tatey.com

Over the previous six months I have been pondering over the thought of purchasing a laptop of my own. Before this, I had been borrowing a rather low spec’d Gateway laptop from a family friend. I think it’s great to have a portable computer that I can take anywhere. More importantly, I can access zingers from anywhere in the world, provided that I have internet. I’ve never liked the idea of using public terminals as I’ve always preferred to use my own computer. It’s been configured the way I like it and I can assure myself that some snotty grub hasn’t previously used it. Therefore, I present Nuggets the iBook!

After much discussion with various people I concluded that a Macintosh laptop would be suitable. Originally, I had anticipated purchasing the Dell Inspiron 6400 for around $1500. Undoubtedly, it would outperform my iBook and I could at least run Arch Linux on it. However, after seeing a fair few 12″ screen laptops at uni I quickly become attracted to them. They’re tiny screens meant ultra portability, perfect for fitting into my backup and riding on the motorbike. At the same time, I’ve always been captivated by Mac OS X and it’s beauty. Having owned a PowerMac before I’d like to continue owning or at least, have interaction with a Mac. While I’d prefer to use Linux on anything, having Mac OS X provides me with a greater understanding of alternative operating systems. I will not deny that Mac OS X is very nice, it works out of the box and it works well. It’s better than Windows, but I still feel restricted by it which ultimately holds me back. In comparison, my favourite image editing application, Adobe Photoshop operates natively on Mac OS X. This means I can finally use Photoshop without having to use Windows, a big plus. The inter-semester break draws closer and this will provide me with ample time to load Linux on to the iBook and dual boot Mac OS X and Ubuntu.

I managed to purchase the iBook for $750 from the OCAU For Sale forums. It’s specifications are a G4 800MHz, 256MB DDR266, 30GB 4200RPM HDD, ATi Radeon 9200, Airport Extreme (Wireless), 12″ Screen. A rather good price relative to eBay, don’t you think? I’ve since upgraded it to 512MB of RAM and a 40GB 5400RPM HDD which has significantly increased its “speed”. All in all, this is about half the price of the Dell and it’s suitable for web browsing, IM, IRC and word processing. Maybe when I have some more money to my name I can resell the iBook and purchase one of those fancy Macbooks (Similar spec’d and priced the the 6400). That would be awesome.

The individuals unaware of Zingers may mistake a computer that sits in the cupboard of my bedroom for a tasty KFC burger. Not to be confused with Ashley’s server appropriately named Cupboard because of it’s [previous] similar location. Previously, tatey.com and its various other sites humbly resided on Popcorn (formally Shoebox) a HTPC in my lounge room. Eventually, a new task was assigned to Popcorn and Zingers was born. I purposely purchased a cheap PC from a local computer retailer and loaded Gentoo on. For many months I was satisfied with the progress of Zingers until I decided that it became too much of a hassle to maintain a Gentoo server. I felt that I was no longer prepared to commit the extra time required in maintaining a Gentoo-based server relative to a Debian one. As a result, I migrated from Gentoo to Debian. An appropriate choice you would think for a “production” server. Certainly after all the web server administrators rave on about Debian. Undoubtedly, Sarge is great – stable and mature packages coupled with a strong focus on security. Unfortunately for Debian, I found it rather incompatible with my Macintosh keyboard that I use on my PC (That’s whole story in itself) and iBook. After poking around Google and various other websites for 2322131 hours, I decided it was impossible. I opted to put up with misbehaving keys until Ubuntu 6.06 was scheduled to be released.

Ubuntu is a Debian-based distribution and enjoys the same benefits that all Debian administrators do. It is my honest opinion that Ubuntu 6.06 server is an up-to-date Debian. That is, MySQL5 and PHP5 are fully supported under Ubuntu 6.06 but not Debian Sarge. More importantly, Ubuntu 6.06 includes LTS which ensures that I’ll have security updates for at least the next 5 years if I choose to not upgrade any time before then. Furthermore, I’m wrapped that my Mac keyboards now function correctly and the key’s that I push correspond with their symbols. While I understand that some people will be quick to criticise Ubuntu as an immature distribution, I think they’re denying the credit that it deserves. It even includes a LAMP stack that automatically sets up Apache, MySQL and PHP. You’re still able to further configure these packages to your hearts content and they’re up to date. Overall, I feel that I’ve made the right choice and I’m certainly satisfied with my Ubuntu server. It is my intention that I will not have to touch this box for a very long time. Let’s hope that I can keep to my word.

It has been over a month since this website was last updated. I could attempt to justify the lack of content because of Uni, family commitments or some other equally lame excuse, but at the end of the day it was my laziness that got the better of me. I’d rather play Day of Defeat: Source or visit mates more than anything else.

Good news is that I’ve been secretly working on a site relaunch. I eventually came to realise that the XHTML/CSS for tatey.com was messy and not as “correct” as it could have been. As a result, I rewrote and re-sliced the entire website from scratch. There are some minor visual improvements, but mostly stuff under the hood. Furthermore, I’ve cleaned up the directories and more or less tided everything up.

The gallery, which has previously caused me much heartache has finally been upgraded to “Enhanced Simple PHP Gallery” and successfully integrated into the website itself. After recommendations from Ashley Kyd, I’ve completely templated tatey.com with PHP Mesh. It has sure made updating content substantially easier.

On a final note, the inspiration for the entire relaunch came from both Ashley and Scott who recently redesigned their websites. In addition, Adrian has now launched his own website and Flora has also received a facelift.

The long anticipated release of Dapper Drake has arrived. Debuting a few hours ago, mirrors serving the new iso’s are already experiencing high loads. Primarily, the major difference [and delay] between Dapper Drake and previous releases of Ubuntu is Long Term Support (LTS). LTS offers guaranteed security updates for five years – an attractive option for server administrators and large [corporate] networks.

Ubuntu is freely available, including security updates for five years on servers, with no restrictions on usage and no requirement to purchase support contracts or subscriptions per deployment.

In addition, the Ubuntu website has undergone a minor facelift in an attempt to provide a more corporate feel. Essentially, Canonical is pushing hard to get Ubuntu out on as many computers as possible, and why wouldn’t they? They’re a business and Canonical would attempt to close as many support contracts as possible. They’ve invested in a large-scale Open Source project where thousands of developers and users concentrate their efforts on creating the most easy-to-use desktop operating system. Regardless if Canonical benefits financially from offering support, they’re undoubtedly the catalyst that has introduced linux to people who wouldn’t otherwise bother.

Amongst many of the new features, one particularly stands out above the rest for me. That is, the implementation of a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) meta-package for the server flavour of Ubuntu. This is the first of many meta-packages (or “stacks”) to come.

The Server Edition of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS includes a unique mechanism to set up a standardized, certified, and supported LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) server with a single command. The feature greatly reduces the setup time for companies providing hosted LAMP services, as well as making it easier for organizations to set up and maintain their own LAMP-standardized servers. Canonical Ltd. Also provides technical support for the full suite of components in the LAMP stack.

For most users interested in using Ubuntu as a desktop, a webpage exists explaining the features of Dapper Drake. If you’re new to linux or tired of MS Windows I strongly encourage you to head over to the Ubuntu website, grab the torrent and start downloading.