Nick's Homepage

tavardom

• Are you a Nick Jenkins or Nicholas Jenkins?
• Niseko Ski Diary.
• Résumé.
• Likes and Dislikes.
• Favourite Games.
• Thumb up or down: Things I'd like to see more of, and things I'd like to see less of.
• Random Thoughts.
• Quotes - Various quotes I saw and liked.
• I'd like to see that.
• Choosing a replacement Digital Camera.
• Diplomacy strategy tips. "First rule of Fight Club is ..."
• Social behaviour, or lack thereof.
• Notes on the LG WD-1435RD washer dryer.
• Links.

• Computers:
  • Things many web sites get wrong:
    • JavaScript links are evil.
    • Online stores should publish their shipping rates up front.
  • Comments or reviews on web sites or software:
    • Hoyts Website Sucks.
    • Review of TA Spring.
    • MSN maps gives impossible directions.
    • The decline of Google's search engine?
    • Comments on Gallery 2.0
  • Programming Languages:
    • Java's clone syntax seems to suck.
    • Ways that PHP4 sucks for work on non-trivial Object-Orientated problems.
    • Personal notes from when I was learning Java.
  • Linux:
    • My Linux Timeline.
    • Wish-list for Linux Distros.
    • Linux distro supported timeframes.
    • Why are some things so hard to configure in Linux?
    • No Microsoft End-game strategy for Linux.
  • Hardware:
    • My Desktop Hardware Upgrade Philosophy
  • Software Development
    • Random software development tips.
    • Maintaining software with the Swiss Cheese approach.
  • MediaWiki or Wikipedia:
    • Blog - mostly wiki-related ramblings.
    • Suggesting links for the English Wikipedia.
    • WikiHR.net - a directory for finding wiki-specialists or companies available for hire.
    • Open Wiki Blog Planet - displays over 100 wiki-related blogs on one page and which everyone can edit the list of feeds for.
    • MediaWiki parser and fuzz tests - technical, HTML compliance tests and fuzz tests. Not very interesting.
    • MediaWiki code coverage howto - info how to gather code coverage data for parser tests.
    • Experiment with Suggestion Searching on Wikipedia.
  • POV:
    • Software features that I would like to see become standard.
    • Limitations of 32-bit machines.
    • "The best way to stop the distribution of a bit of software is to charge money for it".
    • Steps to getting spam under control.
    • Technical problems with the Web.
  • Step-by-step: From-scratch installation steps for a Linux PHP web server running Debian Etch:
    • Run memtest overnight.
    • Install Debian Etch 4.0 base on an HP netserver 1000R with a NetRAID card.
    • Update /etc/apt/sources.list.
    • Get the latest and greatest packages.
    • Remove unneeded or unwanted packages.
    • Install LAMP.
    • Install extra useful software.
    • Disable IPv6.
    • Stop console screen from blanking.
    • Exim 4 configuration.
    • customizing Apache configuration.
    • Set up Apache virtual hosting.
    • Apache content compression.
    • Configure php.ini.
    • Enable SSL in Apache 2.
    • Change the date.
    • Installing and configuring tripwire.
    • Tweak MySQL configuration.
    • Installing and configuring portsentry.
    • Locking down the IP functionality.
    • limits.conf.
    • Install bastille.
    • Install the latest SUN JDK using pinning.
    • Install the NTP daemon to keep the time current.
    • Install APC as the PHP opcode cache.
    • All of the above steps, as one big page.
  • Misc:
    • TiVo amounts paid.

If I've made a typo or grammatical or technical mistake please just correct it (you can edit all pages), or if you some thoughts on what I've written & want to share them, if you have an answer to a question I've asked, or whatever, then leave me a message.