These Things Matter to Me
Monday, September 08, 2008
How to install the Python prerequisites for the Memetracker Drupal module
1. Make sure you have all "normal" LAMP and Linux utilities installed for your typical Drupal install.
How to install the Python prerequisites for the Memetracker Drupal module.
Usually the installation of Drupal modules is pretty straightforward:
- Download module to modules/
- Uncompress
- Enable
- Configure
- Profit
But the Memetracker module is a bit different, requiring a bunch of Python stuff, and ideally, "root" on your server. It's not that hard to set up, but if you're not used to installing stuff outside of the Druapl-verse, these notes might help you.
(These instructions are for Ubuntu Hardy Heron. The steps are likely very similar on other Debian-based distributions, including earlier versions of Ubuntu.
I've also successfully installed Memetracker on Centos 5.x/Redhat Enterprise Linux 5.x. I have a document for that coming soon, though the packages and steps are very similar, and you could extrapolate these notes and apply to other Linux versions.)
Most of you should skip to step 2, as you probably already have Drupal running..
1a. Install the LAMP stuff, mail server stuff that Drupal requires.
# apt-get install apache2 php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-mysql mysql-server php5-gd postfix
(Note: Though Drupal core can run on PHP4, the Memetracker module *requires* PHP5, so that's what we're using here. You don't have to go out of your way to get this on Hardy Heron, but there is a small possibility some of you went out of your way to get PHP4, so I'm steering you towards PHP5 here.)
1b. Though not required to run Drupal, these additional packages make life much easier, and it's just a matter of time before you miss them:
# apt-get install openssh-server wget build-essential groff-base man-db unzip
2. Unlike most Drupal setups, you also need to have some Python resources handy to run Memetracker.
2a. The first bunch of Python tools already have nice Ubuntu packages already made up for you.
# apt-get install python-numpy python-numeric python-dev python
2b. Pyclust doesn't have an Ubuntu package made for it. We need to compile it from source (There will be a python-cluster package in the next Ubuntu version, Intrepid Ibex.)
Get the source:
# wget http://bonsai.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mdehoon/software/cluster/cluster-1.41.tar.gz
(Note, this is the newest version as of 20080908. Please check http://bonsai.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mdehoon/software/cluster/software.htm for newest version.)
Uncompress the source:
# tar -xvzf cluster-1.41.tar.gz
Now install it:
# cd cluster-1.41
# python setup.py install
You now have all your Python stuff installed.
Let's verify it works:
# python
>> from Pycluster import *
(You will get your Python prompt back if you have your Python stuff installed correctly.)
That's it. You now have your environment ready for Memetracker. There's lots of other stuff you can do to optimize your system for Memetracker, and I have some additional Memetracker documentation coming up. However I noticed an immediate need for this Python stuff to be written down in a step-by-step manner, as many Drupal folks don't usually have to do so much Python/Linux stuff.
Labels: drupal, linux, memetracker, python, sysadmin, ubuntu
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Active Window. A poem.
something happened!
i will pulse orange
until you pay attention
with a click.
(on Windows or Linux)
early draft here.
something happened!
i will pulse orange
until you pay attention
with a click.
(on Windows or Linux)
early draft here.
Labels: art, gui, love, poem, sysadmin, ui, user experience, ux, windows
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
1 night with VMware Server 2.0 beta: It sure is web-based.
VMware Server 2.0 beta came out today, and I've had a couple of hours to play with it tonight. As suggested at VMworld, this is a really different product from VMware Server 1.x. Some changes good, some bad. I don't have the same opinion that virtualization.info, that VMware Server is becoming a less relevant product, but I do agree that there's something lackluster here.
VMware Server 1.x felt whole, right off the bat. With VMware Server 2.0, I have this "well, this is just the beta, surely there will be radical improvements" vibe.
