A month ago I started running Linux on my PC.  Specifically, I’ve been running a free Linux distribution called Ubuntu (wikipedia entry).  Previously I ran Windows XP.

I’ve elected to go with a dual boot system, meaning I can still boot up in Windows if I want.  The dual boot approach is probably the safest way to go for new Ubuntu users, since you retain Windows as a fallback option.

My impressions of Ubuntu:

Ubuntu is faster than Windows.  Booting up is faster, as is shutting down.  Ubuntu installs programs faster.  It updates itself faster.  Programs start up faster and close faster.  The difference in speed is not subtle.  It’s significant enough that when I do have to boot up in Windows, it feels like I’m running an older computer, even though it’s the same physical computer.

Ubuntu isn’t perfect.  Things still freeze up from time to time, though certainly not as often as in Windows.

Ubuntu is generally easier to use.  There’s no objective way to prove this, and I am not suggesting that it’s perfectly easy to make the switch from Windows to Ubuntu.  You do in some cases have to find new software (more on this below) to replace what you used in Windows.  And of course, when you start using any new program, it takes a little time to gain proficiency.  However, I do think that given some hypothetical individual who has no familiarity with either system, that person would most likely find it easier to get started with Ubuntu than with Windows.

Ubuntu is not just for techies, but that said, it’s great for techies.  As a web developer who has long used Linux/Unix for web hosting, it’s nice to have a similar environment on my PC for development and testing.

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Additional notes on making the switch to Ubuntu:

How to migrate your files from Windows to Ubuntu?  You don’t really have to.  In a dual boot system, you can access all your old documents and files on your C drive from Ubuntu.  Just navigate to the /host directory — this directory in Ubuntu represents your C drive in Windows.  You’ll see that all your old files are accessible there even when you boot up in Ubuntu.

As for your Windows programs, it may not be possible* to install all of them in Ubuntu, but you’ll most likely find a free replacement that is as good if not better.  Here are some substitutions I’ve made…

Function: word processing (including .doc files)
Windows: MS Word or google docs
Ubuntu: Libre Office Writer or google docs

Function: image editing (including Photoshop files)
Windows: Photoshop
Ubuntu: Gimp

Function: calendar
Windows: Calendarscope
Ubuntu: Evolution

Function: music library and player
Windows: iTunes
Ubuntu: Banshee

Function: time tracking
Windows: TraxTime
Ubuntu: Hamster

Function: text editor (for programming)
Windows: EditPlus
Ubuntu: Kate

Function: bulk find & replace (often needed for programming projects)
Windows: EditPlus or NoteTab Light
Ubuntu: RegExxer

For email, I used Thunderbird in Windows XP.  I still use Thunderbird in Ubuntu. For a web browser, in Windows I used Chrome most of the time, whereas in Ubuntu I use Firefox most of the time.

Where to find the free programs I mention above, and thousands of others?  You use the Ubuntu Software Centre, built into Ubuntu, to search for them.  For example, my search for “image” turned up 218 results.  As you’d expect, the results consist of a variety of image viewers, organizers, editors, etc.  Most search results include user ratings on a 5-star scale, so you can see whether other users like the program.  From the search results listing, it takes a total of 2 mouse clicks to install a program.  That’s certainly a lot easier than what you do in Windows:

1. search the web for something that performs the desired function
2. in some cases wade through some fake reviews (ads) designed to divert your attention towards a particular product
3. when you find something, you have to try to figure out what the program costs (not always easy) and what the free trial includes
4. download and install… and in most cases repeat all of the above when you’re not satisfied

In Ubuntu, by comparison, the programs are free and are easy to quickly try out.  What if you install something and then decide you don’t like it?  Search for it in the Ubuntu Software Centre and click “remove.”

One recommendation: if you do elect for a dual boot setup, during the install process you’ll be prompted to indicate how much of your free hard drive space to give over to Ubuntu (and thus take away from Windows).  I’d recommend allotting at least 20 gigs for Ubuntu.  This is not something the casual user can easily adjust later on, so you want to get it right the first time.  Also, you don’t want to rob Windows of all its free space, so it would be best if you have around 40-50 gigs free space on your hard drive before you install Ubuntu.  That way you’ll still have 20-30 gigs left for Windows.  Naturally, your storage requirements will vary depending on what kind of work you do.

