Have just finished installing and setting up. Managed to get through everything reasonably well.
Started mining via the testnet to confirm all is functioning only to get this error below
2014-03-08 04:54:38,424 merkleMaker INFO New block: 00000000a7b45a26837f6e134f3fc00cc042dd7a73edafedca1cdfd20301f8a8 (height: 203771; bits: 1b180ab0)
2014-03-08 04:54:38,448 JSONRPCServer INFO Waiting 15 seconds to longpoll
2014-03-08 04:54:42,694 JSONRPCServer INFO Ignoring longpoll attempt while another is waiting
2014-03-08 04:54:53,409 JSONRPCServer INFO Nobody to longpoll
2014-03-08 05:05:27,233 checkShare INFO BLKHASH: d739a915e14c3f70fde09220df14cef8097493ab8fa607783a767
2014-03-08 05:05:27,235 checkShare INFO TARGET: 180ab0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
2014-03-08 05:05:27,235 checkShare INFO Submitting upstream
2014-03-08 05:05:27,237 checkShare INFO Real block payload: 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2014-03-08 05:05:27,240 merkleMaker INFO New block: 00000000000d739a915e14c3f70fde09220df14cef8097493ab8fa607783a767 (height: 203772; bits: 1b180ab0)
2014-03-08 05:05:27,249 JSONRPCServer INFO Nobody to longpoll
2014-03-08 05:05:27,251 Waker for BitcoinNode DEBUG Read wakeup
2014-03-08 05:05:27,258 BitcoinNode INFO Sent `block' to 1 nodes
2014-03-08 05:05:27,272 blockSubmission DEBUG Upstream 'primary' accepted block
2014-03-08 05:05:27,322 newBlockNotification INFO Received new block notification
2014-03-08 05:05:28,083 redflag CRITICAL Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python3.2/json/decoder.py", line 367, in raw_decode
obj, end = self.scan_once(s, idx)
StopIteration
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./eloipool.py", line 382, in blockSubmissionThread
reason = UpstreamBitcoindJSONRPC.submitblock(payload)
File "/bitcoin/python-bitcoinrpc/bitcoinrpc/authproxy.py", line 114, in __call__
response = self._get_response()
File "/bitcoin/python-bitcoinrpc/bitcoinrpc/authproxy.py", line 140, in _get_response
parse_float=decimal.Decimal)
File "/usr/lib/python3.2/json/__init__.py", line 322, in loads
return cls(**kw).decode(s)
File "/usr/lib/python3.2/json/decoder.py", line 351, in decode
obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
File "/usr/lib/python3.2/json/decoder.py", line 369, in raw_decode
raise ValueError("No JSON object could be decoded")
ValueError: No JSON object could be decoded
Found the answer (I thought) over here on this awesome post...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=495542.0being
A known fix is to change the line in python-bitcoinrpc/bitcoinrpc/authproxy.py
somewhere around line 72
Code:
self.__auth_header = "Basic %s" % base64.b64encode(authpair)
to read:
Code:
self.__auth_header = "Basic %s" % base64.b64encode(authpair).decode()
Unfortunately, and not knowing how to code at all(Close friend who does do a lot of coding and away overseas at the moment) has actually banned me form coding, apparently I am

"a menace to all society if I attempt to code")
The closest line to the answer above is
self.__auth_header = b'Basic ' + base64.b64encode(authpair)
I added the ".decode" as instructed above to this
self.__auth_header = b'Basic ' + base64.b64encode(authpair).decode
But this prevents the miner form connecting or finding the pool at all.

I have spent hours on this, and have exhausted my frustration..

Could anyone assist with this.

Cheers
You have to add the () to the end of decode.
In programing, parentheses "()" is where you put the input for a function or identifies a function. Because the "decode" is a function, it requires that parentheses at the end.
I'm overseas right now as well, but the magic of the internet allows such collaboration :-)