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
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
HD Audio in VMware Fusion 4 and VMware Workstation 8
I was part of Interactive/Virtual devices team at VMware and it was a great learning experience.
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. Linux guests (3.0+) are supported as well. Patch submitted to Linux kernel that enabled support for Linux guests with VMware HD Audio device.
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...
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
3) If you are playing 5.1 surround sound from the guest then copy surround51:CARD=vendor-name,DEV=num
For e.g.
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".
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. Linux guests (3.0+) are supported as well. Patch submitted to Linux kernel that enabled support for Linux guests with VMware HD Audio device.
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 terminal3) 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".
Monday, October 26, 2009
ALSA sound support for VMware Workstation 7.0 and VMware Player 3.0
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
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
Monday, July 13, 2009
Coldplay
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 :)
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 :)
Thursday, December 11, 2008
China Trip experience
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 :)
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 :)
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