Difference between revisions of "Services"

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A group of us have been working on various internet based projects and services since the late 90's. Part of this involves setting up and maintaining servers and the various software that needs to run on them to support the kinds of work we're involved in.
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== Free services we use ==
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*[http://Github.com Github] ''- software repository hosting for open source projects''
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*[https://blogtrottr.com/subscriptions/ Blogtrottr] ''- subscribe to RSS or Atom feeds to have them sent to an email address''
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*[https://letsencrypt.org/ LetsEncrypt] ''- free SSL certs, see also [[SSL]] which has our configuration details''
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*[https://onename.io OneName] ''- decentralised identity using the Namecoin network''
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*[https://keybase.io Keybase] ''- decentralised secure identity and encryption/decryption/signing service''
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*[[Prezi]] ''- make cool presentations online''
  
We document all the [[procedures]] we need to set up and run these various aspects which allows us to replicate or share them more easily. We only use freely available, community developed open source [[:Category:Software|software in our system]], and the procedures we've developed to use them are also freely available.
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== Free online tools we use ==
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*[http://validator.w3.org/ W3C Validator]
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*[https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest SSL test]
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*[http://www.loadinfo.net/ Loader Generator]
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*[http://jsfiddle.net jsFiddle]
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*[http://www.redirect-checker.org/ Redirect checker]
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*[http://tools.wikimedia.de/~dapete/ImageMapEdit/ImageMapEdit.html?en ImageMap Editor]
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*[http://dnsstuff.com DNS Stuff]
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*[http://www.isup.me isup.me]
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*[http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp Browser Stats]
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*[https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/search?p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.organicdesign.co.nz&bwm=i&bwmf=s&bwmo=d&fr=yfp-t-501&fr2=seo-rd-se Who links to us?]
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*[http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html ColorSchemer]
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*[http://www.webpagetest.org/ webpagetest.org]
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*[http://samy.pl/evercookie/ EverCookie]
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*[http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets RichSnippet Tester]
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*[http://repogen.simplylinux.ch/ Ubuntu sources generator]
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*[http://vixy.net/ Vixy video converter]
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*[http://browsershots.org BrowserShots.org] ''- check what you site looks like in other browsers''
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*[http://netrenderer.com/ NetRenderer] ''- alternative to browsershots.org''
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*[http://web-sniffer.net/ View HTTP Headers]
  
We can assist you in setting up your own server for hosting your wiki, web applications and email etc, but the entry level for a VPS (virtual private server) of reasonable resource is about US$40/month and setup time $250. Standard web hosting starts very cheap, but has the disadvantage of restricting access to what you can install or configure, which increases software setup time.
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== Paid services we use ==
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*[http://twilio.com Twilio] ''- virtual phone numbers for sending/receiving voice and SMS to and from your server''
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*[http://codero.com Codero] ''- our favourite dedicated server provider''
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*[http://linode.com Linode] ''- our favourite cloud server provider''
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*[http://namecheap.com Namecheap] ''- our favourite domain name supplier (they accept [[bitcoin]] too, and their dedicated server prices look good, but haven't tried them out yet)''
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*[http://www.webdrive.co.nz WebDrive] ''- our domain name host for NZ domains''
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*[http://bitnz.com BitNZ] ''- our favourite NZ bitcoin exchange''
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*[https://www.bitcointoyou.com/ Bitcoin2You] ''- our favourite Brazilian bitcoin exchange''
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*[http://paguecombitcoin.com/ PagueComBitcoin] ''- pay Brazilian "Boleto" invoices or topup cell phone with bitcoin''
  
We're happy to host projects on our servers if they share a lot in common with our own system and way of thought, such as being heavily oriented toward wiki and other bottom-up ideals. Our production server is currently with [http://www.vpslink.com vpslink.com] on the LINK5 plan running the [[Debian]] Linux operating system, but our system is very independent and we can easily change provider if their service becomes unsatisfactory like our last one (a godaddy.com VPS). We would not recommend moving away from Debian based operating systems though as many of our procedures make heavy use of Debian-specific features and conventions.
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== On demand products ==
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On demand products are becoming very popular nowadays especially due to all the new 3D-printing hardware that's available now.
  
