A couple notes for people who may not be quite as up on things as Alex:
Apple Remote Desktop client is pre-installed on all Macs running Tiger. Better still, you can allow VNC access to your computer. What’s VNC? It’s like Apple Remote Desktop’s screen sharing capabilities, but it’s free/open source. Grab a copy of Chicken of the VNC and you’re ready to go! (Also, you can use VNC from Linux and Windows machines, and there’s even some palmtop/smartphone distributions of it!)
PHP 4.3 is already installed on Macs running Tiger. I understand Marc’s version has some more features built in, though.
For an alternative to MySQL, Tiger also comes with SQLite3, which is compatible with many of the same open source apps that rely on MySQL. No need to install anything fancy to get a basic database driven program running! If you do want MySQL, Server Logistics has a nice MySQL package which includes a great control panel for controlling MySQL. (And yes, you can use the control panel from Server Logistics with Marc’s MySQL package if you like.)
And lastly, but not leastly, if you wanna go nuts with open source stuff, download Fink. It’s a package manager program that can install a whole mess of open source programs, ranging from web servers to photoshop clones to whatever. All free.
“And lastly, but not leastly, if you wanna go nuts with open source stuff, download Fink.” For those who don’t know, the “open source stuff” accessible via Fink is confined exclusively to UNIX command shells and the X11 windows environment. You cannot get Quartz/Aqua software in this way.
What does Fink do that’s worthy?
Granted, it allows access to a bucket full of open source applications, most of which are painful to install, have nominal value (even for the user who wants to ‘venture’ into more of what OS X can do). That brings up another issue. Stability.
My list of ‘must haves’ for OS X include: stability, security, durability, dependability, and a host of applications that do a job and get out of the way. Pretty much like OS X itself, and predecessors Mac OS 9/8/7.x. My experience with Fink (and observation of others) says that stability and the app that does the job and gets out of the way are lacking.
I have not found much pleasure in Fink or many of the applications which require Fink to operate. My view of this is that it’s a 1956 Ford or ‘57 Chevy for the 21st century. For guys in the 60s, there were old cars that just needed tinkering with all the time. Something was 1) always broken, 2) about to break and needed ‘fixin’, 3) add this to make it run better, and so on. You get the idea.
Fink and all those OS apps that do such cool things are more for tinkering than desktop use. It’s a struggle to show people how to set up Apache, PHP, and MySQL, let alone venturing into the innards of something they won’t be able to fix themselves.
“And lastly, but not leastly, if you wanna go nuts with open source stuff, download Fink.” For those who don’t know, the “open source stuff” accessible via Fink is confined exclusively to UNIX command shells and the X11 windows environment. You cannot get Quartz/Aqua software in this way.
What does Fink do that’s worthy?
I think Fink makes you appreciate Mac OS X, iLife, the Finder, and all the great Mac applications and utilities, and lets you give thanks that you have been warned not to muck too deeply into your system unless you’re willing to start over. Again and again.
Every install of Fink has eventually hosed my machine. A close friend, a real solid BSD guy, uses Fink regularly. And his machine gets hosed regularly, so Tara’s right. If you love to tinker around and try things out, great. Fink and X-11 will let you do that ad nauseum.
For the rest of us, we just want our Macs to work. Stable. Dependable. Secure.
Fink? OK for some, but not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Alexis’ new Mac mini is replacing an aging dual CPU PowerMac as a web server. Apache. PHP. MySQL. Open Source applications. POP/IMAP/SMTP email. Click Here for details on Alexis’ first time with something so small. You go girl!!
Just noticed that Alexis and Mac360 got bashed by a poster over at MacRumors where someone posted a link to the article on MacBytes.com.
Looks like a little slugfest going on over at MacRumors. Tara, you’re right. They don’t like you over there.
It wasn’t looking good. Then Ms. Patricks wrote to Peyote, “D ouchÀ” and Peyote may have thought she was calling him a feminine hygiene device. I think Ms. Patricks intended to write, “TouchÀ.” Then again, I could be wrong about that.
Looks like a little slugfest going on over at MacRumors. Tara, you’re right. They don’t like you over there.
