For the current server that is.
The server that has hosted the site from the beginning is in desperate need of upgrades. Unfortunately to do that on the existing server is not the best path, and instead moving to a new server is underway. The new one will of course have more processing power, memory, disk space, speed all the goodies you get with new(er) hardware. We are currently very tight on storage and memory so getting some breathing room will be nice.
Also being updated is the server software, the version we are running is EOL. That means its difficult to patch for security and newer versions of the most important software does not want to run on it. We are now 3 generations back and trying to upgrade that "stack" to the most recent is just ugly.
Since that is not enough, the version of the forum software we are running is also EOL, so that will be updated to the most recent as well. There will be some subtle visual changes, and some new features, but nothing that I would call major in terms of how you use it. Everything one normally does should be no different.
Lastly we are trying out a new version of the "media" area. Now this is a different software so the interface will be different, but then again the current Media section has a large collection of delightful quirks. This will likely be after the move, but its something being worked on.
This weekend is the target to move, which means the site will begin to display an "in maintenance mode" page. I've done as much as possible to prepare for the move so the downtime *should* be only a few hours. The new server has a new IP address, as such name servers need to be updated. Depending on your host that can take some time, up to a day for some, nothing to do on your end it just happens.
After we are back, I'd expect some issues that will need to be resolved, email comes to mind, as does search. Those can't be fully prepared ahead of the move so do expect some glitches here and there as things come back to life
Steve, as always, thanks to you and Michelle for hosting us!
Thanks, Steve.
Ken F in NM
Thank you; we appreciate it!
Yes, thanks Steve for the heads-up and for all of your excellent support of the site! I am grateful and appreciative of the significant effort involved.
Warren
Thanks and ( in my best Obey Won K’Nobe voice...” may the upgrades be with you”.
Do ya like how I made him an Irishman just before the day of Patrick. This all in the “ ‘ “ I tel ya.
Everything wonderful about LDOF starts with the the kind spirt and dedication of its members.
Thanks for leading the pack.
Kent
Thanks you for you hard work.
Randy
thank you - as a ex-sysop I understand the joy of upgrades and server maintenance.
Have a beer on me.
glen
TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch). There are costs involved in maintaining a software platform.
What are the economics of this, and are the contributions from the Amazon link sufficient to cover the normal costs?
Is there a separate donation mechanism to provide support (electronic tip jar perhaps)?
Thank you for taking on this process, the complexity of which you totally gloss over.
Joel
Joel stole my thought..... how can we contribute?? Dinner on us for the moderators???
If you are reading this, you know the site is back. As always there were some unexpected difficulties that took a bit of time to resolve but I *believe* most, if not all, of the major functions are working.
As you find problems and errors please let me know here or via PM so that I can address them. I expect several theme glitches on various pages. The updated theme works fine with the base software, but we have quite a few addons that have some difficulties with it.
I have not installed the new media section software, this is still the old version for now, just to much else going on ATM.
I know there are some theme quirks that need to be taken care of, and I've not had the chance to test things on mobile/pad devices. The site is not (yet) running any compression or CDN for the data it servers, this is just to allow me to fix things quickly.
So welcome back and stick with us while we get everything ironed out.
Thank you Steve for all your hard work. Much appreciated by the Neighborhood.
Steve, the display was off on my iPhone at first, i.e., categories displayed to the left of the screen with a blank vertical strip on the right. Seems to be resolved now. Thanks for everything!
Thanks, Steve!
On my iPad, before I could tell if there was an unread post but now there is no indicator.
Steve, the display was off on my iPhone at first, i.e., categories displayed to the left of the screen with a blank vertical strip on the right. Seems to be resolved now. Thanks for everything!
Good, that was reported and I made a change which seems to have resolved it.
Thanks, Steve!
On my iPad, before I could tell if there was an unread post but now there is no indicator.
Humm .... to check!
The missing "new" flag on the community tab/page is should now be fixed
The missing "new" flag on the community tab/page is should now be fixed
Yep!
Steve C
Thanks for the good work
Steve, as you know, the first 90% of the project takes the first 90% of the resources. The rest of the project takes the other 90%
Great job. Now for the gremlins.
Thanks
Joel
Congrats on getting the new server working, Steve!
Hey Steve, I just noticed the new left-right navigation arrows when looking at a post with multiple pictures. Nice... thanks 😊
- John
Fabulous work! Thank you so much.
Thanks Steve, great job!
I had initial difficulties when the link I had been using led me to a dead end. But, Lazy Bones 2 rode in to rescue me from certain frustration and helped reestablish the path, not only in IE but Chrome as well.
Now I can relax and go happily back to my nappy chair! :D
Looks great on my laptop, running google chrome, but the Image of the Month is not showing. Not perfect on my android phone. Header is great on the android, the Welcome, Recent Topics and Recent Gallery Images are squashed to the left. After that User Info and everything else shows as normal.
Thanks for all the great work on maintaining this amazing resource.
Awesome job! Thank you so much.😘
Thank you, Steve. Given experience from our professional lives, we imagine that the upgrade included many challenges. Please take a large measure of satisfaction from the fact that on our end the changeover was seamless. Nice work!
Jim and Sue
Seamless. Wonderful!
Thanks again for the hard work, and the satisfaction of successful launch.
Cheers!
Tony R. (aka codefour)
Just noticed that I haven't gotten an email from the group since 3/6. As far as I can tell, I should be getting them, so I don't know what's going on. If anyone has some ideas, please let me know. Thanks.
Ken
And.... I originally posted the first message from my email acct. I'm answering it by logging in to see if I get a copy sent to my email acct. I think a setting somewhere must have changed.
Ken
Just noticed that I haven't gotten an email from the group since 3/6. As far as I can tell, I should be getting them, so I don't know what's going on. If anyone has some ideas, please let me know. Thanks.
Ken
Your profile shows the box for "no email notification" checked. Do you normally received LDOG posts via email? Check your profile.
Chris
Your profile shows the box for "no email notification" checked. Do you normally received LDOG posts via email? Check your profile.
Chris
Well, I did :) I can't find the "no email notification" box to uncheck it! I know it's got to be here somewhere.
I've gone to My Account (upper right corner of screen) > Account settings > Profile Info and or Modify Profile. Didn't see it either place.
Ken
Well, I did :) I can't find the "no email notification" box to uncheck it! I know it's got to be here somewhere.
I've gone to My Account (upper right corner of screen) > Account settings > Profile Info and or Modify Profile. Didn't see it either place.
Ken
Well, I did :) I can't find the "no email notification" box to uncheck it! I know it's got to be here somewhere.
I've gone to My Account (upper right corner of screen) > Account settings > Profile Info and or Modify Profile. Didn't see it either place.
Ken
It appears you are now set up to receive email notifications. If it's not working by end of day tomorrow, let me know via private message.
Chris
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your great work. I've discovered a small issue with Notifications on the iPhone/iPad running Safari. This problem does not appear on Windows running Edge, Chrome or Firefox. The problem is that the blue bubble with the white number next to the Notifications icon doesn't show up when there are unread notifications. Sorry but I don't have access to an Android or OSX machine for testing. In the grand scheme this is a very small issue, but I thought you would want to know.
Thanks,
John
What he ☝️said!