Recent Posts

5626

General Software Discussion / Re: SilverStripe - Easy to use open source CMS + Framework

« Last post by 40hz on July 21, 2012, 02:59 PM »

phpNuke sounds interesting. I'd give it a go but you've, cleverly, managed to put me off already.

-nudone (July 21, 2012, 09:59 AM)

Oh, don't take my word for it. phpNuke is fun. But it feels (to me) more like a science faire project. It was "totally Rad" when it first came out. The problem is it's a very loose ship the Nuke crowd is running. You've got professional brilliance rubbing shoulders with rank amateurism when it comes to plug-ins. YMMV.

Of course if you did use AMPPS it would be very easy to try things out. Even if you didn't use it for your production environment. Hmm...hmm...hmm.tra-lala-la!

BTW, AMPPS doesn't hide anything from you. Once it's installed you can open the control panel:



Select any part of the installed stack:



And review or edit the configuration file for that component:



And if you screw something up ditzing around, you can always restore the original default config with the click of a button.



Lovely! Butterscotch lovely.

Looking in the AMPPS installation directory (which you can specify when you install it) you'll see a structure virtually identical to what you'll find on many hosting services or standard web servers. On my machine, I put all my web stuff on the D drive under a directory called wdev. So my home directory for AMPPS is D:/wdev/Ampps/



All webapps are installed in the www directory under /Ampps. Depending on the app, you may be able to specify the name of the directory for it. Below you'll see a directory for a Wordpress site (wpuwg) for a project I'm currently working on. (Note: Wordpress does let you spec the directory. Some webapps don't.)



Again, nothing mysterious. Most host sites do the same although they may use another directory rather than /www.

And while AMPPS may risk throwing out the baby's rubber duckie with the bath water if somebody chooses to do so, it's by no means a black box. Everything is out in the open. There's even instructions on their wiki that will allow you to customize or create your own webapp installation script if you want. True, it may not let you experience all the technical intricacies of bringing up a W/L/AMP stack from scratch. (Been there. Done that. Worth doing once or twice just to see what's involved.) But if your goal is to get a development environment up and running quickly, and make a webapp installation virtually bulletproof, it can't be beat IMO.

And that's about all I have to say about AMPPS.  

5627

Living Room / Re: new DVD "M-Disc" perfect for archive material

« Last post by 40hz on July 21, 2012, 09:48 AM »

A minor point -- I know one of the things quoted used the term "Blue-Ray", but I think it's officially "Blu-ray"

-ewemoa (July 21, 2012, 12:46 AM)

Corrected. Thx for pointing it out.

5628

General Software Discussion / Re: SilverStripe - Easy to use open source CMS + Framework

« Last post by 40hz on July 21, 2012, 09:42 AM »

So, to avoid panic attacks and depression, I don't want to touch Joomla ever again.

-nudone (July 21, 2012, 09:27 AM)

Aw c'mon. Joomla's only trying to kill the unwary. I'm told it doesn't hurt a bit.

On a more serious note, I agree. Joomla (like other CMS systems) works best when you use it the way it was intended and don't try to push it too far beyond that. Otherwise you end up with a crow's nest like phpNuke - which can do almost everything - but nothing particularly well except breaking more often than most. At least from my experience with it.

The funny thing is, the more I work with Wordpress, the more I find myself liking it. It's not great. And some of what passes for its internal "design" can set your hair on end. But of all the choices out there, Wordpress seems to hit that elusive sweet spot best. And it's adoption rate shows that.

Sometimes good 'nuf is as good as it gets.

Especially when it comes to webapps.

5629

General Software Discussion / Re: SilverStripe - Easy to use open source CMS + Framework

« Last post by 40hz on July 21, 2012, 08:52 AM »

If it's any consolation, I have yet to find any CMS that does what I want it to do the way I want it done. And I must have evaluated all of them by now.

But if I ever do decide to use one, I'll probably opt for one of the two most popular - either Joomla or Wordpress. Most likely Wordpress all factors considered.

The alternative is  learning a framework. And life is far to short to get into one of those unless (a) you have truly unique website requirements (b) you do this stuff for a living, or (c) this stuff is a burning passion for you. Because if you just want to do up a nice website, any of the 'majors' will serve equally well.

Or so it seems to me.

Onward!

5630

Living Room / Re: Strange Windows Explorer problem - anyone know how to fix this?

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 09:43 PM »

Trouble is I am not sure what generated the files - I need to find out before changing the folder structure too much.

-Carol Haynes (July 20, 2012, 08:09 AM)

Any possibility of checking the options/settings in each app (or the config or INF files) to see if you can identify which directories they're writing files to?

5631

Living Room / Re: new DVD "M-Disc" perfect for archive material

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 09:33 PM »

^Interesting. Looking at Amazon here, it seems to imply that LG's drive is already capable of doing Blu-Ray burns. I guess it's just a matter of waiting for Blue-Ray M-Disc media.

