After almost one year of using Linux on my ASUS FX504 laptop in dual boot mode with Windows 10, I decided to give Mint 19.2 a try. My experiments with different Linux versions on this laptop have not been much successful. I have tried the following in last 1 year or so: 1. Good Old UBuntu GNOME3 2. PopOS 3. Manjaro Linux 4. ZorinOS 5. Deepin 6. Linux Mint Cinnamon 7. Maybe one or two more, but I forgot😀 In addition I also tried some of the desktop environments like XFCE with XUbuntu, LXDE with LUbuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, KDE with KUBuntu. Each of the linux distribution or desktop environment gave different feeling of stability, ease of use, overall look and feel, convenience etc. But somehow I was not satisfied and always would go back to GNOME3 on UBuntu. Around 1 month back I stumbled upon a news article which mentioned that Linux Mint 19.2 is coming out of Beta and is being released in early August 2019. I quickly read about the re...

In the last week of December 2018 I was sitting idle at home. Had full week of vacation and nothing much to do at home. So I decided to go to Pondicherry from Bangalore for a 2 day trip with family.  The plan got finalized at a short notice and I started looking for some decent hotel. Due to vacation season there was too much rush in Pondicherry and all the hotels were either fully booked for new year or room tariffs were unusually high. Finally got a room for 2 nights in a decent hotel near to promenade at 3 times the usual price 😥. Distance to Pondicherry from Bangalore is around 310 kilometers by road. I had planned to drive.  If you look at Google Maps then it will suggest the shortest route which is : Bangalore->Hosur->Krishnagiri->Chengam->Tiruvannamalai->Gingee->Tindivanam->Pondicherry I decided to trust google maps and took this route. Map showed total 6 hours to reach Pondicherry from Bangalore.  We started early at 6:...