I have recently had to learn to use git as some of the code we work on occasionally is now in a git repository. Git I have found to be simple enough however there is definitely some learning to do. I have found some of the tools to be a bit simplistic at time and this is because unlike some other products you need to learn and understand about some best practices for using git. Someone said oh its pretty easy just clone a repository for the product you want to use and then you are fine. Firstly this is not so., don’t believe that for a minute. You need to get your head around a number of the concepts in git before you go much further than the clone or you will run into some issues that will make life less happy.

Firstly you need to understand that git is a distributed repository system and you have a few ways to manage your git, one is branch on your core server and then clone a branch, and never clone the master. Do this for each developer is one idea, the other is clone and then branch locally. I have a preference for this as it keeps my core repository cleaner as all branching is local for each developer, however there are some pros and cons for each idea and you may have to experiment to determine what is best for you organisation or project.

Never edit the master unless you are definitely the only one working there. merging in edits can get messy.

Always branch and then edit and merge the branch. There is a good instruction here so I wont repeat it

The info I have pointed you to along with this article should assist you in making a better day of your first uses of git

For the record it took me some time to sort out what I hashed when trying to merge in from the master after pulling from the main repository after editing a local file in the same master branch, it made a hash of it trying to merge the file.

I hope from these few tips you have a better time of it when you start with git.

See ya round

Peter

Oh no non Oracle post

A few months ago I upgraded my home office to have a Netgear WNDR3700 wireless Router Dual N as they refer to it. Overall it has proven to be a great product albeit with a bug regarding image file on usb devices attached to it (not a big issue here). Early this month I bought an Acer Emachine Netbook  for the house and could only get it to work on the Guest network which I have configured with WEP (yes I know about the security unfortunately the DS only has WEP. So we need a WEP secure network available.  I had that network configured on the router to not be able to connect to local resources on my lAN only use Internet.

Unfortunately I have through some research come to the conclusion the Atheros chip set or its drivers are pretty substandard and am starting to get a distaste for their shortcomings. Generally the Linux drivers are difficult to get working and the Windows ones seem to come up short in their capabilities. This applies across Ethernet and Wireless drivers that I have used in recent months. It might make me shy away now from Asus of which I had generally preferred as my mother board manufacturer and from any devices that uses Atheros chip sets.

I wonder if this is not dissimilar to the problem that has been experienced with the IPad, Apple says name the Networks the same and use the same encryption, I wonder if that will work, A test is coming up unless a reader has some answers

See ya round

Peter

I am sure as a consultant you have had the need to have an online meeting with someone close or further away. I know I have and I sure could have used it a little while back when i had a customer in Dubai I needed to do a support call for. With a bit of recent research I found  this product which  will  allow you to have a conference for a virtual team of up to 20 unless you want to take a paid subscription. Then you can increase your meeting size to 50 or 1000, all at very reasoable prices. Don’t miss what this might provide you for remote support or conducting an online trainings session for a small handful of those that might be want to find out something you know. It is easy to use and works in the browser, no software to install. It works with Firefox, and IE as well as a number of other browsers. Another great feature of a paid subscription is that you can record your conference or meeting and if appropriate content then using the embed details provided add the recording to your blog or website.  So if you think you might have a need then go check it out.

Have a great day

Peter

Good Morning All I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and am wishing that 2010 is a prosperous and successful one.

I am looking forward to getting additional articles out to you on all thing Oracle especially databases and middleware

I hope things continue to improve around the planet as they appear to be doing and as a result you are all much more successful in 2010.

A safe, happy and prosperous New Year in what will be the year of the Metal Tiger, Lunar New Year is 14th February, busy day for celebrations this year, especially in Asia

See ya round

Peter

The latest release of Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala is a dream install, well done guys. I have been using linux since 1995. It was a brutal exercise getting things installed even basics like storage could be a pain and getting an Xserver going was never for the faint of heart. i don’t think I succeeded for some time back them. Time warp forward to today and the ubuntu install was 6 questions, and sit back whilst the installation runs. Now this was onto a VM which limits a a few issues like monitors to choose however the whol process was so straight forward and simple it is probably no longer a tech persons job to install this. I have not tried to install Windows 7 so no comparison is available. I will say for someone wanting to set up a system for people that dont need to be able to run specific Windows application, there is possibly a Linux alternative and there would appear to be little reason to install Windows. This is the sort of desktop product the Linux community has required to place some pressure on Windows as the primary desktop for running applications. I think this could provide computing opportunities for many different places beyond the home user

It may be that in the home of all the computers you only need one with Windows and the rest may be acceptable with Linux using this build of Ubuntu

Well done to the Ubuntu team for a great distribution

Duck over to the Ubuntu site and grab a copy and if you are just interested but not certain then either create a dual boot system a bit more difficult or create a Virtual Machine with free VMWare Server 2.0 which was also a dream to install, but that is for a different article

See ya

Peter