I have several websites for which I am responsible. On one site, I am building a new gallery site for storing pictures as well as sound and video clips. There are several good options for building a gallery site, and I have used more than one with success. For the site in question, I decided to use Coppermine, which is powerful, configurable, open source, and freely licensed using the GNU GPL.
I ran into a little snag that took some work to figure out. To help me remember what I did, I am blogging it here. Maybe someone else will find it useful as well.
Coppermine makes it very easy to store, embed and play lots of media files and formats. That is awesome. I found one that is not supported…the now common flv, or flash video. In fact, by default you can’t even upload a file with an flv extension. Bummer. Off to Google I ran.
I found several sites with ideas and info, but one was more useful than others. Even it required lots of reading and page turning. I decided to put all the info in one page for my easy reference, but the Coppermine Gallery forum deserves a link and the credit for this method. I’m just posting it, people there came up with it. That is an old thread, though, and things have changed since the first post. I had to read the whole thing to figure out what needed to happen to make this work, and that is the reason for this post, rather than just a bookmark in my personal web browser. Okay, here are the steps I took that got this working for me. (more…)
April 26th, 2008
I failed to post yesterday during the main release party excitement, not because I wasn’t excited, but because I was so excited that I had already upgraded all of my boxes when Ubuntu 8.04 was still in beta.
Anyway, woo hoo!!!
If you want to download the new version, go here. The links are at the bottom of the page. I recommend using a torrent download as it will be faster and will save some of the load on the Ubuntu servers.
April 25th, 2008
One of the most freeing moments of my life was when I learned to stay out of other people’s business. That moment freed me from the stress and worry of trying to keep everyone else safe, correct, or “on the right path.” Don’t get me wrong, there is a place and a time for that. The real trick is learning how to discern what is your responsibility and what is not, in other words, when are where are those proper times and places?
I like to use the analogy of circles. Each of us is given a circle of responsibility and influence. Everything in the circle is ours. Everything outside of that circle is not ours. The things inside of other people’s circles are their responsibility.
Sometimes responsibilities are shared, like my wife and I each have our children within the shared, overlapping portions of our individual circles.
Sometimes my circles contain other people’s circles. My children, especially as they are very young, are fully within my circle. As they get older, my job as a father is to help them learn how to manage the things in their circle well, giving them authority and power over their lives. At first, I control the decisions. Then, I allow them to make decisions within parameters I establish. Finally, we move to more and more freedom, ultimately allowing them to make decisions for themselves as they learn how to do so.
Sometimes circles exist only for specific areas of life. An employer’s circle of responsibility at work completely encompasses the circles of his employees, but only where work is concerned. The employer does, or should not have, any such authority over the employee at home.
Sometimes circles are unique. This blog is in my circle and no one else is responsible for it in any way (other than my web host keeping its uptime promise).
Problems appear when people overstep proper boundaries and begin trying to manage the things in other people’s circles. You are still within your circle when you state a preference or a belief. You are probably still within your circle when you advocate or promote an idea (depending on how you do it, obtrusively or respectfully). You are no longer within the boundaries of your circle when you demand that someone do things the way you want them done.
It goes the other way, too. I am fully within my circle when I delete spam comments from my blog, when I prevent them altogether, when I decide who may or may not post comments, and when I arbitrarily change the theme of my site. I am stepping outside of my circle when I demand that someone else do the same things on their site. I can comment, “I do this. Here is why. You might like it as well.” I may not say, “Anyone who administers their site differently is a moron,” and I certainly have no power or authority to demand that they change.
Actually, realizing that is quite freeing. Suddenly it is okay to allow people to make choices. I might comment occasionally, if I can do so politely and without stepping out of my circle and into someone else’s, but ultimately I must allow others to have control over their lives, to have the freedom to live as they would, if I am to expect the same consideration.
So, with that in mind, I won’t tell you how to raise your children, how to run your software project, how to administer your website, or what you should or shouldn’t believe. I might make a comment occasionally based on my personal preferences, but only when I can so do in a way that does not steal from you your freedom. I’ll stay out of your circle, you can rule it as you see fit. If you are working for me, I will limit my attempts to control or influence your actions only within proper the boundaries of the workplace and the job and our professional relationship. That is the path of respect.
In return, please feel free to tell me what you think, what you believe, and share ideas you have that I may not have considered. I want to hear them! Really. Then, let me make an informed decision, and let the decision be mine. Stay out of my circle.
