I'm not using this domain so I redirected it to them. Anyone signing up gets me a small credit back on my account and I'll gladly split it with you. This isn't like godaddy that sells your info to a ton of spammers, it's just a fully functional no-nonsense company with 24x7 support. I like it as I prefer to use straight ftp access but they've got more free tools than you can imagine. I'm paying less than $10 a month for three domains and that includes all the registration and stuff but they've got cheaper packages.

Having your own domain can pay for itself because you can have your own .com, .edu or .org e-mail acounts which make sample ordering a lot easier.

Just go to this which I parked and referred to them: http://www.innoengr.net

I've had others in the past but never one as good as these people are, I first learned about them from a magazine ad in EDN if I recall.
Check it out, I'm not affiliated, just trying to put in a kind word and as I said I'll share any referral fees 50/50 wtih you.

 

Since you make a specific recommendation and stand to profit from it, I think this borders on spam. There are lots of providers out there.

John

 

No problem, I would probably make $2 and give half of it back so just order directly from them if you like. I'm only recommending their services as they are one of the few left that's no nonsense as we used to get in the old days.

Used to be I could just operate my own web server from home but once all those worms started showing up the ISPs shut down that capability unless you paid them a ton of money for a business account. That really hurt me at the time as I was sharing a lot of simple pictures, open source files and stuff none of which violated any copyrights or were of "that type" of content. I forget which worm came first, think it was called "Code Red" and it got me as well as about everyone else as it spread like wildfire before Microsoft could do anything to patch IIS from getting hit by it.

 

This site has fairly restrictive policies on advertising, I believe. Notice that member signatures with links to businesses have been removed. However, giving links to businesses from which the poster does not receive benefit seems to be tolerated.

John

 

I can understand that policy as it's pretty standard in all forums, the way I saw it at the time was that if I got a kickback and split it we'd both be ahead. I do want to suggest them, you can go directly to their website and sign up. I've just seen so many go through the multitude of webspace providers (myself included) that end up selling your e-mail address to a spammers list and provide very limited capabilities, tools, storage space and bandwidth restrictions that it isn't funny. It took me a while to find an honest one that also has 24x7 support and I've had to use it on occasion as I'm pretty rusty in this since I rarely use it much.

It was far easier when I could just have my own web server online at home. I've got a licensed copy of Win2K Advanced Server that of course included IIS and it was a simple matter to drop a file in there. All you needed was a domain name and a static IP connection or you could utilize http://www.dyndns.com/ if your ISP was based on DHCP and it would keep track of it. Matter of fact they will get you into all of the DNS servers in almost no time and all for free.

Follow that link and read, good learning stuff.

 

I am fortunate to have a nephew who is really deep into computers. He set up a domain for our family many years ago and there have been no problems.

BTW, if it is not clear from above, I thought your original post was done completely innocently. I wanted to point out what seems to be a tightening on advertising rules. I know of one forum that got into some hot water for violating its TOS by allowing advertising.

John

 

Thanks, I may have semi-crossed over the line but I kind of feel like a lot of us are family here. As in the motorcycle forum related to my rather oddball vintage bike I often pick up extra parts from Mouser in volume then offer to sell them at what really ends up to be a no profit deal for me. I simply try to pass on the volume savings + the cost I paid for incoming shipping, packing them properly as individual items then driving to the post office and putting them into the mail although I really do need to go get some sort of stamp assortment so I don't need to bother with the line. Kind of gives them the choice of paying $6 to get one if they order it by themselves or $2.50 from me plus a few cents more if they need a few other parts I may have in stock. If that's the only part(s) they need it's an easy decision but most everyone I know finds enough other things on Mouser, Digi-Key (who I hate due to their shipping costs) or someplace else.

For instance when I order 1/4W 1% resistors they're something like 10 cents each but only 0.02 if I buy them as a qty of 200. I may only need a few but it's a no brainer to just pay the $4 and get 200 of them since I've usually got a lot of other things in my order as well thus the shipping doesn't become as much of an issue. Same thing only paying <0.01 each for 1N4148/1N914 diodes but an old fart such as myself often relies on those in some logic and even analog applications.

If I wasn't already so busy and behind in a lot of things I'd consider opening up a local store if I thought the demand was there. Radio Shack is absolutely out of line nowadays, often wanting almost $2 for a cap I can get for 0.10 even in single quantities.

Years (and I mean many years) ago we used to have a group of older guys that went to all the government surplus auctions and had a storefront in which you could not only find the normal stuff (most all Mil-spec) but also all sorts of unique items and test equipment. I bought my first scope from them for $25, a DuMont 304A which I still have but has been long retired. Heavy and about as inaccurate as one can be but 40 years ago it was perfectly fine considering the cost. I live by a Tek 2465 nowadays, perhaps the best of the analog scopes ever produced that also has a ton of digital display options on the screen. Got it perfectly calibrated for $169.50 + a few probes and shipping. Only guaranteed to 300 MHz but it will easily display well above 500 and I'll bet it would go to a gig or so if the horizontal timebase had another step or two in it. One of these days I'm going to throw 2.4 GHz at it just to see what happens.