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Portable Ubuntu: working!

Apr 15th, 2008
by Jim Reverend.
7 comments

Thanks to a tip from Bryan, portable Ubuntu is now working for me, though not quite in the same way I envisioned it in the beginning.

I assumed that, in the end, I’d boot a real Linux partition with a real Linux boot loader. However, this is not the case. It seems that my laptop, and apparently many others, favor booting only the USB drives that contain certain partition types. Fat16 is one of them.

Booting the long way ’round (not to be confused with the wrong way ’round)
So instead of actually installing Linux, I ended up making a copy of the Ubuntu Live CD into a 750MB Fat16 partition. Then I used SYSLINUX to make that partition bootable. Then I included some Kernel options to overlay an 8GB ext3 partition on top of it at boot time in order to allow for real changes to be made to the working file system. This gives a two layered approach where the initial boot is done from Fat16, and at some point, the files in the ext3 partition are dropped on top of it and, from that point, all changes are reflected on the ext3 partition only. Then I formatted the remainder of the drive as Fat32 in order to allow it to be used as a data partition for multiple operating systems. And viola!

This has a few disadvantages. First, a 5400 Bus Powered USB drive is already pretty slow. This whole shuffle from one to the other makes it even slower. On my aging laptop I’m looking at about 4 to 5 minutes from power up to usable desktop. However, once booted, performance is as expected.

Secondly, upgrading the kernel is no longer an easy operation. Or, rather, I don’t think it will be. I haven’t actually tried it. Since the initial kernel is held on the Fat16 partition and the working system is held in the overlaid ext3 partition, I’m thinking that upgrading the kernel using standard tools would only upgrade files that couldn’t be reached at boot time. I think that, instead, if I need a kernel upgrade, I’ll have to update the kernel in the Fat16 partition, then update the support files on it and the ext3 partition. Probably a very manual process. Or, possibly, I could just recreate my Fat16 partition with a newer Live CD. I’m not sure. Anyone done this before?

Post Installation
The good news is, it’s working! Everything else is standard Linux massage, with which I’m sorely out of practice.

My Wireless PCMCIA card (Linksys WCP54G) was not immediately available. I had to use ndiswrapper and find a Windows XP driver in order to make it work. Not awesome, but it works. It’s nice that this is even an option.

Despite many people telling me otherwise, Java and Debian/Ubuntu have never been an easy thing for me to manage. The JVM that comes with Ubuntu 7.10 is a 1.5 JVM. For a specific application, I need JVM 1.6 or higher. I’m still struggling on how to upgrade this. I seem to be at the latest version available in the default repositories, but that’s using gij. Maybe I need another Java packaging or possibly another repository? Any advice?

I’m also in need of a photograph manager — tagging, sorting, thumbnails, resizing, etc. I’m hoping for something that will actually update the metadata in the file and that will read Nikon RAW (D300 NEFs). This way I can easily resynchronize in Lightroom to pick up these changes. At least that’s why my fingers are crossed. I’m looking at Google’s Picasa2 as well as GPhoto. Any other recommendations?

All in all, despite the migration pains, slow booting, and the search for new applications to fill in some gaps, I’m pleased with the results. Thanks to those who threw in their $0.02.

Portable Ubuntu – Part 2

Apr 6th, 2008
by Jim Reverend.
7 comments

As mentioned a few days ago, I’m having problems with Portable Ubuntu. This morning, fed up with my perfectionist ways, I decided to jump through the hoops required to do it the no-brainer way, that Justin suggested. I wish I hadn’t.

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are WordPress Stats and Google Analytics broken?

Apr 6th, 2008
by Jim Reverend.
4 comments

Are WordPress Stats and Google Analytics broken? It seems that the stats I get from one service disagree with the other. And both of those services disagree with my raw sever logs.

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quick update

Apr 3rd, 2008
by Jim Reverend.
6 comments

I’m short on time, so you get a quick update.

Celeste was 3 months old over a week ago and I have yet to take her 3 month photos. Bad Daniel. Tonight, maybe. I hope.

