Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Domains

Domain: dyndns.org

Stories and comments across the archive that link to dyndns.org.

Comments · 834

  1. Re:patents like this suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on E-Mail Forwarding Patented, PTO Sued

    Your post inspired this Because I got High, Slashdot-style

    I hope you're happy. ;)

  2. Using Rio 600/800 in Linux by ciryon · · Score: 2 · on Portable MP3 Player w/ Unix Support?
    I bought a Rio 800 with 128 MB memory last year after investigating Linux support. My friend has a Rio 500, it's supported by a kernel module and has really good GUI programs for it, a lot better than in Windows.

    But it was more difficult with the Rio 800. Things weren't quite as good back then when I bought the player. There's a program called Unix Rio Utillity which uses is a commandline interface to the Rio. It has matured a lot and is now working perfectly.

    There's no good GUI available though so I created the Perl Rio Util (prioutil) with Perl and GTK. Works kinda nice, but I haven't had time to update it for some time now.

    Ciryon

  3. Re:WANTED: Multitrack Recorder for Linux by Sardonis · · Score: 1 · on Linux Video Editor Cinelerra 1.0 Released

    I like gsmp: realtime effects, nondestructive editing, fast vu-meters...

  4. Re:Actually.. by Inthewire · · Score: 1 · on USA Today says "Linux waddles from obscurity"
    I have no idea why you were Modded down

    Because it was a blatant though decent troll.

    Allow me to dissect it for you:
    I worked for the company in question during the 'replacement' period as a cleaner so I have quite an insight into this.

    The troll establishes some credibility by stating he worked for the company mentioned in the article. He then describes his job as one that is not normally associated with developers. This tactic is designed to attract flames.

    The hardware on the machines were quite similar and you are quite correct in saying that the OS didn't have much to do with the performance increase.

    He ingratiates himself with you instead of attacking you. He wants to be your friendly neighborhood techie, explaining the one detail you don't understand.

    The main reason for the performance increase was because we decided to rewrite our software which was originally written in java. Don't get me wrong java is a _great_ language, but when it comes to processes that require a lot of speed it just doesn't cut it.

    He then points out the flaw in the system they once used - it's slow. He doesn't flame Java, but he uses an argument you likely have heard hundreds of time: Java is slow.

    That's why we decided to code the software in pearl. Pearl is a great language which is very close to machine language.

    Oops. Intentionally misspelling Perl (flamebait, attracts those who like to nitpick). Calling Perl "machine language" was a great tactic. Machine language is respected for the speed of execution, but Perl ain't. Perl is (correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm not a disciple of Wall's great gift to the world) an interpretated language - much slower.

    It is somewhere between a 1GL and a 2GL language, you could almost call it a 1.5GL language.

    More food for the nitpickers.

    This gives it an amazing performance boost, and still allows us to have readable and maintanable code.

    Again, Perl is many layers from the hardware. It's good stuff, but it isn't really all that fast. And the best closing line of them all. Perl is notorious for being impossible to read. It allows one to do the same thing in many different ways, so the code has a tendency to look like a nasty mess. That doesn't keep it from running, but someone else's uncommented Perl is often the stuff of nightmares.


    For more information, please see The /. Troll HOWTO

    (No, I'm not a troll, but I sure enjoy reading 'em)

  5. Re:Is this bad? by millette · · Score: 1 · on AT&T Broadband Introduces Tiered Pricing

    http://hn.org offers a nice service to sync your domain name to your dynamic ip, and it's cheap too. And if you don't have your domain, well, there are 100 choices out there, like http://www.dyndns.org, etc.

  6. Re:Faster isn't necessarily what the next step is. by gimpboy · · Score: 3, Informative · on AT&T Broadband Introduces Tiered Pricing

    also look at dyndns.org to get a hostname for your dynamically assigned ip address. it works really well for me.

  7. Re:Faster isn't necessarily what the next step is. by alyandon · · Score: 1 · on AT&T Broadband Introduces Tiered Pricing

    Have you considered using a dynamic DNS service like www.dyndns.org?

    I realize that this isn't a true replacement for a static IP. However, most DHCP assigned IP addresses are fairly static in the sense that you can leave your machine on to re-request a lease on the same IP address. Even if you use PPPoE there are clients available for download from dyndns.org's main page that will detect your IP address change and update your DNS account automatically to reflect the new address.

  8. Re:The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth by xidix · · Score: 4, Informative · on Back to the Moon?

    When people post writings which are not their own, they should at least credit the source. I have seen this before, among other places, here:

    http://spiralx.dyndns.org/texts/troll1.html

    Someone should mod this down for blatant plagiarism.

  9. Re:Like There Is a Chance in Hell by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 1 · on Apple to Unveil .Mac Today
    If you already got a ADSL line, why don't you do as I do.
    • Find an old useless computer (486 or P-I class).
    • Install OpenBSD (buy the CD for support. I did)
    • Configure NAT/FP, sendmail and apache
    • Register a cheap domain name at Gandi.net
    • Create an account at DynDns and donate 30 bucks
    • Pick one of the many dyndns updaters
    • Put machine in closet and let it run 24/24, 7/7.
    Voila... free email, free webspace for the initial cost of 30$ and a yearly fee of 12Euro for the domain. Actually if you're cheap, you just use the free DynDns services and skip the registration at Gandi. Of course, you're email address won't look as cool ;-)
    You had the DSL line anyway, so I don't think you ought to count the cost that.
    Works really damn fine for me...
  10. Re:Isn't there anyone by Anitra · · Score: 1 · on The Perl Foundation Grants Are Running Out

    Yup, there is. Specifically, DynDNS.org, which I've been volunteering for for 2.5 years, and recently hired me part-time (as I am a poor college student who can't find a paying job for the summer). Even though we are also funded by donations, the company made a rather large donation to the Perl Foundation back in January. Now it's YOUR turn to do your part :)

  11. Re:Isn't there anyone by Anitra · · Score: 1 · on The Perl Foundation Grants Are Running Out

    Yup, there is. Specifically, DynDNS.org, which I've been volunteering for for 2.5 years, and recently hired me part-time (as I am a poor college student who can't find a paying job for the summer). Even though we are also funded by donations, the company made a rather large donation to the Perl Foundation back in January. Now it's YOUR turn to do your part :)

  12. full screen? by crayz · · Score: 1 · on LotR Two Towers Trailer Online

    My quicktime thinks this is full screen

    Exactly what is your "completely different view" on what full screen should be, Mr. Wizz?

