Cowboys, Halo 3, and 37m Downloads…

I stayed up watching the Dallas Cowboys last night. If you didn’t see, they won 25-24 via field goal, in the final seconds of the game (after playing terribly). The most interesting part was that the coach called a timeout before the ball was snapped before the final field goal attempt. I question his strategy because had the Cowyboy’s kicker missed, he would have been given another chance. I don’t watch much football, but this game was truly epic.

So after I watched the game, I was full of adrenaline. I decided I’d play a bit of Halo 3 and ended up going to sleep a little late.  I’m not very good at Halo 3 so I decided I’d download a few videos of good players from Bungie. I am really impressed by the new theater system that allows you to watch games you or others have played. One video I downloaded showed a guy getting a quadruple kill with a Spartan Laser.

Now I’m at school forcing my eyes open to stay awake and waiting for MySQL to download. It said 37 minutes initially. I think this may be do to my schools internet connection. Anyway, the estimation is never correct of course. I figure it will be closer to ten.

Once I have MySQL installed I’ll be able to program PHP with databases. The fun is just beginning…

Finally progress!

Recently I have run into many problems installing Apache2 with PHP5 on the Ubuntu machine.

My main problem was that PHP5 wasn’t enabled. It didn’t take long for me to figure out it wasn’t parsing the code in my browser. However, it took a long while for me to come to the conclusion that it wasn’t enabled and figure out how to enable it. I ended up using this code to enable it.

sudo a2enmod php5

Followed by a restart of the server.

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Finally, that ended that problem but I was still confused on the httpd.conf file. After much search, I found out that Debian, hence Ubuntu, uses the apache2.conf file not the httpd.conf file. How ridiculous is that! All the instructional guides I had been reading only used httpd.conf.

Now for the final obstacle: installing mysql with PHP5

How we got Ubuntu Linux installed…

Well we decided I probably shouldn’t run virtual servers on the school network. So we got a spare computer that had Windows XP already installed. We reformatted with a bootable CD version of linux called Hackin9 initially. Then Ian came along and told me to install Ubuntu linux. I was a bit skeptical, but Ian burned some disks (he kept trying to put 800+MB on a CD) and brought it in. I installed Ubuntu and was elated to find out it supports almost everything from the start.

I’d recommend Ubuntu to any Windows convert!

Parker

Introducing IAN!

Hello speed racers!

Right now i’d like to introduce myself, My name is Ian and i’m helping parker delve deep into the inner workings of Ubuntu Linux. I have had some experience with Linux using Redhat 6 and Ubuntu 6.1 and now Ubuntu 7.0.4

parker seems to have some plans set with PHP and MySQL databases and i just finished installing both packages along with Apache2, which parker couldn’t for the life of him get to compile so i just APt-get’ed it along with everything else.

Ian

the first obstacles

Today I’m working on getting a PHP development system set up on the old Dell Linux convert. Using Automatix and Synaptic Package manager me and Highlighter were able to install Bluefish and download Apache. I still need to install the MySQL server before we’re done. I’m also having trouble getting my PHP files to compile in the browser.

On another note, a few of us (Ian, me, and a few friends) have decided to participate in an IBM mainframe programming competition. Found here: IBM Student Conest
There are some decent prizes, but it sort of looks like a huge sales pitch for IBM. I don’t really want to go into IBM mainframe programming—–it doesn’t fit into what I categorize as ‘fun’. Programming, so I’ve heard, is a vicious world. To be the best, you have to be constantly studying and learning new syntax to remain at the top. Regardless, it will be good fun. I’ve never mainframe programmed before.

Oh. As I was typing. Ian comes in and teaches me to use “apt-get” in terminal. Now I feel stupid.

Until next post. UNP?

Pheonix Rising…

Hello. I’m Parker a co-author of this blog. Ian is the other co-author.

So. I created this blog on to log my experiences and adventures through the world of tech——podcasting, programming, robotics, and whatever else I find interesting. That sounds “geeky,” and frankly, it is. However, just because you don’t necessarily know how to program “Hello World!” in five or more languages, doesn’t mean you won’t find something interesting within the contents of my uncensored ranting.

This should become a daily occurrence unless I get preoccupied with something too interesting to stop and blog.

will be posting too. Sometimes, we’ll even post together! He is extremely knowledgeable about a variety of subjects in the realm of technology.

Don’t let the word ‘technology’ scare you! We aren’t super nerds who sit at home in our mom’s basement (in the dark) in front of our computer screens 24/7. Though the topics we will be talking about can be a bit technical, we will try our best to explain everything as clearly as possible.

Here is a list of projects we are currently working on for school.

• Ubuntu Linux Dell PC conversion
• World Affairs Forum Podcast
• Learning to program PHP
• Botball (as soon as the new setup is released)
• Podcasting for this blog every once in a while

I think that was a good first post. More to come soon.

Later.