Convalesco

Another important fact that I didn’t mention in my previous post, but I’m frustrated to find out now is that, compared to PHP, Ruby on Rails applications are really hard to install and set up and the troubleshooting is not always easy. After a few days of messing up with Mephisto I’m still struggling to install a photo gallery that runs was made with ruby on rails. While almost any PHP applications requires a predefined PHP account and a working URL, ruby applications doesn’t come up with a configuration script or GUI, which turns out as a major drawback. I’m dealing with installation of Gullery, a ruby on rails photo publishing program. I’ve lost like 5 hours on troubleshooting and hacking through ruby, gems and rake. If you take a look at Google for “Application error: Rails application failed to start properly” you get about 29.600 results, it’s scary and shows clearly the immature state of Ruby on Rails as a web development platform. However, no one argues about the potential that it has and beauty of the code produced, without mentioning that compared to PHP is far more secure.
Let’s pray that RoR developers will make it a bit more easy to install their applications in the future for us, users.

Today I spend some time finishing my new web site. I think that I will work on this template called Integral. You can find info about the template at the end of the page (check out the parting words). Anyway, I messed up a bit with the CSS. I’m reading a few manuals about HTML and CSS. Apparently they will turn really helpful. A good easy-to-use editor is missing from Mephisto. I say so, because compared to other similar projects, it has a very intuitive user interface but when comes to posting you find your self lost through HTML tags which is not handy for everyone. I’d wanted for my best friends to blog with me, but that will not be possible because both of them don’t share the passion and time that I do for computers and Internet. Why should they bother learning HTML? The good news is that you can use a desktop tool and post through XML-RPC. Textmate works great, I’m posting through TM right now and seems to work fine.
As for Mephisto compared to Wordpress. No. I use Mephisto for two days while I’ve used Wordpress for almost 2 years. Wordpress has a huge community around it. The main reason for me choosing Mephisto are the good comments I’ve read about it online and the fact that runs in Ruby on Rails. I have a sympathy for Ruby. Apart from that, the Themes that are ported for Mephisto are not fully compatible with it yet. I mean, you need to edit the Templates manually in order to make them work as you would like them. For instance, I don’t have an option to add links on the left of the screen. I’ll do it manually, but it’s not handy. I’m not referring to advanced users, whatever that means, and it will take a few weeks (probably) until I finish my templates setup. I’d like to install a photo web gallery and use the same template if possible. We’ll see about that in the future.

About The Blog

“Convalesco” in Latin means growing stronger. After thinking a few days for a name I came with no better choice than that. I like it!
The languages that I write the posts are English and Hellenic (Greek) and maybe Italian. Comments are slightly moderated to avoid hassles. The topics can vary from personal life to politics, technology, music, cars or travels.

About Me

My name is Panagiotis. I am a computer hobbyist, born in 1982 in Xanthi. I live since 1983 in Drama, which is my father’s hometown. I spend my time playing with my computers, listening music, blogging, snowboarding, travelling and of course working. I studied at the Luigi Bocconi university but in late 2004 had to come back in Greece due to health problems. Milan is widely known as the most polluted European city. Since then the task of getting the degree turned into something impossible. I started working at the family business since I came to Greece. Formally I still am a University Student but I don’t know if I will ever get the degree. I’ll decide if I will continue my studies, after I finish my national service duties, which means in May-September 2008.

I’d like to improve my English and learn Bulgarian and French. Bulgarian ’cause of my job and French because I’m love with France and Paris! I went in Paris with no expectations, and I fell in love with the centre of the city. Note that the centre of Paris is twice as big as my hometown, Drama.

My computers are an iBook G4 which I spend most of a time on and a Pentium 4, 2.66 Ghz. The iBook was meant to be a laptop but in the process it turned into my all-in-one computer. The first x86 computer runs now Gentoo GNU/Linux and acts like a server. The desktop x86 computer now runs, Microsoft Windows Home XP and Ubuntu GNU/Linux. I support all the UNIX based operating systems. Although I have not deep bash experience, command line is the only way for me to control a computer. I’m not familiar with MS-DOS, but I’m fairly familiar with GNU/Linux and I can find my way easily through every other UNIX -like operating system I’ve encounter, with some reading of course.

I am also owner of a fantastic Lotus Elise MK2. I’ve been in love with this car since 2000 when I first saw the Lotus Elise MK1 in Milan. I couldn’t think that it will be mine someday but my father made me this amazing gift the October 24th, 2004. A dream came true! Although it’s a Spartan car, I never regret purchasing it. The Lotus Elise, has an added value which is hard to describe. Even when you are feeling down, a ride with this car can turn your mood up easily. The Lotus is a miracle of U.K. engineering as Jeremy Clarkson said and a wet dream as another famous journalist mentioned! The standard edition features only 122 hp and has a 0-100 km/h acceleration in less than 6 seconds, it’s steering capabilities are unbelievable and the design is unbeatable. I consider the Elise the most beautifully car ever designed, along with the Aston Martin DB9 and Maseratti 3200 GT. After 2.5 years of ownership, I still stand and admire the killer design and handling of the Lotus car!

My father has for cars the love that I have for computers. He owns 3 cars, the family car a Lancia Thesis 2.0, a Fiat Bertone model year 1979, and an old Golf 2T which is configured for Rally Sprint, a race tournament that we join. We race together from time to time, I am the co-driver.

Beliefs and Views

I believe that Open Source is often the right choice and a public good, there many reasons to use it when possible. I advocated open source software most of the times because I believe that the wider range of users can doesn’t need proprietary software to do daily operations like: e-mail, browsing, file sharing. I am a strong supporter of the Open Source movement from the philosophical perspective as well.

However I’m not an open source bigot, I don’t believe that proprietary software should cease to exist. For example, I dislike Microsoft, but I consider Microsoft Office suite the best software for office available. I believe that the MS Office suite worth it’s commercial price. It will pay back in a reasonable amount of time if someone needs the extensive features that MS Office has build in. However most of us, can do the same job with the same ease of use with Open Source office suites. I’d prefer using Open Office or other ODF tools for business and iWork with ODF support, for home usage. I am an Macintosh user after all!

Generally I try to avoid Microsoft’s software, and use open source tools, but I accept proprietary software when it’s the natural choice. Same goes for Apple’s software and other companies.

For example; If you are a professional photographer you must purchase Adobe’s Photoshop or a related software. It is a worthy package for photographers and web designers. It costs a lot of money, in my opinion, but if you get familiar with it, you can do amazing things. So, open source is not a panacea for everyone.

Politics

I’m Liberal, I believe in a free self-regulated economy and social freedom.

Favourite Quotes

“Never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not so sure about the universe.” - Albert Einstein

contact: atma[at]convalesco.org , GnuPG key here. NOTE: Don’t use the MIT GnuPG key it’s not gonna work!

Digital Art

Various digital artworks and videos that I created in my free time.

• Alpine snowboard wallpaper, 1024×768: [Alpine Snowboarding]

• Lotus Elise v1 wallpaper, 1024×768: [Lotus elise]

Articles

Articles that I wrote and post in my blog or other blogs and or journals. Currently only in Greek.

• Τουρκία, Ελλάδα και Ε. Ε. αναδημοσιεύτηκε στο οικονομικό-πολιτικό blog e-roosters
• Οδηγός NOVA smartcard Type: ZETA & Dreambox 600PVR-S για αρχάριους

αναδημοσιεύτηκε σε διάφορα forums.