ILX Server Upgrade Quandry

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

As we're all well aware, ILX is performing pretty horribly as of late. Partially this is because of the way it was written: there are portions of code that are quite inefficient and can be optimised. Partially this is because the server is underpowered for what we're asking of it.

Now, I've said recently that the server will be upgraded soon. This hinges largely on a scheduled upgrade to my personal workstation here. Basically, the server machine receives bits and pieces from my workstation at home as I upgrade it. I would like the next upgrade not to be a partial one, but the addition of another server machine. This would allow the database to reside on one powerful machine, and the relatively trivial web frontend stuff to happen on the current machine. Were I to add this new machine it would also mean that we could make use of Sean's donated RAM.

So, recently I've been looking at upgrading my workstation. There are a number of things I want to buy. First and foremost I'm looking at a couple of new LCD displays. My old CRTs are simply getting blurry and worn (after many years of service). That, and the acquisition of a new video card, is my top priority. Such a purchase at present amounts to AUD$1885.

There are some other miscellaneous things I would like to upgrade, also. I want to buy a new case so that my machine's innards can run a bit cooler, and look a bit nicer on the outside too. There are also some other bits and pieces that I need. These bits amount to AUD$369.

Up until recently, I had also been considering upgrading my motherboard and cpu. Were I to do this I would be able to construct a new server for ILX, as the old motherboard and CPU could then be used. When I was working out the costing of this, however, I realised that this would cost me an extra AUD$884 all up. To me, it is not worth the marginal benefit of the additional 1Ghz for such a price.

What this means is that for me to upgrade the ILX server farm I'll have to spend a lot of money. Something I can't really do at this point. But I feel bad about this, because I want to be able to make ILX run better, and I also want to make use of Sean's donated RAM. (as it stands it's currently installed in my workstation from when I rebuilt the databases after the recent crash.) I feel like I'm short-changing you guys by not doing this.

Tell me what you guys think about all this, anyway. Zac, Martin and I have been a bit slack about optimising the code. At the moment I don't really see the situation improving a whole lot. (I'm feeling really drained from work at the moment.)

― Andrew (enneff), Saturday, 20 September 2003 07:27 (twenty-two years ago)

cant we set up a paypal account or something we can donate to ? i dont want you to shell out mad cash like that.

― chaki (chaki), Saturday, 20 September 2003 07:34 (twenty-two years ago)

What chaki said, yeah. And if that can get set up, I don't think it'd be a bad idea to pop a link to it on the poxy fule page, just as a little reminder :)

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 20 September 2003 07:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm in debt with no income for at least a couple weeks but I could probably contribute a lil som'n-som'n if an account was set up.

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 20 September 2003 07:42 (twenty-two years ago)

if every registered user contributed $5.. that'd add up to a fair wad

― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 20 September 2003 07:43 (twenty-two years ago)

hey maybe the top posters should contribute more.... oh sheeeit

― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 20 September 2003 07:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I really don't want to accept donations from you guys (and I think that accepting the ram from Sean may have been a poor decision) simply because I want to have complete control over my own machines. I don't want to feel any sense of obligation towards you guys, especially since I personally can't guarantee that the rackspace to house the machines will always be there for us.

Also, at some stage in the future (in the next 5 months) I will be doing a more major upgrade of my workstation, and thus there will be spare parts to go towards another ILX machine. I wouldn't want to spend donated money on brand new parts for the server if these second-hand parts would then go to waste a shor time afterwards. And I definitely couldn't accept money from ilxers to go towards my own personal hardware upgrades.

With any luck I'll find some motivation to go through the ILX code with a fine tooth-comb and do some fixing which may alleviate the slowness somewhat.

― Andrew (enneff), Saturday, 20 September 2003 07:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, but if each donation is only a couple of quid or dollars each, that's the price of a pint or 10 fags, and no-one donating that sort of money is going to feel like you really owe them anything. I certainly wouldn't feel owed anything, and you could state a disclaimer to the effect that no-one is to come knocking your door down if it doesn't work out in the long run. The cumulative amount may be a lot, but each individual would only be donating a teensy wee bit of it. There's got to be a bit of goodwill obviously, that you aren't going to take our money and run off to the Bahamas, but similarly I would imagine that everyone else willing to donate money is also willing to accept that you'll put it to good use for as long as possible. I won't lose any sleep over the few quid I would donate if it all goes tits up a few years down the line.

Depends what others think, but I certainly wouldn't have a problem with a one-off donation.

