Joomla : CakePHP = Windows : Linux GCC

The followings are only my personal opinions.

Joomla!, a very popular CMS (Content Management System). Easy to use, a lot of extensions, free to download. Yet, not all the extensions are free. Some are commercial extensions. Some commercial extensions allow you to download for limited days of trial. Easy to install, easy to use. A lot of people like it.

On the other hand, CakePHP, not a CMS but only a web application framework (I mentioned CakePHP in this post because this is the only web application framework I used, I haven’t tried about CodeIgniter or Ohloh). Comparing CakePHP with Joomla isn’t quite appropriate because they are not same category. But for me, both of them are PHP and used to develop websites.

When looking for the Joomla extensions, most of the great extensions are commercial. Just like when I am search Windows software, a lot of software are commercial. However, CakePHP allows me to write my own applications. It is more developer friendly, freedom of programming. It is easy for me to write application using CakePHP rather than using Joomla API framework to write applications. Just like using GCC to compile the source code is easier than using Microsoft Visual C++ to compile the source code.

Therefore, in the sense of content management, Joomla is more appropriate than CakePHP. Though using CakePHP can produce something like Croogo, CakePHP itself is only a web application framework. However, using CakePHP can also produce CMS.

SVN – programmers’ needs

Since my programming experience started from Microsoft Windows, SVN is a term I frequent see yet unfamiliar.

As a programmer, I need to backup my source code whenever I modified the existing source code. If I have any problem, I can restore to the runnable source code. Backing up the coding by using zip or others compression tools is not effective or effecient.

SVN can help to backup all the revisions of the source code. Not only that, it helps to solve the problem if a project involves several developers. Any conflicts of the coding will be detected. SVN can also be used individually.

Playing games with Ubuntu

Linux is a great OS. Open source and free. Can work as server or desktop. There are a lot of applications: office suite, internet web browser, email client, image editor, 3D modeler, games, online games, software development tools, etc. Using Linux, I can almost do anything I want just as I am using proprietary OS.

However, there is a drawback. If a computer cannot be used for playing games, then it will not be 100% perfect. Yes, Linux has a lot of free and open source games, but I feel that there is still a gap between free games and the commercial games. Though I may not use Linux to play the latest game, at least it should allow me to play my favourite game.

Luckily there is WINE. Though it cannot 100% compatible to all the games, at least have a try. The following is a screenshot of my most favourite game!

From Ubuntu to Xubuntu on HP Mini

Yes, again. HP Mini 1000 series, small screen, lightweight, RAM is not big. I like Ubuntu Desktop Edition, though there is Ubuntu Netbook Remix, it is not my favourite. Because I use the netbook just like a desktop, got a lot of developers’ tools, GIMP, etc.

Ubuntu, using GNOME as the desktop environment. I like GNOME because I like GTK+. I like GTK+ because I like C programming. Then, I read an article about Xfce, which is more lightweight thant GNOME. Which is also using GTK+. So I tried it.

No need to reinstall Xubuntu, just install xubuntu-desktop package from Ubuntu repositories, then you can taste the new desktop environment.

Everything runs well. Good, nice, really faster. Nautilus is replaced by Thunar, though Nautilus is still there, I can still run Nautilus. But Thunar is the default file manager. One can replace other default application by right click a certain file type, then choose “Open with other application…”, choose your favourite and set as default. Then, the file type will be associated with the application.

One of the biggest drawbacks is customizing the menu items. Unlike Ubuntu, Xubuntu cannot edit the menu items unless editing the XML files. Another drawback is, if want to add launcher at the panel like GNOME, I need set it manually, because Xfce cannot right click the menu items to add as launcher.

Since I installed gmrun, it is good enough to let me enter the command rather than choosing the items at the menu bar.

There is another drawback which I just found. The default VNC server (vino) cannot works on Xfce. Therefore, needs to use x11vnc from commandline. But, still enjoying it!