Ubuntu boots from the installer DVD?

I was going to write a quick post on how to burn a DVD from an ISO file, which I’d never done before, but after figuring out how in all of 80 seconds last night, I’m now of the opinion that the act of burning an ISO DVD segregates people into two categories:

1. Those that can learn how to do so in 80 seconds (or less)
2. Those who couldn’t care less what an ISO file is an just want the damn computer to work.

So, no long post explaining my process.  I just googled “burn iso dvd”, browsed the top 10 and settled on imgburn.com, which was incredibly easy to use (and had a mac-esque UI for a windows program), though it did result in a zombie process that required me restarting my computer.  Lame.

The reason I needed to burn a few ISO dvds is that I picked up a few more pieces of hardware (4 GB RAM, a real graphics card to replace the one integrated with the motherboard, DVD burner) to make Frankenstein desktop workable.  I tried it with Vista a while back but the graphics card made it painful to use.  When I first got it I intended for the computer to have Ubuntu Server (i.e. no X windowing) installed, but that proved to be too much of a hassle for a noob like my, so I’ll be installing Ubuntu Desktop.  At the same time, the Windows 7 beta is freely available, so I thought I’d give that a try too.

I haven’t had a chance to install either – just ran through the RAM checker with Ubuntu last night (such a useful utility, as I’ve discovered RAM problems the hard way in previous computers), but I did stumble across a pretty cool feature with Ubuntu – the OS will boot from the DVD entirely into ram.  Obviously you can’t save anything locally, which is a problem if you want to install new programs, but basic word processing could be saved to a network drive (or usb drive), and if you just need to use the internet you don’t need to.  Any chance Windows 7 will allow that?

Currently: Ubuntu 1, Windows 7 0.

Parallels – Just That Easy?

I got a new work laptop – 13″ Macbook Pro.  I’ve also recently purchased Parallels 4, and I’ve been playing around ways to stay in Mac OS as much as possible while developing within Visual Studio.  Thus far I haven’t found a way to tweak performance of Windows via Parallels to be anywhere near Windows via Bootcamp, but I’ll keep trying.

There is a separate problem, however, that Parallels has already provided me with a viable solution for: Preserving a machine’s state, specifically what has been installed.  At my work we’re currently fighting problems with the drivers for our hardware, and the buggy driver state is both difficult to reach (it seems to occur at random, with one exception) and impossible to return to (i.e. once the driver bug is fixed we can’t reverse our steps to get back to the buggy state).  The exception in reproducing this bug is that it always occurs on a clean Windows install.  Parallels will help with these problems in two ways:

1. Create a backup of a clean install.  Over the past few hours I create an XP Parallels VM and a Vista Parallels VM.  Both have nothing more than Windows Updates installed on them.  Using Parallel’s variable-sized hard disk, the two VMs take up a very reasonable 10 GB.
2. When I produce the buggy driver state within one of the VMs, I need only make a copy of the VM and I have a permanent record that can be tested against once a fix has been submitted.

So, how simple is it to ‘copy’ a virtual machine?  Well, if you only plan on using it on the same computer as it was created it’s as simple as copying the ‘.pvm’ bundle in ‘~/Documents/Parallels/’ folder (your installation may be ‘Library’ instead of ‘Documents’).  If you’re planning on using the VM on a different machine it’s not quite as simple, but still pretty easy.  Here’s what I first tried:

• Create Parallels VM on Mac A
• Copy VM to USB hard drive
• Connect USB hard drive to Mac B
• Copy VM to Mac B
• Run VM on Mac B

Result: Parallels tells me that my VM is corrupted.  Crap.  So I tried again with a slightly modified set of steps:

• Create Parallels VM on Mac A
• Copy VM to USB hard drive
• Connect USB hard drive to Mac B
• Run VM on USB hard drive via Mac B (tell Parallels that VM is ‘copied’)
• Copy VM to Mac B
• Run VM on Mac B

Now the VM is running fine on the second computer.  I’ll look around for details as to why the first workflow fails but the second doesn’t.

Big day tomorrow – the heatsink for my dev server arrives.  I probably won’t get a chance to get all of the hardware installed and linux running until next weekend, but I’ll definitely try to get the heatsink installed, and at that point I’ll be able to rest knowing that there are no further (hardware) roadblocks towards getting this thing built.

