Attention!
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Vacation update #2
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Vacation update #1
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Plans for the vacation
Here I use Arduino to act as communication interface between my AVR microcontroller and computer |
>Learn AVR programming.
>Make an ISP device to replace Arduino in the picture above.
>Make and test induced lucid dreaming machine what I heard being called Kvasar.
>Learn to make custom PCB designs with EAGLE and try my hand in PCB fabrication.
>I have problem waking up at right time. A waking machine can help me do that.
>Build head mounted magnifying glasses that magnify using motor control. Fine adjustment.
>Make a prototype of something that solves piano tiles android app, substituting human fingers.
>Quadcopter(should go smooth if there is no funding problem).
These should keep me busy for a month I guess.
I will keep updating about the progress here.
Goutham
Friday, October 17, 2014
Internet of Things
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Hitman Blood Money
I recently copied this game from my roommate. I was always a Hitman
fan since I played Hitman 2:silent assassin in 4th grade and this game
not like those run and shoot games like Call of duty, Counterstrike
and Medal of Honor. This is a stealth game which means logic comes
first before action. Great game it is and I completed it in one
week(very easy mode). Next I wish to play the next game of the series,
Hitman: Absolution. But that will take a long time from now I guess.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
RIP Mandolin Shrinivas
|| Mandolin U Shrinivas (1969 - 2014) || |
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Upcoming stuff
I wanted to mention about things that went on for last two months.
I listen Remember Shakti, a band which plays Indian classical Jazz(watch this full concert at the link http://youtu.be/UfjxtcNYKz4). First time when one of my friends mentioned about this band, I watched the above video and that was when I decided to learn a string instrument and it was when I really got interested in music and its depth of knowledge. Its how the music of this band has inspired me. Its simply awesome. As I commented on the video, it is the music of Gods.
Upon asking, father rejected my proposal of learning classical music on violin, though my mother supported me(she is a very good Carnatic vocalist). I was told to concentrate on my studies and prepare for upcoming competitive exams like GATE, GRE, etc.
Since I had a bit knowledge of how a Guitar works(from first semester), I decided to craft my own Mandolin(I am a big fan of Mandolin Shrinivas, Carnatic classical mandolin exponent. He is the pioneer in introducing Carnatic music on mandolin, a western instrument). Crafting the body is easier than neck part on which fretboard is positioned. It simply cannot be made without crafting skills and good expertise. It needs perfect curvature and correct positioning of frets(metal wires of correct alloy embedded on rosewood slice). I even tried sourcing it from custom string makers but in vain(actually no one sells just a fretboard, that sounds ridiculous). But it was worth trying.
My other interest that I recently developed was towards micro-controllers and single board computers. One of them is Arduino (www.arduino.cc), which I always wanted to own. It is a micro-controller board which gives you the power creating computers that sense and interact with external physical environment, unlike your personal computer which just interacts with you. I read all the documentation and things related to these IC's and software that is used to program the IC. This IC is heart of the intelligent system which accepts ,stores, processes and gives output as it is said.
Now I have one. Received it yesterday by courier. Overwhelmed by number of things possible with the green thing shown below. Its Arduino Uno R3:-)
My new Arduino Uno R3 with laptop computer Compare the two processors. The board's and that of the computer's. |
CT 2 OVER!
With today's aptitude test, the second cycle test got completed.
Earlier I mentioned about my disappointment about my performance in the first one. This time It is better but though not up to mark. Few subjects were really better but others went not as I expected. Below is discussion of how this came about. It is an Introspection.
I dreamed of many things before entering 2nd year. Some of them are
-Learning everyday and every hour something new
-Indulging myself in good activities and good relationships
-Trying good ideas and doing really good projects which I sometimes dream
-Blogging about myself and my interests more often(now, I am posting after long time)
Overall, I should say that I am not leading a totally efficient life like I have done in my first year. Something is holding me back. I seem to live in a dogma, constrained, restricted to my inner self.
This can be boring for you to read but I share these feelings to introspect myself. This blog is a reflection of me. I write here like this when I find no hope in myself to change. It has been two months and a week since third semester has started and for me, life seemed normal all the way till now.
