DreamHost has switched to Python 2.4.1. Now python is the alias for python2.4. Yay!

Update: checked it again — nope, python is the alias for python2.3. But python2.4 is available as well.

After some requests I’ve updated OpenWrt GUI screenshots .Additionally I’ve recorded a screencast using Wink . Enjoy!

Update: new OpenWrt GUI alpha is released !

Update: this document is officially obsolete — alpha is released !

Finally I released a preview: /webui-0.1-pre-alpha.ipk!

I included two information applets and a simple network configuration applet. I think it would be enough for a proof of concept. I borrowed heavily from nbd’s webif . So if it works for you, it is due to his OpenWrt expertise. If it doesn’t, it is my fault.

Both webif and webui can be installed side by side:

Finally I found time to finish it up. It is pre-alpha quality now, but shows the direction.

The only problem is a packaging. I didn’t mean OpenWrt ’s IPKG. I am talking about creating a custom build of Dojo to reduce the foot print. Dojo has a special provision for that but so far I was not able to do it getting some strange errors. I hope I’ll get some help from developers.

I’ve migrated my sites to new Django admin. It is easy to do but make sure that you followed instructions closely. Small mistakes can cost you a lot of head-scratching time. You can find the instructions at the bottom of Backwards-incompatible changes .

New refactoring has totally made sense. Meanwhile Robert Wittams & Co is working on new-admin (note the hyphen). Django’s admin is a very nice app (now it is an app!). I hope I could reuse some pieces of upcoming new-admin in my apps. If I remember correctly it was the main driving force behind branching.

DreamHost has installed Python 2.4.1. Somehow I didn’t see it before. Default python goes to Python 2.3.5. Use python2.4 instead.

I decided to post some screenshots of OpenWrt GUI running on my browser. I didn’t package it as .ipk yet. Screenshots are hosted on Flickr . If you want to see full-size picture (== undistorted by scaling), go to "different sizes" (it is in "Additional information" on the right side), and select "Large". Please bear in mind that this is the first cut without any niceties. I’ll put some niceties in, but I want to have working functionality first.

As you know I bricked my wireless router. All simple things were tried without any positive effect. Kaloz (of OpenWrt fame) has advised me to try JTAG . It’s a very simple thing: you need a computer, a proper software, and JTAG cable, which can be self-made . Obviously the last part is the crucial one.

I made a trip to my friendly neighborhood Altex store and bought all necessary parts: 4 100 Ohm resistors, male & female 14 pin IDC connectors (they didn’t have 12 pin ones, which were modified later using cutters), 25 pin male SUB-D, and 3’ 25 pin male to female cable — I figured I’ll make extremely short JTAG "cable" and attach it to short printer cable. The last item was the most expensive part: $3.99. It took me about 5 minutes to put everything together.

In his blog post Ian Maurer shares a very slick way to run unit tests with SQLite’s in-memory database. Check it out: http://itmaurer.com/blog/?p=2

Simple, elegant, practical.

Today I have good news and bad news.

The good news is tonight I was able to work on AJAX OpenWrt GUI a little bit more. It is coming together. I coded my first applet. It shows current stats, nothing fancy.

The bad news is I bricked my router apparently by running nvram show repeatedly. I suspect that nvram is corrupted beyond salvation. I have to reset it somehow. I tried simple recipies listed in OpenWrt Wiki but no luck so far. I’ll try to revive it on weekend. I have a feeling that my future lies with JTAG. Until the router is up I cannot debug OpenWrt GUI.

O.K. I migrated to InnoDB using backup/restore. So far so good.

Don’t forget to replace all "MyISAM" to "InnoDB" in your backup files before restoring them to new databases.

Joy to the World! DreamHost just started to offer MySQL/InnoDB! Finally we can do transactions. Just three weeks ago they "didn’t have any plans."

Wording of the news is kind of strange: "we now offer InnoDB support on all new MySQL databases anybody adds from our web panel." It turned out I cannot change my existing databases. Oh, well. I can copy them.

Today I learned that this blog is ranked 775,745 by Technorati ! It means that only 775,744 blogs are better than mine. Eat my dust you two nameless losers!

I pledge to continue my standards of excellence and to grow my rank to at least 1,000,000. As a matter of fact I did almost everything I could for that. Now I have to find 224,255 people to join Technorati with their blogs… Damn this Technorati pyramid scheme!

I was able to spend several hours this week to work on upcoming OpenWrt GUI. I use Dojo as a foundation. At this point I coded a skeleton, which works as a proof of concept. As soon as I finish putting in AJAX guts, I’ll switch to meaty functionality. Add some nice skin to it and we have our homunculus up and running.

Huh? AJAX? No, it’s not Ajax the detergent . No, I didn’t mean Ajax the pro soccer club . "Now I clearly remember that AJAX is a Trojan, and I don’t like Trojans and viruses" — clever, but no. Go see the movie about Greek heroes and the Wooden Horse. And let’s skip "Trojan" discussion altogether — I’m trying to be PG-13 rated.

Once again, let’s grab new version of TinyMCE .

I am running new Django cache code now. If you notice any problems with it (e.g., error messages), please drop me a line at once.

My email is at the bottom of the page.

For a long time I wanted to have two TinyMCE toolbars for Django Admin:

• One-line toolbar with the most essential tools, which gives a lot of space for inline editing of text.
• Full-featured toolbar with all tools for full-screen mode.

It finally happened. Spocke (the main developer of TinyMCE) helped me to figure out how to do it. I updated my article in Django Wiki with new config file, and removed my notes about space problem (new config file solves it) and flickering (new TinyMCE 2.0 RC2 works perfectly).

In my previous post I complained about annoying flickering. Well, I’ve upgraded to TinyMCE 2.0 RC2 and it doesn’t flicker anymore! Run, don’t walk, and upgrade immediatelly!

Finally I bit the bullet and decided to implement OpenWrt web-based user interface using Felix Fietkau ’s code. Well, MIPS processors used by OpenWrt units are not race horses and GUI is slow to my taste. Yes, I know that stock firmware is not faster. "Slow" is absolute category for me.

How do we combat latencies and slow network speed? Exactly. We can apply the same for OpenWrt, where "slow network speed" is replaced with "slow processor on local network". So I decided to do The Right Thing^(tm) and implement it using AJAX approach. I will use Dojo .

Hurricane Rita was donwgraded to Category 3 storm (125mph/200kph winds). Here in Dallas we expect heavy rains for 2+ days.

Sunset was very colorful today. I tried to capture it in this picture:

You can find bigger picture on Flickr .