Recently in Related Technologies Category

It has been quite a while since I posted here on the Obsessive Collaborator. This has been due primarily to the migration of my server to a new machine (alas, it was not purchased with bailout money). I thought it was time to retire my five-year old server, at least from the front line, and replace it with a new server that would be set up to run virtualized servers. This would allow me to both test many server applications in isolated environments, and allow me to regularly backup and move offsite full functional snapshots of my servers (I am perhaps more obsessed with backup than I am with collaboration).

The process of migrating was fairly slow (mostly due to the fact that I did my work in my spare time). I was able to keep the old server running side by side until the final switch which took about an hour. While there are ways of moving from physical to virtual servers, I didn't think that they were worth the effort. Instead I started from a new CentOS 5.2 image that I created, built up the services I needed and then rsynced over the directories that I needed moved. I also used webmin to migrate settings for many of the services I needed.

The base server is also a CentOS 5.2 bare bones image. I probably could have used something lighter weight, but I now CentOS and stuck with that. Mostly that OS needs to run vmware and lots of backup scripts. I tried some premade backup scripts for vmware images, but they didn't work real well with vmware 2.0. I wound up writing my own script that progressively has each virtual machine suspend, copies the whole directory elsewhere, restarts the server, tars and gzips the directory and erases the backup directory, With a fast eSATA external drive the copying is done fairly quickly.

Vmware server 2.0 itself is quite good. I waited to go live until the official release came out. It is as easy to use as the older vmware server, the major difference from my perspective being that all management is done through a web console. For the most part I like this, making managing servers and even running console sessions quite easy. It will install firefox plugins or activex controls to run the console sessions wherever you'd like. Unless that place is a Mac, which mine often is. So I need to default to a windows or linux host for running those console sessions. I considered the now free Vmware ESX instead of server, but it is very temperamental about the hardware it runs on, and the server I built wasn't up to it (it wouldn't recognize the onboard sata).

Now I'm exploring the world of vmware images, and am disappointed when an app I want to test doesn't have an available appliance. Fortunately there are many to choose from (and I also have a bare bones image that I can build up from, and will also build a new Jeos image to make it even lighter weight for applications I want to keep).

In my search for a Document Management solution, I've looked at Alfresco over several iterations. It is quite capable, but I'm not thrilled with the UI, and the open source version has an unclear relationship with the enterprise version. I have read a lot about KnowledgeTree, and I thought I'd give that a try.

I found a vmware appliance from Rpath. Rpath has quite a number of good vmware appliances. Their documentation is somewhat sparse (as has been discussed in various forums), but most appliances now have a wiki page on their site. I found this wiki page early on, and it gave some basic setup information for Knowledgetree. But it wasn't until I found the separate wiki page over at Knowledgetree that I was able to get everything configured.

Once I got that documentation configuration was better than easy, it was easy and filled with options through a web interface.

I was able to make changes to the appliance itself (like network settings) and configure the major Knowledgetree options that normally involve messing with a config file.

When all was set up, it was a pretty straightforward operation. Log in to the site and you can upload documents, create folders, move documents, provide permissions for documents and send email alerts about documents to others.

One of the things I liked about Knowledgetree was that while it supported advanced features like checkin/checkout, workflows, etc. it also seemed like it could just be a simple document repository. Making it even easier was the ability to map the directory structure to a webdav drive. Once I actually followed the instructions, it was trivial to get the webdav working from a mac and linux clients (I didn't try windows).

I may or may not used Knowledgetree. I haven't decided whether the document management is so much better than other integrated packages I use to warrant it. But I'll keep experimenting.

A few more notes on recent upgrades. Elgg is now at 1.1 and has a lot of community plugins going for it. Opengoo just went 1.0 and looks pretty slick. And I'm looking forward to the upcoming release of Liferay Social Office. On the negative side, I've pretty much given up on Peopleaggregator. Their upgrade cycle fell short and there were too many hacks that I had to apply. Elgg looks like it is filing that open source social networking space just fine.

Recently a few collaborative software projects from blogs past got updated. I took the latest builds of OpenGoo (previous review) and eyeOS (mentioned but not reviewed previously) for a spin.

OpenGoo Take 2
The latest version of OpenGoo is vastly improved. OpenGoo is essentially activeCollab (the old open source edition now know as projectpier) with additional document handling. While it may sound minor, it actually is the one place where activeCollab/projectpier fall short, so this addition is quite welcome. The current build of OpenGoo (0.51 as of this writing) has had a lot of UI redesign with many AJAX additions. The result is a much more cohesive set of applications that no longer feel cobbled together. Instead, the design (including a new integrated menu) makes this feel like a top notch product. Combined with the great project management features already in activeCollab/projectpier, this makes for a very viable product. It is a simple and typical LAMP install.



My one concern about OpenGoo right now is the potentially small developer and user community. While it is a highly active project on Sourceforge, there are few if any postings in the forums on the website or on Sourceforge, and the website itself is sparsely updated. I hope this is because they're putting all of their time into development.

EyeOS in Short
The notion of a Web OS is intriguing to me. So far I don't think any products are really there, but the best I've seen is EyeOS, a WebOS you can install yourself.



