it was yesterday that I  have upgraded my ubuntu box to 12.10 and it was snot a pleasant experience.

The ATI graphics card was not detected and it was showing a resolution of 1550×1400 instead of 1080p. The launchpad was not working properly and the top bar too.  I expected the wifi would have an issue but not this.. each version of ubuntu comes with a surprise..

I browsed lots and lots and and ended up messing up my xserver too and I was left with the command prompt only , then I started working on my wife’s PC , and kept mine aside to run the commands taht I find from the forums etc.

The basic step to fix the issue is to remove the existing fglrx drivers and iunstall the latest after downloading from the ATI website. Unfortunately, none was working fine for me and  it was then I found this web site http://www.ubuntuvibes.com/2012/10/how-to-install-amd-catalyst-legacy.html and those commands worked like a charm!  Of course I had to uninstall all other custom stuff that I was doing.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:makson96/fglrx

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

sudo apt-get install fglrx-legacy

Convicted for keeping elephant tusk

It looks like the Kerala forest department has not convicted Mohanlal – the famous actor for keeping the elephant tusk at his home, illegally.  The case was charged in Perumbavor court.


Being a world famous actor and social icon, he should not have done this. Even the country has admired him by awarding Padma Shree in 2001 and was granted the rank of honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Territorial Army in 2009, the first instance of an Indian actor being conferred an honorary army rank and hundreds of other film and social awards and recognitions.

I believe, being such a high esteemed personality, he should have kept is financials transparent and he must abide the law in the country in all possible means.  This has not only became a disgrace for him, as an actor, but it is a scar on the entire Padma Shree class.

Tags: mohanlal convicted

The recent comments that the minister P K Abdurab  bas demoted my respects towards him as an education minister. Recently he has refused to stay in a guest house named ganga and renamed it to grace. Read more here I think the media has sinked that newws somehow.

Adding some cartoons that I have seen in facebook – I am not owning the images it is taken from FaceBook shares.

Abdurab renames Ganga to Grace

If Abdurab renames all

He is the same minister who refused to light a ‘nilavilakku’ on a function. I wonder how he can be a good education minister… Afterall he doesnt have the most basic commonsense.

Natiional Anthem - in Abduab's words!

Ganga renamed to Grace

Abdurab declined to light Nilavilakku

Abdurab declined to light Nilavilakku

It was on my last trip to bangalore that Achu told that he is going to get married – and it was a pleasant surprise. And it was on last weekend that his engagement happened at the Alakapuri Hotel, Kozhikode.

We left from Kochi in the morning. The drive up to Ponnanni was nice except the road up to Kodungaloor.  I almost touched 130 KMPH on my Ritz. Travelling in kerala is always faster when it is early morning. At Ponnani, I decided to go through the new Chamravattom bridge, which turned out to be a bad idea later.

If you are planning to save a few Kilometers by travelling through that bridge, I tell you, it a bad idea. Because ALL the roads are narrow and you wont be able to go beyond 50 kmph through those roads. Only the bridge is wide. The roads through Tirur, Thanoor, Prappanangadi are all decades old.  Reaching Kadalundi, I almost lost patience and deviated to the NH through the road via Panakkad.  Another disadvantage of this route is that there is no good hotels on the way. You need to reach Kozhikode to have some food.

I reached the city by 9 15 am and got a bit deviated in the confusing roads as it my first visit to the city after long gap.  I found out the Alakapuri and it looked a small one from outside. Located in one of the busiest area of calicut – Palayam , which is less than one kilometer from  Bus stand and from the railway station, I felt it will be a small one.   We needed to refresh before the function and need to have some food too – so, tried to step in to a few ‘famous ‘ restaurants in the area and they were all disappointing when it came to toilets and wash areas. Disappointed, we dropped the idea and got freshed up in the car and went to the venue. I realised I was mistaken from the looks that I had from the road. There was a vast area inside the hote l and they even have  a large lawn and lots of rooms. Gladly Achu had booked a few ( I wasnt informed that he have rooms there :-p) and we refreshed ourselves there.  The parking area was quite big and I was quite impressed with the facility. Later, I came to know that the 650 sq ft AC room that I stayed wont cost more than 1000 /- that too in the middle of the city.  And he got engaged to the girl he loved at ~11 AM. Tushar and Reshma, Along with Perm, Akhil is a good company to be with. I enjoyed the time there.

Around 1 PM, Tomy came in with Ragesh – has been a while that I have met them. It was the other day that Arun told that Ragesh and Tomy will be in Kozhikode in the same day of the engagement. Tomy is back home for a vacation from his overseas assignment and Ragesh arrived to do some shopping for his sister’s marriage. Glad that we were able to spend some time together and refresh the memories and share Tomy’s agony on the delay to get married and Ragesh’s excitement to be a dad soon!

I always think a get-together will be quite relaxing – but hardly gets time to get out of the busy schedule!

We had some food together and he took us round the city and thanks to him – I then got an idea about the city. Unless you travel round the city back and forth, you cant figure what is where is a new city.  By evening we stepped in to the focus mall, and there Kavitha got another surprise by meeting her old college friend in an apparel shop.

We came back to the hotel by night and slept there and started back home by 10 30 AM . The drive back was not too bad – the road from Edappal to Ponnani is a bottle neck  and so is from Kodungallore to Kochi! – Hope it will be widened soon ! The advantage of the trip is that I have found a good hotel in Kozhikode and Achu is getting married in November!

Tags: budget hotel in kozhikode

I have been to Ernakulam today on my way back, I remembered that I need to buy a few accessories for my computer like a cooling pad, bluetooth headset etc and decided to try Sheeja’s IT mall again as it came across my way back home.

I had been there previously as I had to inquire the price of a laptop that my sister was planning to buy. It was not a great experience, they were trying to lock me to sony laptops, and when I started to inquire about dell, and samsung, they were like discouraging me from buying that – not sure why.  I have always felt dell makes good laptops.  On that day, one of their sales guy told that their stock for the cooling pad is finished.


remembering that they have almost a floor full of computer accessories, I stepped in again.  On entering I felt it was a call center.  All the persons there was on phone. None of them had tags which could identify them as the employees. Two round tables there were occupied. I stood there for a few minutes and was about to go back that a lady came and asked me what do I need and I replied her that I am looking for computer accessories and she told that its in the first floor. Reaching there, there was 3 guys working on their computer and one of the lady came up and asked what I need and I said. Hearing that she went off to some other room and came back after 5 minutes and told me to go to the next room.

There, I saw two guys there discussing some thing and they didn’t even realize that I came in there.  I was so much irritated and was felt very ill treated in that store.

Tags: buy laptop kochi, Sheejas IT Mall