure to drive listening to my fav music.
I haven't charged my iPod so been listening to FM lately (94.9 FM in Bay Area). Yesterday while driving back I heard this song and really loved it. I tried hard not to forget the main line of the lyrics so that I can go home find it on Youtube. But I come back home and a friend calls up. I speak to him and after the call I somehow forget/jumble up the lyrics :( I try hard remembering but some other song shows up in the search. Eventually I recollect the lyrics and find it on Youtube. yay!!
I listened to this song in repeat mode almost the entire day today at work!! Well this is not the first time that I've got hooked onto a song. I'm sure I'm not the only one :)
So here is the song "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's

Microkernels: Tanenbaum-Torvalds debate

2008-01-31T13:40:00.001-08:00

Very interesting article by Andrew Tanenbaum (Remember the OS book we studied from :) )
Excerpt: "Over the years there have been endless postings on forums such as Slashdot about how microkernels are slow, how microkernels are hard to program, how they aren't in use commercially, and a lot of other nonsense. Virtually all of these postings have come from people who don't have a clue what a microkernel is or what one can do. I think it would raise the level of discussion if people making such postings would first try a microkernel-based operating system and then make postings like "I tried an OS based on a microkernel and I observed X, Y, and Z first hand."

read more | digg story

America's 25 Fastest-Growing Tech Companies

2008-01-26T09:44:00.001-08:00

It has been a rough 12 months for the stock market, including technology stocks. The S&P 500 is off 2.1% over the past 12 months (dividends excluded) and the Nasdaq 100 Tech Index is off 8.7%. But you could have done well owning these really hot technology companies.

read more | digg story

Taxpayers could get checks under economic stimulus plan

2008-01-24T11:32:00.001-08:00

American taxpayers would get checks of several hundred dollars from the government under a plan to stimulate the economy, sources said Thursday.

read more | digg story

100 Best Companies to work for 2008

2008-01-24T10:44:00.001-08:00

100 Best Companies to work for 2008

digg story

1 Rogue French trader costs bank $10.2 billion

2008-01-24T09:04:00.001-08:00

French bank Societe Generale has announced losses of 6.9bn euros ($10.2bn, £5.2bn), blamed on a fraud by its trader and the credit crunch.

read more | digg story

The 53 places to go in 2008

2008-01-22T21:40:00.001-08:00

Collection of exotic places to visit in 2008. Nice guide for people who like traveling and discovering new places...
I was discussing with a friend places that I would like to visit in the US mainly Boston and Washington DC... Its a pity that I didn't visit them when I was on the east coast :(
Also I had a look pictures of Hawaii sent by a friend and it looked beautiful.. Outside mainland US, Hawaii and Alaska are top on the list :) Lets see how soon I get a chance to see them....

Places I've visited....

digg story

Tech's all-time top 25 flops

2008-01-22T16:53:00.001-08:00

For all the amazing advances that the computing industry has brought us over the years, some of its most pivotal moments are memorable for all the wrong reasons. Not every idea can be a winner, and not even Microsoft can avoid every misstep. Infoworld Article

read more | digg story

Indian Stock Markets tumble ...

2008-01-21T23:47:00.000-08:00

Indian Stock Markets tumble...

The numbers and facts ...

Citibank crisis

2008-01-15T20:45:00.001-08:00

After seeing the stock markets recover yesterday I thought the situation will improve in the coming days. But with Citibank announcing today its worst results in history of the company; stocks overall plummeted including the ones in my portfolio :(

Here is an interesting US News article related to Citibank and the foreseen recession in US economy.

VJTI moments..

2008-01-13T15:51:00.000-08:00

Ankit has always been the "jaan" of VJTI Computers 2004 Batch. Always upto some prank and fun guy to discuss the "Pyaar-Ishq-Mohabbat" topics ;) Friend for life...

This time he has put together pictures and made a nice video clip....

Halla Bol

2008-01-13T13:27:00.001-08:00

I watched Halla Bol starring Ajay Devgan, Vidya Balan & Pankaj Kapur. Didn't have any expectations from the movie as I had come across mixed reviews; Rediff review Indiatimes review.
The movie was "okay" overall. The concept was good but the treatment could have been much better. The flashback part wherein they show the initial struggle of Ajay Devgan is dragged unnecessarily I think.
I liked the spoofs of celebrity endorsements. Esp the one targeted at Govinda on hair-oil and SRK on dancing at weddings.
I was shocked at the scene where Vidya Balan says "coz he has got the balls"!!! It actually sounded hilarious to me :))

Long-time Apple developer says goodbye...

2008-01-12T19:29:00.000-08:00

Nice post by a long-time Apple developer who has quit to try something on his own...

http://mooseyard.com/Jens/2008/01/gone-indie/

Taare Zameen Par

2008-01-12T19:08:00.000-08:00

I watched Taare Zameen Par last week and really liked the movie. Loved this song from the movie.
Its been a while since I had tears in my eyes:)

Pedestrian Killer

2008-01-11T21:56:00.001-08:00

This simple flash based game is fun to play. You run your car over pedestrians and kill them!!!

I like the background score...
http://www.2flashgames.com/f/f-140.htm

read more | digg story

18 Stunning Bridges From Around The World

2008-01-10T19:00:00.001-08:00

From the awe-inspiring to the historic, from the elegant to the quirky. Check out these amazing feats of engineering. Glad to see Golden Gate here :)

Stunning Bridges

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HD DVDs Fall Like Dominoes

2008-01-10T17:44:00.001-08:00

There has been lot of buzz surrounding High-Definition; HDTV, HD-DVD, HD-Radio etc. Personally I'm not into American TV shows (I still like watching the good old Malgudi Days, Byomkesh Bakshi, Hum Paanch etc.) so don't watch TV. Last Thanksgiving most ppl were looking into deals to buy HDTV so that got me interested into learning details about difference between Plasma v LCD, 1080p resolution, HDMI ports etc.

