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AFDIT.co.uk
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Filter the WordPress loop
When you want to alter a theme to customise the loop you should do it in the following way (this is as much for my own reference as anything else):
In my current theme’s home.php file we can see the line:
<?php
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post();
?>
This is the start of the WordPress loop. This version of the loop has no filters in place. It will output all posts in the system according to the default system settings. This will include all categories, dates, authors etc.
All we need to do is put the following line before the loop:
query_posts ($query_string . '&cat=4');
to create
<?php
query_posts ($query_string . '&cat=4');
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post();
?>
Fedora 16 LiveUSB on Asus 1215n
Intro
Although I still consider myself a Linux n00b I love to tinker and get my geek fix whenever there’s a new distro to play with and having not had any other hardware to test on recently I will be giving a quick rundown on how Fedora 16 feels out of the box on the Asus 1215n.
To begin I downloaded the Gnome i686 distro via torrent and then using ElementaryOS (my current main OS on this machine) I used the Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator to make the LiveUSB with the torrent iso. Or tried to… it seems this program only lets you install Ubuntu-based distros.
Linux n00b FAIL
Tried again with unetbootin and after being prompted to install 7zip I opened the app and created the LiveUSB with just a few clicks.
Out-of-the-Box Functionality / hardware compatibility
Something I have grown to love about Ubuntu (being a n00b as I said) is that at the point of install you can choose to enable restricted, proprietary sources which allow out-of-the-box functionality for Broadcom wireless adapters and mp3 codecs – effectively all the stuff Linux desktops would commonly for a hassle-free setup for the average user. This is especially helpful when on laptops as WiFi is taken for granted to “just work” on mobile devices. Even with LiveUSBs the propreitory drivers etc let you work with WiFi just as you are testing things.
With the Fedora 16 LiveUSB booted I found that the ethernet hardware (the wired networking port) worked fine but the WiFi did not.So I could unleash myself from the router and continue writing this article in WordPress directly from F16 I decided to install the driver according to this guide. Seemed to work a treat and I was wireless once again.
For n00bs, knowing that this isn’t out-of-the-box functional but *is* v.v.simple to get working (at least on my hardware) is a major plus. Fedora is no more scary that Ubuntu
Look & Feel
F16 is running Gnome 3.2.1 as it’s Graphical User Interface (GUI) or Desktop Environment. Gnome has been updated to v.3 just recently (in Sept I think) and although v.2 was well established and much loved by Linux fans the same could not be said for v.3
What I think happened is that expectations exceeded reality when people came to play with the new interface. It was a little buggy (as most new things are) and die-hard fans of v.2 could not compare like-for-like and therefore saw it’s shortcomings as overshadowing any pro points. For me the interface was intuitive and looked great.
The top panel has an button labelled Activites that opens the Launcher & “Dash” or “Lenses”. These last two are terms for how the applications are now listed, managed and opened. The corners of Gnome desktops have previously been configurable to do things like run Expose that shows you all your running applications. In Gnome v.3 this is standard when moving the mouse to the top-left corner of the desktop and effectively does the same thing as pressing the Activities button.
Unfortunately dispite the good looks Gnome’s applications seemed very buggy – Evolution, Bluetooth & the Dash/Lenses all crashed or were seriously screwing up in regular operation. Although I invested the time to use the inbuilt Automatic Bug Reporting Tool it seemed not to report and not
to be very “automatic”. At one point it mentioned needing to download over 1000Mb of files until I could report the bug correctly. I would have been happier if the ABRT had just offered a single tick box that asked if I wanted to report the error.
Conclusion
I would have seriously considered swapping from Elementary OS back to Fedora (last primary Fedora OS I had was F13) but due to the buggy nature of Gnome v.3 at this point (I swear I want to love it so much!) it’s just not ready for me. Instead I’ll wait for the new DE created by the eOS team which will be part of Luna (their next release) based on Ubuntu 12.04 and released in the second half of next year – 2012. Until then I am going to continue with eOS and monitor Fedora’s Gnome v.3 progression as the new releases are made.
