Progress on Solr 4.x Deep Dive e-book

I know it's been a number of months since my last update  for an Early Access Release for my Solr 4.x Deep Dive e-book, but unofrtunately I continue to have a number of competing higher priorities that distract me, so I am unable to make any commitment as to when the next update for the book will occur. I know that sucks, but that's life. I do really intend to get back to the book as soon as possible, but I'm struggling with those annoying competing priorities. I'll make a more determined effort to put in at least a couple of hours this coming week and see how that works out.

 

Again, my apologies.

 

I have been making incremental progress and I do actually have another 200+ pages of content prepared about the Solr Admin API (over 2,000 pages total now!), but it needs another 30 pages or so to be ready for publication.

 

The current Early Access Release, #7, is still available for purchase and download on Lulu.com:

 

http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/jack-krupansky/solr-4x-deep-dive-early-access-release-7/ebook/product-21203548.html

 

Thank you for your support and patience for this ambitious project.

-- Jack Krupansky

Yikes, my Toshiba touch screen stopped working!!!

I bought a hot new Toshiba notebook computer at the end of the year, a Toshiba Satellite P50-AST3GX2, with Windows 8.1. I even paid an extra $200 to get a touch screen. The machine works great, but a couple of times a week the touch screen stops responding. Everything else about the machine still works, but I have to use the track pad and keys to navigate and make selections. I still don't know what cause the touch screen to stop working, but I do have a quick workaround. Sure, of course you can shut down and reboot the machine, but that's too inconvenient.

 

What's the workaround for a touch screen that is non-responsive? Simple: Just toggle the Wi-Fi mode twice. That's the F12 (or FN+F12 keys, depending on whether you have function keys enabled). In my case I modified the function key configuration so that just pressing the ley labeled with both the F12 and Wi-Fi labels is the same as the old-style F12 key, so I need to press the FN+F12 keys to toggle airplane mode. Press FN+F12 once to toggle airplane mode, wait a couple of seconds until the popup message confirms the new airplane mode, and then hit FN+F12 again to toggle airplane mode back to what you really wanted it to be. The first press of FN+F12 is what resets the touch screen and restores full touch features. If you haven't changed the function keys settings, just use the F12 key alone.

 

In short, in takes a couple of seconds to re-enable the touch screen by toggled FN+F12 twice, but that's hardly the biggest annoyance in my life these days.

 

I really like the touch screen a lot.

 

The one thing I don't like about this machine is that since it is a "hot" i7-based machine, it has a bigger and bulkier power adapter which is a pain for travel.

 

-- Jack Krupansky

No Early Access Release for Solr 4.x Deep Dive e-book today

Sorry (again), but I won't be coming out with an updated Early Access Release for my Solr 4.x Deep Dive e-book today. I was doing great during the summer since there were so few distractions, but since September the distractions have just kept piling on.

 

I have been making incremental progress and I do actually have another 200+ pages of content prepared (over 2,000 pages total now!), but it needs another 30 pages or so to be ready for publication. This is all about the Solr Admin API. There are actually 15 distinct admin APIs.

 

The current Early Access Release, #7, is still available for purchase and download on Lulu.com:

 

http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/jack-krupansky/solr-4x-deep-dive-early-access-release-7/ebook/product-21203548.html

 

Thanks for your support and patience for this ambitious project.

-- Jack Krupansky

No Early Access Release for Solr 4.x today

Sorry (again), but I won't be coming out with an updated Early Access Release for my Solr 4.x Deep Dive e-book today. I was doing great during the summer since there were so few distractions, but after Labor Day the distractions have just kept piling on.

 

I have been making incremental progress and I do actually have another 200+ pages of content prepared (over 2,000 pages total now!), but it needs another 30 pages or so to be ready for publication. This is all about the Solr Admin API. There are actually 15 distinct admin APIs.

 

The current Early Access Release, #7, is still available for purchase and download on Lulu.com:

 

http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/jack-krupansky/solr-4x-deep-dive-early-access-release-7/ebook/product-21203548.html

 

Thanks for your support and patience for this ambitious project.

-- Jack Krupansky

No Early Access Release for Solr 4.x today

Sorry, but I won't be coming out with an updated Early Access Release for my Solr 4.x Deep Dive e-book today. I was doing great during the summer since there were so few distractions, but after Labor Day the distractions have just kept piling on.

 

I actually have been doing a little work on the book, reading code, contriving examples, and running these examples, primarily for the remaining portions of the Solr Admin API. I've even written a few pages, but all of the distractions have sapped my focus.

 

That said, I think the distractions have peaked (except for the upcoming Twitter IPO!!), so that I may be able to regain more focus on writing this weekend.

 

The current Early Access Release, #7, is still available for purchase and download on Lulu.com:

 

http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/jack-krupansky/solr-4x-deep-dive-early-access-release-7/ebook/product-21203548.html

 

Thanks for your support and patience for this ambitious project.

-- Jack Krupansky

Solr 4.x Early Access Release status

I'm behind in my writing, so I won't be publishing a new Early Access Release for my Solr 4.x Deep Dive e-book this week. I suspect that I'll stay on the same calendar schedule and try to get EAR #8 out on October 11, 2013. Sorry for any inconvenience!

-- Jack Krupansky

Early Access Release #7 for Solr 4.x Deep Dive is now available for download on Lulu.com

Okay, it's hot off the e-presses: Solr 4.x Deep Dive, Early Access Release #7 is now available for purchase and download as an e-book for $9.99 on Lulu.com at:

 

http://www.lulu.com/shop/jack-krupansky/solr-4x-deep-dive-early-access-release-1/ebook/product-21120181.html

 

(That link says "1", but it apparently correctly redirects to EAR #7.)

 

Summary of changes:

• Coverage of Collections API (reference for SolrCloud, but tutorial with examples is TBD)
• Coverage of File Access API

Total of 34 pages of additional content.

 

Please feel free to email or comment on this blog for any questions or issues related to the book.

 

Thanks!

-- Jack Krupansky