Access Point (cont'd)

Again .. again and again, in WiNNER lab.

After depressed on how to set up the 2 802.11b/g access points my thesis supervisor gave us, finally extra-hard works paid. Right now 2 access points which were given to our lab for further use are now running smoothly.

Either locally or globally (out of ITB's internal network), is now accessible. PHEEEWW .. !!

Right now is testing the wireless security which will be done by the LSS-ITB admin (I gave him the mandatory to configure and install those AP's); the test will be conducted next Monday. Unfortunately, the testbed is meant for D-IV students (Alas! we've configured it 27/7 but no one from WiNNER will use the new AP's ???) .. it is fair enough I guess since we've run the test since a week ago and now it's their turn to use.

The next step is installing wireless AP's covering ITB area. The technology used for this is still 802.11b/g but with higher power and better quality. The quality itself depends on the PHY layer (in OSI system there are 7 layers, PHY is the lowest) because WiFi's primary concern is focused on PHY layer plus DATA LINK layer. The project manager is pointed to Dr.Ir. Yusep Rosmansyah who is the chief of WiNNER.

Not only that, with the new smartcard IP-based phone existance in ITB next year; embedded with wireless technology a new form of wireless IP phones will exist. The smartcard IP-phone itself is a research of my Master degree fellows (Good for you guys !), the aim of this new invention are to provide cheaper communication, new utilities addition, further research, etc including ... a ticket to earn a Master/Doctoral degree :D.

Virus .. virus .. virus

Here I am back again in WiNNER ...

I uninstalled my McAfee Anti-virus and reinstall with a newer one. It's hard to believe that after I checked my computer condition ... there were some critical hits in the operating system caused by viruses. One of the fearmost virus is SASSER or WORM. These viruses kind attacked via network into vulnurable PC's. A brief description about this ...

Whoever made these viruses isn't an idiot programmer(s)/hacker(s). They know the weak points of each operating systems, which port is open for penetration, what kind of security layers the victims have, etc. The maniac behind the doom brilliantly coded the virus and sent it through the net either email, HTTP, FTP, etc. Doesn't care who the recipients are, what they are, who they are as long as the virus goes though the net it finds its victims. The virus itself is a mobile agent unit -it isn't like 007 however because viruses have no life :P- which means after the mandatory was given from his "master" the agent acts independently. The agent itself isn't the true killer though the effects making everybody thinks the agent is the killer .. wrong, my friends! very wrong! The true killer is the "master".

I don't know whether the "master" was just playing fun, or showing his power to the world that .. *echoing loud low-tone voice* I AM THE CONQUEROR OF THE INTERNET WORLD ; but making people busy of cleaning their PC's isn't funny at all. Surprisingly, some of them even worked for Anti-virus companies in order to raise the selling of their products! After the users panic to find the proper Anti-virus for those kinds, the Anti-virus companies are laughing and say .. "ha ha ha, come and get me! You wouldn't want your machine(s) be infected forever no ? so I have the solution."

Oh well, guess I have to upgrade my machine with an open-source O/S. Windows without service packs is like a soldier without body protection and weapons ... :((

Acces point ...

Today my thesis supervisor gave us 2 acces points with one wireless adapter which would be installed within our lab ... our beloved Wireless Network Research Group (WiNNER). YIPPEEE !! Finally our dream to have wireless accesses comes true !!

As a higher education student in our lab .. I was given a mandatory to test-drive these acces points, put all the settings within my computer and run the network management system. It's an honor for me to do the testing because wireless has become my daily breakfast ever since I joined the lab. Also, these running test is one of the breakthrough to my thesis which so much related to it. Once the test result ends good, all students who has their wireless access adapter installed within their machines ... voila!

At first I considered this installation as child's play, but once I got into it I realized that it's not. So many steps must be taken ie. setting up the proxy settings, IP address, and the most importing thing of all ... accessing the internet via wireless device. Theoritically, it is not as difficult as everyone thinks it is. The major setup was done in my computer I brought to the lab from my room.