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 20 September 2003 07:59 (twenty-two years ago)

my thoughts exactly

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 20 September 2003 08:02 (twenty-two years ago)

yah dude i mean.. we're offering

― chaki (chaki), Saturday, 20 September 2003 08:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm very fond of ILX, and would be happy to make a contribution.

― C J (C J), Saturday, 20 September 2003 08:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I have no idea if this is possible through Paypal or anything similar, but if there were a way to make donations anonymous, that might help with the "sense of entitlement" type concerns Andrew's talking about -- which, now that he's mentioned them, I totally grok.

It's not like we're talking about anyone skipping their electric bill or anything, but I'd hope no one would get all huffy and "but I paid for this place"-ish over the price of a CD or a pizza or a dinner out.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 20 September 2003 08:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Think of it as a little cash sent out that magically incorporates itself into faster times for all. Like we're all paying for our own upgrades, if you will.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 20 September 2003 12:52 (twenty-two years ago)

What about kit donations, do any ilxors have old odds and sods of coputers that may be worth sending to andrew, is there any reason why ilx cannot be a cluster of low powered serverss (space consideration springs to mind as a very possible reason, but I thought I'd float it)

― Ed (dali), Saturday, 20 September 2003 13:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I apologise for my uselessness regarding trying to improve the coding - the last two months, with my terrible eye problems, I've not been up to anything like this. (I now have over a month of unread newspapers piled up, depressingly.)

I would very happily donate something, Andrew. I'm not sure how we set this up.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 20 September 2003 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd be all for donating about $5 to the cause. In fact, Chaki and the surface noise both expressed what I'd been thinking the moment I finished reading your original post, Andrew. I wouldn't think of it as anything other than just donating to help keep up a now-important part of my online experience, something I use quite a bit (so why not pay up a bit here?).

Andrew, you're still going to be doing this independently. I mean, Lord knows you've done a heck of a lot of work by yourself on this place, just by casual observation. It's just that financially you'd be bestowed a little gift, a bit of a helper-outer. I cannot express enough just how grateful I am such a place as this exists, so please, at least let me donate a few measly dollars. :)

― Legendary Nothingness (Dee the Lurker), Saturday, 20 September 2003 14:02 (twenty-two years ago)

And I apologise to all of ILX for keeping that other coding person mentioned too busy as well.

(p.s. I can permanently part with five dollars no problem)

― Kim (Kim), Saturday, 20 September 2003 14:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd be willing to pay a small fee. I guess.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 20 September 2003 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Well you could keep that other coding person busier on a wonderful day like today.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Saturday, 20 September 2003 14:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I've added a Donate link to the top of each page, from which PayPal donations can be made. I think I've spelt things out pretty clearly there. Any feedback on this would be appreciated.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 21 September 2003 00:14 (twenty-two years ago)

cool. was I first? ;)

― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 21 September 2003 01:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess, maybe I was second. :-) Small amount for now, a bit more later. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 21 September 2003 01:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, no, teeny. I think you were beaten by two others. :) So far, many people have contributed to a total of $60. I, and the ILX community, owe you all a debt of gratitude.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 21 September 2003 01:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I may have a video card kicking around too, Andrew. Maybe even a motherboard or two. Let me know what you're thinking of for a base configuration for the ILX server, maybe I can come up with something else.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Sunday, 21 September 2003 02:24 (twenty-two years ago)

The new base configuration, if we use the parts I currently have, will be:

Athlon 1800XP
1280mb RAM
60gb HDD
Some random AGP video card

which will act as our MySQL and NFS server, it will be connected via 10/100mbit ethernet to the current server running Apache as our web front-end.

Sean, if you have a 60gb HDD hanging around it would be pretty neat to set up RAID 1 for data redundancy. Other than that I don't think there's anything else we need.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 21 September 2003 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm having trouble with that donate link .... I keep getting an error message telling me I have to join Paypal as an "extended user" or something. What does that mean?

― C J (C J), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Are you a member of PayPal already, CJ?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

No, I'm not. I filled in all the details on the form and it seemed to accept it all - then said I have 'exceeded the amount I was allowed to send" or something.

It tells me I have to join this extended user thingy by authorising two small debits from my credit card and then waiting until my next credit card statement is sent to me (or something).

Is this how it usually works? Am I being stupid or something?

― C J (C J), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm afraid that's how it is, you can ring up the bank and find out what those amounts are. You can of course send your donation in smaller chunks.

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:19 (twenty-two years ago)

They are indeed small debits, it's done for authorization -- in my case it was for 50 cents and 65 cents or something. But as Ed sez, you can break it down into smaller amounts sent a bit at a time.

