Month: November 2011

Bye bye NetBeans, still fails on remote projects, cannot detect source file changes

So NetBeans 7.x is out since a few months. With many new functions, new and updated plugins, a lot of bugfixes, etc. Fantastic! Go NetBeans!

And just because I’m a sucker for punishment, I open up a new PHP project, select a WordPress site where I do some plugin sandbox development, enter all the parameters NetBeans wants, and click “OK”.

And … NetBeans starts doing its normal routine of scanning the remote (via SSH) directories, asks me to confirm that I want to download some 1714 files to my local computer, and when I do (why wouldn’t I, right?), it begins its glorious work.

In the meantime, I set-up a new project using ActiveState’s Komodo 6.13 IDE, I point it to the same server and directory and click “OK”. Three seconds later, I have my project.

NetBeans you ask? Oh, it’s still downloading. My Internet connection is too slow (it’ll max out around 20 mbit/s) of course .. I should have at least 100 mbit/s, or possibly GB/s. Because if you want to do NetBeans development on remote servers and do it the “proper NetBeans way”, you STILL have to download your entire project locally.

I could live with that rather awkward way of doing things if NetBeans could only detect changes to the file(s) on the remote. As it is now, and as it has been for many years with NetBeans, it’ll simply consider itself to be the master, and overwrite whatever is on the server.

Of course I’m doing it all wrong. I should use version control, I should not expect myself to be able to use my workstation as a terminal to the server. I mean, those days are gone, right? We ARE in the MODEM ERA of Internet, where you REALLY wanted to do EVERYTHING LOCALLY due to bandwidth limitations, etc.

Oh no, wait .. this is 2011 .. everyone but your pet is connected 24/7/365.

So, I think now that NetBeans have shown (again), that they have no intention of EVER fixing this problem, I’ll just do rm -r -f and be happy. And what’s more, so will the rest of the NetBeans community, because they won’t need to listen to me whining about it 🙂

Bye Bye NetBeans.

#NetBeans #IDE #PHP #fail #SSH #remote #development

Utan automatik bland trygghetsnarkomaner

I landet landet som förmodligen har flest trygghetsnarkomaner i världen, som är medlem i en överbyråkratisk överstatsapparat som heter Europeiska Unionen (EU) så är det ett under att det fortfarande tillåts säljas konsumentapparater som inte har de enklaste av alla säkerhetsanordningar, som t ex automatisk avstängning.

Jag satt nyligen och läste Testfaktas genomgång av ångstrykjärn. Av sju modeller så har två stycken inte automatisk avstängning.

Tittar man på kaffebryggare så är det ännu värre; här finns det svindyra modeller som har alla tänkbara moderniteter och ”space-age design”, men som ändå saknar automatisk avstängning.

Det är mycket möjligt att statistiken för olyckor och/eller oförutsedda händelser med dessa två typer av hushållsapparater är positivt (dvs det händer få olyckor som har allvarliga konsekvenser), men i det lilla trygga Sverige som har regler och lagar för nästan allt, så slår det mig som smått udda att detta inte är ett krav. För att inte tala om EU som har åsikter om vad som får kallas för en gurka, men inte klarar av att enas om vettiga säkerhetsstandarder för konsumentapparater.

Fujitsu ESPRIMO P900 E90+, too cramped for space to add graphics card?

I like Fujitsu desktop computers. In the past, they’ve made some wonderful and lasting creations, ranging from the Esprimo Q-series to their SFF E-series and their P-series microtowers. I like Fujitsu servers too, and we’ve been deploying several of them at work. Sure, some of their desktop computers have been less successful, but tell me one manufacturer of computers that has a perfect track record 🙂

The Fujitsu ESPRIMO P900 E90+ desktop computer is no exception in that it’s well built, quiet, and, well, just works 🙂 Fujitsu doesn’t pre-load their computers with too much crap, unlike some other manufacturers. There’s a lite version of Nero (CD/DVD-burning software), and there’s a version of Symantec “protection” bla bla; the latter is something I always uninstall in favor of AVG Internet Security.

With all this being said, I opened the machine to add an ASUS Nvidia GeForce 450 GTS card (because I don’t want a graphics card with a fan). As is the case with most medium- to high-powered graphics cards these days, the ASUS Nvidia GeForce 450 GTS card occupies two PCIe slots, or the space of two slots I should say since it’s actually the heatsink that occupies the extra space. This is a well known fact to all computer manufacturers and also to most people who have ever replaced a graphics card in their computer.

Everyone, it seems, except Fujitsu.

Click to enlarge

In the ESPRIMO P900 E90+, Fujitsu has added a USB 3.0-controller. There is one connector at the back, and one on the front panel. Since re-doing the entire design of a motherboard and computer layout takes some time, Fujitsu has chosen to do this with an add-on card. So far, so good. The motherboard sports four slots. One PCIe x4, one PCIe X16, one PCI, and one shorted PCIe slot. The shorted PCIe slot holds the USB 3.0-controller. Unfortunately, someone at Fujitsu had their head up their ass the day they decided to do this. The shorted PCIe slot is seated right next to the PCIe x16 slot, which is where you want your graphics card.

