Category: Code

New Code blog

Collie.codes is the new blog for Projects I am working on.

I have been keeping this on the back-burner for a while now, but I have finally gone live with a blog to keep people up to date with all of the projects which I am currently working on and all of the projects I have finished. In addition I made a Scrum board for my self, which works for each project listed on the website .

Which is very handy for keeping up to date with projects and seeing what needs to be done at a moments notice, I took inspiration from the TV show Silicon Valley, for the layout of this particular scrum board. It also in the backend as the ability to add keys to highlight particular tasks. EG Networking related things might be Green, but I didn’t end up adding to the final build since I am the only one using it so the tasks are pretty clear to me what are they fall under.

Code Misc Personal projects

Dev-ops on an iPad

The surprising power of an iPad

Recently I have been testing my skills/patience by trying to make and develop websites using an iPad (Pro 10.5 with smart Keyboard).

SSH

SSH initially seemed like a big hurdle since many web based SSH Clients are Java based Applets. However using an IOS app called Coda which comes with a SFTP/FTP client and SSH this was no longer and problem, however there are is probably a limitation with the usage of PEM, however I have limited usage with PEM, so your mileage may vary.

MYSQL

This is probably the weakest part of the whole experience, there are many apps however which can help with database management, in addition using phpMyAdmin might be the easiest and cheapest for most people.

Web development

A major problem which I found is that the iPad cannot run any server-side code (php, Ruby, Node.JS). So It was limited to just HTML and JS. However the workaround is to use a VPS, to use as a development server, and run and modify the code remotely, this is not ideal however at a pinch it is a viable alternative, especially if you create a disk image of a pre configured server, then all you have to do is start a VPS with the disk image and transfer the file you need to work on.

In iPad review

Though it is possible to deploy and run websites just from an iPad, it can be very frustrating especially when moving files around, however IOS 11 has helped the file experience on iOS. The experience is still sub par compared to a desktop. However it is nice to know it is possible, however I would only consider doing this with either an external keyboard or a smart keyboard since using the onscreen keyboard seriously limits usable space.

Tags Code, ipad, vps

Code

My New/Old Keyboard

IBM Model M

I am a big fan of mechanical Keyboards, having used and owned one since 2013 (yea not that long). However I have decided to upgrade my keyboard to the legendary IBM Model M, heralded due to its Buckling spring design.

The IBM model M is like nothing I have ever used before. It has an unparalleled tactility and provides a physical and audible clunk each time a key is pressed creating one smooth and fast typing experience. The Cherry MX switches which I’ve used before provided an ok feeling and noise, however the underlying plastic below the keys lead to inferior sound quality when compared to the Model M.

When I Initially purchased my IBM model M I realise that I’d accidentally purchased a terminal edition keyboard, meaning it had a different layout and a different connector, using a rj45 better known as ethernet port. However it wasn’t a traditional ethernet port, requiring a special converter so I had to order a part from America to make it work. But I’m so glad I did.

It has led to an increase in my typing speed and overall is a much smoother typing experience. If you do a lot of typing like I do it’s probably worth getting a mechanical keyboard. Many people including me speculate that the spring nature found in mechanical keyboards leads to an increase in typing speed and accuracy because your fingers build better muscle memory between keys and can be brought back up faster with physical and audible feedback. Whereas in a rubber dome key switch the key needs to be bottomed out to create a contact, leading to an increase in the time between keys pressed. Thus in a mechanical keyboard it only needs to be pressed around halfway for the key to make contact and the machine to register the key pressed, leading to increasing speed of typing.

A demonstration of me typing jargon into the keyboard

https://youtu.be/hXl1a4RK_hA

Tags ibm, m, model, model m

Code Personal projects

Why I moved my hosting from shared to VPS?

Post author By Admin
Post date February 15, 2017

My situation

I was a tenant on a larger server. I was suffering a lot of outages which for my US readers was an issue. In addition the package I was on, limited my access to the server, so I could not add php code(Server side programming language) which limited the usability of the domain.

The VPS hosting provider

I had a few choices before I made the move do I do a windows environment, or Linux. I was on a windows provider and I did not see a reason to justify the cost of windows server license. Also I did not really see any benefits vs Ubuntu server LTS(which is what I am using now). The VPS host, I had used both Linode and DigitalOcean before I was more impressed by both. I chose DigitalOcean since I preferred its choice in servers, and configurations. Both offer SSD servers at reasonable prices. They can also allow me to easily add more servers if I need them in the future.

Worth it?

Hell yes!, I have full control over the server, so if I want to turn one into a game server at any time I can. I can easily run all the applications I want(Email murmur). It makes me much more flexible.

Is it for you?

Hard to say. If you are familiar with Linux and servers then probably, if not you will get very confused since the learning curve for server is sharp. I would recommend getting a raspberry pi loading Ubuntu server and seeing if you can run WordPress on it before you start paying for a VPS. In addition hold onto the old hosting provider for emails since setting up emails on a server can be a massive issue. Since there are many pitfalls like ip blocking which you can run into.

In the end it all down to personal preference.

Tags Linux, vps, why, Windows

Code Help Personal projects

Common mistakes and solutions when setting up WordPress

Post author By Admin
Post date February 15, 2017

The move from, shared hosting to personal VPS and the issues associated.

I moved the blog.alexcollie.com over to a personal VPS, which allowed for a greater deal of customisation.

However I was plagued with issues. Like the php code not being able to modify the WordPress files. All of these challenges are simply solved, but do take a lot of googling.

Common mistakes I made

This error with trying to connect Jetpack

jetpack Please contact your hosting provider to enable PHP’s XML extension.

It seemed like no one else had suffered the same issue.

The solution was really easy just do.(php 7 code)

apt install php-xml

or depending on apt version

apt-get install php-xml

Every time you try and install a or plugin or upload an image or post it said

To perform the requested action, WordPress needs to access your web server. Please enter your FTP credentials to proceed. If you do not remember your credentials, you should contact your web host.

This was a permissions issue were the php code did not have the rights to modify any of the files. Again it a really easy fix

chown -Rf www-data.www-data /var/www/html/

Just change ‘html’ to where the WordPress file is located.

I can think this page for this solution

When I tried to crop img inside WordPress it could run into errors.

sudo apt-get install php-gd

sudo apt install php-gd

This adds a library which allows php to crop images.

Despite all of these errors. Linux/GNU is amazing.

Tags contact, enable, Errors, extension, FTP, Help, hosting, jetpack, jetpack Please contact your hosting provider to enable PHP's XML extension, Lunix, php, PHP's, Please, provider, to, Wordpress, xml, your