*Actually, you probably can run all your familiar Windows programs through something called Wine, but I’ve had no need to do that.

I spent some time during the past few days moving the non-blog portion of webcommunicate.net from Xaraya 1x (aruba) to Xaraya 2x (jamaica). Simultaneously I moved all of this site, including the blog, to a new web host, ServerGrove.

The old host, WebFaction, was OK. No significant complaints. Performance seemed a little uneven at times for my PHP applications, though certainly not bad overall.  It’s easier to run PHP 5.3 on ServerGrove, though, and Xaraya 2 requires PHP 5.3 or greater.  Overall, PHP performance seems to be a little more crisp on ServerGrove, and I like their control panel (Plesk) a little better than WebFaction’s.

The changes in Xaraya 2x are extensive and thus there is no automated upgrade from 1x to 2x.  Much of the work must be done manually. The process is not quite as involved as migrating from one framework to a totally different framework, but is more involved than a typical upgrade.  You could say the degree of difficulty is somewhere between an upgrade and a migration.  Most of my theme templates required only minor changes here and there for XHTML compliance.

I was able to keep all the same URLs without any use of Apache rewrite rules. This despite the fact that I used different content management modules in 1x (articles and xarpages) than I now do in 2x. In 2x, I use the content module for all content that I previously managed with articles and xarpages in 1x.  The 2x path module assists with management of URLs.  (Full disclosure: I am the author of content and path.)

Less than half of my website’s pages are public facing.  The rest are for my own behind-the-scenes record keeping.  My own custom cloud.  Therein lies some of the motivation for using 2x.  In 2x, I find it easier than ever to customize things quickly as my needs change.

I have written a few functions for exporting 1x articles data in a format that can be easily imported into Xaraya 2x objects.  Feel free to contact me if you would like to use those functions.  Separately, for conversion of 1x code to 2x code in modules and themes, this script will perform much of the grunt work.

I had some free time the last couple of weeks and wrote a pair of e-commerce modules for Xaraya 2. The modules are called Shop and FedExWS. They’re available on my Xaraya Extensions page. My clients don’t generally have much need in this area, since most of them are non-profits, but I felt like trying something new.

If you have any interest in PHP or web development generally, you should definitely have a look at Xaraya 2. The pace of development has been brisk in recent months, with four beta releases and two release candidates. You can download the latest release candidate here. Or, if you’re a monotone user, you can pull the latest development code from com.xaraya.core.jamaica

The Xaraya core has been re-written since version 1 and there are numerous enhancements that will help you build better websites for your clients in less time.

Compared with the two other OS packages with which I’m most familiar — Drupal and Django — Xaraya 2 probably has more in common with Django, even though it’s written in a different language. As with Django, from the developer’s perspective everything is very transparent and at your command. Xaraya and Django just feel more object-oriented than most frameworks, somehow.

One difference between Xaraya and Django: In Xaraya, you create your object templates via an admin interface, whereas in Django you code them in flat files. What I’m calling “object templates” are actually called DataObjects in the parlance of Xaraya; those familiar with Django know them as models. In Drupal, the analogue would be the content type — though the analogy is not perfect.

I’m making the switch to Chrome as my default browser. A few Chrome tips:

To add “search this site” functionality to Chrome…

1. Right-click in the location window
2. Select “edit search engines”
3. Click “Add” and then fill in the fields thusly…Name: Site
   Keyword: site
   URL: javascript:void(location.href=’http://www.google.com/search?q=%s&domains=’+location.hostname+’&sitesearch=’+location.hostname)
4. Now use it: Type “site” in the location window, then hit the Tab key, and then type your search terms. After you type “Site” and hit Tab, you should see something at the begging of the location window that says “Search Site.”
5. Note: This is just an example. You can specify a different search engine name and/or keyword, and a different URL if you’d rather not use Google to perform the search.

To add a “Home” button to Chrome…

1. Open up the Options (under the wrench icon in the upper right)
2. In the Basics tab, check the box for “Show Home button on the toolbar”

Developers who worry that they will miss Firefox’s firebug plugin should note that there is similar functionality built into Chrome. Right click on the page and choose Inspect Element.

Why did I switch? Firefox takes a little to long to start up and way too long to close out on my machine. The firefox.exe process doesn’t die, so I have to use task manager to shut down my computer. This could be the fault of a plugin or the fault of Windows, for all I know, but in any case it wasn’t working and I didn’t want to wait for a fix.

