Announcement Block
As of 12/1/2021, a major update of the forum software was accomplished

Update: 3/7/2024: The Eagles email account at GoDaddy no longer works. I have set up a gmail account as a workaround: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com

Registration is open to the public (*) and free from any cost or obligation. Please allow up to 36 hours for your application to be processed. If you have problems registering, please email me at: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com
(*) spambots will be deleted -- only legitimate public applications will be processed.

Reminder: the "quick links" menu offers you the best navigation of this forum -- you need to be registered and logged in to see that menu.

Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

This is a public forum for the discussion of all things Eagle. Whether it be an upcoming Eagles International event or the history of Silver Eagle. Trolling or spamming will not be tolerated.
User avatar
beltguy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2663
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:39 am
FMCA #: F246286
Bus Model: 1985 Eagle 10 with Series 60 and Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission (SOLD)
Location: Evergreen, CO
Contact:

Re: Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

Post by beltguy »

DavidO, thanks for the offer. We may take you up on it.

The website is based on Wordpress. Currently it is stable and has the latest version of the 4X series (4.9.9). Updating to the 5X series would require a huge effort as significant theme conflicts can occur. While the site function and appearance is a bit dated, it works just fine.

Our efforts (actually James' part of the project) is to upgrade the forum which is based on a pretty dated version of phpbb. Along with that challenge, James is setting up a new site on Hostgator (we have both had it with Goddady).

I think James has a good handle on the forum update, but if you have experience with phpbb software, we should talk further.

Jim
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
'85 Eagle 10 with Series 60 & Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission SOLD
2005 Dodge 2500 with 5.9 Cummins and 6 speed manual 2022 Sunset 28 foot trailer
Bus Project pages: http://beltguy.com/Bus_Project/busproject.htm
Blog: https://beltguy.com/Travelogue/
Email: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com   NOTE this email box is only for general correspondence related to the forum and not technical advice.  Technical questions will not receive a response.
davido
Club Member
Club Member
Posts: 81
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:37 pm
FMCA #: F419796
Bus Model: 1970 Model 05. VIN8284. 8V71N. Voith 4 Manual.
Location: College Station, TX

Re: Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

Post by davido »

Very little personally, but I have helpers. LMK. Happy to help.
DavidO - 1970 Model 05 #8284 - http://www.tinyurl.com/1970silvereagle" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
User avatar
beltguy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2663
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:39 am
FMCA #: F246286
Bus Model: 1985 Eagle 10 with Series 60 and Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission (SOLD)
Location: Evergreen, CO
Contact:

Re: Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

Post by beltguy »

Update 5/9/19

James and I had a great project review today (via phone).

Our new host has been less that spectacular in helping with the migration in spite of claims to the contrary. That said, the basic groundwork has been established and a test database is on the site.

The new host will offer a much greater value than GoDaddy. While the cost will be about the same, the really important options are a part of the package.

James will be working with them to get the newest PHPbb software loaded so that we can see what issues we will have with our present theme (the look and feel software). We expect that most of the theme will need to be redone. James has experience in that area, so he will work on that part of the migration first.

Updating to the latest PHPbb platform will make a significant difference in the operation and maintenance of the forum. That is a huge benefit for the administrators, but will also improve the member experience a bit.

We hope to be testing the new forum in the next couple of weeks. Once we feel good about the migration, we will make the switchover to the new host/software.

Jim
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
'85 Eagle 10 with Series 60 & Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission SOLD
2005 Dodge 2500 with 5.9 Cummins and 6 speed manual 2022 Sunset 28 foot trailer
Bus Project pages: http://beltguy.com/Bus_Project/busproject.htm
Blog: https://beltguy.com/Travelogue/
Email: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com   NOTE this email box is only for general correspondence related to the forum and not technical advice.  Technical questions will not receive a response.
User avatar
beltguy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2663
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:39 am
FMCA #: F246286
Bus Model: 1985 Eagle 10 with Series 60 and Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission (SOLD)
Location: Evergreen, CO
Contact:

Re: Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

Post by beltguy »

Update 7/26/19

James continues to work on the conversion to a new host and update the forum software. As I have noted in earlier posts, the website side of the site uses WordPress software and that part is up to date. It is the forum side of the site that needs updating.

