NPSL on MSNBC. Cool.
Written by: Creech
Site Upgrade
This evening I upgraded the site to the latest version of Drupal and cleaned up a number of issues in the site’s files that needed attention–removing old unused modules for example. Please let me know if you see anything that seems out of order by emailing me at matthew [at] dogstar [dot] org.
Thanks!
Matthew/Creech
Written by: Creech
Drupal Basics-Setting Up A Local Install of Drupal on a Mac
Seeing as this site is a Drupal site, I thought our members might be interested in how to set up Drupal locally on a computer.
The first time I ever set up a local install of Drupal was a copy of 4.7.4. I remember aspects of setting things up being a little convoluted. 5.x had not gone into full release–I believe it was in RC 1. So there was no installer and it proved to be an interesting challenge. With the advent of 5.x, things have become much simpler. I’m going to describe how to set up a local install of Drupal 5.x on a Mac.
First
- Get a copy of MAMP–it stands for Mac Apache, MySQL, PHP. The linux version is called LAMP and the windows version is called WAMP
- Download the version of Drupal you want to install from Drupal.org
Next
- Extract the instance of Drupal you want to install
- Pop extracted directory into MAMP’s htdocs folder– /applications/MAMP/htdocs
- Fire up MAMP and click on "Open Start Page"
- Click on phpMyAdmin in the menu bar at the top of the page
- Click on the "databases" link in the main body of the page
- At the bottom of this page is a text box that reads "create new database", type in a name for your new database and choose a "collation", I use latin1_swedish_ci
- Create a user for the database–click on the sql tab up top and use the following command "grant all on database_name accounts.* to user_name@localhost identified by ‘password’;" with no quotes and replacing database_name with the database, user_name with any name you care to put in, and password with an password you care to use
- In your browser go to http://localhost:8888 and click twice on the directory with Drupal in it.
- Enter the database name, database username, and database password in the appropriate fields–leave the database type as mysql. Click "Save configuration"
- You now have a working instance of Drupal on your computer! Click on "your new site" and create user 1.
Remember that to have your Drupal instance working, you have to start MAMP up before going to the localhost Web address. You can load modules in and configure this just as you would a live site. It also give you an easy way to play with theming.
Written by: Creech
Drupal Basics-Feed Categories
I was asked by a good friend if I could merge the NPSL Offside Links and the Deli.cio.us NPSL links feeds into a single feed on nonprofitcommons.com in a block on the left side of the site. I took care of it this evening, and it is actually a piece of cake to do. These steps work in Drupal 5.x.
- Log into your Drupal site in an administrative capacity
- Click on "Administer"
- Click on "News Aggregator"
- Click on "Add Category"
- Create your Category
After you have a Category set up, the next step is to add exterior feeds.
- Click on "Add Feed"
- Fill out this form, and make sure you check the box that has your category
- Repeat for as many feeds that you want to aggregate into a single list.
Next step…you need to go to your administrative menu and click on "Site Building"
- Click on "Blocks"
- You will find in your list of inactive blocks an item named "xxxx category latest items". Click on "Configure".
- You can override the default name of the block (which is currently the category name) by entering something in the title. Next you choose the number of items you want to have show up in the block.
- Choose the additional parameters you’d like to turn on or off such as the roles to see the block, what pages the block should show up on and so forth.
- Save the block.
- Assign the block a location and a weight.
Keep in mind that your feeds won’t update unless you have cron running. If you want to manually run cron to see the fruits of your labour, type in your URL bar http://yoursite.com/cron.php.
Written by: Creech
DOJ OKs Killing Net Neutrality
Imagine you and a friend are driving down the highway. Both of you are going the exact same speed and you are headed to the same Mall. On the way, you decide you are going to go to Sears and your friend decides that she wants to go to Barnes and Nobel–still at the same Mall. Mysteriously your car drops from 65 miles an hour to 35 miles an hour but your friend, she is still going full speed ahead. When you get to Mall, you find out the reason your car slowed down was because the Sears hadn’t paid a fee to the municipality that owns the on ramp to the highway but Barnes and Nobel did.
Absurd, isn’t it?
This is exactly the scenario that will play out except online if something isn’t done soon. The Department of Justice ruled today that it would be OK to scrap Net Neutrality.
The phone and cable companies are drooling at the opportunity to control content and how it is served up over the Internet. This is precisely what happened to radio and to tv–do you see much independently created content on radio and tv anymore?
