Housekeeping

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-23 07:43:15

For SpaceNut .... keeping you informed as we go...

Per advice from James Burk, Executive Director of the Mars Society, the Society is moving from Zoom to Google Meet.

Last night kbd512 and I discussed the situation.

Zoom appears to still be working, limited to 40 minutes per session, so we can still use that, since several of our members are used to it by now.

However, I've tested Google Meet, and found that it is simple to set up and to use.

There is a distinct advantage to Google Meet. Each of the Admins can serve as host by simply creating a link and saving it in the top post of the new topic.

I've asked kbd512 to add a link directly to the top post in the new topic.

In addition, I've asked RobertDyck to create a link and post it in the topic. I will then copy the link and add it to the top post.

Using this procedure, any of the Admins can serve as Host for a meeting.

All that's needed is to announce a meeting in the new Google Host topic, and open a session using the link.

Guests can open the same link at the appointed time, and the Host will admit them.

Just FYI ... there is an option the host can set to admit anyone who knocks.

There is ** another ** option, to allow pre-authorized guests to enter the meeting space.

Any such guest will have a Google account, which most folks already have these days.

All in all, I am encouraged by a test I ran this morning, and I think the transition to the new system will be seamless.

We will soon have three potential Hosts who might be able to accommodate our European members at an earlier meeting time than Midnight UTC.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-23 08:01:25

For SpaceNut ... it is time for another Potholes run ....

Today we'll be covering the span from 214001 through 215000

I'm expecting few potholes ... the forum seems to be running smoothly.

The potholes run to 215000 reached the goal without incident.

Here are the results:

Match for: Bad request. The link you followed is incorrect or outdated. Count is: 1
String 2: Completed Sequence for ID: 214447

Match for: Bad request. The link you followed is incorrect or outdated. Count is: 2
String 2: Completed Sequence for ID: 214935

Just two potholes for 1000 posts ... not bad at all.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2023-10-23 20:32:56

yes, access can show the data from imported exce.csv files such that it will display as a single record view.

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-23 20:51:05

For SpaceNut re #3128

Thanks for keeping an eye on things !!!

GW Johnson tested the new Google Meetings service, and although he reported some challenges getting used to the new system, overall I think the test was a success.

The database seems to be in good shape, as indicated by the most recent potholes check.

kbd512 appears to be well on his way to finding a way to collect the records from the existing database, in order to populate a clean MySQL database with the existing data.

Mars_B4_Moon has been finding and posting on many subjects, and he's continuing to bring back ancient topics to give them a moment back in view.

Calliban seems to be well on his way to defining the roadway infrastructure for Mars.

GW Johnson is making significant progress toward designing a multi-purpose rocket vehicle for Mars. He published a preliminary draft of a design for a rocket hopper, and is now taking a look at the (apparently more difficult) problem of designing a taxi for surface to LMO service. This application would push the limits of what methane/LOX can achieve. You might be thinking of Dr. Zubrin's design to land on the planet and fly back to orbit, but GW's design is intended for multiple flights, much like SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage, but enhanced to fly through the atmosphere to slow down enough for a tail first landing. The heat shield is going to add mass, which will eat into the payload fraction.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2023-10-24 20:43:53

James also has most if not all of the crash data on another server that would line up in the records for the data years 2005 to 2008 and possibly 2010 but I am unaware if that copy server is still available. At one time the log files were also save but it's been a long time since I downloaded some of them.

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-24 20:55:14

For SpaceNut re #3130

Thanks for the reminder it might be possible to fill in some of the potholes !!!

Just FYI ... it is my impression that it will be all that the NewMars Admins can do to achieve (a) a smooth running FluxBB, and (b) a successful conversion to phpBB. kbd512 tells me that he believes FluxBB 1.51 (which we have) can be updated to work with state-of-the-art support software. He seems to have confidence he can make the needed adjustments on a duplicate server he built at home, and if that works, he can work with Mars Society to carefully make those same changes on the running software at Dreamhost.

Conversion to phpBB is a different matter. kbd512 has found software that appears able to pull tables from the existing FluxBB package, with metadata intact, and he appears to be confident that data (in the form of CSV files) can be installed in a MySQL database for the phpBB forum software to use. I am definitely interested in that idea, because I should be able to build a duplicate system here, under kbd512's supervision. That would provide a first tier of backup for kbd512, who at the moment is the entire NewMars IT staff.

There is a possibility that RobertDyck might be interested in building a backup system at his home as well.

***
Housekeeping ... So! What's happening with the furnace project there in New Hampshire?

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-25 06:54:18

For kbd512 and RobertDyck ...

When you have a few minutes, please create a Google Meet connection.

We can add the links to your Google Meet connection to Post #1 of this topic.

That way, you can serve as host for the regular meeting, or for an unscheduled meeting you might want to set up.

