I been playing around with Google Analytics and thought it would be fun and a good learning experience to track these posts. So i created a profile for this blog. It tells me that:
"The Google Analytics tracking code has not been detected on your website's home page."
Ok, no problem. It allows me to copy the needed code. So i open a recent post, goto the HTML editor and paste in the code.
When i go to save the post i get an error message - "Cannot connect to web site". Odd - i remove the javascript i just pasted it and it saves ok with no error.
- i just added the sentence below and tried to save and it complained about a broken blank line tag error so i removed the code and it saved ok.
I did it again, this time i placed it at the end of the text and it saved ok - maybe just a server problem...of course i now have to place the code on all posts...
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Mac Pro
Latest computer is a Mac Pro. Out with the dual G5 which was a nice machine but could not run 10.6 and was getting a little slow at rendering long video sequences.
The new machine has the same metal case and look but dual 64-bit Xeon dual-core cpu's running at 2.66 Ghz, 6 gig fb-ram, ATI radeon X1900 pci-e video card and a 1 terabyte sata disk. I like the fact it has room for 4 sata hard drives and with 2 free ram slots i could end up with 12 gig of ram. It is also quiet - more so than the G5 which never got loud but could rev up when busy. The single cpu, dual-core XP box runs the fan a lot more and a lot louder and the dell precision 470 is deafening when all 4 cores get busy.
There are a lot of comparisons about apple's prices compared with dell and yes apple does charge a lot for a mac pro. The dell 470 is comparable in specs - less ram, same hard drive, same video, but slightly faster cpus - 3.2ghz vs 2.66 ghz. Since i bought i bare bones, added the cpu's, ram, hard drive, video etc it cost me about $500 to build and it probably runs about the same as the mac pro. Is it the same quality, no. It's cheap plastic and looks it and right now the fans are going full speed as it is rendering a dvd, burning a cd-rom, serving video/audio to upstairs and downloading some stuff. By comparison, the mac pro is made of solid metal, looks classy and is whisper quiet as it goes about it's business. I would say the mac pro is a McIntosh amplifier and the Dell is a NAD. Nothing wrong with a NAD, i've got a 500 watt beast that does the job but it doesn't look or act like a McIntosh.
How fast is it - i've always found dual processor machines so much 'smoother' to use. It's never a question of raw speed but that with 2 cpu's you never have to wait. The video snaps yes, and windows are responsive yes, but the real test is to start up some copying. While i typed this i cloned the original 250 gig drive to the new bigger drive.
The other thing that is noticable is the quality of the video. My setup has the 3 main machines (linux, osx, and windows) on a large L shaped desl so that my chair just turns around to work on a machine. The monitors are all similar sizes and quality and the video cards about the same but the quality of the video rendering of the mac is so much more lifelike. Actually i would rate them as mac 1st, linux 2nd and windows 3rd. As a test i put the same wallpaper (image35.jpg from Vista) on all 3 machines to compare. Same result. In fairness i am using XP and Vista does have a nicer looking screen...shame the rest of it was so bad.
anyway - got it get back and switch drives, set up time machine and then try out some apps...
The new machine has the same metal case and look but dual 64-bit Xeon dual-core cpu's running at 2.66 Ghz, 6 gig fb-ram, ATI radeon X1900 pci-e video card and a 1 terabyte sata disk. I like the fact it has room for 4 sata hard drives and with 2 free ram slots i could end up with 12 gig of ram. It is also quiet - more so than the G5 which never got loud but could rev up when busy. The single cpu, dual-core XP box runs the fan a lot more and a lot louder and the dell precision 470 is deafening when all 4 cores get busy.
There are a lot of comparisons about apple's prices compared with dell and yes apple does charge a lot for a mac pro. The dell 470 is comparable in specs - less ram, same hard drive, same video, but slightly faster cpus - 3.2ghz vs 2.66 ghz. Since i bought i bare bones, added the cpu's, ram, hard drive, video etc it cost me about $500 to build and it probably runs about the same as the mac pro. Is it the same quality, no. It's cheap plastic and looks it and right now the fans are going full speed as it is rendering a dvd, burning a cd-rom, serving video/audio to upstairs and downloading some stuff. By comparison, the mac pro is made of solid metal, looks classy and is whisper quiet as it goes about it's business. I would say the mac pro is a McIntosh amplifier and the Dell is a NAD. Nothing wrong with a NAD, i've got a 500 watt beast that does the job but it doesn't look or act like a McIntosh.
