The Best of Self-Driving Vehicle Technology.

In recent years, a lot of tech giants have started pumping big money into this vastly potential field of travel technology that we now call as self-driving vehicles. But as few today know, autonomous driving technology isn't a new fad. And for that matter, efforts to make vehicles autonomous are evident since the 1920s with real progress being made during the 1950s. And with the advent of modern electronics, autonomous vehicles were becoming a reality in the late 1980s with university projects on the subject. Even Mercedes-Benz had their first fair share in the game. But moving thirty years on, our biggest tech giants are still struggling to get their self-driving technology out on the streets in a more safer position. We've all heard of the crashes, and oh yes, people got hurt too. Well, it is recent news that there are rumours that Google might be pulling the plug on their self-driving project in favour of supporting other companies instead who are already making way better progress in the field. Oh, and it also seems they're going to use all that to start an autonomous taxi service network. But we can be sure those taxis aren't going to git the tarmac any time soon.

Google's experimental driverless car.

Besides, any company out there working on this tech including Google suggests that there must still be a driver in the front - should anything go wrong. So technically, we aren't actually there yet in terms of being able to trust our own technology, and for obvious reasons - we who program our "perfect" bots are still imperfect. Also, there's a lot of other constraints that are preventing any real success in this field, including unreliable software, chaotic environments and lack of infrastructure. But there are still some who didn't let these limitations stop them,and they have got results. Recently, the self-driving vehicle startup Otto sent their 18-wheeler roaring down the highway and believe me, the test results were more than satisfactory. And the best part? there was no driver behind the wheel at all. Things seem to be going well there. And lets not forget the other auto firms that are into this fad since the early days. Yup, that includes  Mercedes, Audi, Tesla and Nissan among others. Pretty tough competition out there as expected. But only a few of them are making any real headway. And we all know, only a few states have given permits for driverless vehicles in the United States. So there's trouble with the law too.

Tesla's Autopilot system has successfully
been tested on highways.

Most firms out there that are into this field stated that fully autonomous vehicles will hit the roads by 2025. So I guess that means we are still a long way off from getting our first 'fully-automated' cars, at least another decade or so. But in the mean time, we can still fiddle with Tesla's autopilot, which I have to say, according to reviews, isn't that bad on highways. But unfortunately, you can't drive around the suburbs with autopilot on because it isn't designed for it.  But where it's really useful is when you've been driving long hours and accidents are prone to happen due to fatigue, or maybe if you're just too negligent - autopilot is here to save the day.

Otto's driverless truck cruising on a highway.

Oh, and guess what? If you thought only auto manufacturers were into this, think again. Fortunately, we've got everyone from Nvidia to Qualcomm. There were even rumours of Apple joining the bandwagon soon enough. Well, now that there's more people actually trying to make the first actual automated vehicle than just five years ago, we might just have a better chance of getting one of these gigs sooner - at least within the next decade.

Nvidia's testing it's own set of driverless cars.

So, what technology are our contenders here using? Whatever tech they use has to let the car literally "see" what's going on around it, process that data, and compute and make decisions within milliseconds and execute  them before anything goes wrong. This can save lives or endanger them - depending on how well the vehicle's system does the said actions. For example, Google's self-driving car uses everything from cameras, lasers, ultrasonics and radars all in one vehicle, to allow it to process it's surroundings. It's cameras even interpret common road signs, it's antennas give accurate results with respect to it's global positioning. There are gyroscopes and accelerometers that are used for processing orientation. Other firms use similar technology and are advancing at an equally rapid phase with the development of these amazing futuristic vehicles.

Closer to the future eh? Tell us in the comments what you think of driverless cars and how they'll change the world!

How to run Windows applications on Linux.

In the Linux world, we know we may not always find alternative apps to those in Windows. In fact, there’s very few that actually can rival against some great Windows applications. And when we talk of applications like Adobe Photoshop, there’s simply no competition here. So, even the best of us may need to use a couple of these applications. But since some of them haven’t been released for any Linux distributions, the only option would be to actually run them in Windows itself - or is it?

Well, thats not true. Especially if you are a person like me who is not a big fan of Windows, you would not want to boot into Window for the just for the sake of a few applications. For the most part, I look for alternatives all over the place. But when I don’t find a suitable one, it becomes absolutely necessary to use the original Windows versions themselves. And believe me, we’re not alone. And that’s why there is a workaround to getting your favorite Windows applications working - right on your Linux desktop!

While this may not be a tutorial, here I will be mentioning a couple of ways to get this done. But you may find other alternatives as well.

