64-bit OS, Whats the Big Deal?

The computer industry is changing, and 64-bit technology is the next, inevitable step. With the Core 2 Duo processors flowing in at real cheap rates in Indian markets... 64-bit computing will be installed in almost every home buying a new PC! I too am one such user, and 64-bit computing was something that was always generating a lot of interest, as well as a few questions in my mind. Finally, I got sometime to really experience what the 64-bit fuss is all about! I'll try to address some questions that I had in my mind which am sure a few of you might be having in your mind too!

I started my 64-bit experience by installing the 64-bit Windows Vista Ultimate OS. Let me tell you, the installation process, look and feel and everything of the OS is just like its 32-bit variant. No difference at all! So, don't expect to look at the desktop and figure out if it's a 64-bit or a 32-bit! The only way to figure that out is to check your system properties, which gives you the following screen... See at the bottom where it mentions, that this is a 64-bit Operating System

Fine, so I was done, installing the OS now; what was new? The very first question I had was, Do I strictly need 64-bit applications for installing & running them on a 64-bit OS? The answer is 'NO'! You can very much run your 32-bit apps. However, the device drivers need to be 64-bit compulsorily. All hardware devices need 64-bit drivers to work on a 64-bit version of Windows. So if you are running some old legacy devices (quite unlikely) first make sure that 64-bit OS specific drivers for the same are available! I got a nice error screen while I tried to install 32-bit display drivers for my GeForce 7600GS Video Card.

So, how does Windows allow you to install 32-bit apps on a 64-bit OS? The answer to this is WOW64! Now I know, Vista was majorly using this keyword 'WOW' in the Vista marketing campaigns and product promotions, but there is a lot of difference in both these WOW's :-D! The WOW that I am talking about stands for 'Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit (WOW64 or WOW)', a subsystem of the OS.

What's the big deal? I mean, I have a 64-bit OS, I'll install an application & expect it to run. What's with these numbers? What's with the difference in 64-bit & 32-bit? The issues are related to the 64-bit processors and Windows itself.

The processors run in two modes: 32-bit and 64-bit. In the 64-bit mode, the memory pointers are larger than in the 32-bit mode. While this gives the 64-bit applications access to more memory, the execution contexts and data are incompatible with 32-bit applications. As a result, 64-bit and 32-bit code cannot be mixed within a single process. For example, if a 64-bit process loads a 32-bit Dynamic Link Library (DLL), or vice versa, an error results, saying that the DLL format is incorrect. Consequently, 32-bit applications cannot use the 64-bit system DLLs. WOW64 solves these and other problems.

That's all that I know about WOW... and also one more thing... Wondered how the segregation of 32-bit and 64-bit applications is done by Windows OS while installing a new program/ application? Well Well Well, Vista makes a new folder, 'Program Files (x86)' & also just 'Program Files'. As the name suggests, 1 is for storing your 32-bit apps while the other one is for you 64-bit apps!

That's all I know about the 64-bit OS. If you have any questions or even extra information to share, please drop in a comment. I'll try to answer the questions, if I can & would be more than happy to learn more, from the extra info that you might have for me :-)

How to delete / drop a Database in Oracle 9i

I was struggling today to drop / delete a Oracle 9i database! And even though I went through a lot of documentation which indicated using the RMAN utility to drop the database, nothing worked for me :-)

I finally found out a way to drop / delete a database, using one of Oracle 9i's tool (Database Configuration Assistant aka DBCA), and trust me, it was the most simplest way in which, even a layman can drop a database! Dropping a database involves following 2 steps of a simple wizard!

How do I drop a database? (All the below screenshots & the steps pertain to Oracle 9i)

Note: It is assumed that you are doing the following on the database server (Windows)

Navigate to Start > All Programs > Oracle Home > Configuration and Migration Tools > Database Configuration Assistant

The Database Configuration Assistant is your answer for getting rid of a database, which you don't want anymore now! Follow the wizard which involves 2 simple steps...

Step 1: Select the delete operation from the list of options that you get

Step 2: Just select the database which you want to delete, and specify the 'sys' account credentials in the username, password field respectively... Hit Finish, and you are done!

A status window pops up, which keeps refreshing the status about the delete process. Usually, a database is deleted within few minutes! You'll get a confirmation, once the database is deleted!

So what all does get deleted?

This is actually a systematic delete. All the control files, datafiles, tns entries etc., are deleted systematically by this wizard, not leaving back any traces...

If anyone has any other better way to delete / drop a database, please do email me the same!

