Getting the script

You can either use git to grab the file or you can simply grab the script only.

With git:

git clone git://github.com/nixternal/dreamhost_less_compiler_install_script.git

If you grab the script from the above link, you will need to make it executable:

chmod +x dh_less_inst.sh

Running the script

Here comes the easy part:

./dh_less_inst.sh

What does the script do?

The script simply downloads the necessary packages from the Ubuntu archive, or a tarball if it isn’t in the archive. The following is a list of everything that gets downloaded and installed as well as where it gets placed: NOTE: $PREFIX defaults to ~/.local/usr

• lesscss – git clone of the lesscss source. bin/lessc and lib/less moved to $PREFIX
• libev – tarball configured, built, and installed to $PREFIX
• node.js – deb file extracted. bin/node moved to $PREFIX
• libc-ares, libssl, libicu, and libv8 – deb file extracted. lib/ moved to $PREFIX

What you need to add to make it work

You just need to add 2 lines to your shell’s rc file. In my case I added them to ~/.zshrc, but by default Dreamhost shared servers use ~/.bash_profile. Here are the 2 lines to add:

export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.local/usr/bin
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$HOME/.local/usr/lib"

Source the edited file or log out and back in for everything to work.

Conclusion

If you have any problems, please leave a comment below.

Install and Use LESS on Dreamhost is a post from Richard A. Johnson's blog.

I have chosen to use a plugin called WP-Paginate that creates a block of page numbers which allow the reader to select a page number instead of next or previous. The following is an example of what I am talking about:

First thing you will need to do is install the plugin and activate it. After doing that, you need to set it up, and of course this is something you should play with to get it the way you would like. After tweaking and testing, the settings I use that worked best for me were:

• Pagination Label, Previous Page, Next Page, Before Markup, and After Markup I left default.
• Markup Display and WP-Paginate CSS File are both checked.
• Page Range I set to 4
• Page Anchors I set to 1
• Page Gap I set to 3

NOTE: the following is for use with WordPress 3.1 and a Thematic child-theme. Will it work on other themes or child-themes? I don’t know, that would be up to you to play around with, I just know this is working with the latest version of WordPress at this time and Thematic as well. Thematic version as of this post is 0.9.7.7.

The next step would be to add an override function for either your above-nav or your below-nav, or both. In my case, I did both, but with a twist. When I am reading the first page, I didn’t want the pagination block to be at the top of the blog page, but when viewing pages 2 and up, I wanted to see the block at the top. This way here if a reader decided when the page loaded they didn’t want anything there, they could switch to another page without having to scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Now remember, I am showing this for a Thematic child-theme, and this is tested and working on just that with WordPress 3.1. To replace the default pagination with the new pagination, I need to add the following to my child theme’s function.php file. Here is the code that I added to that file:

if (function_exists('wp_paginate')) {
    function setup_navs($loc) {
        echo '<div id="nav-' . $loc . '" class="navigation">';
        if (is_single()) {
            echo '<div class="nav-previous">' . thematic_previous_post_link() . '</div>';
            echo '<div class="nav-next">' . thematic_next_post_link() . '</div>';
        } elseif ($loc == 'above' && is_category()) {
            wp_paginate();
        } else {
            wp_paginate();
        }
        echo '</div>';
    }
    function childtheme_override_nav_above() {
        setup_navs('above');
    }
    function childtheme_override_nav_below() {
        setup_navs('below');
    }
}

Breaking the code down
The first line checks to see if the WP-Paginate plugin is in fact installed and activated. If it is, then it goes ahead and does its magic. Seeing as I wanted to change both my nav_above and nav_below functions, I created a function called setup_navs and passed it a string for either above or below. This function then steps through and checks if the page is a single page. This is a page where you have gone ahead and clicked on a blog post and are reading it. I didn’t want the new pagination in there, so the reader will be present with the Previous and Next posts just like normal. Then I wanted to check and make sure that the location for the pagination block was above and that it was a category page. This is a page of posts. The reason this works is because when you go to your blog posts page, and are using proper permalinks, it is really addressed as /blog/page/1, but it is redirected to /blog/ instead. As soon as you go to the next page of posts, or a page greater than 1, the is_category() check will now be true, therefor displaying the pagination block at the top as well. If the location, or $loc is bottom, then it just does the pagination as normal for the bottom of a page.

To see what I am talking about in use, go ahead and click around on the page block on the bottom. When you get to a page that isn’t the first page, you will be presented with the block at the top as well as at the bottom.

NOTE: I am not a PHP programmer at all, and only know enough to be dangerous, but it isn’t much different than other languages that I am better versed in logically. So if you see something I could do better, please let me know in the comments. Thanks!

WordPress, Thematic, and WP-Paginate is a post from Richard A. Johnson's blog.

Since I have started using Google AdSense on my blog, I have always used the same size ad on every page. The reason I did this is because of space allotment, and I didn’t know any better at the time. The other day while I was researching AdSense, I was reading about targeting and the different channels. After reading, I created a few different sized ads and tried to figure out how to fit them in to my website. I knew on pages like my blog, where the page was long, I could use a skyscraper ad, but on pages that were smaller, such as as my Contact or Donate pages, I couldn’t use such a large ad. Instead of mucking up my page with Javascript, or better yet my sidebar widgets since that is where my ads are placed, I decided I wanted to go the PHP route, do a single call to the database to get the page name, and go from there. If you have any experience with WordPress, one thing you will notice is you can’t include PHP markup in the body of any pages, posts, or widgets. This is a good thing, as it can potentially become a security risk. Sure there are different plugins you can use that will allow you to use PHP in pages or posts, but I decided on one.

