My family is a two Operating System family… I use Windows XP & he uses Linux. With this said, my husband recently built a Linux box for his father and went to set it up for him.

I, in turn, called up Verizon to set up DSL for him. I specifically asked Verizon if they had support for Linux users and they said Yes… So I proceeded.

The DSL modem arrived, with a CD and some papers explaining how to setup. However, as usual, it was all for Windows machines. We contacted Verizon, went through the automated answerer, which gave the options for Windows users, Mac users, or Other OS’s. We were slightly amused that when you get support for Other OS’s, they haven’t a clue what Linux is. Wonder what they mean by Other OS’s?

Anyway, I digress….

It was clear that we had to figure out how to hook up our own modem to the Linux box. I found several things on the Internet to help, but one helped the most… Ben’s Drivel was a tremendous help. Of course we found a few differences… so I am going to list the steps here.

1. Connect your DSL modem and turn it on. For simplicities sake, plug your computer directly into modem.

2. Open Firefox and type in 192.168.1.1 on the location bar.

3. The user name and password are username/password. Be sure to change this to something else once you log in.

4. (Note: At this point, we did not have a username or password. We had call Verizon only to find out that once you use the CD, it will generate the user name and password. I had to RE-EXPLAIN to them the we are hooking up a Linux box… Finally, they put me on hold and then generated a user name and password to use.) So, if you do not have a user name and password, contact Verizon and have them give you one.

5. Wait for the network to be detected, and then click on the green text “connected” in the left-hand pane.

6. Ben’s Drival says “Under broadband connection, click add.” However, we couldn’t find an “add” button or link. Instead, we saw Verizon listed with a Edit link. So, we clicked Edit and added our Verizon user name and password.

7. In Ben’s Drival he also says the following: “Click apply, and then back at the broadband connection screen, disconnect the “Auto registration” connection and then connect the new one you just made. Also, don’t forget to make it default.” Of course for us, we didn’t have any default to mark.. Also, we did not see anything for “Auto Registration.” This could be due to a difference in programs used or the distro of Linux used. We connected using the one we previously edited.

8. Once its connected, open a new browser window and browse to this address: http://192.168.1.1/verizon/redirect.htm …

9. Once the page is loaded, click disable.

10. Make sure this process worked by browsing to any web page.

11. Restart the modem to make sure everything is saved.

Perhaps one day Verizon will simplify this set up for Linux users. Until then, I hope this helps someone, just as Ben’s Drival helped us.

I am knew at installing WordPress. So, you can imagine the frustrations that I came across.

For me, I have a cPanel installation. It really is quite nice to just click a button and have it install automatically… all files and database… Installed! Cool Huh?! Yeah, well… didn’t work so easily. I ended up getting some help with the installation. After getting WordPress installed manually, my dashboard told me that I needed to update to 2.5. Hmm.

I found out that the WordPress that I had been working on can NO LONGER be upgraded with cPanel. Something, apparently got messed up with the integration between cPanel and WordPress. Great!

So, I call my tech support and beg them to help out with updating to the new version. They were glad to help out.

So now, the blog that I have installed (with a little help) won’t upload images… Oh man. Well, I did lots of lookups on the problem. First, I found out that the Permalinks has a script that it wants to add to the .htaccess, but can’t because the .htaccess is set to a 660 permission. So, I tried every combination, 777 worked best. I was able to upload images… but only once or twice. I found that when I logged out and then back in again the permissions changed on the .htaccess and WordPress still wanted permission to write to it and couldn’t.

Then I found some help in the WordPress Forums to add this script to my .htaccess:

<ifmodule mod_security.c>
<files async-upload.php>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</files>
</ifmodule>

So now my htaccess looks like this:

<ifmodule mod_security.c>
<files async-upload.php>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</files>
</ifmodule>

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

Well, I used that and it seemed to work for me, but not for my client couldn’t seem to make it work. We both use Firefox and it is the most current version.

Well, today I updated her blog again… I got tired of always changing the permissions to 777. I figure, hey maybe the most current, 2.5.1 will correct this problem. The image uploading seems to work fine for me.. but, sad to say, it doesn’t work for her.