April 24th, 2008
I spent some time this morning looking through my logs and reading some stats (when I should have been working, but that’s a different post altogether). One statistic that fascinated me was the list of search terms that have led people to this site. Some are obvious, because I have written posts on these topics.
conky
using rsync for backup
ubuntu forums
date ideas
guitar effect settings
automatic php database backup
But then there are some that both confuse and amuse me. I thought I would share them, in case you needed a chuckle. How any of these led someone to my site is a mystery, probably involving chaos math and a butterfly somewhere in Venezuela.
joke donut difference between a
the coolest things ever known to man
soda cause achy feeling
“top secret” morocco site:net
what are the coolest clothes on oblivion
can diet coke cause indigestion
what do you call a conductor’s stick?
Please, share yours. I need the laugh.
April 24th, 2008
We have upgraded the Ubuntu Forums to use the newest version of vBulletin, 3.7.0RC3 and it rocks! There are a ton of new features, a new look, and still the same friendly, welcoming, helpful atmosphere.
The upgrade is a direct result of work done by ubuntu-geek, so he should get all the credit and thanks. The atmosphere in the forums is because of our members, who are wonderful and deserve the best looking and best working forums on the internet.
April 22nd, 2008
Actually, I am fine with that. I have copyrighted all the posts on my blog, but I have also licensed all of them with a Creative Commons license (unless you see a specific notice stating otherwise). In other words, if you are one of those who is aggregating my posts and reproducing them on your site, that is okay with me, as long as you do the following things.
1. You retain my name and copyright notice on all posts, and you include a link to my main blog site on your site or in the post itself, preferably both.
2. You do not make any money from my work without talking directly to me and getting my permission (and preferably offering some sort of royalties).
3. You do not change my words or modify my information without saying you have done so and releasing your derivative work under the same license.
I know a lot of people who have been complaining about this sort of thing, and I understand their frustration. Instead of fighting this, I am choosing to embrace it. To help those who wish to use my content to comply with my wishes, I am now including an automatic copyright notice and link at the bottom of each of my rss feed entries. If you are using WordPress, you can do the same thing with the Simple Feed Copyright plugin.
April 20th, 2008
Please test it out if you have a chance and let me know if it works for you. I had trouble with this using my former software, but I am told this is quite stable in WordPress, and I would really like to allow people to do this.
Here’s hoping…
EDIT: just an update. The OpenID plugin seems to be working quite well. Feel free to use OpenID to make comments. 
April 18th, 2008
And frankly, I’m impressed. This was the easiest software migration I have ever had. To import my DotClear blog into WordPress, all I did was this:
1. Install WordPress, including a new MySQL database.
2. Browse to the admin dashboard and click Manage->Import->DotClear.
3. Input the details for the old database, eg. location, password, etc.
4. Wait a minute.
That was it. It imported all my posts, categories, comments, and even my images. All I had to do was put the posts into categories by hand. I still need to update the blogroll/links and re-theme the site, but that was expected, and I need to do that anyway.
A huge shoutout to WordPress. I am completely impressed!!
(PlanetUbuntu readers: I apologize if there is a flood of my posts on the feed…I had to change the feed url.)
April 18th, 2008
I have enjoyed using dotclear as my blog software. It is stable and an overall good product. Unfortunately, nearly all of the documentation and files use French. I have been translating into English for everything; plugins, captcha, site templates, and so on.
Well, dotclear just released a security update. That’s a good thing. However, it looks like an upgrade will require me to do more work translating files and so on than I am prepared to do at the moment. It will be just as easy to move to a new piece of software, one that will have an easier maintenance and upgrade path for me.
So, with a fondness in my heart, I am preparing to bid DotClear adieu.
Comments and trackbacks will be closed until after the migration, and no new posts will be made until then. Hopefully, you will see me again soon.
April 18th, 2008
I’ve had a recent rash of trackback spam, so I am considering turning the trackback feature off. In the last seven months, only spammers have used it anyway. However, I have installed a spam baysian filter that I want to play with and test before I just give up. So, if you see spam links, please know that I am watching, training my filter, and actively fighting them. Hopefully the new toy will work and I won’t have to remove the trackback feature…although I notice the plugin author has done so.
On the positive side, if this works well, I will remove the captcha requirement from posting, even though I wrote all the questions myself and think they are rather amusing.
April 18th, 2008
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