Archive for the 'Linux' Category

P.A.D - Post #5: Blogging with BloGTK

Published
by
C.G.
on October 16, 2006
in Computers, Linux and Post A Day
. 0 Comments

Ever since Microsoft came out with their Live Writer, I’ve been turned on to the blog publishing applications out there on the interweb. I’ve before Live Writer, I tried Performancing and, of course, Flock’s built in writer. And while I think Flock is my favorite 3rd party blogging system, the browser ins’t mature enough for me to use it all the time. When Live Writer came out, it was fantastic - it had all the features I wanted: WYSIWYG, and a spell checker.

But there is one major flaw in Live Writer. It is Windows only. I know, its a Microsoft product and you expect that from them but its a good product and many other people think so too - especially being a beta (and we all know how Microsoft’s production code is let alone their betas). I wanted to find a similar application for Ubuntu so I can blog with a spell checker and not always be connected to the Internet; writing off line is great when you are traveling.

So I was recently reading this article on LifeHacker and thought of trying w.Blogger as an alternative. and while it wasn’t for Linux, they kindly pointed to an app that did what they were doing but for the Gnome interface. That leads me to the application I’m using to write this Post A Day, BloGTK.

So far, this it is looking really good. Installing it was new to me because I’ve never ‘made’ a file using a make script before but it wasn’t hard; I mean, how hard it is typing sudo make install? The software supports the old Blogger API as well as MovableType and seems to be everything a person would want. It supports HTML tags, tables, images, links, categories, and includes a spell checker - something I’ve always wanted out of my WordPress web composition windows.

One of the things that brought me to Linux was it was new. Ubuntu make it easy and offered a noob like me an easy chance to learn what was always foreign before. Before, I never saw the appeal of OSS and free software but I’m beginning to see it now. Applications like BlogGTK are free, OSS, and have many more variants like it available to the community. There isn’t really anything a person can’t do with Linux and this is an example of how I haven’t really felt without after switching. And while I miss my iTunes, I really don’t feel that I’m lacking. In fact, I often feel that I can accomplish anything because of all the support people freely offer those who need it and supply software to accomplish virtually any task one would want to accomplish on a computer.

PHP Performance Problems in Ubuntu Firefox

Published
by
C.G.
on October 14, 2006
in Computers, Linux, Mozilla and Site
. 0 Comments

I think I have a performance problem with PHP and Javascript in Firefox running on my Ubuntu computer. I just recently reinstalled Ubuntu and got the 64-bit version to work (after fixing the video driver problem) and the speed difference is amazing!  I never thought I’d see such an increase in loading times. But I run a few blogs and two photo galleries on my host, DreamHost - which, by the way, did work out their performance issues and things are way better than they used to be. But I still think there is something going on and I think its my choice of browser/OS.

I first noticed in on my photo site. I have a Gallery2 for my pictures and the theme I installed uses AJAX to load pictures that you click on to view (you know, the full size pictures - not the thumbnails). On my Ubuntu/Firefox setup, the picture would not load when you clicked on it for the first time. On a refresh, however, the picture drew very fast - the way I expect it to. Then I asked a friend to log on to the site and tell me how his performance was. Perfect - and he runs Vista RC1 (or 2) with Firefox 1.5.7. Then, on a hunch, I broke out my laptop, fired up The Fox and went to my site. PERFECT! My only conclusion was it must be a combination of my OS or the build of Firefox.

Thinking it could be the OS, I went to my wife’s Mac where she has Firefox 1.5.5 installed. Same problem. I had to refresh the page just to see the image. Now I thought it was the browser but wondered why it happened on all but my Windows computer. Could it be that because OS X is based on Linux/Unix that was the problem. I tried updating my Java code from Sun’s website but I only find the JRE.

Its not a hardware issue. Like I said, my Ubuntu PC suffers from this performance issue. So does my wife’s Mac. But my laptop doesn’t. And my Windows latop is a POS by today’s standards. Its a 1.6Ghz processor - single core and one of the first Centrino based setups by IBM/Lenovo. It has 512MB of RAM (like my wife’s Mac running OS X 10.4.7) but minuscule to the 4GB I have on my AMD X64 2 box that is suffering from this problem. I’ve maxed out the hardware on my Ubuntu PC and there isn’t anything faster.  The connection isn’t a problem either because the laptop is using WiFi and the others are hard wired.

