MySQL 5.0 install nightmare

Playing around with setting up my own sandbox SIM to kick the tires of Opensim this weekend. I decided it would be a good idea to do at least part of it using JeOS VM's. OpenSim requires a database of some flavor (it support SQLLite, MySQL and there is some support for MS SQL Server). Soooo I decided to at least set up a VM running Ubuntu's specialized JeOS 8.04 server and then toss MySQL from the repositories on there. Setting up Ubuntu server was easy enough. Setting up MySQL 5.0 from the repositories on the other hand proved painstaking.

On my first try, the MySQL config that launches after package install, bungled up. I suspect because I changed the networking from DHCP to static and then restarted the network (by running the /etc/init.d/networking script). However logically that doesn't make sense to me...
In any case the config failed on trying to start the mysqld daemon.
I rebooted and then restarted the install by running:
apt-get install mysql-server
This then configured the server (at least it presented me the config screen for root user account), stopped (although since is was a fresh install this step was superfluous) and started the mysqld daemon and this time is was Ok.
However I was still far from home as it turned out... When trying to run the MySQL admin tool from my Desktop, I kept getting the 2003 error (connection refused). At first I thought this was being caused by firewalls, however these were not enabled...
Then I found out that the /etc/mysql/my.cnf file had a staticbind to 127.0.0.1, thus the server only responded to requests from the localhost.
Changed it and also made sure that mysql root user was allowed to log on from all hosts by logging on local to mysql -u root -p and running:
GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'root'@'%';

After that still no luck!! At this point I was ready to pull my hair out...
Its usually at these points that one start to doubt oneself as in still being of sane mind... Salvation finally came by accident. I removed the password I had set for root at installation time to put in another I had set at the MySQL server console and pressed the Enter key by accident. Low and behold it logged on!!
I was in with an empty password, despite having set a root password during the install configuration of mysql!!! In the end this problem may be isolated to the Ubuntu MySQL-server-5.0 packages, but who knows (I certainly am not going to waste more time finding out)...
So much time wasted due to such an incredible bug and non-sensible default settings... While I love the OpenSource world for all it is doing for computing and the wonderful tools it has produced. It is hard to find the right information about these sorts of bugs...

Using Drivel...

And back again... this time using Drivel, it has a lot more functionality, allows posting pictures and even supports Polls! The editor itself doesn't seem to support a subject line, but from the help file it appears that a subject line will show up once I click the Post button. I think this is the editor that will stay, unless I happen to stumble upon something even better. The offline editing is soewhat limited it seems...

Ok, no subject line appeared... that is disappointing, not be able to post with a self chosen subject title.... geezzz....
** Update:
It appears this is a limitation of the blogger 1.0 API. The helpfile suggests using the ATOM Blooger 2.0 API when logging in, however that is giving me communication errors... Not a smooth sailing here either...

Using Blog Entry Poster

Another Entry from the Asus eee PC using Blog Entry Poster

This is a bare bones blog entry writer for Linux. It only supports adding URL's, so is VERY basic. The other blog writer for Linux I tried was BloGTK 1.1 but that required a url to conifgure my blogger blog and simply did not work. It proved impossible to find information on how to configure it. It appears that the official BloGTK blog on sourceforge contains a FAQ but it is extremely limited in the amount of useful info it has... So that is gone already.

Next one to try is Drivel...

Posting from BlogWriter Lite

This tool for the iPhone should allow me to post blog entries while on the run. Perhaps allowing me to be a lim more prolific with my blog posting.
This is the Lite version. The full version, allowing things such as picture posting and geotagging sells for 3.98 US @ the App store.

Kaz's Shades

Kaz has 4 eyes he says

The Ongoing Phone Saga

Well... This week on Tuesday I finally got a call that the store I ordered an iPhone from, told me they received a shipment of 16GB iPhones. I had actually ordered the 8 GB version but they hadn't received any of those, so they gave me the option to get the 16GB one at the higher rate of course. After giving it some thought I decide it wouldn't be bad to have the extra storage, so I agreed n went with it. My expectations about this being a better phone then the HTC Touch were certainly met. The whole interface experience is so much smoother n every single function works as expected, quick n smooth without having to go round about ways. Sure the HTC Touch Diamond on paper looks like a better phone, after all it has:
- higher resolution screen
- higher resolution cam
- can record video
- 7MB HDSPA
- more complete Bluetooth support ( a.o. Stereo headset)

That's all good n well but.. It has windows mobile! HTC have tried to "put lipstick on the bulldog" to make it look decent, which they half way succeeded, but... There are a number of annoyances that have finally driven me to the iPhone:
- that blasted notification bar (try clearing those alarms, incoming messages etc. with your fingers, good luck...)
- slooooow photo browsing
- half baked music player ( half the time album art doesn't show up, song sometimes refuse to play, clicks n slight skipping in songs)
- inexplicable Bluetooth behavior (unable to switch it on/off through settings) appeared after a while
- protective film of button area started coming loose (see pic) top left where the home button is located

I know what you're thinking "that guy must be a phone torturer", nothing could be further from the truth though. This wear (after only 2months!) happened simply from carrying the phone in my shirt and trouser pockets. When I showed it in the store, they were very surprised about it. Anyways its going back to HTC luckily I have 2 years warranty.