Now, the exams are over and don't return for atleast a month. Now its time for phase II. This phase of life involves unleashing myself. Unleashing my talent in whatever I am good in. The next post tells how this is done.
So, its time to rock!!!
Let's ROCK!!!
Goutham
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
I fell down
Dear readers
This post by me comes after a week action and a week regret. As its my duty to post aleast once a month, I am obliged to share my harrowing experience with you.
The first week after entering 2nd at college went very well as I got adjusted to the new hostel and new roomates. After that my time was not well as I was suffering from toe infection. Many things came along. I liked few and I didn't get with others. I also admit I was lethargic when it came to revising and practising lessons and I postponed the major portion to 'just before' the first exam. Then life hit me( I mean I hit myself). Marks in two subjects were devastating and others were just fine. This kind of scene is unusual for me.
For now, No Regrets.
The next exams are just eleven days away and I need to prove my mettle before I am shot down by life once again.
The next post is only after I have completed my next exams and will report you whats next to happen....
Goutham
Saturday, July 5, 2014
I am a 'Senior" now and more
I already became a senior when I turned 18 earlier this year.
But this is of real significance. Now I am feeling more free at the
same time, more responsible towards what I do. Be it studies or more
general things like controlling money flow out of wallet. I completed
one year out of four of my undergraduate studies in electronics
engineering. I am still a hobbyist and no professional engineer. I
play with IC's and few discreet components on breadboard now and then.
This generally includes timers, counters, single chip amplifiers,
transistors and distortion, motors, LED's, logic gates and
voltmeter(most essential one). Nothing serious about it yet. I just
watch voltages rise and drop as planned and never did serious study
like real circuit design and experimenting. Even in the summer
vacation I just took rest reading about interesting stuff like
human-computer interface, electroshock weapons, guitar effects, 3D
printing, exoskeleton and lucid dreaming but did not try to bring them
to life. Though learning is a prerequisite to do wonders we cannot
always keep on learning things forever. Its time to test and prove
that these are indeed possible to do by a layman(like me).
Every dog has his day and also every hotshot does. Well, so its time
to be a hotshot. Of course, one cannot become a hotshot overnight. It
needs pure perseverance and love towards what you do.I have been
blogging for almost four years and this really helped me to become
good at writing random stuff, also to drain all the feelings and cool
my mind. In addition, I started listening fusion music of bands like
Remember Shakti. It comprises of musicians having superhuman
creativity and speed that inspires my awe everyday.
Closing in, the place where I study is not really filled with
intellectual stimulation. There are very few people here who have an
open mind and guts to follow their passion. Many others just hangout
in the campus. We need more geeks in India now. I mean more real geeks
whose hearts ache when they find themselves fooling around aimlessly
or gaming more often.
Goutham
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Greatest gift of life is also the toughest to use
This post comes after a long time of thought, experience and repent.
Hello !
Take this seriously. Do you know the real value of freedom? Real value of time? Ask an ex-prisoner who was sentenced in prison for 40 years.
40 years is half an average human life. One can become a billionaire, a four time olympic gold medallist, an acclaimed genius, nobel prize winner, politician and even a president. In short 40 years is a life in itself and this person above has spent his 40 years of lifetime confined to a single place. Imagine yourself in his shoes. Imagine how you would have spent all these years in prison, every second. Thats why even prisons have their inmates do something useful and social like reading, sports,handlooms and sometime movies to chill.
Of course its not worth comparing life in prison with that of outside but just think of the pain you suffer if you were time conscious.
You dream of many things at work or at college about what you would be doing in a rare upcoming vacation. When the time comes you veer off from designated goals. Say that is non-ideal behaviour caused due to lazyness, lethargy,etc. This is a clear proof that freedom is the toughest thing man gets gifted. It is when you do what you like the most and gain experience. Be it any hobby or study you like to do.
Life is limited. Use the best.
Goutham
Friday, April 11, 2014
This is a great website!
I found this website on Quora yesterday. Its truly inspirational...
filled with posters that charge you up and get you going.
www.zenpencils.com
Goutham
Friday, March 14, 2014
Do it yourself
How do you feel when you make a pizza in your kitchen rather than buying it from Pizza Hut?
