Meri Vritti » Thoughts

Leopard OS X Hackintosh – OSX86 Mac in India

abhi — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:26:42 +0000

We run a pure Mac development environment with Macbooks and Macbook Pros for my startup in Bangalore. Recently, my maxed out Macbook lost its LCD backlight and had to be sent into the Apple Store (Imagine). Running a new startup without a computer to work with isn’t advisable, besides personal withdrawal issues. I realized that we need an extra system in the office so that if something breaks down, we have a machine to work with. Obviously, as a startup we can’t go around buying Mac Pros for redundancy.

So I chose to go the Hackintosh way. I got a 10.5.2 Hardware Compatibility List off the OSX86Project Wiki and speced out a system that was under $500/Rs.22,000 and started looking for people who could deliver the goods. I found ‘Pintu’ at Karnataka Computers who did the entire thing up for me. So this is what my config looks like:

Gigabyte Motherboard GA-945GCM-S2L
Intel 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo
Transcend 1 x 2GB Ram
LiteOn 20x DVD Burner
NVidia XFX 7200GS 256MB
500GB Hard Disk Sata (a little extra)
Netgear WiFi USB Adapter WG111v3
Logitech Wireless Keyboard + Mouse Set
Cabinet, SMPS, Wires etc.

It is such a smooth machine, that I ended up buying a 22″ LG Flatron LCD and making it my mainstay. My Time Machine backup had me up and running in a day – yes it took me that long to retrieve my data. Besides the slow data recovery, the only problem I had was that my USB devices need to be connected before I start up or restart my machine, I am hoping that its a fix that’s out there. Update: I upgraded to modbin 9.3.0 kernel and its all taken care of.

A working and powerful Mac desktop in under Rs.30,000/$750 in India. Awesome.

These guys did a bang up job at finalizing the configuration and delivering it in Bangalore within a couple of hours:
Karanataka Computers, 080-2229-0815
karanatakacomputers@vsnl.net

Yahoo! India sign in down?

abhi — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:07:22 +0000

I just tried signing into my Flickr account and it kept giving me ‘wrong id/password’ message, making my heart skip a beat each time. But after five minutes, I was able to sign into My Yahoo! and now another 10 minutes later, into Flickr.com.

Did they just have a hiccup?

Reliance Entertainment – $3 Billion Giant

abhi — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:33:18 +0000

As per Business Standard George Soros has picked up a 3% stake in Reliance Entertainment for $100 million effectively valuing the company for $3 billion. ContentSutra got a confirmation of the same from Rajesh Sawhney, President of the Rs. 400 crore investment.

Zapak, Big Adda, Big Flicks, Jump Games and the whole BIG thing (Movies & Music) are owned by the company, which may be heading towards an IPO soon. This is definitely big news for the Indian industry and the value this market holds for the next little while.

Dull Day

abhi — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:27:16 +0000

I have had which I had only heard about. A really ‘meh’ day, or to be more eloquent – a ‘blah’ day! I guess I am just going to chill out in front of the one-way-meant-for-boobs tube and read some of the latest on ContentSutra and UX Magazine.

2007 VC Funding nears 2001 Bubble

abhi — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:51:01 +0000

Erick Schonfeld over at Techcrunch.com details the Venture Capital funding for 2007 based on a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and National Venture Capital Association. It’s been the craziest year since 2001. Ok, so it may not be a bubble as far as this report goes, but I find myself wondering about its existence in India. Lot of hype, lot of trades, not many revenue models – that’s a bubble right? Some interesting facts:

$4.6 billion in internet deals -> + 12% y-o-y
$5.27 billion in software – biggest sector
$7.2 billion or 1267 deals – first time financings
$6.3 billion or 1410 early stage deals -> + 11% y-o-y
$12.2 billion or 1168 later stage deals -> + 41% vs. 37% in previous year
Study represents 480 venture capital and private equity funds
$2.2 billion in clean tech – fastest growing sector

A Note to the Indian Traveller

abhi — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 08:21:47 +0000

Hello You,
You know who you are – the angry young, old man and woman. You, who’s always in a rush to get into the airport, to breathe down my neck till I move aside and let you go. You, who throws your luggage onto the security scanner and runs around and look into the darkness of the machine as if you were searching for your mate in the abyss of life. Please tell me why do you need to stand next to me when I am checking in, with your tickets pulled out and yelling on your phone as if your life depended on it. Is there an ‘An Amazing Race’ episode being filmed that I am not aware of?