But one thing I wonder about my computer is ... WHY I CANNOT CONNECT a wireless device to the acces point ??? It sucks to know, at first the configuration went normal but finally one trouble came out when I was about to configure the settings it's either the windows or technical problems. Not mentioning the complains of the AI3 admin to the LSS server admin about the worm virus attack to the network system. Sadly, the main attack was to our network!! The one and only thing I know is that my winXP is HOME edition and WITHOUT service packs which provide more security to the system. I'll be damned if the LSS admin put all the blame on me :((

Never fear .. Dimas! failure is not an option! like Gene Kranz said when he encountered Apollo 13 damaged within the vaccum space and managed to bring 3 astronauts safely back home. This case should've been a study case how to manage me and my team in the lab to bring that acces points to work ...

LET'S GO PEOPLE .. MOVE IT !!

The main purpose of leadership is to mobilize people through idea(s) so they follow WITHOUT having complains, unwillingness, doubts, etc. Now this is hard for some people because heads are different one to another.

But there's no need to worry about yourself if you feel you aren't capable to be a leader. 3 things on leadership to know :
1. Leadership can be learned by literatures, field experience, etc.
2. Some people were born with leadership talent but the portion for each person is different.
3. People might get a chance to lead on certain occasions.
So, if you are underconvident on your leadership read above.

This is the thing that is important and essential in the MILITARY. Many institutions adopted military leadership to train it's top executives -they were not trained to shoot M16's or SS1's however, hehehehehe-. Furthermore, in order to obtain field skills many of them are trained with the extreme conditions similiar to what cadet soldiers faced during basic training.

I didn't get these leadership sciences if I weren't a MENWA (Resimen Mahasiswa) member. Many things can be learned from there .. from marching "I wanna be a green bareeeet .." until laughters among members during off-times. The oldest Regiment's Battalion in Indonesia belongs to YON-I/ITB. The history takes us back to national mobilization in late '50s where 4 companies were from ITB the other UNPAD, UNPAR, etc.

Proven to earlier 1st Battalion/ITB CO's who had become the top-man of their company in present time, military leadership is very useful. Highly organized structure, detail, accurate, simple but hits the point, etc. Although there are some regulations in military which don't fit in the civillian, the aim of military leadership application is identic to goal/achievements of many companies. Even some businessmen said .. BUSINESS IS WAR!

Don't count your leadership as success unless your leadership is fused into the heart and mind each and everyone of your men! -US Army

Love ain't here anymore ...

Love ain't here anymore ... that was a part of song sung by Take That years ago, perhaps when I was in the junior high school. I remember the time when I was at that age, I told my friend who was also my neighbour Doni in Rumbai (recently I found out that he is now in Bandung .. what a small world!) I won't seek a soulmate in my whole life. And eventually ... the history repeats.

I must admit that I had a girlfriend I knew from the internet through penpal sites I found, I placed an ad together with my brief description and some wrote me a mail. This girl I'm talking about wrote me a mail back in 1999 when I was alone at home; June 1999 exactly. I was alone at home that time .. my sister went to Rumbai taking her vacation, my brother was still in high school, my parents haven't retired yet. When I checked my email account, I noticed some new mails in the inbox; some belonged to my sister about 1-2 mail(s) were for me -I shared the same account with different alias-. I opened those mails and read it briefly.

I won't tell who this girl's identity for personal reason. But this girl is an Indonesian, lives near Jakarta and has the same age with me .. well she's few months older actually. At first there was no feeling to her, it was more likely between friends only. She told me stories she had, her thoughts she shared, etc. We ever lost contact for a year or so ... later came again in 2001 where I mailed her asking how she is, has she finished her study, etc. Surprisingly, she still remember me and asked the same thing. Not only that, she even gave her cell phone number and I did the same. Since then our contact was not only literally but orally as well. And the love feeling began to blossom .....

in 2002, February or March or -oh boy, I forgot it :((- I expressed my feeling to her. She was shocked .. because she didn't expect me to say that. After few days she told me the same thing she had in her mind ... YIIPPEEEE !! For the past years that time was the first time someone accepted my love. Oh boy, it was the most happiest moment in my whole life ... but I didn't consider the next thing I would get since then .........

