June 2007 Archives

Now I want to upgrade Dreamer's blog to WordPress 2.2.1 from 2.2.0.
This blog is hosted on Dreamhost.

I'd like to keep the record of upgrade.

1) Backup your database.
Dreamhost backup the MySQL database every day. So if you have no post in the past 24 hours, you don't need to do a manual backup through PHPmyAdmin.

2) Backup ALL your WordPress files in your WordPress directory.
Just ssh to the server, and run the command to backup all files.

tar -cvzf dreamer-2.2.0 dreamer.g2soft.net

3) Deactivate ALL your Plugins.
I sign in as administrator, and deactivate all plugins.

4) Download and extract the WordPress package from http://wordpress.org/download/.
Download the 2.2.1 package, I downloaded zip file and uncompressed it.

5) Upload all filles to the Server

6) Run upgrade.
http://www.mydomain.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php
There is no database update needed.

7) Activate the Plugins I used before.

Done.

It is a bug fix release for the 2.2 series. Just released this morning.
There is a long list of bugs fixed.

Some highlights are shown below:
# Atom feed validation fixes
# XML-RPC fixes
# Widget backward compatibility fixes
# Widget layout fixes for IE7
# Page and Text Widget improvements

And WordPress 2.2.1 is not just a bug fix release. It improve the security protect with following items.
* Remote shell injection in PHPMailer
* Remote SQL injection in XML-RPC Discovered by Alexander Concha.
* Unescaped attribute in default theme

The Upgrade steps are same as before. And I may make another post about it.

Just found the post, Beta 3 is out (and there was much rejoicing), on Official Blog.

I will hurry to upgrade my MT 4 Unofficial Blog from Beta 2 to Beta 3.

Based on the Official Blog, three new features are added on it.

* New welcome message for new users - to help new users get started more quickly and more easily then ever before
* A fully customizable dashboard - add and remove widgets that are most useful to you, and developers, build your own widgets to share with friends and the community
* Fully integrated Style Catcher support - easily change the look and feel of you blog (don't worry, we will have a lot more new and modern themes for MT before we release!

It is spring going to summer. Do you finish your home spring cleaning?
Right here you will find the tools you need.

To clean your heater is much more work to do. I have some vent free heaters to you. Look at it

Remember, it is a Natural Gas Vent-Free Gas Wall Heater.
It has three heater setting. For your 600 sqft room, it is enough.

Easy to install without vent. But it works with natural gas only.
The total operating cost is lower. Only about pennies an hour.

Another issue I want to say is that it is very clean, no odor gas heater.

Sixapart released MovableType Beta 2.

I updated MovableType 4 Beta Unofficial Blog. It is very easy. Just copy the files and overwrite the beta 1 files.

The mt-upgrade.cgi is not needed.

It fixed some issues. Look at the change logs of beta 2.

Sometimes I need a program to read a document, or help to tell me the pronouncation of an English word. If you read my post often, you must know English is not my comfort zone.

There are lots of Text to Speech softwares. Today I want to introduce a free software.

NaturalReader Free Version.

Yes, NaturalReader has three versions. Including free version, Professional Basic Pack at $39.5, and Enterprise Value Pack at $99.5.

For the home user, NaturalReader Free version is enough.

Here are full Common Functions:

Read Text files
o Text files
o MS Word files
o MS Internet Explorer webpages
o Adobe PDF files
o Emails

Read settings/adjustments
o Speed
o Voice (male/female)
o Quality
o Volume

The problem is the default Free version has only Microsoft Mary voice. No actually natural voice included. It read text like a Robot.

The solution is go to Internet and find the natural Voice Package.
I use a P2P tool, Emule, to search "Text to Speech" and get a lot of results.
Say, Text-To-Speech.English.Paul.rar
or
NeoSpeech.Text-To-Speech.16K.Kate.rar

They all have good voice.
After install these two voice packages, NaturalReader can easily recognize them.

I like NaturalReader's following functions:
1) Read regular text file in it.
2) Read the select text in Firefox or IE.
3) Convert text to MP3 directly.

The special report on eWeek, Vol. 24, No.19.
Let me post part of the list of these channel product for you and me. Just for reference.

Collabration Software: Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

Databases: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition

Desktop PCs: HP Compaq dc7700 Business PC

Disaster recovery/backup: Symantec Backup Exec 11

Disk storage: HP StorageWorks All-in-one storage system

Displays: ViewSonic VG2230wm Widescreen Graphic Series LCD Display

ERP suites: MySAP

Notebooks: Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet

Printers: HP Laser Jet 5200

I tried to delete some blog in Beta1 of MovableType. I got the error message as below:

I think it is a bug of this beta version. I would like to report it.

Updated:
I went to the Know issue of MT4, this bug is in the list.

Now I have an MovableType 4 Beta installation at my Dreamhost. OK, I can post more tests or screen shots here to introduce it.

Dashborad of backend.
Look at the screen shot below. The time axis tab can drag to change the time period of reporting comments, entries, and tags in the given period.

The dashboard is not only for one blog, but also for whole system.

There are some risks when you post something online. The following public ads are show you what it is.

When put something online, it will transfer so fast and so wide.

I test the Beta 1 brand new installation at my Dreamhost server. It is very easy to install it.

1) Add new sub-domain in Control panel of Dreamhost;

2) Add MySql database which will be needed later;
I add a database named "mt4beta" as below:

3) Login you host through PuTTY;
Use the PuTTY to login the server through SSH.

4) Get the file from web.

cd mt4.g2soft.net
wget http://sippey.typepad.com/mtbeta1/MT4-beta1-20070605.tar.gz

5) Decompress the package.

6) Rename it to folder, mtcgi

mv MT4-beta1-20070605 mtcgi

7) In your own internet browser, enter http://mt4.g2soft.net/mtcgi/mt-wizard.cgi

Click "Begin" button to start installation Wizard.

After pass requirement check, click "continure".

Chose MySQL database type, and fill in the database information from step 2. And click "Test Connection".

Sixapart is developing the next MT, MovableType 4.

Compared with Wordpress, another famous Blog platform, MT goes behind.

Now it try to go ahead. It put some new features:
* A completely reinvented user interface with a dashboard overview of how all of your blogs are doing
* Support for publishing standalone pages and managing file assets and images right within MT
* Brand-new community features like OpenID, and a built-in user registration system
* A completely redesigned component architecture that makes MT faster and more scalable than ever before
* And it’s going to be available in a completely open source version with its home at a completely relaunched community site that revives an old, beloved URL: movabletype.org.

The bold text above is what I think I am waiting for.

Standalone Page
Media file or uploaded file management
OpenID integrated
Open Source

That's why I like it and keep to use it from my first Blog post.

My open-source software site, G2Soft.Net is re-designed. It is based on the HTML and CSS standards.

I removed the table layout and used DIV and CSS for the main layout.
The standard is much important thing we need to follow.

I do like my new design. I don't change the Home page. The home page is already a DIV/CSS design. I changed alll other pages in G2Soft.Net. Including the core product page, Pentacle InOut Board.

The new layout has Header, Footer, Main and some small DIV for ads.

It took me about 4 hours to rebuild it, but it worth.