DBG/400 Latest News

Upgraded TWiki to the latest version - 4.2.0 which was released on the 22nd Jan

-- MartinRowe - 24 Jan 2008

Apologies for the site outage for the last 24 hours or so. My IP address got changed by my ISP yesterday and I didn't notice until this morning. The domain DNS has been updated and should be working for everyone by the end of today.

-- MartinRowe - 05 Dec 2007

This website was running on my backup server for most of today. One of the disks in the host server (this runs in a VMware virtual machine) failed last weekend, though fortunately it was the backup disk, and I've lost very little that can't be replaced. I ordered a pair of SATA disks and have rebuilt the host server today using them as a mirrored RAID set with software RAID. Getting everything going again was quite easy this time as all I had to do was install VMware Server, copy over my virtual machine to the new disk and start it going. I now need to take a copy of the old master disk on the host server, as that is the same type (and batch) as the failed one.

-- MartinRowe - 16 Jun 2007

Just got back from holiday to find the broadband upgrade has been completed. From what I've read in Virgin Media's newsgroups upload speed is the limiting issue - faster downloads can be achieved in the current infrastructure, but the latest upload speeds are probably pushing their network. Still, from a quick test at speedtest.net I've got at least a 200kbps increase over a week ago.

-- MartinRowe - 02 Jun 2007

Upgraded TWiki to run the latest patch release - 4.1.2 My ISP - now Virgin Media - have announced the latest broadband speed increase. Some time from next month onwards they will be rolling out 20Mbit/s. 10Mbit/s has seemed plenty fast enough, but at least Debian (the OS my servers run on) and Ubuntu (which my desktop/laptops use) updates will be even quicker. The better part of the deal is that the upload speed gets a 50% boost; to 768 Kbit/s. What would be nice if the download/upload ratio could be the same as Virgin Media's middle tier broadband - 4Mbit/400Kbit - 2Mbit upload would come in very handy

-- MartinRowe - 02 Apr 2007

Added some details on running HMC commands direct from the System i (yes - we now have a System i550 at work) using SSH. At present we're just using it to move our 3583 tape library between LPARS for backups. Using i5 commands to move the drive, rather than scheduling it on the HMC, makes the backups more flexible.

Updated the site to use the latest patch release for TWiki - 4.1.1

-- MartinRowe - 05 Feb 2007

Good news - TWiki 4.1 "Edinburgh" is available. I've been running it on my test system since yesterday, and it appears to be doing all the right things, so I've just upgraded the live server. Both the test & live systems are virtual machines, running on VMware Server. It has worked out very well so far.

-- MartinRowe - 17 Jan 2007

If you're reading this then you should be on the new server. Let me know if you have any problems with links or with navigating the site.

-- MartinRowe - 13 Jan 2007

There have been a number of changes to the site, principally to move content from the old static site into the wiki. That's given me the chance to standardize the installation instructions and update the content. Hopefully I managed this without breaking links. For the most part there are redirects to the new locations, so existing links elsewhere on the 'net to content here should still work.

I'm also planning to move my web/mail server (Athlon 850MHz, 1.25Gb RAM) onto a newer box (2.8GHz P4 HT/3Gb RAM) sometime in January, which should improve things.

Another change is the start of a site for Wetherby Civic Society. I had a few pages for them back in the late '90s, when I was more active on the committee. Now they are wanting to give it another go, and using TWiki will let them add pages and keep things up to date without any specialist web skills. It was also an incentive to get the server upgraded (and get myself a new desktop system as part of the swap around).

-- MartinRowe - 30 Dec 2006

I'm in the process of moving some content off this site onto a hosted account to save the drain on my bandwidth! Basically it's just the big files like those for TWikiVMDebianStable. It should mean faster and more reliable downloads once all the files have been uploaded. This also involves some DNS changes, so there may be some (hopefully brief) outages for the dbg400.net domain whilst I switch things round.

Other changes on this site have been to upgrade to TWiki 4.0.5 and I've added a new Wildlife? web which will (at some point) have wildlife photos & notes from local trips a holidays further afield.

-- MartinRowe - 11 Nov 2006

I've uploaded a new save file of the DBG400 library, including all source code, to the new DownloadPage (which is also in the navigation bar on the left). There are a few utilities in there that haven't been released before (don't get too excited) which I'll package up individually at some point. Primarily this is for people having problems building from the XML installers.

-- MartinRowe - 05 Sep 2006

TWiki 4.0.4 just released. A few minor changes that got missed in 4.0.3, plus a security fix for a vulnerability discovered recently (which didn't affect my install, but it's good to know it was fixed).

-- MartinRowe - 05 Jul 2006

TWiki 4.0.3 was released on Monday. Very smooth transition this time round, as none of the changes from 4.0.2 impacted on changes I've made locally.