1. PlayOnLinux

PlayOnLinux is completely based on Wine (which I will be talking about next). And, it provides easier route for installing and managing application with Wine. Yes, PlayOnLinux is available for free and you can work easily and seamlessly for the most part...though some applications may not always work with it. And thats exactly why we have other alternatives. You can check it out here.

2. Wine

Wine is the acronym for Wine Is Not an Emulator. Nope, it's not an emulator and neither is it a virtual machine. So what is it then? While a virtual machine or emulator simulates internal Windows logic, Wine translates those Windows logic to native UNIX/POSIX- compliant logic. In other words, Wine converts internal Windows commands to commands your Linux system can natively understand. Which means you can run Windows applications without an extra overhead. There is a large number of Windows applications that are currently fully supported by Wine and they will run hassle-free. However, new Windows applications are being developed every day. Many of them wouldn’t function on Wine as expected. But Wine support is fast as well. So, if the application you're hoping to install is new on the market, you may have to test it yourself or wait a while until a version of Wine is released that will cater to your needs. For now, you can download any of the apps rated on their website once you install Wine. The applications are rated anywhere from Platinum to Garbage - and it means just how well they'll function with Wine. 

3. Virtual Machine

This would actually be the best way to run Windows apps on Linux if you have good amount of resources. But nevertheless, I have tried running full version of Windows 10, 64-bit in a virtual machine when I had only 4GB of RAM and a 2GHz i3 processors. What you're actually doing is running Microsoft Windows - inside a virtual machine. No, this is different from dual booting. First of all we download and install a virtual machine manager for your distro. Oracle VM VirtualBox is a great choice among other powerful alternatives. VMWare Virtual Machine is also a great premium alternative. Once you are all set with the software, install a version of Windows from an iso by setting up a new virtual machine. After that, simply give it permission to share over the network. Then you can transfer files to and from the virtual machine. Simple as that.

4. ReactOS

This is actually a great project that is still in alpha. But it would be worth a try - 6 million downloads from a 100 countries already. ReactOS is actually a Linux derivative which is fine tuned with lots of Wine code so that you can run any Windows application just like that - as if you were using Windows. No extra configuring, no extra nonsense. You can check out their website here.

5. Crossover

Crossover is a premium derivative of Wine and yes, it has it's perks - if you are willing to spend some cash. Crossover is developed by Codeweavers and I have to say, they've done a great job with it. What it does is again, run Microsoft Windows software on your Linux distro without buying a Windows license, rebooting or using a virtual machine. CrossOver makes it easy to launch Windows apps natively, and integrates your Linux operating system functionality like cross-platform copy & paste and shared file systems to your Windows programs. CrossOver runs Windows productivity software, utility programs, and games all in one application. And just like Wine, without the overhead of a virtual machine, Windows software and games can run as fast as they would under a Windows OS. You could just buy Crossover or get a free 14-day trial. You can check out their website here.


So, which method did you try? And which one worked best for you? Or perhaps you have an alternative not mentioned here? Let us know in the comments!

Windows or Linux?

We all know the Windows vs Linux war has been on since decades. Great advancements and modernization on both sides have given each of them bounds and leaps. But the question remains-Windows or Linux? And having used seven versions of Windows and also numerous Linux distros for more than a decade, I do feel qualified to answer that question.

I do admit, the first computer I used as a kid was a desktop loaded with Windows 99. And over the years that followed, I have used XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 and even MS-DOS. But it wasn't until a few years ago that I brought Dell Inspiron 1545 and an Ubuntu CD came along with the package and that was when for the first time, I had ever heard of something called Linux. Until then, I had actually thought Windows and Mac OS were the only two operating systems. Of course, that was true right out of the box. But I couldn't believe there was actually a third competitor, and for where I lived, no one was using it. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try. I simply checked out the demo, and by what I saw, I was instantly amazed. Among other features,Ubuntu had these dual workspaces even way back then, and that Windows had none until Windows 10 came along. Who knew there were so many other features in there, and I had been locked out by Windows propaganda. Even though I had this Linux distro, it would be at least another five years until I actually install one on my laptop. The reason? Ubuntu couldn't run .exe files and also I couldn't play any of my games. Well, I wasn't aware of packages like Wine and PlayOnLinux back then, and I regret it. 