I don’t even know for sure if its a Javascript issue.  It could be a PHP problem or even a MySQL thing but the site’s performance has been great all things considering.  I can see it in the site reports I have generated; the response time has improved by 200%.  I also see this issue with the new K2 theme which has that AJAX scroller thing for past posts.  Since AJAX is just Javascript, it doesn’t appear anything other than that kind of performance issue.

But I don’t know how to track down the core problem or how to fix it.  Anyone out there have an idea on how to make things faster?

Well, That Sucked

Published
by
C.G.
on September 30, 2006
in Computers, Linux and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Upgrading Ubuntu to the latest beta version proved to be a bad idea.  The X server wouldn’t load after the upgrade and its becasue my video card (for some reason) gives it trouble.  I tried manually editing the xorg.conf file but nothing worked.

And another odd thing, the distribution only works in the safe graphics mode for the 32-bit version.  The 64-bit AMD ISO doesn’t work in either normal or safe graphics mode.  The built-in drivers for my ATI X850 card are pretty slow.  Upgrading them helps but after I do, the GL screensavers don’t work.

Anyone out there with an X850 from ATI have similar problems with Ubuntu?

Tips: Firefox Upgrade Script for Ubuntu

Published
by
C.G.
on July 27, 2006
in Computers, Linux, Mozilla and Tips
. 0 Comments

So the other day, the Mozilla Corporation released Firefox 1.5.0.5 for all operating systems and Windows XP.  Being the good geek that I am, I downloaded the build to patch those vulnerabilities and to say I’ve got the most recent version of something running on my computer.  The last time I upgraded Firefox was when I downloaded Ubuntu for the first time and, although not difficult, was not he easy install script that most Windows and OS X users are used to.  But this time, I found a better way of upgrading.

Before, I uncompressed the .tar file’s contents into a temporary folder somewhere on the hard drive.  Then, I followed someone’s instructions on how to backup the build’s original location and move over the new one.  I then was asked to follow some other commands that either linked the existing shortcuts to the new directory or something.  I didn’t really understand it but I followed it on blind faith knowing I could just rebuild the OS at any time.

But with some upgrades and some personalization already completed, I didn’t want to risk this (too much).  So I downloaded the new version and proceeded to uncompress it like I did the last time.  But foolish me couldn’t just overwrite the current directory; I forgot about those superuser permissions that get in the way.  And, because I haven’t figured out all the nuances of Ubuntu and Linux in general yet, I couldn’t get anything I tried to work - even using the sudo command to become the superuser.

After 5 minutes of this, I just about gave up.  But I did one last search for upgrade tips and found this script that automatically downloads the most recent version of Firefox for your local (and it asks you for your language), extracts it, and handles all the install bits that I don’t know yet.  Even though I couldn’t trust the script, I did it anyway.  If it failed, it failed.  If it destroyed my browser, I could always try to fix it or rebuild the OS (something I would hate but not as much as having as OS without a browser).  And if it worked, well I’d write about the script and give it praise.

Well, you can imagine that it work because it did.  Although the script said it failed (I think because my previous upgrades may have broken something) it did, in fact, upgrade Firefox without any adverse effects.  It still launches from the launch pad on top and the version checks out.  All in all, I’m really happy with it.

I’m going to read the script to see what the developer (or someone using this space) did so next time I might not need it.  But until then, all 1.5.0.x Firefox releases are going to be installed with this.  If you need to upgrade, make your life easy and run it.

Review: Ubuntu

Published
by
C.G.
on July 18, 2006
in Computers, Linux and Reviews
. 4 Comments

Before I get into the details of my review, let me preface this post by summarizing it first.

Ubuntu ROCKS!!!

Now that I’ve given you my opinion, I’ll tell you why.

In short, it’s fast, fresh, and surprisingly easy to use. An added pluses are the versions they offer and the support that is optionally available (for a fee). Now on to the review.
Continue reading ‘Review: Ubuntu’