Re: OT: Dependable, fairly inexpensive webhost

[Dan <dan27649@xxxxxxxxx>]

(Tommy, I cc'd your email addy since I wasn't sure you were on the PC-Tech
list.)

On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 10:55 AM, <Tommy.Holden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> i host my own web site.  it's not that hard and is inexpensive.  i have a
> DSL connection and a static IP address from my ISP (AT&T).  purchased a
> domain name and use zoneedit.com for a DNS server it's free for up to 5
> domain names and easy to use.  you can get XAMPP from apachefriends.org
> which is also free and includes MySQL, PHP, Apache web server, PERL and
> more.  it's very easy to install and setup and you don't have to pay
> monthly fees!


Is it possible to do this even if you don't have a static IP address?  I
seem to recall that there was some service that did a ping-type of thing
with your webserver and updated the DNS with the new IP address when it
changed.  (This is going back several years, so I may have missed a
component or three there.)

Also, what OS are you using and what kind of horsepower/specs on the
server?  I am looking at low-end, since this would be very low volume and
low budget.  The primary goal would be to finally get my butt in gear in
learning how to do this stuff.  Given the low-end budget, can anyone chime
in as to whether I would be better off using Win98 or Ubuntu to host the
XAMPP webserver?  I'd prefer Win98, since I know that and am still getting
my feet wet in Ubuntu.  (Yes, according to apachefriends.org, Win98 is a
supported host OS.)

I tried WAMP before, but couldn't do anything with it, since there was a
problem with MySQL, IIRC.  XAMPP appears to "solve" those type of problems.

TIA,
Dan