ProTip: Change DNS without downtime
A few times I’ve found that I need to move a site to another server without any downtime but every time, DNS rears its ugly head and ruins my day.
Oli's Blog
Father of three, seasoned web developer (Django, Vue, Astro, etc), Ubuntu Member, photographer and woodworker. This is my blog, covering a raft of topics, mostly technical.
Nano: Open a file at a specific position
Nano isn’t the best editor but it does a fairly good job at staying out the way and letting you edit or view things without needing a cheat-sheet of cryptic keyboard shortcuts. However, what do you do when you have a 50,000 line document and you want to get a specific line somewhere near the middle?
It took three drafts, five rewrites and over six months but here it is: My N900 review
After almost a year of playing with Nokia’s former flagship phone, I’ve more than a couple of things to say about the device, if I’d recommend it and why I’ll not buy another Nokia phone in a while.
Doing cool things in Django’s Admin
As somebody who proudly considers themselves a Djangophile, I’m always looking to make one of the biggest aspects of Django (the Admin site) just that little bit better.
Why I love Disqus
Once upon a time if I wanted comments on a website, I would do them myself, tediously tackling problems solved a dozen times before to deliver an intuitive system. But today is a new day and I wouldn’t dream of writing comment code unless I really had to.
Why I can’t recommend VPS.net
I’d love to say VPS.net were a hip, awesome and competent company. I’d love to recommend them. I’d love to give you an affiliate link, sit on a beach and get rich… But I can’t. One quick look past their glitzy website and stunning feature array and you’ll see VPS.net are not the industry-leaders they aspire to be.
The Linux “1% myth” is pretty accurate
Linux market share is an oft-debated topic. Some people release statistics, others shoot them down. But are they incorrect? Is desktop Linux still at 1% share?
Scraping websites with Python
How to extract data from sites without an API with just a few lines of Python and no regular expressions.
The BBC needs to learn how to Google
Somebody at the BBC has no idea about their gaming history. Worse still, they seem completely unable to do any proper research on the game in question.
Ubuntu 10.04 is good, not perfect
Recently released, Ubuntu Lucid Lynx makes a lot of core improvements but in my eyes, falls further back in some aspects. This isn’t another review, it’s a list of what-and-why I hate parts of my favourite operating system along with some suggestions on how to make 10.10 better for everybody.
Dear ALSA, renew your domain!
Linux isn’t invulnerable. Don’t say it is.
Every month or so, I find some blog or forum post telling the world that because Linux is so hardcore, there’s very little chance of it getting any malware. As you can probably tell from the title, I disagree and want these people to recognise why their arrogance is dangerous.
Everything is new again
It’s been 19 months since my last regular post here. I have a few excuses but I’ve come to realise that I really enjoyed writing… so I’m back. This post is a quick catch-up on what’s been happening with the site and me, and what you can expect from both of us in the future.
Debranding and Unlocking a Samsung M8800 Pixon
Locked, branded phones are a complete pain in the behind. Period. They shouldn’t sell them but they do. Luckily for you, me and everybody else, you can usually step around these issues. Here’s how I unlocked and debranded a fairly new Orange-locked Samsung Pixon
Facebook worm
Facebook isn’t all bad but here’s a message that just got sent to my wall for me and all my friends to download. If they’re not careful, Facebook could be going the way of email.
My issues with Linux et al
Like a warm ocean current, the tides of contempt are slowly eroding my enjoyment of Ubuntu. I’ve been using it full time for eleven months now but I feel I have to write down my grievances before I find myself jumping ship.
Product placement gone wild
Films and TV need money to cover their extravagant budgets but is product placement the right way to cover those funds?
So you’re thinking of writing a comment…
Then please read this before you do. English is a seriously complex language, something too many of us take for granted. While modern browsers can help us with our spelling, they do little for grammar. Read this post to boost your grammatical karma and avoid my wrath.
Pimp’d my graphics card
There’s something about shiny PC hardware I can’t resist. In my opinion, the shinier and harder to install it is, the better. Today saw the arrival of a Thermalright HR-03 Plus for my 8800GTS.
Does Linux really want Windows users?
Linux is often criticised for its over-enthusiastic community trying to convert everybody and their grandma. Today I saw another post asking why we should care if more people use it. In short: yes but I’ve got plenty of reasons to back this up…