You would think that because our site is small compared to many, that the conversion would be simple. It is not. The new forum software will not recognize the customized "style" software that gives the look and feel of this forum. Our customized style was based on a "standard" style that is no longer compatible with the updated forum software. There are lots of other issues to address, including cleaning up a huge number of old files from previous versions and attempts to upgrade the site. In other words, there needs to be a huge housecleaning of the site.

Then you couple that with moving from our current host to a new host and it gets to be a huge undertaking.

James is doing some traveling right now, but will get back on the conversion shortly.

Keep in mind, that the current forum and software works just fine, but we need to update for the future.

Jim
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
'85 Eagle 10 with Series 60 & Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission SOLD
2005 Dodge 2500 with 5.9 Cummins and 6 speed manual 2022 Sunset 28 foot trailer
Bus Project pages: http://beltguy.com/Bus_Project/busproject.htm
Blog: https://beltguy.com/Travelogue/
Email: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com   NOTE this email box is only for general correspondence related to the forum and not technical advice.  Technical questions will not receive a response.
930dreamer
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2019 1:11 pm
Location: Amarillo, Texas

Re: Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

Post by 930dreamer »

Keep up the good work.
User avatar
beltguy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2663
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:39 am
FMCA #: F246286
Bus Model: 1985 Eagle 10 with Series 60 and Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission (SOLD)
Location: Evergreen, CO
Contact:

Re: Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

Post by beltguy »

UPDATE: 11/21/19

What a mess GoDaddy has become!

The latest bunch of crap they dumped on us is that they no longer support free email service - at least for our type of account. Yesterday our email accounts all went into suspension. They were holding us "ransom" to the tune of something like $5.50 per month. James did a rather complicated workaround and we are back to having free email. Only an experienced person would find the magic route in the vast world of GoDaddy - Joe Average would just have to pay up. For some reason (grandfathered account?) my personal hosting account is not affected -yet.

As far as the migration to the new host, the work continues. James has been on the road quite a bit building his business. That coupled with less than timely responses from the new technical folks has kept the progress at a very slow pace.

As I have said a few times, the current website software platform is current and the site is stable. The forum software platform is a couple of versions behind. However, updating is a real challenge since none of the "look and feel" software is compatible with the new platform. Our decision was to change hosts at the same time we update the forum platform (mainly because of many GoDaddy issues).

We are not is any jeopardy of a forum blackout or loosing any of our valuable database, we just need to make the platform update.

Jim
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
'85 Eagle 10 with Series 60 & Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission SOLD
2005 Dodge 2500 with 5.9 Cummins and 6 speed manual 2022 Sunset 28 foot trailer
Bus Project pages: http://beltguy.com/Bus_Project/busproject.htm
Blog: https://beltguy.com/Travelogue/
Email: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com   NOTE this email box is only for general correspondence related to the forum and not technical advice.  Technical questions will not receive a response.
User avatar
beltguy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2663
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:39 am
FMCA #: F246286
Bus Model: 1985 Eagle 10 with Series 60 and Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission (SOLD)
Location: Evergreen, CO
Contact:

Re: Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

Post by beltguy »

Update 3/10/2020

Before we talk about the status I want to remind all the readers that both the website and forum are fully functional and available for your enjoyment.

I know that this project seems to be in limbo, but James continues to work on the conversion as time permits. He is very frustrated with our new host and their slow response to changes that need to be made to our hosting platform.

As has been noted previously, our forum "theme" (the software that creates the look and feel of the forum) is not compatible with the newer versions of our forum software. That makes the forum conversion quite complex and tedious. Couple that with the migration to a new host and you have a big project.

As a side note, our forum software platform is phpBB. It is what is called "open source" software which means that it is available to the public free of charge and is supported by a large community of developers. This assures that the software continues to evolve and improve. The only issue with this type of software is that sometimes the documentation is a bit "convoluted" and the learning curve can be challenging.

Jim
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
'85 Eagle 10 with Series 60 & Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission SOLD
2005 Dodge 2500 with 5.9 Cummins and 6 speed manual 2022 Sunset 28 foot trailer
Bus Project pages: http://beltguy.com/Bus_Project/busproject.htm
Blog: https://beltguy.com/Travelogue/
Email: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com   NOTE this email box is only for general correspondence related to the forum and not technical advice.  Technical questions will not receive a response.
User avatar
beltguy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2663
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:39 am
FMCA #: F246286
Bus Model: 1985 Eagle 10 with Series 60 and Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission (SOLD)
Location: Evergreen, CO
Contact:

Re: Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

Post by beltguy »

Update 10/28/2020

Not much progress since I last updated. James and I have been talking quite a bit, and both of us are frustrated with HostGator (more in a minute). James has to focus on his business and has not had a lot of time to work on the project.