When was the last time you felt happy after cooking something on your own and sharing it with dear ones?
How did you feel when you make something that you can say as 'truly belongs to you'?
Doing something yourself gives you confidence and makes you feel independent. Many things can be self-made, like indoor fixtures, daily use accessories, fashion wear like wrist bands, chains, cloth mods, musical instruments, gadgets involving useful electronic circuitry and many more things. You name it. I have seen tech nerds making their own web servers, quadcopters and even guitars(I made one).
This electric guitar was made by me and my friends in first semester as part of an exhibition |
The electric guitar you see on the left was made for the college science exhibition(1st prize). It is made of single plywood plank with a thin wood sheet for the tuning pegs. Strings and pickup were bought. The amplifier part was made of a single IC on breadboard connected to an 8 ohm speaker. We encountered lot of noise but it turned out to be an advantage as it attracted more people to our stall.
This is my toothbrush stand made from soda can |
Making and experimenting is a part of learning. I can also say that this blog is a website of that sort. I write to share what I went through and also to develop my skills. I would like to share a website here that motivated me to step into the business of DIY-synth. We all know what synthesizers are and also how expensive those complex things are. This website emphasizes electronics hobbyists to make own analog synthesizers, as the poster below says.
There is a movement going around the world to cut down costs and innovate cheaper ways to progress. Be it any way. This is called DIY sub-culture or even the Punk culture.
One of the best examples of DIY enthusiasts I can give you, Steven Wozniak. He built his own calculators, watches, timers, audio equipment and often played pranks on people unaware of his genius. When he was about my age(seventeen), he mastered Boolean algebra and started making computers. People like this person change the perspective of innovation in the eyes of society and the world itself.
Experience is the best teacher, also a hard one. Nothing learned practically is forgot. Doing things on your own is the single best way to apply knowledge you have been storing.
The website shown on the right says these words:
Keep imagining, keep inventing, stay ingenious!
Thanks
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Few of my favorites
I do listen music(everyone does) and would like to share few of my favorites in this blog. I listen many genres like Fusion, Jazz, Carnatic rock, watch coke studio and many others.
Each one of us have different tastes. I am bent more towards overdrive than fuzz(these terms belong to guitar jargon). Overdrive is like smooth reverb while fuzz is the rough sound you get by just plucking a string.
There are extremists commonly known as 'Audiophiles'. These particular people not only love music but also emphasize of what they buy to hear it. Few of them spend more than $5000 for hi-fi systems. They know the worth which we don't care about much...
I listen music while doing boring chores. It really eases you out.... you don't even realize you got tired.
Enjoy the songs:
Saturday, February 22, 2014
What is it like staying in a college hostel (India)?
I am going to discuss what you see and how you feel in an average college hostel in India. I am talking about this as far as SRM university (that's where I study), Boys hostels are concerned.
This is my daily routine and for others too (From Monday to Friday):
Wake up at 7 am
Corridor getting fumigated |
Get ready by 8
Reach the classroom by 8:30
Classes all depend upon the teachers. Few manage to excite the spirit to learn.
We have a break at 11:20 (10 minutes)
Then again classes (not only classes but also workshops, labs and very rarely recess)
Break for lunch from 12:15 to 1:30 (The fact that this university lies in south India makes it prone to harsh heat at noon, but weather at other times is pleasant)
And again classes till 4 pm
Done (I mean you can go home).
But what makes you a true student lies totally after that. You may listen to classes with rapt attention or while away time playing Flappy bird in the last row (Please don't do that. If the teacher likes your phone.. you will be notified that you won't get it back). I have seen many people. Here is the list what others do after 4 pm:
-->sit and chat (many types happen. Few call it discussion, few call it debate and few call it small talk, dirty talk. Talks range from Counter-strike, GTA, Doreamon, to semester exams, new projects and many other wild things I can't even imagine. I don't know what girls usually talk, If anyone knows, please comment)
-->study (your conscience tells you whether you are actually learning something new or not)
Undergraduate boys hostel blocks. Looks like Azkaban |
-->play computer games (The worst part is that few of them are so addicted. I say addicted because they play the whole night and wake up late in the morning only to miss two or three classes. I should mention about about the attendance stuff... each course has its own attendance count and you need to have atleast 75% to write the final semester examination. Otherwise, you will get detained and have to attend extra classes in the next semester and appear for it later)
-->watch movies, soaps(few of them do...)