Hey Andrew, any chance of a running update on the total? :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't there a code that gets attached to the debit that you need in order to activate the account? I think I waited almost a week before I was able to get the code off of my online statement when I joined up.

― Bryan (Bryan), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Why can't it just take money straight from my debit card and transfer it to Andrew's paypal account? I am not understanding this.

For me to do what heir instruction tell me, it's going to take weeks to send Andrew any money. This is daft.

Andrew : if you'd like to email me with a postal address, I'll gladly drop a donation in the post to you.

― C J (C J), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

depends whether you use a credit or a debit card.

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Its an anti fraud measure.

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

you can send lots of little payments (apologies for the multiple posting, I keep thinking of things as I hit send.

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Ed's right, and it's effective for that. Credit card might be the way to go for you, CJ.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

or lots of little donations

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I used a debit card and didn't have that problem -- CJ, you said it said you exceeded the amount you could send without the rigmarole? (I must not have.) Would it work to just do small amounts several times, then?

xp Ed

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

It tells me I am authorised to send $0 until I do that thing about telling it to debit two separate small amounts from my card first, then wait for my next bank statement (i.e. in a month's time) to get an authorisation code from it. So I don't think I can even send money in small doses. Bah.

I'll try again with a Visa card instead, and see if that works any better.

― C J (C J), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

when I authorised my debit card I rang up the bank a couple of days later to get the amounts, you don't need to wait for the statement. Hassle I know.

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Why can't it just take money straight from my debit card and transfer it to Andrew's paypal account? I am not understanding this.

Yeah, it's to keep you from using someone else's card to sign up for your Paypal account. If you have online banking you can retrieve the data you need pretty quickly by checking recent transactions.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm almost worried that it didn't do this for me -- it did ask for my security code, but that's on the card, after all. (I got the email saying Andrew got the money, so I assume all went well, but what's different between what CJ and I did?)

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 21 September 2003 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Mmm...it *might* be something to do with the difference between banks in the US and the UK, but who knows? You were using your debit card, Tep?

(For me this is all a bit academic, I admit, since I've been using PayPal for about two years now, maybe more. I don't remember joining up being quite so angst-ridden!)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 21 September 2003 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Yep, just the debit; I had the credit card handy in case I needed it (I vaguely remembered my ex having set up her Paypal account, but hadn't needed my own before), but it liked the debit just fine. There doesn't seem to be anything magical I did that could help CJ, unfortunately.

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 21 September 2003 16:04 (twenty-two years ago)

It must be the difference between UK and US banks, Tep. We don't have a security code on our cards.

It liked my card details well enough, and seems to have permanently embedded the them into its memory now! I'll jut phone my bank tomorrow and see if they can give me the authorisation code I need to make this thing work.

I can see that it's useful to have some sort of security measure to stop people from using cards fraudulently, so I suppose I shouldn't complain. At least, once it's set up, I'll be a proper Paypal member so I'll be able to do any future transactions without all this hassle.

― C J (C J), Sunday, 21 September 2003 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

It must be the difference between UK and US banks, Tep. We don't have a security code on our cards.

Oh, there we go. (Of course, since it's on our cards, it isn't the protection it could be :))

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 21 September 2003 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, PayPal can be a bit complicated, but it's just so easy for me to manage it all online.

Re: sending cheques - I'm going to go over to my bank today to find out how much it'll cost me to cash foreign-currency cheques. I've heard that it can cost quite a bit, so it might not be worth it for smaller amounts. I'll let you all know once I find out, though.

The current total is an amazing USD$204, considering I began accepting donations less than 24 hours ago. One outstandingly generous individual donated $100! Simply incredible.

I'd like to thank each and every one of you personally (and publicly), but on my statements it only provides your real names. Out of respect for your privacy I'll not divulge them. It would be great, however, if everyone that's donated so far could drop me an email and let me know what their corresponding real name is to their ilx handle. Then I could put up a "list of the hardcore" or something. :)

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 21 September 2003 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, if you email me re: your donation I can confirm it for you.

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 21 September 2003 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)

i think i paid, i dont know, it was kind of confusing!

― gareth (gareth), Sunday, 21 September 2003 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Great news, Andrew! And whoever kicked down that large amount, you rule. :-)

Uh, you might want to correct the spelling of 'donors' on the update to the page, though. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 21 September 2003 23:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 54 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

This is fucking hott.

― Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 23:44 (twenty-two years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004Z4WX.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 23:44 (twenty-two years ago)

This is fucking hott.

I must say, I never expected to see that said in this thread.

― Andrew (enneff), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 23:50 (twenty-two years ago)

SAYYYVVVEEEE THE GORRRRILLLLAAZZZZZZ!