  13. Re:mirror by iamroot · · Score: 2, Informative · on TCP/IP Sequence Number Analysis

    STUPID NAMEZERO!!
    The mess up the URLS too much.
    http://galacticroot.dyndns.org/mirrors/tcpseq/tcps eq.html is the actual address of the mirror, not http://galacticroot.dyndns.org//mirrors/tcpseq/tcp seq.html. That one should actually work.

  14. Re:Dreamcast Gets No Love, As Always. by kryptkpr · · Score: 1 · on MAME Ported to (Chipped) Xbox

    This is a shameless self-plug, but oh well...
    If you're new to the whole DC Emulation scene and just want to try out a couple of emulators, check out DCFactory, trully the easiest way to burn yourself emulator+roms CDs for the DreamCast.

    Also, DCFacory's sucessor, DMU CD Creator, although still in beta, provides a way to combine multiple emulators (and demos, and homebrew games, of which there are many) onto 1 CD, for those who are low on blanks.

  15. Interesting Concept by jawtheshark · · Score: 1 · on Collapsing P2P Networks
    This is an interesting concept indeed. I do this too occasionally with good friends. I open up the ftp ports and disable the ftp-proxy temporarly to allow them access to my ftp server. However, not many people run ftp servers, actually I only know one and that is me ;-) Of course this only when I'm online myself and can keep an eye on the logs.
    Of course I just could tell my friends to install some kind of W32 ftp server, but I fear that they will keep it running all the time compromising their own security. Many of them aren't even capable of installing WS_FTP (a bare-bones ftp-client which I happen to like a lot) so they are not able to upload songs to my server.
    Most of the time I take the easy way: I post a certain song I want to share on my webserver and give them the URL. This is much easier for non-computer inclined people. (I am aware of ftp://username@somehost.tld/ but this doesn't allow uploads) Yes, I know http has much more overhead than ftp, but it's the price I'm willing to pay. Hey, and now they even have it more easy: I don't need to give my IP anymore. Thanks to dyndns I have one of my domain names pointed directly at my server. Best 30$ I spent in ages ;-)

    Thanks to all the people who replied to my post, it was truly interesting (picked your post because it was the *most* interesting). I just regret I got modded up that high. Someone modded me "Overrated" (which I deserved IMHO), which made me lose my glorious 50 Karma. Oh, well...incentive enough to try to post insightful comments ;-)

  16. Re:PuTTY rules by ncc74656 · · Score: 2 · on SSH, The Secure Shell
    You're using https, I hope.

    Why?

    So you're sure that the program your client receives is the same as the program your server sends, not a trojaned version which turns off encryption, for example.

    ...and how does that trojaned version get onto the server? If salfter.dyndns.org is 0wn3d, I have bigger problems to deal with than a corrupt SSH client. I suppose someone could clone my website, hack dyndns.org to get the DNS entry for salfter.dyndns.org to point to the cloned site, and put a trojaned PuTTY on the cloned site that would know the IP address of the real salfter.dyndns.org...but who the hell's going to go to that kind of bother? Mine is just a personal website of maybe average quality (depending on whose opinion of it you seek). There are plenty of other targets that would be much more attractive for someone to take over.

    (Now that I've thought about it a bit, though, I suppose an end-run around such an attack would be to use the IP address instead of the name. It's easy enough to remember. Someone who's determined could crack these guys and reassign my IP address to another system...but then that basically knocks my machine off the net (so no harm will come to it), and (again) who would care enough to want to bother doing that?)

    FWIW, the PuTTY download page isn't running on a secure server. It supplies various checksums for the files which you can use for verification, but (as Simon Tatham points out) the programs that do that verification aren't themselves verifiable. There is a point beyond which an eye for security turns into paranoia...nothing is ever 100% secure. At some point, you need to weigh the odds of something bad happening against the measures needed to protect against that something.

    One final note: Keeping a copy of PuTTY on a secure site would entail getting a certificate from someone like Verisign, and they don't exactly have the best reputation in the world.

  17. Re:PuTTY rules by ncc74656 · · Score: 2 · on SSH, The Secure Shell
    I threw [PuTTY] up on my webserver...

    You're using https, I hope.

    Why? All my webserver is doing is sending a file, which is the same thing that it does if you visit my website. PuTTY doesn't exactly run too well under Linux, so the worst that can happen is that a bunch of people access it at once and use up all my outbound bandwidth. That could happen with anything else on the server (as happened with this slashdotting). The systems that ought to be secured are other people's publically-accessible Windows boxen on which I run PuTTY to access my Linux server at home. Someone else could easily come along and download & run some particularly nasty malware that could do substantial damage. That those systems aren't secured is a common occurence that works to my advantage.

    (Actually, since most of my website is made up of server-parsed HTML, there's a bit more processing going on to send out this than is involved in sending out this.)

  18. Re:PuTTY rules by ncc74656 · · Score: 2 · on SSH, The Secure Shell
    I threw [PuTTY] up on my webserver...

    You're using https, I hope.

