Web Hosting

[Derek Broughton]

Knapp wrote:

> First off, GREAT JOB! I wish I could live off the grid and save the
> Earth more!! Our house being German is not as bad as my house it the
> US was 

No kidding.  German standards are _way_ higher than ours, and it's not
unknown for modern buildings to require little or no direct heating source,
as they're superinsulated and make use of things like heat-recovery from
waste water.

> and we do use Greenpeace power, but still far from perfect. 

Really, living off the grid isn't that green - it's reducing your energy 
consumption, which you could do anywhere, but off-grid living forces you to
it.

> > What is a wall-wart?

All those DC adapters that plug into AC outlets - that draw a watt or two
even if there's nothing plugged in at the DC end.

> Nope not an expert but I have seen this:
> http://www.voltaicsystems.com/bag_generator.shtml
> Which would give you every other day some time.

Cute!   It's really not getting the power that's the problem - it's that you
don't invest in putting up more PV panels than you need, so one's always
close to the line on electricity.  If I really needed a full-time server at
home, I'd probably use an older PowerPC-based laptop.

> if you are running a server then you don't need to power the screen
> saving like 18 watts, I think.

Right - I just haven't measured that number, but 18W sounds about right.

> This looks fun!
> http://www.undercurrents.org/Vagabond/index.htm
> 
> This guy is DOING IT!!!! and with linux, says he gets it down to 20W
> at times. Gives directions too!
> http://www.earth.org.uk/low-power-laptop.html

Now _that's_ beautiful, and what I was really getting at.  If you buy web
hosting (hey - back on topic!), you have no control over the resource
consumption, if you do it at home, you can get it down to 20W.  

(re: Postgres, Mysql)
 
> I have yet to find a good benchmark between the two and Mysql did just
> get picked up by BIG pocketed people (company). I don't like MySQL but
> then who am I? I think with this backing you will see it take off and
> be a good, maybe I should say stronger as it is good for many now,
> product in a few years time.

It's definitely a good database, just so far I find Postgres more useful.  I
expect you're right.
> 
> The targets never holds still!

Targets that hold still tend to be shot dead :-)
-- 
derek