syamsul's domain

It sure feels nostalgic to see Tom’s Hardware list every single known computer processor released from 1995 to 2005 on this article and this one. Resurfaces memories of the very first PC I’d ever built way back at the end of 1995 – an Intel Pentium 100MHz based machine. And now, almost 10 years later (even if I’ve had it for almost 2 years now), my PC has an (effectively) 2500MHz processor! That’s like 25 times faster, and my PC isn’t even top-of-the-line these days.

But of course, processor speed doesn’t tell whole story about overall system performance and computing experience; for this reason, I’m perfectly contented with the 1400MHz PowerMac G4 I’m typing on this very moment. On the other hand, some people need something with a lot more (or a lot less) processing power, so one should really assess his/her computing needs before before springing the $$$ to upgrade/buy a new computer. More on that in a future post.

While reading this “review” of SUSE Linux 9.3 (actually looks like more of an ad, which probably shouldn’t surprise since it is hosted on Novell’s website), I came across this screenshot that did give me pause (that’s Shakespearean for you!)

Having used OpenOffice 1.x (and its predecessors, since the then-free StarOffice version 5.x), I must say that it actually (and finally!) looks visually appealing! According to the website, version 2.0 is still in its final stages of beta testing, but tempted by this most exciting list of new features, I went ahead to download and install it in my PC.

I was not disappointed.

From the loading times to user-interface to wizards and new features, this version seems very very promising. I especially like the fact that there is now a (optionally) wizard-driven database component built into OpenOffice. Yes, it did crash on my once, but hey, it’s still in beta (read: some bugs expected).

This blog also contains quite a few very in-depth posts on the new features we can expect to see.

I really can’t wait for the release of 2.0. Where the 1.x release was adequate and despite the fact that it cost no $$$, it wasn’t enough for many MS Office users to get them switching because OO was simply too ugly/unintuitive/lacking in features/lacking in stability/unfamiliar (pick your reason here). Some even compare OO 1.x to MS Office 95! But when 2.0 is out, I suspect it’ll pose a much more credible challenge to MS Office.

It’s been some 3 months now since I moved from my Blogger blog to this WordPress one.. gosh, time sure passes really quickly! Before I know it, it’ll already be the Novemember holidays again! Haha..

Anyhow, one of things I never got around to doing was to document why exactly I went to WordPress, and (probably) more importantly how exactly I went about doing it. And I never could seem to get around to doing it. Luckily, this blogger not only explained why she made the switch from Blogger, but she even outlined the steps for anyone interested in making the switch. Good stuff.

One thing I did miss about using Blogger though was the seemingly millions of websites offering templates for it, so it was easier to make your blog look unique (?? did I just contradict myself there? :> ). But (especially) since the release of version 1.5, the WordPress community has gotten really busy churning out really good-looking templates for WordPress. This long list of more than a hundred templates for WP 1.5 proves just that. And we can be sure that the WP templating scene will continue to be vibrant with events like the WordPress 1.5 Themes competition.

On another note, it would appear that Yahoo is also jumping in on the blogging bandwagon. I have always found the quality and consistency of Yahoo’s services to be excellent (unlike Microsoft’s…) , so it would really be interesting to see how Yahoo’s moveschanges the blogging landscape.

Because fellow Mac using teachers at the MUGS forums have requested for it, I thought I’d put up this simple guide on getting your OS X Mac working with your school network. Yes, internet access is automatic via an access point in the staff room (well at least in mine anyhow), so I shan’t cover that, but using the networked printers and folders requires a little sleuthing and configuration. So here goes!

1. Go into Applications –>Utilities–>Directory Access. Highlight SMB and click on Configure. Select the correct Workgroup for your school network (probably a number like 3011 or East or West etc)
2. Go to any Windows terminal in the staffroom, login and take note of the following:

   (a) Open up My Computer and look under Network Drives. See something like “Teachers on Wxxxxxxxxxxx”? Take note of the Wxxxxxxxxx on paper (or somewhere) – this is the server where your Workspace and Shared Folder (among other things) are stored.

   (b) From the Start menu, click on Printers and Faxes.Take note of the server name on the printer e.g. “Lexmark on Wxxxxxxxxxxx” .Select the printer and click on File–>Properties–> Sharing and take note of the printer’s “share name”.

3. Now back to your Mac, click on Finder and search for the server name you noted in 2(a) earlier. Double-click on it and key in the username/password that you use to login to the school’s Windows computers.Now you get the option to “Select a share”. Select TEACHERS and now you will see in Finder that the “TEACHERS” volume has been mounted. Click on it and search for the folder bearing your own NRIC number. Now, while holding BOTH the Option and Command (Apple) buttons on the keyboard, drag-and-drop this folder on your desktop to create an alias.Rename this folder into “My Workspace”
4. Now repeat the procedure above, in exactly the same way except:

   (a) instead of selecting TEACHERS, you select SHARING

   (b) instead of naming the alias “My Workspace”, you name it “Shared Folders”

5. Finally, we are now going to set up printing to the staffroom printer.Click on System Preferences–>Print & Fax –> Set up printers. Click on Add and select the Windows Printing option.Scroll to the printer server name that you took note of above in 2(b) , select the appropriate printer driver and give it a suitable name.
6. Voila! Now you have finished configuring your Mac to easily access your Workspace, Shared Folder and staffroom printer! Congratulations!

Note: If you were unable to browse for the networked printer in Step 5, you will have to add it manually as described here.

I intend to add screenshots, but I haven’t got the time to do it yet! Hope this mini guide has been useful! Any problems? Suggestions?
These steps work for my school network, but might not work for yours. So please feedback and post your comments below!

Unsuprisingly, it looks like I’m far from the first person to look into implementing a multiple-user blog for school use, and there sure seems to be a lot of interest in it. I do wish that I’d found this article on Google or something before I did my own research, but I doubt it’d have affected my decision to roll out pLog for some of my students or the (hopefully) imminent weblogs for teachers (just waiting for release 1.0 to come out of beta). Why?

• My school doesn’t host our own web servers, so systems like Blojsom or Roller are no-nos
• We can’t afford to pay a lot of money for it, so commercial systems like Manila or Movable Type also can’t be considered
• pLog’s interface is cleaner (read: less confusing to end users) than the likes of b2evolution, nucleus CMS or even Drupal
• WordPress Multiple User is unfortunately still too buggy at this time for such a deployment
• pLog has a summary page which is really handy

So in short, pLog fits my school’s needs…for now, despite some caveats. Anything might change by the time the school actually rolls out a blogging system though (constantly evaluating all options and all that)

No, I’m not talking about Sarong Party Girls but Simple PHP Gallery. A little too simple perhaps, since it’s a script that doesn’t really do anything other than display a gallery of pictures uploaded into directories on the server. Also, since it doesn’t have any way to upload pictures, you’ll have to upload them on your own via FTP – which might be a little limiting for some people.

Anyway, anyone looking to integrate a light gallery into a blog using WordPress will find this simple tip most useful. But will I have a go at it? Well, I’m not sure I’m ready to give up the features of Coppermine Gallery just yet.

On another note, also found an alternative to creating an image gallery in WordPress, only this one using iView Media Pro.