Well as many of you may know I made a recent Mac purchase. So far it has been a pretty decent machine. However there is a few things that I have come across that I wish Apple would fix and/or change.

Keyboard Layout: Function, Control, Option, and Command keys need to reorded. If you going to force me to use Command as the equal to Ctrl on PC. Then at least place it in the same spot. The current placement of the Command key makes it a little un-functional for use with Copy/Paste and all other shortcuts. In order to hold command+c you have to remove your hand from its standard position. Make your work efficiency slower and more un-comfy to preform for long durations. In order to combat this problem I did have to switch the key bindings for the Command and Control Keys. However the function keys placement makes this not the most Ideal position. I do wish that they would also add a Control key near the arrow keys for the MacBook. With my key rebinding my lazy web browsing methods just do not work the same. I know I can use mouse gestures, but they do not have these for Firefox yet.

I did have another problem with the keyboard in that at first I thought that the naming of the Backspace key to delete was a bad name, but once you discover the fn+del shortcut you begin to understand this naming scheme. Their was also a few other keyboard settings that kind of bugged me like the F1-12 Key’s being auto set to the fn+f(1-12) action taking place over the normal action. This was more of a fact that I was use to using the PC way of using them.

Terminal: Now as I am not familiar with Unix but more so Linux. Some of these may just be Unix problems and not Mac. Tab finishing of a folder name should include the trailing /. This gets a little annoying when your trying to go a couple folders deep. I do plan to get into the Bash configs and add this into it myself but would like to see it as the default action. There are also a few key shortcuts I would like to see fixed. In a normal mac window Command+left/right arrows function and home and end keys, but in the terminal you have to substitute command for the function key. This inconsistency of key shortcuts becomes a little annoying when you are first starting out.

Filesystem: I’m still searching through this one but so far where is /proc. I know this is not a Unix but a Mac problem. Where did you place my /proc folder?

Now I know there a few ton more problems that a normal user will have with switching to Mac from PC, but with my use of Ubuntu and all things Open Source. It has prepared me for a lot of other resources that have already been converted to work on Mac thanks to their Unix under layer. Wine is one of these great apps. On my Linux boxes this has helped out so much with getting Windows apps to work on Linux. That I was happy to see a Mac port as well. After installing that I was able to get my SQLYog installed and usable. There was a few things that I have had to hand compile but so far everything appears to be going good with finding Mac packages of these apps. One of the biggest apps I would like to see a DMG package for is QT. Took me a couple hours to compile myself. Just wish there was an easier and faster way of getting it.

This is just a quick update on Memcached Manager. I have done a bit of work on the core classes and code base to make it a bit cleaner and easier to add new features. Their is still a bit I need to finish in the rework, but at least the bulk of the work has been completed.

I have also condensed the Add Server and Add Cluster dialogs into 1 central Dialog that will allow you do to both in one go. This should make adding your Clusters a whole lot faster. David has also started work on converting the save files to YAML vs the current Pickle approach. This should make it a bit easier for you to modify the raw save file on your own if you wish.

Their is also a new feature that allows you to modify the preferences of how Memcached Manager interacts with your servers or displays the data back to you. This should hopefully allow you to customize it how you see fit a bit easier.

I have also started a new feature to allow you to get keys back from the cluster so that you can inspect the data and/or if keys are being created during development. This feature will also feature a RegEx based key search. It is also worth noting on this RegEx search it can take some time to preform this search as a request for all keys on every server has to be preformed before the RegEx can be executed. I also plan to implement a toggle for support for Cluster being populated by the PHP Pecl package. This is due to some differences in how the library picks what server to place your key on vs how the Python Package choices.

Among these changes their where some small bugs fixed and a few starts on other areas of the app. I also do plan to get some updated screenshots of the new changes. So you can get a better feel of how the app looks. If you have any ideas for what else you would like to see or if you find any bugs please be sure to post your requests on the Launchpad page, and if your using the app please post your usage at the Ohloh Page.

Well in an effort to migrate off of my current server so that I can upgrade to a more up to date OS (Currently Fedora Core 3). I have setup a new VPS with Wordpress MU installed on it. This new install of Wordpress MU should allow me to condense all my blogs into 1 central framework and reduce my need to have to re-install and maintain multiple copies of Wordpress for each one.

I have currently migrated this blog as well as setup a Blog for Skeletal Design, Inc.. I have a few more that need migrating. So its going to take me some time, but in the end I should be that much closer to getting ride of the old server and getting a new one. Hopefully I can buy a rack from Dell and host it down at ViaWest or 393 if anything else just rent one for a while.

For anyone who wishes to host Wordpress Mu with the intent to have a TLD for each blog you may wish to read this http://mu.wordpress.org/forums/topic.php?id=2076. Took me a little while to figure out the problem but it appear that Wordpress MU doesn’t like you to have multiple TLD’s and still allow people to login under each of them.

Managed to bust out a few features and updates to Memcached Manager over the last few nights. Feels great to get some work done again on a side project. Just hoping I can get to finishing the first version of this ting sometime. Still got a nice sized work load and it keeps growing as I talk to people, or wish I had the ability to do something one day.

New Features:

• You can now double click a Cluster in the Tree List and make it active.
• Server names in the Tree List now contain the IP and Port to make it easier to make sure you got the right cluster
• Now when you delete a cluster and/or server it removes itself from the Tree List

Just need to some time do a code base clean up and a little reworking. Tends to happen when your learning QT and Python App creation for the first time.

As always the links for Memcached Manager are:

• Home Page
• Wiki
• Source Code
• Downloads
• Launchpad.net Home Page
• Blueprints
• Bugs
• Answers

I was reading a great article on the YouTubes Architecture and came across this last bullet point that they make. Just had to share it.

You succeed as a team. Have a good cross discipline team that understands the whole system and what’s underneath the system. People who can set up printers, machines, install networks, and so on. With a good team all things are possible.

This video just goes to show you how bad ass Linux is. Just take a look at how smart the mascot is.

So as some of you may know I have been working on a Memcached Manager App. I decided to do this because I was tired of seeing Memcached as this little blackhole that you put stuff in and magicly got it back out quicker then a DB would. So really what better way to understand Memcached then by building something that interacts directly with every part of Memcached. So far everything is actually going real well with the whole project. I’m managing to bust out features like crazy and I’m hoping to have a 1st release before Christmas if not before Thanksgiving if I can.

Some Screenshots:

Memcached Manager Screenshots

• Home Page
• Wiki
• Source Code
• Downloads
• Launchpad.net Home Page
• Blueprints
• Bugs
• Answers

Well I have finally managed to get back to it and have finally released a new version of PySQLPool. Its been some time seance the last release. There has been a few new features added and a few more have been improved. I have also started to host parts of the Project at Launchpad along side with the Google Code Hosting.

Where to find PySQLPool

• Download It
• Report It
• Track It
• Commit It

Just a quick reminder to all. The Colorado Ubuntu Team’s Release Party for Intrepid Ibex is tonight in about 1hr. So don’t be late.

Full details about the party can be found at the Colorado Ubuntu Team’s Website

So for all of you who managed to come see me give my Memcached Presentation. I figured I would provided to you all the links to the resources that I presented to you.

• Memcached
• Memcached - Google Hosting
• Usenix 2007 Presentation - Live Journal
• Memcached Stats - Looks like APC Stats
• Memcached Manager - Google Hosting
• Memcached Manager - Launchpad Hosting