Sunday, April 17, 2011

MeTA Studio binary release

Another, major bug fix release of MeTA Studio (2.0.17042011) is available for download. The list of issues addressed, and not yet fixed can be seen here.

New additions and fixes in this release:

- apps folder: simple examples of writing new applications on MeTA Studio platform
- MO plot (a new widget is supplied for the same)
- Support for NetCDF and HDF libraries
- problems with i/o redirection for scripts running with in MeTA Studio GUI environment

Still in works:

- Rotation of individual molecules in the editor (partially working)
- Interpolated normals for on-screen iso-surfaces

Monday, April 04, 2011

Configure WiFi usb adapter as a WiFi hotspot (Windows 7)

Had allocated this long weekend for fixing Issue 46 in MeTA Studio, but ended with lot other bugs that had to be fixed. Eventually, I am only half way through fixing the real issue. With all this I got painfully bored :( So decided to do some changes in my setup.

I have a mobile data plan currently on my mobile for which pay about 100 INR per-month for 2GB, which are hardly used up. In fact, I find that I really do not require that. Also, after seeing the new 3G data plan rates (http://airtel.in/Airtel-3G/tariffs.html), I though it was high time I just dump the subscription. So now my phone is quite simply put, un-plugged, with only voice and sms, and pay as you use data.

Now when I am at home, on most of the weekdays, my parents watch TV. And my main desktop as well as the TV is same unit. So, if I need to work (with internet connection), I simply used to setup an ad-hoc connection using a WiFi usb adapter connected to my desktop. The sad part was that my Android 2.1 phone never saw this ad-hoc network. I could simply purchase a Wifi router, but just can't convince myself to get a new device.

After a bit of googling, I came across this very useful article: http://www.blogsdna.com/5506/how-to-setup-virtual-wifi-in-windows-7-without-any-extra-software.htm

Essentially, the whole thing boils down to two commands:

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=mywifi key=mypassword
netsh wlan start hostednetwork


and also enabling Internet connection sharing in Windows 7.

Next up, I wanted this to startup automatically when my main desktop booted. I did this by writing the above commands in a batch file and using NSSM - the Non-Sucking Service Manager (http://iain.cx/src/nssm/) to create a Windows auto start service.

Cool afternoon, now back to fixing Issue #46 ;)