The goal of this article is to create a "Production-Quality" Rails Server. Thus, the best possible technologies (strictly my opinion) have been selected at the time of this writing to achieve this goal.

Unlike other developers, I prefer to install my Rails Applications under Web Subdirectories, such as http://www.not404.com/MyRailsApp, instead of running it as a Root Application of a Web Root, such as http://MyRailsApp.not404.com/. These instructions are geared for how I lay things out, but will let you know what to adjust in order to run your Rails Apps as traditional Web-Root Applications.

You may also notice that these instructions are SQLite3-oriented. This is intentional. IMHO, it's better to use the simplest-case database to prove that everything else is properly stitched together. Then, once you're satisfied that everything is properly locked down and performance-tuned, you can focus your attention on tying your Rails Application to a real database.

• Fedora Core (6 or later)
• Ruby on Rails
• Mongrel Ruby Application Server
• Lighttpd Web Server
• Various Plumbing and Configuration "Best Practices" to stitch it all together. :-)

Related Articles:

• How To Connect To SQL2005 From Ruby On Rails on Fedora Core 6 (Linux)

I've been very fortunate to lead an ETL project, using Ruby on Rails as the core engine. With a few weeks devoted to "Pure R&D Effort", I have come up with a mini-recipe of tweaks and connectivity layers necessary to connect a Rails Application (on Linux) to a SQL2005 Database.  I hope my published instructions here are eloquent and sufficient enough to guide you through your own efforts along such a path.

System Requirements and Configuration Steps Involved

• UnixODBC >= 2.2.11
• FreeTDS >= 0.63
• Configure an ODBC DSN
• Ruby ODBC >= 0.996
• Rails ODBC >= 1.1
• Ruby DBI >= 0.1.1
• Various Plumbing and Best-Practices

I have modified a Sony DWQ28A DVD Burner to operate in the Xbox, and with a minor adjustment, it works almost flawlessly. The only noticable quirk is that the DVD Burner won't eject if you power-up the Xbox via the Eject button; and it won't auto-retract if you power-down the Xbox with the tray still opened, but I can live with that. Once the Xbox is running, all the signals are functioning properly - the Xbox can eject, detect the presence of a disc inside the unit, and sense the tray being in or out.

Pictures of the appropriate test points for this drive are below. (No, the DVD burner does not read Original Xbox games, as there's no patched firmware for Sony drives... yet! ;-) )

I've added a 100 Ohm pull-up resistor (though 220 Ohms is probably the ideal) to help my flakiest Xboxes to start up with this DVD burner installed. With a trimmer pot installed, I found that the highest resistance before these Xboxes flake out is 240 Ohms. I'm calling it at 220 Ohms, since that's a common value you can find at the corner Radio Shack. (100 Ohms works just as well, though, and is what I'm using now..)

I am now shifting my focus to lay out a quick and easy DVD Drive "Mod-Kit" Adapter (Really a breakout board) to accept the yellow DVD cable and provide easy solder points to connect to any DVD drive's internal test points. Since some DVD drives have their signal logic reversed, the PCB might be designed with pads for a NAND gate to reverse the signals on such DVD drives. For now, though, all I really need is a simple breakout board, with no discrete circuitry.