Wesley's Tool-Box

Here's a minor annoyance that didn't affect the DVD creation process but still merits a mention. If you look at the 'Status' of the DVD being created, the maximum DVD capacity will show up as 8.0GB for double-layer project and 4.0GB for single-layer project.



The unit 'GB' is calculated under 'kilo is 1000', which is used by the storage device manufacturers, not 'kilo is 1024', which the operating system generally uses. Now, the unit itself isn't really a problem since as long as I know exactly how much I'll be using, I'm fine with that. The annoyance arises from the fact that under this unit, a double-layer DVD holds 8.5GB and a single-layer DVD holes 4.7GB. This means that iDVD does not let me choose to add 500 or 700MB worth of more video onto the disc even though the space is available. That's a sad waste of space. The extra space could have been used to either put more footage, or if 4-hour (or 2-hour for single-layer) limit must be kept, used to increase bitrate and thus quality of video.

Mac mini, as with any Macs you buy today, comes with great tools for creating and watching DVDs out of the box. You would edit the video on iMovie HD, then use iDVD to prepare the menus and burn the actual DVD. Later, the DVD can be watched using an application appropriately named 'DVD Player'. But I hit a couple of annoying snags while creating an extremely long DVD.

This is a long overdue story. It began exactly 7 months ago, on January 11, 2005.

At Macworld Expo San Francisco, Steve Jobs announced a small form factor Macintosh computer called 'Mac mini'. Right up to that point, I had almost no interest at all in using a Mac. Why, my AthlonXP desktop computer was working fine. I had no need to use a largely incompatible and expensive computer that wasn't even small. But the moment I saw that Mac mini, I was absolutely shocked. A supposedly decent performing computer that has a mainboard that probably measures only about 15cm on each side, and fully operational unit costing as low as $499.

Interestingly, I already owned a computer smaller than this: Sony VAIO VGN-U50, an ultraportable notebook computer the size of a normal 3.5" hard disk. Hadn't I already filled the 'own a tiny computer' need? Apparently not. I saw the potential for replacing my desktop computer in Mac mini. VGN-U50 would still be the 'second unit', a portable device I would continuously carry around with to fill my needs. I needed something small that can be kept sitting around the house. Mac mini was it, I envisioned.

A little hiccup this morning... I was updating some of the server components. To make sure I don't mess up anything next time I do this, I'll write down the procedures.

1. phpBB

Straightforward, actually. Go to phpBB downloads section, and get the latest 'Changed Files Only' version. Decompressing it will give you a bunch of 'version x to version y' zip files, with common files on their own.

[Related to: Use Mac as a Web Server]

Your Mac, which is also the webserver, is behind a router. You enter your website's domain name on your web browser. You cannot connect. You can still connect via your internal IP address, so the webserver is not down. What gives? Here's what might be happening.

[Related to: Use Mac as a Web Server]

Two issues may come up after installing s9y on the Mac.

1. Quicksearch Error

Attempt a search on the Quicksearch box and you may get this:

The search function did not work as expected. Notice for the administrator of this blog: This may happen because of missing index keys in your database. On MySQL systems your database user account needs to be privileged to execute this query:

CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX entry_idx on serendipity_entries (title,body,extended)

The specific error returned by the database was...

That's because the query was not run and the 'Fulltext Index' is not available. Time to pay Terminal a visit.

[Related to: Use Mac as a Web Server]

After setting up a domain name for your website, you might want to change the domain name setting for phpBB and s9y so you can administer them from anywhere.

phpBB

Login to phpBB and click Go to Administration Panel. Re-authenticate and you'll be at the admin page. Click Configuration under General Admin. The first setting should read Domain Name. Enter your domain name here instead of 127.0.0.1 or whatever IP address it had before. Scroll down and press Submit to complete.

s9y

Login via Blog Administration. On the admin page, click Configuration under Administration. Open up Path and find URL to blog. Enter http://domain_name/serendipity/ where domain_name is your domain name and serendipity is the folder where your s9y files are in.