    Why? All my webserver is doing is sending a file, which is the same thing that it does if you visit my website. PuTTY doesn't exactly run too well under Linux, so the worst that can happen is that a bunch of people access it at once and use up all my outbound bandwidth. That could happen with anything else on the server (as happened with this slashdotting). The systems that ought to be secured are other people's publically-accessible Windows boxen on which I run PuTTY to access my Linux server at home. Someone else could easily come along and download & run some particularly nasty malware that could do substantial damage. That those systems aren't secured is a common occurence that works to my advantage.

    (Actually, since most of my website is made up of server-parsed HTML, there's a bit more processing going on to send out this than is involved in sending out this.)

  19. Re:This will revolutionize computing by ncc74656 · · Score: 2 · on Shuttle SS40G Mini-PC
    I personally like the sound of my hardware revving up. It gives me this really Tim the Tool Man Taylor masculine feeling.

    My home server runs on a pair of old 4.3GB Seagate Barracudas, striped with LVM. They're jumpered to spin up only when the SCSI controller first "pings" them at power-up, so one starts up a few seconds after the other. The effect is almost like the engines on an airplane spinning up...and that's the way (uh-huh uh-huh) I like it...:-)

  20. Come party with me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll · on George Lucas May Be Completely Evil

    dominik@schnitzer.at, mozparty-at-subscribe@relax.ath.cx, dominik@schnitzer.at, david_markvica@web.de, johannes_richter@gmx.net, kairo@kairo.at, rossi@chello.at, markush@world-direct.com, cbiesinger@web.de, jenskager@gmx.net, jo-at-mt@gmx.net, johann.petrak@gmx.at, dviper01@gmx.net, simon@simonschwaighofer.net, dreckskerl@glump.at, wt-lists@trexler.at, dusty@strike.wu-wien.ac.at, kasparhauserjr@hotmail.com, b.schallar@gmx.net, mutato@libero.it, phil@goli.at, diddalick@gmx.net, studio@paw8.com, croco@utanet.at, petru@paler.net, jlemmerer@node.at, bigkub@time2change.at, patrick@seher-it.at, ronald@hartwig.at, mozilla_party@webterminate.com, stefan@kleinhans.it, horst.jens@gmx.at, jjan@gibts.net, mjahn@agency.at, gpoul@gnu.org, green@eggs.ham, gerhard.hipfinger@openforce.at, mailto:moz@moz.org>, florianweinwurm@yahoo.com, christian@precht-jensen.dk, Bill_Gates@microsoft.com, Tux_the_penguin@linux.rules.microsoft.sux.open.sou rce.is.the.way.to.go.net, domi@schnitzer.at, joe_ringmaster@gmx.at, sifu@isohypse.org, dk@perm.ru, nobandwidth@bigpond.com, nobandwidth@bigpond.com, luke@strangemonkey.com, mrundataker@optushome.com.au, mcgarry@tig.com.au, chris@think.net.au, Mathias.Burbach@Bigfoot.com, acuteparanoia@optushome.com.au, syzh401@cse.unsw.edu.au, maillist@jasonlim.com, ram@digitalmethod.org, jason@sydneypubguide.net, geek@digitalone.com.au, curious@ihug.com.au, bill@maidment.com.au, kristof@staesis.org, bill@microsoft.com, belle@netset.net.au, ksosez@softhome.net, jruderman@hmc.edu, andyed@surfmind.com, down8@yahoo.com, mozparty@sigkill.com, bulbul@ucla.edu, gavin-mozparty@doughtie.com, roger@digitalfountain.com, matt@linuxschooltorrance.com, mozparty@ventura.nu, rombouts@compuserve.com, ian@freenetproject.org, tristanreid@yahoo.com, groovefx@yahoo.com, jj@lacasabonita.com, gmoudry@hotmail.com, eyezero@yahoo.com, ian@primewave.net, jlawson7@adelphia.net, el_arturo@att.net, janie@freenetproject.org, 145371217@numenor.net, infinite_8_monkey@yahoo.com, charshman@divus.org, mozparty@shadowlurker.net, john@marinapacific.com, ilanterrell@yahoo.com, aafes@psu.edu, bustamam98@yahoo.com, mozparty@myunixbox.com, yaten@sbcglobal.net, joelinux@pacificnet.net, dgc@penguino.net, poserskater69@yahoo.com, lheartb@hotmail.com, ncmother@zimage.com, daniel@likeicare.com, digital.evil@lycos.com, cjeburke@yahoo.com, jblow@hotmail.com, zachary.anthony@verizon.net, boogah@23.org, mebelost@yahoo.com, nickkricheff@netscape.net, mikemcg@ucla.edu, gogomozilla@denofslack.net, mike@mm1.com, seanmcoleman@attbi.com, jsm@bigfoot.com, hoarycripple@crippl3.net, mozparty@nslu.x.myxomop.com, mozparty@camworld.com, mozpartyNYC@isoga.net, ccarlen@netscape.com, h@rediffmail.com, lefever@rcn.com, tedjackson@accounting.org, darren@ny.com, marlon@nyc.com, plui@hyperreal.org, dzeluff@zeluff.com, joel@natividads.com, ken@bigbadapple.com, treebeard@treebeard.net, florent@nyc.com, chad@macristy.com, spud@montelshow.com, gbman_of_gvill@yahoo.com, eam-mozparty@learningpatterns.com, pkrause@primavera.com, tossoffus@yahoo.com, ryan@pantz.com, nichomof@eecs.tulane.edu, billg@microsoft.com