Following some minor but annoying failures and the poor performance of its ageing CPU, last weekend I upgraded my server from a single core 2.4GHz Celeron (circa 2007) with 623MB of RAM to a dual-core Celeron E3600 2.6GHz CPU with 2GB of DDR3 RAM.
The old server had done well, having been run continuously for over four years, initially as a general machine and then pushed into service as a server following the failure of its predecessor, but its age was showing. I'd been running the storage drive via an external USB2 caddy for some time due to the failure of the internal SATA controller and that would lose connection from time-to-time. Most inconvenient since you could almost guarantee it would happen when I was away for a few days.
I also wanted to run services in virtual machines, but on attempting to run just a single VirtualBox machine proved too much for it. That was the final straw, prompting me to purchase a bare minimum of components to conduct the upgrade whilst keeping costs to a minimum.
To that end, I bought a new motherboard and the aforementioned CPU and RAM. Everything else has been kept, including the case; power supply; optical drives and disk drives. The cost of the upgrade came in at a little over £80. I was pleased.
So now the upgrade is complete, this site is hosted on a virtual machine. That means it is easy for me to experiment with other servers on other virtual machines without affecting the website. I've already been playing with DNS and DHCP servers and I expect I'll revisit mail servers and possibly VPN at some point too!
As an aside, it turns out that the upgrade could not have come at a better time. My general PC, used for day-to-day computing, decided to fail a few days ago so I established a virtual machine on the server running Linux Mint to tide me over until I could open it up. Removing the CMOS battery for 5 minutes got it going again and I've also replaced the PSU from another failed machine to hopefully resolve some intermittent power problems.
It's been a busy week for tinkering!
Server Specifications
CPU: Intel Celeron E3400 2.6GHz
Motherboard: Asus P5G41T-M LX G41
RAM: Kingston 2GB DDR3 1066MHz
Storage HDD: Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB
Web Server Specifications
Software: VirtualBox
RAM: 768MB
Video: 1MB
OS: Ubuntu Server 10.04LTS
It was a tough decision, but after four and a half years with eMusic (since Feb 2007), I've cancelled my subscription. I hovered over the cancel button for some time before I finally clicked it, but I've convinced myself that it's the right thing to do.
For a few months now, using my monthly quota of downloads has become a bit of chore. Not because I'm starting to dislike music (although I am in a bit of a lull at the moment), but I'm having difficulty finding things to download. It had got to the point where, a few days before the monthly roll-over, I'd be downloading just for the sake of ensuring I got my money's worth.
The decision wasn't helped by the fact that I was on a grandfathered price plan. I was paying £14.99 per month which entitled me to 75 download credits (or £31.50 worth of music in the current pricing system of 42p per track). It was a good deal - if I had that much to download each month - and there was an incentive to stick with it just because that offer is no longer available. In the end though, I found by the end of each month, I'd sometimes barely made a mark on my credit. I wasn't even getting my payment's worth of music without struggling.
It was good whilst it latest though. My emusic folder consists of 4,711 tracks and at least 340 albums. I've discovered some artists that have become favourites of mine including The National, The Duckworth Lewis Method, Teenage Fanclub, Stornoway, Nada Surf, Midlake, Fleet Foxes, British Sea Power - these are just some that jump out at me as I scroll through the list.
So now I've cut my ties, I can either save myself some money each month or re-invest it. Perhaps I'll buy more CDs each month, or start shopping with 7Digital more (particularly if their FLAC selection improves). Alternatively, I'll spend it on ebooks since they are my latest thing!
Despite my musings on the subject about 18 months ago, last Tuesday I purchased a Sony PRS-350 ebook reader!
For a long time I've been unsure about the latest medium to go digital. I was staunchly pro paper, concerned about the impact of DRM, multiple formats and cost. However, I decided that now really was a good time to give it a go.
My eBook History, and DRM Troubles
The situation came about a couple of weeks ago when I thought of re-visiting some old ebooks I'd purchased back in 2006 when I experimented with reading on my iPaq PDA. These books were in Microsoft's .LIT format requiring Microsoft Reader to view them and the associated MSN Passport account.
Infuriatingly I found that through lack of use, my Passport account no longer existed and that Microsoft was discontinuing the format. Although I could for the moment still get the reader, I couldn't associate it with a valid account and therefore couldn't get the books.
