Oliver Polden

Installing Amazon Kindle on Ubuntu linux

Note: this post is now outdated because of Amazon Cloud Reader, see below.

There have been quite a lot of posts about how to install Kindle on linux. A lot of them out of date that I've tried and given up. I thought I'd just give it a quick go on a new computer and it finally just worked. I did have one hurdle, using the latest wine 1.3. With the latest wine you can use the Kindle download from Amazon themselves, you don't need an old beta version.

Essentially, install wine 1.3 from http://www.winehq.org/download/ubuntu then run the download with:

Drupal Services module: Getting the API key or kid of the requester

The services_keyauth_get_kid() function.

I'm currently in the process of building a module to work with Analytics SEO. This module connects to Analytics SEO via the Services module. There has been some debate as to how to manage permissions. The 'correct' way is to log the user in and then use the usual Drupal access permissions system which would be great but I really don't like the way you submit the password in plain text.

Making Drupal fly with Pressflow, varnish and more for performance

This article is currently a work in progress.

Node CSS: My first Drupal 7 Module

Please note, code in this article may be out of date. Please download the module at the bottom of the page (or view the project page on drupal.org... when it exists!)

It was about time I created a module to get up on Drupal.org. Now that Drupal 7 is out I thought my first contributed module should be a Drupal 7 module.

The module is mostly a port and formalisation of bespoke work I did on www.nowmusic.com to allow customisation of background images via the CMS:
http://www.nowmusic.com/bundles/now-thats-what-i-call-80s

Drupal 7 benefits for site visitors and frontend

We recently had a potential client asking for us to build a site in Drupal 7 for them. Currently Drupal 7, although unreleased, is actually more stable than Drupal 6 was when it was released. It's quite reasonable to build a production site in Drupal 7 but that depends on whether the modules you need are available. There have been quite a few third party modules that are now in core Drupal so for basic sites modules shouldn't be much of a problem.

Ubuntu vs Kubuntu 10.10

Back in June I compared Ubuntu to Kubuntu. In the end I loved Ubuntu but there were several features from Kubuntu that I just missed too much to make the switch. Now 10.10 is out I'm giving it another go.

The immediate feeling I get is that this is probably one of the biggest evolutions of Ubuntu I've ever experienced. Things are finally feeling finished. I don't feel like I'm using an open source operating system. I mean that in the best sense: It's polished, easy to use and everything just works... so far.

Balancing SEO and Design - Ligatures

As a developer with only minimal knowledge of design things like kerning, line spacing, orphans etc. well, basically most of typography can easily be overlooked.

Drupal Continuous Integration

I work at theTeam where I am the sole Drupal developer. Sometimes this is great with a lot of satisfaction knowing that I built an entire site, however with two and a half years experience as of June 2010 I'm not quite where I feel I should be in terms of automation and deploying falling back to code and database deliverables.

Ubuntu vs Kubuntu 10.04

Recently I've been having huge urges to switch from Kubuntu to Ubuntu, the main reasons are:

- I'm tired of configuring
- Gnome is lighter weight and therefore feels faster and smoother
- I just want things configured nicely for me and everything to be integrated

From Photoshop to Drupal Theme

Some modules mentioned in the DrupalCon session:

http://drupal.org/project/skinr

http://drupal.org/project/block_class
http://drupal.org/project/blocktheme

User login

Author of...

  • A great post about how the education system doesn't teach us how to be successful and follow our passions http://t.co/GsOpEUhj 12 years 16 weeks ago
  • @mattfarina how about em? 12 years 17 weeks ago
  • More about Omega here: http://t.co/kT7p1QSb 12 years 17 weeks ago
  • Delta + Omega + Context is probably one of the best things to happen to Drupal since Views 12 years 17 weeks ago
  • Wow! Just did a fresh install of Kubuntu Oneiric and I'm astonded. Very fast, very nice and lots of "oooh that's nice" 12 years 17 weeks ago
  • A great infographic about how Google works: http://t.co/dyZgxu3E 12 years 17 weeks ago
  • Just received my nexus 9000 silent mouse. First impressions, verrrrry nice, perhaps should have bought the 8000 tho: http://t.co/CzJB31bR 12 years 18 weeks ago
  • I've barely used GIT but already SVN seems archaic 12 years 18 weeks ago