As your operation grows you can easily move it to your own server since nothing we use is proprietary and we have documented procedures in place to make replication and migration simple.
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=== Printing On Demand ===
[[Category:Organic Design]]
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*[[W:Espresso Book Machine]] ''- print books on demand - general concept''
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*[http://www.lightningsource.com Lightning Source]
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**[http://www.lightningsource.com/links.aspx#AuthorServicesLinks List of on-demand printing businesses]
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*[http://www.ondemandbooks.com/home.htm On Demand Books (ODB)]
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*[http://www.lulu.com/ Lulu]
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=== Production On Demand (POD) ===
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*[http://www.zazzle.com Zazzle] ''- on-demand printing of merchandise''
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*[http://www.cafepress.com/ CafePress] ''- on-demand printed merchandise and CD/DVD's''
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*[http://finerworks.com/pricing.asp finerworks.com] and [http://www.canvasondemand.com/canvas-sizes.asp CanvasOnDemand] ''- printing/framing/mounting photos on canvas''
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*[http://www.3dprinterworld.com/article/metal-printing-for-consumer-s1-from-aurora-labs Affordable 3D metal printing available]
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=== On Demand in Software Architecture ===
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This concept of production on demand also plays an important role in software architecture and programming environments. Complex applications like office suites and content management systems can have huge arrays of diverse components and modules. Applying the on-demand paradigm in this context simply means to only load those components into memory when their first required.
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This issue is closely related to the programming environment as well, for example the so-called "stateless" paradigm which is the client-server/request-response system used on the web is not a very on-demand environment. This is because every request has to run its own instance of the server application. Although shared-object architectures can help with this, it would be supported from the ground up in a peer-to-peer architecture.
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== See also ==
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*[[Libre software]]
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*[[Open Source#Open Source hardware|Open Source hardware]]
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*[http://fiverr.com/ Fiver.com] ''- cheap online services of all kinds''

Revision as of 12:13, 10 January 2017

Free services we use

  • Github - software repository hosting for open source projects
  • Blogtrottr - subscribe to RSS or Atom feeds to have them sent to an email address
  • LetsEncrypt - free SSL certs, see also SSL which has our configuration details
  • OneName - decentralised identity using the Namecoin network
  • Keybase - decentralised secure identity and encryption/decryption/signing service
  • Prezi - make cool presentations online

Free online tools we use

  • Twilio - virtual phone numbers for sending/receiving voice and SMS to and from your server
  • Codero - our favourite dedicated server provider
  • Linode - our favourite cloud server provider
  • Namecheap - our favourite domain name supplier (they accept bitcoin too, and their dedicated server prices look good, but haven't tried them out yet)
  • WebDrive - our domain name host for NZ domains
  • BitNZ - our favourite NZ bitcoin exchange
  • Bitcoin2You - our favourite Brazilian bitcoin exchange
  • PagueComBitcoin - pay Brazilian "Boleto" invoices or topup cell phone with bitcoin

On demand products

On demand products are becoming very popular nowadays especially due to all the new 3D-printing hardware that's available now.

Printing On Demand

Production On Demand (POD)

On Demand in Software Architecture

This concept of production on demand also plays an important role in software architecture and programming environments. Complex applications like office suites and content management systems can have huge arrays of diverse components and modules. Applying the on-demand paradigm in this context simply means to only load those components into memory when their first required.

This issue is closely related to the programming environment as well, for example the so-called "stateless" paradigm which is the client-server/request-response system used on the web is not a very on-demand environment. This is because every request has to run its own instance of the server application. Although shared-object architectures can help with this, it would be supported from the ground up in a peer-to-peer architecture.

See also