From today until Monday we are buuuuuuuusy: Two dinner dates, two lunch dates, a nice little roadtrip with friends, a coffee gathering, a small gathering at our place, church, a crap swap, and a housewarming party — roughly in that order. And, of course, a whole bunch of work stuff too. This is a good thing, though. I like being busy and I like seeing my friends. I’m not complaining at all. Even if my lawn has to go untreated for one more weekend (though, I hope, maybe, I can squeeze it in on Saturday). Holler if you need some plans too.

I finished our taxes! Between a small penalty that I didn’t expect from when Jess quit her job, a whole lot of confusion surrounding the difference between a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA, and a very poor record keeping job on my part last year for business expenses, we’re getting only half of what I expected back. No bueno.

I’m in the process of the great budget redesign of 2008. Yes! It will be so memorable, in fact, that my great-great-great-great-grandchildren will tell stories over an auto-safe-camp-fire with the hum of cooler-outside-air and no-more-bugs in the background telling how the Great Papa Daniel once managed to live like a king, put his family in the lap of luxury, entertain no less than four girlfriends, shower his friends with dinners, parties, and gifts, and do it all while only working 3 hours a day as an unpaid volunteer at an animal shelter. Oh yes. It will be THAT grand.

For the photo-tech people, Lightroom 2.0 beta is out [via Thomas Hawk]. If you own 1.0 you can enjoy the beta until August ’08. If you don’t you can still take a nice 30 day test drive. It’s a little buggy, but it is a beta. I love the new feature set which includes a limited set of localized changes and multiple monitor support. It’s not as awesome as LightZone, but, with the image management parts built in too, it’s hard to pass up.

Send me love today. I’ll need it.

Portable Ubuntu Problems

Apr 1st, 2008
by Jim Reverend.
10 comments

I’ve tried three times now and just can’t seem to figure out how to get a portable USB Hard Drive set up in such a way that my PC will boot Ubuntu from it when it is plugged in. I’m a fairly competent guy when it comes to Linux and technology in general. So the fact that I can’t figure out what the entire Ubuntu eating world seems to understand is driving me nuts!! If you think you can help, read on.

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not a good day

Mar 17th, 2008
by Jim Reverend.
No comments yet

I took today off as well knowing I would want to spend some time with Jess and Celeste to make up for the weekend as well as getting my bags unpacked, all my equipment cleaned, and my images at least mostly processed.  It’s not starting off well.

First, I realized that my mobile blogging method wasn’t working and, what’s worse, that it was leaving HUGE posts filled with gibberish in my journal. I still haven’t figured out why it broke or what it’s trying to do. I think I’m giving up.

I’m also fighting with metadata between the 3 different applications involved with managing my large photograph collection. Lightroom isn’t always updating the XMP on disk, my other applications are expecting that it will, there’s constant conflict between the two, and everything is just not fun.

On top of that, I think my data/backup drive enclosures are screwy. I’m regularly having to unmount them, power cycle the enclosures, and then remount the drives to get them to be responsive. I’ve also seen a few bits of corrupted data here and there. Not good.

Once these problems start to weigh on me, all the problems I’ve already pushed aside start to show their face in my mind again.

I need to get to Wolf and get my long lens repaired. Without it, I don’t have one.

Somehow, another of my commonly used lenses managed to break yesterday as well. The zoom ring no longer functions. Thankfully, I have two prime lenses and a wide angle zoom that I can use in place of this lens, though it isn’t as convenient. I need to contact Sigma/Competitive Camera and see if it’s still under warranty from Sigma and, if so, see if this damage is covered. I can’t think of anything I could have done to it to cause this. It must just be bad luck.

While I really like the backpack I bought for this past weekend, it’s too large and too rigid for my uses as a daypack/travel pack. I end up keeping 80% of my gear attached to the straps and belt of the backpack and the actual pack itself remains mostly empty. Lugging around a huge backpack that’s mostly empty is just silly. It’d be great for a warm weather overnighter, so it might be worth holding on to. I’m just not sure. I might have to go back to REI and see if I can find something else I’d prefer.

Jess and I were supposed to take Celeste for a nice walk by the lake early this morning, but Jess isn’t awake yet and I don’t have the heart to wake her myself. Even if she was awake, I don’t know if I could pull myself from this data nightmare knowing it was left in this very vulnerable state.