The ISP Scene in Mumbai, Bandra (East)

As a resident of M.I.G. Colony, Bandra (East), I came to realize & wish to express one very important thing... One of the biggest things this colony is missing, is the presence of a professional Internet Service Provider... The ISP scene in general, in Mumbai is extremely dismal. With players like Tata Indicom Broadband and Reliance Broadband coming in the market, I expected some increase in the services given by these traditional Cable Operators, but to my surprise, the underworld & cable walla nexus, posts just too much of a strong competition for these big players :-)



For all those who perhaps don't know this, that the Mumbai cable walla's providing the Internet service to you, are nothing but intermediaries and agents for the above mentioned commercial players. Of course, these guys don't really have much command when it comes to commercial connections for big business houses, but for small residents like you and me, the cable walla's are the bhai's!



The whole idea of this post is not only to reflect upon the appalling scene that we are living in, but also, my review on 2 ISP's that I've always been connected to at my residence in Bandra.



From 2002 - 2005, I was connected to the beautiful Internet world via my local cable operator, who was purchasing and distributing bandwidth from Exatt technologies. Now these guys supply bandwidth to a lot of cable operators across Mumbai. I don't know about the ownership of Exatt, but somewhere in May / June 2007, Exatt was taken over by the mighty American giant, AOL. I've heard, the service has improved since then :-). Also, just FYI, the backbone bandwidth carrier for Exatt is Tata Broadband. These guys have a huge backbone infrastructure to carry bandwidth, across Mumbai for these guys...


Coming to my opinion about Exatt... These guys have given me a complete mixed experience. Sometimes, the service is just really great! While sometimes, it is simply depressing. These guys are just not able to define a proper downtime. And rainy season is the most harrowing experience with these guys... I mean, imagine, its raining heavily on a Saturday morning. You can't move out of the house (read, you don't want to move out of the house ;-))... you just want to make yourself a hot cup of coffee and want to surf the internet for technology news and events... you start your PC only to find that the local area network cable is unplugged... In an absolute angry mood, you dial your ISP (read local cable operators) number to abuse him, only to learn that he is such an a*****e that he has kept the receiver aside to avoid calls... This is such a common technique used by these guys :-)


Next, for almost about 1 year, I used the services of Sify Broadband. Sify scared of the local dada's and bhai's went through a different approach. Instead of competing with them, they joined hands with the local cable operators & started their services. Needless to say, Sify is Terrible too. I don't want to comment much on & about Sify, but yes, it sucks!

Recently, I installed the Reliance Broadnet Service at my place. I pay about INR 1122 per month for a 300 Kbps connection. And let me tell you, the service so far has been excellent. There are no down times (but once, when there were heavy rains). The support is just about OK. Sometimes, the support guys fails to understand your query! But the speed has been really good. It is fast, and always manages to deliver a constant speed :-). Also, the -ve about Reliance Broadnet is bill payment. They don't have an online bill payment facility :-(. So if a Reliance drop box is near your house, then you have absolutely no worries!!

Creative's Decoder - DDTS-100 (Is it really worth a Buy?)

Creative Decoder DDTS-100

I got this decoder from Creative, around 3 months back. The only reason why I wanted to buy this decoder was to simply connect my TV, my Playstation 2 and my PC to my Speaker System (Creative T-6060). Ever since then, I feel really cool about this decoder :-)

I'll just list down the many things that I find impressive about this device...

For those, who are electronic & gizmo freaks, this device is a real nice addition to that list! It looks very nice. Its got a nice grey front display with well laid buttons for selection of Mode, Surround activation and stuff. It also displays the currently selected mode by lighting up the LED next to the mode it is currently active in. This decoder supports DTS, Dolby Digital, NEO:6 formats. And trust me, the logos of all these look really awesome on decoder, giving this device a nice look. If you install this, and for people who understand what a decoder is, and what Dolby Digital and DTS are, they'll surely envy you for owning this device!

To connect your external device is very simple. Interestingly enough, the decoder comes with an optical wire, which helps you connect your PS2 in optical mode to the Decoder. Hell yeah! No more analogue signals for that sound you guys! And once you are connected via the Optical mode, the device does a little smart stuff for you! Like what? Well, these is this 'Dynamic Mode' which works only when you connect any device with Optical wire. Whats so special about 'Dynamic Mode'?

Well, say you got NFS Carbon for your PS2. Most EA games are Dolby supported / THX Supported. Now a days the games we get support Dolby surround. This makes it sound awesome... Since you are optically connected to the Decoder the device understands what mode the DVD is encoded in and dynamically selects the mode for you :-) e.g. in this case, assume your currently selected mode is 'Movie', you start the PS2, hit Dynamic mode on your DDTS, the moment the decoder gets Dolby signals from your PS2, the mode will automatically change to 'Dolby Surround' on your DDTS device :-). You need not bother what kind of signals are passed to the device!

