Digital Adventures of Cyril Pauya

Here are some quick tips when moving your Django site into production.
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If you have been using Ubuntu (or any Unix variant), you should now know that there is a history command which keeps track of the commands you have executed in the shell.  I have been using Ubuntu for a few months and my history command list is now at 500+ commands.

Here are some of the basic uses of the history command:

> history

• this lists all commands you have executed in the shell

> history | more

• same as above but only shows a page of list
• press spacebar to move to the next page
• press the letter q to quit displaying history commands
• the | is a pipeline which means redirect the output of the history command as input to the more command

> history | grep <text>
example:
> history | grep ls
> history | grep rsync

• lists only the shell commands that contains the text after the grep command
• grep basically is a command line text search utility

> man history

• help manual of the history command
• very helpful documentation I must say!

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Ubuntu is a free and open-source operating system based on Debian.  The reason I choose this over the other GNU/Linux variants like Fedora, Mint, openSUSE,Mandriva, Debian, and others, is because of the Ubuntu promise to make it free forever, including the enterprise editions and security updates.

I have been waiting for more than two years for Ubuntu to mature as a replacement to Windows XP.  To qualify, it must satisfy the following features:

1. easily support dual monitors
2. out-of-the-box support for my laptop’s Broadcom B43 wireless adapter
3. support for my laptop’s infrared device

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Here is an update to my previous Django Editor blog.

These are the available django editors installed in my Ubuntu operating system so far:

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We have been using open-source software for our servers at NDMC for the past months.  Being an educational institution on a tight budget, we cannot afford to buy licenses for commercial software so we choose to use open-source and free software, specifically GNU/Linux variants.

We were using Ubuntu 8.04 Long Term Support (LTS), which means it will be supported for the next five years (until 2013).

Then Bong, who has been experimenting with different variants of open-source server software suggested the following line-up:

• pfSense - powerful Firewall, based on FreeBSD
• Untangle - open source network gateway, web filter
• eBox-Platform - domain controller, file server, print server, proxy server, mail server, and a lot more, based on Ubuntu 8.04
• FreeNAS - file server, NAS server, based on FreeBSD

I added Proxmox Virtual Environment - an open-source virtualization platform to the list.  This allows us to create one or more Virtual Private Servers using just one computer.  This is our alternative to VMWare’s ESX.

The considerations for the above servers is also timely for our scheduled upgrade from 1.5Mbps to a 4Mbps Internet connection sometime next month.

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This is by far the most useful freebie I have ever encountered.  If you answer Yes to even one of these questions, then you definitely need this freebie:

• Do you have multiple accounts and passwords to maintain?
• Do you often forget your password and go to a “Retrieve Password” page?
• Do you use a password file and save it in a “secured” directory?
• Do you need to generate a random secure password with alphabets, numbers, and other characters?
• Do you use the same password for two or more or all accounts?
• Are you tired of looking at the ceiling for your passwords?
• Do you post your username with password using post-it notes in your monitor?
• Do you have a “secretary” whom you call in the middle of the night for a password?
• Do you ask your pet for your password?

Okay, okay, the last three items are not really part of the questions - you don’t do any of those do you?

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It’s been more than a year since I published My Windows XP Must-Have Software and of course the list has changed then.

I define a kewl Windows freebie as software that runs on Windows and is licensed either as Freeware, Shareware, Donationware, “Free-as-a-beer”, or whatever you call it that does not require a user to pay for it.  Kewl, of course, is cool.

These freebies are for the daily use of my laptop: creating/editing documents, playing music, watching videos, burning CDs or DVDs, browsing, communications and general computer productivity.  They are categorized as follows:

• Desktop Publishing
• Internet / Communication
• Multimedia
• Utilities
• Security

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