[Geek advice] Web hosting

[mirrorshard]

My current hosting package is due to run out in a while, and I've been thinking about upgrading elsewhere. Currently I'm using 123-reg's simplest hosting package, but that doesn't let me run anything complex, and I have for quite some time now been wanting to host my own wiki. (I'd prefer Mediawiki, but other engines are entirely possible, and yes, I do want to have it on a server, or at least "server", I control if at all possible.)

Something that will talk directly to gmail, instead of my needing to forward mail through a third account, would also be nice.

Do any of you have recommendations to make? Or indeed disrecommendations?

Comments

[spencerpine.livejournal.com]

I use Dreamhost. They're a good budget option: they're generally cool and easy to use.

The only problems I've had are that they're occasionally down, but it's pretty rare. I can't remember the last time it happened: I just remember that it's occasionally happened. Not this year, I think.

They offer Gmail integration and MediaWiki installation, as I remember.

Graham

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

Hm, useful, thank you! OTOH, psych0naut makes a good point about speed.

[spencerpine.livejournal.com]

Yes, fair enough. Haven't used MediaWiki in earnest.

Graham

[psych0naut.livejournal.com]

I use Dreamhost. They give you full shell access on a GNU/Linux machine, so you can install whatever you want. They also have a Fisher-Price mode where you can automatically install a certain set of packages from a list; MediaWiki is one of them.

They are a good budget option, but I am not impressed with the speed of MediaWiki on their servers. Check out nothingisreal.com (http://www.nothingisreal.com/) for yourself to see how slow it is. I am considering going back to plain HTML.

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

I see just what you mean about speed. I've started considering Wikidot, but I'm not sure whether they'll let me integrate other things easily.

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Powweb was fabulous. I don't know if they can do what you want, but they were absolutely amazing and I recommend looking them up.

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

I shall investigate, thank you!

[skibbley.livejournal.com]

I like Bytemark (http://www.bytemark.co.uk/) if you want a lot of control over your "machine".

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

That looks interesting, but it also looks a lot more high-powered than I'm after (especially judging from the price point). Cheers for the recommendation, in any case!

[harald387.livejournal.com]

My friend John has been using iweb (http://www.iweb.com) for his site. They definitely let you do mediawiki (http://www.lordofweasels.net/harald387/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page) and even their basic package is pretty complete. He's been satisfied both with the price and the service so far.