Ken McGuire

Category: Open Source

  • Host Your Own Mix Tape

    Opentape on PlaylistMix.com

    Muxtape was great. Then it got shut down. Now it’s on the way back.

    You could upload any mp3s you wanted, get Muxtape to host a mix tape for you, pass the link around, provide download access to the MP3s etc.

    While Muxtape is set to make a return and allow the hosting of playlists again, there is an opensource alternative in the form of Opentape. It’s been around for a while but it was only last night I got to roll out a self-hosted version for the Playlist Mix.

    It is opensource so it will be as flexible as you decide to make it as this custom design shows.

    The idea is simple – upload it to a folder on your server (you need to be running PHP5+), set an admin password and start uploading your tracks. There doesn’t seem to be any way at present to make multiple mix tapes from one install though there’s nothing to stop you rolling out the script into multiple folders. You can then upload tracks through the browser interface or ftp them into your songs folder and away you go.

    I’ll be using it to run a mix tape of the acts featured each month on the podcast. It’s light, it’s easy to use (though there are some style errors in IE6) and it’s free to download.

  • Codeplex To Launch This Week

    Interesting one for developers this…

    The CodePlex site will be a venue for Microsoft to provide programmers with tools available under its Shared Source licenses. These licenses allow people to view the source code of products, the software giant said.

    The site, which had been in beta testing, is meant to foster more interaction between Microsoft and programmers with technical information and software, it added.

    Should be another good step in Microsoft embracing open source software and development styles. As soon as they release Microsoft Office as an open source application, I’m sold.

    Read the full story…

  • Open Source Gathering : ApacheCon

    I won’t be there myself, but ApacheCon hits Dublin next week, landing in the Burlington Hotel from 9AM next Wednesday (26th) through to Sunday (30th).

    This outstanding event creates a unique platform for the Open Source community in Europe to come together to gain deep insight into techniques and methodologies critical to the advancement of Open Source technologies, and gain skills to optimize the power and versatility of Apache software. The event also provides a forum to discuss key issues facing the community and to hear about developments to come in 2006.

    IrishDev has more details right here….

  • Getting All Sugared Up

    Is there anyone out there using SugarCRM for a small Irish business…. 2-3 employees who may use it as well? Pretty much looking for some light feedback to be honest, just an experience or two from either using it in the past or currently using it… I’m currently trying it for a week or so around KilkennyMusic.com as things begin to adapt and develop there – more contacts, more gigs, more opportunities, more contacts, more paperwork! But having watched its name get touted quite a bit recently I said I’d give it a whirl.

    Given that the people involved in are in different locations on a daily basis, it comes across as a great way to centralise a lot of internal workings…

    Anyway, if you’ve any thoughts (Irish or otherwise), I’m all ears….

  • Podcasts, The Open Source Way

    Juice - The Cross Platform Podcast Receiver

    Came across this in the morning reading, for those of you interested in grabbing podcasts without going the iTunes way (which I was trying out myself at the weekend). The article points to an open source option for scheduling the download of podcasts once you’ve got the URL you need. Called Juice, the full article is available here including a full tutorial on how to use it!

    Its cross platform too, PC and Mac versions available now with a linux version in the offing… and it already comes complete with a directory of thousands of available podcasts!

    The download is a nifty 6.29mb as well (windows)…

  • Opening Up The Source

    I’m a huge fan of open source software and web developments. I love the community spirit, the hackability, the freedom to customise, move and groove like its your own web baby you’re playing with (in the spirit of programming that is!).

    Anyway, I’ve been toying with osCommerce for quite a while now (well, around a year to be exact) and I’m looking to implement it in two projects – strip it to the essentials, tame the beast, customise and drive. I’ve the reference to ‘beast’ once or twice… but its nothing to be afraid of.

    Thats the joy of open source – you’ve got nothing to be afraid of.

    Or at least I think so anyway. But then, thats just me being me.

    Confident in what I can do in osCommerce – “sure yeah, thats no bother, I’ll do that” – I’ve started looking into Mambo as an open source CMS. Now, I’m not exactly the first one in the door at the Mambo party, it’s been around the block a while, but given its potential involvement in a project I’m involved in through Event Ireland

    Anyway, what I’m getting at here is to highlight an article I found pretty interesting, tying osCommerce and Mambo together and taking a look under the hood at both systems for those who are unfamiliar with them.

    The article was published by Water & Stone in Thailand, and originally appeared in the Bangkok Post a few months back. Click here to read the article. I’m going to do my own test installation and customisation of Mambo and we’ll see how things progress…. but if its open source, I love it already.

    Update :

    Well, I installed Mambo pretty easy… and then realised that the final version of Mambo, 4.5.2.3 has been replaced and is now known as Joomla… interesting. Perhaps I’m a bit slow to the Mambo game. I always preferred writing my own material or using a nuke (my, php, post etc.) based CMS…. was a relatively easy installation tho – so much to do though once you get in there!