Misguided Thoughts

Deciding on phpmyadmin alternatives

david — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:08:28 +0000

Setting up (again) a localhost setup and deciding on an alternative to PhpMyAdmin. So far I've found three:

Ah, choices! More info to come.

Site Upgrade

david — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:38:33 +0000

Just upgraded the site to Drupal 7! Well, the codebase is upgraded, still working on the theme. I'm thinking the theme will be the hard part! Not sure if I'm going to upgrade my old theme to work, or start on a new, light theme.

Anyway, I wanted to get this upgraded before my 7th Drupalversary which is this week! Synchronicity is cool

And the reminds me - two modules that didn't make the site yet: Smileys and Previous/Next.

After a few changes, I'll even add new content, probably next year. Not long, considering it's halfway through October.

Now to see what I need to fix...

UPDATE: A Smiley Module has been released for D7! I'm currently testing it out.

Arch Linux Elitism

david — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:19:42 +0000

It's been said that Arch Linux users are elitist. This mostly stems from Arch's keep core simple principle, and an expectation that users should do some research and checking before posting support requests in their forum. (And really, is that too much to ask?)

Now Arch isn't Ubuntu or openSUSE which are designed for beginner Linux users; instead, Arch is designed for intermediate to advanced users, or those who are willing to learn Linux. As such, there is a lot less hand-holding for new Arch users, which can be interpreted as elitist or pretentious.

I don't personally feel that Arch is elitist, but judging from this comment in the Arch forum I can see why people would think their elitist:

...And about the notion that dumbing-down the installer would bring more users, then we for sure do not need those kinda users which such a change would bring, and we in fact allready have much to many of them imho!

Although that's just the opinion of one person, it does reflect on how people perceive the project.

(And here's the screenshot of the comment.)

server setup in Ubuntu

david — Mon, 02 May 2011 23:35:36 +0000

This page isn't a tutorial on setting up a LAMP in Ubuntu, but rather notes on how to set it up. I just did this in Ubuntu, and wanted to document what I did so if I have to do it again, it'll go much quicker. (Though, it was pretty quick, actually.)

The basics of it are on AskUbuntu.com. I did have to add sudo apt-get install php5-gd to get GD support for Drupal.

Since I used a VirtualHost to set my doc root to a folder in my /home directory, I used the Ubuntu Wiki article.

Getting the mod_rewrite to work, I did sudo a2enmod rewrite (plus restarting apache2). Make sure to use AllowOverrides All in the appropriate file.

Ziva isn't leaving NCIS - at least, for now

david — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:43:57 +0000

One of the questions I see in my referrer logs is "Is Ziva leaving NCIS?" Apparently, the answer is "No." It seems she'll be there for at least two more years. Read the info at tvline.com.

Goodbye Sarah Jane

david — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:52:45 +0000

Elisabeth Sladen who played Sarah Jane on Dr. Who died April 19, 2011.

She was certainly one of the most cherished Dr. Who companions. I'm still touched when I think of Sarah Jane meeting with David Tennant's Doctor by the TARDIS in the new series.

She'll be missed.

In Plain Sight - May 1st!

david — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:58:55 +0000

I'll admit it - I enjoy In Plain Sight! I love the interaction between Mary and Marshall. And new episodes begin May 1st.

Gnome3 - the Antithesis of Productivity

david — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:30:46 +0000

As a Gnome user, I've been reading about the Gnome3/Gnome Shell release and decided to see for myself. I downloaded the Fedora 15 Alpha release with Gnome 2.91.6 and after a bit, i came to this conclusion:

Gnome3 is the antithesis of productivity.

My main issue with Gnome3 comes from the Gnome Wiki page GNOME Shell Design FAQ

The Shell is designed in order to minimise distraction and interuption and to enable users to focus on the task at hand. A persistent window list or dock would interfere with this goal, serving as a constant temptation to switch focus. The separation of window switching functionality into the overview means that an effective solution to switching is provided when it is desired by the user, but that it is hidden from view when it is not necessary.

The omission of a window list or dock also reduces the amount of screen space occupied by the Shell, and therefore makes it better suited to devices with smaller screens.

There are three major issue I have with this.

1) Gnome developers know how I should use my computer better than I do.

2) They don't seem to understand that most desktop computer users use their computers as desktop computers and not as phones or tablets.

3) Their definition of 'productivity' and namely 'task at hand' doesn't reflect real-world usage.