5 will get you 10 the delay has more to do with hammering out a license arrangement with Sony than anything else.

5632

General Software Discussion / Re: SilverStripe - Easy to use open source CMS + Framework

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 04:39 PM »

@nudone - make things easy for yourself. Just download a copy of AMPPS to use as your development environment. You can install Silverstripe (and about 270 other web apps) from inside AMPPS. AMPPS has them all scripted. It's click, answer a few questions, and go for most of the webapps in its catalog.

It's all free too.

Check out the two demo videos here.

Cool tool!  

-40hz (July 20, 2012, 01:45 PM)

I've been meaning to try this on my new webhost.  Just one question: it seems to be a one-off service.  As in, I use AMPPS to install silverstripe, and then I never use it again?  Do you use AMPPS again after setting up the initial website?

-superboyac (July 20, 2012, 03:57 PM)

Yes. It's your WAMP stack. You can also uninstall webapps using it. If you already have a webhost set up I'm not sure this is what you're looking for. I also don't know if you can use it with a hosting site. AFAICT it's designed to be your own Windows webserver.

To just install the scripts you'd use the Softaculous Auto Installer part which is either free or $12/$24 annually. But it's designed to replace something like Fantastico or cPanel. So I think you'd either need your host to install it, or you'd need to have a dedicated or virtual server that you have full administrative access to. (Note: you also need to have cPanel already installed on your server before you can  install Softaculous if I understand it correctly.)

Might want to contact them directly ([email protected]) if you want it to go on a server you can't sit down next to. I only use it to evaluate and experiment with - although you could do a test site and then migrate the directories over to a live site once you were happy with it. Some people are using it that way.

 

5633

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 04:21 PM »

I have yawcam set up so you can see me.

For a minute, I thought your account got hacked by "wanna see me on cam" girl .

-mahesh2k (July 20, 2012, 04:10 PM)

Hope not. She's vastly overrated IMO. 

5634

Living Room / Re: Need Critique On This Image

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 02:54 PM »

didn't intend to go as far as I did with it, but I keep opening Photoshop and doing more haha

-Stephen66515 (July 20, 2012, 02:28 PM)

Aha! Filter Addiction!

--------------------------------



<Spring day. Medical building. Focus on upper window and dolly-in on lovely dark-haired woman approaching glass. She smiles as she looks lovingly out from window as camera pans across a scenic gardenscape to find a man with a laptop sitting alone beneath a cherry tree in full bloom. Dolly-in on man. He's playing Angry Birds.>

(voiceover)

It wasn't always this way...

Life used to be an endless heartache for people like Stephen66515.

<Slow cut back to woman.>

But now...thanks to your generous dollars...there's hope for him and over 20 million other people suffering with an untreated Photoshop jones!

<Faces camera full on with a look of mingled pleading, innocent sexuality, and accusation in her spectacular pale green eyes as she speaks directly to the camera.>

Won't you help us end this suffering?

<Cue smarmy 'inspirational' chord passage and fade out.>
 

5635

Living Room / Re: Need Critique On This Image

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 02:07 PM »

Take the easy way out. Add a naked woman. Instant art!

PS - the above one looks really interesting. Looks like some wizards storm amulet.

Print out the image, drop a rounded glass semi-orb over it, get some nice jewelry made for the silver part... Could be a hit at some of those New Age festivals and 'occult' book shops. Especially if you write a little story/spell book to go with it.

5636

General Software Discussion / Re: SilverStripe - Easy to use open source CMS + Framework

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 01:45 PM »

@nudone - make things easy for yourself. Just download a copy of AMPPS to use as your development environment. You can install Silverstripe (and about 270 other web apps) from inside AMPPS. AMPPS has them all scripted. It's click, answer a few questions, and go for most of the webapps in its catalog.

It's all free too.

Check out the two demo videos here.

Cool tool!  

5637

Living Room / Re: new DVD "M-Disc" perfect for archive material

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 10:29 AM »

I alway worry about "single source" technology.

For backups and archives I prefer an industry standard technology - ideally an open sourced one just in case the original developer folds - or as is more common, gets bought out and is then pulled from the market.

-40hz (July 20, 2012, 08:27 AM)

True, but with M-Discs, you only lose the ability to write, not read, so that's a small consolation.

-Renegade (July 20, 2012, 08:31 AM)

Good point. Unless you're an idiot like me who tends to stockpile backup media in advance for a client and then gets stuck with 100 or so virgin disks they can no longer write to. Ouch!

And it does have DoD certification for use under 'extreme' conditions, so that counts for something.

And to your earlier point about LG drives I'll concur 100%. They've worked well for me too. And at <$100 for the writer, and ~$3 per M-disc, it makes for an attractive price/benefit ratio. Especially if they can get the disc capacity up to dual layer at least. And it really is as permanent as they say it is.