To boot, I still have the permissions problem for the permalinks. I don’t understand why it needs to always add the same script over and over again.

Anyway, regarding the image uploads, I found this website Upload problems? Upgrade Flash that has a lot of different things to check such as what version of FLASH you’re using. So, now my goal is to find out why I can upload and she can’t.

If you have any ideas, let me know. At this point, I am out of ideas.

More later…

Well, I finally took the time to “re-install” my Macromedia FlashPaper 2.0… After all the work I took to uninstall Flash and all it’s bits, I had hoped that I would be able to reinstall my program.

The first thing I did BEFORE this reinstall was to set a new restore point. Sometimes having a restore point on your Window XP can be very helpful. (Sometimes its not.) Anyway, I ran the install and STILL ended up with the same error message.

At this point, I have given up using this product. It is clear to me that Adobe will NOT be upgrading or supporting this product any longer. It is really too bad because I loved this product!

Meanwhile, I have googled (Don’t you just love that word? It sounds nasty… you’ve been googled.) .doc to .swf or .doc to flash, as well as .doc to .pdf and have found that there are other products on the Internet that will do the similarly to FlashPaper. One product I have found is SWF Printer Pro. I am not yet convinced that this will create as nice of a document for the web as FlashPaper… but I am still looking.

More later…

I have several programs that I use with my business that helps to create various flash objects. A couple months ago I began experiencing problems with one of my programs, Macromedia FlashPaper.

It first started when my browser told me that a new version of flash was available. Like a good robot, I updated without question. Shortly after, I found that my FlashPaper would try to reinstall itself whenever I right clicked on other programs (unrelated to FlashPaper). I found this to be very frustrating.

After checking for viruses, spyware, or adware, I went to Adobe for support. The first time I called in, I was told that they don’t do phone support for FlashPaper… but since it involved Flash; he would see what he could do. He had me uninstall FlashPaper and then he had me navigate on my computer to C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash\ where we located my flash.ocx file. I then changed this file to flash-old.ocx and reinstalled FlashPaper.

Well, that worked for a while. The latest episode was the reason for my blog entry.

This time, Flash Objects weren’t showing up in my Microsoft IE. Any product that used IE to view web pages wouldn’t show them either. Odd… Firefox still showed these objects. (Yeah Firefox!)

I figured that both the IE problem and the FlashPaper reinstalling itself were related. So, instead of calling Adobe, (I knew they wouldn’t help me on the phone), I “googled” the error message I was getting whenever FlashPaper would try to reinstall itself.

Error 1904.Module
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash\Flash.ocx
failed to register. HRESULT -2147220473. Contact
your support personnel.

I found some very interesting articles that I felt would be useful to anyone who “googled” the same error message and needed to see a more current report. It is frustrating to search for fixes only to find they are two years old.

Make sure you read these thoroughly before doing any work on your computer; otherwise you’ll be doing it twice.

• Error 1904: flash.ocx failed to register (Flash Player, Flash Paper) - This article is the main article that was directly related to the problem I had with FlashPaper. This last time that I came to this problem, it didn’t work like before, probably because it had the IE problem too.

• Troubleshoot Adobe Flash Player installation for Windows. This article explains how to uninstall Flash.

• Flash Player Support FAQ

• Download SubInACL from Microsoft to fix permission issues that prevent the Flash Player installation

• How to uninstall the Adobe Flash Player plug-in and ActiveX control

All of these articles are linked to each other.

With the help of these articles, I was able to completely clear out Flash. Add/Remove Programs in your control panel does not do this completely. Once it was removed completely I was able to reinstall Flash and ActiveX successfully.

Now, I have not reinstalled FlashPaper… Wonder if I should?

More later…

Heidi

What’s the importance of having a website anyway?

I have been a Web Designer for a number of years. I have contemplated how I would explain the importance of a website for businesses that I encounter everyday. I have had numerous comments that I have voiced, but never have I written it down to read. Here is my chance.

