Vmware vs Virtual Box

I have decided to try out Virtualbox as I keep hearing about better performance and stability. I am also hoping it will be a lot smoother with installation,updates and transporting between different platforms.

I will update this article on my findings.

My Vmware Experiences
I have 2 virtual machines and they are used for testing and distribution purposes.

• Everytime there is a kernel update, I have to re-compile it.
• Bit trivial with upgrading for people who are not used to the terminal
  
• When transporting a virtual image file to be used in Windows, I have to convert some configs (Think this is common thing).
• When changing test environments I have to change network settings.
• Feels like a power hog, can cause some bizarre effect once in a while.

My VirtualBox Experiences

• More user friendly to install
• Feels like a light weight
• Fast
• Virtual drives are stored straight to [home] folder
  
• Dynamically compiles the kernel module :)
• Ran my unsupported Webcam in XP very fast too :))))
  

Think I'm in love already.
{{{virtualBox}}}

Further Reading

Vs Reviews
Ubuntu Forums
virtualbox-3-0-4-vs-vmware-workstation-6-5-3/

About the Virtual Machine Software
Wikipedia : Virtualbox

My Heavy Ubuntu Desktop

I been wanting to get to know how to get into video editing in Ubuntu. This is my first attempt at adding music to a video with Kino. I also wanted to show off my desktop to my friends ;)

Obviously the quality still needs perfecting, I was just soo happy know this little new trick I just wanted to upload it :D (Strange that).

gtk-recordMyDesktop used to record Desktop :)

Mum's 49th Birthday : I made this :)

Click and then saveStory Behind the Card
My mum has drank so much cola and poorly looked after her teeth for years. She now has no teeth. Recently my Dad said he will try and pay for some new false teeth when and if he can save up for it.

I spent 3 hours making this card with a couple of hours of researching and testing. I started meddling with Blender and started to create some false teeth, then I got put off with the idea. Then meddled with Inkscape, tracing over some people smiling with their perfect teeth, then I got put off with that idea. I was reminded that i, 'it's words that count'. So I went to "Keep it Simple Stupid" mode.

Kate + Konqueror : Tieing the Knot

File Transfering Made Easy :)

I have grown to love a good FTP client that blends really well with the text editor. The only known set up that I knew at the time was, Mac's combo of

Interarchy + BBEdit

I was determined to find a similar feel of "Double clicking files editing them in BBEdit" and then when saving in the editor, it uploads it with out asking..."File has changed, do you want to upload this file?".

After many trials with various FTP and Text editor combos, I finally chose these and feel so relaxed with them now :)

Kate + Konqueror sitting in the tree K.I.S.S.I.N.G :P

Tie the Knot
The following steps allows for "Web development", further customizing can help you edit any other file.

Prep Your OS
1) Install Konqueror + Kate (If you have gnome and not KDE)
2)Open Konqueror

Prep Konqueror
3) Set the view of the Konqueror to be slim looking and with folder tree view.
4) Save the View as a profile (Settings -> Save View Profile), I called mine "Web Development" (OR you can save over the default "Web Browsing".
5)Click Settings -> Configure Konqueror -> File Management -> File Associations

Prep Kate
6) Now search for the following file formats (php,ini,phtml,js,html,txt,css,tmx) all have "Kate" as the TOP "Application Preference Order", if Kate does not exist you have to add it.

Use the command "kate -u %U"

The -u is important so you don't have multiple instanses of kate loading. The %U makes sure the file cache is stored in your home area and not anywhere else. Also make sure in "Advanced Options->DBUS Registration" is set to NONE (IMPORTANT or you may get KDEInit could not launch XXXX).

Below is the "Advanced Options" from above image

Finally

The very first screen shot in this article is what your Kate and Konqueror should look like. And yes that is my Desktop :D

Background : Windows 7 Update, broken glass that needs a patch
Appearance Theme : New Wave
Ciro Dock Theme : Tux_n_tosh

Enjoy :)

First IT Room Reboot

This past few months I have been extremely busy volunteering, rebooting an IT suite at Reading Resource which is managed by "Together". The IT Suite now provides open source and commercial solutions so the members have a choice of which way to learn. They had to cut back on various areas due to the recession particularly in the IT area. So they are extremely thankful and chuffed with me at the moment. Also gives me a chance to craft some of dream into play :)

Servers
Originally the members logged into Windows2000pro server and took an awful long time to log in.

Now the members are now split from the server and now all the members now log into an Ubuntu server. Which has boosted security and increased speed of logging into machines.

Malware and Bad Sites
Each machine had "Cyber Patrol" installed to prevent users from going to bad sites. Also They utilized Symantec Anti-virus.

All machines web browser software are configured to point to a proxy server (powered by squid). They are also locked so cannot change them. Speed increased by removing "Cyber Patrol" from each of the machines. And a Freeware anti-virus solution is playing a part to help combat virus for free.

Web Portal
Each machine points to a simple web portal show simply what is happening at Resource.

The Learn section shows off free learning material to various "open source" solutions :) This is what the portal looks like so far, still a work in progress yet it is a start. It also serves the purpose of keeping all the members updated more quickly.


Future Plans
After I have finished with making the web portal easily maintainable and the user friendly documentation for maintaining the IT suite has been finalized. I will hand over my responsibilities to them.

I will move on to some part-time work that I so dearly need to get back into. Yet Ideally I am hoping to set up some sort of job solution for myself here with all this new experience...Here's hoping :)

Computing Numbers

A friend wanted help to understand how to convert Octal and Hexadecimal numbers into binary. May not look amazing yet I created this nice little cheat sheet using "Inkscape". I'm sure am not the only one who has done this, but if you like it, take it :)

Click on the image for a larger view and then you can save it.

An embarrassing error glitch discovered by a Redditor :)

Sharedcookbook : Update : 10th Sept 2009

Making the site more user friendly with little time to spare I decided to provide "mini updates". So my changes will be extremely small....What else is new?

Changes

+Added "About" and "Helpful Notes" sections to main features of the site.

Sharedcookbook : Update : 3rd Sept 2009

Yup feel more happy with the "Guest System" now.

I must admit I kinda rushed the guest system programming as I was really motivated and happy and wanted to see the system in action ASAP. Yet I knew there was a couple of bugs to fix, so I spent this past couple of days testing on my development server to really be sure I have ironed them out. Thankfully ironed out the important ones, like deleting the guest accounts that have expired.

When I last looked there was 119 accounts out of the 19 more official users, so hopefully the expired accounts would have been deleted along with all the gear like, ingriedients, recipes, menus etc.

Changes
-Fixed bug in 'Guest Account System', expired accounts now get purged from database.
-Fixed the loggedAs helper to show language bar again.

Enjoy freely having fun with "Shared Cookbook". The guest accounts expire after 8 hours, or create an account to save your recipes.

Future Improvement Thoughts
Thanks to Redditor's comments and a recent chat to a friend, I have strong belief that these two are a must important.

1. Friendly Interface, the site still looks rough and needs more friendly feel.
   
2. Mobility support, by providing HTML widgets and provide downloadable applications for various mobile phones to get your favourite menu shopping lists saved for offline/online purposes.

Sharedcookbook : Update : 2nd Sept 2009

After some interesting comments from Reddit, I decided to action one of them and see what happens.

You can freely start using "sharedcookbook" for as much as you like for up to 8 hours at a time. Also if you choose, you can even save your newly created recipes into a proper account.

This feature will trial for a few days and hopefully everything will be OK :)

Changes
+Added Guest Account Ability

Technical Issues
If you have problems, empty your cookies :)