Ok the tax return is in and Im getting my promised server upgrade. I am
ironing out the particulars now and we should be swapping out the system
in the next week or so.
The features of the upgrade are as folows:
DSL speed has already been increased 2 steps higher than normal household
DSL
We have a new router which will no longer toggle between incoming and
outgoing traffic. So people doing large transfers to/from the system
should no longer impact the responsiveness of the web pages
The latest copy of Debian Linux with better security. To avoid problems we
had before, there will be a new policy that "neat things" added to the
system need to come from the Debian suite when at all possible. Its rare
that there is any cool internet service or webpage thing that I want to
add which I CANNOT find some package for on the Debian list. Using the
Debian list will make sure that such packages get security updates
automatically.
the CPU will be 3 times as fast as the old box
more memory on the box (that will probably only affect people who are
running programs on the server such as cron jobs or scripts, but its still
nice. At least my activities should impact you less)
the harddrive space will be doubled, and better backup arrangments
this box will be CAPABLE of doing fancier things such as XWindows but Im
still debating on whether or not to turn that on (it will however be able
to host more of my favorite games such as Dominions 3!)
Due to the thrashing from outside sources of the previous box, I will not
be mass-copying everything from one to the other. And we all know that Im
not a workaholic. I will be gradually transfering things as my moods
allow. So.. please get copies of anything important to you, and consider
the possibility of doing the transfers yourselves if you wish. Get back
with me if there is anything going on that makes your stuff more
time-crucial
Gandalf Parker