Some HFU / Server Updates and News

[ChrisSmolinski]

Ryver has decided to switch to a $99/mo service.  With the help of Beerus (thank you!) we now have a RocketChat service running right here on the HFU.

This is the URL to the chat: http://hfunderground.com:3000/

You will need to create an account.

There are also RocketChat clients for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android: https://rocket.chat/download

Documentation for RocketChat is here: https://rocket.chat/docs/user-guides/messaging/

For the time being, please refrain from posting large numbers of unnecessary images, until we get storage and auto-deletion of old content sorted out.

Also, there could be outages while we get things finalized. Thank you for your patience.

[MDK2]

Hello. Nice work finding a new option so quickly. I just want to bring to your attention that currently the browser connection isn't secure. Thanks!

[ChrisSmolinski]

Hello. Nice work finding a new option so quickly. I just want to bring to your attention that currently the browser connection isn't secure. Thanks!

Yes, that is on the to do list. 

[ChrisSmolinski]

RocketChat was down briefly this morning, I think from about 0938 to 0955 when I noticed it was down, and restarted it.

Running the chat adds a bit of a load to the server, so I have upgraded to a larger linode. It's a bit more out of my pocket each month, but I think it will help with the stability, and speed things up overall. I just finished the upgrade and migration of data this morning, so if you were wondering why the website was down for about an hour this morning, that's the reason.

We're also looking at a different chat system, called MatterMost. We have a test copy of it running now, this link can be used to create an account, and play around with it: http://hfunderpants.com:8065/signup_user_complete/?id=a68mmyuf5jyxxeimwj5xmz56ao

I don't want to use MatterMost for several reasons, so I have turned off that server.

I understand that changing the online chat system is disruptive. In the case of Ryver, we really didn't have much of a choice leaving, I don't think we can justify paying about $1K a year to run it. I certainly can't.  I suggest we try out these two other systems (RocketChat and MatterMost) and we can decide which we prefer. Or even try another 

Now that we have alternative(s), we don't have a deadline as to making the choice, when our Ryver chat disappears at the end of the month.  For the present, consider RocketChat to be the "official" chat system. The Ryver chat still exists and will until the end of the month. I will change the link here on the HFU to direct people to RocketChat.

Thanks for your patience while we sort things out.

[Rob.]

Thank you for all the effort keeping it running for all of us.

[ChrisSmolinski]

One update, the Rocket.Chat iOS app seems to require SSL, so it will not work with the site. The Android app may be the same. You should be able to connect to the chat via your device's web browser, however.

I've looked into adding SSL to the chat. It is possible, but not trivial, so it's not at the top of the list right now.

[MDK2]

The chat is not yet secure. ETA for this please? Thanks.