Once again I have switched server, but this time it’s for the long term.
I have set up a dedicated Mac OS X server (running on a “Mac mini” with Intel CoreDual (2x) 1.66GHz processor, 2 GB RAM and 80 GB HD), and it’s seems to run very well. This blog is the first of my sites to go live on the new server. I will move all my sites over to this server during the next 5-7 days. Crossing fingers for a smooth transition…
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I must admit that besides the time I spend working on my own sites, I have somewhat limited time for surfing around the net and visiting other sites. Still, I’m going to start a list of places on the net which I find interesting and well worth a visit.
(Just a little disclaimer: 1. The fact that I find the sites interesting does not necessarily mean that I agree with the opinions expressed on them. It means exactly what it says: I find them interesting and worth visiting that you may form your own opinion. 2. I’m not going to list them in any particular order, but rather randomly as they come to mind and as I surf by them. Thus sites not mentioned in this first round is not in any way less interesting or important to me than the ones I mention below)
Alright, today I’ll start out with three very different sites (all of them of course free of charge to view and use). I’m not going to mention any of the music sites I frequent this time around (there should be something to look forward to the next time ;)) but instead I’ll touch on a few other topics.
First, I think most people have heard about this site by now, but it does deserve mentioning: wikipedia.org. An encyclopedia written by its readers - anyone can write and edit the articles! If you write something wrong (willfully or not), chances are it will be corrected by others within few hours, or even minutes. A fascinating idea, and even more fascinating that it actually works (for most parts). Like everything else on the net one should always excercie caution about the correctness of the informations, but with that in mind it can be a very useful tool. Actually when I said I was not going to mention any music sites this time it was not 100% true as there are a very large number of music articles, some of them of high quality, to be found on wikipedia.
Next is a discussion forum called »The Rant Page«. A place to let out some steam! Things can get pretty heated, as it tend to do when people of various political views join in discussions, but it is generally very well managed so it’s certainly worth a visit.
Third, and now to something completely different: A web cartoon that I read from time to time: PvPonline.com. It’s written by the quite talented cartoonist Scott Kurtz. I don’t know him personally but I tend to like the humour of that series.
Well, that’s all for this time. This is just the beginning, I could mention many other sites that I find interesting, and I will.. 
Until next time, happy surfing - and remember, always use your intelligence, common sense and remain critical of whatever information you get through the net (or elsewhere for that matter)
The last couple of days I’ve spend many hours doing a major software transition of Magle International Music Forums from the now old and obsolete software UBB.threads to the modern and much more advanced vBulletin.
The switch itself took place in the weekend and went well besides a few glitches. I imported all threads, posts, attachments and members to the new forum and that went well, or at least as well as could possibly be expected. However, I must admit that one thing I had significantly underestimated is the time I have to spend updating all the links pointing to the old forum. It may not sound like a big deal (which is probably why I underestimated it in the first place), but it needs to be done (or else people will keep ending up in the old forums and the new forums will not be indexed as well by the search engines), and it takes a looooooooong time to do… So far I’ve only done the most important links and that have taken at least 12 hours of my time in the last three days - just editing links. There are literally hundreds, maybe even thousands of the nasty little buggers that needs to be fixed! Aaaarrggh!
The activity has not yet taken up on the new forums. There can be several reasons for that just after a major switch, but I expect (*crossing fingers* ;)) that it will return to the normal level soon, and in time grow to surpass it. Anyhow, go take a look. It’s really nice and a lot of care and work has been put into it
The Danish politician Naser Khader is considering his future political career after (indirect) bomb-threats has been made against him »in jest« by the Danish Imam Ahmed Akkari, caught on hidden camera by journalist Mohamed Sifaoui of the French TV-Station France 2.
I have a message for Mr. Khader: Please continue your work! I strongly believe that Denmark and the Danish people (of all religions) needs you in order to fight both racism and extremist islamism, and to make the integration of muslim people into Danish society succesful. I support Naser Khader!
A couple of days ago I got a call from a Danish organist. A trumpet player debuting from the music conservatoire had asked him if he could buy the score for my work »Kosmos«, since he would possibly like to play it at a concert this summer (after having heard it on CD - an MP3 excerpt can be downloaded at my brass music downloads page.)
I composed »Kosmos« in 2001. It was a commision from a Danish freemasons lodge of the same name, in celebration of their 150th anniversary. In 2003 it was recorded for the CD »Kosmos«, which was released on Classico Records in 2004. I’ve spend most of today revising the final bars of the piece, as I’ve never been 100% satisfied with them. I think what I changed today was for the better. 10 minutes ago I send the score out by email.
Anyhow, I’ll of course let you know if and when the performances of »Kosmos« will take place.
This personal music blog is running on a new dedicated server that I have rented. »Dedicated« means that I control the entire server (computer) and can set up as many websites as I like, or the server can handle. It’s my plan to move my major music sites over to this server in time. But it’s not quite ready yet…
WARNING [Geek Talk]
The solution I selected is not a so called “managed server” - instead I have to set up most things myself, which have forced me to learn a little about Linux and networks the last couple of weeks. I chose to install Linux Debian Sarge LAMP. That has actually gone quite well, and I find setting up the basics: “Virtual servers” in apache, MySQL databases, Log-file rotation, adding IP addresses, etc. etc. to be relatively easy - especially through a control panel called “Webmin”. All these things work like they are supposed to and in a generally logical way. But there is one big problem, and it’s causing me headaches and I don’t want to spend any more time trying to get it to work properly: email!
I installed something called “sendmail” and it works sortof-kinda, but mails sent from my server is only received when using a so called “-f parameter” and sendmail is basically impossible to reconfigure unless you’re a serious Linux-geek. So, I tried to uninstall sendmail and install something called “postfix” instead. No go. This is a big problem with many Linux programs - when you install something it tend to overwrite a lot of other stuff so it can’t be uninstalled without breaking other things. And sendmail won’t let go. Postfix seems a little easier and “friendlier” to use, but perhaps I should look at a commercial package. Only thing is it must not be too expensive because if I spend too much money trying to make things run, I should probably have chosen a “managed” server to begin with (on a managed server everything will be preinstalled and ready to easily setup - and you get support).
I’ve already spend too much time on this whole mail problem. When things work, Linux can be excellent, but as soon as something goes wrong it can become extremely problematic, espeically compared to Apple’s Mac OS X. I must admit that when trying to setup - and uninstall - sendmail I missed the simplicity of Mac OS X and the way Mac OS X packages works and behaves (which, for example, would have allowed me to remove sendmail without any hassle).
[/Geek Talk] …end of rambling 
Anyhow, I’m sure I’ll find a solution, but not today. Today is music day, not tech-day.
For a very long time now I have been working on a large-scale work of classical music; the symphonic poem »Cantabile« (MP3 download of the first movement). It is nearing its completion, the only thing missing is for me to finish the third movement (the first, second, and fourth are all ready). I’m running a “sorta” blog about the progress on my music forum here. Major developments will be announced on the forum, but this blog will be used for day to day progress reports. I think I’ll work a few hours extra on it tonight to make up for the time spend setting up this blog today
This is my first personal blog, and also the first website running “live” on my new dedicated server.
I can’t guarantee how often I will find time to update this blog, but I’ll try to post frequently.
Of course I also recommend visiting my other website and my music forums
Best regards
Frederik Magle