For kbd512, you can add the link to Post #1 directly.

For RobertDyck, please put your link into a post in the Google Meet topic, and I'll copy it into Post #1

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-26 19:43:43

For SpaceNut ....

The emails you might have received recently are coming from a test Windows 10 computer running WebBrowserAutomation.

I've had to deal with numerous challenges in trying to port the software from the very stable Windows XP environment to the dynamic environment of Windows 10. The issues are not related to Windows 10. They are ** all ** related to browser technology, which is constantly changing to accomplish a wide variety of goals, including beating off hackers while simultaneously serving advertisers. That is quite an ongoing battle, and the program I'm trying to run has to contend with all of it.

You may have noticed that the messages are now arriving with the UTC time of sending added in the top line of the body of the email. I observe that the arrival time of the test messages is posted by the email program, and the UTC time inside the message allows me to determine accurately how long the transmission takes. The times are often quite short ... it is not at all unusual to find an elapsed time of a minute or so.

Since the software is still dealing with issues, there are times when the delay is longer, but I can't tell if the problem is on the sending computer or somewhere else.

***
This is Housekeeping, so I'll inquire once again about how the furnace project is coming. Winter is being held off by a temporary warm spell.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-28 07:26:38

For Mars_B4_Moon ...

Here is the text I was unable to post in the new Grid topic ...

That didn't work ... I got the same error here!

OK ... I'll try putting spaces between the letters:

You can set up a free Dropbox account to serve long documents via read-only links.

In addition, Google offers some storage for free if you create a document using their Google Workspace. I think the size of the free space might be as high as 8 Gb, but whatever it is, it is generous.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-30 12:09:13

Topics that contain the word "hydrogen"

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(th)

SpaceNut · 2023-10-30 17:53:28

I see one of the tables of text search was with data but a repeating of the information seems to have a problem,,,

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-30 18:18:33

For SpaceNut re recent posts in several topics...

Thanks for helping out with the new topics.

The Apache Internal Server Error comes and goes ... we never know when it will show up.... I hope it goes away when we move to a new system.

Speaking of a new system .... at last night's Google Meeting, kbd512 updated GW and me on his work on the forum. It appears he is ready for us to write to Mr. Burk to ask for guidance on the direction the Mars Society is heading. I'm planning an email to Mr. Burk later today or possibly tomorrow at the latest.

GW just send some updates so I am right in the middle of posting them. You should find them in the GW Johnson Postings shortly.

PS ... reminder .... you don't have to load any special software to run Google Meeting. You can try it out at home on your existing computer, without anyone knowing. Just click on the link at the top of Post #1 of the Google Meeting topic. You don't have to use a camera if you don't have one. You can see everyone else just fine, and we get to see your blank screen and hear your voice, if your computer has a microphone. Otherwise, you can see and hear without having to send video or audio. There is a chat window available, if you want to say something.

(th)

NewMarsMember · 2023-10-31 07:11:19

For kbd512...

This is what the File Request confirmation email looks like ...

Hi Tom,
Your request "Files of Forum data for conversion experiments" was created! Below, you can preview the way others will see the request, and we’ll email you whenever someone uploads a file.
Now that you're set up, you can:
Add more people to the request
See the files they upload
Keep the files private or share them with anyone
Preview your request
Or see all your requests
Best,
- The Dropbox Team

For all ... kbd512 is working on a long term project to upgrade the forum software. As part of the initiative, he is collecting data from the existing forum database. My hope is that the Admins can create duplicate forum environments at home, so we are all up to speed as kbd512 shows the way.

(th)

Mars_B4_Moon · 2023-10-31 12:23:07

Server Error in the Mars crime and responsibility discussion
it might be when I copy and paste the word 'po st off ice' from the japantoday dot com link

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-10-31 12:32:35)

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-31 13:57:28

For Mars_B4_Moon ... re Post #3139 ...

Thanks for providing an example of a string that caused / triggered the error ...

I'm guessing that the word post office will not cause the error in my message. The context of the post will be too different.

However, let's see

OK ... as expected, the word in this context does not cause an error.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2023-10-31 18:33:03

Got the forum emailer for software data base status.

Somewhere James and I did discus what forum software would be something to buy to set the newmars data on and I am having trouble finding the information.

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-31 19:06:18

For SpaceNut re #3141

Thanks for confirming you are in the loop for further developments.

It would definitely be interesting to see what software might have been under consideration previously.

(th)

Mars_B4_Moon · 2023-11-02 09:43:14

not sure if things went down, I must thank who keeps the ship afloat and patches up holes

tahanson43206 · 2023-11-02 09:50:42

For Mars_B4_Moon re #3143

Thanks for noting the support given by someone...

While I don't have any direct confirmation, chances are on the order of 99% that the recovery was provided by kbd512.

