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Sausage Sizzler - Super Server |
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G'day Sizzlers!
WARNING: Building Computers Can Be Addictive.
Now that is a warning label I wish they could enforce! I have really
gotten into the whole self-built computer thing. I am building yet
another for my nephew who is going off to college in the fall.
You may ask, why bother when you can buy a decent computer for
under $1000? Well the answer is simple...for the same price you can
build it yourself and get a beefier machine with nicer
components and features. Yes, it won't have a manufacturer's
warranty, but it will have individual parts warranties, some of which
have longer warranties anyway.
We also are going to build a new server for Sausage. This will have dual
processors, RAID 5, and swappable hard
drives. Now for the price of a decent server, we will have a "Super Server."
Also in this issue, we look at completing code for your form,
along with a handy little application that will help free up some disk
space.
There is also a little PHP script that will hopefully get more
people wanting to visit your Web site!
Then to top it off, thanks to hundreds of requests , I go
into more detail on the computer that Brian and I built.
Keep on sizzling!
Nathan Allan
Sausage Sizzler Editor
editor@sausage.com
PHP Recommend Script v.1.3 FREE
http://www.snipe.net/geek/scripts/
Word of mouth is the best way to get your site noticed. Who
better than your loyal readers and friends to recommend it to
others?
This free script will allow you to have a form on your site that
lets visitors recommend the site to others via e-mail.
It has the ability to send the recommendation to more than one
e-mail address at a time. You can also log the comments and e-mail
addresses to a text file, so that you can keep track of what is
being said.
Review by Nathan
Form Elements
What would a form be without a submit button? What if you enter
the wrong data and want to start anew?
The way to implement these buttons is very simple. For example:
<input type="submit" value="SUBMIT">
<input type="reset" value="CLEAR">
In both of these examples, it is the VALUE that defines what the
button text is.
Of course you may not want to use the standard buttons. Gray is a
little boring and may not fit within your site's design. Not to
worry, as you can always substitute in a graphic! This is done like
this:
<input type="image" name="submit" src="filename goes here"
alt="submit">
You can also add in the height and width of the graphic. An
example of this can be seen on our front page at www.sausage.com,
under the "sizzler" sidebar section.
Tip by Nathan Allan
EraseTemp 2.08.01 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP FREE
http://nodesoft.com/EraseTemp/
Sometimes it doesn't take much to make a useful program. This
one will be useful, especially for those of you still running
machines with smaller hard drives where disk space is at a
premium.
EraseTemp does just as it is named, erasing all of the files in
your various temp directories. It first checks if the file is
older than a day, then deletes it.
The download is only 72K, and it works smoothly. Definitely worth
a try!
Review by Nathan Allan
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Hosting Dilemmas
Choosing a host can be the most difficult thing. Perhaps
I want to get a great value for money, good customer
service, or simply because there are what seems like
millions of options out there!
As you will see in this thread, when you are not based in the USA,
finding a good local host can be difficult.
Yes, the Internet is global... but it is still nice to be able to
pick up the phone and talk to your local service provider.
Review by Nathan Allan
Black Beauty
Well Bram is taking the week off, so it looks like you will have
to put up with me the entire issue!
I am going to discuss the building of Black Beauty because so
many of you requested more details on the whole process that went into my
purchase.
First off, I have to give a lot of the credit to Brian Stevens, he
is the guru when it comes to hardware components. We bought the majority
of the components from DIT Computers,
mainly because they are local and reasonably priced. You might be able
to find cheaper parts online or where you live, but once shipping was
taken into account, we found that it worked out to about the same price.
The components purchased are as follows:
- Motherboard is a Biostar M7VIB VIA-KT266A DDR SK-a with onboard sound
- AMD Athlon XP 1800+
- Enermax File Server 71- Black ATX case with 350W power supply
- nVIDIA GeForce MX-440 AGP with 64Mb DDR
- 512Mb DDR RAM PC-2100
- Floppy
- Drive Cables
I already had a DVD drive and a CD_RW that I swapped out of my
old machine.
Now for the reasoning behind my choices in hardware. The
motherboard was chosen because Brian recommended it and it has
onboard sound. I am not a big games or audio person so fantastic
sound doesn't matter. I chose the AMD 1800+ chip, it is a lot
cheaper than a Pentium and I couldn't justify spending the extra
money for the 2100+ chip. I just wouldn't notice the speed differences.
The case was purchased for its size, power supply, accessibility,
lockable front door (keeps little fingers like my daughters from
resetting and the like). It will also be easily upgradable and
has the room for six hard drives. Yes, it is a big case.
The nVIDIA card was chosen for its price and capabilities. I can
even plug a TV into it which turns my computer into a DVD player,
although I think I'll eventually swap this card for the model that
will handle dual monitors.
I have not had the time to set this up yet, but I also have a
Romtec drive selector so I can have three different systems,
XP, 2000, and Red Hat.
As I have gone on a bit here, I will save the issues faced in
assembling the machine until next week. Feel free to ask
questions and comment in the forums:
http://www.sizzlerforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=591
Discuss your experiences with Bram Leland Scolnick
To read the Sizzler Forums you do not need to be a member.
However to take full advantage of this resource it will only take
you a few seconds to sign up!
- Go to: http://www.sizzlerforums.com
- Read the information and click on the REGISTER button
- Fill out the form
- You will receive an email that you simply reply to
- Hey presto! Your a fully fledged Sizzler Forums member!
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