While there are a million good and bad features here, what will save us both a lot of time is for you to know that as of now, VMware Server 2.x administration is totally web-based, and that is almost all you can think about or notice when you're working with this tool. I will give to credit to VMware, they've enabled a lot of functionality (rebooting, creating VM's, etc) on a web-client that somehow doesn't involve a giant, slow Java applet. That said, there are many situations when you feel the web pain. The web page has to "think" and rebuild itself a lot. Console access requires a plugin in your browser (which kinda kills the whole "all-you-need-is-a-web-browser" spirit). People in the forums are missing the fit-to-screen feature you got with the "regular" console in VMware Server 1.x, as am I.
VMware is taking a big risk here. The next version of the (regular) VI client will be able to manage VMware Server guests, somewhat softening the blow of not otherwise having one. But this will only help people who have the (not free) VI. I see the "strategy" here... entice VMware Server users to jump up to VI. However I don't believe it will work, and will actually turn people off of VMware.
Despite supporting more OS's and architectures, I feel VMware Server 2.0 is "less" of a product than VMware Server 1.x.
To be continued.
VMware Server 1.x felt whole, right off the bat. With VMware Server 2.0, I have this "well, this is just the beta, surely there will be radical improvements" vibe.
While there are a million good and bad features here, what will save us both a lot of time is for you to know that as of now, VMware Server 2.x administration is totally web-based, and that is almost all you can think about or notice when you're working with this tool. I will give to credit to VMware, they've enabled a lot of functionality (rebooting, creating VM's, etc) on a web-client that somehow doesn't involve a giant, slow Java applet. That said, there are many situations when you feel the web pain. The web page has to "think" and rebuild itself a lot. Console access requires a plugin in your browser (which kinda kills the whole "all-you-need-is-a-web-browser" spirit). People in the forums are missing the fit-to-screen feature you got with the "regular" console in VMware Server 1.x, as am I.
VMware is taking a big risk here. The next version of the (regular) VI client will be able to manage VMware Server guests, somewhat softening the blow of not otherwise having one. But this will only help people who have the (not free) VI. I see the "strategy" here... entice VMware Server users to jump up to VI. However I don't believe it will work, and will actually turn people off of VMware.
Despite supporting more OS's and architectures, I feel VMware Server 2.0 is "less" of a product than VMware Server 1.x.
To be continued.
Labels: 2.0, application, beta, social software, sysadmin, testing, virtualization, vmware, vmware server, web-based
Friday, October 05, 2007
Benchmarking on Windows with ntimer (real talk)
Linux/UNIX has a nice little utility called called time.
Time lets you put it before any other command, and will tell you how long it took to run stuff.
I find it very handy for benchmarking. And as a sysadmin, whenever anybody says something seems "slow," you can keep it real with time:
# time cp bigfile bigfile.copy
Bam! You'll show them slow. Run it on a baseline system. Run it on the "slow" system. That's what's up, thanks, time!
But what do you do on Windows? I had no idea. But the Internet is filled with people like me wondering, "is there something like the time command... for Windows?"
There is my friend! ntimer.exe:
# ntimer.exe [command]
Ntimer.exe unfortunately does not come included with XP. You can download it for free from microsoft.com in a bundle called "Windows 2003 resource kit." It's 11MB, and comes with a bunch of other stuff. The binary for ntimer.exe works fine on XP Professional.
Linux/UNIX has a nice little utility called called time.Time lets you put it before any other command, and will tell you how long it took to run stuff.
I find it very handy for benchmarking. And as a sysadmin, whenever anybody says something seems "slow," you can keep it real with time:
# time cp bigfile bigfile.copy
Bam! You'll show them slow. Run it on a baseline system. Run it on the "slow" system. That's what's up, thanks, time!
But what do you do on Windows? I had no idea. But the Internet is filled with people like me wondering, "is there something like the time command... for Windows?"
There is my friend! ntimer.exe:
# ntimer.exe [command]
Ntimer.exe unfortunately does not come included with XP. You can download it for free from microsoft.com in a bundle called "Windows 2003 resource kit." It's 11MB, and comes with a bunch of other stuff. The binary for ntimer.exe works fine on XP Professional.