-->play sports (this particular university has enough space to exercise and practice your favorite sport, though I don't do that)
-->There are certain many other things that people know and do and many ought to be covered here. Forget them.
All the things that I have discussed above happen in weekdays. From Monday to Friday, they keep us busy with stuff like studying, writing like records and observations (take half the valuable time), etc.
College life is no different from that of school. Except that you have even more to learn and practice by having a more serious perspective and attitude for what you do.
Now let us talk about weekends, the most awaited. Few plan it meticulously. Few just sleep.
These two days, Saturday and Sunday are like money. In any college, students certainly feel guilty if weekends are not spent properly, be it any way. SRM is close to Chennai. People go to malls, beaches, cinemas and many more. I occasionally go to Ritchie street (here you get electronic parts like diodes, relays, chips, etc). Few indulge in parties while few others delve into awe-inspiring things like experiments, projects, coding and good books(Art of Electronics is one of them). The latter are people who in future change the face of technology and make us proud of our country.
On Fridays, many of us generally stay awake late into night (the thing is, we feel we worked hard whole week and deserve more free time before sleep engulfs us). The next morning starts quite late obviously and kicks off with late breakfast (called brunch). Please note that there are many things that go on in the campus. I stay confined to hostel room, so this is only a partial account of what actually happens. This university in particular has humongous student population and there's no mistake in assuming it to be a town.
Sundays generally pass by just like Saturdays (and here too, don't expect me too mention every aspect of campus life).
Conclusion: Studying and staying far away from home makes you feel responsible and trains you to manage time, money and of course your marks too. You feel free to do everything. But remember, whatever you do and think in a way decides what you will be tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!
P.S. If you belong to SRM, please comment about anything extra that usually happens around in the campus. I didn't mention everything.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Yo! Wassup?
Now that I've got a laptop computer of my own(My father gave his to me), I can blog 'at my
will'. Brag what I got, write nonsense and share my views. I am still
learning lot of things and was posting all sorts of non technical
stuff for the past few months.
If your question is: "Any developments?"
Ans: Not much. Still reading lots of articles in Wikipedia and
learning from two big books in my Cupboard. Though there's not much
time till the finale but there's plenty of time for knowing....
Recently, just two months ago I did shut down my facebook and twitter
accounts. Reason, whatever you post is just like a thought in wind.
Check the feed after 10 minutes you have posted it in facebook. You
will notice your post relocated some 30 posts below where it was
earlier. Also I am proud of having a blog where my true writings get
etched for free of cost (thanks to Google) in indestructible web
servers for ages to come.
Other reason is that posts in facebook and twitter have got word limit. Blogs don't.
One thing I am active as far as social media is concerned is in Google+. Whatever
I want to share, from now on will be in this blog.. so have an eye on
it.
Also blogging regularly can improve your writing and typing skills.
Goutham
PS-Ignore this post If you feel its nonsensical but please keep
visiting often. Thanks!
Friday, January 31, 2014
Nothing to share
I have nothing to share except that I've bought two new books
Art of Electronics
Student manual for the same
I have read many times here and there that these books are really great for some real practical stuff and a must read if pursuing electronics as course or interest.
Bought few more logic chips and essentials.................
That's all
Goutham
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Here comes 2014!
Here comes another new year(well it always comes every year) and I am fed up of these new year resolutions. Though I have kept up at few this time, I was not able to for many of them. Now I know the mistake I have done. I had too many.
Do not have more than what you are able to do... I mean to say realize yourself and your abilities. Do not take it too seriously and get tired.
2014, I feel this time it should not be 'just another year ' in my life. I need to make it truly good and make it stand out of all till now in terms of learning and having fun with whatever I gained. My college life should be more productive at every stage and learning new everyday. Most importantly, having fun.....
Wishing you a very Happy New Year,
Goutham