It wasn’t looking good. Then Ms. Patricks wrote to Peyote, “D ouchÀ” and Peyote may have thought she was calling him a feminine hygiene device. I think Ms. Patricks intended to write, “TouchÀ.” Then again, I could be wrong about that.
Looks like a little slugfest going on over at MacRumors. Tara, you’re right. They don’t like you over there.
It wasn’t looking good. Then Ms. Patricks wrote to Peyote, “D ouchÀ” and Peyote may have thought she was calling him a feminine hygiene device. I think Ms. Patricks intended to write, “TouchÀ.” Then again, I could be wrong about that.
We usually get roasted at MacForums. Some in the crowd there are more than elitist. Like the body odor of a politician in heat, gender bias shows through rather strongly at times in some comments.
Looks like a little slugfest going on over at MacRumors. Tara, you’re right. They don’t like you over there.
It wasn’t looking good. Then Ms. Patricks wrote to Peyote, “D ouchÀ” and Peyote may have thought she was calling him a feminine hygiene device. I think Ms. Patricks intended to write, “TouchÀ.” Then again, I could be wrong about that.
We usually get roasted at MacForums. Some in the crowd there are more than elitist. Like the body odor of a politician in heat, gender bias shows through rather strongly at times in some comments.
It’s surprising, frankly. If I just post in the MacForums, there’s usually no issue. Any articles that get linked from MacBytes (connected to MacForums) get toasted.
(shrug)
There are a lot of so-called ‘techies and bit heads’ there and they don’t appreciate the basics in computer life, even Macs. Maybe.
We usually get roasted at MacForums. Some in the crowd there are more than elitist. Like the body odor of a politician in heat, gender bias shows through rather strongly at times in some comments.
I can’t say I noticed a strong gender bias except for the one fellow who, taking Alexis’ story very favorably, listed “and she’s a woman!” to magnify her accomplishment. While well-meaning, I didn’t care for the bias. I really loved the Mac Mini Server article. I didn’t know what all the programs were for, but obviously Alexis did and she managed to put them together right. She was writing to techie types, not me. But her style of writing made me smile. She writes like she’s SO excited to tell you something! And, as I read, I find myself getting excited, too. Her enthusiasm is infectious. This isn’t the only article that struck me that way. Alexis has done it before. I can’t wait to hear what else she has to tell us.
A large majority of Mac users are graphic designers. We couldn’t care less who is writing the information as long as it is informative. Which it is. Nice job Alexis.
A large majority of Mac users are graphic designers. We couldn’t care less who is writing the information as long as it is informative. Which it is. Nice job Alexis.
That’s probably more like “many” Mac users are graphic designers. Over the past five years, Apple has sold about 10-million Macs. If a majority of the buyers were graphic designers, we’d have 5-million or more graphic designers.
We usually get roasted at MacForums. Some in the crowd there are more than elitist. Like the body odor of a politician in heat, gender bias shows through rather strongly at times in some comments.
I can’t say I noticed a strong gender bias except for the one fellow who, taking Alexis’ story very favorably, listed “and she’s a woman!” to magnify her accomplishment. While well-meaning, I didn’t care for the bias. I really loved the Mac Mini Server article. I didn’t know what all the programs were for, but obviously Alexis did and she managed to put them together right. She was writing to techie types, not me. But her style of writing made me smile. She writes like she’s SO excited to tell you something! And, as I read, I find myself getting excited, too. Her enthusiasm is infectious. This isn’t the only article that struck me that way. Alexis has done it before. I can’t wait to hear what else she has to tell us.
We’re human. We’re social creatures. We’re not genetically engineered so we have bias. Lots of them. Even when we say we don’t care for someone else’s bias, we’re showing a bias.
“I HATE BIGOTS!!” is one that I remember from years past.
I felt bad for Alex taking a roasting on MacForums because she has an enthusiasm that’s contagious, even though she’s just learning what others (elite?) may have known for a few years, and she’s willing to share with those who have yet to know. Those are traits not found much among the digerati elite on some forums. So, some guy comes to her defense and expresses a bit of a bias because of Alexis’ gender. Less was said about the bias of the poster who said, ‘nothing new here… move along’ as if others could not benefit or comment.