In the course of investigating the problem, I learned that a version of MySQL is being retired, and a newer version is available.

I don't know which version we are on, but I ** do ** know that upgrading software on which the forum is running is on the agenda.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2023-11-03 17:35:23

Saw the email which A mysql timing out is network traffic related typically.
I think the mysql version is 5.0.5 but I might have remembered it incorrectly.

tahanson43206 · 2023-11-03 19:30:40

For SpaceNut re #3145

You might well be right in thinking the MySQL version was 5... The 5... family is deprecated. Version 8... is current.

Hopefully kbd512 will be available Sunday evening, and willing to bring us up to date.

Reminder ... we are going back to Zoom for this coming Sunday evening. The primary reason is to help GW Johnson to rehearse for a presentation for NSS North Houston, which would be done on Zoom.

However, as always, there will be plenty of opportunity for discussion of other topics, including the recent MySQL outage.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-11-05 21:10:16

For SpaceNut ....

kbd512 brought us up to date on the recent MySQL outage .... he explained that the database came back by itself. He did not do anything to restart the database, but he did look at the logs, and did not see anything that would suggest a cause for the outage.

My assessment is that we are better off (by far) having a team member able to at least look at things, than we were previously.

Because of GW's presentation this evening, we did not have time to talk about how things might change over time. Last week we decided that I should send an email of inquiry to Mr. Burk, and I did that, but we have no response (that I'm aware of).

I'll follow up tomorrow.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-11-12 13:40:50

For SpaceNut .... Spreadsheets are an area in which you have shown special ability...

In the recent posts on a way to make methane from pure carbon and pure hydrogen, ChatGPT shows datapoints that can be fed into a modern plotting calculator, or into a spreadsheet plotting feature, to show the "magic" point at which the target temperature of 750 degrees Celsius is achieved.

If you have time this weekend, please see if you can create a graph using those points.

(th)

kbd512 · 2023-11-12 16:10:10

tahanson43206,

I'm in the process of backing up the database files right now. The only objects in the database for backup are TABLEs and INDEXes. There do not appear to be any TRIGGERs or PROCEDUREs or other objects / logic included. I looked back through my E-mail and found the account details for DropBox. I'll let you know if there are any problems with the upload. There are just 19 tables in total, including 2 backup tables which are not part of fluxbb.

Export file format will appear as follows:
fluxbb_bans_YYYYMMDDhh24mm.csv.zip

Right now my machine is struggling to output one of the table exports (fluxbb_search_cache). I may need to switch to a more powerful / newer machine. I have one now (a newer MacBook), but haven't started using it yet.

Edit: fluxbb_search_matches, NOT fluxbb_search_cache

Edit #2: The program ran out of Java heap space.

Edit #3: Problem fixed. PEBKAC

Edit #4: Database backup complete, I think. Total compressed / ZIP file size is 153.2MB, current total fluxbb_newmars database size is about 780MB.

Last edited by kbd512 (2023-11-12 17:32:52)

SpaceNut · 2023-11-12 18:10:23

Would be nice to see all of the tables but I confess that I do not remember the drop box login for shared data files.

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#3126 2023-10-23 07:43:15

Re: Housekeeping

#3127 2023-10-23 08:01:25

Re: Housekeeping

#3128 2023-10-23 20:32:56

Re: Housekeeping

#3129 2023-10-23 20:51:05

Re: Housekeeping

#3130 2023-10-24 20:43:53

Re: Housekeeping

#3131 2023-10-24 20:55:14

Re: Housekeeping

#3132 2023-10-25 06:54:18

Re: Housekeeping

#3133 2023-10-26 19:43:43

Re: Housekeeping

#3134 2023-10-28 07:26:38

Re: Housekeeping

#3135 2023-10-30 12:09:13

Re: Housekeeping

#3136 2023-10-30 17:53:28

Re: Housekeeping

#3137 2023-10-30 18:18:33

Re: Housekeeping

#3138 2023-10-31 07:11:19

Re: Housekeeping

#3139 2023-10-31 12:23:07

Re: Housekeeping

#3140 2023-10-31 13:57:28

Re: Housekeeping

#3141 2023-10-31 18:33:03

Re: Housekeeping

#3142 2023-10-31 19:06:18

Re: Housekeeping

#3143 2023-11-02 09:43:14

Re: Housekeeping

#3144 2023-11-02 09:50:42

Re: Housekeeping

#3145 2023-11-03 17:35:23

Re: Housekeeping

#3146 2023-11-03 19:30:40

Re: Housekeeping

#3147 2023-11-05 21:10:16

Re: Housekeeping

#3148 2023-11-12 13:40:50

Re: Housekeeping

#3149 2023-11-12 16:10:10

Re: Housekeeping

#3150 2023-11-12 18:10:23

Re: Housekeeping

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