December 2007 Archives

I found some error in the event log on one of my Windows XP computer.

It said something like
NetBEUI service is not start

After doing some searchs I got the official way to install it to remove this error.

I don't know how it is happened. The installation is old, for more than one year. But I just changed some parts of this computer, including mother board, CPU, Case, Audio Card, and memory.

So firstly, I remove the NetBEUI protocol from the list of protocols in the adapter properties.

Restart computer.

Follow the official way to install the NetBEUI protocol.

Restart again.

The error gone.

There are some software can check the computer to find any hardware driver outdated in the market.
It is not free. Most of these software will charge you $30 or more.

I did find a web site can do it online, and to check the updates is free.

Dirver Agent

When click Scan Now button, it start to scan your computer. The scan results shown as below.

The red cross means the driver is outdated. The disk shown after it, means you can download the update one. But to download the driver from this site is not free. The annual membership fee is US$29.95.

My practice is use this free tool to scan the computer. If find any old driver, I just go to the official site of the hardware. Find the latest one and download it. Install it manually.

Scan the computer again when finishing all updates.

Movabletype 4.01 has the internal upload facility, which can upload images to the assets manager.

My blog is always runing well on my Windows 2003, until I moved it to the Linux server.
The photo is not displayed on the sidebar. Only the file name is shown there.

After researching over 2 hours, I found the problem is the path.
Windows uses "\" as the path symbol. Linux uses "/" as the path symbol.

The path saved in the database is something like, "\images\photo-1.jpg"
It can not be displayed correctly in Linux server. Movabletype has not have the tool to change the path. I have to use PhpMyAdmin to change the path manually. It is saved in mt_asset table. Change the asset_file_path and asset_url to match Linux rule.

Then the photo widget shown properly and the page of manage assets can display image asset and preview popup can shown the correct image.

It is not the end. I have to check all my blog use the thumb image, which has some URL use the old Windows path. Manually change them again.

After these changes, all images use the MT4.01's inclusive asset manager can be displayed perfectly.

Please be reminded thant when you move your MT blog from Windows to Linux. And also I think if the MT blog moves from Linux to Windows has same problems.

The default PHP of DreamHost is not support Zip extension.

To let it support Zip. You need following steps.
1) Have your own customized PHP compile, which I posted before.

2) Then need to installing PECL Zip
Followed the guide on wiki.

The only difference I did, is to move zip.so file from
/home/username/php5/lib/php/extensions
to
/home/username/Domainname/cgi-bin/

Because I use cgi-bin as the extension folder.

Installation Difficult Rank: Easy
Time spend: 15 mins.

After install PECL zip extension, I can use PHP to create, modify, and read zip-format files.

Get the news from Sixapart. MovableType 4.1 Commercial Beta 1 is ready to download.

Please be noted that this is not the MTOS version. It is a commercial version, paid version.
There are tons of new features in MT4.1, including performance enhancements to make things run faster, improvements to the UI, user avatars, asset editing, even smarter templates, and much more.

Here is the list of Changes of v4.1

I do expect these new features from the list above.
1) Template Sets - developers can register template sets through the plugin API, and users can select and apply template sets to new and/or existing blogs.
Then I can make my own templates and save it as a template package. Easy to share.

2) Assets are now editable - the edit screen has been augmented as well with a lot of meta data about the asset including the display of the posts it is included within
Yes, Assets are new in MT4. I did move one blog from one server to the other. And everything is fine except the assets. The thumb image information is lost.

3) A bunch of new MT tags implemented. It is good for template designer.

4) Global Template Modules
When managing a BSP with MovableType, it is very helpful.

5) Userpic autodiscovery is performed during OpenID authentication

I don't know when the official 4.1 will be released. Just waiting. If I have time, I may try this beta version on some test platform.

When I move MT installation to Dreamhost, I tried to change template to meet the changes on server.
The 503 Error, Service Temporarily Unavailable comes every time I want to save MovableType Template.

I have to go to PhpMyAdmin to change the data from the database directly.

After doing a lot of Search, I found it is happen, because I use the extra-security. It is a default setting of DreamHost.

To solve this 503 error, just go to the domain and click edit, uncheck the extra-security, save it.

Then no 503 error any more when I change the MovableType template.