Again I want to emphasize that both our website and forum are functioning very well, but both are operating on fairly old platforms.

Our site and forum are hosted on GoDaddy and we have expressed frustration with them in the past. The biggest issue is the fact that they choose to charge for services that other hosts offer for free (SSL, email, etc.). James hosts many sites on HostGator and he has been working on migrating our site to them. However he has been very frustrated with their responses to his requests for support.

As a side note, I purchased a three year plan on HostGator so that I could migrate my blogs and websites to their hosting service. For several weeks I bugged them to perform the migration they had promised to perform. Most of my phone calls were answered by off-shore folks who did not have a clue. I finally cancelled my account and am now going to stay with GoDaddy. While they are rather money grabbing, EVERY call I make to them (several a month) I get a knowledgeable person in the USA (any time day or night).

My experience mirrors James experience. When he does have time to devote to this project we will step back and evaluate who would be the best host for our site/forum.

Jim
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
'85 Eagle 10 with Series 60 & Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission SOLD
2005 Dodge 2500 with 5.9 Cummins and 6 speed manual 2022 Sunset 28 foot trailer
Bus Project pages: http://beltguy.com/Bus_Project/busproject.htm
Blog: https://beltguy.com/Travelogue/
Email: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com   NOTE this email box is only for general correspondence related to the forum and not technical advice.  Technical questions will not receive a response.
davido
Club Member
Club Member
Posts: 81
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:37 pm
FMCA #: F419796
Bus Model: 1970 Model 05. VIN8284. 8V71N. Voith 4 Manual.
Location: College Station, TX

Re: Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

Post by davido »

I haven't been on here a lot, but was just researching and ran across this.

What version of PHPBB is this? If it's old enough, there's a good upgrade path to Discourse. I'd highly recommend it. It has a mobile app that ties into it, but it's also just a great platform. I'm hosting two on DigitalOcean right now. Runs very well. Easy to update. If it fails an update (once ever), it's easy to rebuild (single command). Runs it's own backups. It's really good. One was a migration and one was from scratch. The migration was too new, so I paid a guy to do the migration since he had to write scripts and such. It worked out pretty well though.

Oh yeah, also the search function is WAY better. :)

Lets Encrypt SSL should still be free. You may be able to get around the SSL at the host by using Cloudflare to proxy all of the traffic.

Still happy to help if needed.
DavidO - 1970 Model 05 #8284 - http://www.tinyurl.com/1970silvereagle" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
User avatar
beltguy
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2663
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:39 am
FMCA #: F246286
Bus Model: 1985 Eagle 10 with Series 60 and Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission (SOLD)
Location: Evergreen, CO
Contact:

Re: Update: Eagles International Website and Forum Status

Post by beltguy »

Hi David

Thanks again for yet another offer to help. We are using phpbb 3.0.13. The current version of phpbb is 3.3.x. However, the conversion of 3.0.x to a later version is not trivial. Here are some comments from the phpbb website:

phpBB 3.2 is not compatible with 3.0 and most of the previous files will need to be removed prior to upgrading.

The issue we are dealing with is that both the website (Wordpress) and forum (phpbb) have custom themes. Updating to a later version of Wordpress and phpbb will render the theme (look and feel) of the site unusable. Our goal has been to update to the latest versions and create/modify related theme software to give us a very similar look and feel.

Our forum platform (like Discourse) is open source software. It has served us well for many years and we are comfortable with the administration of the software. We have a ton of capability with that platform.

I would like to explore Discourse a bit to see what it offers. Could you give us a link to one of your forums so we can take a peak?

As you noted, there are workarounds for some of the things that GoDaddy charges for. There are third party SSL services and James has found some sort of backdoor to our email that does not involve Godaddy's move to Office 365 email.

Jim
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
'85 Eagle 10 with Series 60 & Eaton AutoShift 10 speed transmission SOLD
2005 Dodge 2500 with 5.9 Cummins and 6 speed manual 2022 Sunset 28 foot trailer
Bus Project pages: http://beltguy.com/Bus_Project/busproject.htm
Blog: https://beltguy.com/Travelogue/
Email: eaglesinternational.email at gmail.com   NOTE this email box is only for general correspondence related to the forum and not technical advice.  Technical questions will not receive a response.
Post Reply