iKurt.com

OpenSUSE 11.1 - OpenGL problem after nVIDIA driver update

2009-03-19T02:47:58Z

I upgraded the nVIDIA video driver on my desktop PC (OpenSUSE 11.1) to the latest available version (version 180.29) at this time and started having OpenGL issues because of that. The OpenGL test app glxgears was running at a measly 3 frames per second.

After browsing the OpenSUSE forums for a few minutes I figured out that there were others having the same issue with this driver version. So, I downgraded the driver to the next level and the issue was resolved.

So, if you are having similar issues on your OpenSUSE 11.1 installation, you can try the steps given below:

# wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/180.22/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.22-pkg1.run
# chmod 755 NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.22-pkg1.run
# init 3
# su

# ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.22-pkg1.run

# sax2 -r -m 0=nvidia

# reboot

For your convenience, nVIDIA Video Driver version 180.22 is also available here (right click and save target).

Max Payne - Such a shame.

2008-10-18T13:54:54Z

Being an avid PC gamer and having played both Max Payne & Max Payne 2: The fall of Max Payne, I decided to check out the movie adaptation of it yesterday. Even though the movie featured Mark Wahlberg, who usually picks the right movies, I had my doubts regarding the movie since it appeared as if the movie did not have an early screening for critics. In the past, I've noticed that such movies usually end up being real bad. On top of this, the Tomatometer at RottenTomatoes.com was at 17% for Max Payne at the time we decided to go see the movie.

After sitting through the movie, I wish I had paid more attention to these "signs" and had never seen the movie. It was truly horrible and is an insult to the Max Payne franchise and movie-goers as a whole. The graphics were sub-par and action sequences were less intense. The revenge, the drama, the suspense, the darkness of the characters, even the comic-strip like cut-scenes from the original games were all lost in the Movie. The movie tries to be an Action Movie, a Suspense Thriller, a Drama all at the same time and fails miserably. This is understandable since the original story-line from the game involves all of the previously mentioned aspects.

When you take a 10 hour story-line from a game and turn it into a movie that runs for 90 minutes, it would be better if the writers pick one aspect of the game and stayed with it. It feels like the movie would have done much better if it had been a 100% revenge-action movie with more action and more (well, at least a couple more) bullet-time sequences. It would have been interesting not only to the game-fans but even to the general-public.

As usual, Mark Wahlberg did his job well which is the only good thing I could say about the movie. Mila Kunis (as I expected) did not fit the role of Mona Sax. Anyone who has played the game would have definitely had a "wth?" moment when they realized that Mila Kunis would be playing Mona Sax. And, I'm sure even those who haven't played the game, would have felt this when they left the theaters. I think It was a poor casting choice (not that a different actress would have made the movie any better).

After watching this pathetic adaptation of a game that I enjoyed playing, I only hope that the Movie Studios leave alone all the other great games.

Image courtesy: Yahoo Movies.

Sunny in Philly is actually quite funny!

2008-09-26T22:50:14Z

I've often seen "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" come up whenever there is a discussion on sitcoms on TV. It's on its fourth season now and I've never seen even a single episode of it. Well, that was until last week. The 4th season premiered last week on FX and I decided to check it out. And, I must say, it was quite funny. In fact, it was Laugh Out Loud funny. If you are a fan of TV sitcoms and have not seen Sunny in Philly yet, I highly recommend it to you. The show airs on FX every thursday at 10 PM. Check it out!

VirtualBox Seamless Mode Is Awesome!

2008-09-21T15:49:09Z

It has almost been a year since I completely switched to Linux (OpenSuse 11.0 flavor) on my home desktop PC. Even though Linux has pretty much all the applications I need, every now and then, there was always a need to use one of those apps that was supported only on windows. After experimenting with different x86 virtualization solutions, I settled on VirtualBox due to 2 main reasons:

It is free.
It is included in OpenSuse's official repositories which made it so easy to install and update.

Even though the Open-Source flavor of VirtualBox has pretty much everything I needed, it still lacks certain features that are available only in the closed-source version of it. One of the important features for me that was missing was USB support. What this means is that, with the open-source version of the application, you'll not be able to access usb devices connected to your PC. This is something I really need. So, I got the closed-source version of the application from Sun's Virtualbox website and have been a happy customer since then.

Even though I've been using VirtualBox for quite some time now, only today, I realized that there is a "Seamless Mode" (see screenshot on the left) option in VirtualBox which integrates the Windows desktop with KDE desktop quite nicely. The experience is truly "seamless". If you are one of those linux users who still dual-boots to Windows to access your favorite windows apps, I highly recommend VirtualBox to you. I'm sure you'll be impressed.

iKurt.com v2.0

2008-09-13T04:11:21Z

Finally, I took some time today and moved from my previous web-host to a cheaper and better alternative. For the past 4 years, iKurt.com was hosted with Ehostpros. Even though service was reasonably cheap and reliable, I felt the features offered at that price range did not match with other hosts. After researching for several days, I finally settled with Hostmonster. They offer unlimited storage space with ssh/ftp access, support for php, cgi, ruby, perl, mysql etc for just $4.95 a month. So, I decided to take the jump and switched to Hostmonster.

Also, after experimenting several CMS softwares to manage the new iKurt v2.0, I've decided to go with Movable Type. I really wanted to use either Joomla or Drupal, but they both look too complicated for something as simple as a personal blog. I must confess I almost went with Wordpress due to the ease of use and the huge number of available plug-ins. But finally I picked Movable Type since it appeared to be easily adaptable than Worpress just in case I decide to expand iKurt to be something more than just a personal blog. Also, Movable Type has all of the essential features required to get a personal blogging website online in just a few clicks.

I have also moved the old pages from the previous revision of iKurt.com to my new host. The older version of iKurt is still available here.