15 October 2008
It's my first day at Institute of High Performance Computing(IHPC). My dad drove me down to Fusionopolis to make sure that I was on time. Met up with Ryan, Leonard and You Hock at the lobby before making our way up to the office.
We met up with Janice from the Human Resource department to settle our documents before meeting up with our supervisor, Kevin. We were told that there were many departments in IHPC and we are in Advanced Computing(Visual) department. We were then brought to our "working space" and got our assigned computer. Ryan and I got an iMac each while Leonard and You Hock took the MacBooks. We were then given time to familiarize with our computers as none of us had actually used an Apple computer before.
After we familiarized with our "working area" and computers, we were then brought to somewhere in Holland Village for lunch via a shuttle bus service.
A formal introduction was done after lunch as we met up with other people from the department. We then were given a tour around the office before being assigned some tasks to do while Kevin and the rest are preparing for some interviews with the media.
These are the stuff which we are suppose to research about:
- Linux and its distributions
- Linux OS
- Linux community
- OS Licenses GPL/BSD
- Mac OS
- Linus Trovalds
- Richard Stallman
- Bill Gates
- Steve Jobs
- Compilers
- Open Source
Managed to read about Linux OS, its community and its distributions before knocking off. On a side note, the people at IHPC are nice and fun. I'm sure we will learn and have a lot of fun along the way.
16 October 2008
Second day at IHPC. I arrived quite early, so I waited for the rest in the pantry while studying for my SAP exam which is on the following day. After the rest arrived, we continued our research as Kevin said that we would have a discussion on what we have read on so far. So I managed to read about Linus Trovalds and Richard Stallman.
At 10am, Kevin came over and discussed with us on what we had managed to read about so far before giving us a lesson on Linux. We then had a clearer view on what and how Linux came about thanks to Linus Trovalds. After the quick "lesson", Kevin then showed us how a Linux OS looked like and our next assignment is to install a Linux OS onto the computer. We were also told that we are supposed to split ourselves up into 2 groups and each group would be working an different platforms for Lightdraw - one group on Linux, one group on Mac. However, all four of us wanted to try working on Linux as we were interested. So we drew lots to see who would work on which platform. Ryan and I would be working more on Mac while Leonard and You Hock would be working more on Linux. We had lunch after drawing lots.
After lunch, we were then told to download the Linux OS(Fedora 9) and burn it onto the DVDs given. While downloading, we are suppose to watch a movie, "Pirates of Silicon Valley", to give us a better insight on who Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are. However, due to an unexpected media interview, we were unable to watch it and plans were pushed back. So we continued with our research for the rest of the day before knocking off.
17 October 2008
Third day of my attachment and it is the grand opening of our attachment building, Fusionopolis. Nothing much happened as Kevin and the rest are busy with the grand opening. So as a compensation, a picture of the building.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2134/2442357893_fc0f51f8c8_o.jpg
Since Kevin was busy, he gave us a day off (lucky us). Ryan, You Hock and I headed to Clifford Centre in Raffles Place to take our SAP exam. All 3 of us passed! The day off we got was well worth it.
Reflection for the week:
These 2-3 days at IHPC feels like an orientation for me. It's for me to get used to the environment and people at IHPC. Luckily for me, the people around me are friendly and are willing to help whenever I have any questions or doubts. Having the SAP examination this week is also quite stressful as I have to pick up new things on the job as well as study for the SAP examination.
However, thanks to the 'intensive' training received in the block mode, I've managed to pass the examination and also aquire new knowledge. I would say this is only the beginning of a new phase in my life. =)
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