It would have been a far wiser choice to put the PCI slot next to the PCIe x16 slot, since it’s unlikely to be used. But alas, with your head in a dark place, things of this nature may be hard to see.

There is a solution, and it has been verified with Fujitsu Technical Support:

Simply re-seat the USB 3.0-controller card to the PCIe x4 slot. Now you have plenty of room for your monster graphics card, or as in my case, the ASUS Nvidia GeForce 450 GTS card with its passively cooling heatsink.

Why do compact digital cameras have “rounded corners” these days?

If you’re a long-term user of compact digital cameras, you may have noticed that very few manufacturers can keep their designers from changing at least sixty-four details of the physical camera housing of their brand new and shiny models. Most of the changes are subtle, some are not. I prefer DSLR (or “Digital Single-Lens Reflex”) cameras for most shootings, but the compact digital cameras are great for party shots, or for those times when you just can’t be bothered bringing all your whizz-bang gear.

Without getting into a brand-religious-war, I’ve been rather fond of many of Canon’s IXUS series compact digital cameras. You, of course, have your own preferred brand and model. Most of the early IXUS cameras had a great feature that I’m beginning to think was a feature by accident or necessity.

That the long side at the bottom of the camera is flat is something most people take for granted, and it makes sense. If you’re going to put the camera down, you want it to remain immobile and stay where you put it. It’s also great if you have no tripod and want to take a shot that requires more time or less vibrations than you can manage with the camera hand-held. The early IXUS series also had the two short sides being more or less flat, making it possible to take portrait-style photos in bad light without a tripod. Being able to put the camera down is of course also great for self-timer shots.

For the past few years, many manufacturers have decided that we don’t need to take self-timed portrait-style photos. They put out model after model with “rounded corners” and a number of other “enhancements” that makes it next to impossible to put the camera down in portrait-style.

I don’t get it .. why would anyone want to take away this feature?

Increasing the phpMyAdmin session timeout

When phpMyAdmin is installed, the default session timeout value is too low for many users, making your phpMyAdmin session expire too soon. One could argue that a low session timeout value is a good idea from a security perspective. If you do not think this is an issue, here are a few simple steps that’ll let you change how long phpMyAdmin will keep your session(s) alive.

Open config.inc.php in the phpMyAdmin “root” directory. Look for a line that contains this: $cfg[‘LoginCookieValidity’]. Set the value to the desired number of seconds you want the session to stay alive (3600 = one hour, which is reasonable for most users). If you do not have that line in your config.inc.php file, add it like this:

$cfg[‘LoginCookieValidity’] = 3600;

Don’t forget to save the file, and then login again to phpMyAdmin. You may need to close the browser and re-open your phpMyAdmin URL.

This also assumes that the PHP session garbage collection is set-up accordingly. This can be done in a number of ways:

  • php.ini; add a line (or change an existing) that contains session.gc_maxlifetime = <seconds>
  • Apache configuration; add a line to the appropriate <Directory> block that says “php_admin_value session.gc_maxlifetime <seconds>”
  • config.inc.php (phpMyAdmin); after the previously edited line, add a line with “ini_set(‘session.gc_maxlifetime’, <seconds>);”

The <seconds> above is the same value that you set your variable to in config.inc.php at the beginning of this post, “3600” (sans quotes) in my case. (Some of these methods may or may not work on the server you’re using.)

This isn’t the only way to circumvent phpMyAdmin sessions expiring on you in the middle of that important work; you can, of course, configure phpMyAdmin to have appropriate access directly, thus allowing you to access your MySQL database(s) without entering a username and a password. You’ll find more information about this on the phpMyAdmin website.

(phpMyAdmin is, IMHO, one of the best tools ever written in its class. My only gripe is that I’d really like to have a much less bloated visual display theme as the default, but you can accomplish this yourself quite easily.)

Adobe really doesn’t believe in saving the environment with boxless Photoshop Elements

When a customer was going to purchase 10+ licenses of Adobe’s Photoshop Elements 10 for some simple photo editing, I contacted our distributor to inquire about the possibility of just getting one set of media and then some sort of electronic license. It seemed like the smart thing to do, electronic distribution of the software had been even better, but we’d settle for one box and 10+ license keys.

After having received the response from our distributor that “Yes, this is possible; here’s the item id you need”, I went to check the pricing, finding that it was roughly 15% more expensive than buying 10+ boxes! I was also told that the customer could use the same license key for all the purchased copies. So a natural follow-up was “Ah, so this means the user can also increase the number of seats the license is valid for?” The response was a “No, that is unfortunately not possible.”

So not only does Adobe present zero incentives for using the alternate method of licensing/purchasing, it also makes it more expensive than buying 10+ boxed products.

WTF?!

#fail #license #adobe #photoshop