, DevilsRejection@msn.com, petergunn@hotmail.com, bagerj@sullcrom.com, isaac@structuredsystems.net, bobk@panix.com, ngellner@hotmail.com, luke@sigterm.org, vivake@yahoo.com, jon@mediavortex.com, groovefx@yahoo.com, brendan@sighup.net, jds@panix.com, bluerose@bluerose.com, chris@allermann.net, dimkal@yahoo.com, preppyl@yahoo.com, blujoker@blujoker.net, nowell_h@hotmail.com, aragorn@cs.stanford.edu, treed@cpr.com, brt204@nyu.edu, andreas@antonopoulos.com, dj@randomwalks.com, lists@pote.com, mike@mhudack.com, reliable57@yahoo.com, jared@geek-boy.com, ondadl@mac.com, floss@myrealbox.com, xod@thestonecutters.net, mozilla@sectae.net, tywonm@screamingmedia.com, Odin_NT@hotmail.com, crooney@panix.com, bg25222@binghamton.edu, eugenem@brainlink.com, dave@downneck.net, romspace@mac.com, sdaejo@yahoo.com, masseo1@yahoo.com, jim@fearandloathing.net, mike@mjoy.us, miles@openly.com, LuciferSD@hotmail.com, nsdilwor@intertechmedia.com, chrisdowden@yahoo.com, pgs10@columbia.edu, sbrennan@ovid.com, lthomiso@rcn.com, paralox@paralox.ath.cx, Jester_458@yahoo.com, jsadove@beltion.net, stuehmke@yahoo.com, mike@realfx.com, alex@risky-roosky.com, shava@efn.org, kra10@columbia.edu, saihung@ix.netcom.com, gropo@mac.com, scottnym@yahoo.com, shaas@vibe.com, roon_toon@hotmail.com, ajaygautam@yahoo.com, jhdaly@mindspring.com, manuel@sphinx.ms, very_itchy_rash@yahoo.com, emeldrum@drew.edu, jeld@mindless.com, as867@columbia.edu, slams@penguin.rutgers.edu, wassa@columbia.edu, tony@vegan.net, zilla@bibliotrack.com, zeno_lee@hotmail.com, fosh@fishnet.cx, linux@gpl.us, jblow@hotmail.com, dkrook@hotmail.com, ivesti@yahoo.com, arek@arekwyderka.com, bljoechang@yahoo.com, brian@tribrothers.com, sparky@marklife.org, charles@softwareprototypes.com, scottkundla@hotmail.com, ccharabaruk@meldstar.com, ian@pottinger.ca, netdemonz@yahoo.com, diatribe@mailcity.com, nick@tomkinet.com, shawnlin@yahoo.com, sculley@pathcom.com, herd.killing@rogers.com, dave@renouf.com, aliyamin@hotmail.com, aswitzer@ispgn.com, netm0nkey@ispgn.com, hyakugei@hotmail.com, geduggan.mozparty@peri.csclub.uwaterloo.ca, lwhite@darkfires.ca, jorel@the-wire.com, js@tap.net, davew@tap.net, tmh@whitefang.com, vid_mozillaparty@zooid.org, anon@foolswisdom.org, morris_mk@yahoo.ca, colinmc@idirect.com, marcus.brubaker@utoronto.ca, akish@kishcom.com, nconway@klamath.dyndns.org, jason@thegeekcave.com, rampaging_simian@hotmail.com, garret@sirsonic.com, piowie@myrealbox.com, m5m5m@yahoo.com, ivan.brovko@net-sweeper.com, returnofthedorks@hotmail.com, axxackall@yahoo.com, tednye@sympatico.ca, darren.fuller@bell.ca, jbailey@nisa.net, swangeo@yahoo.ca, Hercynium@yahoo.com, cinetron@passport.ca, jotaroh@hotmail.com, aghajani@principle.com, fzv@yahoo.com, rocketmail_com@rocketmail.com, foo@bar.com, wolfe@alt.net, drew@xyzzy.dhs.org, jimmiejaz@nixhelp.net, bofh@swma.net, nilesh_mehta@email.com, mslack@rogers.com, m-cahill@rogers.com, tworkowski@sympatico.ca, george@openlight.com, irina@openlight.com, ilia@lobsanov.com, rjs@tao.ca, paul-mp@it.ca, alvarolists@aycuens.com, xan@dimensis.com, ike@lab.org, miguel@asiinfo.net, marevalo@marevalo.net, iolalla@yahoo.com, peluz0n@justice.com, weeddeveloper@yahoo.com, alfonsobugs@terra.es, sgala@apache.org, z_gringo@hotmail.com, santiz@madritel.es, murphy@litio.net, fox@mozilla.gr.jp, party@mozilla.org.uk, danj@fledgeling.com, fun@thingy.apana.org.au, moz@the-allens.net, onelists@hotmail.com, joel@fysh.org, simon.mozilla-party-if-its-in-central-london@rumbl e.net, bigboyjim@excite.com, andrew.and.friends.iff.central.london@sent.freeser ve.co.uk, itwillbecentrallondon@mozilla.org.uk, noahsark2x2@tiscali.co.uk, mmm-central-london@smileyben.com, jonathan-for-central-london@peepo.com, dave-Party-in-Central-London@dgta.co.uk, DJGMOL@netscape.net, srick@europe.yahoo-inc.com, moz-party@zpok.demon.co.uk, moz-party-central-london@trickofthelight.org, marc@brosystems.com, party@budge.net, rillian@telus.net, uphillsurfer@hotmail.com, edward@debian.org, mozilla@robertbrook.com, reagan@technomoose.com, lew@saltbeefsandwich.co.uk, osama@afghanistan.com, barking@insaneworld.org.uk, john@billabong-media.com, leith@cs.bu.edu, mozparty@noseynick.org, jonasj@jonasj.dk, bugzilla@kenneth.dk, chr_damsgaard@hotmail.com, alring@email.com, hp.grondal@get2net.dk, martin@marquentein.dk, Lovechild@foolclan.com, Kim@schulz.dk, kl@vsen.dk, mbendix@dunghill.dk, schnitzer.at@tange.dk, tommy@svindel.net, moz10@pbb.dk, dezral@despammed.com, nick@tioka.com, ask@fujang.dk, gecko@c.dk, spam@deck.dk, bugzilla@gemal.dk, b@bogdan.dk, kenneth@gnu.org, jee@email.dk, daniel@rtfm.dk, umfalvo@yahoo.com, christian@ostenfeld.dk, xor@ivwnet.com, Jason@screaminweb.com, alex@spamcop.net, dustym@riseup.net, rmcgee1@earthlink.net, dr_zeus@hotmail.com, chris.lozano@myrealbox.com, looney_binn@yahoo(dot)com, apendell@attbi.com, dantrevino@wrevolution.org, fireball1244@mac.com, tommyo@hargray.com, natas@redtailboa.net, emmett_in_dallas@yahoo.com, razzbuten@yahoo.com, igdavis@truculent-telephone.org, foobar@null.net, bob@kludgebox.com, cgrimland@yahoo.com, ghamlett@swbell.net, bgood@inceptual.com, slot0k@pogox.org, kwhudson@netin.com, jimjamjoh@softhome.net, jimmys@utdallas.edu, charlesv@mfos.org