"I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code." - Blogging RockStar
Archive for the ‘Software’ Category
Better Living Through Open Source
December 28th, 2007 by Sean
Open Source Living is a recently-established directory of open-source software.
Basically it’s stuff you can use without having to pay for it and without worrying about proprietary software issues.
Most of the criteria for inclusion in the Open Source Living revolve around the nature of the licensing for the product — it has to be freely redistributable, not discriminatory in its licensing, with source code available, etc.
To that end, the programs already listed in the Open Source Living Directory are something of a “who’s who” of open-source success stories: Firefox, OpenOffice, 7-Zip, and so on.
A fair number of Mac-specific open-source programs are also featured: Camino, Vienna, and NeoOffice.
The layout and design of the site are friendly and clean; it doesn’t look like something that was thrown together in an afternoon.
Check it out today!
Posted in Open Source + Software + Technology | 
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Port 25 Blocking for Outgoing Email
September 14th, 2007 by Blogging Rock Star
Setting up email programs like Outlook, Eudora, and OSXMail on your computer can be pretty easy as all of these email programs provide wizards that makes configuration a piece of cake. All you need are the POP, SMTP information and few clicks with the Next and Finish buttons.
There are many benefits in using mail programs, one of which is centralizing all your emails into one place and saving them on your local drive. You will be able to access your emails offline and have your own archives of email messages as back-ups.
Email clients also have more formatting options, signatures, and can also be integrated with event calendars and address books and get more plugins for added functionality. You can also enable mail filters to work with your anti-virus application that makes emailing a pleasant experience.
One of the most common problems with email programs is when it fails to send emails out. This problem usually happens if the port used by the email client to send out mails is blocked. Outgoing servers use port 25 by default. However, if this fails, there are other ports available that ISP’s do use as an alternative.
If blocking issues occur, unsent emails would sit in the outbox until a connection to the SMTP server is established. To see if there is a problem, you can test for blockage by running a Telnet test in the Windows prompt.
To do a Telnet test, go to your MS-DOS/Command Prompt and type in:
telnet YourMailServerName 25
Internet service providers typically block port 25 to reduce spam relays going from their servers. If this is the case, then you will need to use your ISP’s SMTP Server instead.
Posted in Software + Technology + Tips & Tricks | No Comments »
