[COLUG] New Member and ISP Info

[Paul Williams]

On Thu, 2006-12-28 at 11:20 -0500, Mark Erbaugh wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am a new subscriber to this list and wanted to introduce myself. I'm
> planning on attending the COLUG meeting this Saturday.
> 
> My name is Mark Erbaugh. For many years, I have been an independent,
> self-employed, software developer, programming mostly in Borland Delphi
> and most recently in Python, but all using Windows. 
> 
> I've messed around with Linux several times, but never really got into
> it until the release of Ubuntu. While the technology of Ubuntu is
> nothing new, it is the first distro I have seen that is packaged for non
> computer type (I wanted to say non-geek, but don't want to offend anyone
> here <g>) end users. 

Well, I use Ubuntu because it has the best community support I've ever
seen in a distro community. It has a very well maintained Wiki and
Forum, and the repositories are kept relatively up to date.

> I'm impressed with what I have seen with Ubuntu and am starting up the
> learning curve. Years ago, I was pretty competent with a DOS command
> line, but all these commands in Linux are tough to learn <sigh>. I am
> getting there.
> 
> I would like to add Ubuntu support to my business. My target niche would
> be small businesses. Since I live in Madison County, I'm thinking Ubuntu
> would be a nice solution for farmers. I think Ubuntu could save them
> from paying big bucks to Redmond (or as I suspect running pirate
> copies). I would also like to do software development using Python under
> Linux.

For Linux Python Development, check out PyGTK. PyGTK can also run in
Linux and Windows. Plus, GTK is just plain old better than QT. Uh-oh,
flame war. *ducks* 

>  have a question for the group. I have a small website for my company.
> I've never done any CGI programming, but it looks like it can be done in
> Python. Since I know Python, that's what I'd like to use. Unfortunately,
> it appears that my current web hosting service (DragonBBS) does not
> support Python. When I called tech support, they didn't even know what
> Python is.  I'd like recommendations for an alternate web hosting
> service that does support Python for CGI.  I'm looking for something
> inexpensive, my DragonBBS account is only $90 / year.
> 
I suggest DreamHost. They have full SSH/FTP access, CGI with Perl,
Python, C and C++, and I have never had problems with them. You can see
their hosting plans here: http://www.dreamhost.com/hosting.html 
> --------------------------
> 
> Thanks and I'm looking forward to meeting you.
> Mark Erbaugh


Thanks,
Paul Williams (paul at smoothweb.net) | Jabber: pwill at jabber.org
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