Ernies Tech Thoughts

I have begun the search for a software app to manage project tracking and collaboration. It will need to be browser based so I can have it used internally and externally for Aura Media. Using PHP as the scripting language is the preference as that is what I am most comfortable with, but I am not against a solution that used Python or Ruby. The last requirement is a free and open source license.

In the past I have been a happy Mantis user for bug and issue tracking. So much that I have installed it in a few client sites. However now I want a broader product that includes time tracking and more collaboration features. Also Mantis is showing its age in a visual sense, and this can put off less technical users. Project tracking is the aim, not project planning with features like gannt charts.

In the past I did look at ActiveCollab, but they changed their license, and Streber, but it was immature and moving in a more wiki direction.

My current investigation lisr is:

• ProjectPier (activecollab fork)
• the terribly named OpenGoo (another activecollab fork)
• Redmine (RoR based)

Open to any other suggestions.

A new version of Wordpress has been released. It is a minor security release related to the Snoopy class, and can be upgraded with just 2 files. Now just waiting for inbuilt threaded comments in WP 2.7.

Thought I would give a quick screenshot. Safari and IE6 browsers on Windows XP. All running with QEMU on Kubuntu Linux.

I should have shown Konqueror as well.

Back in the dark ages when i did all my dev work on a Windows machine, my FTP client of choice was FileZilla. It was one thing I missed in the Linux world. gFTP was ok, but sometimes flakey, and Konqueror did the job, but the layout was not as good as FileZilla.

So now the great news. Filezilla 3 is in beta not just for Windows, but also Linux. I am running 3.0.0-beta7, available in the Kubuntu Universe repository. So far smooth and reliable.

Wordpress has released version 2.2.1. This means another round of updates for sites running older versions that I maintain. This one has security fixes so is a must.
These Wordpress updates are starting to get to me. There have been too many in the last 12 months and security fixes have been in most.
And it seems Wordpress themes are now a bigger part of the problem.

Ok, whinge over.

I have a number of different mail accounts which I read using Mozilla Thunderbird. Each time a new account is added it appears at the bottom of the mail list. One new account I wanted to move near the top, but Thunderbird does not give an option to reorder accounts. The answer is to edit prefs.js file. On Linux systems ~/.thunderbird/<your profile>/prefs.js, and for Windows C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<your profile>\pref.js

Look for a line like: user_pref("mail.accountmanager.accounts", "account3,account2,account5,account4,account1");
This is the line you will need to modify.

So what does account3 mean and which email account does it match?
In the lines above you will find something like: user_pref("mail.account.account3.identities", "id2");. If the id was 2, search in the prefs.js file for user_pref("mail.identity.id2.useremail". This will give you the matching email address.

One little extra if you wish to make a certain email address at the top. It needs to be made the default. See the line starting with: user_pref("mail.accountmanager.defaultaccount"

Remember, only edit this file while Thunderbird is closed.

Attended my first meeting of the Sydney PHP Group the other night. A reasonably small affair, but with a very good talk from the founders of the site Remember the Milk. It was good to see two passionate and talented people talk about all the work they have done, the boundaries that needed to be pushed, and some of the pitfalls they have encountered. A lot of Free and Open Source Software is used (some of which they created) based around PHP, Python, web servers and postgress as the db. And it makes good use of AJAX technologies. I can see the purpose rather than a gimmick. Inspiring for a couple of ideas I am working on.
There is a pdf of the presentation, which includes relevant links.

Over the years I have tried a number of Linux distributions: Redhat, Mandrake/driva, suse. All had their pluses and minuses, with my preference generally for Mandrake.

Last year when I changed to a Dell laptop as my primary work computer, I again set up a dual boot system. This I didn’t enjoy so much. Many frustrating hours when there are other things to be done. Redhat Fedora 3 & 4 annoyed me no end, getting info about Mandriva was a pain, so I settled with opensuse. Some config on my part but relatively smooth and it did the job with minor quirks.

During this time I had never tried a Debian based system, but I was hearing so many good things about Ubuntu I had to give it a try. I have always had a personal preference for KDE over GNOME, so I went for the sibling Kubuntu. Download the iso file, burn it to disc, and start the install. 6 steps and I was up and running. This I found scary. No extra config or hunting the internet for drivers. System updating was simple, and it just works. I am sure there are issues I haven’t hit yet, but they should be small. If K/ubuntu keeps this up I may just use it on the server.

I have seen a few list recently of essential applications people install on their PCs, so I thought I would put together my own list:
For web development

• Firefox, with the following extensions:
  • CSS Viewer
  • HTML Validator
  • Web Developer
• Notepad++
• Apache
• PHP

For Windows apps:

• NUnit
• SharpDevelop
• Visual Studio

General Development:

• MySQL
• WinMerge
• Subversion with TortiseSVN

Protection:

• Spybot
• AVG
• Zone Alarm

Miscellaneous:

• FileZilla
• Mozilla Thunderbird
• YAReg for dual booters needing to access Linux partitions
• CDBurnerXP
• 7-Zip
• OpenOffice

Today we released our first version of a bridge for punbb forum and Mantis issue tracking software. Both are GPL and so naturally is this bridge.