An example

According to the Gnome3 Philosophy, my current task is writing this post. This, therefore, is my primary focus. I also have my email application open. (I know it's open, because I have Docky on the bottom of my screen and can see the dots under the Thunderbird icon.) Thunderbird, therefore, is a distraction. Of course, I haven't clicked on my email since I started this, by being able to see it's on, is it really a distraction?

If Thunderbird's pop-up notification activates and tells me I got a new email from, say, Newegg.com, I have the choice to either read it right away, or ignore it. I decide if I want to lose my focus on this post, or continue with it. I decide.

What the Gnome3 Anti-Productivity Philosophy doesn't take into account is there are different levels of tasks. Writing this post is pretty low-level. Sneaking away to look at my tweets isn't going to hurt me much. In fact, since I started writing this, I've been more distracted by my kittens. (Is there a Gnome app for making them take a nap?) If I'm balancing my checkbook, I'll have one program open for it, plus I might need a browser to download the statements I need to complete the task. But really, a distraction isn't going to interfere too much with this process.

Now I want to take a look at a real-world process and how the Gnome3 Philosophy doesn't quite work.

Task at hand: Website Redesign

Let's say my task (or rather, project) is to redesign this website. During the process, I can have any of the following programs open:

My text editor
My web browser
Another web browsers
My image program (say, GIMP)
My file manager (say, Nautilus)
An FTP program
And a music player to listen to tunes as I work

According to the Gnome3 Philosophy, I can only use one program at a time, and that's true. But the measure for productivity isn't in how well the Desktop Environment can hide everything else, the true measure of productivity is in how I, the user, can get to the programs I need as effectively as possible.

On Gnome2, I have Docky set up, so if I need to switch programs, I can simply click on its icon. If I had a taskbar, I could simply click on the task. If part of a window is showing behind the primary window, I can click on it.

In Gnome3, If the program is exposed behind the primary window, I can click on it to bring it forward. If not, I can hover over the top left corner to expose the Application screen, and click on the app. (And rinse and repeat as needed.) Or I can use keyboard commands. Or possibly, mouse gestures. Right now, what I can't do is add a Dock or taskbar to easily access my programs.

If a person was creating a presentation for work, they might have their Presentation program, a spreadsheet, some documents, email, contacts, web browser, and file manager open. Does Gnome3 allow the user easy access to what they need when they need it? Or how they want to get it.

What's a task?

What don't the Gnome3 developers understand? A task isn't one thing. It's a series of elements that work together to complete the goal at hand.

And I believe that the Gnome developers are going down the wrong road with Gnome3. What I like about Linux is choice. Gnome, however, doesn't seem to want to give that to me. And I'm sure people will make fixes for it, what they won't be able to fix is the developers belief that they know better than you or I do.

______________________________________________
Notes:
1. Yes, I'm basing this on Alpha software. But Gnome3 is going to be released in a month, and that's not enough time to fix the main problems, notably Gnome3.

2. If you want screenshots, do a Google Image search for Gnome3. I'm sure there are thousands of them, and they all look alike.

I still can care less about Conan O'Brien

david — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 02:02:45 +0000

So is Conan O'Brien's new show worth watching? I still haven't seen it because, frankly, I don't care for his brand of humor. And I'm pretty sure it's the same shtick as before.

(And as this site seems to be an "I Hate Conan O'Brien" site - probably because I titled a post "I Hate Conan O'brien - here's the other two posts on the topic: I hate Conan O'Brien and I still hate Conan O'Brien.)

Archlinux forums untrusted?

david — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:58:51 +0000

Decided to visit the Arch Linux website forum and I get a message in Firefox saying it's Untrusted.

Arch Linux, not trusted? It never cheated on me, or stole money from me, or drank all my beer. And sure, it's a pain in the ass to get to know. But not trustworthy? Never! (Sure, it's cousin Chakra Linux has been sleeping around, but that's another story.)

So do I click "I Understand the Risks" or not?

(And no, I'm not using Arch - I'm on my Mac - but I did manage to get it installed!)

Misguided Thoughts

Deciding on phpmyadmin alternatives

Tags:

Site Upgrade

Tags:

Arch Linux Elitism

Tags:

server setup in Ubuntu

Tags:

Ziva isn't leaving NCIS - at least, for now

Tags:

Goodbye Sarah Jane

Tags:

In Plain Sight - May 1st!

Tags:

Gnome3 - the Antithesis of Productivity

An example

Task at hand: Website Redesign

What's a task?

Tags:

I still can care less about Conan O'Brien

Tags:

Archlinux forums untrusted?

Tags: