dasBlog vs. Community Server

I've set up a new personal blog at www.georgevreilly.com/blog. I'll be posting non-technical stuff there and I'll be cross-posting on technical matters to Weblogs @ ASP.net. Here's how I ended up running dasBlog on the new blog.

In the spring of last year, I attempted to install both .Text and dasBlog on my XP Pro laptop. I failed, signally, to get either one working. The details have mercifully faded with time, leaving me only with a residue of frustration.

I've been meaning to put some photos of mine up on the web for a while. A week ago, I went to download nGallery, as I remembered hearing good things about it in the past. I learned that nGallery is now part of Community Server (as is .Text). After navigating through the somewhat confusing portal, I downloaded a copy of Community Server 1.0.

Then I spent several frustrating hours trying to get it running on my laptop. Community Server requires a SQL Server back-end, but you can also use MSDE, the standalone Microsoft SQL Desktop Engine, which comes without a GUI. I downloaded MSDE and the SQL Web Data Administrator, as well as MSDE Query. I can spell "SQL", but that's about where my knowledge of SQL stops. I tried to follow the instructions to create the database tables. I did manage to create the master table, but I could not figure out how to set the various permissions that the instructions demanded. I googled extensively and looked through the archived forums at CommunityServer.org and SqlJunkies.com, to no avail.

Really! If I can't figure this stuff out, most people are never going to get Community Server running on their own systems. Don't get me wrong. Community Server/.Text is a good blogging system, if you can surmount the barriers to entry. I'm a competent, skilled developer, but I've never needed to learn SQL, and I wasn't motivated enough to dig further.

(I've since realized that my hosting package at iHostSites includes MySql, but not SQL Server, so this would have been all for naught. I think. Double aargh!)

I gave up on Community Server in frustration, and decided to fall back to nGallery. I got nGallery installed and running easily enough. Alas, it was flaky and it was all too easy to get ASP.net throwing unhandled exceptions back at me. I spend too much of my life troubleshooting other people's bugs, and I wasn't prepared to invest any more time on this avenue.

At this point, I googled for "web album software" and came up with JAlbum. I'm much happier with JAlbum. It worked flawlessly as soon as I ran it and it's versatile. Photos will start appearing on my personal website, www.GeorgeVReilly.com, soon.

Yesterday, I decided to give dasBlog another try. That was altogether more successful. I did not manage to get it running on my laptop, but I did get it running on a XP Pro desktop system, as well as on my public website. I did have a little difficulty getting it to run on my desktop system, but that went away as soon as I ran aspnet_regiis -i to reset ASP.net.

I'm not sure why it doesn't run on my laptop, but the enormous amount of stuff that I've installed on this system surely plays a role. Indeed that may have been the reason why nGallery puked on my laptop. Someday, I'm going to have to flatten the system and reinstall only the important stuff.

Net results:

Album software: JAlbum 1, nGallery 0.

Blogging software: dasBlog 1, Community Server 0.

4 Comments

  • When trying to get Community Server installed did you ask any questions on the Community Server forums? Perhaps the issues you ran into could have been resolved with a little assistance from the CS community.

  • I am very surprised at your post. Partly because it's very unusual in this day and age to survive as a developer without knowing SQL, but mainly because Commerce Server is one of the easiest installs I've ever had. I guess I was just luckier than you. As Alex pointed out, it's probably worth you detailing the specifics of the problems you had on the Commerce Server forums to see if someone can help you out.

  • Community Server != Commerce Server

  • Alex, I'm quite sure that if I had griped on the Community Server forums rather than here, that I would have received some useful assistance. But that underscores my point that this savvy user couldn't figure it out without help.



    Ian, I've had a successful 20-year career without learning SQL, but I've concentrated on systems and graphics. Doubtless it would be useful to have a working knowledge, but there are so many other things that I'd rather learn first that I'll probably never get around to it until I need it for a job.



    I'll post some detailed feedback on the CS forums someday when I have the time to reproduce what I did. I'm really busy for the next couple of months with higher priority tasks, unforch.



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