This is exactly the situation I was worried about - not being able to access books I had legally purchased thanks to over-restrictive DRM.
Fortunately I still had my account details for the store where I bought the books and having contacted them they kindly allowed me to re-download the books in another format - EPUB. Still DRM restricted, but much more accessible being supported by many different devices. Kudos to ebooks.com for their customer service.
So having re-gained access to my books and having discovered how to read them on my Android phone I discovered the benefits of effectively being able to keep a book in my pocket to read whenever I had a spare 5-10 minutes. I found the amount of time I would spend reading significantly increased.
A Dedicated Reader
The big problem now was the screen size, battery life and reading on a backlit screen. It wasn't the most comfortable experience. Not as pleasant as reading paper. So for that reason, and the fact that my real bookshelf is now full to bursting, I decided I might as well get a proper e-Ink device.
There were only two real contenders as far as I could tell based on various internet searches: the Amazon Kindle or a Sony Reader. Not wanting to be locked in to a specific store or device, the Sony seemed the best option. Wanting something pocketable, I chose the PRS-350 - it's smaller than the kindle with a 5" screen and no keypad, and it sports a touchscreen display. Importantly it supports the EPUB format (as well as others) meaning I had a few stores to choose from.
6 Days of Reading
So I've now had the device for nearly a week. I've already read one novel and am half-way through another. I find it very easy to keep with me and to read a chapter every now and again.
The Pearl e-Ink display is a pleasure to read with crisp, clear text; no viewing angle issues and a reasonably quick refresh rate. This particular device having a touchscreen interface makes reading as near to the paper experience as possible with a swipe of the finger across the screen turning the page.
In terms of the experience of reading, I'm really quite happy!
Downsides
There are however a few issues that I believe need to be sorted out, not with the device but with the purchasing of books and their accessibility.
EPUB books are generally sold with DRM restrictions. Fortunately there is a way around this, but whilst the procedure is not difficult I wouldn't expect technically illiterate people to follow it. The Sony Readers can be associated with an Adobe account to permit access to DRM protected books, but I'm wary of doing this based on my past experiences with Microsoft's DRM system. I should state here that I do NOT agree with illegally sharing and obtaining books and I do not indulge in such activities, however I also do not agree with DRM restricting what I can do with books I have bought and therefore have no qualms about de-restricting books I have purchased.
Prices can be interesting. I've found numerous ebooks that are either cheaper than their paperback equivalents or at least on par with them but in some cases, the opposite is true. For example, right now Waterstones are selling Stephen Hawking's 'The Grand Design'. As an ebook it costs £15.99 but as a paperback it costs £8.99 (it's actually £4.99 but that's with a 50% off offer). That is simply crazy and I cannot see any reason for it. Kobo Books is selling the same book for £6.49 so it is available at a reasonable price - why isn't Waterstones (and WHSmith for that matter) also selling at a more reasonable rate?
Related to price are discount codes. Today, Kobo Books has a 20% off code valid for one purchase. Great, I thought, and off I went to purchase Brian Greene's 'The Hidden Reality'. At checkout I was disappointed to note the text 'Due to publisher restrictions Promo codes are not allowed for this product.' This was actually the case for about five different books I tried to use the code with. Perhaps this is an issue with the store in question - maybe they should have a page indicating on what books they code can be used. They didn't however and I can't help but wonder if this is a problem with the ebook system.
The final issue I have is relatively minor and may not be an ebook issue, but it is quality control. I noticed a couple of spelling and grammar errors in my copy of Cold Granite by Stuart Macbride most of which should be detectable using a spell checker. I don't know if these errors exist in the paper copy though so I'm not going to dwell on them.
Conclusion
Overall I'm very happy with my eBooks reader and it has increased the amount of reading I have done significantly.
I hope over time that the issues I experienced above will be ironed out - particularly the DRM issue. I just need to remember to shop around for the best price and be aware that in some cases I may just have to purchase the paper copy where it is significantly cheaper.
Google is expanding it's new social network by giving existing members a URL to publish as a way of inviting up to 150 new members each.
Anyone who wishes to join Google+ can use this URL to do so: http://bggo.eu/x
This move could potentially net Google a huge number of new users. Technology press has reported that 25 million users have now signed up. Perhaps an unlikely situation, but if 50% of them use 50% of their invites; membership would sour to over 950 million!