chris@focus2.com jest6r@hotmail.com steve@ncc.com, usrg@mail.utexas.edu, steve@deltos.com, alex@avengergear.com, mkoenecke@alum.haverford.edu langley@hex.net mordred@inaugust.com swapan@yahoo.com drosoph@hotmail.com, goulash1@mac.com, ean@brainfood.com, vj@vj.com lpret42@hotmail.com bugoff@hotmail.com chad@digitaltriage.net, stewart@digitaltriage.net scottvr01@yahoo.com adam@dfwuptime.com dsaint@gnumatt.org naltrexone42@yahoo.com, webmaster@bast.net, tommyo@hargray.com, ladd@kryp.to, jtaylor5@bayou.uh.edu, jgschmitz@linuxmail.org, enslaver@enslaver.com edfierro@yahoo.com, moz@photonsphere.com, rayw@fuckmicrosoft.com, rfmobile@swbell.net, kevin@unif.com trident5@bigfoot.com Erik_Osterholm@ieee.org, tmunson@houston.rr.com, alessi_brand@hotmail.com, rballa1@lsu.edu, wasted@kewlhair.com, jofficer@martinapparatus.com, idiot@mylinuxisp.com, j0sh01@ev1.net faust@wintermarket.org bouncer@hotmonkeyporn.com tk-mozparty_@perljam.net janisch@students.zcu.cz, aha@pinknet.cz kuzi@atlas.cz scat@reboot.cz, petr@dousa.cz, ruzicka@core.cz, roman@management.cz, hojan@students.zcu.cz, tille@soti.org, cas.tuyn@hetnet.nl, aeon@pandora.be, sensi_millia2000@yahoo.com, crypto@shiftat.com, jan.fabry@vsknet.be, monkeyboy@fruru.com, adulau@foo.be, johan@linux.be, karu@pobox.com, soggie@soti.org nick@tomkinet.com, why_are_you_too_lazy_to_drive_1_hour_to_toronto@yo u_lazy.com try_grammer_class_a_while@get_a_life.com john@interlynx.ca asharp@axo.cc, unionstation@ryder.ca, prade@hotmail.com, 2600@hamilton2600.ca, chris.lozano@myrealbox.com, dantrevino@wrevolution.org, jksteinhauer@netscape.net, i_love_junk_email@yahoo.com, cmiller@surfsouth.com, jan@bestbytes.de, me@phillipoertel.com, sebastian@pixelsalon.de, ccozan@andtek.com, ben@itlib.de, martin.ament@gmx.de, pulsar@highteq.net, muid@gmx.de, cedi@zooomclan.org, soapy@soapy.ch, deep_blue_ocean@gmx.ch, stamp@zooomclan.org, hans@switzerland.com, milamber@zooomclan.org, mtettea@switzerland.com, cylander@zooomclan.org, duke@zooomclan.org, pegirun@gmx.ch, pilif@pilif.ch, mlati@yahoo.com, Mozillzooom@holophrastic.com, erichiseli@yahoo.com, la_burdet@yahoo.com, rkoerber@gmx.de, dotzmasta@hotmail.com, B.Eckstein@cli.de, rtfm@linux.de, info@phosmo.de, gz@disintegrated.de, byronbay@gmx.de, stiwi@mac.com, mage@koeln.netsurf.de, mozilla@portfolio16.de, wrede@fh-aachen.de, ilikemozilla@html.de, cloud@final-fantasy.de, sfricke@sfricke.de, info@flossbau.de, no@dom.de, julian.suschlik@gmx.net, omero@m4d.sm, lapo@lapo.it, alcor78@email.it, info@fuelcat.it, mutato@libero.it, ildella@inwind.it, a.marabini@spinthehumanfactor.com, uomoman@criticalbit.com, thefl74@netscape.net, elbardo@libero.it, clem131@libero.it, t-i-e@bigfoot.com, gng74@libero.it, moz.party.20.gnes@spamgourmet.com, ema.cerqui@libero.it, ubertob@tin.it, mozparty.20.anagoor@spamgourmet.com, gianpaolo@preciso.net, ian@deepsky.com, marco@porciletto.org, planetx2100@hotmail.com, billabong@tiscalinet.it, piofree@libero.it, skunkyboy@tiscalinet.it, vincenzo@mondopiccolo.net, macmatteo@interfree.it, contreras@jce.it, hereandnow@libero.it, pza@students.cs.mu.oz.au, caedwa@students.cs.mu.oz.au, mgi@students.cs.mu.oz.au, bah@humbug.net, mfp@cs.mu.oz.au, nospamplease@indevelopment.org, peter@simplyit.screaming,net, pmj@users.sf.net, xanni@sericyb.com.au, agh@kalcium-is.com, felicityconsult@ozemail.com.au, lucas@lucaschan.com, andrewg@nopninjas.com, andym@abnormal.com, ts@meme.com.au, jasonpell@hotmail.com, syngin@gimp.org, mhammond@skippinet.com.au, szutshi@devraj.org, rmoonen@bigpond.net.au, fawad@fawad.net, ufs@softhome.net, kotrade@yahoo.com, ben@benscorp.com, stevesmith@columbus.rr.com, kkimmelosu@yahoo.com, neal.lindsay@peaofohio.com, pat@linuxcolumbus.com, chrisbaker@iname.com, hiroki2c@yahoo.com, seth@remor.com, jsohn@columbus.rr.com, ross@nanonet.net, mark@cushman.net, swinghammer.2@osu.edu, roberto.12@osu.edu, farhat@hotmail.com, pgunn@dachte.org, jwagner@gcfn.org, bp@osc.edu, joepletch@postmark.net, dsherman@iwaynet.net, glenn@uniqsys.com, bernstein.46@osu.edu, trent_reznor@nothing.com, erikniklas@bobanddoug.com, walters@gnu.org, timo@bolverk.net, annek25@aol.com, jlamb@leader.com, bart@osc.edu, jason@mcvetta.org

