the revolution will not be televised…
thetrotsky
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Posts by thetrotsky
Code snippets in WordPress
Aug 20th
I’m planning on posting more coding examples here in the near future so it’s time to test out some code snippet plugins on wordpress…
I tried out a few different options:
- The Code Markup plugin
- The Code Snippet plugin and
- The Syntax Highlighter and Code Colourizer for WordPress plugin
It’s hard to show the outcomes of trying these plugins out here in one post, so you’ll just have to take my word for it! After testing out the three, I found the Syntax Highlighter and Code Colourizer for WordPress to be the best for my needs. Below is a sample of some test code I wrote to see how different Ruby syntax would appear.
#A class
class Cat < ActiveRecord::Base
def meow
return "meow!"
end
#An array (class variable)
@array["moo"] = "you"
#A hash (local variable)
hash = {:abc => "def", :hij => 1}
Getting started with Zabbix monitoring
Jul 29th
I have a bit of a love / hate relationship with Zabbix. It’s a great tool for server status and performance monitoring but can be a real pain to configure.
I’ve used a nagois / cacti combination in the past (which are both also great tools) but grew to prefer Zabbix’s integrated approach. (That is, it monitors both current status and also logs performance stats)
The general rule of thumb with any monitoring tool is that you’ll have to endure a bit of pain now to help you avoid a lot of pain in the future…
The initial install and configuration of Zabbix can be a bit confusing, (I know I found it a hair pulling experience myself…) so here’s a collection of resources which helped me get up and going with Zabbix running on Ubuntu.
1- This guite from HowtoForge is the quickest, easiest way I’ve found to get a zabbix server setup (using apt on ubuntu). However it is pretty specific about using mysql and I’m not sure how flexible the install is in regards to apt installing with another DB
http://www.howtoforge.com/zabbix_network_monitoring_debian_etch
2- From the Zabbix manual itself, the very slow but fairly customisable way in install Zabbix (if you’re in a hurry, start at section 2.4.2). I’ve followed this a couple of times in the past in order to get a Zabbix server working with PostgreSQL
http://www.zabbix.com/documentation/1.8/manual/installation
3- This guide is also useful (especially since it has some screenshots) though I’ve only used it as a means to fill in some of the blanks, I haven’t followed it start to finish.
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/zabbix.htm
If you get stuck, the Zabbix forum and Stack Overflow are a couple of good places to ask for help. Good Luck!
Getting into Android Development
Jul 27th
I few weeks ago, I decided to try my hand at Android application development. So I began searching around for some beginner level tutorials on getting into Android. To my surprise, I was immediately struck by how developer-unfriendly most of the resources available on the web are. (Including the Google ones)
I’m worked developing software for a few years now (though I admit much of that has been in the web development world) and I’m not new to Java, but I haven’t tried programming for mobile devices before. Still, I found even setting up Eclipse and my development environment a challenge with lots of messing about to work around the vagaries in the documentation.
After several hours spent setting up my development environment, I finally managed to get through the “hello world” tutorial on the android developers blog but while it was straightforward I felt that the only skill I really honed in the process was copy/pasting.
So I spent a few more days trying tutorials from other sources with varying levels of success until I finally found what I feel is a really good entry-level tutorial for people who can handle a bit of Java but are new to Android. If you’ve set up your development environment (ill probably post a helper on that soon) and don’t know where to go next, check out this excellent screencast, it really put me on the right track…
7 Free Android Apps to Get Excited About
Nov 10th
I finally got my grubby hands on an Android smartphone (a HTC Hero) a few weeks ago. The first week was spent feeling outsmarted by my latest gadget acquisition and the second involved installing as many apps as I could find on the Market. Over the next two weeks it started becoming fully apparent exactly how much this little device was going to change the way I work. My app frenzy subsided and I began to realise that there were a few applications which really brought the smartphone into a league of its own.
So I thought I’d put together a list of my favourite Android apps (which all happen to be free, an additional bonus). Please feel free to add your thoughts on your favourite Android apps to the comments, I’m very interested to see what’s made the most impact on you…
7 Free Android Apps to Get Excited About
- Toggles. Yes, this isn’t really an app in its own right, it’s more a class of application. But these widgets are fantastic and one of the apps I use the most. Turn your bluetooth, wireless, GPS on/off with a touch of the screen, toggle your ringer between silent, ringing and vibrate with a simple tap. It seems lazy and uninspiring but toggles really show that the best applications don’t necessarily need to be feature packed. Sometimes doing one thing well is all it takes. There are a number of toggles available on the Market. But, to name names, Curvefish and Rounded Labs are 2 of my favourite app developers in this area.
- Facebook. Ok, I’ll admit it… I’m a Facebook addict. But for those who prefer a different flavour of social networking, all the major players are represented on the Android platform so don’t despair. Coming from using facebook on a non-touchscreen phone, Facebook on Android is just fantastic.
