Here is some information I've collected for setting up and using a Bitnami Virtual Appliance. Specifically, I was using a couple of appliances to test a plugin in different versions of Redmine.

 
For more details on some of these items: see http://bitnami.org/faq/virtual_machines
 
 
This page assumes you are using the appliance for development only, and as such, disregards a bunch of security rules. If you're providing access for production, you'll need to follow proper security guidelines.
 
 
So you don't have to keep typing sudo (and possibly a password), enter this command:
sudo su
The rest of the commands on this page assume you are doing them in sudo.
 
bitnami items are located at
/opt/bitnami
If you want to move bitnami's home folder, edit the home folder setting for bitnami in
nano /etc/passwd

Location

Redmine items are located at (other apps are similar):
/opt/bitnami/apps/redmine
The /conf folder has apache configuration settings.
The /htdocs folder has the actual application (i.e. this is the real redmine root)
 
To restart Apache (or other services), run one of the commands below.
Restarting Apache also restarts the Ruby application.
/opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh (start|stop|restart|status)

/opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh (start|stop|restart|status) mysql

/opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh (start|stop|restart|status) apache
or 
/opt/bitnami/apache2/bin/apachectl restart
 
To copy files from the host to the VM perform this command:
mv /etc/init/ssh.conf.back /etc/init/ssh.conf

start ssh
Then you can use FileZilla to copy the files.
  1. Add a new site (File > Site Manager > New Site)
  2. Enter the IP address of the VM (192.168.56.101 or similar)
  3. Leave the port blank.
  4. Set the protocol to SFTP.
  5. Set user to 'bitnami' and password to 'bitnami'
  6. Click Connect.
  7. This should take you to the bitnami user's home folder, but you'll probably want to change to /opt/bitnami.
You can edit files from FileZilla by right-clicking and select View/Edit. This will open the file in an editor or associated program.
 
To connect, set the network adapter to 'host only' and then point your browser (on the host) the address below.
The exact address may be different if you have more than one VM running. If so, run ifconfig to find the one that's similar.
192.168.56.101 
 
To enable phpmyadmin, find the file at
/opt/bitnami/apps/phpmyadmin/conf/phpmyadmin.conf
Change the line 'Allow from 127.0.0.1' to
Allow from 192.168.56.1
or 'Allow from all' or whatever you need.
Change the long wiki address for the phpMyAdmin link in /opt/bitnami/apache2/htdocs/index.html.en to "phpmyadmin/"
Restart Apache.
Go to http://192.168.56.101/ (refresh may be needed) and then click on the big "Access phpMyAdmin" button.
Login to phpmyadmin with user 'root', pass 'bitnami'.
 
To enable running rake manually, you'll have to set proper mysql permissions for whatever user you want to run rake from.
Without any changes, you'll get an error like
Access denied for user 'bitnami'@'localhost' to database 'redmine_development'
In phpmyadmin, change the host for the bitnami user to 'Any host' (or %) and set other privileges you need.
In /opt/bitnami/apps/redmine/htdocs/config/database, change the development database to 'bitnami_redmine'
 
To get better logging/debugging and use the development environment...
In /opt/bitnami/apps/redmine/conf/redmine.conf, change/add lines to match below
PassengerFriendlyErrorPages on

PassengerLogLevel 3

RailsEnv development
Restart Apache.
 

 

Installing GBridge on Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10

 

Just because I don't want to have to look this up again. Windows 8's driver signing enforcement prevents installing GBridge's network drivers. I posted how to work around that on gbridge.net forums when I was testing the Windows 8 preview, but their forum is offline now.

Windows 8

This method works for Professional or Home versions.

Grape Harvest

 

I finally got a full harvest off of this vine (before birds, etc.) These grapes are pretty sour, if you just pick and eat. And seedy. However, I always thought they might make good jelly or something. So this year, I have lots of grapes to try something.

Basically, the process is:

Raspberry-Vanilla Pudding

We have a picnic on July 4 where we are supposed to bring a dish. An hour before the picnic... what should we bring? We have lots of fresh-picked raspberries and that vanilla pudding I got last week. After a few minutes of Google-searching for things that use those two ingredients (no results, except for baked items and stuff of the wrong kind), I am going to make my own recipe for this.

Five Crunch Mix

 
Five different textures of crunch for a delightful and versatile snack that doesn't leave your taste buds feeling like you drank an ocean of saltwater.
 
Shake together in a container (or snack bag) in the desired proportions....
  • honey nut cheerios
  • pretzels (thin style, broken in pieces)
  • unsalted peanuts
  • Spanish peanuts
  • banana chips
  • raisins
 
I usually go heavy on the cheerios.