  21. Re:not replacement by ncc74656 · · Score: 2 · on Taiwan Joining Chinese Royalty-free Video Disk Effort
    I don't think this will replace DVD format, however I hope this become the replacement for VCD format.

    SVCD is already a decent replacement for VCD. The quality is much better (2/3 D1 VBR MPEG-2 vs. CIF CBR MPEG-1), and you can make 'em yourself with any CD burner. I rip video from my TiVo and convert it to SVCD all the time (info here). Player support isn't widespread, but many of the less-expensive DVD players support it (it's the expensive players from bigger companies that are least likely to support SVCD...hell, there are still DVD players on the market that won't even play CDDA burned to CD-R or CD-RW).

  22. Re:As a Web Designer... by ncc74656 · · Score: 2 · on A First Look at Netscape 7
    Care to give some actual examples? My copy of Mozilla has been great at rendering CSS for a looooong time.

    One example I stumbled across today is Politech. It looks like there should be two columns of links (a navbar down the left side and a list of links to the right), but the list of links gets rendered on top of the navbar. I've put a dump of what it looks like here. (I'm using Mozilla 1.0RC2.)

  23. Re:Why Mozilla is better than Netscape... by ncc74656 · · Score: 3, Informative · on A First Look at Netscape 7
    Now, how do you block FLASH from a server.

    Try running Squid with some ad filtering added on. You can have it replace Flash with a 1x1 transparent GIF, a window-closing JavaScript, null JavaScript, or (with some minor editing of the original program) a null HTML file. It also works with any browser and can be deployed on your desktop or on a server that filters ads for your entire home or office.

  24. Re:Troll Museum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Prestigious Art Gallery To Exhibit Video Games

    Of course spiralx is famous for his archive and adequacy keeps the spirit of trolling alive in the modern web-based internet.

  25. Re:Finally someone who realizes.... by captaineo · · Score: 2 · on Post-it Notes vs. Copy-Inhibited CDs

    My preferred method of CD enhancement is the application of a 5.56mm projectile at 3000fps.

  26. Re:Actually by ncc74656 · · Score: 2 · on Trojans and Popups and Slimeball Business
    Or just install Mozilla which has pretty decent popup prevention

    My ad-filtering proxy (updated block list available through this page) blocks the Flash ad they try to send. Editing the URL in the address bar brings you back to the Flash ad (which gets replaced with a 1x1 transparent GIF by the proxy). You also need to remove the cookies set by Salon and block them from sending any more cookies (the same page came up fine in Lynx when I told it to not accept Salon's cookies). Select Edit|Preferences, select "Cookies" under "Privacy & Security," and click "Manage Stored Cookies." Check "Don't allow removed cookies to be reaccepted later," scroll through the list of cookies, and remove the ones set by Salon (I found two, sent by salon.com and www.salon.com).

  27. The penny-macro shootout by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Building a Digicam from Scanner Elements
    I had to try it myself, and while my camera has colour, I have to admit that his monstrosity clearly has better resolution.

    His penny (from his Frankensteinbox)

    My penny (from a Sony FD91, me holding the penny a few millimeters away from the lens)

    Let's see some more penny photos out there.

  28. Re:Server on Cable Modem by mvdwege · · Score: 2 · on Making an Independent Web Site?

    ...it's been fairly reliable. (about DynDNS)

    I am a user of DynDNS, and I'd say they are more than fairly reliable. With four nameservers in different netblocks and different geographical locations they have more redundancy than most hosting services I have seen. Since running DNS is just about the only thing they do, there is not much chance to fsck things up too.

    They are also scrupulously honest about things like privacy. They don't need the EU Safe Harbour provisions, as their privacy policy fully satisfies the EU Privacy Directive, and they seem to hold themselves to it too.

    Add to that a friendly and approachable staff (One of their admins popped up on a newsgroup when people were talking about them), and the fact that they will handle Dynamic DNS for a full domain if you become a donator, I'd heartily recommend them to anyone with a good Cable/DSL connection.

    Mart
  29. Possible via dynamic DNS by Jerp · · Score: 1 · on Making an Independent Web Site?

    I use DynDNS's freeDynamic DNS serviceto have my dynamic IP be resolved via myhost.dyndns.org. I then have a DNS record alias the this dyndns hostname (eg, "www.mydomain.com. IN CNAME myhost.dyndns.org. ;EXTREF"), so I can effectively have www.mydomain.com resolve to mydymanic IP.

  30. Possible via dynamic DNS by Jerp · · Score: 1 · on Making an Independent Web Site?

    I use DynDNS's freeDynamic DNS serviceto have my dynamic IP be resolved via myhost.dyndns.org. I then have a DNS record alias the this dyndns hostname (eg, "www.mydomain.com. IN CNAME myhost.dyndns.org. ;EXTREF"), so I can effectively have www.mydomain.com resolve to mydymanic IP.

