Linux Notebook

Why & How I Once Put Linux On A PowerMac G3, and then...

a refurbed Micron GoBook
a used NEC Versa 2650CDT
my $150 Server/Router
NEW:
a Dell SC430 Server

My X-philes...
(New! Joystick-ing on OS X -- Click on the File menu)

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Linux Devices • Linux Journal • Linux Questions • Linux.org

20:50 Wed, Sept 24 2008

No more "Made in China"!

Lead paint and choking hazards in children's toys, chemicals in wheat gluten, melamine in milk products, and (yuk!) used condoms in hair bands? It's only a matter of time before Chinese products with something else more dangerous and insipid arrive in boatloads and more people and their pets suffer and die. It could be your daily vitamins next!

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of weak pot-metal tools that only work once and screws that have non-standard dimensions; shirts that shrink, run their colors and lose their buttons or fray in the first washing; zippers that jam; snaps that rust and tarps that only last one season before disintegrating before your eyes into plastic confetti. Ropes that come apart in the sun. Hornet sprays that just make them mad... Tainted pet food ingredients... Dangerously under-engineered automobile parts... the list could be endless.

How that country expects to become a major player in space travel is beyond me! In our greedy quest for cheap prices at the expense of lower quality, we brought it all on ourselves, perhaps. But it's time to cut off trade with this country of unscrupulous producers. I urge you to join me -- contact your representative [or https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml] and ask her/im to introduce bills stopping imports from China. Tell them you've had enough.

We, as the largest market for Chinese goods, can make a difference by being choosy. Where and when you can (and it's getting easier every day), tell store clerks and supervisors where you shop that you want Made in the U.S.A -- or at least NOT MADE IN FREAKING CHINA! Tell your friends and relatives, too.

In the meantime, here's a list of Web sources guaranteed to be China-free. Help bring back American small businesses. The more folks use these sources, the bigger the message it's going to send:

China-Free Shopping

08:50 Tues, April 18, 2006

OCOC Powers Business Association Site

Early in 2005 I published an open source PHP web application package called OCOC (Open Chamber of Commerce). It is a mini-CMS (content management system) combined with a pre-coded template in XHTML/CSS that comes styled for a chamber of commerce, business association or other small organization. A small business could also use it. In fact, I have dropped the miniCMS into several site designs for clients. Most recently, after a year of updates, false starts and Adventures In Committee Management, the Applegate Valley Business Association (AVBA) has gone live, based on OCOC.

The OCOC package uses only two "pages": Home (index.php) and "pages", a script that makes use of Apache's "ForceType" directive to make a script to appear as a directory for URL purposes. PHP code blocks on these two scripted pages along with a custom function library pull content from a MySQL database which includes tables describing the site's structure. After preliminary setup and styling by a web professional familiar with CSS design standards, site maintenance and expansion is fully under the owner's control. It even has a custom navigation menu editor.

08:55 Sat, Nov 19, 2005

Linux on a Dell SC430 No-OS Server

I recently built a site for a client that is a small association of realtors. Their site uses the miniCMS I developed for OCOC last year, and the meager local server they were using was old and inadequate for the newer Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) technology I wanted to use.

They liked Dell products, had many Dell Windows desktops in the office and had a purchasing agreement with Dell. I shopped the Dell site and chose the PowerEdge SC430 server to host their new site. See my article on how I installed Fedora Core 4 on this no-OS server.