Anyone who wishes to join Google+ can use this URL to do so: http://bggo.eu/x
This move could potentially net Google a huge number of new users. Technology press has reported that 25 million users have now signed up. Perhaps an unlikely situation, but if 50% of them use 50% of their invites; membership would sour to over 950 million!
After visiting the website of the Radio Society of Great Britain for no particular reason the other day; I noticed that the results of the national survey of radio amateurs had been published.
After reading through these I was rather pleased to see they had used one of my responses on a slide relating to the RSGB website:
The website should be the first port-of-call for radio related information, news, projects etc. The site should aggregate articles from across the web and provide frequently updated RSS Feeds. Southgate ARC provides a very good news aggregation service which is superior to anything offered by the RSGB site. This is the wrong way around!
Amateur Radio Survey Questionnaire Analysis 2011, Page 22, Point 3
As a result, I wanted to expand on my impression of the Society's website.
News and Latest Information
On the home page of www.rsgb.org, news is awkwardly split-up into different sections: a scrolling ticker at the top, GB2RS News and RSGB Articles and Statements.
The first of these should be scrapped. Scrolling tickers are an annoyance. If I visited the site frequently, I would rarely sit and watch that ticker scroll through each of its items. Actually, even on rare visits do I do that.
The other two sections should be merged. Upgrading the news system to something more modern that supports tagging or categorisation would easily enough permit articles to be filtered, but on the home page the latest articles in chronological order should be visible in one obvious list.
Since the survey response, I've noticed that RSS feeds are available from news articles, but you have to visit the News section to find them. Really, if news is going to be on the home page, then a News section is unnecessary and the feed links should be placed on the home page.
For sharing, those news stories which are published by the RSGB do have links for the common social networks and email. This is good. There is no commenting however. Enabling this feature could be an interesting way to poll the opinions of the membership and radio amateurs at large.
About Us and Services
The Society has a section labelled About Us. As an RSGB member and licensed radio amateur I consider this to be of no relevance to me. However, clicking into that section I find information on various services offered such as the AV Library, the QSL Bureau, lists of affiliated societies etc. There is obviously a wealth of information here that could be missed simply because of a bad heading. Perhaps keeping the About section to 'About Amateur Radio' and 'About the Society' would be best, and creating a 'Services and Information' section would give those pages more prominence?
Style
I'm not going to make to many comments on the actual style of the site as this is personal preference - what I may like/dislike, another will probably think totally different to me. What I will say is that the style of the site should be consistent in all sections.
I have counted at least four different styles in use: That used in the home page and many other pages, that in the Tutors section, that in the Operating section and the RSGB shop. A common theme across all areas would aid navigation and enhance the appearance of the site.
Relevance
According to the copyright date of the page itself, the Links section doesn't appear to have been updated since 2006. A page of this type should be reviewed regularly to ensure that links still work and are still relevant. Whilst most do seem to work, I couldn't connect to "Marconicalling" (www.marconicalling.com) at the time of writing.
Whilst mentioning the Links section, there is no clear policy on how a site gets listed here, nor a form to request consideration.
Member's Area
First of all, a proper secure logon method would be nice as opposed to the popup box requesting a username and password.
Next, some sort of account management section would be very useful. RSGB members should be able to update callsigns, change passwords and amend their contact details. Some of this would save administrative time as at present these details have to be changed via email or by telephone.
While a number of issues of Radcom are available to view in PDF in the member's area, I would like to ability to download these PDFs for personal use. Currently, Flash is used to view these issues online and whilst this is fine for general viewing it seems impossible to search.
This would probably be a controversial suggestion from the society's point of view. They sell annual CDs containing PDFs. By offering these for download they'd potentially be losing out. However, I won't buy one of these CDs as I won't pay for a magazine a second time - well certainly not the cost that these discs are currently made available. I want to be able to keep copies of Radcom for future reference, but don't want to keep stacks of magazines in the shack. I also don't want a collection of CDs which, whilst better, still take up valuable space.
Summary
In conclusion, the RSGB site needs a thorough overhaul. It needs consistent styling across all sections and a review policy to ensure pages don't become out-of-date. Members need to have a proper area where they can manage their accounts as well as receive enhanced content and it would be nice to see PDF downloads of back-issues of Radcom.
All news articles should contain sharing links, and commenting facilities. Perhaps some sort of integration with social media could be helpful too.
