I Thought LAMP Would Be Easier…

I installed Apache, PHP, MySQL and phpMyAdmin on Windows years ago and eventually got it working well. I always thought that doing the same on Linux would be easier because these apps are Open Source and intended to work together on a GNU/Linux platform. But my GOD, I’m having difficulty getting them all to work.

phpMyAdmin is a graphical way to interact with the MySQL database rather than do so from the command line and I thought, why not, make life a tad easier and work with a GUI. I can’t get it to work though. When I try to load phpMyAdmin/index.php in a browser, I get this error:

#2002 - The server is not responding (or the local MySQL server's socket is not correctly configured)

I think it means PHP is having trouble locating the mysql.sock file, but I can’t seem to get it fixed.

I’m probably going to have to give up for now and just use the cli …..but OTOH, I’m like a pitbull with a stick when I have a computing problem to solve….and am likely to still be stuck here this time next week.

Apache 2.2.8 Does Not Play Well With PHP 5.0.51 on Mandriva Linux

Took me a long time and a lot of frustrating footering, but I finally found this out. I got a message from the PHP ‘installer’ telling me I had found a problem with PHP and I sent the details to the developers.

Of course I’m glad to help the cause. But I STILL didn’t know there were known compatibility issues with these two. Silly bugger me for not R’ing the F’ing M!

I’m now going to uninstall and reinstall, this time using Apache 1.3, PHP 5 and MySQL.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Okay, just over an hour later, I’ve got a successfull install of Apache 2.2.3, PHP 4.4.8 and MySQL 5.0.51a. I so rock with amything compter-related, ya know…

Homeless Woman Contemplates Mortgage!

Does anyone know if it might be possible for my elderly Mother and I to get a joint mortgage to buy her council house? I am on Incapacity Benefit and she is on a state and a small works pension. I think we would get it to buy for somewhere around £20 000, maybe £25 000. I know that pensioners get mortgages to buy council houses, but they may have enormous savings accounts?

I’m going to look more carefully into my future housing options when I get back home. I suppose I’m going on the assumption that the council is going to offer me a dead smelly flat in a crack den in an area even the police speed through in case they get their wheels nicked. ;p I don’t think there even are any of those in the town I live in.

Things To Do Instead Of Having A Home…

Linux

Apache

MySQL

PHP

I did all this on Windows over 10 years ago, but only now, as I’m usng Linux full time, am I doing it on the right platform. ;p

Congratulations to Amy Winehouse…

..for winning 5 out of the 6 Grammy awards she was nominated for. They are well deserved. I hope she can continue to get stronger in her recovery and go on to even greater heights in her professional life.

We Really Are On Our Own Here

Most people become homeless on their way down in life. I’m very fortunate that it’s happened to me on what should be the way up. But it’s still a very lonely place to be, especially for someone who has never been good at asking for help. I always tried to be invisible so that I would be left in peace, tried not to draw attention to myself, never raised my hand in secondary school or beyond, got my academic qualifications largely on my own. Everything I’ve achieved in life, I got the hard way, with little support. On my own.

Ultimately, we all live and die alone.

People? Stupid? Nooo…..

A while back, my partner and I were given a lift home to her house by extremely good friends, lovely people – very smart people – and I was very more than a little surprised when the driver spent an inordinate amount of time at the start of the journey – a good 5 minutes plus – fiddling about with his SatNav system. It struck me as rather a dangerous exercise and made me despair, as I do on a daily basis, about the slavishness with which we trust and allow technology to control our lives.

So imagine my complete lack of surprise to read this article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7236181.stm

in which we discover that people are following their SatNav systems onto railway lines and into bridges.

Darwin Award, anyone?

I can’t stop wanting one of these..and…OH MY GOD!

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

But the prices don’t seem to be coming down much. Not to where I could ever afford one.

My current custom built PC needs to be upgraded and I travel abroad a lot to be with my partner and really need a laptop to use over there, so it is time for me to do something about this, but…blergh…I’m so stuck in my little rut that even that is an enormous chore.

I always used to use a Mac, and got a PC when I was learning programming at Uni and needed to use Microsoft shite. Then I lost my job and haven’t been well enough to get back. I still have my Mac and occasionally use it and am always amazed at how fast it is – it’s a 90MHz processor and should be like molasses compared to my 1.4GHz Athlon Windows box, but it isn’t. It rocks.

HOWEVER…

Now, Apple have produced the world’s thinnest laptop, which has to be seen to be believed:

http://www.apple.com/uk/mac/

AND I WANT ONE!!!!!!!

Why Do They Never Do All This When We’re Still Alive?

I just read yet another article about someone ending their own life who was apparently surrounded by loving, caring, attentive friends who would do anything for them and yet, they still felt that their best option was to kill themselves…

The article ends:

“James’s body was found by seven of his friends just hours after he had gone missing. What he didn’t realise because of the way he was feeling, was how much he was loved, [...] “Those friends would have turned every grain of soil to find him.”

The question isn’t how many grains of sand people will turn to find us when we’re gone, but how many they’ll turn to bring us back when we’re lost.

In too many cases, the answer is not enough.