Labels: benchmark, linus, ntimer, performance, sysadmin, time, windows
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
JayZ vs. Nas; VMware vs. Parallels. VMware answers Parallels Coherence with Unity. Mac virtualization gets competitive
(No they didn't. No they did not just use C&C Music Factory in this video. They did. )
Aside from the ridic soundtrack, this video is compelling.
Yes, VMware Fusion is already available for free (in Beta). But this video shows features not currently available in the beta that you can download right now. Most notable is that VMware Fusion has responded to and one-upped Parallels Desktop's ability to have each Windows application be its own little window in OS X, rather than have one "parent" window host all guest applications.
Parallels calls this "coherence." VMware Fusion calls this "unity." They're pretty much the same, except that VMware Fusion can have each window appear individually in OS X's Expose feature, something Parallels does not.
That said, Parallels is fully released, and VMware Fusion is not. And the unity feature doesn't exist in the beta that's out. Add to that the fact that VMware hasn't announced how much/ if it will charge for VMware Fusion (its features are positioned between the free VMware Player, and $189 VMware Workstation).
Related: Comments from the Digg people.
(No they didn't. No they did not just use C&C Music Factory in this video. They did. )
Aside from the ridic soundtrack, this video is compelling.
Yes, VMware Fusion is already available for free (in Beta). But this video shows features not currently available in the beta that you can download right now. Most notable is that VMware Fusion has responded to and one-upped Parallels Desktop's ability to have each Windows application be its own little window in OS X, rather than have one "parent" window host all guest applications.
Parallels calls this "coherence." VMware Fusion calls this "unity." They're pretty much the same, except that VMware Fusion can have each window appear individually in OS X's Expose feature, something Parallels does not.
That said, Parallels is fully released, and VMware Fusion is not. And the unity feature doesn't exist in the beta that's out. Add to that the fact that VMware hasn't announced how much/ if it will charge for VMware Fusion (its features are positioned between the free VMware Player, and $189 VMware Workstation).
Related: Comments from the Digg people.
Labels: apple, comeback, expose, fusion, IT, mac, parallels, rivalry, sysadmin, system administrator, unity, video, virtualization, vmware, windows, x76, youtube
Monday, May 07, 2007
These Links Matter to You. Monday May 7, 2007
(ideally this cat pidgin will be charming, hilarious, and familiar to readers of i can has cheezburger and Anil Dash)
(ideally this cat pidgin will be charming, hilarious, and familiar to readers of i can has cheezburger and Anil Dash)- This commenter on Matt Asay's InfoWorld blog has a theory that IBM will buy Novell (to get SUSE), that IBM helped Novell buy SUSE, and that ex-IBM execs are already slowly filling Novell VP spots
- Comcast is going to use open source + commercial application Zimbra to manage 12 million + mail accounts
- Ubuntu working with Intel on a mobile/ embedded edition of Ubuntu.
- Sun is helping port OpenOffice on the Mac with two dedicated engineers.
- New York Observer magazine recently relaunched their website using Drupal. With notes on the how. And why yes I will continue to document major commercial implementations of open source software like Drupal until y'all bow down and concede that open source is just fine for "mission critical" applications. Sheesh.
Labels: comcast, drupal, embedded, intel, mac, mobile, open source, openoffice, oss, social software, sysadmin, ubuntu, zimbra
Thursday, March 08, 2007
(nerd snort!) These Links Matter To You. Friday, March 8, 2007
- music video: kill -9 ("you stepped out of line, and now it's kill -9" nercdore? sysadmincore)
- gaybuntu ("Ubuntu is to operating systems; what Louis Vuitton is to man-bags.")
- You Had Me At EHLO (Microsoft Exchange team blog)
Labels: gaybuntu, microsoft exchange, sysadmin, sysadmincore, ubuntu
Monday, January 22, 2007
And which do you choose, a hard or soft option? Drupal 5.0 is out, does Internet, Intranet, content, collaboration!
