I'm really frustrated today. No, it doesn't have anything to do with a woman. It's software that's giving me a serious headache. As I've been saying for a long time now, I'd like to set up a website for my students, but I still haven't found a solution that addresses all my requirements... and actually works when I try it. In general, I'd consider myself a relatively sophisticated computer user, so my repeated failures at something so important to me, both personally and professionally, are just really tough to take.
I don't have a computer science degree. Not yet. The things I am trying to do now are practice for the degree that I want to do after my Economics M.A., a "Diplôme d'études supérieures spécialisées en technologies de l'information et environnements d'apprentissage" or "Graduate diploma in information technologies and learning environments", if I translate loosely from the French. I want to be ready when I start that degree so that I'll do great in most of my courses, but my experiences with website server software are telling me that I just can't learn this stuff on my own, no matter how hard I try... because, TRUST ME, I HAVE tried!!!
I don't know what to do... I honestly don't have a clue. I need to learn how to use Apache, MySQL (or some other database software), and PHP (or an equivalent), and I need to learn some HTML as well, and maybe the basics of a few other programming languages as well... F%$#!!! I'm really frustrated... I think I'll write to a "learning environments" teacher and ask for some advice. I don't like to look incompetent - especially not to those I am supposed to impress to get into the programme I'm interested in -, but I need help with that stuff...
EDIT: Some may ask: "But isn't stuff supposed to be easier on a Mac?" In general, I'd say yes. Using iWeb, it's pretty easy to get a decent-looking website without any particular computer skills and very little work. You can create a photo gallery, audio and/or video podcasts with RSS feeds, and tons of other things really easily. However, I am trying to create a website with auto-grading quizzes, and that is more of a niche market. It requires more specialized tools and those tools, sadly, tend to require skills I don't have yet.
SECOND EDIT: After wasting a lot of time trying to find the information I needed, I thought about BitTorrent. I googled "computer ebooks torrent" and, a few hours later, I had in my possession 150 ebooks on everything computer-related. I can now advance in my quest. It will be a lot of work - but an interesting journey as well!!! :D
Thursday, July 20, 2006
The joys of AMP...
For the last few years, I've been interested in learning more about web development. However, I am looking for relatively simple-to-use solutions, so that I can recommend whatever I used to other people (who may not be tech wizards either). In particular, at the moment, I am trying to set up a simple website for English quizzes so that my students can practice certain elements of the English language on their own more easily.
In my research on the various possible solutions, I came across Moodle, which seems to be pretty much what I need. However, Moodle requires AMP - Apache, MySQL and PHP -, and that is where the going gets tough. I first tried the Moodle OS X package, which includes all of these components, but even after configuring my firewall to allow traffic on the relevant ports, Moodle cannot run Apache properly. I then trashed everything and tried to install the AMP components separately before re-installing Moodle, thinking that the Moodle install would look for AMP and only install the missing stuff (if any). OS X comes with Apache built in, so I thought that part was more or less taken care of. I then installed MySQL and PHP, and then Moodle again. Still no luck. I also looked into the Moodle install for Windows since I have XP on my Mac too, but I gave up quickly when I realized that it wasn't any easier than the OS X install. (I was hoping the Windows install might be more user-friendly simply due to the fact that so many more people use it, so I assumed it might have been a bit more polished.)
All of this is really tough for someone like me who has no computing background whatsoever. I do not have any programming skills beyond the most basic stuff, and those skills are related to outdated programmes. I have never taken any course in webserver administration or databases, yet most of the documentation that I can find online is targeted to a much more computer-literate audience, i.e. people with some kind of computer-related degree.
The situation is extremely frustrating as I can usually learn new tricks relatively easily if given proper directions. I do take the time to read the manuals whenever there are some, but I need directions that do not assume an in-depth knowledge of computer science to start with. And that is where my biggest problem is. I thought that, over the years - and I've been looking into this stuff for a few years already -, AMP would become more user-friendly and more accessible to people like me who do not have a computer science degree but can nevertheless get by with computer stuff in general. It probably did get somewhat easier. However, there sure as hell still is a long way to go.
