Somewhere out there!

Some interesting stats about the relative usages rates on distributions in the Linux server space. SUSE, Fedora or Debian for sys admins: A closer look:

Interestingly, Debian accounted for 44.6% of the Linux systems deployed while SUSE had 11.4% of the systems deployed. Fedora and Red Hat legacy distributions accounted for 9.2%. The later surprised me.

As those experienced with Debian would expect:

Overwhelmingly, system administrators preferred apt-get for adding, removing and updating their servers. We also discovered that system admins added ports of apt-get to Fedora and SUSE. So much for yast -i. The preferred Debian administration utility drove people who used the non-commercial distributions to Debian.

Also with a link to an interesting php ldap admin tool: GOsa.

Technorati Tags: debian, linux, server

The Haystack Project and Piggy are two Semantic Web projects from MIT.
Haystack seems to be some sort of universal information client, working provide a client to objectise information. Piggy Bank says it provides via a Firefox extension and a Java server (Bank) a method for collecting, sharing. RDFs are generate via screen scraping.
Worth investigating at some point.

Technorati Tags: sematic web, firefox

I had a look at four CMSs yesterday for a small brochure site. Here is a quick review:

1. Typo3 – complex and powerful. Installation process on Debian takes a bit to figure but is straightforward once understood. A lot of documentation, but it lacks some organisation. However, there are some walkthrus for simple sites. I’d guessimate at least one-two weeks to figure out the basics and get something useful going. Each user would need their hands held.
2. Plone – complex and powerful. Apt-get plone, although sarge is a bit behind as usual. Free book. However, doesn’t seem to be any clear “walkthrus” for build a small site. Seems like a very good platform for intranet or extranet applications. Plone vs Typo3 comparison.
3. Drupal – simple and powerful. apt-get drupal. Documentation is messy, more like a lot of tips that something organised. Walkthu, but nothing really explaining how to get it do what I want. Seems better for a basic geek news site than for business site.
4. MODx – simple, smart and brilliant. Drop in /var/www, chown then good install interface; upgrades look easy as well. Documentation is organised, clear and detailed in areas. No need for walkthru. Discovered via Peter Cooper. You can try it at Opensource CMS. For a simple business site MODx seems to be the best option. I figure I can convert the current html site in a day or two. Both designer and then content editors should be able to use system without much hand holding.

Technorati Tags: cms, typo3, plone, drupal, modx, review

I’ve put together a quick comparison tablet for the tablets I’m considering at the moment.

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Spellbound is broken in Firefox 1.5.0.1. Here is a useful article about getting it going again. Also some comments about the new version of Spellbound and Firefox 2.0.

Chris Pratley talks about the 1% for art features of the new OneNote 2007.

Having trained as a mathematician I naturally reach for an envelope whenever I need to work out some quick equations or sort out some rough numbers while processing business transactions. These pieces of paper all add to the mess flying around my desktop. So the thought of being able to do this with a Tablet+Pen in OneNote is turning me further towards the Tablet.

Update: The is also a very cool looking tablet maths app from xThink. Some details on evalution version here.

Technorati Tags: tablet, onenote, maths

A blog entry by Scott Raymond on what is new in Rails 1.1.  There is a set of very useful links I need to read later, explaining these features and how to use them.

Anyone who uses Firefox should install No Script. Anyone not using Firefox should start using it now, pretty much just for No Script. No Script makes the Internet safe again for Javascript. Quite important with the advent of Web 2.0.

Extra protection for your Firefox: NoScript allows JavaScript, Java (and other plugins) only for trusted domains of your choice (e.g. your home-banking web site). This whitelist based pre-emptive blocking approach prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities (known and even unknown!) with no loss of functionality

I was wondering when I would get the new Gtalk interface in Gmail. The drag was getting annoying, mostly because my laptop is in service and I can’t use Gtalk on the Mac at home. Then the Gmail Skins extension pointed out after installation that Gmail provides different javascript features dependant on the GMail Language setting. I was using English (UK) for the better dictionary, but switching to English (US) now gives me all the new features.

Very cool.

I’ve decided by next portable laptop will be a tablet. While in the UK over December/January I thought a bit about how I work and what methods I could find to improve my approach to work management. Particularly the constant pieces of paper floating around my deskspace which I like to then carry around in my backpack, and when I’m brainstorm how I like to draw diagrams and hand write notes quickly. Stuff which doesn’t work very well with a normal computer. Further reading and many blogs about tablets which all pointed at OneNote pretty much decided me on the matter. Then last week I had a chance to play around with a HP tc4200 then a Fujitsu T4010. Handwriting works, and its pretty amazing.

Most of last year I was dead keen on getting a Powerbook. Buying a Mini Mac clued me of that. Then being able to run NX desktops clued me having requiring Linux to running on my laptop. For the last three months I was using a IBM R52 just running WinX. With my NX desktop on the other side of the world I contained myself within WinXP. Annoying at times, but most of the time I was only using Firefox, Thunderbird and Openoffice. Not problems. The main thing that happened during this period was I discovered that WinXP is not so bad to run after. There is some really good WinXP software out there. Thus using WinXP Tablet edition is now not an automatic cross of the list transaction.
Question now of course is: which tablet do I get?

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