  31. Re:Server on Cable Modem by ncc74656 · · Score: 3, Informative · on Making an Independent Web Site?
    I used to run a web server on my static IP @Home connection, until they went under. Now it's DHCP so no DNS possible.

    dyndns.org is your friend. :-) Even after switching from dynamic to static IP, I'm still using their services...with a dynamic IP, you just run a program that checks your address periodically and sends an update if it changes. It's a free service (though it'd be nice of you to send some of your burrito money their way) and it's been fairly reliable.

  32. Re:DON'T DO IT! by ncc74656 · · Score: 2 · on Flash and Open Source
    you can use flash to develope powerful clientside applications that load faster and look nice than Java and there is no need for serverside crap so no reloading the webpage.

    Other than a slight increase in processor load, what's wrong with "serverside crap?" It allows you to remove most client dependencies, and it keeps your software on your machine...all that users will get are the results. (This might not be as much of a concern with open-source code, but not everything is open source.) With SSI and CGI, I can create a website that will render optimally in everything from IE to Lynx to a cell-phone browser or a text-to-speech program. It can even take Nutscrape's idiosyncracies into account and completely rewrite standards-compliant HTML so that it'll render properly. It enables the widest possible audience and minimizes bandwidth requirements. Instead of (for instance) sending a program down the pipe to calculate MPEG bitrates for SVCD mastering, I can put up a webpage that accepts needed inputs from the user and spits out the result.

    As for "looking nice," while that isn't a Bad Thing, it isn't everything either. Maybe the fact that Flash is often abused is more a statement against the people who implement it than against the technology itself, but there is still something to be said against tools that at least appear to encourage form at the expense of function.

  33. Re:I didn't even notice 1000bT was so cheap... by ncc74656 · · Score: 5, Informative · on Mixing Gigabit, Copper, and Linux
    Nope... apparently Pricewatch.com has D-Link 8-port 10/100/1000baseT auto-detect switches listed for under $150!

    D-Link's site is nearly impossible to navigate (maybe it requires JavaScript, which I've shut off), but the Pricewatch description of the DES-1009G indicates that Gigabit Ethernet is only available on one port as an uplink connection; the rest of the switch is your run-of-the-mill 10/100 job. The DGS-1008T is D-Link's 8-port unmanaged 10/100/1000 switch; the cheapest entry on Pricewatch for that is $595.

    BTW, I have the entire site downloaded. Maybe I'm insane to even think about mirroring a /.'ed article on my home cable-modem link, but here it is. I've converted all the charts to PNG so they'll load slightly faster, and I got rid of most of the godawful "super-31337" yellow-on-black text to improve readability. You can also choose this link to download the entire page (images and all) in one shot.

  34. Re:I didn't even notice 1000bT was so cheap... by ncc74656 · · Score: 5, Informative · on Mixing Gigabit, Copper, and Linux
    Nope... apparently Pricewatch.com has D-Link 8-port 10/100/1000baseT auto-detect switches listed for under $150!

    D-Link's site is nearly impossible to navigate (maybe it requires JavaScript, which I've shut off), but the Pricewatch description of the DES-1009G indicates that Gigabit Ethernet is only available on one port as an uplink connection; the rest of the switch is your run-of-the-mill 10/100 job. The DGS-1008T is D-Link's 8-port unmanaged 10/100/1000 switch; the cheapest entry on Pricewatch for that is $595.

    BTW, I have the entire site downloaded. Maybe I'm insane to even think about mirroring a /.'ed article on my home cable-modem link, but here it is. I've converted all the charts to PNG so they'll load slightly faster, and I got rid of most of the godawful "super-31337" yellow-on-black text to improve readability. You can also choose this link to download the entire page (images and all) in one shot.

  35. Nope, this is the current EULA by ralian · · Score: 2 · on Distributed Computing Program Hidden in Kazaa

    I actually went out and downloaded Kazaa just to check the EULA on it. I'm pretty sure they haven't changed it in the last 10 hours. Here it is (fucking lameness filter won't let me post it):
    Kazaa EULA.txt

  36. Re:Software by rjch · · Score: 1 · on What Software Should ISPs Distribute and Support?

    Look familliar?

  37. http://tharkun.dyndns.org/ temporarily down by Mike+A. · · Score: 1 · on Resident Evil
    Well, I was wrong. The slashdotting is still going on. So, since I wanted to use my own DSL connection tonight :-), I've temporarily stopped the web server. It'll be back up sometime tomorrow morning, by which time this story will probably have cycled off the front page.


    I grabbed the Apache status page just before I shut it down, but I can't paste it into this post, because the lameness filter doesn't like it. It'll be at http://tharkun.dyndns.org/slashdotted-status.txt tomorrow.

  38. Some summaries of Linux floppy distros by rtos · · Score: 5, Informative · on Linux on a Floppy: Intro to Mini Linux Distros
    Here's a quick list of some floppy distros that you may not have heard about (and some that you have) with summaries. Tom's Root Boot is definitely one to check out. I've heard Coyote is good too, but haven't tried it myself. Links and summaries are brought to you by Freshmeat.net. Enjoy.
    Herbix : "Herbix is a Linux server that fits on a floppy. It supports ipchains and can serve FTP, HTTP, IRC, DHCP, SMTP, and IDENT."

    Mike's Jukebox Distro : "Mike's Jukebox Distro is really just a floppy image that you add to a CD full of mp3's, using it as the El-Torito boot image. It has a complete Linux kernel and madplay, along with BusyBox. A simple shell script uses "find" to get a list of all mp3's on the CD, and it then plays each of them in order. tty3 is used for the player output, tty1, and tty2 have shells to allow the user to "play" while it's playing music."

    RIMiRadio : "RIMiRadio is a floppy disk distro of Linux and an Icecast server."

    floppyfw : "Floppyfw is a router and simple firewall on one single floppy. It uses Linux basic firewall capabilities, and has a very simple packaging system. It is perfect for masquerading and securing networks on ADSL and cable lines, using both static IP, DHCP, and PPPoE, and provides a simple installation, which usually involves editing of only one file on the floppy."