I hate it when all these little things just stack up until I feel like I’m going to collapse.

Disqus and OpenID

Mar 13th, 2008
by Jim Reverend.
5 comments

Disqus announced the addition of OpenID support yesterday. YAY!

But they get it all wrong. BOO!

They have implemented OpenID through the use of another site, ClickPass. This is where the problem lies. Instead of implementing OpenID themselves and allowing additional functionality through ClickPass, ClickPass has basically become a required stop in the chain of event required to use OpenID.

With there current system, using OpenID works something like this:

0) Write my comment and then realize I can “login” so then erase my comment (this assumes a user even recognizes that “login” applies to them. Otherwise, OpenID is never even considered)
1) Click “login”
2) Click on hard to see “Open ID” icon that doesn’t even look clickable
3) Fill out URL
4) Press submit
5) read note about Clickpass
6) Press submit again
7) Verify OpenID Identity
8) Tell Disqus I don’t have an account yet
9) Confirm my information
10) Press Submit
11) Write my comment
12) Press Submit

The “OpenID” bit should be automatic based on the “website” or “URL” field. The OpenID logo should be displayed next to it to show that it is enabled there. Having to press “login” is not intuitive since commenters don’t know that they have an account to “login” to. If the URL box is filled in when the user submits the comment, Disqus should then do some magic to see if the URL is OpenID capable, and, if so, log the user in and work whatever magic they want to at that point. The comment should be saved immediately if the URL is not OpenID capable, and should be saved as soon as the OpenID is authenticated if it is OpenID capable. This way, all steps after authentication are optional. With this in place, the new path is:

1) Write my comment
2) Fill out URL field
3) Press submit
4) Verify OpenID Identity
5) OPTIONAL stuff that is not required like Clickpass, Disqus account, picture upload, blah, blah

I hope they fix this soon because, with the way it is now, it may as well not be a feature.

Filtering Thunderbird for Starred Mail

Mar 6th, 2008
by Jim Reverend.
10 comments

This little tip just changed my life… I swear. I’ve been looking FOR-EV-ER for a way to filter my Thunderbird Inbox so that I see only the “starred” messages. Despite my poking and prodding and searching I couldn’t figure out how until today.

When you’re building your filter/custom view/folder criteria, “starred” is not an option in the first drop down (like Flag, Tags, and Junk Status are). Additionally, despite the fact that the mail server knows all about whether a message is “starred” or not, it’s not in the header of the email either

In Thunderbird, Starred is a STATUS!

That’s right, a STATUS. Drop the first box down and select “Status”, drop the second box down and select “is”, then drop the third box down and select “Starred”. That’s it, you’re done.

Zenfolio vs ExposureManager

Feb 26th, 2008
by Jim Reverend.
10 comments

A big part of what makes a website designed to sell a product successful is whether that website stirs up a feeling of trust for the merchant and respect for the product. While ExposureManager is indeed completely customizable , making these custom changes requires heavy knowledge of HTML, CSS, and access to ExposureManager template documentation that isn’t available. So, while the potential is certainly there, the average visitor to an ExposureManager hosted gallery will find mediocre style and a web 1.0 feel. Zenfolio, on the other hand, offers a stunning visual experience, and a large selection of themes and customizations to let each user choose what best suits the work being presented. As Ian pointed out, this makes the service more valuable to the photographer right out of the box. But looks aren’t everything.

So which service is better suited to me? The short version: Zenfolio. Read on for the full report.

(If you decide to use Zenfolio, drop in Referral Code CVY-6UZ-T5M and you’ll save $5 and I will too)

Out of the box look. Zenfolio. As mentioned above.

Ease of use for Customers. Zenfolio.

Ease of use for Photographers. Zenfolio.

Suitable as more than just a print gallery. Zenfolio. With all of it’s advanced features, Zenfolio can quite easily be the ONLY service you’ll need for hosting your portfolio, your fine art images, custom work, portrature, and event photography. It’s feature set puts it up there with Flickr yet it still remains professional and utterly customizable to suit the photographer.