Work slowed down a little at times in August, so I had time to redesign this site.

My goal was to make it a little fresher & brighter and make a few usability improvements. I also updated the copy on the homepage to more concretely describe what I do.

I used to wonder why some freelance web designers and IT people don’t have a website at all. That would seem to be a bit contradictory, but it’s true. Many tech people don’t have a business website, or just have a place keeper. I am not always able to muster enthusiasm for working on my own site, though, so I can understand the temptation to not have one, after you get a certain amount of business feeding off of itself by word-of-mouth. I would rather work on someone else’s site than my own, any day.

That said, I definitely get a benefit from the website, in that people considering working with me can go to the site and get a better feel for my approach to things. I think it gives people a better comfort level when they first contact me if they can look at a website beforehand. It makes it easier to start off on the right foot. Also, when someone asks for work samples, I can point them to my site, rather than trying to put it all in an email. Many times I am not asked for work samples at all, presumably because they have already been to the site or just have a lot of faith in whoever referred them.

Most of the site uses Xaraya as its content management system. The blog uses WordPress. Image files, CSS and scripts are in a common location that both Xaraya and WordPress can access, making maintenance a bit easier.

Work has been consistently very busy for me since last September. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

• A lot of Drupal and Xaraya work for clients.
• I’m still playing around with Django for my own amusement and edification. I’m also using it to track invoices.
• I began a re-design of webcommunicate.net, on a whim, earlier this year, but haven’t had time to finish and implement yet.
• I still love WebFaction.
• I got myself oriented on Google’s maps api but have not had a chance to use it for a real project yet.
• I’ve been keeping tabs on a lot of new activity in the Xaraya project, and also…
• …getting better acquainted with Xarigami, an alternate version of Xaraya.
• I looked into Kubuntu, but am not quite ready to make the leap to Linux for my home machine… mostly due to concerns about Photoshop files. As soon as the machine I’m loaning to a friend comes back to me, I’ll try Kubuntu there.

Yesterday I moved www.webcommunicate.net and blog.webcommunicate.net to WebFaction. I had been using WireNine as my host since May 2007.

I have no complaints about WireNine. They’ve been great. I still use them for some of my clients’ websites and wouldn’t hesitate to use them in the future. I opened the WebFaction account in September only because they are set up better for Django, a development framework I use for some behind-the-scenes tasks like keeping track of invoices, expenses, etc. Ultimately I decided to move everything to WebFaction for the sake of simplicity.

So, I now have two hosts I can recommend: WireNine and WebFaction. I have more experience with WireNine, but I suspect WebFaction will be just as reliable.

WireNine uses cpanel, a very popular control panel that most web people are familiar with by now, since it is used by so many hosts. WebFaction has their own control panel. Normally I think it’s a mistake for a host to develop their own control panel, but in this case I like it. It’s a very straightforward, no frills interface with dropdown menus across the top.

In addition to the Django installation, I have also installed WordPress, Xaraya and Drupal on WebFaction. WebFaction has an auto-installer for Django, WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Rails, TurboGears, Zope, etc. Xaraya is not an option in their auto-installer but it was easy to install nonetheless.

I’ve been playing with Django a bit in the last day or two. It’s impressive. I suspect I’ll have some use for it. The admin interface is nice to look at and super fast.

I set up a hosting account at WebFaction for the purpose of trying Django. WebFaction will install Django (or Rails, Drupal, Joomla, etc) for free when they set up your account. My account was set up in just a few hours.

Django also provides me with an excuse to learn python, a language I haven’t used before now.

I’ll have more to say about Django once I’ve spent more time with it.

Sometimes I send emails to clients that I suspect I’ll need to refer back to at a later date, in some cases months later. Some examples are emails where I’m providing instructions on how to use some feature in the client’s content management system, emails where I’m asking for clarification on scope-of-work, or anything with a substantial amount of content I may want to reuse later.

To make sure I don’t lose those sent emails, I set up a new gmail account today to serve as an archive. I will BCC that new gmail address whenever I want to save something.

My usual email program, Thunderbird, has a decent search feature, but it’s not as good as gmail’s. Also, I don’t want to have to worry about whether I’m deleting important emails whenever I quickly delete a lot of old emails in Thunderbird. By BCCing the gmail account, I know I’ll have those emails forever and they will always be easy to search for.