The agency said providing different levels of service is common, efficient and could satisfy consumers. As an example, it cited that the U.S. Postal Service charges customers different guarantees and speeds for package delivery, ranging from bulk mail to overnight delivery.
This argument is absurd as it is the consumer–me, who decides the speed at which I want to send my package. This scenario is more akin to me, paying my ISP for a faster connection to my house. Every site I go to is accessed equally as slowly or as quickly.
The real scenario here would be, I buy postage to send two cheques to pay two different credit card bills. I choose to pay to expedite delivery. The two company’s have offices in the same building. Each costs me $2.50. But Citi hasn’t paid the postal service the, "good service" package while Wells Fargo has. The cheque to City takes a week to arrive but the cheque to Wells Fargo arrives the next morning. This fundamentally unfair to the consumer.
The Department of Justice is giving the nod for the Telecom industry to charge protectionism money.
Indeed, even those who run Web-sites can choose to lease bigger or smaller pipes from server to Internet. But the point is that every bit of information that is requested by a user (the person pointing the browser) is currently treated equally. If I make a request first, my request is handled first. I can choose to personally pay for a fast connection or a slow connection.
To add insult to injury, the cable and telcos were paid large amounts of money by the Government–tax dollars–to buff up infrastructure. This never came to pass. They pocketed the cash and then dragged their collective heels. Now the cable and telcos are pushing to control what can be seen on what is supposed to be a public commons.
If this pushes through all the way to becoming law, it will have the effect of mangling nonprofits who provide Web services. It is just bad policy.
I am deeply disappointed in the DOJ.
If you care (and you should), contact your Congress people. Let them know what you think.
Written by: Creech
World Blog Day 2007
I’ve tagged the whole nonprofits in SL group in the World Blog Day 2007. Consider yourselves part of the meme! If you want to read my post, point your browser at:
World Blog Day 2007 on Dogstar
Written by: Creech
The NPSL Management Team’s Meeting
Well, a group of us met today by phone call. There are a few things I took away from today’s meeting.
1) Please, if you want to blog here (even if you have your own blog and want to cross post from there), let me know. Email matthew at dogstar.org and let me know your NPSL username and who you are in the nonprofit commons. I’ll set you up. The more bloggers we have, the better.
2) We still have a ton of volunteer roles available. If you have interest in helping out, check out the NPSL wiki at: http://npsl.wikispaces.com/volunteer_roles and find something you like. Remember, this place is being provided for our use for free.
3) Remember to promote our official launch day! It is on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. PT/SLT.
I’m really excited by the progress made in tons of our tenant offices. The different decor is well worth traveling around and checking out.
Thanks for your participation and I’m looking forward to seeing you inworld!
Creech/Matthew.
Written by: Creech
CNN, YouTube, and Tweets
What a curious thing the Democratic debate this afternoon ended up being. I was unable to watch them live, needing to be at work to earn a living, but found out via Len Edgerly on Twitter that baratunde was sending out live tweets covering the goings on. So, when I got home this evening, I followed the Twitter streams of baratunde and Len to get a sense of what happened.
Things have changed in the last three years. What tools do you think are going to pop up before the election that will continue to disrupt traditional media?
Written by: Creech
Skitch
Skitch is a cool application that can work online with mySkitch–an online image sharing system. You need an invite to get a beta copy of Skitch.
With the application, you can take a snapshot on your desktop in a similar fashion to "Grab" or you can use your web cam (iSight on a Mac). You can then use simple image editing tools to draw on the file. For example, you could emphasize different parts of a web page that you have snapped a picture. Skitch will also read all the photos in iPhoto and allows you to select an image for editing.
You can then save the file and use the drag me tool at the bottom to pull the image somewhere else (Flickr Uploadr for example.)
In my experimentation I couldn’t get it to take a picture of a Second Life window, but it seemed to take screen shots from other applications just fine.
Skitch is fast, easy, and fun to use.
Written by: Creech
Meebo-Another Multiple IM Tool
Meebo is a cool online application that allows you to log onto instant messaging without an instant messaging client on your computer. Meebo currently supports AOL, Yahoo, Google Talk, ICQ, and Jabber.
Creating an account is very fast–a three window wizard that asking you a little information–which then dumps you into a Meebo home page.
Meebo also allows you to enter Meebo rooms and create new rooms in Chat mode.
Because Meebo is browser based and not client based, you can access your instant messaging any place, any where that you have a computer, an Internet connection, and a browser. Think Internet Cafe…
Written by: Creech