During last week, you may find my Blog is unavailable sometime. This blog was hosted at a home server for 3 years. Because of the dynamic IP address changing from time to time by Shaw, my ISP, I would plan to move it to a hosting company. My plan was in 2008.

Last Monday morning, I found the IP address changed again. So I decided to change my plan and do it now.

So I moved almost all sites running on this home server to DreamHost.. it took me about 4 days to finish it.

The services involved including: DNS server, Web Server, FTP server, Email server.
I do it very carefully. Move the site one by one.

Now this post you see now, is runing on the Dreamhost.

Based on the article of Time magazine, Canadian edition, who's home.

In US, large families are vanishing: only 10% of U.S. households have five or more people. In 1970, 21% did.

One third of households have just two people( that includes older couples whose children are grown.)

More than 37 milliion Americans are older than 65. Among those 65 to 74, 1 in 4 is still working.

In the household which is married couples with children. 64% are both parents work, 30% are husban works only, 4% are wife works only.

In the household which is single parents, say single mother, 62% working, 15% not working. For single father, 21% working, 2% not working.

Let's see more data.
There are 24.2 milliion households which are married couples with children under 18.
8 million - unmarried, no children.
31.4 millioin - married couples, no children at home.
11 million - unmarried, with children under 18.
37 million - nonfamily households, a person living alone, unrelated people living together or people in group settings.

These Deductions are only work on the Blogger, like you or me.

Don’t get caught leaving money on the table. Here’s a list of potential deductions that you might have overlooked. Consider:

1. Monthly Hosting Fees or Annual Hosting Plan.
2. Annual Domain Costs, say $8 each per year
3. Design/Logo Fees
4. Internet access fees - this clearly includes DSL, Cable or dial-up, but don’t forget charges that you might pay away from your home or office such as wi-fi charges in Internet cafes
5. Paid blogging platform charges (such as Typepad monthly charges or “add ons” through WordPress)
6. Cell phone usage
7. Long distance usage related to your blog - remember that the IRS will not allow you to deduct the cost of your primary land line but you may deduct long distance charges
8. Second phone line for business or fax
9. Design or word processing software - this includes Photoshop, Illustrator, Word and similar programs for business use
10. Computers
11. Keyboards, mice and other periphery
12. Web cameras
13. Digital cameras - and memory cards
14. Film processing for traditional cameras
15. Costs paid to use or reproduce images
16. Downloaded music or other audio
17. Blackberry, Treo, iPhone charges
18. Business cards
19. Headshots for web site or promotional materials
20. Letterhead - remember that printed materials not be professionally printed to be deductible!
21. Promotional stickers and items - Frisbees, magnets, etc.
22. Web advertising - text and banner ads including AdWords,

23. SEO services,
24. Paid site submissions
25. Prizes for giveaways and contests
26. Postage - it’s impossible to keep track of every single stamp that you use in your business, so buy a sheet or two and keep them in a folder just for business use
27. Post box fees - I recommend this if you’re working from home, it looks professional, it’s inexpensive and it keeps sales people from showing up on your doorstep late at night
28. Transportation - this includes mileage for car transportation, train and bus fare for public transit, cab fare, airline tickets, so keep a good transportation log is better way.
29. Dining while away on business
30. Hotel charges for overnight conventions and business travel
31. Entertainment for clients
32. Professional advice (from lawyers, accountants and tax preparers)
33. Tax software, like Quicken Tax
34. Accounting software
35. Copy paper, memo pads, photo paper
36. Office supplies - pens, folders and post-its can add up!
37. Books, magazines and subscriptions
38. Professional affiliation and membership dues
39. Professional informational sites (like imdbPro)
40. Paid research sites (like LEXIS/NEXIS)
41. Trademark fees and related costs
42. Conference fees - such as for BlogHer and BlogExpo
43. Promotional sponsorships - golf holes at tournaments, that sort of thing
44. Charitable donations - limited to the cost of the production, not the FMV of the final product (in other words, if you blog about quilts and you donate a quilt, your deduction is limited to the cost of the quilt materials, not the FMV of the quilt)
45. Backup tapes
46. Zip drives

It is not easy to track every each item above. I always recommend that you can make a clear list and prepare some record paper to log each one by your pencil.

(The list are based on the 46 Tax Deductions that Bloggers Often Overlook)