Wordpress 2.0 is out! Let’s see, I needed to manually install PHP Markdown which used to be a default plug-in and also an upgraded version of wp-contact form. But other than that everything else just worked.
I just haven’t been in the mood to write as of late. I got an email from a reader asking when I’m going to start writing again, so I figured I might as well address it online. I did have urges to post a few times. Especially when Apple announced the Intel thing (WOW) then a bit later introduced a multi-button mouse! And of course their most recent got-to-get-one toy: the iPod nano.
New projects include learningRuby on Rails for web development (I think my PHP days are close to over now). And using Textpattern (which finally was released out of beta at version 4.0 no-less) for times when you don’t need to re-invent the CMS wheel.
The next big push at work is a total rewrite of the Samson website. Hopefully we can get it done with rails.
I think I’m done with mountain biking, I want to start riding on the road. That would involve a significant expenditure on a road bike, so I’ll probably put that off ‘till the spring.
Please use the contact form to let me know if you have any preferences of what you’d like to see me wrote more about.
The development workflow
If I was developing a site locally on my Mac for a site called http://www.cooldomain.com/ I’d develop it under the domain dev.cooldomain.com that I’m hosting locally on my OS X powered Mac. This way I know, whenever I type dev. before the domain name it’s the local copy and when I have www. before the domain name it’s the live site.
Setting up vhosts
First I create a folder in my home directory called webserver this is where I keep all of my locally hosted sites. For a site called www.cooldomain.com I create a folder within the webserver folder called cooldomain. I then create 2 folders inside that folder first logs (for log files) and then public_html. Your site will be served from the public_html folder.
Continue reading ‘My Approach to Apache Virtual Hosts in OS X’
So I’m using an ‘extra’ powerbook while the iBook gets a new logic board this week. What’s a web developer to do with a new (temporary use) machine? Get Apache, PHP & MySQL running of course. Rather than muck around with the OS and .conf files I figured I’d try out some of the complete web server packages that have come out in the last nine months. First up was MAMP, I liked the idea, a simple drag-and-drop install, no mucking around in /usr, /var/ or /etc and the option of using PHP4 or PHP5 was a bonus. Changing the MySQL password turned out to be easy, but killed the web based admin tools built into it. No prob, I can work around that. But then, the showstopper, no mod rewrite! So I went and downloaded another package, WebServerX Kit this is a complete Apache2/PHP5/MySQL/phpMyadmin install. It places its files in /usr/local and comes with a pref pane to start and stop the servers. Wouldn’t ya know it, same deal no mod rewrite. So what did I end up doing? I grabbed the MySQL package from Server Logistics (which btw comes with a nice pref pane) and used Apple’s built-in Apache/php (you need to edit the httpd.conf file to get php working) which comes with mod rewrite pre-installed and all is well again in web dev land. Yes, I will soon post details of how I set up virtual hosting on OS X.
Well, that didn’t take long. No less than 2 hours after the previous iBook post the iBook finally said no more. Right now I’m in the process of backing it up while it’s in FireWire Hard Disk mode, then it’s off to to Apple Store. Hopefully afterward I can remote access into it and de-authorize iTunes and the Studio MX suite.
I should mention that in March I broke down and purchased an iPod Photo (30GB). I’ve been very pleased with it so far. I believe that the newer generation iPods (including the Shuffle) seem to sound better than the earlier ones. I think hear less distortion in the low end. I’m still using the 512MB shuffle for nights out when I don’t want to carry the full size ‘Pod with me and while snowboarding. I do like having my Photos with me, one feature that helps is that I can sync Music to the iPod from one Mac (my G4 Desktop) and Photos to the iPod from another (an iBook). iTunes 4.8 even allows to to turn off warnings that you would normally get when plugging your iPod into another machine. I’ll definitely pick up the iPod Camera Connector before my next vacation.
Yes, it’s been a while. I figured I’d better write something before my iBook goes on the blink again (literally). That’s right my iBook is exhibiting the video blinking symptoms that just scream “Replace my Logic Board” again. I haven’t even done the 10.4 Tiger thing to this machine ‘cause I just have to many things tricked out in the OS for web development (which reminds me that I’ll have to post my OSX virtual hosts setup here soon). I’ll just have to do another Carbon Copy Clone and get it over with.