Using a Wiki as a project management tool is something that I have been thinking over quite alot recently. At work we do some project management using our internal Wiki, and its great for everyone else to be able to access it.

But there is some nagging doubt in my head. Perhaps its because it requires self discipline to be able to work it properly, or that it we could be doing it better.

Wikis have some real advantages for project management:

• A lot are free, with only hosting costs to contend with
• Open access which can be restricted with ACLs
• Anyone can view, edit and update at anytime. Easily.
• With the proper infrastructure can easily break geographical boundaries.
• Built in version control
• Great for documentation
• Open
• Can be used as a document repository
• Inbuilt document linking can build documentation as detailed or sparse as needed
• Project information can be kept linked to technical information
• Reduces the use of email.

But there are downsides, so far all the Opensourced Wikis that I have seen don’t have built in easily updatable views for Gantt charts, and graphical overviews unless based on simple tables with coloured in cells.

MoinMoin, the python based Wiki software, has support for Gantt chart rendering using a Python module but its far from easy for someone not wishing to use XML to update the chart.

So the question is how do we support these graphical views, and how do we maintain discipline on the project management side?

Well a formal structure is one way, along with formally created templates for the creation of project pages. This can be mapped successfully to a formal methodology if you are using one, and is in fact such a good way to go that I am going to start testing this.

So still on this subject I decided that I would do some reading, and everything that I have seen points to the fact that its a bad idea.

I upgraded a box from Ubuntu 6.06 to Ubuntu 6.10 last week to test the upgrading, and it really didn’t like it.  This was a freshly installed desktop machine with no funny hardware so that is putting me off going from Debian to Ubuntu totally.

I am going to keep my Debian box as is for the moment, though I must admit I have got my eye on a nice Intel Mac Mini for a replacement or to use as a media box.  In fact I would love to replace several of my boxes (my Database server, my MythTV box (using my server as a backend and my firewall) but I am not sure whether it makes financial sense.  Even secondhand a Mac Mini is going to cost at least £200 I would have thought, but it might be a better option than having these huge boxes around at the moment.

Something to ponder on.  Like I need it!

In the past I have gone from Linux distro to Linux distro, but almost always a result of taking a CD, and doing a completely fresh install.  Its been the easiest way.  But with my next upgrade I am going to cross from Debian to Ubuntu and keep all my files and information but have the OS do the hard work.

As Ubuntu is based on Debian and use the same package management system I can do this, and reap the benefits of having all my linux boxes running on the same distro.

For the last couple of years I have been running Debian, but Ubuntu is making me switch mainly because on the machine that I need a desktop Linux machine its clearly better, and for servers its updated more regularly which helps with security patching.  The company running the Ubuntu project, Canonical, has committed to updating Ubuntu every 6 months and supporting old versions for 5 years, though I am sure that I will upgrade before that time is up!

My new Ubuntu server (actually installed from the server CD) is excellent, and I have just got up and running a (after a while of having this absent) a Ubuntu based MythTV box (using the desktop variant).  This box is also useful for web surfing on our LCD tv from a few feet away.

Last night I upgraded the MythTV box to the latest Edgy release, if you are doing the same I would give it a few hours.  My web connection coupled with the fact that this hardware is a few years old mean’t that it took along time!
I will create a link to my Debian Ubuntu wiki in this page as soon as I have detailed the procedure.

The modification I made to zussaweb the PHP frontend to HellaNZB is now available in sourceforge for downloaded as a 0.3 release.

They tidied it up abit, but I am glad it made it in after all the requests and emails that I got for this feature.

Now perhaps I should integrate a Newzbin RSS feed!!

I needed to map a folder on Windows XP to a drive letter to emulate another machine, and looking around for an application that would do this I came across one that has been bundled with Windows since the DOS days: Subst

This handy little util will map any folder to a free drive letter, fire up a cmd shell window and type:

subst e: s:\myfolder\

This will map myfolder to the e:\ drive.  Simple as that.