These are our crawl stats for October and November:

     Our website is about 99% WordPress based and 100% SSL encrypted, so these stats represent really worst case speeds since it is both interpreted PHP code and encrypted, also most of our site uses only fragment and SQL caching and not overall page caching because of it’s dynamic nature.

     In this two month interval our absolute worst response time was 310ms and average 124ms.  This is with each users PHP code running under it’s own UID, so security was not compromised to achieve this fast response.

     I have put a great deal of effort and resources into optimizing web response times because it provides the end user with the best possible web experience, one where he or she pushes the button and the page is instantly there.  I’ve read that Google rewards sites which average less than 200ms latency with higher rankings in the search results.  Having your site hosted here will help your rankings.

     I challenge anyone who has websites hosted elsewhere that are PHP based and https encrypted to compare your Google crawl stat results to sites hosted here.

     I apologize for the brief interruption around 5:15PM lasting approximately two minutes.  The web interface on our router at the co-location facility died and I was unable to get the web server on the router to restart without a reboot.

Bob O’Brien requested Notepad++ be installed on our shell servers.

Notepad++ is Windows only, however after doing some research I found out two good things:

1) Others report that it does run under wine.
2) There is a Linux clone called notepadqq.

I will chase down notepadqq and get it installed.

Since Wine installed software is installed per-user, to use the Windows version you will need to install it in your wine directory here. To do this, connect with a graphical client such as X2Go, fire up Firefox, go to the Notepad++ site, and download and run installer.exe.

The Linux version, notepadqq, is presently installed on Ubuntu, Debian, Centos7, Scientific7, OpenSuse, and Fedora.

The libraries are too old on Shellx and Scientific to install notepadqq on those systems however notepad++ is known to run under the version of Wine that exists on those boxes so if you want to install and run the Windows version, you can do that.

There does not seem to be a version available for Mint Jessie yet.

It has been many years since we’ve held user meetings, largely for
lack of a location. The original place we held them at, Godfather’s in
Ballard went out of business. The replacement location burned to the
ground.

The only suggestion I’ve received for a new location is Spiro’s in
the Fred Meyer parking lot on Aurora Ave N just south of 185th:

https://www.eskimo.com/eskimo-north-user-meeting/

I’ve cleared this with the management of Spiro’s, including letting
them know what happened to our previous meeting location and they were
more than okay with it. Initially we’ll use some tables in the normal
dining area but if the turnout is sufficient, they will make the banquet
room available to us.

So we’ll be holding our next meeting on December 19th at 2pm. No end
time has been set, I’ll remain until people want to leave. They close at
9pm so won’t be later than that.

I have installed two alternatives to squirrelmail for webmail, which
may or may not work better on your mobile device.

Roundcube is available Web Apps -> Mail -> Roundcube
Rainloop is available Web Apps -> Mail -> Rainloop

Over the years I’ve operated Eskimo with an unusual business model.
Instead of trying to invent something and then trying to convince you that
you can’t live without it, I’ve tried to listen to what you tell me you
want and then figure out how to provide it.

The more feedback I can get from you, the better this process works.
Most of the feedback I’ve received has been via e-mail, but it would be
better to have it be via a more public forum because that way people can
comment and build on ideas.

I’ve finally got forum software in place that works properly with
encryption, so it works on our https://www.eskimo.com/ site, also software
that is responsive so it works on any device from a smartphone to a
desktop.

Sign up is instantaneous. Fill out the registration, it will send
you an e-mail, click on the link and you’re registered and can immediately
post.

So far only 11 people have signed up, that’s about 2% of our
customers. I really would like to have a functional community so I can
get your input on how to move forward.

To sign up go to: https://www.eskimo.com/forums

Or from our home page Web Apps -> Forums

Click on the registration link, fill out the information, sort the
captcha (it’s a cool alternative to poorly obfuscated text), and then
click on the link in the e-mail you receive. If you don’t get e-mail in
your INBOX right away, check your spam folder.

Thank you very much. In case I forget before Christmas, I want to
wish you all a Merry Christmas filled with family and joy.

     The GlobalPOP 56k access numbers are working again.  GlobalPOP found no problem.  Apparently it had fixed itself by the time they tested.  I re-tested and confirmed that they are working.

     There is a problem with the On-Net GlobalPOP 56k dial access numbers in the Seattle area at least.  They are returning Authentication Server Timeout, but the problem is not with our authentication servers, it is something on their end.

     The Off-Net numbers are working, so in Seattle you can use 206-402-0023, and the MegaPOP numbers are working, so Seattle 206-299-0155 is up.

     I have initiated a trouble ticket to get the others repaired.

     I’ve added yet another webmail client that may work better for mobile clients.  It works well on my emulator but not on my sons’ I-phone so your mileage may vary.  At any rate, it’s available for you to try:

         Web Apps → Mail → RainLoop

     Let me know how this works on your device (and what device you are using).

     An alternative to SquirrelMail is now available.  I was going to replace Squirrelmail with it but it did not perform as advertised, particularly with respect to mobile devices and it is generally ugly.

     If you would like to try it out, go to Web Apps → Mail → RoundCube.

     It will remain available but I am looking for something that works properly with Mobile devices still.

     I enjoyed this and want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.  Hope that you get to spend time with your family.  I am Thankful for still having some family to spend Thanksgiving with.

     I’ve posted a couple of videos on our forum that have to do with X2Go, a method of using a remote desktop on our shell servers from your Apple, PC, or Linux system, and Bluefish, a graphical editor that is similar to DreamWeaver but operates on our server rather than on your local PC.

     See: https://www.eskimo.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=13