(original screenshot snagged from Drupal.org's 5.0 screenshot page)
What's Drupal? Drupal is open source software. Drupal can be used to manage blogs, communities, newspapers, magazines, forums, wikis, on-line video channels, and other kinds of content. You've probably visited a site powered by Drupal, and not even realized it! ('Da Drupes is humble like that.)
A new version of Drupal, Drupal 5.0 was released last week. What's new since Drupal 4.7, its last major revision?
(This is a compressed Flash movie of the "What's new in Drupal 5.0" video. Consider downloading the larger, but much higher quality mp4 here.)
While it's easy to find out that software like Drupal is being used when it's running a famous public website, it's a little harder to know when it's being used internally, in corporate, community, and organizational intranets. As it turns out, Yahoo! uses Drupal internally, and outlined the process. Based on this awesome Drupal case study from IBM, one can only assume they use it for collaboration stuff as well.
Related links:
(original screenshot snagged from Drupal.org's 5.0 screenshot page)A new version of Drupal, Drupal 5.0 was released last week. What's new since Drupal 4.7, its last major revision?
- There's a web-based installer! (It's not as nice as the Wordpress installer, but it's easier than Drupal 4.7's.)
- The administration panel/ tools is totally reworked since Drupal 4.7. In a good way.
- The new core theme lets you change color stuff dynamically with CSS
- more!
(This is a compressed Flash movie of the "What's new in Drupal 5.0" video. Consider downloading the larger, but much higher quality mp4 here.)
While it's easy to find out that software like Drupal is being used when it's running a famous public website, it's a little harder to know when it's being used internally, in corporate, community, and organizational intranets. As it turns out, Yahoo! uses Drupal internally, and outlined the process. Based on this awesome Drupal case study from IBM, one can only assume they use it for collaboration stuff as well.
Related links:
- Drupal project lead Dries Buytaert's personal blog (powered by Drupal, duh)
- Drupal superstars Lullabot
- The Digg.com Drupal 5.0 announcement thread. (for the patient and thick-skinned)
Labels: cms, collaboration, collaborative, content management system, drupal, enterprise, enterprisey, internet, intranet, open source, oss, software, sysadmin, video
Monday, December 04, 2006
Parallels to VMware: It's On!
But last Friday Parallels released a new feature that is pretty compelling, and raises the bar for the concept of "abstraction." Rather than having a parent window that hosts all of the guest OS's windows, there is a "coherence mode" option that has each window of the guest OS appear as an individual window in the host OS, making itSO the experience of using an application in the either guest OS or host OS, is pretty darn similar. Certain keyboard commands and drag and drop is supported between the two environments. The video above demonstrates this better than all these words. Check it out!
(demo video via video blogger Michael Verdi and blip.tv)
Wowza... So... Parallels for Mac OS X has been out a for a bit. But it's previously been best described as "...like VMware Workstation for a Mac." In other words, cool, but nothing beyond VMware, and if VMware actually had a product out for OS X, then you'd probably grab that.But last Friday Parallels released a new feature that is pretty compelling, and raises the bar for the concept of "abstraction." Rather than having a parent window that hosts all of the guest OS's windows, there is a "coherence mode" option that has each window of the guest OS appear as an individual window in the host OS, making itSO the experience of using an application in the either guest OS or host OS, is pretty darn similar. Certain keyboard commands and drag and drop is supported between the two environments. The video above demonstrates this better than all these words. Check it out!
Labels: apple, consumer, fusion, information technology, IT, mac, microsoft, os x, parallels, software, sysadmin, virtualization, vmware
Thursday, November 30, 2006
VMware Fusion video! (More) virtualization for Mac OS X is close.
VMworld, virtualization software company VMware's big conference was a few weeks ago.
Among the stuff presented was VMware Fusion. Even though it's not the first virtualization product for Mac OS X , it's definitely the one people have been most excited about.
I'll let the video do the talkin'.
Among the stuff presented was VMware Fusion. Even though it's not the first virtualization product for Mac OS X , it's definitely the one people have been most excited about.
I'll let the video do the talkin'.
Labels: apple, consumer, fusion, mac, os x, software, sysadmin, virtualization, vmware