How fast is it - i've always found dual processor machines so much 'smoother' to use. It's never a question of raw speed but that with 2 cpu's you never have to wait. The video snaps yes, and windows are responsive yes, but the real test is to start up some copying. While i typed this i cloned the original 250 gig drive to the new bigger drive.
The other thing that is noticable is the quality of the video. My setup has the 3 main machines (linux, osx, and windows) on a large L shaped desl so that my chair just turns around to work on a machine. The monitors are all similar sizes and quality and the video cards about the same but the quality of the video rendering of the mac is so much more lifelike. Actually i would rate them as mac 1st, linux 2nd and windows 3rd. As a test i put the same wallpaper (image35.jpg from Vista) on all 3 machines to compare. Same result. In fairness i am using XP and Vista does have a nicer looking screen...shame the rest of it was so bad.
anyway - got it get back and switch drives, set up time machine and then try out some apps...
Friday, February 19, 2010
Chrome running on USB stick
Posting this from a USB stick in Lab A running ChromeOS and logged into iGoogle. Boots up pretty quick and runs ok. Picked up the wired ethernet no problem. The username is facepunch and the password is facepunch.
What is weird is having an operating system with no apps or settings to tweak or all the other stuff. Takes a bit getting used to - the Apps menu lists a number of typical apps like Calculator, Calendar, Contacts but they are all web apps. Takes a bit of getting used to. I set up the first tab to go to my customized iGoogle page. I also added a bunch of extensions such as this blogger one, a facebook one, dictionary, local weather etc.
There are a couple of rough edges which is to be expected. There are frequently lags when your typing outpaces the system, it goes away for a second. This also affects the mouse - the polling seems off in that the mouse is not there when you go to move it. The workaround is to right click the mouse to 'wake it up' and then cancel the action.
What is weird is having an operating system with no apps or settings to tweak or all the other stuff. Takes a bit getting used to - the Apps menu lists a number of typical apps like Calculator, Calendar, Contacts but they are all web apps. Takes a bit of getting used to. I set up the first tab to go to my customized iGoogle page. I also added a bunch of extensions such as this blogger one, a facebook one, dictionary, local weather etc.
There are a couple of rough edges which is to be expected. There are frequently lags when your typing outpaces the system, it goes away for a second. This also affects the mouse - the polling seems off in that the mouse is not there when you go to move it. The workaround is to right click the mouse to 'wake it up' and then cancel the action.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Media Center Project
This is a project to build a client/server based media center using a small pc connected to the media server (which is just \\godzilla, a dual xeon ubuntu desktop).
We were orginally going to use the shuttle xpc which was purchased for the games project a couple of years ago and ended up being a desktop when pc games lost their allure. (discovered i only like turn-based strategy games that make you think, a very unpopular genre so not many options)
Anyway, the shuttle was converted to ubuntu desktop and a DVI to HDMI cable purchased. I had some qualms about this approach as then you needed multiple audio cables and there was concern about an agp video card keeping up with HD video.
As it turned out the shuttle xpc is 7 3/4" wide and the new entertainment unit when fully populated with the pre-amp, 2 power amps and 2 optical disc players only had 7 1/4" of free space. So out it went. I then researched all the embedded media players available such as the WD, the popcorn, Dlink, Apple TV etc. The apple is the easiest to get working but ties you to iTunes which i don't want and will not play all media types. The WD is considered about the best, although Asus has a new player that is pretty good. However, all of those players do not support all the open source formats i use for a/v so they were out. They also tend to use windows shares browsing, which i did not want to do. This led me back to the original idea, the only way to ensure all the stuff i have can be played is to use a computer-based solution.
The problem is that computer-based media players like the shuttle are expensive and come with windows media player, which i don't want because it will not play all the open source formats. The solution was either to build my own box using an expensive pci-e video card with HDMI output for video and audio, or find a cheap and small box with that capability.
After a little research i settled on the Acer Revo, a 7.1″H x 7.1″D x 1.2″W computer that has an atom 1.6 cpu, 2 gig of ram, and the nvidia ion chipset with HDMI audio/video out. And it is cheap! The next step was to decide what software to run. I flirted with the idea of MythTV because i've always wanted to try it but it is geared towards PVR and TV tuners and TV watching. I don't watch much TV and don't even have cable or sat - i just want to access the terabytes of media files on my network. The solution i decided on is the XBMC open source media player. The idea is for the revo client to run the xbmc client and connect over the network to the UPNP media server (\\godzilla running upnp). I did a test using the shuttle xpc running the xbmc client and running mediatomb on the server and it worked ok. Not crazy about medatomb at first glance so will spend more time on that end when the revo arrives.
