Wednesday 30 December 2009

Python: Determine location of Site-Packages / Dist-Packages

Nice tip from the Django tutorial page.

python -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print get_python_lib()"

http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/install/

Wednesday 23 December 2009

Show only directories in bash using ls

In Windows you can just go "dir /ad" on Linux its not so obvious:

ls -d */

Monday 21 December 2009

Elements of a web-store

I want to build on existing solutions as much as possible, but remain flexible.

  • Static info.
  • Navigation / Categories.
  • Product Presentation.
  • Visitor tracking, analytics, landing pages.
  • Shopping Cart.
  • Customer login / registration.
  • Checkout / payment processing.
  • Dispatch workflow.
  • Customer / marketing database.

Friday 18 December 2009

Google Chrome Keyboard Shortcuts

With the Linux and Mac versions, Google Chrome is becoming pretty ubiquitous as a browser.

http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95743

[CTRL-T]  = new tab
[CTRL-PGUP/DOWN] = move between tabs
[CTRL-W]  = close tab
[CTRL-E] = perform search

BitchX

mkdir BitchX
cd BitchX
wget http://www.bitchx.com/download/BitchX-1.1-final-linux.tar.gz
tar xvf BitchX*.tar.gz
./BitchX

http://linuxreviews.org/software/irc/bitchx/

Thursday 17 December 2009

Useful Cisco Commands

show ip traffic
show tcp
show ip dhcp bindings
show interface atm 0
show interface dot11

New 'Rapid-Carbon' Web Application

An e-commerce web application providing the following functional requirements:
  • Database of customers.
  • Database of products.
  • Amazon / other e-payment integration.
  • Wiki pages for manuals etc.
  • Internationalisation.
  • Views edited by someone else.
Non-functional:
  • Easy / Quick to deploy.
  • Move between hosts.
  • Backup.
  • Quick to develop.
Technologies:

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Repeated Sharepoint Credentials Box when opening Office Doc in IE on Windows 7.

We have a Sharepoint server at work used to share documents via WebDav. It is authenticated via the Active Directory, using the current logged on user credentials. It has always been the case, on IE on XP that you needed to carry out the following steps to access files without seeing an annoying credentials box:

1. Add the Sharepoint host to Trusted Sites in IE.
2.a.  From the security tab, select "custom level" for Trusted Sites.
2.b.  Scroll to bottom of options and select "Automatic Logon with current username and password".

However since moving to W7, this continues to work but I keep getting prompted for my credentials after opening an Office Document. This is annoying as repeatedly typing the correct password has no effect, and only by clicking "cancel" does the document download.

Seem this is a bug, due to the fact that:

1. We don't have a proxy, i.e. MS ISA Server.
2. We are using a fully qualified domain name.

Don't think I understand how MS missed this state of affairs as valid use case / test case, but anyhow.

There is hotfix for Vista to fix this, however the patch does not work on Window 7. However following the manual steps in the article below fixed the problem and worked for me (editing the registry):

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=943280

Saturday 5 December 2009

Linux on the Desktop : Ubuntu Karmic

Linux is the server operating system, but honestly I wouldn't consider it on the desktop - except for development. I've installed Ubuntu Karmic on my Thinkpad X60s as a dual boot with XP for one reason - as a platform for developing an Django application. The deployment issues I had with my last application, a Rails project, developing on XP then migrating to Linux (especially with Imaging libraries) was unreal - so I'd prefer to develop on the same platform the application will run in production.

My first instinct was to run CENTOS, the same platform as my host, however I stumbled across the ChromiumOS build page and it was clear Google developers were using Ubuntu Karmic, so I thought, if its good enough for them, I'll try it. Honestly I'm very impressed, it was actually a slick experience. I run Windows 7 on my desktop at work and on my Media PC, and the experience isn't better (and of course the compatibility isn't there on Ubuntu, however for developing a Django web app, in Vi and using all the nice Python deployment tools Ubuntu is ideal.

Basic stuff, but this article helped me get the default GUI how I wanted it:

http://www.techotopia.com/index.php/Customizing_the_Ubuntu_GNOME_Desktop_Panels