Latest Updates
It’s been a while since I’ve updated the Book Review plugin, mainly because it was complicated to write and with each release of WordPress I largely had to rewrite it. And because most of the code it used emulated core WP functionality there wasn’t a lot of help anywhere to guide me how things had changed.
I fell back on using the More Fields plugin.
In WordPress 3 though, came the option for Custom Post Types. So, earlier in the week I rolled up my sleeves and, with the help of come excellent tutorials (mainly this one by Justin Tadlock), wrote a custom post type specifically for Book Reviews.
Continue reading…
28th August
For those people who don’t know, Google Apps is Google’s answer to an office suite. Microsoft Office is probably the most recognised of these tools, but there are plenty of others for different platforms. The current drive is for online, web-hosted versions, which require no installed software and only a browser to run.
I recently ran a trial of Google Apps as a possible replacement for our incumbent solution of hosted Exchange and Sharepoint, along with normal copies of Microsoft Office. I didn’t expect it to replace the desktop applications, but mainly replace our email, calendar and intranet services and possibly provide some extra functionality for light users. Having completed my trial and made my decision I thought I would write up my experience here to make it more generally accessible.
Our situation
We weren’t unhappy with the existing solution, but the difference in cost was enough to convince me to take a trial and see what it was capable of. The applications needed to match existing functionality in the core areas and be seamless. It also needed to be very reliable.
I wasn’t entirely new to Apps, I use the free version for one of my personal domains.
We have a head office and a number of branches. The branches only have one Office user, who primarily only uses email and calendaring with Outlook, in part because they don’t have Office installed.
At head office the use is much greater, everyone using Outlook email and calendars, shared documents on Sharepoint and use of many of the Office applications, using some of their power features.
Continue reading…
24th August
I was going to write this as a general ‘is Linux ready for the desktop’ article, but decided to stick with the specific distribution (version) I used. Many of the comments will equally apply to any version of Linux, however.
I had been thinking of giving Linux another try (I go back to Red Hat 5.2) to see whether it was yet suitable for people like me who have multiple home-built machines (so don’t get a copy of Windows with the machine) and for the average computer user who could save some money by buying a computer that didn’t come with Windows. The first challenge was to pick a distro (distribution, i.e. version) of Linux.
Unlike Windows and OS X, which offer very few options, there are lots of variants of Linux. The first call is the type of Linux; for example, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Slackware, SUSE. Some of these are variants of the others and there are derivatives of these as well. Even when you pick one there are different versions if you want to put it on a server, desktop or netbook. The one that typically garners the most press is Ubuntu and it’s supposed to be the most user-friendly.
I’ve tried Ubuntu on several occasions so I thought I would give something else a try and I kept hearing about Linux Mint, which is actually based on Ubuntu. Essentially it’s a customised release that is designed to have a look more analogous of Windows, some default software installed (web browser, email client, office suite) and codecs to playback common media formats (like Flash) so you can start using it right away.
Continue reading…
24th June
Recently I was singing the praises of an Acer Revo with a dual-core Atom processor. It struggled from time to time (mainly when trying to playback media, whether it was Flash or Quicktime) but by and large it allowed me to check my email and surf the web perfectly well. The benefits of the Atom platform are that it’s cheap and energy efficient. For that you sacrifice raw processing power. My question is, should you? Most people only own one computer (though I think that’ll change) so don’t have the luxury of using another machine if they start to struggle, with that in mind I thought I would look at the options.
Desktop PCs
My Revo cost about £190 (you can currently get them for about £180) as I bought the Linux version. There are a few other machines for that price, but they’re mainly above £200. The Linux version is fine if you either have a copy of Windows lying around (a retail copy, OEM copies are tied to the hardware, technically) or are happy to run Linux (not necessarily the one installed) and competent enough to get hold of a copy (or use the supplied one). Most people, though, will want to run Windows. Now you can buy a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium (the most popular version) for about £75 (for OEM, retail will be £83). The only problem is then you can’t install it as the Revo has no DVD drive, you’d need to buy an external one if you don’t already have one, you’re looking at £30-40. So now we’re talking about a total cost of £285 (180+75+30).
Continue reading…
21st June
That’s a title with some alliteration. It’s a fairly big name for a very small PC but a while back I bought a R3610 Revo. The R3610 has the dual-core N330 Atom processor (as opposed to the R3600 which only has a single-core). Anyway, moving on. I opted for the Linux version with 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive. It cost a penny shy of £190.
I didn’t buy the Linux version because I wanted Linux, but the Windows version was significantly dearer and I had a three-computer licence for Windows 7 Home Premium that was only installed on one machine. The machine obviously doesn’t come with a monitor, but does have a keyboard and mouse (mine were wired, some have wireless). The keyboard is OK (no number pad) but the mouse is a bit cheap, they work OK though. It’s kitted out with gigabit LAN, wireless-N, eSATA port, a raft of USB ports, HDMI and VGA (which you can hook up at the same time for dual monitor support) outputs, SD card reader and SPDIF audio.
Initially I was using it as a trial machine to see if the Atom processor and ION graphics could take over from my big Bertha of an HTPC (mainly with a view to building my own Atom-based one in the future). It runs Windows 7 perfectly (drivers are available from the Acer site). It worked OK as a media centre (though it struggled with the nifty effects in Windows Media Centre) but I had a few problems (mainly because I was using a networked HDHomerun that kept losing signal, or the network was dropping despite using gigabit powerline adapters, I also used a cheap USB stick which did no better, I may try it with a better one at some point).
I wasn’t particularly impressed, especially as the standard hard drive was very noisy and made some worrying clicking and clunking. So I moved it to my desk with an eye to seeing if I could replace my main desktop PC with it. I have a Mac Pro that runs Vista but as, these days, I spent most of my time on it surfing the internet, writing blog articles, reading email and little else it seemed overkill, as did the 200 watts of power it drew.
I installed all my usual apps and, as a desktop machine it’s been good. It’s largely quiet (though the fans kick in when under load and it’s noisier than both my HTPC and the Pro) and it still makes the ominous clunking and clicking from the drive. It also starts to struggle when you push it. Multiple tabs aren’t really and issue, but playing Apple trailers sometimes takes a bit of time to get going and stutters at the start. Likewise having iTunes open along with a lot of tabs and a couple of other applications causes it to struggle. All in all though I’m very impressed. Especially as the light power draw (apparently 25 watts, I haven’t measured it) means I could leave it on permanently without it draining the bank (I do tend to sleep it more often than turn it off).
Going back to the price it’s even better, assuming you already have a copy of Windows or are happy to run Linux on it (it’ll run most versions no problem) it’s a desktop PC for under £200 (at the time of writing eBuyer was doing them for £180) that is more than capable for most people’s basic needs. Even as a second machine or a server it would be ideal. Stick a USB (or eSATA) drive into the back and it’ll happily serve media files and be more adaptable than a NAS as you could get it to host all sorts, from web servers to iTunes servers, anything you wanted, without drawing huge power and someone can always use it as an ordinary PC. All in all I’m impressed, I think there’s going to be more applications for cheaper computers that offer just enough processing power.
4th June