For the most part, I did like Windows. I could do pretty much anything on it. But I despised it for one thing - security. In 2010, for the first time, my desktop was attacked by viruses which got downloaded along with a game file. And thats when I realised I couldn't really sit around without an antivirus at all. Windows simply crashed, and I was frantically looking for help. I had to wipe the disks. That was it. Everything gone. I still stuck with Windows because I could do what I usually do and run anything out there. But then came along Windows 8. My God, what a disaster that was. I was totally knocked out by the very look of it. Everything was out of place. The whole UI was changed, and it took me forever to get used to the panels popping up from top-left-right and bottom. I was disgusted. Even after they released Windows 8.1, it still looked crappy. I badly needed an alternative. I had just remembered about Ubuntu, because I had become a XP refugee on my old laptop, because Microsoft had withdrawn support for Windows XP and my dusty old laptop couldn't run any new version of Windows.   So I got a newer version of Ubuntu, and installed it. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is the one I had got, 64-bit. And surprisingly, it booted up thanks to its modest system requirements. Booting up was really fast, in fact I had never seen such good boot times on Windows - ever! A lot of software came ready in handy. Just what I needed. I found out about Wine and instantly got most of my Windows software working. For whatever didn't I found alternatives. I had a good time with Linux. It had come a long way from being a command based system back in the 90s to having a great GUI. Back in the 90s, only shell wizards could run something like Linux because there wasn't a GUI for it, which is not the case now. Since more than a decade now, Linux has perfected it's GUI compared to their predecessors. And, there was a plethora of Linux distros out there. So I decided to check them out, one by one. At one time, I even had four operating systems all in one hard disk. I tried out so many of them - Linux Mint Cinnamon, Cub Linux(earlier called Chromixium OS because it was a clone of Chrome OS), Parrot Security OS, various derivatives of Ubuntu and other KDE derivatives too. I really don't even remember the number of Linux Distros I tried. I even tried out an x86 project of Android running on PCs named Remix OS, and it too of course had a Linux kernel.

Variety - that's what I found was the most beautiful thing about Linux. And, Linux was invincible against all viruses that were ever made for Windows, and even had a great system to determine threats on the system depending on what's in the file - not just the type of file and the file name, that's what Windows does...what a shame. A while later, in mid-2015, Microsoft released Windows 10, and I just bought a laptop, again a Dell Inspiron 15 3000 series. It came loaded with Windows 10 out of the box. I liked the new material design UI, and looks like Microsoft really put in some work on design this time. Overall, I have to say it was modern - more modern than any predecessor. It supported all the new age software and hardware that I ever wanted. Security had greatly improved thanks to Windows Defender. I really loved it. Honestly, I thought I was going to be with Windows one more time. Well, that didn't happen. And the reason is surely quite ugly.

Thanks to the Microsoft policies, no matter what I did, no matter what privacy setting I tweaked, Windows 10 was still sending my data to Microsoft. I had no idea why Microsoft is so aggressive with wanting all this data, and most importantly - what are they doing with it? You might want to read a post on The Hacker News, where they tested the extent to which Windows puts their users privacy in jeopardy.  So why would I want to take a "free" copy of Windows 10 and be spied upon? I was disgusted once again. I left Windows for good. No more Windows, thats it. Linux on the other hand offered me a real option to take hold of privacy - totally worth it.

I replaced Windows 10 with Ubuntu MATE 16.10. It's a great OS and is in many ways better than Ubuntu itself. And, what about all my Windows software? Well, I have locked Windows 10 out inside my Virtual Machine, and haven't given it permission to use the network. I use it only when I really have to use software like Adobe Photoshop and other things I can't do on Linux. Linux has come a long way people, and whatever you say about it, you'll have to admit that the world's number one gaming platform Steam is built on Linux, and so is our inseparable  Android that's powering our phones. The world's most secure OS isn't Windows - it's the Linux plethora by all means. And as for versatility, Windows is "great" only for the reason that every major corporation out there is making software for Windows by default - all thanks to Microsoft's propaganda I have to say. Oh, and they've got Cortana for extracting your information too. And with respect to crashes, I will give Windows my award for most times crashed. Literally, I have had a solid boot every time I booted into every Linux distro. 

Another thing I didn't like about Windows was customizability. Linux can by default load different themes and being open source, you yourself can change the look of every nook and cranny there is in OS. Too bad we're stuck with only changing colors and wallpapers on Windows. If you want some real customizing to be done you'll have to install some heavy software like Rainmeter. Again, too bad for Windows.

Of course, it is upto an individual to choose as to which OS they would like to use. But they should consider these factors like security, privacy and reliability when it comes to an OS that's going to run your computer for years to come. So considering all the advantages, my final verdict would be - Linux! I changed over and it's been a while now. I have absolutely no regrets. Of course, you can run your version of Windows alongside Linux using the dual boot option. Or you could do it like I did - remove Windows completely and run it inside a virtual machine instead. As a bonus point, I'd like to mention that seeing the capabilities and potential of Linux, Microsoft too has joined the Linux foundation.

Soon I'll be writing a post on how you can run your favourite Windows apps on Linux. I guess so far I have made my contribution to the Windows vs Linux war. Peace out.