Month: April 2010

So, HSC timetables out today everyone! How are they for you? Pretty happy with mine, save for the fact that I have an exam on my 18th and then two days after it, but that can’t be helped.

Here’s mine:

Course	Exam	Date/Time
English (Advanced)	Paper 1: Area of Study	15/10/2010 09:20
English (Advanced)	Paper 2: Modules	18/10/2010 09:25
Software Design and Development	Written Examination	21/10/2010 13:55
Mathematics	Written Examination	25/10/2010 09:25
Mathematics Extension 1	Written Examination	27/10/2010 09:25
Economics	Written Examination	02/11/2010 09:25
Physics	Written Examination	04/11/2010 09:25

Nice even spread I think! Aside from that I’m freaking cause it’s only 168 days away! I don’t feel prepared enough! Argh!

How were your exam timetables (for NSW-HSC kids)

I was having issues FTPing into my server. I queried it and got this

uptime

08:09:55 up 1 day, 22:05, 3 users, load average: 65.17, 43.09, 27.50

That load average would probably explain why it’s not dealing with my trying to access it.

And for reference:

cpuinfo (x2)

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 15
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E4500  @ 2.20GHz
stepping	: 13
cpu MHz		: 2200.071
cache size	: 2048 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 2
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 0
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 10
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips	: 4400.14

DIE!!! Gah! Hurry up Paypal and move the goddamn monies!

OK, so this is my new solution to surviving the next two terms and hopefully I won’t waste so much time and perhaps do something constructive instead. 😀

However I’ll still have my Facebook app on my phone which this won’t block, I gotta keep up with Facebook! Just not while doing my homework, I’ll just Facebook on my boring bus trip instead, time management at it’s best

Hmm… so some of you may know that I’m on the hunt for a new web host when my current hosting with 3ix.org expires next month. And that couldn’t come sooner I say, stupid me signed up to two years with this host without really doing any proper research, boy was I foolish back then. My experience with 3ix has been less that satisfactory, sure it’s fine for hosting a small website and they promise lots for little (have a look at their plans) but it’s not really good for anything serious or even if you want to start experimenting. They don’t allow SSH access even on their top plan (the one I’m on) and they seriously oversell their servers.

A quick php query on the hard drive shows the space used on my server:

Server Space:
In Use = 437.85 GB (98.11 %)
Free Space = 8.46 GB
Disk Space = 446.31 GB

and current CPU load (although mostly this hangs around the lower end of the scale):

CPU:
CPU Load: 75%
Server Time: 03:50:47
Local Time: 05:49:53 PM

clearly overselling to me!

And to top things off, it looks like they are blocking HTTP requests as I cannot automatically upgrade WordPress or plugins automatically and the feeds on the dashboard give “WP HTTP Error: couldn’t connect to host”. So basically pretty screwed.

Continue reading “My Search For A New Web Host”

So, after having a poke around the NCSS forums, there seems to be a fair few NCSS’ers with blogs.. mainly WordPress powered by the looks of things. So, thanks have to go out to Tim for making Planet NCSS happen :).

Speaking of WordPress, my stupid hosting has been really annoying and FTP keeps breaking so WordPress can’t update or install new themes without manually uploading the files through cPanel. So if anyone is looking for cheap hosting, I would NOT recommend 3ix.org. Considering that this does cost $US8/month, you’d at least think that they could give me SSH access.. but NOOOO, I need to send in ID and a whole bunch of other crap. Goodbye 3ix come May of this year, I’m thinking of moving to WebFaction and trying out Django (I’ve been playing with Django locally and it seems really powerful). Reviews on WebFaction look good, SSH access, ability to install apps to home. Just like a VPS but cheaper and without having to manage a server yourself. I like!

Ohh.. any experts with Django out there? Is is possible to install it onto shared hosting without having shell access cause I have a really crappy hosting company?