Same goes with DVD's... I put a DTS supported DVD and the mode will change automatically!
The only thing which really annoyed me about this product was the way you choose between the devices you select. There is this silly and ugly looking switch Creative has provided, which toggles between PC / External Device. i.e. you have to toggle the switch to select the source of audio. Also, your PC does not use the decoder at all. When on PC modes, your signals are literally sent from your PC to the speakers. The decoder here is playing no role. You can safely turn it off :-)






So for someone, who is either wanting a nice, affordable and intelligent Home Theater System, I believe, purchasing a simple DVD player, good set of speakers and this decoder (which is available for around INR 7200) should be a great combination! And for people who are crazy about games... and do own a nice gaming console... this is an awesome device you guys! Max Payne, NFS Series, Medal of Honour all sound terrific!

M'bai - C'batore - Palakkad - C'batore - Ooty - C'batore - M'bai

(Dec 7, 2006 to Dec 10, 2006)

Well, the title just describes my journey path! My journey started from Mumbai's domestic airport boarding the 19:25 Air Deccan flight to Coimbatore (CJB), an approximate 120 mins. flight, though it actually clocks around 100 mins. This was my first flight, and my first experience of the aero journey started in an Airbus A320 fleet. Cruising at 820 kph & 35000 feet in the air, it was great fun, especially the take off. If you are a speed fanatic, you actually get to experience 0 to 500 kph in under 6 seconds and that's an awesome experience.

Coimbatore to Palakkad:
I reached Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu State) at 21:20 and the flight was very much on time. Hiring a private taxi I headed straight to Palakkad (Kerla State) which is around 65 km. from the CJB airport. The moment you exit the airport, you see a 'Rent a Cab' service counter near the exit. The rates are mentioned on the counter board and this service is from the Tamil Nadu state government. For a distance of 65 kms. & NON A/c service I paid INR 800 and a Maruti Esteem was at my service. An A/c service for the same distance was costing me INR 1000, and you won't need one if you visit these states is Nov - Dec where the temperatures are pretty nice. When I landed, it was around 19 degrees Celsius. My taxi driver, 'Velloo' from CJB was a nice chap. One major problem anyone will experience in the Tamil Nadu state is that of communication. Talking to Velloo I learnt that the Karunanidhi run government discourages Hindi and in fact hates it, so much so that none of the schools/ colleges in TN state have Hindi as a subject, as compared to Kerla state where Hindi is understood by most people. The best way to communicate with these people in TN is to throw keywords and they understand them well. Velloo of course could communicate quite properly.
Caution: These taxi drivers will always give you some alternative route options and then charge an extra INR 100 for the same. In my case, Velloo suggested that we take an L & T road which goes from outside the city limits and charged me an extra INR 100. Also, an toll booths that you come across, is a cost you have to bear!

Reached Pallakad Kerla State... 23:00, won't write in much about this city, since I was here just for around 15 hours. Had come here to attend a friends wedding... I travelled back from Pallakad to Coimbatore by the state transport, the cheapest & a fun ride! I paid just INR 32 for the ticket to come back to the Coimbatore. Of course the bus stops at a place called 'Ukkadam'. The Coimbatore city/ heart of city is a place called 'Gandhipuram', around 3 Kms from the 'Ukkadam' bus depot which will be your last stop. Fetch a rickshaw who'll charge you INR 30 for those 3 Kms. I checked in, in a nice hotel, Hotel Aswini. I paid INR 1,000 for a Non A/c room for 1 day. There are good hotels here in Coimbatore. A known one is... 'City Tower'. Once you are near City Tower, just look here n' there and you'll spot a lot of hotels around you.

Just moved around the city here and there and did not find anything interesting! However, once you are in Coimbatore, make it a point to visit a restaurant, 'Gowrishankar' and have 'Cholley Bhature' here. Yups, me advising to have a Punjabi delicacy in South India might make me sound silly, but you'll feel like having this dish, once you enter the city and see almost all South Indian's having the same! Also, moving around the streets near the bus depot of Coimbatore will introduce you to 'Coffee & Wafers', something that South India is quite famous have. Have fresh banana wafers with Coffee! Really tastes good... (INR 10)

Will cover the Coimbatore - Ooty - Coimbatore journey in my next blog...