I did notice some reviewers mentioned m-discs give off an odd odor that smells something like film developer. Since film developer contains phenols and benzene (which give it that characteristic smell) I wonder if whatever is causing that odor might have the potential to cause damage to other media if stored in the same cabinet...

5638

Living Room / Re: MP3 players for podcasts

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 09:10 AM »

If you already have a smartphone, most have an app specifically for podcasts.

About the only saving grace of my iPhone is the podcast app. It lets me grab the Linux Action Show, TechSnap, and HP podcast so I have something to listen to via bluetooth when I'm driving or headphones when sitting on a train.

5639

General Software Discussion / Re: Win7 user is admin but cannot install programs

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 08:48 AM »

Stoic beat me to the punch with the admin user/GPO suggestion.  

BTW - Did you know you can also "push" an installation to a large group of machines using only a GPO if you're running AD and the app has an MSI installer?  (There are also dedicated programs to do it even more easily.) If you ever need to do the same install on a bunch of machines, it's worth the effort. Check out this article for details.

5640

Living Room / Re: new DVD "M-Disc" perfect for archive material

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 08:27 AM »

I alway worry about "single source" technology.

For backups and archives I prefer an industry standard technology - ideally an open sourced one just in case the original developer folds - or as is more common, gets bought out and is then pulled from the market.

5641

Living Room / Re: Strange Windows Explorer problem - anyone know how to fix this?

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2012, 06:48 AM »

Try booting with a live Linux CD and see if you can move the remaining files with that.

I had a similar problem, and using Nix (which is more comfortable with ridiculously deep directory nesting and crazy-long filenames) worked the trick. Also comes in handy in a mixed network when somebody transfers an Apple OSX originated file whose name contains an illegal character under Windows. You can put such files on Windows. But you can't open or delete them when that happens.

Luck!

5642

Living Room / Re: Need Critique On This Image

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2012, 05:39 PM »

Is this for anything or are you just design jamming?

5643

Living Room / Re: Need Critique On This Image

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2012, 05:22 PM »

With all due respect,  the above version kinda looks like a front loading washer full of dirty clothes.  

5644

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2012, 04:37 PM »

Can we make it go down in flames?

-wraith808 (July 19, 2012, 04:20 PM)

Nope. It's already gotten boring. And predictable.

I want some roasted marshmallows to go with my popcorn...

-wraith808 (July 19, 2012, 04:20 PM)

Actually...toasted marshmallows sounds really good. Think I'll fire up the grill later tonight. Haven't had one of those in years. Thx for the suggestion!

5645

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2012, 03:49 PM »

Assuming it makes it to 9.    (It will BTW - but will anybody be buying it? That's the question.)

5646

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2012, 03:44 PM »

yes.

5647

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2012, 03:42 PM »

I am not a part of "the Linux community".

"The Linux community" mainly consists of "I am too stupid to make my Windows work right" Dumbuntu/openSUSE users. I don't want to be a part of that. After all, if I want UNIX, I'll always choose BSD.

-Tuxman (July 19, 2012, 11:29 AM)

*sigh* whatever...

5648

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2012, 07:50 AM »

I have to disagree with the statement that was a direct reply to mine above.

apt-get is officially deprecated, usage of aptitude is encouraged. Also you don't have to know exact package names, modern package managers are able to suggest the right package when you type the binary name.

-Tuxman (July 19, 2012, 03:46 AM)

How can you disagree with someone personally preferring something for their own use? 

There's a difference between talking about something and advocating for something.

5649

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2012, 01:06 AM »

Well-l-l-l ... that wasn't my experience when I tried the Ubuntu forums ... reputedly (at least by Ubuntu folk) the most gracious, newbie-friendly forums on the Internet.  I received more RTFMs than I ever encountered on Tek-Tips

-barney (July 19, 2012, 12:54 AM)

@barney - Sorry to hear that. Seriously. I'm sorry to hear you went through that.



Out of curiosity...could you share some of the questions that got you fool-slapped? I'm not disputing your account. But it would be interesting (to me at least) to see what sort of questions got you a snarky RTFM response. Also maybe provide a ballpark idea of the date you posted them?
 

5650

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2012, 11:29 PM »

Truthfully, I'm a little envious of the Linux users.

-superboyac (July 18, 2012, 09:38 PM)

You shouldn't be IMHO. It's just a skill set. Not a gift or god-given talent.

If you're interested or you need it - you learn it. If it's not something that's important to you, it's best avoided. Only so many hours in a day - or a lifetime. Use them wisely.

P.S. Somebody did a study once and discovered something like 90% of all programmers and 80% of all "serious" computer users play at least one musical instrument. Not surprising in that rocking a PC, a guitar neck, or a piano keyboard has more overlapping brain functions than most people realize.

To me, designing a server solution is very similar to composing music. And troubleshooting a network issue is very similar to improvising a solo in the middle of a complex piece of progressive jazz.

Do anything well enough and it all starts to seem like music to me.