If HD wasn't enough there was the Blu-Ray promoted by Sony and compatible with its PS3 gaming console. With Warner Bros & Blockbuster both supporting exclusively Blu-Ray; it will be interesting to watch who wins the battle of standards and what consumers adopt eventually...

read more | digg story

Google Processing Over 20 Petabytes of Data Per Day

2008-01-10T00:45:00.001-08:00

Google currently processes over 20 petabytes of data per day through an average of 100,000 MapReduce jobs spread across its massive computing clusters.

read more | digg story

Ratan Tata Unveils the $2500 Car: Tata Nano

2008-01-10T00:23:00.001-08:00

The specifications like 624 cc engine, 30 bhp etc look reasonable for driving conditions in India. But somehow the tires look too small to me :)

read more | digg story

The research dilemma at the IIMs

2008-01-06T14:40:00.001-08:00

I've seen rush among peers to do an MBA in India.When asked why they want to do it most don't have a convincing answer.Its the "placements" or lucrative offers from MNCs that drive them towards it.Though this article doesn't delve into that aspect it does go into explaining why candidates aren't interested in research in these premier institutes.

read more | digg story

Posting Links

2008-01-06T14:10:00.000-08:00

Everyday I read a bunch of articles, posts, videos etc. I like to share it among peers. Usually I keep it as my Gtalk status so the ones interested can click and view them in their spare time. But it so happens that I want to go back and read those articles again but then I have to search for them ...
May be I don't know the right app that does this (Google Reader??). Facebook has a nice app to do this but not everyone uses it and so it becomes restrictive. So thought might as well use Blogger where visitors can similarly post comments...

PS: I found a cool integration between Digg and Blogger that exactly serves the purpose :)

Car buying..

2007-08-10T21:20:00.001-07:00

I would like to share my experience about car buying and few things I learnt from it. It would typically apply to international students who will be starting with their first job in the US.

Looking for new cars on websites and building them with all the fancy interiors and colors was my favorite pastime in the last semester at school. Almost everyday I would fluctuate with my car of choice based on consumerguide review, some performance metric, handling, value for money, looks, re-sale value etc. I used to have lengthy discussions with classmates explaining the reasoning behind the choice. It was really nice to see how everyone had different opinions.

The first question was whether to buy a new car or a used car. Most elders would suggest buy a used car, get accustomed to driving and then later when you have enough money buy a good new car. From a financial standpoint this tip definitely makes sense. If you read this article it strongly recommends against buying a new car for new college graduates http://financialplan.about.com/od/college/a/SmartMoves.htm
This question is more complicated than it appears and depends upon a lot of factors. Some might need a car just to go from point A to point B. For some there might be other financial commitments like loans etc. But a new car will have its own benefits!! Feel of a new car will be altogether different than a used one, better warranty and maintenance guarantees etc. Its something very personal and would vary from person-person. I chose to buy a new one and so the rest of the post is related to it.

Find it out yourself. Especially factors like the demand for a particular car and availability in the market. I was considering the Honda Civic and I got this wrong information from someone that it has a waiting period of 3 months. I had ruled it out completely until I visited a dealer where they had a Civic model for atleast 2-3 different colors ready to be sold the very same day!!

Judge for yourself; test drive. Do read reviews to shortlist your choice of cars but always test-drive when you do car-shopping. When you test-drive don't turn on the music system! The dealer or seller might be trying to hide any defects. Also if its automatic transmission you would want to know how smooth the transmission is. If possible test-drive for a bit on a freeway!

I had pleasant experience test-driving with most dealers on Stevens Creek except Infiniti and Lexus. Infiniti salesperson looked least interested!! I'm pretty sure that Infiniti will have a tough time competing against BMW & others if they hire such salespersons . After giving us a test-drive on the Lexus IS250 , the Lexus salesperson never came back to give us a quote!! May be thinking we didn't look like potential buyers!!

Customizing a car doesn't work exactly the same as it works on a website. Sometimes it won't be possible to get the color you want! The dealer can possibly get it shipped from some other dealer but then you'll have to shell out the expense!! Decide on what interior features you want for your car. It typically works in terms of packages rather than an individual feature. Base prices would make one feel that the car is within reach but the moment you add packages the total price will shoot up! So if you care about interior features then lookout for cars that have them as standard features.

After you've decided on your car(with color and package) the next step would be to look for finance options (I didn't considering leasing so have no clue about it). Being international students just out of college, few would have substantial credit history. Find out about finance options for fresh college graduates, good student discounts etc. Find out your credit score before starting to look for finance options. Most of the free credit reporting sites have a catch wherein you are automatically enrolled in some plan that makes you pay some amount every month!! So watch out for them! Try to get a pre-approval from your school Credit union. They are most likely to offer a good interest rate. Don't shop around a LOT for finance because each time a credit check is done it might (not completely sure) negatively impact your credit score! HSBC Auto finance would be a good place to get a pre-approval online.

The last step would be to get Insurance quotes. Honestly, I didn't find out much about insurance companies. Just took it from a company called Farmers Group in CA. General rules, if you are a single male under 25 then expect to pay higher insurance. Same would apply to sports cars and convertibles!

I hope this information helps new college graduates looking to buy their 1st car. All the best!!

My First Blog

2007-07-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking to start writing for some time now... Would like to write on varied topics occasionally... Well most my friends say that if at all I write blogs they'll be just bullet points... Lets see how it goes... Today is just a start so watch out for this space.