We had a rough sailing relation. Broke and made it up again few times, at first she complained the distance between us. But later it spread onto another things. She graduated from one of a famous university located in Rasuna Said Jakarta in 2003, if you know what it is then keep it in your mind. Later worked in a Korean merchandising company, quit in 2004 and now she's working in a Malaysian IT company located in Sudirman Jakarta (don't know if her office has moved). Again, because the power of love we were still in a relationship. This time we had planned a future of marriage. AGAIN ... we broke for the n-th times, it was because of my fault actually -I didn't ask for a broke but my behavior led me onto it- I abused her verbally (I didn't mean to hurt her but sometimes I can't take her stubborness) because of one thing ... she didn't want to tell me 'someone' she met through matrimonial site over the internet when we broke up earlier -WHAT THE F**K ?!- I waited for a time to cool things down with a hope of things would be back normally again BUT she seeked another one who has a serious intention of marriage ?? was it called LOVE ??? ... TRUE LOVE ??? she wanted to broke since then and never wanted me to come back ever again. It's all over, love I brought for her for 3 years finally ended in pain .. real pain -at least to me-. Last thing I heard of her, she also found someone -and even had a date with him- few weeks ago with the same intention of marriage. This time I've passed through a point of no return. Her family especially her mother suggested her to stay away from me forever. No more SMS ".. love you darling" beginning at 2130 at least, no more hug and kiss good night virtually, no more visit to her town, nothing from now on, nothing .....

So long my dear, I don't want to know you and your family together with your businesses anymore ... all of our past we've made has been deceased.

The epilogue as a conclusion, don't do what I did to my x. Like one of reality show in RCTI .. love will find you if you try, if you have already catched it don't let loose.

Now it's time to move forward, casting away that feeling I've made. I've had enough of love from now on. I'm back to my idealism I made during high school ... won't find any soulmate instead of it, helping unfortunate people -there's a raise in number of them recently in Indonesia- with means of science and technology -who knows someday I could establish a technology based company which provides more employement to this beloved nation-.

Doni, like I told you when we walked for home after school "whenever I meet you again someday, I'll be single like I am now" ... I've accomplished that.

Days of Days

Today, I'm studying about signal modulation and processing. It's hard to believe that I could study this mathematical subjects until now whereas my childhood was full of pain and mental abuse from my friends in elementary and junior high (level 1). Not even math, other subjects were so much like knifes ready to stab me at anytime. In class, I was the least from the least and it kept haunting me .. friends (boys and girls) called me idiotic freak and even teacher(s).

One thing I heard eventually -a secret conversation between my parents and the board of teachers- I was helpless and the teachers suggested my parents to transfer me to another school where the students were around my academic capability; it was sad to hear such statements ... (if I were a kid at this present time perhaps I'll hang myself like some unfortunate school students who had their own problems). So fortunate they didn't tell me instantly after they discussed it with the board. Else, I wouldn't write these blogs here .. I'm telling you.

My starting page

well, at least I finally write some blogs here on web. At first, I thought writing these blogs means sassy or something related to that as a man. But after few considerations, I finally decided to write my own blog ( doesn't mean I turned to what I assumed before :D ). The name muslim scientist as my URL is taken because I admire Muslim scientists prior to the infamous Newton who discovered calculus and theory of classical mechanics like .. let's say Syeikh Al Jabbir ( Algebra ), Al Qhimistr ( Alchemy ), Al Qhwaritzmi ( Logarithm ), Umar Qhayam ( raised numbers ), etc. So ... this is my starting page :)