So, this dev server is going to be a catch-all-in-one machine for everything I need to support my development process.  This means:

• Raid 1 storage, ~500 GBs worth.  At some point I’m going to have to get really serious about making sure my data doesn’t get wiped out, but for now a single machine with mirrored drives should guard against non-acts-of-god.  Of course, now that I’m actually writing this out it occurs to me that if I’m actually starting a MicroISV I’ll need to protect my source code and all other data as if it were my first child.
• Source control server.  I’ve been using Subversion at work for about three years now and it’s been more than sufficient.  However, I’m curious about what some of the new distributed version control systems, such as git, are like.  I may give that a try.
• Web Server.  I’ll be doing web development to compliment my iPhone development, so this will be a necessity.
• Database.  Any serious web development is going to require a database.  I’ve messed around a bit with MySQL, though by no means enough to have learned why it is any different than any other SQL implementation.  I’m thinking about going with Postgre SQL, since that’s what the cool kids seem to use.

Anything else?  I was sure there was plenty more that could be of use to, so I decided to refer back to the Joel Test to get some extra ideas.  Of course I already had version control checked off (or, at least, to be checked off), but I can definitely add on a bug tracker (Bugzilla?) and possibly some kind of continuous integration software that would include daily builds, though since my server will be linux-based I don’t know how that will be possible for iPhone development.  That much may have to wait until I get a dedicated mac dev client (i.e. mac mini).

I’ve always been a fan of the Joel Test in theory, but I’ve never had the clout to get it instituted at work, nor have I had a pet project to enforce it on… until now.  The thing is, I’m wondering how many of the Joel Tests are relevant when you’re a one-man, bootstrapped (i.e. zero funding) MicroISV.  So, I thought I’d consider each one:

1. Do you use source control? This is a big ‘duh’.  I can’t imagine developing without source control.  This is a must.

2. Can you make a build in one step? Part of me wonders if this test scales in importance with the number of developers working on a project.  If it’s just me, does it matter?  And that’s about all I can say on this matter, since I’ve never been part of a development team where daily builds were part of our process.  I’ve read about the benefits, and, again, in theory, I’m all for it.  So, if for no other reason than “I’d like to get some experience with this,” I’m going to give this a try.  It may not be continuous integration (at least not for the iPhone part), and it may be some batch file (or Mac script equivalent) that I hack together, but at least I’m going to do something.

3. Do you make daily builds? This is almost a 2a, because if you can make a build in one step, isn’t it nearly trivial to create a daily build?  Much like #2, I would guess this matters more as the number of developers on a team increases, but I’ll still give this one a go.

4. Do you have a bug database? Here’s an interesting one.  If you’re the only developer (only everything, for that matter), you know all of the bugs, so you don’t need a database, right?  Nah, not buying that one.  Keeping a bug database, besides being good for record keeping and general organization, frees up the part of your mind that would otherwise have to remember every bug.  I’ve had time working both with and without a bug database, and working with a bug database is far superior to working without one.  I haven’t investigated the available (free) options out there right now, but I would imagine it would make sense to have a bug database system that also integrates in your spec, schedule, feature requests, and possibly customer requests/feedback/etc.  I’ll have see what’s out there.

5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code? Great question.  At my day job (all of those aforementioned ‘work’ references) we’ve just started a scrum process whereby the development process for multiple releases overlap.  As an example, when version 1.0 reaches its (feature-complete) alpha stage, where (in theory) only bug fixes are being added to it, the development for version 1.1 begins.  There have been some nasty problems with working on multiple releases in parallel, but my guess is that our process hasn’t been completely figured out yet, not that the concepts behind the process are inherently flawed.  This process, which I think will ultimately be successful for us, does not strictly require that all bugs are fixed on the current release before the next release is started on.  So long as bugs for the current release are ironed out before the next release hits its alpha stage, I think that roughly conforms to the test.  Of course, we don’t (currently) have a bug database, so how are we to know that all bugs have been fixed?  Yeah, so this one is pretty dependent on #4.  Anyway, with my one-man shop, I’m all for producing solid releases that are as bug-free as they can be, with time dedicated to polishing a X.0 release so that an even better X.1 release is done before I move onto the new version.

6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule? This one may be tough for me, as my hours towards this project are basically ‘whenever I can find/make time’.  That said, it’s fair to have a calender-independent schedule with up-to-date time estimates.  I can pledge to do this one.

7. Do you have a spec? Some developers may be able to keep their entire project in their heads such that they don’t need a spec.  I am not that develop.  Additionally, I’ve never written a formal spec at my day job (are you getting the impression that my company has a low Joel Test score?) so I’d love to get some experience under my belt.

