smart computer use?

When it comes to PHP rapid development frameworks, two of them tend to get lumped together and compared a lot. CodeIgniter and CakePHP are two MVC (Model/View/Controller) frameworks that share a lot of similarities but at the same time have some distinct differences.

I have built 5 web sites using CakePHP. I found CakePHP to be a refreshing look at how to develop a web site. Maybe it wasn’t so much CakePHP itself that was appealing to me, but the concept of Model/View/Controller architecture.

Once this architecture is understood, it is pretty easy to dig into any MVC framework.

I found a great article written about a year ago regarding CodeIgniter vs. CakePHP at snook.ca. This post sums up the major differences quite well.

I believe much of CodeIgniter’s appeal is its simplicity in its approach. Most of the work is done in the controller, loading in libraries, getting data from the model, and pulling in the view. Everything is in plain sight and you can really see how things work.

CakePHP’s simplicity comes via automation (euphemistically referred to as “automagic”). It makes the coding process quicker but harder to figure out “what is going on” without popping your head into the core. For me, I like to understand how everything works and I’ve had to poke around under the hood more than once. For people just getting started, things probably look a little daunting.

Basically, both frameworks try to get you along your way quicker than coding from scratch, but both accomplish this in different ways.

Good stuff.

So, now, back to my thoughts. After using CakePHP on a few projects, I decided to give CodeIgniter a try. I found CodeIgniter to be a lot easier to work with. I just seemed to be able to accomplish my goals faster with CodeIgniter.

I still have yet to use CodeIgniter as much as I’ve used CakePHP, but I’m really liking it. I just started putting together a new web site for myself today, using CodeIgniter, and I seem to be able to translate my ideas to code much faster than if I was using CakePHP.

I am thinking that as I learn each framework more, I will continue to swing back and forth as to which one I like. The good old pendulum concept.

I’ve been pretty reckless with my new laptop. It’s a little Toshiba machine, dual core Pentium CPU, 13 inch screen.

Very portable.

It’s so portable that I am finding myself to be very careless while “porting” it.

I often find myself walking with the laptop computer in one hand and the power supply in the front pocket of my hooded sweatshirt, for example. If I was to drop the machine, BAM! $600 down the drain, probably. I don’t want to speculate and create an omen.

I’ve been putting a lot of thought into buying a cheap yet serviceable laptop backpack for my laptop computer. I don’t want to sacrifice portability too much. It needs to be a pretty accessible and portable backpack.

Backpack Requirements

I want the backpack to be able to do the following:

• Hold a laptop
• Hold the laptop computer power supply
• Make both the laptop and power supply easily accessible
• Hold a camera, cell phone, wallet, notepad, pencil/pen and some other stupid crap that I probably don’t need to carry around at all
• Cost $20 or less

Backpack Actualities

I think my last bullet point relegates me to getting a backpack due to a:

• Garage sale
• Target/Kmart/Walmart/Some other supertmart “sale”
• Good pawn shop find
• Theft (I don’t condone theft, but it’s a realistic option to some)
• eBay special find

I’ll find one somehow. It’ll probably be at Kmart. I shoulda just went there instead of even typing out this blog post.

Backpacks of time past

I used to have a decent laptop backpack. It even had a nice shoulder strap, which made it very versatile. But one of the cats pissed on it, so much for that backpack.

Am I asking too much in my search for a decent, cheap laptop backpack?

I’ve recently been carrying my laptop computer around without using a case of any sorts. This might not be the best idea.

Backpacks of times past

I used to have a canvas backpack that worked pretty good for toting around my laptop computer. I borrowed that one out to get it fixed. The backpack had a strap that was about to fall off, so I wanted to get that repaired. I haven’t got it back yet.

I then had a laptop case. It was a decent laptop case. It fell apart too. I had to stop using it.

So, now every morning that I go to the office I am carrying my laptop in one hand and the power supply in the other. That is it.

I hope I don’t drop the laptop. That could be a bad thing.

I need to get a new backpack. This is too much of a risk.

Or, how about something like this?

I’ve somehow managed to disable my bluetooth wireless keyboard. It worked fine, even during install. Now the keyboard isn’t even showing up as a device on my computer.

Haha.

I should have expected something as stupid as this to happen. Everything seemed too easy during the reload of my computer.

Regarding the non-working bluetooth keyboard, I’ve even tried putting in new batteries. I figured I might as well check the most obvious stuff first.

Hmm… now I gotta figure this one out.

I just finished reloading the main desktop machine in my home studio. My main machine is an old-school 2.5 gig Pentium 4 with about 768mb of RAM.

It’s not a fast machine, really, but it’s not a slow machine either. It was built about 5 years ago, and it’s been used as a web development machine ever since.

I reloaded this machine with Windows XP Professional. It’s a good operating system. Windows XP seems to be at it’s peak, so it’s a confident system to run on a machine. Windows XP is also lighter on system resources than Windows Vista, so I am opting to use XP on my older machines to ensure that they still can run at a nice clip.

The reload of Windows XP went too smooth. All I needed to install after the reload was:

• UltraEdit
• FileZilla
• Winamp
• AVP, erm, I mean AVG anti-virus
• Mozilla Firefox

And now I’m pretty much set.

This machine hadn’t been reloaded for a couple years. It was running all kinds of crazy software and had been put through the ringer resources-consumption-wise. I am glad to now take this old machine and put it in my home office/studio. The machine won’t be asked to do much other than ftp some files and serve as a code editor. It might also get some minor Flash work thrown at it. There may also be some blogging. But, there isn’t anything that I’ll demand of this machine beyond what it can handle.

I might also try to run Unreal Tournament GOTY Edition on this one. This machine was pretty much built to spec to handle UT GOTY Edition. Nothing new though, gotta stay with the old-school games on this machine.

I had the feeling that this might be the last time I load Windows XP onto a machine. Anything new I buy or use will more than likely have Windows Vista or some form of Linux on it. All my Windows XP machines seem to be at their final stage right now.

We’ll see, I guess. What will become of Windows XP?