Sitting here on New Year’s Eve day, I can’t help but feel reflective (as you can see from the gif). I like to take this time to go over my previous year-end posts (2012, 2013) and craft a new mega-post for this year. These types of posts are mostly for my own use, but I always like to post them publicly just in case any of this information can help you in any way. Oh, the book links are affiliate links. Just a heads up.
This has been a big and eventful year, so let’s just dive right in.
I recently purchased a home server (Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 with Intel Xeon E3-1225). My goal with this purchase is to learn a little bit more about Linux, play around with Xen a bit, and eventually create a home-base for all my media and files.
I’ve been documenting every single step of the process in my personal wiki, but I want to take select pieces from that and turn them into mini tutorials. This is one of those pieces.
Linux is designed to be installed from a CD-ROM, which feels so old-school to me. I haven’t owned a CD or DVD player or burner in years — none of my laptops have them, I have no gaming systems, and I stream all my media to an Amazon Fire TV running Kodi. So installing Linux from a CD just felt wrong.
I chose to work with Debian, specifically because that’s one of the Linux flavors we use at work. I downloaded the ISO (or CD image file) from the official website, “burned” it onto a USB stick, and installed.
However, when I tried to use the apt-get command to install some software, specifically lvm2, I got this error:
Media change: please insert the disc labeled 'Debian GNU/Linux 8.2.0 _Jessie_ - Official i386 CD Binary-1 20150906-10:02' in the drive '/media/cdrom/' and press enter
Even though I installed Debian from a USB stick, it was still looking for a CD in the CD drive. I needed some way to tell the system to look somewhere else. Continue reading
Can’t upload the new Wordpress theme you just downloaded or purchased? You may be running the wrong type of WordPress. In this post, I’ll explain the different ways to run a WordPress blog and then show you exactly how to upload a custom WordPress theme.
There are three different flavors of WordPress: WordPress.com, WordPress.com Premium, and WordPress.org. Here are the differences that are relevant to us:
| WordPress.com | WordPress.com Premium | WordPress.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd Party Themes | x | ||
| Free | x | x* | |
| Hosted | x | x | |
| Custom Domain | x | x |
* requires a self-hosting plan, more on that later
Note that neither WordPress.com nor WordPress.com Premium allow users to upload their own themes. If you’re in your blog’s Dashboard and don’t see an upload link under Appearance, then you’re probably using WordPress.com’s free or Premium hosted option. You’re going to need to host the blog yourself if you want to use a custom theme.
Still kinda lost? Let’s break it down even further. Continue reading
Python is a pretty great programming language. It’s fast to write, easy to read, and extremely flexible. It’s a good language to have in your arsenal for when you quickly need to write a web scraper to quick app prototype (although Go Lang is also quite popular for the latter task as well).
You’re going to make mistakes when you first start with Python, and you’re going to want to try the latest and greatest tools (like IPython). Unfortunately, this kind of playing/learning can have a negative impact on your computer, so it’s important to set up a safe environment in which to play. That’s what we’re going to be doing today, by setting up secure environments using virtualenv.
It’s a seemingly simple problem — tell the user what time it is in different countries around the world — with an endless number of solutions. There are a few questions you need to ask yourself before even touching pencil to paper: What’s the best way for humans to manipulate time? And really, what is time?
SFCD Agency took a break from client work to put out its first mobile application: Miranda. It’s a time zone converter with an elegant and unique user interface. In this episode, Yasser, the Head of Product and Strategy, and Dmitry, the Creative Director, share their experience making Miranda.
It’s an inside look at the app creation process within an agency, where ideas are brainstormed and workshopped into their final form.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:15 — 32.4MB) | Embed