OpenSource « Quinn

CakePHP in USERDIR

Posted by Quinn at September 27th, 2006 10:23am under OpenSource 1 Comment Permalink

I have been setting up my laptop with Gentoo Linux. So far, it's working almost like a Mac OS X. I even get to listen audio CDs, stream radio, chat with AIM/MSN/Y! or Skype, while running server applications like MySQL, PostgreSQL, PHP and Apache.

Well, I want to do lots of experimental stuff on this system, so I tried CakePHP this time. CakePHP is a well known framework that just works for rapid web development made with PHP scripts. Developing application under CakePHP is just like Ruby on Rails or sort of. It uses MVC (Model, View, Controller) architecture.

Anyway, I encountered a very little problem while trying it setup. Even though I think the installation manual is written very nicely, it was missing something for me. This post is going to be about a small tip on CakePHP but hoping to help someone somewhere.

The installation goes as configuring Document Root in Apache as an option. Or I could still go without editing httpd.conf file if installation is under Document Root. All I have to do is activate Rewrite Engine for the directory.

Installing just under Document Root like this:

/var/www/localhost/htdocs/cake_install/

become accessible as:

http://127.0.0.1/cake_install/

This works fine just as the installation document says. However, it didn't work installing it under USERDIR like this:

/home/user_dir/public_html/cake_install/

This was not accessible at:

http://127.0.0.1/~user_dir/cake_install/

Then, I noticed there is no RewriteBase in .htaccess file. So, I add this line:

RewriteBase /~user_dir/cake_install/

just after the line of RewriteEngine On to two .htaccess files which are:

/cake_install/.htaccess
/cake_install/app/webroot/.htaccess

Then, yes! It's working now. I went through The Cake Blog Tutorial very smoothly. It is like coding with only a few lines can built a simple web application. I am not sure what kind of usage I can come up with this framework at this moment, but I am sure I am going to have more fun playing with this cool tool.

Gnome Desktop

Posted by Quinn at August 29th, 2006 5:22pm under OpenSource 0 Comments Permalink

This is the screenshot from my Gnome Desktop on Gentoo Linux system, which I recently set up on Dell C640 laptop. Doesn't this look very much like Mac OS X?

I am even able to watch Flash movies at YouTube and also mov videos. But those are just for fun. What I need the most is to be able to choose Japanese inputs while running apps/system in English. That's what I do with Mac OS X, and I was successful with this one too!

I am using Glossy P theme with Gorilla icons. I am sure there are more Mac OS X like themes and icons. I like the top bar of window which just looks like Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4). However, these blue scroll bars are too bright for me. I prefer gray or something else but I don't know how to change it at this moment.

I used Gnome's Configuration Editor to change the buttons on top bar of window. I chose Applications >> System Tools >> Configuration Editor, then it will launch the app. In the Configuration Editor window, I chose app >> metacity >> general, which finaly led me to edit button_layout to the value "close,minimize,maximize:menu", which will layout the buttons to just like Mac OS X.

I haven't really used Bluefish Editor or gPHPedit yet, so I don't know what's like to be using this environment as my web developing work, but it doesn't look bad at all.

So, am I going to switch my primary environment to this? Only probem at this moment for me is the hardware. I never liked any PC machines. So, it seems the chances are depend on this question - when will I able to buy a MacBook? Then, again I probably never can leave Mac OS X.. Anyway, I think it's good to have more choices and choose one over the others on whatever needed, right?

Which OS?

Posted by Quinn at August 22nd, 2006 10:40pm under OpenSource 0 Comments Permalink

I am in the middle of setting up Gentoo on my PC laptop. It was taking over 6 hours compiling gnome. Oh man, this is looong. I've been using FreeBSD for my servers ( including this blog ). While FreeBSD isn't so good for desktop use, in my opinion, I thought Gentoo would be good for many uses, like desktop client, developer, server, etc.. Anyways, I made a list of open source OSes that I should give a try and some already gave a try. I wonder if anyone can tell me which one is for what and so.

I am very happy with FreeBSD as my server use. Debian is easy to use and fairly good in many way. Somehow, I don't like much of Fedra Core. I think it's good using SELinux as default and binary packages are mostly in good shape. I think it's probably too easy to use. ( Is this a compliment, a complaint or what? ) I am going to have fun to try them all!