I’ve never had a need for PostgreSQL (MySQL has always done it for me), but I was forced into contact with it, when some work came along for a client needing upgrades done to their database application.

After considering installing PostgreSQL on my colo, and also on my desktop, I decided it might be quicker, and easier to get a host that already had it installed. (not only do you need the server running, but you also need an interface to manage the database, the libraries to be compiled into php, and so on).

So, I thought.. well, after having read some good feedback in various places like Whirlpool and doing some comparisons on cost/value about Jumba, I thought what the hec, lets get a reseller account with them, and see how it is.

The first thing that struck me, was the low cost/high value. A reseller account for one month is $19.95, which allows you to create 20 accounts each with, cpanel, unlimited mysql databases, emails, subdomains.. php5, mysql5, hosted on Australia soil ? Are we in heaven ? - No.. but the former is true..

The second thing that got me hooked, was the live support function and prompt reply to emails - the ‘Managing Director’ of the company is actually the guy that replies to your support emails, ha!

The third thing that got me hooked, was their offer to give me shell access, so that I could load my sql in by command line.. You know any hosts that offer ssh access? It’s not advertised on their site, because - then you’ll get all the kiddies trying to crack it.. but if there is a good enough reason for you to have it, I guess they hand it over - keep in mind the SSH access is in jailshell, and quite restrictive, but it still works enough for you to do your normal everyday tasks.

Jumba also have some pretty good prices on domain name registrations (cheapest .com.au I’ve ever seen, even better then TPPInternet).. so I’m now thinking about moving some of my other sites over to them. Like a wise (or lazy) man, I’ll wait a month or two first to make sure things with Jumba continue fruitfully..

Jumba Hosting, recommended: http://www.jumbahosting.com.au/

Last weekend, I had a bit of time to relax and do some fun stuff. Fun stuff, as in play with Ubuntu!

Thanks to this article: 3D Desktop (Beryl and Xgl) on Ubuntu Edgy Eft with ATI card, I was able to get the 3D desktop stuff finally going. While it is really cool to use (and show off with), there is a slight performance hit to general use of your machine, which I’d rather not have - so for the time being I’ll stick to the standard GNome session. The other downside to running an XGL desktop, is that (afaik) you can’t run OpenGL games.

For those wanting to disable the touchpad on your notebook, as you may use a real notebook mouse (I know I did!, hec its annoying), check out: Disable Synaptics Touchpad.

Also over the weekend, I attempted to get Warcraft 3 running via wine (WC3 in Wine). After a few tweaks in the wine registry for res, and opengl mode (not to mention switching back to a Gnome desktop session), it was running pretty well. The only (but major) problem is, I can’t get seem to be able to connect to private Battle.Net servers, because the checksum on the war3 binary seems to be different when run in windows - so still under investigation.

Also, earlier today, I spent the best part of a day trying to get the documentation bug to Pear, hopefully it will save someone else some time.

One of the really cool things, I’ve found (but is probably used by everyone duel-booting) is that with Thunderbird (TB) and Firefox (FF) its possible to access the same profiles in different Operating Systems without corrupting the data.

My notebook, has three partitions, Ubuntu Edgy, Windows XP (soon to be Vista), and a Work partition. The work partition is encrypted with Truecrypt, and I store my TB and FF profiles here along with all my other docs - the profiles are pretty damn important, i.e. all your archived mail, stored passwords, bookmark, etc. Anyway, so that’s all encrypted, but regardless of whether I’m in Ubuntu or XP, truecrypt runs in both, and TB and FF can be setup via the profiles.ini to access a non-standard path. The reads and writes to the actual profile data is the same in both OS’s!

Some things for reference:

• Setting up Truecrypt in Ubuntu
• Firefox and Profiles (same for Thunderbird)

It’s been over a week now since we got back from Sydney, so why haven’t I posted? To put it simply - I haven’t had a chance to even check this place!

We arrived back on Wednesday 24th, which was followed by a fierce scramble to get things ready for EGN Lan 3.1 on that Saturday (27th Jan). In the middle of all of this, was Australia Day too (26th), so I lost a week day waiting for the fireworks with friends, and then watching them..

Then the work week started on Monday, and all the work that had piled up while I was away for the past 2 weeks, was now urgent and due the day before yesterday (at the time). So all of this week, I’ve been real busy trying to get on top of things - it’s actually been quite good though and I feel motivated.

Anyway, the Sydney trip was indeed one to remember. Since my partner had forced me to let her come, she conveniently went on the partners programme while the conference was on. Anyway, because of her I met a lot more people then I would have normally - as she met some of the partners of some of the speakers, which led to me meeting a few of the speakers, one of them (top bloke too), was a RedHat graphics guy and Inkscape ambassador: Andy Fitzsimon.

This was the first time I had attended an LCA, and I have to say I was very impressed with the number of speakers, the range of topics and free Wifi Access!. Everything from PHP Security/Performance sessions with Rasmus Lordoff (which was why I attended the conference, and well worth it), to building your own Segway, or using PHP to transmit/receive serial signals - so you can have letterbox (real mail) sensors! Luckily, for those that did not attend, and thanks to the cool LCA2007 team, just about every talk was digitally recorded. Check it all out from: LCA2007 Programme.

The real reason of an LCA though is to meet and network with people - something I probably only realised until about mid week through the conference. It was a bit unsual and unsettling to be around geeks that were mosty smarter then me. The cool thing is though, that everyone attending is obsessed with Open Source and Linux - so everyone is open minded and friendly. The next conference is due around the same time of year, 2008, in Melbourne. My partner and I are already planning to go.. hopefully by then I will be a bit more prepared and I won’t be attending not knowing anyone.