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Hi Graham, nice site, love you are giving back! I've also done a few Ubiquity design/install projects. Couple of things I'd suggest. (take/or leave) You are cl

Hi Graham, nice site, love you are giving back! I've also done a few Ubiquity design/install projects. Couple of things I'd suggest. (take/or leave) You are clearly super knowledgeable in all the products you've mentioned, but it seems like the audience for this site is the newbie trying to break into the industry. With that in mind, I'd try to stick to a single product recommendation, and deep dive into it. For instance, in the pick a hardware platform you've listed four options, consider picking one, and if you feel the need to dump your extensive knowledge of the others, then perhaps do it in another section/addendum. Consider hosting this where you can build a community. Github pages does this sort of thing for free. Again, thanks and good luck with the site!

grahamburger 9y ago
Good advice, thanks. I have struggled throughout with knowing when to be more specific and when to be more general, although I do try to pepper in a lot of 'if you don't know what to do, do this' type advice. I've been trying to build the community around this matrix chatroom: https://riot.im/app/#/room/#startyourownisp:matrix.org https://riot.im/app/#/room/#startyourownisp:matrix.org I'm not really a developer by trade so Github isn't really a go-to solution for me, good thought though!
- hutch120 9y ago
  Thanks for the reply. Github pages used to be aimed purely at developers, but I think it's pretty mainstream now. If you've managed to get a web site up, then you won't have any problem with this. Happy to help if you have any questions PM me. I checked out riot.im but honestly I found the interface really confusing. Also, the lack of integration to a major auth service like Google/Twitter/Github/etc is a real turn off for me.
  - grahamburger 9y ago
    Gotcha, makes sense. I'm hosting on Firebase right now which seems fine and is close enough to free. Would there be a tangible benefit to moving to Github Pages? It wouldn't be difficult, it's a static site built with Hugo.
    - jlgaddis 9y ago
      If what you have now works for you, there's no point in switching (especially just because someone on the Internet said so).
    - hutch120 9y ago
      The main tangible benefit is that others can directly interact with each other and the content in one place using the built in collaboration tools. It would be easy to move. Just upload the web site files to a Github repository with index.html in the root path, and turn on Github pages in the setting tab. Other benefits that immediately come to mind are: - Anyone can submit suggestions, these are called Pull Requests. - Eventually you can add trusted community members as collaborators and they can edit pages directly. - There is already a massive community that know this interface. - It's free for public sites. - Last but not least, it's super easy to edit the site, just do it directly in the browser, no need for builds, deploy scripts, etc.
  - ReverseCold 9y ago
    > I checked out riot.im but honestly I found the interface really confusing. Also, the lack of integration to a major auth service like Google/Twitter/Github/etc is a real turn off for me. Matrix is decentralized, using centralized auth wouldn't work. You could even host your own matrix homeserver to talk in that room. (like email, or XMPP)
- nickpsecurity 9y ago
  I disagree a little. I'd rather you overshare by default so we don't miss an opportunity to learn something. The kind of people who will actually go deploy ISP's vs talk about them will not fret over 4 vs 1 device. They'll just email you for clarification. :) I do like the idea of simple, base recommendations with context-driven extras. Plus, in-depth guides on what you found each piece of equipment useful for, common situations you ran into with equipment or deployments, how you dealt with them. This kind of thing could be like a blog you do regularly as you go so it's not too time consuming. A small community could help you curate it or answer common questions on a forum or something. Anyway, thanks for your efforts as I found all that info useful in putting together cost ranges for some people. Personally, I'm wanting something similar for fiber maybe like Sonic does or those folks in Britain rolling it out in rural areas. The wireless I'm collecting for others or just as a fallback option for any project I get into if fiber is too infeasible.

grahamburger 9y ago

Good advice, thanks. I have struggled throughout with knowing when to be more specific and when to be more general, although I do try to pepper in a lot of 'if you don't know what to do, do this' type advice. I've been trying to build the community around this matrix chatroom: https://riot.im/app/#/room/#startyourownisp:matrix.org https://riot.im/app/#/room/#startyourownisp:matrix.org I'm not really a developer by trade so Github isn't really a go-to solution for me, good thought though!

hutch120 9y ago
Thanks for the reply. Github pages used to be aimed purely at developers, but I think it's pretty mainstream now. If you've managed to get a web site up, then you won't have any problem with this. Happy to help if you have any questions PM me. I checked out riot.im but honestly I found the interface really confusing. Also, the lack of integration to a major auth service like Google/Twitter/Github/etc is a real turn off for me.
- grahamburger 9y ago
  Gotcha, makes sense. I'm hosting on Firebase right now which seems fine and is close enough to free. Would there be a tangible benefit to moving to Github Pages? It wouldn't be difficult, it's a static site built with Hugo.
  - jlgaddis 9y ago
    If what you have now works for you, there's no point in switching (especially just because someone on the Internet said so).
  - hutch120 9y ago
    The main tangible benefit is that others can directly interact with each other and the content in one place using the built in collaboration tools. It would be easy to move. Just upload the web site files to a Github repository with index.html in the root path, and turn on Github pages in the setting tab. Other benefits that immediately come to mind are: - Anyone can submit suggestions, these are called Pull Requests. - Eventually you can add trusted community members as collaborators and they can edit pages directly. - There is already a massive community that know this interface. - It's free for public sites. - Last but not least, it's super easy to edit the site, just do it directly in the browser, no need for builds, deploy scripts, etc.
- ReverseCold 9y ago
  > I checked out riot.im but honestly I found the interface really confusing. Also, the lack of integration to a major auth service like Google/Twitter/Github/etc is a real turn off for me. Matrix is decentralized, using centralized auth wouldn't work. You could even host your own matrix homeserver to talk in that room. (like email, or XMPP)
nickpsecurity 9y ago
I disagree a little. I'd rather you overshare by default so we don't miss an opportunity to learn something. The kind of people who will actually go deploy ISP's vs talk about them will not fret over 4 vs 1 device. They'll just email you for clarification. :) I do like the idea of simple, base recommendations with context-driven extras. Plus, in-depth guides on what you found each piece of equipment useful for, common situations you ran into with equipment or deployments, how you dealt with them. This kind of thing could be like a blog you do regularly as you go so it's not too time consuming. A small community could help you curate it or answer common questions on a forum or something. Anyway, thanks for your efforts as I found all that info useful in putting together cost ranges for some people. Personally, I'm wanting something similar for fiber maybe like Sonic does or those folks in Britain rolling it out in rural areas. The wireless I'm collecting for others or just as a fallback option for any project I get into if fiber is too infeasible.