OK, so here's a thing. If I want to run multiple offline blogs on my iBook which will never be published online, but still have basic blog functionality – like categories, permalinks, search – what software should I use? Can I set up MT or WordPress locally like that without having to do weird shit to my iBook to make it work?
UPDATE: Thanks to Tom, I now have WordPress installed locally and can make blogs to my highly systemised heart's content. It even plays nicely with Ecto. Oooh PKM heaven! (PKM == Personal Knowledge Management, to you normal people.)
Personal offline blogs
Previous post: How long?
You have got Apache, PHP, Mysql installed on your ibook, right? in which case, just install your favourite blogging software.
That was easy. Not.
I personally haven't installed Apache, PHP or Mysql on my iBook and was sorta (possibly vainly) hoping not to have to.
Suw – I've got several local installs of Wordpress running on my Powerbook. Dead simple to set up. You'll need to install MySQL, but other than that, Apache and PHP are all on there. It's all easily configured.
Give me a shout – you know the email – and I can give you a hand, if you want. It's all very easy to set up. Alternatively if you're in the vicinity… which I think you might be soon, I can chat to you then. But yeah, Wordpress is a synch to get going locally, and it means you can testdrive designs, plugins, the whole shebang.
Depends what you mean by “weird shit”
If weirdShit = Terminal you'll want to avoid this recipie: http://maczealots.com/tutorials/wordpress/
If weirdShit = Voodoo you'll want to avoid VoodooPad (local wiki thing – does tags, search and links but is not sequential) http://flyingmeat.com/voodoopad/
Tom, that sounds perfect. I am in the vicinity atm, as I'm living in Ham before moving to Kathryn's in a week. I'll drop you an email and maybe we can find a time to sort this out.
By 'weird shit' i sorta meant apache, Mysql, to be honest, I think i can cope with. Maybe, if someone holds my hand whilst I install it.
I do already use VooDooPad, and I love it to bits, but it's not quite what I have realised I need. It's great for linked documents, but for major project notes it gets a bit unwieldy.
This will help easy the pain of the Apache/MySQL/PHP installs:
http://serverlogistics.com/downloads.php
I'll second this. I used to do it for a living, but installing MySql, PHP and Apache is still a pain in the backside. The server logistics downloads make it all really easy. I run my own offline knowledge base on my old 1GHz Powerbook, using Drupal.
There's no reason why you can't use MT for this – MT doesn't need MySQL, and publishes static HTML files by default, so I don't think you need Apache or any other web server.
In short – yes.
Suw, I've installed WP locally a few times, and it was easy. People (even only semi-geeks) have been recommending XAMPP for the Apache/MySQL/PHP install (the “X” was supposed to mean Windows XP, but it seems they have a Mac version under the same name. (Have a look first, though… since MacOS is based on BSD, something might be installed already. I wouldn't knowl. Is an Apache daemon running?)
The same goes presumably for MT, except that you need Perl (which you also might have already), and that the installation is reputed to be more difficult than WP's very simple 5-min procedure.
(Oh, and thanks to Tom Armitage for the eggcorn.)
Tom and I are meeting up on Saturday so he can go through the WP installation with me. 🙂 I have no idea if an Apache daemon is runnig – doesn't appear to be one when i look at the runnig processes, but then, i am nto sure what i am looking for. If it's not called 'apache daemon' then i'd have no idea if it was or not.
A process called “apached”. And once you're at it, MySQL comes in daemonic form (mysqld), too. ps -ejH on the command line.
(And I apologise for having your URL committed to a DB you detest.)
ah, don't worry. I've made peace with eggcorns now. 😉
The server is in System Preferences, under Sharing, then Personal Web Sharing. Go to localhost.
Alternative PKM solutions for the Mac are Tinderbox and Devonthink, of course. I'm sure Danny and his buddy Merlin over at 43 Folders could assist….
The nice thing about wordpress is that it's free. unlike tinerbox and devonthink. I decided a while back not to test tinderbox, even though many have said it's great, because I'd rather use tools that were free or free-ish, and which I an muck about with to my heart's content. Atm, with voodoopad, novamind and wordpress, I'm set.
look for apachectl : this is the script which starts and stops Apache.
Type
apachectl status
and it will tell you if it is running or not.
Oh I've seen this post only now 🙂
Same flavour here: I installed locally a wordpress and are spreading the pKM word in every office I go.
To complete the setup I actually setup a wiki too, using the mediawiki engine (the thing under Wikipedia's hood): really easy to install (a little more tricky if you wanna do hot stuff) and quite rewarding.
Comments on this entry are closed.