We are in a technical age now. Everyone is using computers, cell phones, hand held devices… they are talking Bluetooth this and IR that. Have you ever heard this one, “Hey beam me your stats!” …Beam my what? Where do I look like I’m from, Starship Enterprise?

It’s true; I wear a Bluetooth in my ear and a cell phone on my hip every waking moment. I have a laptop and a desktop at my disposal. I consider myself web savvy. If I need to find a business, I jump on the web to find them. If I am driving and need a phone number, address, or directions, I use my cell phone to call up my best friend, who in turn does a lookup on her computer. Lately, I have called Google’s new 800-GOOG-411 which connects me automatically.

It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, everyone asks that pertinent question, “Do you have a website?” or “How about an Email address?” It is a sad moment when you hear the reverberating, “No.”

I live near a University town and everyone is ‘wired’ up here. Students look for apartments or homes that are ‘wired’ for Internet. When I first moved here, I moved from a very large city to a very tiny city. I call it “Podunk, Idaho.” I remember the first few days we moved up here, I would search the Internet for restaurants that would deliver to my home. Just local restaurants; it didn’t matter that I wasn’t able to order online. All I wanted was a menu to see my choices, or the possibility of finding discount coupons just for using the Internet.

No business is too small for a website. Do you hand out business cards? How important are business cards to your business? Do you have an advertisement in the Yellow Pages? I remember a time in my childhood hearing my father working out the details of advertising his business in the Yellow Pages. The bigger the Ad, the more business he had. Having a website is just as important as these are, if not more.

The Internet is a very useful advertising and marketing tool. It is purported that Internet marketing is now a major, multi-billion dollar industry. People are becoming more confident in using the Internet for all their shopping needs. I do! Living in “Podunk, Idaho” driving to a city that has a large department store or even a grocery store becomes time consuming. Buying gifts for Christmas, Birthdays, and Valentine’s Day couldn’t be easier!

An Internet presence, if only to say who you are, has become a necessary means to good advertising.

Ok, so now you want a website, what do you need?

The first thing you need to do is find yourself a web designer who can sit down with you and get a feel for you and your business.

Your website must:

• Describe your business.
• Describe your services or products.
• You NEED contact information available. (Web forms are useful tools for gathering information.)
• If you’re a performing artist, you need a Media Kit, also known as a Press Kit.
• Do you teach? Describe your programs or workshops

If you offer a service, it is important to elaborate on the service or services that you offer. For instance, are you a public speaker? Use your website as a forum to speak out to your clients. Are you an artist? Show some examples of what you have done in the past. Sell your work using a small store setting, displaying your products for all to see.

Use your website like a canvas or a billboard. Make it interesting and exciting to visit.

Once your Website is functional, remember to update.

One very important thing to remember is to keep you website fresh! You need to add new information and remove old information, regularly. Make sure that people want to come back to your website. Keep your pages clean and easy to navigate. Add features to your website like newsletters, calendars, and photo albums for starters. Offer specials on your products from time to time. Add reviews from previous customers whether they are in-house or through email. Remember, your website is a work in progress!

Welcome to the 21st Century!

More Later!

Heidi

Over the past few months blogs have become an important cog to the workings of a web site. I have read numerous articles and heard several opinions on why blogs are essential in creating a well ranked web site.

Well, after numerous hours of hacking away at this blog, I think I have finally installed my blog. Now you get to hear me rant about various subjects that cross my mind.

Now, the first thing I had to do was choose a blog program that I felt was easy to work with and had a good reputation for support. For now, I have chosen Word Press. The next thing on my agenda after installing my blog was to decide whether or not I would create my own template for look and feel, or choose one already created and then tweak. No reason to “reinvent the wheel,” I chose a template to tweak.

Using a template has it’s own troubles… for instance, you need to understand PHP and CSS a little bit to be able to navigate through the various files that come together to create your blog. I know just enough to get into trouble!

So, now I have a very simple blog and with it comes the tweaks of frustration.

Well, for me, it is incredibly late… 5 am for bedtime is not normal. We’ll see tomorrow if this blog stands out.

More later…

Heidi