Author: Tim...

DBA, Developer, Author, Trainer.

Oracle 10gR2 on Fedora 7…

I had a quick go at this installation and it worked OK. I had to load a bunch of FC6 packages to get Oracle to install, link and run properly. It looks like lots of the “compat_*” packages have been removed from Fedora 7, which is a problem as Oracle 10g needs them. The “libaio” package is no longer present. I’m sure the functionality is there somewhere, but I couldn’t get the listener to work without loading the old package. Also, the “libXP” package is necessary to get the installer to run. It has also been removed, along with some deprecated X11 packages that were present in FC6.

I’m sure the cleanup makes sense going forward, and 10g is getting a little old in Fedora timescales, but I wonder how many other applications will be broken by this.

Of course, I’m no Linux expert, so maybe I’ve missed something and these extra packages are not really needed.

Cheers

Tim…

StumbleUpon and Fedora 7…

Is SumbleUpon really worth $75 million?

I suppose the answer to that is yes, since eBay have just bought them for that figure. StumbleUpon claim 23 million regular users, of which I’m one, but if most of the other users are like me, they just click on a single toolbar button when they get bored. I can’t remember the last time, if ever, I did anything other than hit the “Stumble!” button. I don’t even rate pages I visit. Are 23 million users like me really worth that much money? The words “Boom” and “Bust” spring to mind!

Does anyone want to buy a blog that is visible to all internet users worldwide (even though they don’t actually read it) for several million pounds?

By the way, Fedora (don’t call it Core) 7 is now available.

Cheers

Tim…

Peep Show…

I watched an episode of Peep Show on TV a few days ago and became an instant fan. I went out and bought a box set of series 1-3 and watched them straight away. Once series 4 is released it’s on the top of my list.

The camera work is novel because you are always looking through someones eyes, rather than the normal sit-com camera work. There is often an internal dialog of the character narrated over the scene, so you don’t just get what happens, but also what the character is thinking. This adds an extra dimension, especially during interactions with the opposite sex.

I can’t believe I had never noticed this program before now. Better late than never.

Cheers

Tim…

28 Weeks Later…

This weekend turned into a bit of a film and TV fest.

I went to see 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to 28 Days Later, at the cinema. In 28 Days Later the “Rage Virus” as released from a research facility and infected everyone in the UK, turning them in to shrieking, running zombies. I guess the idea was not dissimilar to Resident Evil. Anyway, the sequel starts 28 weeks after the initial outbreak. By this point all the zombies have starved to death and the US army help start the re-population of the UK, stating with the Isle of Dogs in London. Inevitably, it all kicks-off again…

Although the original film was relatively low budget, it was executed well. The sequel followed the same format. It was noticeably a higher budget film, but still looked rather gritty. It did make use of the “shake the camera to add excitement” technique, which is one of my pet hates, but it was used in the appropriate manner, so I can’t complain. It was quite a grisly film, but it worked really well and I enjoyed it.

I’d read a number of reviews that talked about it being a metaphor for the Iraq invasion. I think if you are looking for this sort of thing you are always going to find it. Personally I think it is total trash.

Cheers

Tim….

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End…

I’ve just got back from watching Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. I was expecting to have trouble getting in, as this is the first day of release in the UK, but there were no queues and some empty seats. It’s a bank holiday weekend, so I guess lots of people decided not the brave the first day queues and will go to see it over the next two days.

I must say, I really enjoyed the film. Like most films these days it was overly long, but in this case it wasn’t a major problem. Johnny Depp stole the show once more, but everyone else did a good job. Of course, there’s an opening for future episodes, but it also seems like a pretty good place to finish. I think they could easily dilute what is currently a pretty decent trilogy by trying to drag it out. I guess that decision will rely on the box office takings and the concent of the cast.

Cheers

Tim…

Schema Owners and Application Users…

I was trying to explain to a colleague the concept of using application users, rather than logging directly into the schema owner. Although it’s a very basic point, it seemed worthy of a write-up, especially because it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything about Oracle. So here is it:

Schema Owners and Application Users

Cheers

Tim…

Blog Update…

I’ve been struggling for inspiration of late, so I thought I would change the theme of my blog in an attempt to inject some life back into things.

WordPress 2.2 includes “Widgets” which allow simple structural changes of the screen layout using a drag and drop editor.

 

You need a widget compliant template to use this, but making your template widget compliant is pretty simple. Just four lines of code.

Cheers

Tim…