8. Do programmers have quiet working conditions? I’ll be real here: at this point, at least 50% of my time on this project is done on the bus, to and from work.  Ever ridden a bus?  They aren’t exactly quiet.  In all reality I fail this test, and that won’t change until I can dedicate significant amounts of home-time towards the project.

9. Do you use the best tools money can buy? Ha!  In truth, if/when I get a mac mini as a dedicated dev client, I’ll be 90% of the way there:  I have a 24″ LCD en route to my apartment for my development setup, and my favorite keyboard (MS Natural 4000) waiting for it.  I could get a better mouse than my current MS five button one, but the only significant upgrade would be to get a wireless mouse.  For iPhone development I can’t imagine developing on a new MacBook Pro (or those crazy Mac Pro workstations) would be any better than a MacMini.  iPhone projects are so small that build time is near negligible.  In case you’re wondering, my current mac is my work computer – a first generation Intel-based MacBook Pro.  It’s snappy as all hell, and its specs are basically that of the current mac mini (sans the video card, which, again, will hardly be an issue for iPhone development).  I guess you could rephrase this test as ‘are you limited by the tools you use?’ because that’s the whole point of ‘best tools money can buy’ right?  For iPhone development, I think I’ll be fine.

10. Do you have testers? Now we’re getting to the tests that get fuzzy for a one-man shop.  Testers?  You mean me?  The truth is I had better have at least some alpha/beta testers before I release.  Luckily, my girlfriend has offered (and is actually excited) to try/test out my initial release before I release it.  I should probably mention that my first product will be a basketball score-keeping application, and she’ll be testing it out by keeping score for my rec league basketball games.  How awesome is that?

11. Do new candidates write code during their interview? This is going to be the only test I’m going to declare ‘Not Applicable.’  By construction, I’m a one-man shop.  If I get to the point where I have revenues that allow me to pay another developer, well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.  That said, I’m completely on board with having candidates write code during interviews.  Can you imagine an applicant for a head chef job not cooking during the interview?

12. Do you do hallway usability testing? For a one-man shop, this is the ‘grandma/mother/girlfriend/non-techy-friend test’ – show the UI design to somebody other than yourself and have them comment on it.  For me, this is the most difficult test to pass because my ego likes to tell me that I’m right and everybody else is wrong.  This will be tough, but I’ll do my best to pass this test.

This was a fun thought experiment, but the truth is that I’m just barely getting started with my project, never mind the company as a whole.  So, I should do a follow-up post in, say, two months and report on where I stand.  For now, here’s where I’m at:

Tests passed: 1 (Best tools money can buy).
Tests failed: 1 (Quiet working conditions).
Test N/A: 1 (Interview candidates write code).
Tests I plan to pass in two months: 9 (everything else).

I’ve fallen in love with Mac OS X

I must admit it took me a bit by surprise.

Quick background summarizing my month+ of silence:  My choice of product to develop has gone through a few discrete generations (I’m doing this.  No, now I’m doing this!  No!  Now I’m going to do this!!!), and I seem to have settled on putting together a group of iPhone applications.  Trendy, right?  Well, whatever the case, I’ve moved on to spending multiple hours a day in OS X (my ‘windows’ work laptop is actually a MacBook Pro running bootcamp, so this is the first time I have truly benefited from having a mac as my work computer (as opposed to struggling with the deficiencies of bootcamp)), and much to my surprise… I love it.

I don’t think I’ve used OS X for anything more than web browsing and DVD-watching.  Now I’m immersed in Xcode and Interface Builder.  What I’m starting to notice is how much time and care was put into all of the minute details, from more intuitive (and consistent!) keyboard shortcuts (command+shift+z is undo, not command+y) to saving state of tree views.  Little things, like going to rename a file and having the filename but not the ‘.extension’ highlighted.  I know I know, Apple thinks through their UIs.  That’s headline news right there.  Well, consider me a couple of years (decades?) late to the party.

As it is right now, I’m actively trying to figure out some way to get off developing on Windows and moving entirely to the Mac.  Biggest hurdle?  Money.  I guess I need my iPhone apps to blow up.

First Functional Prototype

Somewhat.

While I plan on all of this being a web app, I’m prototyping the look and feel with WPF.  In theory I could deploy a silverlight-based app, but I don’t know how many people have silverlight available in their browser.  In a few years, maybe, but not now.  I would love to have parallel implementations (i.e. Silverlight version available for those that have it), but I’m trying to think small.