I chose to use Shortcode Exec PHP (SEP). I read reviews, checked out the forums, making sure nobody was having major issues or security issues. What SEP does is allow me to create PHP snippets in my WordPress Settings, and call them with short code in a page, post, or widgets. For instance, for my ads I would add [adsense] where ever I wanted to place my customized ad format.

To do this, you first need to install SEP into your WordPress site, activate it, and then get to writing your snippets. To access the page to add, delete, or edit snippets, go to Settings → Shortcode Exec PHP. On this page you will see a box or boxes for your snippets.

NAME represents the name of the short code that you will call within the brackets in a page, post, or widget. SHORTCODE SNIPPET is the actual PHP markup you will use for this snippet.

So in Google AdSense I have gone ahead and created 3 different ads, each have a different size.

• Blog page and other longer length pages have a text/image skyscraper ad that is 160×600 in size and is in the sidebar.
• Contact page has a text/image box that is 250×250 in size and is in the sidebar.
• Donate page is short, so neither of the 2 above will fit it correctly, so I created a text/image ad that is 468×60, and isn’t in the sidebar.

So, since I am targeting the sidebar widget here, I am just going to look at the ads for my blog and contact pages to do some shortcode for. Like I stated earlier, I gave this shortcode the name adsense. In the shortcode snippet box I added the following PHP code:

global $post;
if ($post->post_name != 'donate') {
    echo '<script type="text/javascript"><!--';
    echo 'google_ad_client = "ca-pub-0123456789876543210";';
    if ($post->post_name != 'contact') {
        echo '/* YourAdsUniqueName */';
        echo 'google_ad_slot = "0123456789";';
        echo 'google_ad_width = 160;';
        echo 'google_ad_height = 600;';
    } else {
        echo '/* YourAdsUniqueName */';
        echo 'google_ad_slot = "0123456789";';
        echo 'google_ad_width = 250;';
        echo 'google_ad_height = 250;';
    }
    echo '//-->';
    echo '</script>';
    echo '<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">';
    echo '</script>';
}

NOTE: your YourAdsUniqueName and google_ad_slot information will be different.

After adding this, I click the Add button, which adds the shortcode and now allows you to edit it, test it, or delete it. In this case testing it won’t be of much good, as it will only return the portion of the add in the else portion of the if statement. Next you will want to make sure that both the Enabled and Output echoed boxes are checked.

Next go into your widgets and add a Text widget. In the large post box, all you need to add is [adsense]. You can wrap this in a div if you need to do any formatting.

That’s it, now I will have a different ad whether it is on my donate page, a blog page, or a page that is longer.

WordPress and Google AdSense is a post from Richard A. Johnson's blog.

Well Curtis hit me up on IRC this evening, and it seems my previous post where he was looking for a Qt dev worked out well for him. He asked me again to help out, and of course I am more than happy. Seems I am doing better at getting other people employed than I am with getting myself employed. Oh well.

This time around they are looking for someone who can hack on drivers and the kernel for their equipment, as well as a little bit more. I know the salary is competitive, the atmosphere is great, and if it is warm, you can wear shorts. My type of job, except for the fact I couldn’t hack myself out of a wet paper bag when it comes to creating drivers. Here is a quick breakdown on what they are looking for:

• Prior experience in Linux based software design / implementation including design
• Extensive knowledge of Ubuntu, including building / maintaining Debian packages
• Extensive knowledge of the Video4Linux2 and ALSA sound API
• Prior experience with gstreamer and RTSP
• Prior experience with SQLite, Postgres and Mysql
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Linux operating system development (device and kernel level) recommended
• Strong knowledge of C, PHP, Javascript required. Knowledge of Perl and Python suggested
• Strong knowledge of Apache2 and prior experience in writing PHP modules
• Played a leading role in the design and develop of previous client / server based applications
• Previous work with and understanding of working with video / audio formatting / codecs including MPEG4 and H.264
• Internet and operating system security fundamentals
• Sharp analytical abilities and proven design skills
• Strong sense of ownership, urgency, and drive
• Demonstrated ability to achieve goals in a highly innovative and fast paced environment

Sound like your type of job? If so, head on over to the Monster page for the position, Linux video surveillance software developer. In the past Curtis was looking for someone in the US to fill this position. And just so you know, you don’t have to live in Missouri, but if you happen to live in any of the US time zones, then you would be a groovy candidate. I do happen to know they are using Qt as well as Ubuntu (cough, someone get him on Kubuntu fast!) so I am sure knowing a little of that wouldn’t be to bad either, but I am sure it isn’t necessary.

There are great perks, so hurry up while it lasts!

Linux Software Developer Required is a post from Richard A. Johnson's blog.

Here is just a brief introduction to the job posting Curtis has posted on Monster:

Bluecherry is seeking a well qualified applicant for cross platform Qt user interface software development. The position will also assist with training and support. The ideal candidate should have excellent communication skills and a strong background developing software applications under Linux. The candidate should also have extensive knowledge of Ubuntu. The position is full-time and is based in our Fulton, MO office however consideration will be given to telecommuter positions within the United States.

If you are interested in the position, I highly recommend you take a look at the job posting on Monster and apply through there, or send Curtis an email with your resume or CV to jobs (AT) bluecherry (DOT) net. Curtis would also like you have the following:

Applicants should provide, a resume including past work history, a cover letter with a brief introduction, two personal and two technical references.

Applicants should have prior work history available for us to review, specifically examples of Qt design and development.

Curtis also told me the following in an email:

We are trying to fill this position ASAP, so if someone might be interested I would highly recommend they apply quickly.

NEEDED – Cross platform Qt software developer is a post from Richard A. Johnson's blog.