Author: Tim...

DBA, Developer, Author, Trainer.

Ubuntu and Fedora Core 5 (Test 2)…

As always, I’ve been having a little scout round at whats going on in the Linux world at the moment. I’m pretty happy with CentOS 4, but it doesn’t do any harm to have a play. Here are some thoughts after a quick play with Ubuntu and Fedora Core 5 (Test 2).

Ubuntu
The recent hype about Goobuntu, a possible Google variant of Ubuntu, made me sit up and take notice. I’m not sure it really exists, and if it does, I’m not sure it’s designed to be a Windows-Killer, but all the press increased my interest in Ubuntu.

You can read all about Ubuntu on the website, but suffice to say, people are claiming it’s very user friendly and a possibly the best Desktop Linux available at the moment. There seems to be some groundswell behind it, and the latest stories have made it seem even more attractive.

It came on one CD, which makes a change from the 4-5 CDs for other distributions. The installation was straight forward, but didn’t appear easier than any of the Red Hat variants. In some ways, the lack of a GUI installer made it seem even more geeky than some other distributions.

Once it was installed it seemed very much like any other distro I’ve used. It uses the Gnome window manager, so it feels very much like Red Hat with a different theme. The menu structure looked a little simpler and the “Add/Remove Applications” screen was neat, but it didn’t change my life.

I might have a go at installing Oracle on it, but then again, I’m not sure I can be bothered 🙂

My verdict, nice enough, but what makes it better than any other distro?

Fedora Core 5 (Test 2)
I was a devout FC fan before I switched to CentOS. I started to download all 5 FC5 CDs, but then switched to the 2.8G DVD. As the dumb-ass user I am, the only thing I noticed was change in graphics. I guess the new look and feel is an attempt to differentiate Fedora from Red Hat’s enterprise distro. Apart from that, it all looked like more of the same to me. So far I’ve not been able to install 10g R2 on it, but it’s still a beta, so who cares.

My verdict, nice enough, but what makes it better than any other distro?

I can’t really tell the difference between all the distributions these days. CentOS works well for me because it’s a clone of a distro that Oracle support, but apart from that, my daily life is unaffected by it.

The only thing that might make me eager to switch is if some heavyweight company puts their name to a free Linux distro. Like Google with Goobuntu? 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Management Decisions…

A few choice pieces of advice for all managers who don’t have a clue:

  • If you don’t understand the technology, ask someone who does before you make a dumb-ass decision that the whole company will live to regret many times over!
  • Don’t believe everything you see in a sales pitch.
  • Don’t outsource work to people who are using your project as a learning experience.

Management types… You can’t live with them! You go to jail for hacking them to bits and burying them in your back garden!

Cheers

Tim…

PS. Does any know any companies that will cover my back garden in two feet of concrete? 🙂

All change for HTML DB…

I read on Scott Spendolini’s Blog that HTML DB has been renamed to Oracle Application Express.

I think HTML DB was a really poor name, but I think the new name is a little confusing. A quick look on the net and you’ll see lots of people still talking about “Oracle Applications”, when referring to “Oracle E-Business Suite”. This new name makes HTML DB sounds like a cut down version of the Oracle ERP.

I would be interested to know what other names were passed around before this one was picked. Maybe, something a little clearer like:

  • Oracle Application Developer Express (OADE)
  • Oracle Developer Express (ODE)
  • Oracle Metadata Repository for the Runtime Generation of Applications Directly from the Database with no need for an additional Application Server… 10g! (OMRftGRoADftDwnnfaaAS… 10g!)

The last one does it for me 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Raptor 3 (and a little bit) …

After the last abortive attempt to release Raptor EA3, we now have a new version. This one seems to have re-fixed the bits that got broken in the original version 3 release. So far so good.

It makes me wonder about the sense of releasing beta and early adopter applications to the general public. It’s a little like washing your dirty laundry in public 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Content Managment Systems…

Like Andy C, I’ve been following Howard Rogers’ CMS journey with interest.

I’m always hopeful I’ll find tools that make my life easier, but as yet I’ve been unable to find a CMS tool that suits me. The biggest problem with all the CMS tools I’ve trialed is the way they use the database. Invariably, each page is generated at runtime from the contents of the database, making the database access speed a major limiting factor for sites with high number of hits. So why serve static and semi-static data from the database?

By far, the majority of my site is static content. If I want to alter the format of the site I alter either the Cascading Style Sheet or 4 simple template files. I don’t revisit each page on the site. That would be lunacy. My homegrown CMS system stores the contents of all my pages in the database, but rather than generating a page for each request, I generate the whole site once, including templates and include files, to flat files and only regenerate individual pages when things change. Dynamic and semi-static content, such as article ratings and RSS feeds, are located in small include files, which are automatically regenerated when necessary.

My difficulty in finding a CMS I like comes from that fact that I have most of the advantages of these CMS systems, like web editing and backup/recovery, but I also get speed thrown into the mix as a bonus.

I guess the hunt continues 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Raptor 3 Early Adopter?

The Early Adopter 3 of Raptor has hit the OTN site, but I would think before you leap in.

It looks like a number of previous bugs have been reintroduced in EA3. The SQL formatter doesn’t work in any editor except the SQL Worksheet, and the debugger appears to have gone missing. I expect the support forum may fill up rather fast. Not exactly a glowing advertisment for Oracle development 🙁

Cheers

Tim…

Critical Update, not so critical for Tru64…

The recent press interest in Oracle security has certainly increased the profile of security within our company (about time too). Unfortunately, it’s also repeatedly highlighting the lack of support provided by Oracle.

For all you guys and girls on first tier platforms, I guess you’ve applied the latest CPU already, or are at least in the planning stages.

Not me! I’m living the life of leisure, waiting for it to be released for Tru64. Although Oracle support will not give a specific date, it currently looks like it will take 2-3 weeks. Good to know that everyone and their dog knows how to hack my systems and there is no fix available.

So currently I’m still waiting for:

  • Patch 10.1.0.4.0 for 10g Release 1 on Tru64.
  • Oracle 10g Release 2 (10.2.0) on Tru64.
  • Patch 4751926 on Tru64.
  • EM 10g Release 2 Grid Agents (10.2.0) for Tru64.

If Oracle had any balls, they would ditch the majority of their platforms and maybe start providing a reasonable service. But they haven’t and they won’t.

Bunch of jokers!

Cheers

Tim…

Underworld – Evolution…

As mentioned in my previous post, I went to see Underworld – Evolution last night. It wasn’t exactly what I expected, but that’s not always a bad thing. Vampires, werewolves and Kate Beckinsale rolled together into a single film. Works for me every time. If you liked the first film then I guess you will enjoy this one also. If not, then try something else 🙂

Cheers

Tim…