Hi. Just so all my readers know, this is my very first blog and I am writing this, after one of my very good friend Abhishek suggested on me writing one! Without wasting much time of my precious readers I’ll just brief you about the idea of this blog…

Around 2 weeks back, I decided to purchase a new PC for my house. Ideally, I wanted to buy it after Windows Vista was launched for the consumer market. Unfortunately my old system’s hard drive was too old and tired to work more for me, and started showing it’s anger by making mechanical sounds! (It was a Seagate 60 GB IDE 5400 RPM drive)

My machine hunt started by checking prices of individual components, which one would require to make a powerful PC. I visited many sites, forums and even ebay which listed the peripheral prices. The listings on ebay are too pricey and you have to be really lucky to get a good deal! I also saw that not many forums have listed Mumbai prices… This is one reason that has made me write this blog for you people! Hope it is a little useful!

I have not listed any specific shops here because you’d end up buying from one who gives you the best deal and also, I am not here to advertise for any vendor! All the peripherals carry their nice individual warranties of which, only the warranties by Hard Disk excite us! 5 Years! Wow!

~ Who should read this? People from the beautiful Mumbai City who have heard about ‘Lamington Road’ and those cheap prices that they get the PC components at! Also, for readers who’d want to assemble their own PC someday!

~ Who should NOT read this? People wanting to run after branded PC’s… Dell, HP’s, Zenith (Ahem…) this really isn’t for you guys!

I have mentioned my PC configuration here... All prices in INR (Indian Rupees):

Genuine Intel 965 RY (also know RYCK at Lamington!) Motherboard - 6600

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Processor - 9000

LG GSN-H20 Dual Layer DVD Writer - 1950

Sony DVD – ROM Combo Drive (Don’t ask why I got one more!) - 1650

1 GB Transcend RAM (Single Module) - 5100

160 GB Samsung (Yucks!) SATA HDD 7200 RPM - 3150

19” ViewSonic Wide screen Monitor - 14000

1.44 Sony FDD - 350

Plain Keyboard and Optical Mouse - 500

Creative Decoder DDTS-100 (Explained later) - 7500

Creative Inspire T6060 (5.1 Speakers) - 4800

Delta 350 Watts Power Supply & Intex Cabinet (Monalisa) – 7 HDD Bay’s - 3250

Well as you see, this is my new PC! Yeps, I spend almost 58 Grand’s but you guys or girls who understand what I’ve purchased, you’d be like… “Whoooaaa” by now!

Warranty information:
The processor and motherboard carry 2 years warranty, the LCD monitor 3 years, RAM carry’s a lifetime warranty and rest all others carry 1 year warranty.

Also note that, as of today, prices have dropped further and the prices mentioned above are a little higher! (Well, I got the machine delivered at my house in Bandra and if you guys are good at bargaining then you can get a better deal than this)

If you have seen, I have not purchased a Video Card yet and this is because that is only thing I’ll purchase only after Vista debuts in India. All you people who want to buy a new PC, hang on to it and buy one after Vista releases! Ofcourse this advice is useless for people who are more than happy with Windows XP (I am happy too, just that newer OS’s excite me). Well, I’ve seen many forums and site’s mentioning about Vista’s powerful UI which is completely driven by a video card… an OS first of it’s kind from Microsoft (It always is, huh!). So if all you Operating System crazy people are awaiting Vista’s release like I am… think and buy a graphics card perhaps sometime later! Also, ideally purchase a 17” or 19” widescreen display… the typical 4:3 screens are a little out of style now!

Some components explained:

I’ll only explain why I got a Delta 350 Watts power supply and what’s with this Creative Decoder mentioned above, in my blog that I'll post later in a day or two! The reason: I still have to install my speakers and will try posting a review rather than just posting what it is!

Some extra information…

Where exactly is Lamington Road and where are all these peripheral shops?

Lamington Road, Grant Road Station - You get down at grant road and move towards the east (Grant Road East that is). The moment you get down out of the station you see a fly-over on your right. Move in the direction of the fly-over and follow the road, which goes left and is now parallel to the fly-over. At the foot of the fly-over you are near a signal crossing. Take a right here (cross the road) and this is a dream lane for any guy/ girl who wants to assemble his/ her own PC! Walk into any of the peripheral shops which are predominantly dominated by our good ol’ traditional Baniya’s! and list them your dream PC configuration

About me:

I am Ameya Bhakay. I completed my Graduation in Commerce from Chinai College, Andheri and then completed my Masters in Computer Application (MCA), Mumbai University. I am currently working as a Software Engineer at SmartStream Technologies (P.) Ltd.