My MacTech January 2013 articles

1st article
Title: An introduction to MRTG
Graphing network traffic with MRTG

2nd article (coauthor: Dimitris Tsoukalos)
Title: Programming a Joomla! Extension
How to program a Joomla module

Joomla 2.5.6 released

You can find more information here.

Joomla 3.0 is coming

Joomla CMS Version 3.0 is planned for release in September.
You can find more about it here.

Error SQL DB function failed with error number 1060

Joomla Error after upgrading to 2.5.4:
Error SQL DB function failed with error number 1060


Possible Solution:
Go to Extensions > Extension Manager > Database and click Fix.

Another possible solution is here.

Joomla! 2.5.4 released

More about it here.

Menu Manager -> Rebuild

After upgrading to Joomla! 2.5.3, one of my sites showed something strange: It added the word "Smart%Search.html" after the proper URL.
I solved the problem by doing the following:

• Go to the Menu Manager.
• Click Rebuild.

Joomla! 2.5.3 released!

More about it here.

More Joomla!

If you read this, you should know the problems that I had with Joomla.

Last week, my provider's server crashed (actually the hard disks) and it lost all its data. The good thing is that I had backups and now my sites are all up and running.

Why am I telling you this: After the restore, I can now edit and create large articles without problems!

Joomla 2.5.2 released

More about it here.

It is a security release.

Give WordPress a try

After the recent problems that I had with Joomla! I think that I am going to give WordPress a try and use it for building my personal web site.


keep working...

My Joomla workaround

The problem is not solved, but I found the following workaround:

1. Create a small article (live site)
2. Create the full article (localhost/backup site)
3. Use PHPmyAdmin to edit the created article from step 1
4. Paste the HTML code from step 2
5. Save :)

This is not perfect but at least it works!


I am thinking of doing the following when I find the time:

• Buy a new domain (I need one for my photography site)
• Install Joomla!
• See if it supports big articles
• If yes, I will move the site to the new server

Really strange...

Strange things keep hapenning: Although I downgraded to Joomla! 1.7.5 using a backup (Akeeba), the problems still exist and I cannot edit or create articles with large amounts of text.
The last thing that I am going to try is to clean install Joomla! 1.7.5 and do a restore -- this worked on my iMac even with version 2.5.1.

keep working...

Tried full restore...

I tried to do a full restore to Joomla! 2.5.1 first but the problems remain.
So, sooner or later, I will downgrade to Joomla! 1.7.5.


Keep working...

Going back to Joomla 1.7

For reasons that I am going to explain in a future post, I have to downgrade from Joomla! 2.5.1 to version 1.7.5.


I will fully explain the process as soon as I finish it :)

Joomla versions 2.5.1 and 1.7.5 available

Info about Joomla! 2.5.1 here.
Info about Joomla! 1.7.5 here.

Joomla 2.5.0 released

You can learn more about it here.

Joomla! 1.7.4 Released

You can learn more about it here.


Joomla! 1.7.4 is a security release.

My 2012 wish list

• Buy a CISCO wireless router for home use
• Release a successful iOS application
• Do more programming
• Use Moodle more
• Develop Joomla! components
• Buy an Apple laptop (with a big screen)
• Convert my web site to either Joomla! or WordPress

Joomla 2.5 beta1 released

Learn more about it here.

"What happens to Joomla 1.7?

Joomla 2.5 is the direct upgrade for Joomla 1.7. Joomla 1.7 will be supported for critical security issues only for a period of one month after the release of Joomla 2.5. After that time, only Joomla 1.5 and Joomla 2.5 will be  supported by the Joomla project. Note that Joomla version 2.5 is a long-term-support (LTS) release and will be supported for at least 18 months."

Joomla! 2.5 is coming

Read this for more.