GIMPShop I love you ...

It's a secret wish of mine that all software should be free for education. Ok, not secret, but still a wish. It bothers me to no end that our schools have to pour limited resources into software, just to train users who will go out and buy that companies software. It's not right. I'm not a graphic shop. I do not use Adobe Photoshop for anything I sell or make money from.

Some companies have realized this and now give their software to schools. Kudos to Simply Accounting and QuickBooks who do that in Canada. Some of the big offenders however are Adobe and Microsoft.

Enter programs like GIMP. GIMP is great on Linux, and I can use it for most of what I need to do with images. However, students often get lost in the interface. But now there is GIMPShop. I haven't used it lots, but it seems to answer most of the interface problems I've had. This will also mean I can still use the Photoshop tutorials we have in teaching it. Looks like a great win for Education. More like this please !!

http://www.gimpshop.net/

Quicksilver ?

What?! What is this .... cool, kind of like apple script ... kind of like Automator on steroids with easy of use .... Hmmm needs more research.

http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

MAMP is cooler than I thought

So the power of MAMP isn't that it quikly installs and sets up Apache, MySQL and PHP (although it does that), it's that it does so in a box. Well, not a box, but all to itself. This allows you to run these tools for a specific website your working on, without affecting the rest of you machine.

Ok, that's still not right. What I mean is, I can use MAMP to install a website I'm building onto my little Powerbook. I can test it out locally, then upload it. I can also install multiple instances of MAMP (with a little tweaking) to test out different websites I'm building. In addition, the shutdown or restart of MAMP does not affect the running of apache, php or mysql from there default locations, so my other websites on my Powerbook are not affected. Get it? I didn't till I started using it. So, if you develop websites on mac, go get this program and see what I mean!

http://www.mamp.info/en/index.php

LAMP on Mac or MAMP

I've installed Apache, MySQL and PHP individually on mac. Now, why do it that way? The good people at "living-e" just created MAMP, which is LAMP for mac. Here is how they advertise it:

" Server environment on your Mac:
The MAMP Apache, PHP and MySQL under OS X!

Frequently demanded, and not yet available in this form anywhere in the world, with MAMP you install a complete server environment on your Mac OS X computer in a matter of seconds, whether PowerBook or iMac. In the same way as similar packages from the Windows and Linux worlds, this program is also free of charge.
more Information"

Anyway, I installed it without issue on my Powerbook G4 and all works as billed. If you've been itching to work with these tools, but it looked to difficult to install. Go and try this. You might even find you'd like to buy the Pro version.

Backup and RAID for small Mac servers

I believe there should be two systems in place to preserve up-time for small Mac servers. One is to RAID 1 (mirror) both data and OS drives, the other is to use an external Firewire drive to backup the OS. Here are the steps I would recommend to have in place for this to happen.

First, backup the system now with a Firewire drive. This is cheap and easy. OS drives or partitions are usually very small, so any extra drive you may have will do. Put it in an external Firewire case, plug it in and use Disk utility to format it. Then use Mike Bombich's Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html) to clone the OS drive or partition onto the Firewire drive. There, you're done! If your OS fails you replace it, boot from Firewire, then reverse the clone and reboot from the new perfect drive. Or, if you do not have 20 min. You can just boot from the Firewire drive and run the server from that until you do have the time!

The second system is to have a RAID setup. Here is how I would go about putting this in place for a small school.
Step One RAID 1 (mirror) setup

• Enclosure: Use two disk eSATA box.
• Link: http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemDetail.aspx?productid=ESATCASE2&c=CA
• Reason: inexpensive, easy to move to other machines if needed. (est. street price $99.00 CND)
  
• Options: consider buying extra trays. (est. street price $27.00 / ea CND)
• Sata Adapter: Use onboard SATA if G5 if not purchase card
• If G5 use simple bracket to bring internal port to external of machine (purchase 2!)
  
• Link: http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemDetail.aspx?productid=ESATAPLATE1&c=CA
• Reason: works, and plain cheap! (est. street price $9.25/ea CND)
  
• If G4 you will need to purchase a sata adapter card
• Link: http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?329570
• Reason: well, um G4s do not have SATA :) (est. street price $99.00 CND)
  
• Two eSATA cables: buy two where every you find them
• Link: http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemDetail.aspx?productid=ESATA3&c=CA
• Note: I'm sure you can find eSATA cables cheaper than this, so hunt for them.
• Disks: Get two of the same model at the same time. Look for specials
• Link:http://www.geeks.com/pix/2007/FREECASE17Jan07.html?cpc=HPM

Step Two RAID software

• Only one choice here: Softraid
• Link: http://www.softraid.com/
• Reason: I have been using this software forever. It works, the tech support is the best I've ever used. Period.

The easiest way to go from a single or double non-raid drive setup to using RAID is to install Softraid on the existing drives. Then setup the external RAID box. Use the Softraid to RAID both drives together in RAID 1 (mirror). Then partition the RAID container into two logical drives; one for OS (no larger than 20 GB), and the other for DATA. Now use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the existing drives over. Shutdown, disconnect the old drives, and reboot to the new external RAID box. Hey, I just thought of something. Why not use the original drives as your external Firewire backup drives! Cool eh!

Just a note. This is for the small shop that can't afford dedicated RAID 5 or 10 boxes, or NASs and the like. This is software RAID, which is reliable but not fast. If you have lots of users you'll need to go to Hardware RAID, which will need dedicated cards, boxes and more drives. However, I use this kind of RAID for our school of 450 students and 35 staff. We throw Gigs around and haven't lost one yet!

Where is PALM going?

I've written about this before, but I find it very frustrating. PALM is a great PDA. For years it enjoyed being the top kid on the block. However, a while ago the Microsoft behemoth swept in and has really taken over. Why? I'm not qualified to give the complete answer, but it seems to me that PALM has staggered from a loss of direction an innovation. It took them too long to get Wifi, SMS, and fast processors. Tying in to corporate email servers with push technology also too slow to emerge.
Having said all that, these pieces are in place. Why is PALM not picking up steam again? Perhaps it is a lack of support for developers and a clear picture of how linux and the Access group will work out. Also, why is this transition taking so long? If they are moving to linux, why is not out already? Why can we not upgrade our devices to this new linux?

There is a great community for PALM still out there, but it feels like it's slimming down. We need new machines, and some new development from PALM source, and we need it now!

If you are looking to develop for PALM on Mac it's getting harder too. I found this great site devoted to helping use PRC-Tools on Mac, but it's discontinued. Anyway, the fellow there is nice, check it out. Zenonez

Also, here is the developer who finally got SMS working as it should on PALM. They also wrote a program for helping the LifeDrive run smoother. If you have a LifeDrive, you must go here and purchase SharkCache. This developer is a really great PALM ally. Ludus