Reminder to self
Aug0
THERE IS A setting in a WordPress database for the uploads folder…which doesn’t seem to be visible in the admin gui side. Essential if you wish to move your WordPress and not go crazy. Grrrrrrr – for instance ….
(59, 0, ‘upload_path’, ‘/home/stapleco/domains/staple.co.nz/public_html/blog/wp-content/uploads’, ‘yes’),
Magento install on XP Pro – Ubuntu, WAMP or XAMPP ?
Aug0
I have a big templating job on with Magento, a leading LAMP Ecommerce platform. After suffering a bit on the install I think I’d better make a few notes.
Magento on Ubuntu 8.04 ?
I normally use an Ubuntu Virtual machine for my development. But as it was running 8.04 and therefore an older version of Mysql I started casting around for a better interim solution. I do not want to touch my Ubuntu install (in case I ruin my Cooreea development setup) for now.
Magento on XAMPP 1.7.2 ?
Hmmm…after I remembered that Skype conflicts with XAMPP on Port 80 (well killing Skype worked) XAMPP worked – but Magento did not as it does nto work with PHP 5.3 – so I had a quick look to see how easy it was to revert to 5.2 on XAMPP – not that easy by the looks. I remembered that WAMP had a good feature where you could upload different PHP versions through the control panel so…
Magento on WAMP 2.0 ?
Hmmm ver 2 … well WAMP is certainly more featured than XAMPP, I love the PHP version and extensions settings. And… it WORKED… Magento that is, so far apart from having to remove some cache because I am accessing through a different host under PHP 5.2.9 we have progress..
Notes:
- It is worth setting up a virtual host thingy as without a ‘.’ in the url (i.e http://localhost/magento) the cookies do not work, although they do in Opera … strange…so try http://localhost.magento/magento/ for example
- The DB settings are in app/etc/local.xml
Useful links:
- WAMP Virtual Hosts – http://www.dennisplucinik.com/blog/2007/08/16/setting-up-multiple-virtual-hosts-in-wamp/
- XAMPP – http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html
- WAMP – http://www.wampserver.com/en/
- Magento – http://www.magentocommerce.com/
- Transferring Magento between hosts
VOIP system for small business install…in progress..
Aug0
Wanaka Wastebusters has a second hand Samsung analogue PABX that was installed a few years ago. It is relatively reliable (apart from dropping a few calls … hmmm) but the interface to make changes to the settings has prevented any economical evolution to bring it up to a usable solution for the business. This alone makes it worth replacing.
I have been slightly obsessed with VOIP for a while, mucked around with Asterisk on and off and have used World Exchanges VFX service at home for a year or two. I’m not sure why I have this obsession – I suspect because it is such an attractive disruption – voice, and all its features, becoming as cheap and easy as email.
I managed Cactus to start using VFX for it’s main calling line a while back, and now hardware QOS has improved and DSL speed settled down (you can finally get full speed both ways relatively cheaply) it is time to try on a larger scale. The benefits are too big to ignore.
- Hosted PBX – no hardware investment…and features+ like the below…
- Web interface to control the PBX as opposed to semi-blind phone keypad inline programming
- Voicemail to email – email seems to be THE collation point for business communication
- Softphones like X-Lite, point and click phone action! Address books!
- Cheaper calling
- Movable phones – take your latop to the other side of the world and you are still on the same system
I have been working on the implementation plan and have agreement from Wastebusters, I’ll write it up here as it happens.
Clothes rack
Aug0
Well…it’s not ground breaking news. The clothes rack has finally eventuated, and what a joy! In the current theme of “the longer a project takes to do the better the feeling afterwards” this one has to be – 7 years?
What is it? 6 old scout tent poles from Ashbuton Wastebusters ($3), some jib sheet sliders from Wanaka Wastebusters ($2.50) and some T-Bar rope from the Saddle T at Treble Cone (er…free).
I love making things from what is available.
Moved to post .. about Prestashop ?
Aug0
Strange, I have been doing so many exciting things but what has moved me to write this is a small and intense bout of ecommerce.
I have spent a few hours over the last week preparing an experiment based on Prestashop – a open source cart project out of France (I think).
I have to say – if you get past the horrid layout and UI in admin the bones of the thing are – tres supurb. It handles product options and attributes well and I haven’t found anything serious it doesn’t do yet – and all at 1/10th of the footprint of Magento. More to come as my new shop goes live…if it ever does :-)
Clients
