Developer

There are many Twitter applications available for smartphones and PDAs. Given I still run Windows Mobile 5 (WM5) with my HP iPAQ HW6965 mobile, it’s a bit tricker to find a good solution as most new releases focus on iPhone, BlackBerry and WM6.

• TinyTwitter: fast, simple, complete but one account only. No URL shortening, only TwitPic support. Shows timeline cache without reload need.
• Twikini: Multi-account & URL shortening. Fast loading. Timeline requires update upon program start. Accounts switch forces timeline loading.
• PockeTwit: Best looking with “slide effects”. Multi-account, build-in cam. Think “TweetDeck for WM”. No own timeline per account, all mixed.

Twitter on WM5 conclusion (for now): I will keep TinyTwitter for my own account (single) and for multiple other accounts to manage: Twikini (turned out that Twikini has an expiry).

I had my fair share of troubles with OTRS (Open source Ticket Request System) in the past, in particular on an old Fedora/Ensim powered dedicated server. Issues caused by OTRS like bugged package updates continue once in a while, but it looks like the move to MediaTemple (mt) has solved about every other problem – if not taking into account the still somewhat complicated installation/migration/upgrade procedure which won’t follow the official OTRS manuals in every step.

The major difference in both systems (dedicated server vs. MediaTemple) is that “root folder” refers to the main folder on the dedicated server’s drive versus referring to the main folder within a virtual account at (mt). On a dedicated server, OTRS had a number of confusions as to where this “root” would apply: while one configuration would start a path in the domain account’s hosting root, another configuration would go all the way to the drive’s root; despite having the domain account “jailed” (supposed to be unable to access outside-of-own-account destinations).

OTRS does not provide a simple upgrade procedure from within its admin control panel. The upgrade procedure is almost identical to setting up a new installation – minus the database part. I therefore can “merge” both procedures into a single document. Migrating is a rather simple procedure as it only requires the usual modifications like database connection settings and a couple of folder permissions (.htaccess settings…).

A note about the official OTRS documentation: I’ve written about this before, I’ve sent a document to OTRS upon their request, and I keep saying it as no change whatsoever until now: it’s not a good one. It gives you the general idea and for some systems it might work but it lacks crucial details and explanations which could save a lot of time figuring out on my own why something might not even be necessary or totally different.
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I was asked to examine a computer which would not start anymore, the only thing still noticable being the power light on the pc box and “no signal” on the screen. A mainboard related cause was the primary suspect and thus I opened the box to see if anything visible; I couldn’t use the acoustic error beeps for reference as there were none.

I had seen similar cases in the past, from burned/exploded electronics to dead memory. This time, a quick glance into the box was all I needed: it was so dusty I could hardly make out any mainboard features other than the CPU cooling block at all. And that was the problem.

The CPU’s cooling block was so dusty with all kind of things accumulated and compressed by the fan and then baked by the CPU’s heat, that eventually the fan could not start anymore. The mainboard reads the fan’s revolutions per minute (rpm) and given they were now 0, the whole system would not start at all.

After cleaning the box as good as I could – among other things with a cold-air hairdryer in a bathtub – the system was back to normal operation. There was enough dust in the box to take it out with my bare hands, think of a hair saloon’s floor.

The lesson of the day:
Always keep the computer’s environment clean and check the box once in a while.