There is a lot of hardware out there. In my development team we have 3 operating systems, each with unique drives, hardware, specs and even locales. This can prove to be quite a challenge, especially since we want to reach as wide of an audience as possible. It has been a good thing though. By using multiple systems, we have found bugs now easily, and I feel like we have higher quality code. It also ensures that we follow real standards.

So in short, have a wide variety of systems to test on and you may find, just like I do, that your code quality improves.

Generally I post things related to tech, this is just general geekery. My son typically doesn’t like costumes, but his enjoyment of Star Trek was strong enough for this. Marnee made this for him and I think she did a wonderful job, as does Alex. Hopefully he will actually wear it for more than 5 minutes.

• Launched a very basic lunk.it site, soon to be heavily updated and actually made marketable.
• Worked with the great folks at Trek Global to fix a lot of bugs with an ERP implementation. (If you don’t know what ERP is, give me a call, it’s good stuff.)
• Taught myself Lua, and made excellent progress on 400X, a game about one nanobot’s struggle to keep a human infection free.  We aim to have preorders opening up on Nov 9, so spread the word.

Now that I’ve gotten my feet underneath me again, I figured I should post the update there.  As I make headway in these (and other projects) I’ll post it here.  Oh, I also have a new phone number, so if you are trying to get a hold of me, shoot me an email and I’ll give you my new number.

Add the new save handler:
php_session_save_handler: memcache

Give it the proper path:
php_session_save_path: tcp://tunnel.pagodabox.com:11211

Make sure that you have the memcache extension added to your Boxfile, and that you have a memcache component.  Now you have sessions that are fast and they are in a session store that shouldn’t be a bottleneck anytime soon.  Keep in mind that memcache is volatile, so this may not be the best idea for you.  This should be adaptable to redis, which is less volatile, but I’ve never tried it.

There is a vast difference between someone that feels that they know something because of a degree and someone that feels confidence because they have been required to truely learn something. I am not saying that a degree is without value. Formal education is important, but it is only the first step of many. Bloom’s Taxonomy for learning shows that simply knowing something does not mean that we can use that knowledge. Experience allows one to have a profound understanding of any particular topic.

We taught Justin (who has kindly been helping us as acting as our non-technical tester) how to properly file a bug report and he went to town on it. After a few days of testing he came up with over 25 usability issues that would cause problems with any new or non-technical user.

A lot of these problems have been related to poor working, orthers were simply poor placement of buttons. We are still making our way through the list, but this has already vastly improved the usability of the timeclock software.

So why am I blogging about this? Two reasons. First, we can always use more people testing. Second, if open source is to succeed beyond the technical audience, it needs to focus on the end user. That means we need to be going directly to the end users and learn what they like, dislike, and would want changed. Too many open source projects are nearing technical perfection but will never see the user base that they should because end users don’t see how good it is. With so many volunteer man hours being expended, we the community, should make it our responsibility to see to it that they are properly tested for usability. We the developers need to put aside our pride and make sure that each and every reported bug is resolved, even ones that are just for usability and that we feel have easy workarounds. Only then can we achieve the polish needed to reach everyone.

I guess my point is that we need to be seeking all bugs, not just ones that are technical. This includes small annoyances with software, not just showstopping bugs.

I installed Avant Window Navigator using the software center and fired it up. It didn’t take long before it was installed and ready to run. After I used it for a short while, I decided I would go all out and start using it. I removed the panels (using gconf) and have been quite happy since. There are a few things I have learned though.

First… For some reason, my super key combinations (those using the windows key) don’t work anymore. I changed the shortcuts and they work. If anyone knows why, please let me know.

Second… You will want to install gnome-do. The menu applet that is available for AWN has a “Launch” feature that requires it.

Third… Install the extra plugins, they are well worth it. It really lets you add some nifty extras like a Pandora applet.

In short, I have tried many docks, but none has had the appeal to me that AWN has had. I have been using it for a few weeks and have had no issues at all. If you are a dock person, or have some time to test out a dock, I would strongly suggest giving it a shot.