First look at ElementaryOS
So, firstly I realise I haven’t posted anything in a while and for that I’m truely sorry.
To be honest I’ve been busy with selling my house, cycling from Paris to Chamonix and having an awesome snowboard season while avoiding work as much as I could. Well they say all good things come to an and so I’m back from outerspace and this time I’m going to show you something ooh so pretty. Fasten your seat belts and have a gander at this:
Well I don’t know about you but that looks like some beautiful Linux going on right there.
If you’re not akin to the world of Open Source Software then Linux is basically the key bit of brains behind such Operating Systems as Ubuntu, Arch, Debian, Crunchbang, Fedora and ElementaryOS to name but a few. What you’re looking at has all been created by people who explicitly given their works away for free to share with others.
So – how does ElementaryOS differ from the other Operating Systems listed there?
Well, the team of devs has used a stable version of Ubuntu – which has gained many followers and has substantial backing – to create their own simple, yet functional system with style and minimalism in mind.
Those apps shown on the desktop are specially created for Elementary (although you can install them on Ubuntu also) and control the functions of email client, contacts organiser and web browser. They are Postler, Dexter & Midori.
The benefits of Linux is that you can chop and change what you don’t like – creating a really customised system to suit your needs.
With these apps being created as lightweight alternatives to bulky (although feature-rich) programs such as Thunderbird, Evolution, Firefox and the like, the user is left with what is essential to the app, built with speed and good looks at the fore front of the process and with a future of further connectivity in mind.
Let’s start with Postler:
Postler is an email app that handles multiple accounts, IMAP, simple set-up and minimal clutter. It’s also fast because it’s not trying to do too much. You get notifications on the dock (at the bottom of the screen) as well as a notification in the top-right when an email arrives. You may have seen this in Ubuntu – they are now common across apps that want to update the user on what is happening. Postler is also made to work with…
Dexter. This app handles your contacts, so in collaboration with Postler it does much of what Outlook or Thunderbird tries to do but with a lot less effort, clutter or RAM Dexter allows importing from Gmail or any other contacts list using vcard or .vcf files. You can add pictures to contacts to boost the visual appearance of people listed. Also you can obviously export your contacts again or use Dexter to merge selected contacts together. Again, simplicity is key but you can access your contacts at any time when creating emails in Postler.
Midori. This is possibly the most minimal looking web browser I’ve ever seen. It’s plain looks are deceptive though. Features included are; tabbed browsing, private browsing, bookmark import/export and a range of search engines that can be used straight from the address bar. You can do everything you usually do with a browser, but again – it’s probably faster than your lumbering old bloated software.
The rest of ElementaryOS is made up of the “dock” at the bottom which is Docky, soon to be replaced in the new version of ElementaryOS with Plank. It allows dragging and dropping of all your programs and bits of the system you want instant access to, right there at the bottom of the screen. It’s a bit like the Unity panel in Ubuntu – but I prefer this one. Another feature found in eOS is actually something they chose to leave out – the Twitter / Facebook client Gwibber. I cannot express how happy I am that they did this as Gwibber use to be the most RAM hungry background “service” ever to plague my Ubuntu system. The issue for me was that removing Gwibber in Ubuntu was known to ruin other parts of the OS such as the afore mentioned notifications system.
Another part of Ubuntu you won’t have to put up with is Evolution. Again this is great as I never used it and it became extra software I had to leave on the machine so that Thunderbird would run properly for me. Elementary 2 – Ubuntu 0.
But the best… BEST bit of all – if you’re an Ubuntu user who didn’t want to “upgrade” to the Unity desktop interface or put up with Evolution & Gwibber hanging round, you could still enjoy everything and anything designed to run on Ubuntu, after all – this is a “fork”.
