Renewal

Last year got swallowed up by a new job and home renovations. But this is the year of the boat! While I had hoped to do all the boat projects myself, a few of the projects were simply too big. As I write this entry, the boat has been on the hard for several weeks receiving the professional attention it needs. The two major projects are thru-hulls and chain plates. Other work includes bottom paint, repairing the transom, zincs, re-finishing the prop, and a variety of small fixes and improvements. Continue reading

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Build Procedures for Linux Server with LAMP, CakePHP and Solr

Most of my development and technical experience has been in the Microsoft world. Last year I decided to develop a web application using an open source stack. I wrote the app using CakePHP. As I added Solr/Lucene search and started work on deploying to a production environment, server configuration turned out to be as big a job as development.

These are my build and deploy procedures, which include instructions for:

  • Installing a Linux server OS and LAMP environment
  • Installing and configuring the necessary services
  • Installing Tomcat and Solr
  • Setting up a CakePHP website
  • Installing and configuring Solr/Lucene in Tomcat

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Minty Boost Bad

This is a follow-up to my previous post: Proprietary Batteries Bad, Standard Batteries Good. That post describes building a Minty Boost kit and the promise of using the Minty Boost with standard batteries to charge my cell phone rather than getting a second proprietary battery. I enjoyed building the kit and initially it seemed to work as hoped. However, the Minty Boost ended up failing miserably. Continue reading

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Proprietary Batteries Bad, Standard Batteries Good!

My assembled Minty BoostI wanted to have some extra battery power available for my new power-sucking Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. But like all cell phones, this one requires its own special proprietary battery and I didn’t want to spend $25 on a specialized battery that will be obsolete in a couple years. Another issue: that expensive Lithium Ion battery cannot currently be recycled in a commercially feasible manner and is virtually certain to end up in a landfill. Solution: Minty Boost! Continue reading

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Settling in to the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket

It’s been over three weeks since I made the jump from my aged Blackberry Pearl to the latest greatest Android phone. With a week or so remaining to change my mind, it’s very likely I’ll stick with the Skyrocket. It is far from perfect and I have spent more time in the last month reading mobile device forums and reviews than I care to admit. I also have made several trips and calls to various mobile phone stores. The advice and information I found is consistent; despite my remaining complaints, the Skyrocket appears to be among the best choices in a very imperfect field of contenders. Continue reading

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