Also ordered a windows media center remote that was listed as working with xbmc. Since the revo can be set to come up in xbmc this means no need for a keyboard. There is also a liveCD fo xbmc so the whole thing can be tested out without installing.
Will post how it works out when it arrives.
We were orginally going to use the shuttle xpc which was purchased for the games project a couple of years ago and ended up being a desktop when pc games lost their allure. (discovered i only like turn-based strategy games that make you think, a very unpopular genre so not many options)
Anyway, the shuttle was converted to ubuntu desktop and a DVI to HDMI cable purchased. I had some qualms about this approach as then you needed multiple audio cables and there was concern about an agp video card keeping up with HD video.
As it turned out the shuttle xpc is 7 3/4" wide and the new entertainment unit when fully populated with the pre-amp, 2 power amps and 2 optical disc players only had 7 1/4" of free space. So out it went. I then researched all the embedded media players available such as the WD, the popcorn, Dlink, Apple TV etc. The apple is the easiest to get working but ties you to iTunes which i don't want and will not play all media types. The WD is considered about the best, although Asus has a new player that is pretty good. However, all of those players do not support all the open source formats i use for a/v so they were out. They also tend to use windows shares browsing, which i did not want to do. This led me back to the original idea, the only way to ensure all the stuff i have can be played is to use a computer-based solution.
The problem is that computer-based media players like the shuttle are expensive and come with windows media player, which i don't want because it will not play all the open source formats. The solution was either to build my own box using an expensive pci-e video card with HDMI output for video and audio, or find a cheap and small box with that capability.
After a little research i settled on the Acer Revo, a 7.1″H x 7.1″D x 1.2″W computer that has an atom 1.6 cpu, 2 gig of ram, and the nvidia ion chipset with HDMI audio/video out. And it is cheap! The next step was to decide what software to run. I flirted with the idea of MythTV because i've always wanted to try it but it is geared towards PVR and TV tuners and TV watching. I don't watch much TV and don't even have cable or sat - i just want to access the terabytes of media files on my network. The solution i decided on is the XBMC open source media player. The idea is for the revo client to run the xbmc client and connect over the network to the UPNP media server (\\godzilla running upnp). I did a test using the shuttle xpc running the xbmc client and running mediatomb on the server and it worked ok. Not crazy about medatomb at first glance so will spend more time on that end when the revo arrives.
Also ordered a windows media center remote that was listed as working with xbmc. Since the revo can be set to come up in xbmc this means no need for a keyboard. There is also a liveCD fo xbmc so the whole thing can be tested out without installing.
Will post how it works out when it arrives.
Chrome on a Stick
Now that we have Koha running on the USB and the computer lab has agreed to change the boot sequence of the computers to USB - CD - HDD it is time to look at some interesting alternatives to windows.
The Chrome OS has a lot of interest as it is designed to make the browser the OS so that all apps and data live on the network. And since i am trying hard to downsize the number of machines running around here (down to 4 now!...plus 3 laptops...but i just ordered a revo for the media center client project which starts next week). Anyway, the clever folks at http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/ have created a USB image that can receive updates. A VM image will be ready soon but for now we download the ChromeOsFlow.img file to \\godzilla (the main ubuntu box - back in action after a bad PNY video card experience) and run the imagewriter program to burn the chrome image to an old 2 gig USB stick. Ubuntu Imagewriter is a simple program that burns a 'disc' image, sort of like burning an ISO image with Brasero.
The whole process takes about 4/5 minutes and when done you have a bootable USB stick with ChromeOS. What i plan to do with it is to test out the machines in the lab and maybe some of the home machines as well and the revo when it arrives. Will let you know how it goes...
The Chrome OS has a lot of interest as it is designed to make the browser the OS so that all apps and data live on the network. And since i am trying hard to downsize the number of machines running around here (down to 4 now!...plus 3 laptops...but i just ordered a revo for the media center client project which starts next week). Anyway, the clever folks at http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/ have created a USB image that can receive updates. A VM image will be ready soon but for now we download the ChromeOsFlow.img file to \\godzilla (the main ubuntu box - back in action after a bad PNY video card experience) and run the imagewriter program to burn the chrome image to an old 2 gig USB stick. Ubuntu Imagewriter is a simple program that burns a 'disc' image, sort of like burning an ISO image with Brasero.