With regards to the future of eOS I’ve got it on good authority that the devs are working on a very clever system to share anything between apps known as Contractor. It will hold a bit of information on what each individual app on the system can do. This means, for example, that when you are emailed a picture you can right-click and upload to Facebook. At present this means saving the picture, opening a browser or app that can upload the pic and then selecting the pic from the saved folder and so on. Contractor will allow all of your apps to talk to each other when they need to.
So in conclusion, I’m more than a little bit fond of ElementaryOS. It feels very good as is and has a very promising future too. You can download the ISO as a 32bit or 64bit version to either try or install as you please and there is support given by some very friendly folk in the #elementary room on irc.freenode.org
Here’s some links in case you missed them in the article:
- ElementaryOS
- Postler
- Dexter
- Midori
- #Elementary – a support on Freenode
- Docky
- Gwibber – and my preferred alternative to it Hotot
Synology DiskStation 411j
Here’s a blog post about my NAS and what I’ve managed to do to/with it to get the most functionality/usage.
RSync / Grsync wasn’t working to backup Ubuntu laptop. I could access with FTPES in Filezilla but it was slow and not as feature rich as I’d have liked. I could SSH in using terminal but for some reason SFTP would not work in Nautilus when using the “connect to server” bit.
Next try was to upgrade the DiskStation OS (DS Manager) to see if there was better functionality and stuff.
This was being done remotely so I had to hope that the settings would remain otherwise I would lose my DynDns connection & have to travel back to the UK to resolve the issue.
It was time to take a chance. I stopped my SSH connection in terminal and the torrent downloads I had going and started uploading the .pat file of the new DSM (v.3.1-1613)
The error message given after the file had been uploaded was something about an incompatible file type.
Not disheartened I gave the 411j specific v.3.1354 a go. Same error again.
Hmm… what to try next?
Fennec on Android
So I just installed Fennec (beta) for Android on my Samsung Galaxy S. For those who don’t know Fennec is the Mobile version of Firefox.
The concept is based on “horses for courses”. You couldn’t run Firefox (the Linux version) on Android – it just doesn’t work that way. But there are probably many parts of Firefox that are replicated throughout the different builds. Be it the Windows, Linux or Fennec versions.
First impressions
Quick. Multi-touch zoom. Integrated Google search in address bar. Strange placement of settings controls – you don’t access them via the normal menu button that Google demands on Android phones, instead on any webpage use a swipe gesture from right to left. This brings up a hidden side-panel that includes the bookmarking button, back and forward buttons and the settings button. I am guessing a lot of people will struggle find this unless told.
Also the Sync plugin is ready to go from the install. This is a wise idea as many people who are likely to want Firefox on their phone (over the default browser) want it because they already use Firefox on the desktop. Sync brings across your saved passwords, bookmarks, history and settings. That’s the main reason I want Fennec on my phone. Seamless syncing between my laptop and phone.
Unfortunately, I got lots of errors when trying to sync with Firefox 3.6 or 4 beta on my laptop running Jolicloud. After research and a little wasted effort I have found this to be a tough nut to crack. I am sure the experience will be different across operating systems, network connections and Firefox versions. I hope to update this post with information of how and why these problems occured for those in the same boat.
Footnote
If you don’t complete the sync set-up when Fennec first installs and want to enable a sync account afterwards it is in the settings at the bottom of the page.
And just in case you missed it the;
User, Password & Sync Key
is the same as desktop Firefox Sync’s;
User, Password and Secret Phrase.
I Googled “Sync Key Fennec” when I couldn’t figure this out but seems no-one else was confused by the alternative naming of the Secret Phrase.
Meeting prospective clients
Excited much?! I fracking love getting to the insides of fledgling businesses. Just had an informal chat with a prospective client and even if they don’t use me professionally a good ol chat is still the full-on funzors!
Good deeds
As the head of this here thing I think it goes a long way when people do good deeds and as only I have control of the good deeds AFDIT does it falls on my shoulders to walk the walk.
