Technology

Some people may be interested in the hardware and software technology involved in setting up this web site and hosting it from home. When I first started https://carlseay.com it ran on WordPress and it was hosted by GoDaddy.com. I had good service from GoDaddy.com, but over time, the cost of web hosting  increased to the point that a retired person like me could no longer afford it. Subsequently, I shut down my web site for awhile. Fortunately, I eventually became aware of a way to host a web site from home even without a static IP address. I still owned the domain name https://carlseay.com.

This web site is run on an open-source Blogging software called Ghost. It is running on a small (and extremely inexpensive) credit card sized computer called Raspberry Pi 4. The Raspberry Pi is a small computer used for many types of projects such as robots, home automation, and learning computer programming. It has a 64-bit quad-core ARM processor on it. One advantage of a Raspberry Pi is that it uses very little power in comparison with a desktop PC. It only draws about 3 amps.

I had previously tried using WordPress on the Raspberry Pi but it tends to run slowly. Ghost runs much faster than WordPress. Ghost is not as fancy as WordPress and does not have all the extra bells and whistles but those extras are not necessary for my simple website.

The Raspberry Pi normally runs on special versions of Debian Linux operating system originally called Raspbian OS (now Raspberry Pi OS). My web server actually runs on a version of Ubuntu Server OS instead of Raspberry Pi OS. This is because Ghost does not play very well with the Raspbian Operating system. For Linux computers, Ghost likes the Ubuntu distribution. Ghost is also available for the Mac and Windows. It is free for download so the price is right. The only cost is if you have Ghost host your web site for you.

I chose to host my Raspberry Pi web server from home. It is hosted on my home network. My home network connects to the Internet through DSL from our telephone company (the only Internet option for us out here in the country). Of course, this means that I do not have a static IP address. Normally, a static IP address is required for a web site to be found by its URL. However, there are several services that offer dynamic DNS services to take care of this problem allowing you to host your web site at home. This service will keep your IP address updated so that your web site is accessible by typing in your URL (in my case: https://carlseay.com).  ***

*** Update: As of August 2022, we have now two options for broadband internet available to us. A cable Tv company ran fiberoptic lines down our road. Of course, we immediately jumped on the new service with its much greater Internet speeds. Our home phone service and its accompanying problematic DSL Internet service has now been disconnected. So far we are happy with the faster speeds that fiberoptic lines offer. Unfortunately, I had a little problem reconfiguring my web server to use the new service in place of the DSL. I finally figured out what I did wrong and am happy to have my web server back up and available online.

I admit that it can be quite a challenge to get everything setup but you cannot beat the price of free hosting. It took me several weeks to try different options and services and then decide and configure my system this way. Please note that Raspberry Pi's and Linux can take more work to maintain than Windows or Macs. However, there are lots of helpful websites (and YouTube videos) available online to assist you in whatever you wish to use the Pi for. Please contact me if you have any questions about this.

List of technology used (Updated on May 21, 2021):

Raspberry Pi 4
Ubuntu Linux 18.04 Server Operating System
Nginx web server
Ghost 4.4 (Blogging Software) Updated on May 21, 2021
MariaDB (also sometimes called MySQL Database)
Dynamic DNS service - https://dynu.com
SSL Security Certificate - Let's Encrypt
Firewall - ufw

Note: the Operating System and all of the software used is Open-Source and Free. The only expense in this setup is for the purchase of the Raspberry Pi, the monthly cable Internet bill (which I would have anyway), and the annual cost of the domain name (https://carlseay.com). My web server also runs headless. This means that there is no keyboard, mouse, or monitor connected to the server. This helps keep the total cost down to a more manageable amount. To make any needed updates or changes, I simply connect securely to the web server from my home desktop or laptop PC.