What’s missing from Amazon’s suite of web services? Two things: SimpleDB which provides database-like persistence and SimpleBalancer, which load balances “services” on multiple EC2 clusters. While it’s possible to emulate both using S3 and EC2 right now, it’s hard to do, and feels really clumsy. When Amazon does engineer these things, expect Google to take a peek in as well. Oh, we live in interesting times.
links for 2007-09-30
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Put one of these drives in its enclosure on your desk. Name it something clever like “Backup”. If you are using a Mac, the command you use to back up is this:
sudo rsync -vaxE / /Volumes/Backup/
If you’re using Linux, it’s something a lot like that.
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It seems inevitable with the momentum this has that I’ll have to learn about git. This seems like an easy start.
links for 2007-09-29
Tata Indicom Plug2Surf on a Mac
My mom and bro gave me a Tata Indicom Plug2Surf for my last birthday (geeky gift, I know. What can I say? They know me too well). It’s only been with me for a couple of days but I’m already addicted to the sweet device. And as usual, set up is as Mac-ish as can be… if you know the proper settings.
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Start by plugging in your Tata Indicom device. It’s a blocky ugly but functional device that takes up more than its share of USB ports on my Macbook. The small light should change from red to orange and then stay a pale green.
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Open System Preferences and navigate to Network. A Qualcomm CDMA Technologies MSM device should already be detected. Select that and click Configure.
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Fill up the settings as in the pic below. The number to dial is #777, the username and password are the same: ‘internet’ (lame!). Be sure to check Save Password to avoid nag screens.
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Click on the Modem tab and from the list choose the ‘au CDMA 1x WIN W01K’ modem. The default selection will not work. Navigate back to the PPP tab and click Dial Now…
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You’ll be presented with Internet Connect, the general dialer application for the Mac. I use this for VPN connections as well. Check ‘Show modem status in the menu bar’ and click Connect. It should take under 5 seconds and the dialog will expand to show statistics for the connection.
The tariffs are reasonable. It’s Rs. 2500/- for the device and Rs. 350/ per month (paid like a postpaid bill) for 30 hours of net access a month (overcharges are 25ps for a minute). I have a BSNL plan otherwise, so this is for mobile net. It’s not entirely as plug2surf as the advertisement shows however since on Windows devices, you’ll have to install a driver (provided in a tiny CD). On a mac, you don’t, but you don’t know how much of tariff you’ve used either.