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 23:56 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www3.alpha-net.ne.jp/users/kaorif/vegas.jpg
Some how fits Shave the Gorillas.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 01:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I still want to contribute, can I pot someone a cheque in pounds to pass on for me?

― mei (mei), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 11:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I can act as a UK gateway for cheques or cash.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 11:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I can act as a UK gateway for music CDs and bars of chocolate, if anyone wants to send me any of those :)

― C J (C J), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

If I'd known there were sexual favours in store for donors, I'd have sent you something. Is it too late?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:22 (twenty-two years ago)

If people contribute more money than you has asked for, is there anything you can do with the money to make the server even better, faster, prouder, throbbinger, or taller?

― Chris P (Chris P), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Paint it black! We used to have all sort of greyish computers at work, and then they started getting black ones. The black ones are all faster. I have therefore painted my home PC black, but I'm not sure that the increase in speed is obvious, so far. Still, my logic is obviously flawless.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, it's cause -- you know how when you wear a black shirt on a sunny day and you get hotter than if it's a white shirt? That's cause the black shirt is attracting heat. Black computers do the same thing, and heat is caused by motion, so hotter molecules = faster molecules.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Hurrah! We have the first entry for the Freaky Trigger science blog!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Go faster black.

― David. (Cozen), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Black is beautiful.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Black is the new grey

― C J (C J), Thursday, 25 September 2003 04:57 (twenty-two years ago)

That's it folks! I've removed the 'donate' button with a grand total of $436 received. Everyone who's payment I've received should receive (if they haven't already) an email confirming their donation.

I'd like to thank you all again. I'm still totally overwhelmed by your generosity.

I'm still awaiting the response of four donors who have yet to approve their being listed on the 'Contributions' page. Once I hear from them I'll put up a listing so that drugs, sex, etc can be delivered where appropriate.

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 25 September 2003 07:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Andrew I might be one of the donors you're waiting for because I got a bounce from your mail account but I might not because it might have gone through since then.

― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 25 September 2003 07:59 (twenty-two years ago)

did i respond yet andrew? i can't remember what i have and haven't done lately. in fact i may have even forgotten to donate and not realised it

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 25 September 2003 09:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Andrew, trust me, for all the fights and weirdness and whatnot, we all love this place. It was as simple as that. I just wish I could have contributed more!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 25 September 2003 11:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Jim, I don't need a response from you :) I'll see you tomorrow (friday) night, yeah?

And Ned, I quite agree. ILX rocks.

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 25 September 2003 12:53 (twenty-two years ago)

andrew: yep!

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 25 September 2003 13:03 (twenty-two years ago)

By the way, Andrew, a few trinkets are winging their way to you now to make the whole process go more...smoothly. Hopefully they won't get caught up in Customs.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Thursday, 25 September 2003 13:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I also got a bounce from you, Andrew.

― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 25 September 2003 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Oooohh, trinkets!

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 25 September 2003 22:29 (twenty-two years ago)

< / Gollum >

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 25 September 2003 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Jim/Andrew - see y'both tonight fer beers at six, yeh?

Andrew - drinks on me, you deserve one dude :) Looking forwards to meeting you finally too, hurrah!

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 26 September 2003 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Andrew's a very good egg and I still remember our late dinner at that one spot where you pay the amount you think the meal deserves down in St. Kilda. Good food, great chat! Have a good evening!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 26 September 2003 03:10 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.goldeneggs.com.au/product_range/logo-goodegg1.gif

― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 26 September 2003 03:20 (twenty-two years ago)

That is precisely how I think of Andrew, a yellow halfdome surrounded by red things.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 26 September 2003 03:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Aw, Ned. You say the sweetest things.

― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 26 September 2003 03:23 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.cleft2001.gu.se/ST_new_logo-1%20(1).JPG

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 26 September 2003 03:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, that failed miserably.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 26 September 2003 03:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I fixed it for you.

― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 26 September 2003 03:31 (twenty-two years ago)

That would sound so ominous if not for the train right above it.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 26 September 2003 03:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I've posted the list of donors. Thanks again, everyone.

I'm currently waiting for the money to be transferred from PayPal into my bank account, and for the bits and pieces Sean has sent to arrive. If everything goes as planned I should be putting together and configuring the new machine by mid-week next week.

― Andrew (enneff), Saturday, 27 September 2003 05:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I can act as a UK gateway for cheques or cash.
-- Ed (dal...), September 24th, 2003.

Ed, I emailed you. Is that address real?

― mei (mei), Saturday, 27 September 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)