The idea behind a Web OS is that you can log into a server and have access to all of your typical applications and data, while nothing has to run locally. EyeOS does a reasonable job at this, replicating somewhat of the look and feel of a desktop OS. What would be great is if you could actually access data on the server through the application, but alas it only accesses data from within the Web OS (the next version will allegedly offer a sync application to sync local files to the server). There are some decent applications - basic office apps, meebo for IM, etc. I haven't quite figured out the web browser yet, since you obviously have access to a web browser if you are using Eye OS. At first I thought it might be for privacy, but all of the cookies and cache are still stored locally. Still it has some potential.

Looking Ahead to Icecore
I recently started exploring another collaborative application called IceCore. From what I can gather IceCore was recently acquired by Novell, which bodes well for its future (in terms of resources anyway).

I haven't tried installing the open source version yet, but I tried out the demo online. There are some confusing things about the interface, but it has a great featureset, and once I got the paradigm figured out it was pretty easy and quite flexible.

I'll offer up a more complete review after I try to install it and run it myself.

My first week the U810 has gone quite well. First, I have to say that I get a lot of comments on it. Most people ask "what is that?" Not looking just for the brand but what the device even is. This is of course fun (though it can get old after a while) but it also serves one of the purposes of the device - to not look like I'm working and checking email on my computer. So far it serves that job quite well.

One thing that the U810 (and the U1010, which is the Asian equivalent) have been criticized for is a very high DPI. The 1024x600 screen is certainly very high density at only 5.6", but I wouldn't want any lower resolution. This resolution permits the use of almost any application. Lowering the horizontal resolution to 800 pixels just wouldn't work.

I'm getting pretty decent on the keyboard (though this is being tapped out on my full-sized MacbookPro keyboard). For most tasks that I use it for (email, light document editing, note taking) it is entirely sufficient. My inking skills are also improving, as most quick one-line responses are easier to write out than open the keyboard for.

The fan whines a bit, but that is really only noticeable in a very quiet room. And XP tablet has been very predictable, and particularly good at suspend and resume. You can suspend or resume in a matter of seconds, which is essential for a device of this type.

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News is less rosy over at Mindquarry, an online wiki and document fcoused collaboration environment with a lot of promise. After a number of delays with their 1.2 release, they have announced that their commercial hosting branch has closed, and moved entirely to an open source model. It may be perplexing that I lament the closing of the commercial part of Mindquarry, and lament the commercial focus of ActiveCollab, so I'll try to explain.

I think that most open source ventures can be much better supported if they have a commercial component as well, whether that be through support services, hosting, or additional features. However, I also think it is important to growth, adoption, extension, and certainly use by small organizations, that a free "host your own" model exists in parallel. ActiveCollab is now entirely closed. Though it looks like a relatively inexpensive and attractive option, I suspect it will struggle in the face of very large competitors under this model. Mindquarry has pushed their release date out even further (another month). I am still hopefully for this next release, and will certainly try it when it becomes available, but I'm afraid this latest turn of events doesn't bode well. I think they tried their commercial venture too early. The product just wasn't ready to attract a commercial audience - yet. Perhaps it will surprise and become a successful open source venture.

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I finally got my invite to try DimDim, the hosted version. I first tried it on my Mac and found that I wasn't able to host anything more than a whiteboard. On my PC (the abovementioned U810) it worked just fine. It turns out that the Mac can't be a full fledged participant yet, due to a Windows only Firefox plugin that is required. Still the project had a lot of polish and was very slick. I may test it out a bit more, but will wait for a full test when it becomes cross platform (which has been promised in the future). Of course one of the more interesting aspects of DimDim is that you can host your own through their open source version.

While this post isn't strictly about collaboration I thought it might be of interest to some. Part of obsessive collaboration is being able to access electronic resources anytime and anywhere. I've had many devices for doing this ranging from Pocket PCs to Treos to Windows Mobile phones. While they've gotten pretty good at email, they're less good at web based access and of course real applications like word processing or even writing blog entries. But the biggest thing they've lacked for me is good and simple note taking applications. Sure you can take notes either freehand or via some sort of keyboard, but it has never worked well for me.

Thus my quest for a new mobile device. I've read about UMPCs like the OQO, Samsung Q1 or even the expensive Sony models, but they all lacked some sort of reasonable keyboard. What is a reasonable keyboard? One which I could type this blog entry om without going nuts.

With that in mind, I'm writing this on a new Fujitsu U810. Fujitsu calls the U810 s mini-laptop instead of a UMPC, partially to highlight the keyboard, and partially to distance themselves from UMPCs.

There are only two models of the U810, only differing in the OS - Windows Vista Home Premium vs Vista Business. I opted for the latter, primarily because I noticed the fine print which said that this model also shipped with an XP Tablet 2005 CD and drivers. Vista has had a number of problems causing Microsoft to extend the XP downgrade policy on all PCs another six months, and this is even more important for resource constrained devices like this one.