Templating. ExposureManager. The above mentioned templating feature. This allows for the ultimate in customization. Zenfolio claims this is coming soon to their service offering.

Monthly Cost. ExposureManager – kinda. Exposure manager runs $99.95/yr for their unlimited account. This is a mere $0.05 cheaper than Zenfolio and is essentially equal. However, ExposureManager does offer a $64.95/yr account with a 1GB storage limit. While Zenfolio has other product offering too, they do not allow for profits to be made on print sales and are therefore outside of the scope of this review. So, if you’re willing to deal with a 1GB storage limit, ExposureManager is cheaper. Otherwise, the cost is the same.

Commission. Zenfolio w/ Exceptions. ExposureManager charges 10% commission on the purchase price. Zenfolio charges 12% on profits only. For self-fulfillment orders, ExposureManager still charges 10% commission, however, ZenFolio drops the rate to 6% and still only charges commission on profit. If you do a lot of self-fulfillment, or if your profits are fairly low, ZenFolio will probably be significantly less expensive (but see the downside below on self-fulfillment). [Thanks to Phototouille for pointing out ExposureManager's change in policy and therefore tipping this item in Zenfolio's favor.]

Self-Fulfillment. ExposureManager. Both services operate in roughly the same fashion. While ZenFolio is a bit easier to use, the end result is the same. Custom Products and Custom Shipping methods are created and presented for purchase by the customer. ZenFolio gets an extra point for ease of use and for allowing product photos to accompany the items. Another extra point is awarded to ZenFolio for letting their cropping feature (see below) be used during self-fulfillment as well. But ExposureManager gets the gold star on this one for one reason alone. ZenFolio requires the Photographer to bill the customer outside of ZenFolio for Custom Products. ExposureManager handles these aspects as well.

Cropping. ZenFolio. Cropping is not an easy concept for a lot of print purchasers. They think “I want an 8×10″ so they buy an 8×10. They have no idea what that might do to the end result of the image being purchased didn’t happen to already be in 8×10 format. ExposureManager leaves you on your own to sort this out. I’ve opted for printing white borders on every image and requesting an email from the customer before placing an order if something else is needed. Not idea. ZenFolio has an interesting cropping module. It has a decent default and allows the customer to further specify exactly how they would like to see the image cropped. This feature is selectable on an image-to-image basis so the photographer can even turn it off on those images where he feels cropping should not be altered.

Image Quality. Zenfolio. ExposureManager used to use EZPrints. EZPrints isn’t bad, by any means, but, they also aren’t the first choice of photographers in the know who have a choice. ExposureManager doesn’t use EZPrints any longer, but I’m not sure who they are using now. But it isn’t MPix. MPix, is one of the leading online printing houses for photographers. Their quality and service is well known and quite dependable. This is a huge plus in the eyes of photographers still trying to get over the worry of NOT seeing the final product before it ships to their customers. You want someone you can trust. And lots of photographers trust MPix.

Zenfolio offers a free 14 day trial, so you’ve got nothing to lose. Use referral code CVY-6UZ-T5M and we’ll both save $5.

What are your thoughts? Do you use a hosted solution to sell your artwork online? If so, who do you recommend?

A new Gallery Host?

Feb 25th, 2008
by Jim Reverend.
2 comments

As some of you may know, I’ve been using ExposureManager for quite some time now. I’m not 100%  happy with them and never have been, but, they seemed to be the best option for me at the time. Things may have changed.

I’ve recently been introduced to Zenfolio and I feel they offer a very compelling service.  I know what my thoughts and opinions are but, quite honestly, when it comes to purchasing prints, making my potential customers happy is the top priority.

So, if you have a few seconds, I’d appreciate you taking a look at these two offerings and letting me know which one you like more. Looks are one thing, but, the feel and operation of the site should be examined as well. You can go as far as the screen where a credit card number is being asked for without actually buying anything for testing purposes. And, even if you do buy something, I can cancel the order if you email me right away.

Visit: Arranging Light on ExposureManager

Visit: Arranging Light on Zenfolio

I’m very appreciative for your assistance. After I hear back from you, I’ll give a full write up for those of you making the same or similar choice.

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