Entries from December 2007 ↓

I hope everything is working fine, so that when you enter localhost in the address bar of your browser you are taken to the splash screen, from there you click on your language option and go to the XAMPP for Linux control panel. If you click on the Security option on the menu you will see a bunch of stuff with red UNSECURE tags on the end of them.
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The Ubuntu forums has a great thread for setting up your XAMPP environment in Ubuntu, but it can be a hassle to read through the entire thread at to get to what you need to get up and running.

This is going to be Part 1, Getting XAMPP installed and running. In the next part or two, I’ll touch on tweeking some things to make it easier to work with.

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Ok, moving from one computer to another is proving painless so far. Downloaded Griffith, if yer running Ubuntu 7.10 you have to grab 0.9.5, the repository has 0.9.4 which doesn’t like Gutsy. There were some dependency issues, so I ended up installing 0.9.4 from the repository first, then upgraded using the DEB file for 0.9.5.

Then, I copied the .griffith folder from the old computer to the new one, and when I started Griffith on the new, voila, everything was there including the half-dozen new movies I just added today.

Then I started up Evolution on the old computer and after it was done checking for new messages. A simple File - Backup Settings and everything was dumped to a tar file on my SD card. Popped it in the new computer and started Evolution on the new one. One of the first things it did was ask if I wanted to restore settings from a backup.

Still trying to get the Centro to sync, it’s having trouble seeing the phone, but I need to get my other cable… I was having issues with this cable before.

I bought myself a Christmas present today. I was looking at TVs, wanting to make the move to digital… but I’m not quite ready to plunk $6-700 for a decent LCD.

So, instead I plunk down $500 for a new computer.

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After catching an Alton Brown episode of Good Eats about pickles, I decided to try my hand.

My first try was a small batch, 2 cukes total I think… and they were ok, I did a bit of adjustment and came up with the following…

Ingredients

• 3 cups cider vinegar
• 3 cups water
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 Tbsp pickling salt
• 2 tsp celery seed
• 3/4 cup pickling spice
• 1/4 cup sliced garlic
• 2 cups white onion, chopped
• 3/4 jups jalapeno peppers, chopped (about 4-6)
• 5-6 cucumbers, sliced

Eventually, I want to figure out my own mix of spices, but for now I’m cheating and using McCormick’s Pickling Spice.

You start out with a non-reactive pan, put the vinegar and water in there and heat it until it just comes to a boil and stir in the sugar so it dissolves. Then lower the heat so it will simmer and add the spices. Taking a cue from Alton here, I simmered things four minutes, then I tossed in the onion and garlic and jalapeno before pulling it off the heat. I was originally going to slice the peppers, but figured I might get better dispersal by chopping. The peppers do not add much heat to this at all, even without seeding them first, but there’s just a hint of it. I may try the next batch with more peppers.

I was able to slice the cukes (after washing them) in the time it took the cider to boil then simmer with the spices. I had a 1 gallon glass jar from hamburger slices we had bought for a big cookout. I hadn’t used it for anything else, but now was glad I saved it. I started putting the cucumber slices in, with the jar sitting in a large mixing bowl as a ‘just in case’ measure and something happened to crack the jar when I started pouring in the hot cider mix.

After getting it about half full, I started adding the cider, then sort of stirred/shook things up to get the solids to mix a bit, and did that a couple more times as I filled the jar the rest of the way, don’t pack it too full though. Once the jar was full, I capped it and put it in the fridge. Then once or twice a day over the next 10 or so days I would shake the jar up. This would get the onions, garlic and other stuff to mix in around the cucumber slices after having settled. Make sure your jar seals good (I ended up putting plastic wrap over the mouth, then the lid) so you don’t get leaking as you shake things up.

I brought some of these to Thanksgiving dinner and they were well received. I did end up distributing things among some smaller jars, mostly for ease of transport and storage. They are a good snack or sandwich pickle, but I still need to try them on a burger. I’ll be bringing one of the two jars left to Christmas dinner. I’ll probably try another batch after the first of the year. I’m also looking forward to spring when I can get some actual pickle cukes.

I can’t remember where I first found this… maybe Lifehacker?

VectorMagic is an online utility that lets you upload a bitmap image and it will convert it to a vector image. In plain speak, bitmaps pictures made using dots, like a newspaper. Vector images are basically formulas that make a line, including curves, like we learned in high school match. Since the curves adjust no mater what size, you don’t get the jagged edges when you zoom in on an image.

Here’s a copy of the edubuntu logo, the original clipped from the website was 90pixels by 90pixels. See how it looks jagged when I scale it to be 250×250? The last image is what I got after running it through VectorMagic, a free, online utility that turns bitmaps to vector images. The final product was 90×90, but when scaled up to 250×250, it still looks the same.

On the left is the original logo - PNG format 90×90. It looks pretty good, right? But if I take that same image, and blow it up, either in my graphics program or by changing the HTML code, like I did with the image on the right, you get an image that is all blurry looking.

And here’s what it looks like after being run through VectorMagic. Now, this specific image is saved as a PNG, same as the others, but I also have it saved as an SVG type, which can be edited in my graphics program and made any size, without effecting the quality of it. I saved it as PNG because most browsers do not display SVG images properly.

This is handy for… well, lots of stuff. And while it is more geared towards things like logos, try it with a photograph, you may get some interesting results.

VectorMagic [Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]