[d] enclosed in brackets chaotic perfectionist for hire

Version 6.3 now, and I like it.

If you haven't noticed the new look, please get something checked. I put a new theme on because the old one wasn't ready for v6. I'm actually working on a new one, and it's coming along quite nicely. For some reason, it's easier when you RTFM. Odd.

In other news, I'm going on vacation as of the end of work today (less than an hour). Definitely necessary, and it'll be nice to be able to sleep past 5:30 again.

We needed a system to monitor our phone system and do some basic reporting. Simple, right?

All it needed was some basics... and it needed to have Windows XP. Easy enough, I've done a few (150+) installs of Windows, this just isn't the imagewe normally use. This time it was using the actual CD and install it. I forgot how awful Windows is right out of the box, and how much of a pain it is to work with before you're "ready to go."

Step 1: Install from CD. It went normally, and I even got to put in the CD key! Ick. Once that was done, I found that there were no drivers for the video, audio, USB, or ETHERNET. Great, no way to get to the Internet. Even better is that it offers to go online to look for drivers. Better still is the nag screen for the activation, which tries to have me go online.

I was able to get some updates on one of my other systems, and copy/install them to the PC. No luck on all three... I had to "reinstall" the already non-existant driver and try three different places to get it working. Once that was done, I restarted and was able to get to the Internet.

Step 2: Patches, patches, patches (insert "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" reference here). I was able to get to Windows update and get the latest version of... the updater. RESTART. Come back up, then connect again, and install SP2 - I will admit, that went smoothly as far as the install. RESTART... into 640x480 4-bit ugliness. wtf. Windows offered to adjust my monitor settings though. Sure, thanks... but it did *nothing*. I had to go into the Device Manager and update the drivers for the video, audio, and USB. It worked, oddly enough, with only a little fighting. Dont't worry though, I had to restart before any of it really worked correctly.

Step 3: Getting SP3. That's where I am now. It failed once (after taking almost 15 minutes of "verifying files"), and I really hope it works this time.

All of this makes me appreciate the OSS (open source software) I use, and how far it's come along.
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I definitely can't say it better than they did, so from drupal.org:

Downloaded and updated on my localhost. It's nice, although I haven't had a chance to play with it much so far. The update process was really smooth, with no errors throughout. We'll see what happens when I try it on this site. Time for the checklist, starting with a full backup (just in case).

How long to wait though... that's my next decision. I think I just need to have a chance to make sure I have modules and themes ready to go when I make the jump. 

Whether you're starting fresh or upgrading, start here for information and download links.

It is done.

I did the upgrade from Drupal 4.7 to v5.3 yesterday, and finished up some of it this morning. It went smoother than I thought it would, and I have to say it a definite improvement. On the administration side, the admin pages seem to be cleaner and easier to navigate, as well as being more helpful. Cheers to Drupal for making the process as easy as it is.

To be sure it went well, I actually remembered to RTFM on upgrading. All of the old files were removed, and the new ones put in their place. This was especially important for the modules, most of which would've been broken. If anything, the site seems to be working better.

Next step: re-doing the look of the site. I'm using a theme called NewsFlash from RoopleTheme (in green, of course). Once I get PHPTemplate down a bit more I should be able to put something decent together.