-- MartinRowe - 28 Jun 2006

Added a simplified SiteMap to (hopefully) make navigation easier. With all the source code links in the main WebTopicList, it can be tricky to find the main entry pages of the site. I've moved the TWikiVMDebianStable download files to another subdomain of this site, and switched the bandwidth throttling to control just that domain. I was getting hit by people using download accelerators leaching nearly all my upload bandwidth, but locking that down further would hurt visitors to the main site.

-- MartinRowe - 30 Apr 2006

TWiki 4.0.2 has just been released and it's running here now. There are a few minor config changes I need to make, to tweak files I've previously customised, but it should be okay for now.

-- MartinRowe - 01 Apr 2006

I've added bandwidth throttling, courtesy of mod_cband, to leave a little bit of room to make surfing from this side of the cable reasonable. The change has come since adding a mirror page for TWikiVMDebianStable - a VMware virtual machine image running Debian GNU/Linux with TWiki preloaded and ready to run. The files are 131Mb or 220Mb, and are downloaded around 10 times a day - so were making things a bit sluggish. See the main project page at TWiki:TWikiVMDebianStable

-- MartinRowe - 31 Mar 2006

Response times should be better now, as I've added Persistent Perl (aka SpeedyCGI ) as per the suggestions on TWiki.org. It does to make quite a difference - time will tell. Let me know if anything ends looking weird, in case things are being too persistent

-- MartinRowe - 25 Mar 2006

Just a few minor tweaks to page content around the site. There is quite a bit of outdated information, particularly on the static pages set up over five years ago. I aim to bring them into the wiki and update the content at the same time. Plus the site's navigation could do with an overhaul. Using TWiki makes that task easier, but it will take time.

-- MartinRowe - 10 Feb 2006

A few more server related changes. There are some bug fixes & speed-ups in TWiki 4.0.1, which is now up & running. I've also switched back to Apache 2. I'm not planning to turn on mod-perl in the near future, and Apache 2 seems to perform a bit better than 1.3 (plus the extra RAM added late last year helps too). Lastly I've turned on all the features of the %TWIKIWEB%.BlackListPlugin so hopefully I shouldn't get as much vandalism as last year.

-- MartinRowe - 08 Feb 2006

The site has had a facelift following the release of TWiki 4.0 (codename Dakar) on the 1st of Feb. I've been experimenting with the beta releases for the last few months and it looks pretty good. For the time being I haven't turned on mod-perl for this version until I've had more time to test it. I would prefer to move to Apache 2 if performance doesn't prove too much of an issue. Registration? should be open again, and I've added a BlackList Plugin to try to curtail spam & bogus registrations. You will need to provide a valid email address to register, but it is no longer displayed on the site.

-- MartinRowe - 04 Feb 2006

Just had a cable modem installed which should mean a better net connection - the set top box has done okay, but didn't seem to like too many connections. My assigned IP address has changed as a result, so it will take a while for DNS changes to propagate.

-- MartinRowe - 07 Jan 2006

On Wednesday I added some more RAM to this server but the graphics card died in the process I ordered a replacement off eBay (a Matrox Millenium G200 - all of £1.49 + postage) which arrived this morning and is now installed. Updated the main page because life has just begun for me, so the saying goes

-- MartinRowe - 23 Dec 2005

Another speed increase from my ISP, ntl:, now gives around 4.5Mbit/sec downstream and 512Kbit/sec up. The downstream link is constrained by the set top box they provided earlier this year (so much for future-proofing); once a cable modem is installed I should see up to 10Mbit/sec - which is nice.

-- MartinRowe - 19 Dec 2005

NOTE: I've had to lock down registration of new users as there was too much abuse (and spam). Now only those listed in TWikiUsers? can create new users. Email me for the TWikiGuest? password to register yourself, or I can set your account up for you. When Dakar, the next version of TWiki is released (soon) there will be more options for controlling wiki spam and related problems, so I should be able to open things up again.

-- MartinRowe - 04 Nov 2005

My son Ben is eight today. It doesn't seem nearly that long ago. Time doesn't just fly when you have kids; it has scramjets. [Which might have something to do with Ben being born on the day that Thrust SSC went supersonic to take the land speed record]

-- MartinRowe - 15 Oct 2005

I've removed the users who had registered on this site. They hadn't added any comments about themselves, or indicated why they wanted an ID here. The latest one was Chinese wiki spam with plenty of comments (in Chinese) about some kind of cooking pot their company offered (from what Google translate could tell me). I'm happy for people to register if they have something to do with one (or more) of the topics covered here, but a bit of background info is needed to prove it's a genuine registration. I've now added some comments to this effect on the %TWIKIWEB%.TWikiRegistration page.