- gTasks. This application is another example of simple excellence. For ages I’ve wanted a way to get my Google Task list on my phone. It just made sense to have your To-Do list accessible on the go. Yes, you could use the mobile web interface but a synchronised local copy is just That much better. gTasks is made by SSI.
- NewsRob. Love Google Reader? Well NewsRob takes it to the next level by synchronising a local copy of all the feeds you have on your Google Reader account. It brings all your favourite feeds to your phone and allows you to get those bite sized pieces of information even when you’re not able to access mobile data. NewsRob is developed by Mariano Kamp.
- Thinking Space. Mind mapping is one of those areas where touchscreen smartphones really come into their own. When I first got my phone, I installed a number of note taking applications. But this seemed slow and clumsy in relation to just quickly jotting notes on paper. But then I discovered Thinking Space and it all changed. A mind map can be infinitely more useful than a flat note and furthermore, it’s something that you can do on a smartphone easily, quickly and in my opinion, in a better fashion than you could on paper. This is the kind of app that smartphones were made for. Thinking Space is made by Charlie Chilton
- wpToGo. Being able to blog on the go is just great. I used to scribble blog ideas down in a writing journal and then have to try and recreate my thoughts later on when I finally found myself in front of a PC. Yes, you’ll never be able to make long eloquent posts from a phone as easily as you can on a real keyboard but short posts or even draft posts are easy enough. wpToGo is a WordPress blogging application for Android, but if you don’t use WordPress there are many more blogging apps available supporting other systems as well. wpToGo is developed by Roundhill Labs.
- Flashlight. Be honest now, hands up all those who use their mobile phone as a makeshift flashlight when fumbling around in the dark? I thought so. Well, if you’re a “mobile phone flashlight” veteran you’ll know as well as I do that sometimes your choice of a pretty background, dimmed backlighting and a quick screen shutoff can leave you tripping over things just as you would have in the dark. Android Flashlight app to the rescue! Yes, it’s as simple as they come… It’s just a bright white screen that doesn’t turn off automatically. And it’s brilliant. As with the toggles, there are many different flashlight apps available on the Market (some even give you coloured flashlights… why?) My favourite is made by Devesh Parekh.
So, that’s the roundup on my 7 favourite, most used free Android applications. Leave a comment with some of the apps that you can’t live without!
Making a USB web development kit – Part 2
Nov 9th
Continuing on from my last post, today we’re going to cover some of the different applications which you can install on your USB drive to create a web development kit. There are a number of different applications which you can install and run from a USB drive and the best place to find most of them is at PortableApps.com.
The particular applications we are interested in for creating the web development kit are:
- XAMPP – A package installer of Apache, MySQL, PHP and some useful tools (such as PhpMyAdmin and the XAMPP control panel)
- Notepad++ Portable – an excellent text editor with syntax highlighting
- Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition – a portable version of the popular web browser
- Filezilla Portable / WinSCP – FTP clients (yes, you have a choice!)
This set of applications should be enough to get any developer off the ground and coding away. However, there are a number of other portable applications which can add even more value to your USB web development kit such as:
- PuTTY Portable – A portable version of the popular telnet and SSH client
- NVU / Kompozer – A WYSIWYG editor, useful for those developers who don’t live their lives in text editors
- GIMP Portable – The popular image manipulation program and a handy tool to have when web programming
- 7-zip/ PeaZip portable – File archivers and compressors
- WinMerge Portable – A file comparison and merging tool
- Toucan Portable – A backup utility (not really a web programming tool, but I’ve lost many lines off good code in the past due to a failure to keep regular backups… Learn from my mistake!)
There are a heap more applications of all types onPortableApps.com but as they are not relevant to the web development toolkit we’re creating I won’t be covering them in this article.
Ok, now we’ve got the software tools we need for our USB web development kit. In the next installment, I’ll take you through a bit about the hardware requirements and how to install and configure your apps.
Making a USB web development kit – Part 1
Nov 7th
It might seem like a strange idea but a USB web development kit can be a handy little item to have. Think of it as the web developer’s Swiss army knife…
I built my first USB web development kit when I was at university as a means to get around the fact that I’d never know which computer in which lab I’d be working at. It also came in very useful as I was able to maintain a consistent development environment and carry a handy bunch of tools (which I couldn’t just install on the lab computers thanks to the paranoid university IT policy) around with me.
So, how do you make one for yourself? Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll take you through how to select the right tools for the job and create your own USB web development kit!
And so it begins…
Nov 6th
Welcome to the new, new Trotsky.us blog. That’s right, it’s time for the third iteration of the site and this time I’m planning on being, well, a little more serious. I’m not really sure how this will play out but I’m going to try and spread a bit from the usual silly posts. (though make no mistake, there should still be an abundance of silly to be found here)
As always, expect a uniquely Trotsky opinion on most matters, but otherwise… it’s time for something completely different.