IT Admin

FileZilla is a free FTP Client, and one that I have found very easy to use. FTP stand for file transfer protocol. A FTP client is used when one needs to upload files, such as a website to the server. FTP Clients are fast and more stable then using the free upload feature found within many hosting companies.

You need to Download and Install FileZilla at http://filezilla-project.org. You want to download the FileZilla Client. Once download simple double click to install and follow the on screen instruction. It is very straight forward and should go quickly.

When using an FTP client you will need a few pieces of information about your server. First, you will need the URL which is pretty easy to get. The URL is simply the web address you type into the browser window to visit your site. Such as www.frenchsquared.com.

You will also need the user name and password for your FTP Access. This can be obtained by contacting your web hosting company. If you use Godaddy simply go to godaddy.com, log in, and then go to Hosting & Servers / My Hosting Account. Once you find your hosting account click on manage account.  Next, you want to click on the settings bar and select Manage FTP Users. From here you will see the Primary FTP User and you can set or change the password. You also have the ability to create a new FTP User. It is a very good idea to create a separate FTP user for you web developer, or webmaster. Do not worry if you do not use Godaddy all hosting companies are relatively the same. Just look for a way to manage FTP Users. If you have to much trouble simply call the hosting company and ask for them to help you locate the FTP Settings.

Once you have the URL, FTP User and Password you are ready to go. Open FileZilla and look at the top of the window and you should notice the text fields for the Address, User and Password. Do not worry about the Port: FileZilla will find this for you. Simply input your information and click the Quick Connect button. After a few seconds you screen should fill with folders similar to the screenshot.

Congratulations, you have just connected to your server. If you get an error it is probably because the user name or password is incorrect.

Now that you have connected your server with your computer you can move files around. The FileZilla window id is divided in half with the right side being the Local Site or your computer. On the left is the Remote Site or your server. On the Remote side navigate to your www folder and open it by double clicking on the folder. The folders are in alphabetical order so you should simply need to scroll down. The www folder is where most hosting companies keep all the files needed for you website. Keep in mind that if you are using Godaddy you will not have a www folder. Godaddy stores all files in the root folder, which means if you are using Godaddy you are good to go.

On the right side of the screen you can navigate around your computer. I believe FileZilla will open to your C: Drive. You will need to navigate around to find where the files are stored on your server. If you need to move up a directory double click on the top folder labeled “..” Anytime you see a blank folder or a “..“ it is used to navigate upwards.

Once you find the files you wish to upload simple double click the file, or right click and select upload. If you wish to upload an entire folder you simple right click and select upload. After the file is uploaded you are all set. The file is live and can be accessed from anywhere. It should be mentioned that if you are uploading a site you created remember that you need to have the main or home page called index. Whenever, you visit a website by typing in the www.whatever.com the browser will always look for the file called index or home. If neither of these file exist you will get an error code.

Good luck and Happy FTPing.

No competition, the iphone wins hands down.

I personally have the iPhone and my wife has the Storm. Verizon is delusional if they feel this Storm will compete with the iphone. There is no comparison. The new Storm is basically an old blackberry with a touch screen. It is very difficult to use. The touch screen sucks. You have to touch the item you want to select then press the screen down to enter the item. The keyboard is very hard to use and doesn’t come up on its own.

To use the web browser you have to select a the browser, then the address bar. Once the address bar is selected you must press a key to show a drop down menu that has the option to show the keyboard. Once you are done typing you have to once again press the button to show the drop down menu and then select hide the keyboard. Just typing this is a pain in the ass. Now imagine doing all this on the phone.

Sorry windows fans the Blackberry Storm is a joke compared to the iPhone.
The only improvements to the Storm is that now it can sync with outlook.

The only cool feature the Storm has that I cant currently find for the iPhone is the ability to create word and excel documents. Hopefully, the iPhone will add this ability because I wouldn’t use a BlackBerry Storm if it was free.

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So, I am writing this entry from my wonderful iPhone. While playing around in the app’s store I found a wordpress app. I must say I am very impressed with the simplicity and power of this great app. This is a must have for all Wordpress users.

As for the iPhone I just wish it wasn’t made by mac. These are such much more then a phone. These little devices are changing the world. I often wonder how I survived without mine.

Ok, So I am sick of Gateway and my company will never buy another Gateway.

My personal computer was a Gateway M-6824. I loved the performance of the computer for the price. And I put it to the test with a  triple boot running Vista 64, OSX and Linux. Yes it was running OSX.

My problem isn’t with the particular computer it is With Gateway. First the way a problem with hyper-threading in the graphics card. I didn’t want to sent the computer back to Gateway so I decided to switch to Vista 64. This fixed the hyper-threading meaning the issues was with the Gateway Drivers.

Then the Ethernet card went out on my Gateway M-6824. The Ethernet card, get real, since when does an Ethernet card go out. Of course on the Gateway M-6824 the Ethernet card is integrated into the mobo so I would have to send the Gateway M-6824 back to Gateway for service. I dealt with no Ethernet for a while until the cmos battery started to fail. On my computer it is a big deal for the cmos battery to work since I have a lot of custom settings in the bios to run the multiple OS. As it turns out it wasn’t the battery it was some cip on the mobo that controlled the bios. That is another cause for a new mobo.

I had to give in to Gateway and send the computer back. They assured me the computer would be back in 7 to 14 days. Ya, freaking right. It is going to take Gateway over 6-weeks just to get the new mobo in. Could they have left the computer with me while waiting on the new mobo. No way because I’m not certified to diagnose the problem. Like hell I know when a mobo is going out.

It is going to be 6 weeks till I get the computer back but 6 weeks till Gateway gets the mobo. I then have to wait until Gateway installs the mobo then sends me the computer.

If I would have bought a Dell or a Mac they would have sent me a new computer. But no, I bought a freaking Gateway. Well never again. I canceled the order I had for 6 Gateways and paid more for Dells. There worth it. Gateway Sucks.

So, I was finally able to get a Linux Terminal Server working today. I have one master and four terminals up a running. I still need to work out a few issues with Ekiga, but everything else seems to be working perfectly.

Look for a few tips on what was needed to get them working correctly and let me know if you need any help with your LTSP.

Naming Objects
The very basics of ActionScript are the objects and classes. Sound, Graphic and Text are a few examples of Data Type Objects. A data object can pull information from a source of you choice, such as an array, XML or simply the time. All objects belong to a larger group referred to as classes. Flash has prebuilt class that help flash understand how to handle data. such as Array, Math, Sound and Video.

Objects need to be named for ActionScript to be able to use them.
When you have the object on the stage and selected you can enter the name in this field.

Applying a Method
In the file you will find a box called “box”. First you need to name the box, currently it is called box in the Library, but for ActionScript it needs to be named in the Properties panel. (see example above). Click on the box symbol and go to the Properties panel. Name this box “box_mc”

The object has been named, so lets make the object do something, such as following the mouse around. Open the Actions panel (press F9)

select the first key frame in the actions layer and

then add the following code:

This Code calls the method “startDrag()” a built in in feature of Flash CS3. You named the box “box_mc“ so “startDrag()“ is applied to “box_mc“

Now press contol-enter to publish this file. When you run your mouse over the .swf you will see the box follow your mouse. A .swf is the file extension that flash uses to create a file referred to as a movie. You can then embed the .swf into an html page. If you haven’t changed the name of your flash file you will see that pressing control-enter created a new file called start01.swf.

Press Control-Enter and test you movie.

Download Flash CS3 Source Files