A new version of TWiki (that this site runs on) is due out later this year. From the look of the developer version it should be extremely good.

-- MartinRowe - 29 Sep 2005

A few minor updates to the UbuntuLinuxOnDV1066ea page. Thanks to an email, I've found out that the wireless LED indicator on the laptop can be made to work. I'm looking forward to Breezy when it's released in October

-- MartinRowe - 25 Aug 2005

Moved the Google ads to the side. It saves me having to include the code on every page, and it's less intrusive (I hope).

I've updated the Ubuntu Linux on an HP dv1066ea laptop page and moved it into the wiki. The old url is still valid as a redirect. It's actually the most popular page on the site, so it must have been worth doing.

-- MartinRowe - 15 Aug 2005

I still get requests for the Vim syntax files for RPG that I and others worked on three years ago. So if you are interested in EditingWithVim you're in luck

-- MartinRowe - 05 Aug 2005

ClamAVoniSeries is a HOWTO on getting the Clam anti virus tool to work on the iSeries using PASE.

-- MartinRowe - 23 Jul 2005

Added a few new pages, FeedBack and PrivacyPolicy, to encourage participation on this site.

-- MartinRowe - 10 Jul 2005

Fun and games... I have changed domain registrars (now with GoDaddy) but my domain expired during the transfer. Godaddy offer an extra year's renewal when transferring to them, but that didn't kick in until today. I'm still trying to get DNS sorted out - dbg400.net has been invisible for the past 24 hours

-- MartinRowe - 06 Jul 2005

I've turned off the viewcvs cgi interface - access to the code for my utilities is now via the SourceCodeList page.

-- MartinRowe - 25 Jun 2005

This TWiki, and not just the web server, is running on mod-perl now - oops. I was running Apache2, but just couldn't get the config right to activate mod-perl2 with TWiki. For the time being, I've reverted to Apache 1.3 with original mod-perl. The site is noticably quicker, for every request - not just the few I saw originally.

-- MartinRowe - 23 May 2005

The joys of hosting a website on a dynamic cable connection. My ISP dropped the connection and I've had to re-register my router with their system - and get given a new IP address. I've updated DNS for dbg400.net and the dyndns aliases, but it will take a while to filter through the system.

-- MartinRowe - 20 May 2005

I've enabled mod-perl on this server to speed up the response of this TWiki. I think there are probly more things I can tweak, but for now there seems to be at least a 2x improvement. If you find any odd effects from the change, let me know.

-- MartinRowe - 19 May 2005

At last! My ISP have increased the bandwidth on my broadband link. Although download speed has doubled to 3Mbit/s, upload has only gone up to 300Kbit/s (less than 20% jump). Still, it should mean that this site is a little quicker to download from.

-- MartinRowe - 17 May 2005

Moved the old links page to LinksPage, updating/removing links at the same time.

-- MartinRowe - 12 May 2005

Removed URLs on this site that point to my dyndns.org alias of dbg400.homeip.net as I'd prefer search engines to refer to dbg400.net instead. As both domains resolve to the same physical box it seems a bit redundant to type in a longer URL.

-- MartinRowe - 11 May 2005

Two more changes, fairly obvious ones if you've visited the site before. You'll see Google Ads at the top of each page of the non-TWiki site. I'm not sure how they'll work out, but any income they generate will help keep my broadband funded. If they prove worthwhile I'll include them on this TWiki web too.

Also you'll see a new logo (at the top left of this page). I'm slowly going through the site updating the content and thought the old logo looked pretty poor when shrunk down to fit the TWiki template. The new logo looks (imho) and scales better. Enjoy

-- MartinRowe - 07 May 2005

I've finally taken the plunge and taken over the hosting of dbg400.net. I had no problems with the service I was getting from the hosting company, but renewal is due in a fortnight, and my bandwidth allowance would soon need topping up too. Given that I'm already paying for my broadband connection, and have the web server running, I thought I'd bring it all together. It's been 24 hours since changing DNS, so everyone should be getting my local server now.

The old dyndns.org alias of dbg400.homeip.net will still work for the foreseeable future.

-- MartinRowe - 05 May 2005

My local mirror dbg400.net and cvs server dbg400.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi have been moved off the old server (an old IBM desktop Pentium 100 with 80Mb RAM) to a slightly more spritely machine (Athlon 850 with 1Gb RAM). One of the main reasons for the move was so I could implement a TWiki engine. I really like the idea of wikis, and I've been very impressed with TWiki so far. At present there is just a shell, but I hope to move most/all my content over to it; it's easier for me to maintain, and opens it up to others who want to contribute. You can access the Twiki at dbg400.net/cgi-bin/twiki/view/DBG400

-- MartinRowe - 18 Apr 2005

Old news can be accessed from www.dbg400.net/oldnews.html