The U810 has a 800MHz Intel A110 processor running on the Intel 945 chipset. It has 1gb of RAM a 40gb hard drive, and a 1024x600 5.6" touchscreen. I tried it briefly with Vista but quickly installed XP. Vista had issues with the 3d graphics drivers in OpenGL, and also used up almost an extra 10gb of hard drive space which is 25% of this one. I've also read that Vista doesn't sleep and resume as well as XP which again is really important on this device.

The device is a fantastic size. Here it is next to my trusty 15" Macbook Pro.



As some other points of comparison, here it is next to my xv6700 phone, here it is heightwise next to the Macbook Pro, and here it is underneath my Macbook Pro's extra batter which is almost the same size and weight, and yet only provides about half the battery life (I get 2-2.5 hours out of a Macbook Pro battery and this unit is rated at 5.5 hrs). Finally here it is next to my trusty HP calculator.

So far it has lived up to expectations. The keyboard is very usable. I can "hunt and peck" quite well, and I'm experimenting with variations on touch typing. Full 10 fingered touch typing is out of the question. But I'm trying some 6 fingered variations which show some positive signs. The screen certainly takes some getting used to at 3x normal screen density, but with some adjustments and at close range I find it suitable to look at for extended periods. My Macbook Pros screen looks huge now.

The processor seems just fine for most tasks, I've done plenty of web browsing and email. I've read some documents and installed lots of software. It isn't great at multitasking, but I've even thrown 2d OpenGL at it and it worked.

It has ample tablet functionality, though with a hard touch screen. You need to use a stylus on it, but it doesn't do the nifty hovering thing that full tablets do, Oh well, I'm enjoying the touch screen, and the tablet apps. Jotting a quick response to an email in handwriting that gets converted to text works just fine.

Then there is the reason I got this machine - Onenote. It is an awesome note taking app. It combines inking and text and even audio. I need to get into using it more thoroughly but it looks like it fits the bill.

The device isn't perfect. Some of they keyboard decisions make things a challenge, like having to hit function before the arrow keys or the tab key. And even things like the fact that the 1 key is above the w key instead of the q key makes typing a challenge. But I'm getting better even as I type this.

The other great thing about this machine is that it is just under $1000. While that is not a trivial amount of money, it is in the range where this can be thought of as a second device. It isn't going to replace my Macbook Pro, but it can be the machine I cart away to meetings during the day, or even on short trips.

It is quite useful to have a mobile device that you know will run whatever it needs to in a pinch.

Once Tracks was running on Ruby on Rails, I tested it out a bit and shared the site with a friend who is "GTD" guy. His comment was that it was so slow. I did a little research on using Rails with Apache and one of the first hits was this article, which explained that the best solution (as of a year and a half ago) was to proxy Apache to lighttpd. I thought for a low volume server that the difference would be minor. I got Rails running with lighttpd and fast cgi, and wow, there was a huge difference. Apache was forcing pauses of one to three seconds, and lighttpd was nearly instantaneous. This difference made the difference between feeling like a web app and feel like a real app. There are apache improvements and there is a lot of buzz about Mongrel, but for now the lighttpd solution is a marked improvement.

In addition to collaborative software, I've been exploring the exploding number of "get organized on the web" options out there. I like Remember the Milk quite a bit, but I've been inclined to explore the GTD way of, well getting things done.

I heard good things about Tracks, an open source GTD web application. I'm no stranger to installing web applications, but this one had a new requirement for me- Ruby on Rails. I've avoided web applications that require Ruby on Rails, primarily because of the overhead in getting Rails installed before even getting to the applications, but this time I decided to take the plunge.

I'm running CentOS 5. Ruby was already installed and running via an RPM. But for whatever reason (maturity?) the Rails part has a more complex installation path. Before getting to Rails, you need to get Gem going. Gem is sort of like a Ruby package manager. But it too needs to be installed, and usually from source. Adding to the complications are the http interface that Rails will connect with. Rails can use the built in Webrick. Many people use it with lighttpd. But it can also be used with Apache, which I already had running. Problem is that this seemed to be the least well documented path. Anyway, away I went...

I started with the documentation on the ruby on rails site for RHEL. It got me started but some parts fell short. I supplemented with some information from Redhat. Gem install and ran without a hitch, but I couldn't get the mysql component to work. After searching on the error I was getting, I found this site. No, I don't speak any Chinese variants, but fortunately I do speak Linux and the line of code was understandable. I did need to translate it to 64 bit language, and point it at the 64 bit mysql libraries, which are in a slightly different place. I found some supplementary information back on the ruby on rails site and another site with a bit more searching and then ruby on rails seemed to be ok.

Since a lot of what I read pointed towards lighttpd, I got that going too, running it on a different port than apache.

Back to the Tracks site for installation instructions, and the supplementary information for "other servers" (which included apache and lighttpd).

The Tracks install was quite easy, and after looking at the specified README, it turned out that using apache involved simply adding a virtual host to httpd.conf. That was clearly the easiest way to get Tracks deployed, and my short struggle with lighttpd was for nothing.

Tracks itself is a well done, Ajax-driven, minimalistic application.



I'll hold off further judgment until I better understand GTD, but I may stick with it. I'll put it on my "to do".

In the mean time I now have ruby on rails up and ready for testing future web applications.