I’ve had a few ideas on the best way to do this – and it may be that in the future you find out about some of them – but now and again I just do something small and I consider them a step in the right direction.
Yesterday a friend said she wanted a new dress. She said the dress was too costly and that she couldn’t afford or justify it’s expense and asked (albeit jokingly) if someone would buy it for her.
Well I thought about how people like presents (and I’m not sure if I’ve ever bought said friend a present before) so tried to justify it for myself somehow. Then it hit me: Kiva!
Kiva offers people a mechanism with which to lend entrepreneurs in poorer countries money. Those entrepreneurs repay their loans and the Kiva lender can start lending the money again to another Entrepreneur. It’s like giving money to charity but the money can be given again and again because the lenders get repaid.
Well I was going to put some money in my Kiva account anyway – roughly the same amount as this dress – and so why not bring someone else in on the deal?
The deal was struck. I proposed that I buy the dress as a present if, and only if, the recipient put the equivalent amount in to a Kiva account and start lending and never take the money out again.
I thought this was a good way to get someone started with Kiva – bribe them / pay for the first loan. Having thought about it I may bribe more people and ask them to bribe others. In fact most friends+family can expect Kiva vouchers for their foreseeable birthday and Christmas presents.
Unfortunately you can’t comment on this post until I fix my commenting system – but bare with me… it’ll be there soon.
Introducing Linux and Open Source Software
Inspired by ever increasing publicity and debate I’ve decided to write a post on Linux Operating Systems and Free Open Source Software (FOSS).
For the uninitiated, the Linux Kernel is a bit of code at the heart of any Linux system, be it Ubuntu (a popular desktop Operating System), Android (Google’s mobile phone Operating System) or what runs inside everday gadgets (like this)
The Kernel is like the foundation Lego brick that any Linux system uses at it’s core. That’s why Linux can look and feel different depending on it’s release. It could look like a mobile phone, it could be a media player or games console, or it could be an Operating System a little like Apple’s OSX or Microsoft Windows.
Here’s a few things that make Linux and FOSS different from OSX and Windows:
- It is free (“as in beer” / £0)
- It is free (“as in freedom” – I’ll explain further in a moment)
- It’s stable (Nasa/Google/NSA etc all rely on it)
- All the code is “open” to explore and change
- The transparency/openness breeds trust.
- Don’t like it? Change it! (Wikipedia model)
- And finally – Microsoft are criminal – just look at the fines
To give a little added insight – the first mentioning of the term free means just that – it costs nothing. Although this does not apply to all FOSS products it is common throughout Linux OSes and FOSS. “How do the companies/programmers make their money?” you may ask – well, it’s usually through services (such as support) rather than the product (the software).
The second mention of being free refers to freedom. Those behind FOSS wanted to allow things to flurish in the open and they knew that keeping ties on how this would happen hindered that development. The result is a vast array of different people trying to achieve frequently similar aims. They can do this together by joining Open Source projects or they can take different routes like the major desktop interfaces, KDE and Gnome. Those two do roughly the same job but in different ways. This gives the user total freedom to choose and the choices often seem endless.
But, as with everything that has quality to it – the critics rave, people on the internet catch on and in no time at all – it’s a hit
For most people – this is the entry point for using Linux OSes or FOSS. If there enough other people using it you can get answers to questions in Forums or on official support sites and, hey “that many people can’t be wrong” has some truth to it.
To dip your toes in to FOSS as a Mac or Windows user try the following:
Open Office – If you have used Microsoft Office before (Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc) this software is deisgned for the same purpose – word processing, spreadsheets, slideshows and so on. It will save to open formats like .odf as well as being able to save as or open .doc files (as created by Microsoft Word). If you have ever felt the need to pirate MS Office just to open and work with files, here’s your opportunity to try a different approach.
