Web Server Reconstruction

In the last couple of weeks, Ive been upgrading my web server to the new versions of apache2, PHP4, and PHP5. This took a bit of effort because in order to support PHP4 and PHP5 at the same time, Gentoo have restructured the PHP directories, so I pretty nuch had to uninstall everything and start over, to get the new directory structure set up. This also involved updating the apache2 configuration and also reconfiguring a couple of internal webapps that I run here

Naturally the machine locked up in between uninstalling and reinstalling everything, and I hadnt thought to make a paper list or save my notes - it was all just sitting unsaved in memory. Doh!

Im just about done, so I will soon be starting to reorganise the web sites themselves. I had an online store for a while (which is technically still there, but disabled), and was working on a couple of other projects as well. I closed the online store temporarily when I went to Japan last year, and never got around to reopening it, partly because although it had several sales, it wasnt really bringing in enough to balance the amount of effort involved - I was making more on Ebay, and I had a full time job at the time, so accepting courier deliveries and getting to the post office, while not impossible, was a little difficult at times - even for the Ebay sales.

This time around, Im determined to do it properly. Ive had an idea of what GeekAsylum should be for a long time, but in the past Ive concentrated on building other web sites to try and bring in a bit of money. This time Ive realised that GeekAsylum is the cornerstone on which the other sites depend, so it will be set up first.

GeekAsylum will be a site for geeks like me who need a cornerstone to focus on and support and extend their web development habit. Im hoping to find a small group of local geeks who want to colaborate and build a few web sites together. There are a range of skills involved, and Ive noticed that web sites tend to be better when they are built by several geeks with varying skills, experience, and interests. Naturally, any revenue generated will be put back into the various projects, and any profit will be shared among the contributors. Other local groups may form in other locations, or even virtually over the internet.

I have a ton of project ideas for money-making web sites, so even if it doesnt work out as planned, it will still be there to support me in developing these sites. I also have quite a bit of code from previous web projects to contribute.

Anyway, thats the basic idea - without giving too much away, and I will post updates here as it and the other projects develop.