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Day: 10 May 2007

Techy: New Hosting Solutions

A few months back, my blog (and websites) were relocated to another server solution. Why? Well, I had originally upgraded from a Positive Internet shared hosting account to their “Dolphin” Dedicated Server as I was using up a few too many resources. I then switched to EV1Servers (now part of The Planet) as they were much cheaper (being US based). When they paid the “Linux License fee” to SCO Scum, I ditched them and went to The Planet. Once they started going downhill support wise, I then moved down to a VPS with UnixShell.

However, I had big plans for a site which I’ve now ditched and the VPS just wasn’t big enough – so I upgraded for nearly a year to a Dedicated Server with Softlayer. But that was posing too expensive for my needs (since I didn’t really need a Dual Processor 4Gb 2x250Gb machine for my sites!). So I’ve now switched to the UK VPS hosting outfit Memset on their VPS “Miniserver 512” package.

For that Xen powered VPS, I’m getting the Equivalent CPU of a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz processor, a minimum of 512Mb RAM, 40Gb disc space, 80Gb bandwidth allowance on a 10Mbps connection (I could have gone for an unmetered 5Mbps connection, but I prefer to keep an eye on my bandwidth usage), 2 IP addresses, Fedora cPanel/Fantastico for a total of £76.32 per month.

Support, when I’ve needed them (which has only been to request the secondary IP address which isn’t setup by default and to correct a licensing issue with Fantastico) has been quite responsive and good (although I do try and supply all relevant details – including error messages – when I do contact support teams as I know what it’s like to have too little information!). The VPS account seems to be reliable and (and this will make my other half happy) – they are also “Carbon Neutral”.

If you’re interested – then give them a call or email and say you were referred by user “beebwaa” and you’ll be granted a 10% discount off the Miniserver Virtual Machine or Fully Dedicated Server packages.

Net: Google Pack


I’ve just realised I’ve never mentioned Google’s “Google Pack” – so why am I mentioning it now? Well, the other day I needed to upgrade my copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader: but the Adobe/Macromedia Site only give me a 56k download file (it should be more like 20Mb for the Acrobat PDF Reader) and various other download sites gave me the same…

However, the Google Pack includes Adobe PDF Reader, Norton Security Scan, Spyware Doctor, Google Photos Screensaver (which I’ve also installed), Firefox with the Google toolbar (which I already had installed), Picasa (for photos – and it’s fun finding all the photos you thought you had mislaid) and much more besides.

I very much recommend the Google Pack – if only all software was so easy to install and keep up to date (I just wish Google would include all of their software – such as Google Earth and Google Talk – as options in the Google Pack).

Ramblings: Jaffa Cake Advert Song

Can anybody else remember a Jaffa Cake advert from around 1990 which went (in a Jamaican style accent):

Now listen general public for goodness sake,
My family they go crazy for those Jaffa Cakes,
Like when I’m bouncing little baby on my knee,
The first words that he speaks are
“They’re orangey”…
Jaffa Jaffa….

If you can remember it – plus post here and confirm that I haven’t made this up AND, if you can remember it – the full lyrics to the song. If you’ve got a copy (with video) then an Amazon gift voucher for £5 (or similar) will be heading your way!

October 2011 update: It’s been found! See Jaffa Cake advert found