Finally I was going to add:
- hangs
But then they both seem to suffer from that.

All n all, the iPhone convinced me despite it's closed nature and arguably lesser specs. Overall the experience is much better and there is no need at anytime for a stylus, its a true finger/touch operated device, no half measures there.

The Perfect PDA/Smartphone

Does it exist? Some would argue the the iPhone comes pretty close and I actually agree. It does come close but still no cigar in my opinion. Then on the 'other side' (and many of those people who argue the iPhone is it would call this the 'dark side' :-) ) there are the Windows Mobile devices. Most interesting at the moment in that camp are the HTC Touch Diamond and Pro (for those would prefer keyboards). Also no cigar in my opinion. I have a Diamond and tho its a flashy phone, its still plagued by several problems. It has its good sides too tho. 

What I like about the Diamond:

• incredible screen quality; its got a really good screen, the best I've seen and beats iPhone
• its nice and small
• its full featured with GPS, 3G & HDSPA, not only pictures but video recording, Video calls, Opera Mobile 9.5 (equivalent to Safari) 
• its 'open'; tho it uses Windows Mobile 6.1, there are no built-in restrictions that I'm aware of (example VOIP over 3G or GPRS) and 3rd party developers have access to all the tools required to create apps for it
• it supports background processes to run (like an IM client)

What I don't like about the Diamond:

• The touch interface is flakey; it doesn't respond well and consistently to swipes and other gestures. Case in point is try adding a city in the US to the built-in weather application. This is a real test of patience....
• in general its kinda slow (yes I have the latest ROM); most things take a second or more, which over time really starts wearing on you...
• Battery life, battery life.... Ok this is in general a problem in the industry, heavily outdated battery technology for the kinds of functions that we find in smartphones/pda's these days. It is completely unacceptable tho that when I start my morning with a fully charged battery at 8am and by 1pm the phone dies because the battery is depleted. What did I do? Not all that much 2 or 3 short phone calls, a little web browsing (maybe 45mins in total) and having Windows Live messenger running in the background. Nothing extraordinary I believe and the kind of usage pattern that you can expect for a multimedia internet device like the Diamond. Actually I haven't even used the built-in music player during this session and I've noticed previously that that also drains the battery in a serious way...
• Windows Mobile; tho Touchflo hides some of Windows mobile ugliness, its still a kind of clunky bolt-on that adds to the slowness of the interface. Windows Mobile itself tho marginally improved over the years is light years behind iPhone's interface in my humble opinion. I'm talking about the Windows Mobile Professional versions here for touch screens. I don't have any experience with the standard version (which is for so called smartphones without touch screen).

I do not have personal usage experience with the iPhone (other than having played with other's 1st gen iPhone on occassion) but what little I have experienced, the interface is superior to that of Windows Mobile + Touchflo... The iPhone touch interface works consistently and is fast in response unlike the Diamond with touchflo... Its still not perfect either in my opinion because of the 'closed' nature. A few things I don't like:

• no background processes (IM client)
• restrictions (no VOIP over GPRS/EDGE/3G)! I guess Apple had to do this in other to have AT&T's support??
• Apple's kind of controlling nature over 3rd party development

I understand from colleagues that have the iPhone (1st gen still) that battery isn't really great for them either. About 1 day is the average maximum.

The one other interesting phone out there (to me at least) is the Samsung Omnia i900. This phone is also based on Windows Mobile 6.1 so I suspect it will have some of the same problems (and also good points) as the Touch Diamond.

Conclusion, the 'perfect' PDA-phone still does not exist. I hope someone is working on a killer battery! Maybe Android will be an interesting OS. I hope Apple opens up more and Microsoft should start the mobile OS from scratch and incorporate lessons from Apple's interface building.

I'm sure we'll see some interesting devices yet in the future. One other development I'm looking forward to is WiMax. Any others anyone?