EDIT: Wikis and Readme files can be adequate when you only have a question or two, but they aren't when you need to learn everything from a to z. The latter requires an actual manual with all the information the target audience will need. I'm a beginner, so I need beginner's guides. After losing most of my sanity, I searched for an "Apache for Dummies" and found a few. However, paper books aren't convenient when you travel a lot, and technical manuals go out of date pretty quickly, so I'd rather give the trees a break. Also, if the book doesn't really suit your needs, you've wasted a lot of time and money for nothing. With ebooks, it's easier to sample a few and find the one that suits your needs best. I therefore looked for ebooks on the subject. I googled "computer ebooks torrent" and my problem was solved: 150 ebooks on everything computer-related. I won't read all of those, of course, but there are more than a few that interest me. I can now start upgrading my status from "amateur geek" to "professional geek". I can't wait to test my soon-to-be-acquired superpowers. ;-)
In my research on the various possible solutions, I came across Moodle, which seems to be pretty much what I need. However, Moodle requires AMP - Apache, MySQL and PHP -, and that is where the going gets tough. I first tried the Moodle OS X package, which includes all of these components, but even after configuring my firewall to allow traffic on the relevant ports, Moodle cannot run Apache properly. I then trashed everything and tried to install the AMP components separately before re-installing Moodle, thinking that the Moodle install would look for AMP and only install the missing stuff (if any). OS X comes with Apache built in, so I thought that part was more or less taken care of. I then installed MySQL and PHP, and then Moodle again. Still no luck. I also looked into the Moodle install for Windows since I have XP on my Mac too, but I gave up quickly when I realized that it wasn't any easier than the OS X install. (I was hoping the Windows install might be more user-friendly simply due to the fact that so many more people use it, so I assumed it might have been a bit more polished.)
All of this is really tough for someone like me who has no computing background whatsoever. I do not have any programming skills beyond the most basic stuff, and those skills are related to outdated programmes. I have never taken any course in webserver administration or databases, yet most of the documentation that I can find online is targeted to a much more computer-literate audience, i.e. people with some kind of computer-related degree.
The situation is extremely frustrating as I can usually learn new tricks relatively easily if given proper directions. I do take the time to read the manuals whenever there are some, but I need directions that do not assume an in-depth knowledge of computer science to start with. And that is where my biggest problem is. I thought that, over the years - and I've been looking into this stuff for a few years already -, AMP would become more user-friendly and more accessible to people like me who do not have a computer science degree but can nevertheless get by with computer stuff in general. It probably did get somewhat easier. However, there sure as hell still is a long way to go.
EDIT: Wikis and Readme files can be adequate when you only have a question or two, but they aren't when you need to learn everything from a to z. The latter requires an actual manual with all the information the target audience will need. I'm a beginner, so I need beginner's guides. After losing most of my sanity, I searched for an "Apache for Dummies" and found a few. However, paper books aren't convenient when you travel a lot, and technical manuals go out of date pretty quickly, so I'd rather give the trees a break. Also, if the book doesn't really suit your needs, you've wasted a lot of time and money for nothing. With ebooks, it's easier to sample a few and find the one that suits your needs best. I therefore looked for ebooks on the subject. I googled "computer ebooks torrent" and my problem was solved: 150 ebooks on everything computer-related. I won't read all of those, of course, but there are more than a few that interest me. I can now start upgrading my status from "amateur geek" to "professional geek". I can't wait to test my soon-to-be-acquired superpowers. ;-)
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Long time no see...
I love my Mac Mini... I really do! I've installed Parallels Desktop, Windows XP, Ubuntu (Linux) and Virtue Desktop, and now I can run Windows, Linux and OS X on my beautiful Mini all at once, and the speed ain't too bad. :D See my Tech Blog for all the gory details (and feel free to send comments and questions). I've also downloaded a bunch of high resolution desktop backgrounds and told OS X to put a new one every 30 minutes. Pretty cool! :D
Our school has a new teacher. Her name is Tamar. She's from L.A., California. I think she's pretty cool. Her friend Pooya - not sure if I get the spelling right - works at the Haeunday branch in another part of town. It's about a twenty minutes subway ride, so it's not too bad. They both just got MacBooks so I'll teach them a few neat Mac tricks. ;-)
I'm still worried about Barbara's health. She doesn't eat. But she's been avoiding me for the last month or so. We exchange greetings at the school, but that's about it. If I drop by her place, she's just never there, so I haven't had a decent conversation with her in a loooooong time. Oh! Well... If she really doesn't want to talk to me, that's her choice. She's old enough to make her own decisions.