Firefox – I’m guessing you’ve already heard of this high flyer. Firefox is one of the most highly used web browsers on the internet today and it’s all open source. It is easily expandable through the use of add-ons – which, are more simple to create as developers have access to as much or little of the open source code as they would like. Thanks to it’s transparent code it has also seen development of better security at it’s core than closed rival Internet Explorer. This has come in the form of companies and individuals all providing feedback when they noticed something in the code that could be improved.
7-Zip – When you receive a compressed file you need to decompress it. Windows has a program built in to Vista and Windows 7 that does this for you sometimes. Well getting a copy of 7-zip lets you open and create compressed files of all types! Finally you can have one great application that you know will handle all variations of compressed file.
VLC - This is an all-round video and media player. As with Open Office and 7-zip the power of this application comes with it’s ability to play all manor of file types without the need for additional codecs. VLC is soon to be releasing a video editor as well, building on the success of it’s media player.
For the more adventurous among you I can suggest 3 ways to try out Linux based Operating Systems.
Wubi - It’s an acronym for Windows Ubuntu Installer (you’ll find a lot of acronyms used as FOSS names) and with it you can install a copy of Ubuntu alongside your Windows installation with the same ease as installing any Windows application. This has to be the easiest way to try Ubuntu (or any Linux OS).
LiveUSB / LiveCD – Simply put this is an install disk which can sit on either a CD or a USB stick. But it’s more than that! You can also try the whole Operating System before you install it So, to achieve this just grab a recordable CD or a USB stick and use the appropriate link in the title of this paragraph. The USB link will take you to a program called LinuxLiveUSB – this manages the process of putting a LiveOS of your choice. I’d recommend Jolicloud/Ubuntu/Fedora/Mint from it’s list of options as they are great for beginners to get going. If instead you don’t have a USB stick click any of the following to get the .iso file (this is a CD Image ready to burn to disc) Jolicloud, Ubuntu, Fedora or Mint – please note that if you use the Mint link you’ll need to click on a link in the list of “Mirrors”. The Live method should let you get started with the Operating System as a whole, although if you would like to make certain changes and then come back to those changes when the machine is rebooted look for the “persistence” options. Jolicloud / LinuxLiveUSB and Wubi should offer simple set up of this.
Virtualisation -Virtualisation refers to the ability to install an Operating System within a virtual environment that replicates a normal install. Think of it as a testing environment which is like a spare machine you have lying around. The only difference is the spare machine is a program on your current Operating System – in this case we’re using Virtualbox. This allows people to try one or more versions of different Operating Systems and figure out the pros and cons without having to continually reboot. The virtual environment will be accessible inside your current OS! If you have ever seen a Mac user using Windows inside their MacOS then this was how it was done. Just as with the LiveCD option you will need a .iso once you have Virtualbox installed, so go ahead and use of those above links to download that file and install it in your new virtual environment.
I’m going to end this post here but stay tuned and I will continue from where I’ve left of and provide more news of where Linux and FOSS is going next.
Thanks for reading this far – now get back to work!
read my writing and track my travels
Ok – this is the last post of the day (3 in such a short space of time is overkill after so little blogging for so long).
After discovering the majestic awesomeness which is Mahalo I soon found myself participating in asking questions and getting in a few answers of my own. Immediately I was hooked and still can’t leave the site alone.
My favourite and most affirming answer to write was a little fun one where the question was simply to write a short story. There was only a very slight premise within which to keep the story based – it was to be Sci Fi in a cafe called Starport where all the races of aliens came together to share a coffee.
I hadn’t done any creative writing since school but I started to sketch down an idea (it was 4am and I was ready for bed) and it all just flowed. The asker of the question was even so kind as to tip me for it. Flattered and confident I have decided to carry on. This is where you can follow my Starport series : http://putfingertokey.afdit.co.uk
Also, as some of you may know, I am off travelling for a while and again I’ve given myself a new subdomain to issue my route, pictures tales of adventure and a schedule of where I am to keep my mother calm.
Track my travels here : http://travel.afdit.co.uk
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back again soon (but not too soon).