Computing in the Cloud

Cloud Computing, it seems a buzz word these days, with various companies vying for customer attention. Thinking about it, from a personal perspective, as a consumer, it makes a lot of sense. If you've used computers for more than a few years, you'll have accumulated quite a bit of digital data by now. You will have, I'm sure as I have, struggled (to a certain degree at least) with backups of all that data. Another issue is having multiple computers and keeping data in-sync and/or at least available from any of those puters.
There are of course varying ways to solve the issue(s) of data availability, access and backup. However, with a large degree of certainty we can say that most of the solutions that we come up with (file servers or other forms of sharable centralized storage), will eventually fail, since ultimately they all rely on harddisks. Not to mention the issue of accessing all your data when you're on the move.
I'm not even seriously considering Tape backup as an option for my 'consumer' oriented usage.

When I analyze the nature of my data, I can segregate into 3 main categories:
1. Entertaiment (movies, music)
2. Personal memories (photo's, files)
3. Administrative data

At the moment I don't know of any well-known services that can handle the first category 'in the cloud'. I have heard of some that do this for music and of course there is Youtube for the short 10 minute type videos of personal nature.

For the second and third categories, there are now a myriad of services available in the cloud that when you think about it make a lot of sense. With regards to personal memories; photos is a big one and being able to safely store that 'in the cloud' is pretty valuable and very convenient for me. Having my precious photos available from any Internet connected puter or mobile device and not having to worry about backups, eventually failing HD's, which will cause me to loose if not all, at least some of my precious memories. Its a pretty compelling kind of service to me and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.
That to me demostrates the power of computing 'in the cloud' and I haven't even touched on the services provided by the likes of Google (with Google Apps) and other that allow you to create Office compatible docs online and even allow for collaborative working on your docs. Yet another powerful example of 'cloud computing'.

The business perspective, as in how can businesses 'cash in' on the value proposition of 'cloud computing' is not entirely clear yet. Intuitively we can feel that there is going to be lots of value for business too (the value proposition seems somewhat akin to Outsourcing of your infrastructure, but with a plus). However, there are other factors to take into account such as security that make public cloud computing a lot less appealing for them. Creating virtual private clouds on the other hand (to combat the security issue) seems to take away some of the intrinsic value of having your date available at any time, from anywhere and sharable with anyone...

Very interesting times indeed!!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Is Virtualization all about the OS?

Interesting how much of the fighting talk around virtualization vendors seems to be happening in the Australian media these days. After an interview with an Australian VMware exec in which he says that Windows will be dead in about 5 to 10 years (read here).
The rebuttal now comes from one of Microsoft's new buddies Red Hat. Who would've thought that about a year ago eh? The most unlikely alliances seem to be formed, in an effort to try and reverse the seemingly unstoppable march of VMware in the enterprise.
Its a natural reaction perhaps that the OS vendors 'attack' from their 'comfort zone', that what they know best (the OS). Actually, its interesting that Microsoft lets others make the more outrages claims, such as:

"Virtualisation is all about how applications interface with the operating system. This is one thing that Microsoft agrees 100 per cent with us on."

Silly me, now why did I think it was all about uncoupling the applications from the underlying hardware and making them portable? Hmmm crazy idea...

"We are in a unique position because we are strong in virtualisation and we are strong in the operating system area with Red Hat Enterprise Linux."

No doubt that Red Hat has some server market share and that they have been successful in cobbling together a few pieces of Open Source software. Ironic perhaps to think that one of the reasons of their success is that people might have seen them as their savior from Microsoft.

"We and Microsoft we are the only two vendors with all the pieces together for a full virtualisation system."

I guess he's conveniently forgetting Microsoft's other buddy here (Novell/Suse), not to mention many others (Sun, etc...)

"Many other vendors are putting hypervisors in the market by themselves without the operating system. That's like having just a mousepad and no mouse - there's not much you can do with it," Cormier says. "To some extent that's what VMware is.

What else can you say about such a laughable statement...

Whether or not a company survives and thrives in the future, is a subtle combination of a number of factors. They definitely need to either have vision ('out of the box' thinking kind of new ideas) and the ability to execute on their vision or be very fast followers to be successful.
There will always be some that try it with what I can negativists strategies, where they attempt to paint themselves as the winners, based on more quantitive than qualitative measures and without adding any new content to the larger industry discussion.

Mobile Service Providers Price Comparison

Considering my wildly varying mobile phone bill, my new HTC Touch Diamond and considering my monthly phone usage, I decided to conduct a comparison review of the major providers in Belgium. It doesn't look good for my particular usage profile (I have regular int'l coms with Malaysia) in that I don't seem to be able come in much below the 100€ mark...
Anyways below is the result.
Would be interested to hear from others with similar usage profiles.
Cheers for now.