Raible Designs

Buildix - CruiseControl, Trac and Subversion for VMWare

From the CruiseControl mailing list a few minutes ago:

Just passing on the info... this is one of those projects I also wanted/intended to do. I'm glad someone beat me to it!

http://buildix.thoughtworks.com

It includes CruiseControl, Trac, Subversion all on a single live cd or vm ware image. Very nice!

After installing Ubuntu on VMWare server last weekend, I was getting ready to create something similar to this. I'm glad I saw this as it seems to be a much more complete package than the one I was going to create. I'd prefer Ubuntu over Debian/KNOPPIX, but since Ubuntu is based on Debian, it probably doesn't matter.

A couple additions I'd like to see are Maven 1, 2 and Continuum pre-installed. I doubt that'll happen though since CruiseControl is a Thoughtworks-sponsored project. Regardless, if I had a Buildix with those options, I'd likely use (and recommend) it for every future project. A lot of clients already have bug tracking and source control installed, so the build server is the main thing that interests me.

AppFuse and Groovy/Grails?

Here's an interesting e-mail I received last night:

I see AppFuse's strong points is in integrating a lot of oss in a synergistic manner, which is really great and helpful. Just wondering whether there is any chance of integrating AppFuse with groovy and especially grails.

I also just found out about grails 0.1 and it looks really promising, for a 0.1 release.

I just feel that it has some synergy there, a java ruby on rails combines with the best oss integration available.

My response:

I think Grails and AppFuse are more likely competitors rather than compatible. Grails uses Spring, Spring MVC and Hibernate under-the-covers, whereas AppFuse uses the raw frameworks. Of course, it would be cool to allow different classes w/in AppFuse to be written in Groovy or JRuby. At this point, I think it's probably better for users to choose one or the other.

Grails definitely looks cool, and a lot like Rails. However, I think using Groovy is a pretty big step for the majority of Java Developers out there. If you're reading this post, you're probably not in the majority.

Two Finger Right Click

I just discovered that two finger right click has been added for 15" MacBook Pro machines. To enable it, go to System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Trackpad. Check "Place two fingers on trackpad and click button for secondary click". Sweet - I dig this feature. Hat tip to the Parallels web site.

Now onto seeing if I can the free VMWare server to run Ubuntu side-by-side Windows XP on my HP box. If not, I'll drag out an old server and install it on there. It seems I'm in need of a build server since my other one is already being taxed by AppFuse's CruiseControl.

Fun in DC

I made it back to Denver yesterday after quite a week in DC. The trip had to be the most fun I've ever had on a business trip. This was mostly due to my partners in crime, James Goodwill and Bryan Noll. Not only are these guys kick-ass Java developers, but they keep you entertained all day long. With my bad back, the ridiculous rain, and getting lost all the time in our rental car, we had quite a trip. The tech meetup on Wednesday night at Brickskeller was awesome. Thanks to all the guys that showed up - we'll definitely do it again in July.

Next week, we're working remotely, then we're back in DC on the 10th. Wednesday, July 12th looks like a good date for the next Tech Meetup. We're open to venue suggestions, but we're also more than willing to return to Brickskeller.

Ouch

This past weekend, I hurt my back pretty bad and I've been in severe pain all week. I did a back flip on our trampoline, and even though I landed it, I tweaked something pretty good. Now I'm like an old man: hobbling around, groaning when I get out of a chair, etc. I even thought about calling room service this morning to tie my shoes. My co-workers don't think I can hurt it anymore by not getting help immediately, but the pain certainly isn't going anywhere. In fact, it seems like it's getting worse. Good thing I brought a heating pad to work today.

JBoss Rules (Drools) 3.0.1 and AppFuse

Troy Kelley has written up a tutorial on how to integrate JBoss Rules (Drools) 3.0.1 with AppFuse.

While reading Matt's blog article I noticed this tutorial, which is pretty nice, but seems to assume that you're using version 2.x of JBoss Rules (Drools) - mainly because of the fact that the DRL is in XML.

Here's an updated version for 3.0.1 following the same outline as the previous tutorial.

Note that I'm using springmodules (I used 0.4) for the JSR support.

Good stuff Troy - thanks for putting this together.

Tech Meetup near Washington, DC

In the comments of my last post, a few folks mentioned they'd be interested in doing a "tech meetup" this week. We're staying at the Sheraton Reston Hotel. We'd prefer to stay "close to home", but that's only because we get lost easily. In reality, we're open to anything as long as it's not raining cats and dogs like it has been.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) night looks like the best night. 7:00 is probably a good time - where do you want to meet?

Washington, DC

It looks like I'm going to be in Washington, DC on and off throughout the rest of the summer. Besides the regular touristy stuff, what's fun to do in this town? I'll be traveling with good friends from work, so I'm actually looking forward to the trip(s).

Raible Road Trip #10

Raible Road Trip #9 was to the cabin last year for the 4th of July. This year, we're taking it a whole new level. Going to the cabin for the 4th is a good time, but the huckleberries aren't ripe yet. This year, we've decided to go the first week in August instead.

OSCON is at the end of July and visiting Portland in late July is awesome. My parents have agreed to watch the kids during OSCON, and July doesn't want to travel to Oregon (she's rather enjoy some "down time"). Because of all this, I've come up with quite the travel plan for Raible Road Trip #10.

On Saturday, July 22nd, James Goodwill and I leave from Denver and drive to Salem, Oregon - where my parents live.

According to Google Maps, this trip should take about 21 hours. We expect to arrive in Salem sometime Sunday night. We'll hang out in Oregon until Tuesday morning. Then I'm flying back to Denver to pick up the kids and return to Portland the same day. On Wednesday and Thursday, I'll hit up OSCON and its festivities. Thursday's Geronimo Live event followed by the Oregon Brewers Festival on Friday should be a lot of fun.

On Sunday, my parents, the kids and I will be heading to The Cabin.

Julie's flying into Spokane, WA that Sunday, so we'll pick her up on our way and hopefully arrive at the cabin sometime Sunday afternoon. From there, we'll all enjoy a week of relaxing, huckleberry picking and good family fun. We'll head back to Denver late that week, spending a night in Yellowstone Park along the way.

Julie thinks I'm nuts for all the driving I'll be doing on this trip. She calculated it up tonight and it's something like 46 hours. I'm pumped about the whole idea and can't wait for it to begin. I love road trips, especially when doing them with family and friends.

Update: As Sanjiv mentions in the comments, Yahoo Maps has a much better representation of this trip.

Total Distance: 2920.6 miles, Total Travel Time: 48 hours 8 mins

MacBook Pro Power Management Issues

Last week, during the Denver JUG meeting, my MacBook Pro's battery quit functioning. I got a new one from my local Apple Store the next day. Today, my power cord quit working. Again, my local Apple Store was happy to replace it. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come? It's probably time to backup the whole thing tonight just in case the hard drive is next.