Twitter Updates
Thursday, September 04, 2008 Recently I moved my CVS and Subversion repositories to a VPS that is running the server edition of Ubuntu Hardy. As part of the move I installed ViewCV enabling me to view my repositories via a web browser. Problem was when I viewed a Subversion repository I got the following error message:
An Exception Has Occurred
Python Traceback
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/viewcvs-1.0-dev/lib/viewcvs.py", line 3194, in main
request.run_viewcvs()
File "/usr/local/viewcvs-1.0-dev/lib/viewcvs.py", line 258, in run_viewcvs
import vclib.svn
File "/usr/local/viewcvs-1.0-dev/lib/vclib/svn/__init__.py", line 27, in ?
from svn import fs, repos, core, delta
ImportError: No module named svn
I could view CVS repository just not Subversion repositories. This left me scratching my head. I did a couple of google searches but no solution found. Then I thought to myself, "I wonder if there is anything Python specific for Subversion." This prompted me to try searching for packages using the aptitude command.
Sure enough the command aptitude search subversion returned a few items including python-subversion, which is the Python binding for Subversion. Bingo! I ran the command aptitude install python-subversion then checked ViewCV again in my browser. Error gone. I'm now able to view both CVS and SVN repositories. posted by Kirby | 7:56 AM | comments (0)
Thursday, August 28, 2008 The fine folks at The Salem Insider are compiling a list of Salem-based bloggers. If you live in Salem Mass and have a blog, you should add your blog site to the list. And no, your blog site doesn't have to be about Salem. They just ask that you be a Salem resident. It's a neat way to see what others in Salem are writing about. posted by Kirby | 3:18 PM | comments (0)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 I know there are family and friends waiting for me to response to emails, IM, txt, facebook wall posting, tweets, etc. I'm sorry to say you will have to wait another day or two. I'll be catching up on personal emails, etc starting tomorrow. Meanwhile, check this out if you need entertaining while you wait. posted by Kirby | 6:31 PM | comments (0)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 I decided the time has come to separate blog postings specific to White Peak Software from my personal posting found here at thecave.com. If you are interested in following product news, tips, tricks, and all other things related to White Peak Software please visit or subscribe to blog.whitepeaksoftware.com. posted by Kirby | 11:11 PM | comments (0)
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 High royalty rates could kill web radio including Pandora. This is very disturbing news for me because I listen to a lot of web radio especially Pandora. I rarely if ever listen to AM/FM radio these days and web radio is my only insight to new music. Web radio influences me to buy new music.
As I mentioned before I have only recently started buying new music again. A big part of this is has to do with the availability of DRM-free music. And the music I do buy now is heavily influenced by what I hear on Pandora and other web radio stations. If web radio dies because of the insanely high royalty rates then there's a good chance my music buying habits will die off too as I will end up going back and listening to only the music I already have. posted by Kirby | 9:30 AM | comments (0)
Thursday, August 14, 2008 I'm planning to move a web site from ASP.NET to PHP. My primary development machine is a MacBook Pro. I use VMware Fusion for hosting a number of different OSes including Windows and Linux (mostly Ubuntu). So now I'm wondering what type of development environment I should setup for working with this new PHP based web site.
Should I develop directly within OS X? It's definitely convenient. But I don't need services such as Apache, Postgres, etc running on my laptop all the time. Also, I'm concerned that it might introduce my laptop to additional security risks.
Should I develop within a Linux guest OS? This is not as convenient as doing development within my host OS but it does mean my LAMP development environment is not running all the time wasting system resources when I'm not doing development work. And it is also more secure because I can restrict access to the guest OS.
So my latest thinking is to use a hybrid approach. I'll setup a Ubuntu LAMP server as a guest OS using VMware Fusion. Then use a file share so I can edit the web site files within the host OS. It seems like this approach gives me the best of both worlds. I can edit files in OS X using an editor like TextMate while hosting and testing the web site on a LAMP server. Hmmm, I think maybe this is the right approach for me. posted by Kirby | 12:18 PM | comments (3)
Sunday, July 20, 2008 I attended my first Software Industry Conference this year and overall it was a great experience. I learned some good tips from the sessions I tended and from the people I met. I got to meet a number of people who, like me, are indie developers and or run small software companies. And I got to put faces on names of individuals from the ASP newsgroups and BoS forum. And of course I picked up a couple of new t-shirts too. Now if vendors exhibiting at conferences like SIC would hand out jeans and boxers I could have a new wardrobe each year.
The sessions covered a variety topics related to the business of selling software. There were sessions on distribution channels, alternative revenue models such as subscriptions and rentals, marketing, web site designs, the impact of social networks and more. I really liked the variety of topics covered. However, one thing I did not like was the lack of depth in many of the sessions.
Most of the sessions had multiple speakers providing different points of views on a topic. For example, the session on distribution channels had 3 speakers. The first speaker talked about breaking into the China marketplace. The second speaker talked about OEM distribution, and the final speaker talked about distribution through publishers and retail channels. With this particular topic the three speakers and the different points of view format worked well and was helpful and insightful. But the multi-speaker approach did not work for all sessions.
The session on web site analytics and metrics was one such session that I wish had been broken out into two separate sessions. The first speaker talked about monitoring your competitors, and the second speaker talked about tools and options for understanding what is happening with your own web site. What I would have liked to see was more in depth discussions and how tos on the two areas. For example, the talk about the tools and options for understanding what is happening with your own web site was good but it could have been even better if the speaker had time to drill into a sample web log using a tool of choice and explain in detail how to look for and understand the meaning of the data and how to uncover and find trends within the data.
It also felt as if each speaker was rushed to get through the information he or she wanted to share so that there would be enough time for the next speaker within the session.
Despite the lack of depth in many of the session talks, the Q&A that typically followed was great. In many cases the Q&A was more useful for me that the actual talk.
Another aspect of SIC that I really like is meeting a wide range of people who, like me, are producing and selling software products. Not only was it fun to share war stories and talk shop, I also learned a lot from the more seasoned veterans. For instance, Dan from TopoGrafix gave me some great feedback on my web site and suggested ways to improve my SEO with landing pages covering topics I had not thought of before. Not only did I learn a thing or two from others, but the conversations I had with various individuals gave me the kick in the ass I needed to re-motivated and come up with fresh, new ideas for growing my company and taking it to the next level.
So was the conference worth it? Absolutely. Granted my cost was low because the conference was held in the Boston metro area which is local for me and meant I didn't not have to pay travel experiences (no airfare or hotel). But I do plan to return next year and I will be staying in the hotel so I can have more fun at the party-like receptions held each evening. posted by Kirby | 11:10 AM | comments (1)