Nobody should start to undertake a large project. You start with a small trivial project, and you should never expect it to get large. If you do, you’ll just overdesign and generally think it is more important than it likely is at that stage. Or worse, you might be scared away by the sheer size of the work you envision. So start small, and think about the details. Don’t think about some big picture and fancy design. If it doesn’t solve some fairly immediate need, it’s almost certainly over-designed. And don’t expect people to jump in and help you. That’s not how these things work. You need to get something half-way useful first, and then others will say “hey, that almost works for me”, and they’ll get involved in the project. – Linus Torvalds

I read that this morning.  Very true.  I’ve tried starting a number of projects, all of which I had grand plans for, and each one has ended prematurely, largely because I’ve felt overwhelmed.  Hence my stupid little zooming idea.

So, why have I put together a prototype in a technology that I likely won’t be using?

• I don’t know the other web technologies I will likely use, and it would take ten times longer to get something visibly working.
• On the flip side, I know enough about WPF that I can get something working quickly.
• I’m a visual learner and thinker, and I can iterate my thoughts and designs quicker if I can look at my ideas.

Of course, the most important reason is the instant gratification that comes from getting something working.

The First Idea

I’ve done a bit of reading as to how companies get started.  I even have a fun story about the origins of the startup I work for (which I’ll tell in a later post about why I’m keeping this blog anonymous until I decide otherwise).  What I’ve noticed among many of them is that the product that ultimately makes them successful either was stumbled into by accident (while trying to develop a different product) or was forced upon them, often as variation of what they were trying to create originally.  The book Founders at Work has a few such stories:

• PayPal began by writing secure monetary transfer software for PDAs, and to help with testing they put up a replica of their software for web use.  It turned out that the web version was what everybody wanted to use, hence what PayPal is today.
• Flickr started as a chat+picture sharing utility within an MMO and become so popular that it was spun off as its own product.

These are the two stories that immediately come to mind (I read the book a few years ago so other similar examples slip my mind).  Certainly there are other startups that were able to stay true to their original vision, and the book is a great way to get a survey of what different startup experiences can be like.  Of course, I will have to (roughly) follow the PayPal/Flickr storyline, as I have no vision to build a product around.  Actually, I don’t have a product idea either.  So what do I have?

I have a guiding statement: I’m going to create something that I would have fun using.

And, I have something that I would enjoy using that I want to build.  Ready?  Here it is:  Zoom in on a picture based on a user-defined rectangular region.  I know!  It’s ridiculous, right?  Ridiculously simple?  Yep.  Ridiculously stupid?  Well, I think that’s a fair initial reaction.  I still have a lot of vague ideas (and a few concrete ones) as to how I want it to work, with regards to layout and animations and overall look and feel.  The idea came up while working on a project to convert flash-based UI widgets to WPF-based UI widgets, which required a TON of inspection of graphics.  So, it has a use for someone (me), and I have some ideas as to how to make it fun to use.  This is my starting point.

Do I think this idea, in a complete, well-thought-out, polished final form, is something I can turn into a business?

No.  Of course not.

So what’s the point of trying to develop this idea?  Well, it’s a starting point.  It’s something that will be fairly easy to spec out and develop a functional prototype for, albeit via a WPF-based desktop test harness.  My ultimate goal is to have this available as a web app, but that will require learning at minimum html, javascript (?), and some server language (like PHP?).  See?  I don’t even know what languages are options for doing something like this.  Add in that I want to incorporate a SQL backend to all of this somehow, and that I’ve never ran a webserver before, and you can see that I have plenty to learn.

There’s no coincidence that what I’m attempting to do requires that I learn a number of new technologies.  When I first envisioned this project, I was planning on it being private project that only I would see.  Only recently did I decide that this would be a jumping-off point towards creating a MicroISV.  The way I see it is that if you’re going to be a one-man shop, writing software for the web will be a much easier path towards self-sustainability than writing software that has to be downloaded and installed on each person’s computer.  I’m repeating myself here, but there’s plenty for me to learn, and I’d rather learn while creating a prototype/framework for later than learn while attempting to create something I can actually sell.

The other reason I’m getting with this idea is just for the sake of getting started.  At worst I will be making horrendous mistakes, and subsequently learning from those mistakes.  I may start out going in the absolute wrong direction, but with every mistake will come a course correction, so logically if I make enough mistakes I’ll end up on the correct path, right?

Getting Started

I just installed Apache (2.2.11), PHP (5.2.8) and MySQL (5.1) on my trusty five year-old HP laptop.  Woot.

Actually, I’m quite pleased with myself at the moment.  There was once a time where I literally would not have been able to install any of those. (yeah, last night).  Haha.  Here’s some background.

