Perfect fonts in Ubuntu

I followed this how-to to install freetype and cairo libraries. Now my fonts are better anti-aliased, thus look very cute :). And for anyone who wants to have better fonts and don't want to worry any details, here's how to do it, in a brief way;

Just open gnome-terminal (or any other of your choice) and type these in order.

1. sudo echo "deb http://www.telemail.fi/mlind/ubuntu feisty fonts" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
2. sudo echo "deb-src http://www.telemail.fi/mlind/ubuntu feisty fonts" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
3. wget http://www.telemail.fi/mlind/ubuntu/937215FF.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
4. sudo aptitude update
5. sudo aptitude install libfreetype6 libcairo2 libxft2

and installing is complete. Restart the X server ( Ctrl + Alt + Backspace), and you are done :)
Edit : Installing MS fonts first would give better results. I guess you can do it easily using Automatix which is a GUI tool for easy installation of many additional applications in Ubuntu.

Eclipse PDT & Zend Debugger

I'm working on the Subversion server administration program I mentioned on my previous post. Till now, I had only programmed small projects using PHP, and didn't need a good IDE. Advanced text editors (Gedit, Notepad++ etc) were more than enough.
This time, I want to use a good IDE for ease and stability of development. I had previously read about the Eclipse PHP IDE project. So the first IDE I checked was my good old IDE Eclipse. I downloaded the PDT & Zend Debugger all in one package. And that's it, didn't try any single other PHP IDE.
I don't like PHP much. 'Type-unsafe' languages drive me mad. But Eclipse PDT was there to help me. With javadoc-like comments before variables and functions, I can notify the IDE of the type of the variables and return values of the functions. And when I call the function, or use the variable, the IDE guides me. This prevents many possible errors. This single feature of PDT was enough for me, but with that package, I also had auto-complete for PHP functions, documentation for each standart PHP function and an integrated debugger/interpreter. I didn't even need a web server (Although I already have one set-up).
For the HTML side, Aptana plug-in is my choice. I have used it on several occasions before, and I'm pleased with it.
I guess Eclipse will always be the IDE to try for any new languages.

Managing a Subversion Server

Recently, I set up an SVN server on a Gentoo machine (not an ordinary machine.. It has 6 sparc cpu's =) ) using the great howto from Gentoo Wiki. It works quite well, but I also need a web-based tool for ease of administration. I found svnmanager, but I had problems with it. It uses Prado Framework 2.0.3, which won't work with newer versions of PHP. As the server will also run other PHP applications, downgrading is not an option.
First I tried to update svnmanager's codes to newer versions of Prado Framework but Prado changed in many ways in the never versions (3.x). And finally I decided to code my own web based SVN administration tool. I'll start tomorrow, and i guess it will be finished in a couple of days. I had written a tool like this for our good old cvs server, and this looks even easier.
I'll be sharing the code for anyone that needs it.

Moved to Blogger

Fresh start on Blogger... I had bandwidth issues with my previous blog as it was hosted with my father's company's website. Also it's easier to blog on Blogger since i don't have to deal with Wordpress updates anymore. And Blogger has some slick features that just pulled me in...