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If you get a No Database Drivers available! error when trying to install SQL-ledger, it is most likely because you haven’t installed the perl/postgresql drivers. With FC3 you can install them through:

yum install perl-DBD-Pg

These weren’t the only difficulties I encountered with the sql-ledger installation process, so I have detailed the steps I took here:

yum install postgresql postgresql-server php-pgsql postgresql-pl perl-DBD-Pg

Then download and run the sql-ledger setup script

mkdir /usr/local/sql-ledger
cd /usr/local/sql-ledger
wget http://www.sql-ledger.org/source/setup.perl
chmod +x setup.perl
./setup.perl

Follow the on-screen prompts, and then once that has completed you will have to setup the database user etc..

su postgres
createuser sql-ledger
createdb sql-ledger
createlang plpgsql template1

You will then probably need to change the security settings of postgresql to trust local users, I did this by editing pg_hba.conf and changing the authentication to

   local           all        all           trust

Finally you should visit the http://localhost/sql-ledger/admin.pl script in your webbrowser to complete the setup.

We’ve been having a big debate in our office recently on whether we should be using Classes and Objects as a method of best practice in our PHP coding standards, or whether instead we should stick to using functions and avoid objects like the plague. I have been searching the web for other peoples views on the issue, and I eventually found this great article over on zend.com. You should read it if only for the comical but accurate descriptions of the procedural fanatic and the object fanatic.

Zend Technologies – Articles – The Best Tool For The Job: OO versus Procedural Programming in PHP

The general conclusion is that there is a time and a place for both programming methods, with procedural techniques better suited for building low overhead, tight and fast code, whereas object orientated techniques are better for making code that is re-useable and more flexible.

Nathan Ho has published some handy PHP GPG Encryption functions and classes on his site. It’s nice that he has even taken the time to write his code as both as class and a function for those that prefer one or the other.

I found a useful web page today that has several lists of uk phone area codes in varying formats. Apparently this data is also available on OfCom’s site, but I couldn’t find it.

I tried to get WPA wifi working on Breezy Badger with a Amilo M7400 laptop a while back and although it worked in the end, it was a bit of a nightmare getting there. However, it seems that with the new Dapper Drake release they have made the process a little easier with the network-manager-gnome package. Read this article on Ubuntu Dapper Drake and WPA-Encrypted Wireless at fredericiana for further information.

I have recently been testing out Google Apps for my domain maunders.net. This means I will be able to offer @maunders.net e-mail addresses and other Google services to people who share my surname.

Here are some videos of the impressive V22 Osprey Tilt rotor aircraft that I took at Farnborough Airshow earlier this year.

Flying in normal, forward rotor mode

Tilting the rotors from forward to upward

Hovering, and rotating

I have been struggling for the last half an hour trying to embedd a youtube video into my girlfriend’s wordpress blog. In the end I found the easiest way was to simply turn off the default WYSIWYG editor (Options > Writing > Formatting > untick “use visual rich editor by default”), and then you can just paste the object code straight from youtube. If you don’t want to turn this off then take a look at Embed How to get YouTube working with the WP2 WYSIWYG Editor.

This flash game, Phosphor, is mightily impressive. It is a 3D first person shooter with graphics on par with that of the original Quake. It shows you just how far we have come in the last few years that we can now embedd games like this in a web page!

Blogs aren’t just for guys, girls too have embraced them since their conception, and here is a new girl-focused blog called The New Pink that deals with everything from the latest fashion trends to diet advice and gadget reviews.