I’m a C++ developer.  After six months of looking at C++ job listings on Craigslist it dawned on me the era of the non-systems level C++ developer has passed, and with good reason – there’s no reason to develop a product in C++ unless (1) the software will be interacting closely with hardware, (2) the software needs strict control over system resources (memory, etc) and (2a) the software needs to be performant.  (I have zero experience in mobile development, so C++ may be a requirement there too, though the developers of mobile platforms are smart they’ll give their developers the same development options as standard desktop developers have).  Any other application should probably be done either as a web app or should be written in a language like C# or Python or whatever other languages are available.  Right?

Well, whether that’s right or wrong, software companies voted with the kinds of jobs they’re offering.  95% of my programming experience is in C++, so this is an unfortunate truth that I’m dealing with at the moment, but it one that I’m more than willing to deal with by learning new technologies so that I can stay relevant.

So, here’s where I’m starting from:

• I have five years of industry C++ experience, all with Visual Studio
• I have four years of (basic) OpenGL experience.
• I have six months of industry C#/.Net/WPF experience.
• I managed a few html-only websites while in college.
• I’ve never maintained any kind of server (web, database, version control, whatever).

I left out a few dablings here and there, but that’s basically it.  My pedigree is that of a 90′s Win32/MFC/C++ developer, and that breed is going the way of the dodo.

So, I’m really starting from square one.  I messed around with WAMP last night, but that was a big mess, largely because I didn’t like the documentation (either it was no good or I couldn’t find what I needed from it (which is another way of saying it was no good)).  So today I decided to toss out the all-in-one approach and decided my goal would be just to get Apache installed.  Like any good developer I immediately went to google and typed in “install apache on windows”.  The third link was this nice tutorial which also gave me PHP and MySQL installation and configuration walkthroughs.  Nice!  It’s good to have a little hand holding when you’re getting started, even if it’s just someone saying ‘use the default settings noob’.

So, I have my developer WAMP stack up and running.  Now I have to figure out what I want to do with it.

I’m Starting a MicroISV

About a year ago, I decided I was going to set some weight loss goals for myself.  In addition to reading about potential diets and workouts and all that, I did a bit of reading about the psychology behind successful weight loss programs and, in general, setting goals and achieving them.  Any guess at what the most important step is, the one that everybody says you must do, yet very few actually do it?

Write your goal down, and post it some place where people can see it.

Now, I’m already somewhat breaking this rule, because really, who can see this blog?  Nobody yet.  Hopefully that will change as time goes forward.  But, for now, here it is.  I’m starting a MicroISV.  I have no idea what my product will be, which is a small problem.  However, not more than a few weeks ago I believed that was an insurmountable problem, that there would be no use in even planting the seeds for starting a business.  What changed my mind?

• StackOverflow.  As a reader of both Coding Horror and Joel on Software, I was pleased that Jeff and Joel started a weekly podcast earlier this year.  I’m a podcast junky, btw.  I wasn’t too sure of their initial idea (aren’t there already plenty of Q&A sites out there?), but I followed its progress from the beginning, even signed up for the private beta (which, of course, makes me super special), and watched it blossom into a darn nice website.  What struck me was how (relatively) little effort it took Jeff and his team (of three?) to put the site together, how quickly they were able to get it going live, and how popular it has become so quickly.  I suspect there are thousands of other website/webapps that have similar birthing periods, but this is the first time I’ve ‘seen’ it done, from start to finish. ‘You mean you can actually put something together that quickly?’ As I’ll get to in a later post, I write software desktop software, and getting something together so quickly is unheard of.
• Hackers and Painters.  I actually picked up a bunch of books from Joel’s reading list about a month ago, and Hackers and Painters is the fourth one I’m onto.  Startup was a great read as well, largely because it close to home with my current job situation (I’ll get to that later as well), and was largely what got me primed for when I got to Paul Graham’s essay How to Make Wealth.  It’s a great essay, but had I read it any other time I would have just moved onto the next chapter and not given it a second thought.  But at this moment in my life, with my current job situation, with trying to plot a career path, with feeling somewhat helpless as the economy has tanked, with watching my software competencies become largely obsolete (relative to the kind of software I want to create) since graduating from college 4.5 years ago, that essay was a slap in the face and a kick in the butt.  It’s time to do something.

So, what am I going to do?  Well, given that I don’t have a ‘product’ in mind, I’ll set a goal that will hopefully lead to a product:

I’m going to create something that I would have fun using.

And that’s it, right there.  If I don’t know what I’m doing, I may has well have fun doing it.