So, on the plus side, I have spent a few days researching PHP and SQL, and am now starting babysteps back into the world of programming. (Yes, I used to be a programmer, but I am basically starting from scratch, trying to unlearn what I did with Visual Basic and BBC Basic all those years ago, because the discovery that Real Life doesn’t /work/ like that was harsh. This means that Quoth is no longer supported. I will release the sourcecode soon, but I intend to never install VB on my home workstation ever again 🙂
I’m doing this in the same way I learnt Javascript, VB, and HTML. I have a project, in the form of Aquarionics 2, which will be done in perl, php and mySQL. I even know how I’ll do it now. But first I have to fight with Debian.
Learning Linux occasionally feels like this huge dark room, filled with furniture, which I have to navigate. I have the maps other people have made, and the maps that the person who put the furniture in have made, but they tend to be of the “Oh, there is a table at waist height somewhere around the middle of the room” style. It’s information, but not of a helpful source.
a Ferinstance, here. I installed mySQL and PHP4 today. This was Not Easy, because PHP4 requires a version of apache greater than 1.3.9, when mine is currently 1.3.19. Now *obviously* 1.3.19 is lower than 1.3.9. Isn’t it?
No. It isn’t. It’s the nineteenth revision, instead of the ninth. But Debian doesn’t know this, and so I had to force the install. Now it’s trying to delete PHP every time I install. Then I had to get into mySQL with the default password. What is the default password?
it doesn’t say.
A Googlesearch told me that the password was, in fact, blank. How the freaking hell am I supposed to know that? Do I look psychic?
</geek>
So, my window gets repaired tomorrow. I leave in 10 days. *sigh*