Why do you never smile? Why are you never thankful or regretful? Why do you deserve to get everything before everyone else and without any gratitude for the hostess? Are you the reason that Indian Airlines has given up on hospitality? Are you the reason Jet Airways charges more for making sure their people are paid well enough to pretend to care?

Do you ever take the time out to enjoy your travels? The plane will take-off when it’s meant to and will land when it should (for the most part). If you get your bags ready and cell phones humming your latest gratuitous downloads, do you believe we will get to disembark any quicker? Maybe all of us will get out of your way cause you seem to believe you are more important than us mere mortals. Maybe if you push a little bit more we will retreat to our Gandhian roots and selflessly retreat to our seats. Maybe your luggage will get it’s own conveyor belt and we will cheer you on your way to a record-breaking exit.

I know that I will applaud the departure of this depraved indifference to your co-passengers and people in general. I like to believe that we all want friendlier flights.

Hey you, o roamer of the Indian skies, please chill the fuck out.

Future – Past & Present

abhi — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 04:31:53 +0000

I just discovered posts from my old blog – vritti.net and it was surreal. It was an impromptu trip down memory lane with some positive revelations. Reading through it I realized I haven’t changed much. The outlook that I had back in 2003 seems to be consistent. I am still excited by the unforeseen and at many levels I still feel like an outsider trying to carve my own niche, though the circumstances defining these realizations have markedly progressed.

It was nice to read lost thoughts on the future that is now part of my past, I feel happier about the present future outlook.

What does a good Ruby on Rails programmer in India desire?

abhi — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:55:02 +0000

I have been trying to hire my first full-time Ruby on Rails programmer in India and the experience has been disappointing. I recently posted this article here on the Bangalore Ruby Users Group:

Hello People
I am new here – India Web 2.0 scene and Bangalore RUG, been trying to
get a grasp on the landscape here – How is the work environment for
web startups and the ecosystem around it. Its been really great so far
from almost all aspects. The energy is infectious, the market wide
open and a lot of cool development happening.

But I am having a hard time figuring out the talent pool here. For the
most part, people don’t really care about what we or other startups
are doing. RoR Coders that we have met so far don’t start off with
asking about what we are doing or using or innovating on. The first
question happens to be ‘what are you offering?’ and we are always
taken aback. On top of that, why are Indian coders working for Indian
companies talking to an Indian entrepreneur quoting hourly rates in
dollars?

I get the economics of demand and supply. But is there no
rationalization and no interest in creating something cool out of
India? If nothing else, then talking about that before the
conversation gravitates to Rs. (oops $) and loses all enthusiasm.
Almost all startup founders I spoke to warned me about the talent pool
and the shortage of quality committed creative coders, but I am still
kinda shell shocked. We are willing to pay top Rs. and maybe more if
the guy/girl is right, but is that all that matters here? Please tell
me there’s hope for startups who want people who love their code and
can do more than figure out which is their next project.

I would love to hear back from everybody on here.

Happy New Year

abhi — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 05:01:47 +0000

Balling in Bombay

abhi — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 02:57:27 +0000

I have been back in India for over a month now and have been traveling as much as I can. It’s been about three and a half years and I am keen to get a sense of understanding of the markets. There’s no doubt that there is a sense of urgency in the way business is conducted – “Next Please“. I have been to 3 different cities so far and on to the third one as I write this and in simple words, I am excited.

In almost every industry that I have tried to look into and meet appropriate people, there is growth. Growth = Opportunity = Challenge = Change. I am looking into a project in the manufacturing sector in Bengal along with a virtual product that can be developed and deployed from almost anywhere with partners in 3 time zones and its been fascinating so far. Executing a ‘real’ project in Bengal has its own pros and cons, loop holes and black holes. A manufacturing plant is worlds away from the intellectual world of web technologies. That’s not to say that it doesn’t require its own level of expertise, planning and networking. But execution is another story. Compared to what’s possible in 0s and 1s, this is at a snail’s pace.

I can’t imagine what it was pre-1992 and even in the ’90s. I am grateful to be in India at this time and all that it brings with it.