Computer Plumber

Mongrel Gem and Paperclip Plugin Problems

This problem occurred when setting up a site using mongrel along with the paperclip rails plugin. After about a week of normal operation we started having lots of problems with the automated image resizing required by the rails application.

It was running along and generating all the images just fine, then all of a sudden it stopped processing the ‘large’ images or made them blurry, and we started seeing the following in the application logs:

Paperclip::NotIdentifiedByImageMagickError: /folder/stream.####.# is not recognized by the 'indentify' command.

This is a very strange problem since the development environments work just fine and the developers were insistent that the server was the problem and not the code, as they usually do.
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Adjust What the History Command Shows

By default on OS X, the history command (accessed via the terminal) shows the last 500 commands including multiple entries that are the exact same. Just to find an old useful command, you may have to sort through 100′s of ls and cd commands. Wouldn’t it be nice to show only unique commands, and remove the duplicates, or store a larger history? Well you can and it is very simple to set the variables to control what the history command shows on the MAC terminal.

Launch a terminal, by default you should be put into your home directory. To make sure you are in your HOME, just type: Read the rest of this entry »

Costs Using Amazon EC2 & S3

Figuring out all the costs when hosting on EC2 using S3 storage can be tricky. This is break down of what you can approximately expect to pay using a few basic scenarios, such as a lamp server and S3 backups, with Amazon services. This will also compare the costs to what you would expect to pay if you want to do the hosting yourself.

To fully understand EC2 charges, you need to know the difference between the instance types and what they cost to best meet your requirements. For the purpose of this post I will summarize – I have converted the Amazon Compute Units into basic CPU power and will then detail the costs based upon each of these instances.
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Disposable Email Addresses

So many times on the web you are asked for an email address when you would really prefer not to give it out. There are so many ‘one time use sites’ that once they get your address you are a victim of SPAM forever. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a service that could provide a temporary email address for sign ups? Well there is and they have existed for quite some time.

Enter Melt Mail, a disposable email address service. Now they aren’t the only kids on the block, but I like them a lot.

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Want to Share Your Problems?

After a very bad week, we decided to launch a new site to allow anyone to sign up and post stories about bad things that have happened to them as a result of bad circumstances. Everyone has those days where Murphy’s Law is determined to screw them over, resulting in outcomes that were far from desired. We have called these occurrences – shitcumstances.  These are the times in life when you feel the fates are conspiring against you and nothing goes right, but it is not your fault. Like when you apply a new computer patch only to find out it breaks everything…

When you just need to let it all out, why not do it in an anonymous and public forum.  Tell the world what happened to you and we will share your pain.  With the current economic downturn, there are many people suffering from shitcumstances, we want to hear from you! Sign up for an account and have your grievances heard.
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