The whole process takes about 4/5 minutes and when done you have a bootable USB stick with ChromeOS. What i plan to do with it is to test out the machines in the lab and maybe some of the home machines as well and the revo when it arrives. Will let you know how it goes...
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Koha LiveCD
Writing this from Ubuntu running on a USB stick in the lab. Even better, it is running the Koha ILS (and Dspace, and OAI harvester and dbWiz - things i have wanted to use in class but could not because of the IT limitations).
Thanks to the great work of Dr. ARD Prasad (ard@drtc.isibang.ac.in) there is now a LiveCD of Koha 3.0 available. Goto http://sf.net/projects/liblivecd and download the .iso and burn the image to a CD.
You can run it from the CD and login to the Admin module or just use the OPAC (of course, until you set it up it has nothing...)
OPAC is http://localhost/opac
Admin is http://localhost/kohaadmin
the admin username is kohaadmin and the password is library. I was able to set up Koha in a few minutes and then use the built-in client to make a Z39.50 connection to the Library of Congress server and do some copy cataloging. With some books in the OPAC i was able to do some searching.
Since the OS is Ubuntu 9.10 i decided to make a bootable USB version, the idea being i could then save settings, tweak the install and add some more programs.
In Ubuntu select System, Admin, USB Startup and select your stick. I first tried a USB stick formatted with ext2 filesystem but it did not mount, so i had to reformat the stick as FAT32 so that it was detected. The Install to USB function asks how much space to reserve on the USB stick for persistent data, i select 512mb on a 2 gig stick. The Ubuntu image is about 670mb so i figured this would leave enough room.
The entire process takes about 4 minutes and when you restart the USB boots into Ubuntu from where you can setup and run Koha. Just launch Firefox all the information you need is displayed. Sweet! Many thanks to Mr. Prasad for this. I have some screenshots of the Koha setup but i need to work though it a couple of times to understand all the options and then write it up for the class lab.
There is another Koha Live CD done in Aug 2009 available from Mizstik projects at http://mizstik.com/projects/koha-livecd/ but i have not tried it. Maybe a comparison should be done. I notice the same site has a mod for Openbiblio called the Home Edition. Will have to take a look, wish someone would take over that project and get it going again...
Thanks to the great work of Dr. ARD Prasad (ard@drtc.isibang.ac.in) there is now a LiveCD of Koha 3.0 available. Goto http://sf.net/projects/liblivecd and download the .iso and burn the image to a CD.
You can run it from the CD and login to the Admin module or just use the OPAC (of course, until you set it up it has nothing...)
OPAC is http://localhost/opac
Admin is http://localhost/kohaadmin
the admin username is kohaadmin and the password is library. I was able to set up Koha in a few minutes and then use the built-in client to make a Z39.50 connection to the Library of Congress server and do some copy cataloging. With some books in the OPAC i was able to do some searching.
Since the OS is Ubuntu 9.10 i decided to make a bootable USB version, the idea being i could then save settings, tweak the install and add some more programs.
In Ubuntu select System, Admin, USB Startup and select your stick. I first tried a USB stick formatted with ext2 filesystem but it did not mount, so i had to reformat the stick as FAT32 so that it was detected. The Install to USB function asks how much space to reserve on the USB stick for persistent data, i select 512mb on a 2 gig stick. The Ubuntu image is about 670mb so i figured this would leave enough room.
The entire process takes about 4 minutes and when you restart the USB boots into Ubuntu from where you can setup and run Koha. Just launch Firefox all the information you need is displayed. Sweet! Many thanks to Mr. Prasad for this. I have some screenshots of the Koha setup but i need to work though it a couple of times to understand all the options and then write it up for the class lab.
There is another Koha Live CD done in Aug 2009 available from Mizstik projects at http://mizstik.com/projects/koha-livecd/ but i have not tried it. Maybe a comparison should be done. I notice the same site has a mod for Openbiblio called the Home Edition. Will have to take a look, wish someone would take over that project and get it going again...
Friday, February 5, 2010
EIFL: FOSS for Libraries
EIFL: FOSS for Libraries
This lists identifies viable FOSS solutions for libraries and provides details on the software as well as its FOSS user and developer communities. When the software is known to be in use in eIFL.net member libraries, this too is noted. Links to the main project site and the download site are included and each entry is reviewed on a monthly basis to keep it up to date.
This lists identifies viable FOSS solutions for libraries and provides details on the software as well as its FOSS user and developer communities. When the software is known to be in use in eIFL.net member libraries, this too is noted. Links to the main project site and the download site are included and each entry is reviewed on a monthly basis to keep it up to date.
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