The RSGB website is of prime importance for amateur radio in the UK. It needs to sell the hobby to all newcomers but in particular those at the younger end of the age spectrum. A modern well designed website will hopefully help grasp their attention and hopefully encourage take up of an interesting and diverse hobby.
After reading through these I was rather pleased to see they had used one of my responses on a slide relating to the RSGB website:
The website should be the first port-of-call for radio related information, news, projects etc. The site should aggregate articles from across the web and provide frequently updated RSS Feeds. Southgate ARC provides a very good news aggregation service which is superior to anything offered by the RSGB site. This is the wrong way around!
Amateur Radio Survey Questionnaire Analysis 2011, Page 22, Point 3
As a result, I wanted to expand on my impression of the Society's website.
News and Latest Information
On the home page of www.rsgb.org, news is awkwardly split-up into different sections: a scrolling ticker at the top, GB2RS News and RSGB Articles and Statements.
The first of these should be scrapped. Scrolling tickers are an annoyance. If I visited the site frequently, I would rarely sit and watch that ticker scroll through each of its items. Actually, even on rare visits do I do that.
The other two sections should be merged. Upgrading the news system to something more modern that supports tagging or categorisation would easily enough permit articles to be filtered, but on the home page the latest articles in chronological order should be visible in one obvious list.
Since the survey response, I've noticed that RSS feeds are available from news articles, but you have to visit the News section to find them. Really, if news is going to be on the home page, then a News section is unnecessary and the feed links should be placed on the home page.
For sharing, those news stories which are published by the RSGB do have links for the common social networks and email. This is good. There is no commenting however. Enabling this feature could be an interesting way to poll the opinions of the membership and radio amateurs at large.
About Us and Services
The Society has a section labelled About Us. As an RSGB member and licensed radio amateur I consider this to be of no relevance to me. However, clicking into that section I find information on various services offered such as the AV Library, the QSL Bureau, lists of affiliated societies etc. There is obviously a wealth of information here that could be missed simply because of a bad heading. Perhaps keeping the About section to 'About Amateur Radio' and 'About the Society' would be best, and creating a 'Services and Information' section would give those pages more prominence?
Style
I'm not going to make to many comments on the actual style of the site as this is personal preference - what I may like/dislike, another will probably think totally different to me. What I will say is that the style of the site should be consistent in all sections.
I have counted at least four different styles in use: That used in the home page and many other pages, that in the Tutors section, that in the Operating section and the RSGB shop. A common theme across all areas would aid navigation and enhance the appearance of the site.
Relevance
According to the copyright date of the page itself, the Links section doesn't appear to have been updated since 2006. A page of this type should be reviewed regularly to ensure that links still work and are still relevant. Whilst most do seem to work, I couldn't connect to "Marconicalling" (www.marconicalling.com) at the time of writing.
Whilst mentioning the Links section, there is no clear policy on how a site gets listed here, nor a form to request consideration.
Member's Area
First of all, a proper secure logon method would be nice as opposed to the popup box requesting a username and password.
Next, some sort of account management section would be very useful. RSGB members should be able to update callsigns, change passwords and amend their contact details. Some of this would save administrative time as at present these details have to be changed via email or by telephone.
While a number of issues of Radcom are available to view in PDF in the member's area, I would like to ability to download these PDFs for personal use. Currently, Flash is used to view these issues online and whilst this is fine for general viewing it seems impossible to search.
This would probably be a controversial suggestion from the society's point of view. They sell annual CDs containing PDFs. By offering these for download they'd potentially be losing out. However, I won't buy one of these CDs as I won't pay for a magazine a second time - well certainly not the cost that these discs are currently made available. I want to be able to keep copies of Radcom for future reference, but don't want to keep stacks of magazines in the shack. I also don't want a collection of CDs which, whilst better, still take up valuable space.
Summary
In conclusion, the RSGB site needs a thorough overhaul. It needs consistent styling across all sections and a review policy to ensure pages don't become out-of-date. Members need to have a proper area where they can manage their accounts as well as receive enhanced content and it would be nice to see PDF downloads of back-issues of Radcom.
All news articles should contain sharing links, and commenting facilities. Perhaps some sort of integration with social media could be helpful too.
The RSGB website is of prime importance for amateur radio in the UK. It needs to sell the hobby to all newcomers but in particular those at the younger end of the age spectrum. A modern well designed website will hopefully help grasp their attention and hopefully encourage take up of an interesting and diverse hobby.