Some kids give me a hard time. I'll have to be tougher on them. When the kids don't listen, we waste a lot of time and we cannot finish the lesson. In general, I don't like dealing with discipline. I'd rather get kids to enjoy English and to work hard because they enjoy it, but it's not always possible. I'm a decent teacher, but I need to kick myself in the a** to keep improving. Decent is just not good enough.
Feel free to e-mail me or to write comments here. I'll start updating more frequently.
Our school has a new teacher. Her name is Tamar. She's from L.A., California. I think she's pretty cool. Her friend Pooya - not sure if I get the spelling right - works at the Haeunday branch in another part of town. It's about a twenty minutes subway ride, so it's not too bad. They both just got MacBooks so I'll teach them a few neat Mac tricks. ;-)
I'm still worried about Barbara's health. She doesn't eat. But she's been avoiding me for the last month or so. We exchange greetings at the school, but that's about it. If I drop by her place, she's just never there, so I haven't had a decent conversation with her in a loooooong time. Oh! Well... If she really doesn't want to talk to me, that's her choice. She's old enough to make her own decisions.
Some kids give me a hard time. I'll have to be tougher on them. When the kids don't listen, we waste a lot of time and we cannot finish the lesson. In general, I don't like dealing with discipline. I'd rather get kids to enjoy English and to work hard because they enjoy it, but it's not always possible. I'm a decent teacher, but I need to kick myself in the a** to keep improving. Decent is just not good enough.
Feel free to e-mail me or to write comments here. I'll start updating more frequently.
Virtual Desktops and Virtualized Operating Systems
I've been playing with my new computer for some time now and I got a few things working properly. Last week I got Parallels Desktop, a virtualization programme that allows me to run different operating systems in "virtual machines" on my Mac. I've installed Windows XP Pro and Ubuntu (which is a Linux distribution). Windows works at my screen's full resolution (1920x1200), but I haven't managed to get Ubuntu to work at anything better than 1024x768. Hopefully, Parallels will soon provide an easy way of getting all the drivers working properly as they did for Windows. Anyways, it's cool to have a computer that can run Ubuntu, OS X and Windows all at once at a pretty reasonable speed. Parallels assigns a different IP address to each virtual machine so I can use the internet normally on all three machines simultaneously. Sharing files between operating systems works well too. Between OS X and Windows, Parallels makes it extremely easy to set up shared folders which are exactly that - shared folders. You can just drag and drop files and folders to and from the shared folders as you would for any other folder in OS X or Windows XP. Ubuntu recognizes my USB hard drive automatically and the external hard drive can be accessed easily from OS X and Ubuntu simultaneously, so sharing files is, once again, really easy. I haven't tried sharing files directly between Ubuntu and OSX, but as a work-around, I could simply drag a file to my USB hard drive and then to the shared OSX-Windows folder. I am pretty sure it is possible to set up a network connection between the Windows XP and Ubuntu using the IP addresses, but I am not a networking expert so I'll just use the work-around for now.
Using Virtue Desktop, I have set up virtual desktops on OS X. With Parallels, this allows me to run Windows XP in full screen and switch in and out of XP with the mouse or a keyboard shortcut. The same is true of Ubuntu (although it does not run at 1920x1200) or any video I am watching. For example, I do not need to leave full-screen viewing to take a look at my torrent downloads. I can just pause the video and use the keyboard shortcut to take a quick look at my main desktop. Any programme that can use a lot of screen space can be given its own virtual desktop if you want, so you can keep each desktop uncluttered.
Using Virtue Desktop, I have set up virtual desktops on OS X. With Parallels, this allows me to run Windows XP in full screen and switch in and out of XP with the mouse or a keyboard shortcut. The same is true of Ubuntu (although it does not run at 1920x1200) or any video I am watching. For example, I do not need to leave full-screen viewing to take a look at my torrent downloads. I can just pause the video and use the keyboard shortcut to take a quick look at my main desktop. Any programme that can use a lot of screen space can be given its own virtual desktop if you want, so you can keep each desktop uncluttered.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
