To Bong or Not to Bong - Installing Bangla Script Support

Was talking to a friend of mine recently. Asked her whether her system had 'Bangla Script Display Support' (i.e. if she can view webpages and documents written in Bengali). Her reply: "It's not important."

Kinda sad, u know, considering one doesn't consider his/her mother-tongue 'important' these days. Well, in that respect: is music important? is art important? is being opinionated important? is acknowledging one's cultural roots important?

Not important enough, I guess. It's not hip. It won't help you in getting that hot IT job, become a rockstar or get you laid, for that matter.

But it's just a couple of freaking steps away, man! :

In Windows XP* (support's already there by default in Vista):

1)Go to Control Panel (Switch to Classic View) -> Regional and Language Options ('Date, Time, Language and Regional Options' in Standard View)-> Click on the 'Languages' Tab

2) Select BOTH the options in the "Supplemental Language Support" Section ('Install files from complex scripts' and 'Install files for East Asian Languages' - select i.e. check them both)

3) You'll need a Windows XP installation CD (any one will do, need not necessarily be the CD you installed Win XP from).

Mozilla Firefox:

1) Go to Preferences->Advanced

2) On the 'General' tab, in the Languages Section, click on 'Choose..'

3) Select Bengali [BN] from the drop down menu and Add it.

In GNU/Linux :

It's there already (pick up any decently new distro; I'm sure that at least in Debian it's there since time immemorial).

That's it! Your system is now all set to display Bangla Scripts (Check out my awesome Bangla Blog - it should come properly.)

For further details, check out this wiki-page.

For writing in Bengali, lotsa software are there. I recommend ISIS for Windows and Muktalekhaa for Linux . ISIS also works decently on Mandrake and Red-hat. I use Muktalekhaa in my Kubuntu Gutsy setup and it works like a breeze.

It's such a simple thing. I believe every Bengali who cares to walk on the information highway should have Bangla support on his/her computer.If not for anything else, then at least to pay some homage to your roots.

It's your matreebhasha, after all.

Bangla Gutsy

*the process described works for most of the Indian languages too.

Free Games!

Well, I'm kinda totally into Linux these days (thanks to this awesome phenomenon called Kubuntu Gutsy), and, kind stumbled upon couple of awesome games:

(1) Nexuiz [v. 2.3.3], a game based on the legendary (sorry I've been watching too many episodes of How I met you Mother lately) Quake Engine, is a FPS multiplayer death-match all-hell-break-loose kinda game, a la Quake (no surprises there, eh?). The maps and the textures are pretty amazing, and though they could have been a bit more serious when coming up with the way the bots look, any Quake veteran worth his salt will tell you that that's the last thing one looks for in such games. What matters is the gameplay. And that's where this game scores:

(a) The weapons are just too awesome! Every weapon has a primary and secondary way of using it, which kinda doubles your arsenal and stretches out your horizon of strategic possibilities like anything (I particularly like the rocket launcher, where you can blow up the rocket mid-way during it's trajectory by a simple right-click...talk about remote-controlled rockets!!).
(b) The maps are wayyy better looking than Quake. The shadows and the textures are pretty awesome too, and really doesn't eat up much of your graphics resources.
(c) In every other aspect, it is at least as good as (if not better than) Quake!

(2)Opera Liero X, one of the very few games ever which I really got hooked on to. It's all about a few worms having an almost infinite range of weapons (from Mega Nukes to Bazookas to UZIs to even axes and baseball bats) using ninja ropes to swing around and 'cause carnage with a lot blood (which can be upto some 5000% !!) and explosive sounds..it's kinda cute, kinda funny and kinda unimpressive at first sight (if you are one of those high-end graphic freaks, this will really disappoint you..kinda looks like a DOS game!). But believe me, gameplay-wise, I've never come across a game till date which even closely matches the level of adrenaline this one can rush into your veins..and it amazingly addictive! Heck, there are even Liero world championships and pro Liero players out there!

And the best part about these? They are Open-Source and Free (in every sense of the term)!! And they're running awesomely on Linux...feels great!

It's all in the Sub

What's the best thing in the world right now?

A 12" honey oat-lamb steak Sub with bacon, extra cheese, jalapeño, pickles, green pepper, tomatoes, lettuce and black olives; with mayonnaise, chipotle, honey mustard and BBQ sauces, of course...

Even geeks feel hungry at times, you know..

(Subway Rocks!)

The Bong Connection

Jukti Tokko Goppo, my "Bong Blog" is up. Yay!

Do visit to get a taste of the bong-tastic side of me :)

Requires Bengali support (in your browser, at least; and, as usual, Firefox is more than enough.)

Made the sexy Logo using Gimp. Cool, isn't it? As usual, Gimp rocks. Kubuntu rocks. (Yes. I use Gimp, but not Gnome. Muhahahaha).

Bangla looks so beautiful. Anywhere. Anyday.

Also made my first resume using LaTex today (in English only). And, needless to say, it looks beautiful too.

Today was a beautiful day indeed!

Yellow Matter Custard!

There comes a time in everyone's life when one develops doubts about something he really loves, thinking if all the pains and all the sacrifices he made to achieve something was really worth it and all, whether the dreams he believed in were rather delusional, whether he's really good enough, whether he should have rather done something else etc. etc.

And, then, suddenly, on a faithful day, he comes across something which makes him realize that nothing else that could've given him more happiness, that there was no other thing that he wanted any more badly. And it motivates him to carry on along the path, no matter how hard it is.

I came across Yellow Matter Custard. And I picked up my guitar again.

Thank you, Paul Gilbert.