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How frustrating!

I spent the entire day and evening trying to install Apache 2, PHP 4.4.0, and MySQL 3.23 on my workstation. I’m mentally fatigued. I succeeded in installing Apache 2 and PHP 4 but my installation of MySQL 3.23 is not cooperating. I’ve thrown in the towel but this has been a gratis day when I need to be maximizing my returns.

I basically followed this document and summarized it with:

STEP 1: Go to Start->Control Panels->Add/Remove Programs and Remove PHP 5 (do NOT remove Apache2).

STEP 2: Download PHP 4.4.0 from http://us3.php.net/get/php-4.4.0-Win32.zip/from/a/mirror ( you can get to that link from http://us3.php.net/downloads.php and choosing PHP Installer under Windows 4.4.0 binaries ) Use the ZIP package NOT the installer.exe.

STEP 3: Install PHP

STEP 3.1: Extract the files to C:\ This will create a folder called C:\php-4.4.0-Win32.

STEP 3.2: Rename the folder C:\php-4.4.0-Win32 to C:\PHP

STEP 3.3: Copy the file C:\PHP\php.ini-recommended file to your windows folder: c:\windows (might possibly be c:\winnt)

STEP 3.4: Rename C:\windows\php.ini-recommended to C:\windows\php.ini

STEP 3.5: Copy the file C:\PHP\php4ts.dll to your windows system folder. For XP and ME this is c:\windows\system32\

Now you have PHP 4.4.0 installed and Apache 2 installed. Next we will change some configurations.

STEP 4: Edit httpd.conf (find this file by going to Start->Program Files->Apache HTTP Server 2.0.54->Configure Apache Server->Edit the Apache httpd.conf Configuration File OR go to C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf\ and locate the file httpd.conf) to change the line that reads

DirectoryIndex index.html index.html.var

To be

DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm index.html.var

STEP 5: Open httpd.conf for editing. Find the section with references to “LoadModule” and after the last LoadModule line add

LoadModule php4_module “c:/PHP/sapi/php4apache2.dll”

STEP 6 Open httpd.conf for editing. Anywhere after the LoadModule line from STEP 6 add:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

Next you will edit the php.ini file which contains setting that control the behavior of php.

STEP 7: Open php.ini for editing. This file should be in c:\windows\ and find the line that says

doc_root =

Change it to read

doc_root = C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\htdocs

Now we will test.

STEP 8: Open Internet Explorer or Firefox (or browser of choice) and go to http://localhost/html/phpinfo.php If you see a screen that shows the php version and lots of variables then you have successfully installed the apache web server and PHP.

Next you will install the MySQL database server.

STEP 9: Get MySQL 3.23 (Note: The production server uses MySQL 3.23.39 which is why we aren’t using 4.1) from http://downloads.mysql.com/archives/mysql-3.23/mysql-3.23.58-win.zip saving it to a temporary location.

STEP 10: Unzip mysql-3.23.58-win.zip

STEP 11: Run setup.exe choosing the Typical installation.

STEP 12: Run C:\mysql\bin\winmysqladmin.exe to set a username and password for accessing mysql (don’t forget these).

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Sometimes My Days Feel Like This

Author unknown. Thanks to Shae Leighland for publishing it.

I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mailbox earlier. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car
keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first. But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.

I’m going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don’t accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye–they need to be watered. I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:
The car isn’t washed.
The bills aren’t paid.
There is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter.
The flowers don’t have enough water.
There is still only one check in my checkbook.
I can’t find the remote.
I can’t find my glasses.
And I don’t remember what I did with the car keys.

Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I’m really tired.

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I miss my music

At one point in my life I had roughly 700 CDs all categorized and alphabetized and not a scratch on a single CD. Now, as important as music is to me, I barely listen to music anymore. When I do I listen to the same CD over and over and over until it is no longer music but a drone slightly more pleasant than the static and other white noise that engulfs me.

Today I just spent 5 minutes trying to find a specific CD that I’ve wanted to listen to for the past several days. After digging through a disarray of CD cases I found the CD case I was seeking. Naturally it was empty. In the process of trying to find the case, I experimented and open several CD cases in a row. I went through 20 cases before finding one with a CD in it.

I might quit consulting and go back to work just so I can afford to shop at iTunes and once again fill my ears with music.

Update:Found it!

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Tech We Miss

C|Net brings us Top 10 tech we miss An enjoyable read with memories.

Technology evolves. Good technologies and products usually survive; poor ones usually go extinct. But not all of the technologies and tech products that have swirled down the drain of the tech gene pool deserved their fate. Here are some big, and some small, ideas that we thought we’d have with us forever, but that unfortunately have gone the way of the dodo.

Thanks to My Likes and Dislikes for the link!
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Technically, it’s no so easy

I have a client taking their dynamic site to a trade show on a laptop since they don’t want to rely on the trade show’s wireless connectivity. So, I say, "It’s easy. Just install PHP, MySQL and Apache on your laptop [windows XP]." After 5 hours of hair pulling yesterday I realize that versions on this stuff are as important as they say. Turns out version PHP 5.04 installer for windows does not automatically configure apache. Also apparently apache 2 is better for windows but php likes apache 1.3 better.

I’m returning to PHP 4 for this install.

Ah! Same error:

Sorry, the software to automatically ocnfigure the Apache httpd.conf file has not yet been written. You will have to configure Apache manually. See the install.txt file for more details.

My first pass at this error I got to a stopping point in the install.txt. Had I read further I would have found:

Installing as an Apache module

You should add the following lines to your Apache httpd.conf file:

Example 2-3. PHP as an Apache 1.3.x module

This assumes PHP is installed to c:\php. Adjust the path if this is
not the case.

For PHP 4:
# Add to the end of the LoadModule section
LoadModule php4_module “c:/php/php4apache.dll”

# Add to the end of the AddModule section
AddModule mod_php4.c

For PHP 5:
# Add to the end of the LoadModule section
LoadModule php5_module “c:/php/php5apache.dll”

# Add to the end of the AddModule section
AddModule mod_php5.c

For both:
# Add this line inside the conditional brace
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

# For syntax highlighted .phps files, also add
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

So the instructions in the install.txt continue to make no sense with Apache2 referencing files that aren’t there, lines of the httpd.conf that are non-existent and finally I find an exceptional answer that points out:

the problem is that the instructions that come with the php distrubutions only cover installations for Apache 1.3.x and not the 2.0 versions

And further directs us to "Installing Apache 2.0, PHP 4.2, MySQL 3.23, and PHPMyAdmin" by Jeffery F. Hill This looks like an excellent guide!

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I’ve been promising Tommy and Sarah and Internet c…


I’ve been promising Tommy and Sarah and Internet connection in their rooms for some time. I probably should have just gone wireless. So I take measurement after measurement to determine where to drill from the attic down into the wall. See, when renovating a house, you never know what’s in the walls. Using the window and an existing outlet I judge the appropriate spot to drill. The outlet without the cover shows us a verticle stud to its left which means the next stud should be 16 inches to its left. So I cut my hole for my gangbox between those 16 inches and what do you know! There’s a tiny piece of would innocuously in my space. A rip saw will take care of it but why is it there? Posted by Picasa