    BBIagent Router : "BBIagent is a single floppy Linux-based router for sharing a broadband Internet connection. It also serves as a firewall to prohibit intruders from accessing your LAN. You can create your own BBIagent router software (a diskette file image) on our server based on your hardware configuration (NICs) and connection protocol (e.g. PPPoE, PPPoATM or DHCP). It is very easy to install and use."

    Coyote Linux : "Coyote Linux is a single floppy distribution for people who have an Internet connection that they wish to share with other computers on a LAN. In addition to connection sharing, it also provides firewall services to help protect the internal network. The goal of the Coyote project is to make it as quick and easy as possible to share an Internet connection."

    Tom's RootBoot : "rtbt is the most Linux on one floppy disk for rescue recovery panic and emergencies, contains tools to keep in your shirt pockets, is useful whenever you can't use a hard drive and contains about 100 rescue tools."

    Pocket Linux : "Pocket Linux is an almost minimal, one floppy linux system designed to quickly convert PC workstation into secure linux-based workstation using ssh to connect to remote host (other networking clients are also supported). It supports bootp for determining host IP and other network parameters (there's also manual configuration possible, but bootp is recommended). In addition to workstations equipped with a network card (ethernet or arcnet), you can also use Pocket Linux on a PC equipped with a modem. Modem is automatically detected and then PPP connection is made."

    Trinux : "Trinux is a minimal Linux distribution that boots from a single floppy or CD-ROM, loads its packages from an FTP/HTTP server, IDE filesystem, or additional floppies, and runs entirely in RAM. Trinux contains the latest versions of popular network security tools that can be used to conduct security research, analyze network traffic, and perform vulnerability testing."

    Hopefully this list is helpful to those of you just starting to think about tiny distros.

  39. Password Generator by Blackknight · · Score: 1 · on Crappy Passwords Very Common

    I actually got sick of thinking up random passwords and wrote a utility to create them automatically. Check out http://wattersm.dyndns.org and click on the password generator link.

  40. Re:why google is flawed by ncc74656 · · Score: 2 · on Google's Weakness, AltaVista's Strength
    It's quite easy to get your site rated high: Create a hundred free web sites on geocities and post a page full of nothing but links to the site you want to pump up. You'll get rated "10/10" in no time.

    You probably don't even need Geocities to astroturf your site...configure Apache for virtual hosting, grab a bunch of names from dyndns.org or whatever, and assign those names to the different "slots" on your server. Depending on how Google is set up, you might not even need a bunch of different names; take advantage of subdomain delegation to create alpha.foo.dyndns.org, bravo.foo.dyndns.org, charlie.foo.dyndns.org, etc. and use those for the massive cross-linking. One link from your site (if Google has already indexed it) into the ratsnest ought to set the whole thing in motion.

  41. What about *real* net access? by RevAaron · · Score: 1, Troll · on Web Access on Handhelds

    I admit I'm largely ignorant of how Palm and PocketPC users get web content, but we Newton users just access the *real* network over *real* TCP/IP using *real* ethernet cards and modems. I 've been told that to get internet content on a Palm and (but less so) a PocketPC, you have to use something like AvantGo and get is from your desktop PC when you're syncing! Ha! Is that really true?

    Maybe I'm spoilled, but I don't have to connect with a desktop for anything. I use Newt's Cape on my Newton MP2100u, and have scheduled pages downloaded every morning before I catch the bus to go to school. Yes, a *real* web browser downlading *real* web pages (IHT.com, slashdot, lambda.weblogs.com) over ethernet behind my router.

    Can PalmOS devices not do this? Are they intentionally crippled because of the lack of resources and tiny screen, or just because someone decided you should always be tied to your desktop? I know PocketPCs can grab stuff over ethernet in Pocket IE, but is it very common?

  42. Re:Cable companies suck by terkozer · · Score: 1 · on Colorado Town May Sue AT&T For Broadband

    Dynamic DNS offers a fairly reliable, free dynamic dns service.

  43. Re:PayPal? by Krellis · · Score: 4, Informative · on Announcing Slashdot Subscriptions

    dyndns.org has been accepting PayPal for the donations that keep our service running for years, and never had a problem. We've processed hundreds of thousands of dollars through PayPal, and accept more each day, and we've never had a single problem like those described on PayPalWarning.com and other sites. Those problems account for a tiny fraction of all PayPal users, and PayPal is actually improving service to big customers like us, because of these problems - people are getting scared off, and they're trying to keep the big players from running away, too. They'd be very stupid to kill OSDN's account, and they know it.

  44. DynDNS by yerricde · · Score: 1 · on What About IPv6? How Long Until Widespread Deployment?

    We could have a cntral database where everybody applies for a unique, easy to remember computer name.

    Yes, I know about DynDNS, but that doesn't help if all your access provider offers under $1000/mo is 15-minute DHCP leases on IPv6 /128 (single) addresses.

  45. Re:K.I.S.S. by ncc74656 · · Score: 3, Interesting · on What Makes a Good Web Design?
    Not to mention that, inevitably, the two versions will go out of sync.

    The only reason to maintain two versions is to deal with shitty browsers that don't implement reasonably current standards, and you're better off using server-parsed HTML or CGI to modify your site on-the-fly to present itself in different browsers. This keeps you from having to maintain two site trees, and it also makes it easier to incorporate common sitewide elements (navigation bars and such) into your design. Browse this site with IE, Konqueror, Lynx, Mozilla, and Nutscrape 4.x, and watch how each browser keeps up. (The server generates two types of code: proper HTML 4 and CSS for browsers that can hack it, bastardized HTML for Nutscrape 4.x and earlier. Note that the W3C's HTML 4 and CSS buttons don't show up if you use Nutscrape 4.)

  46. Re:Problem with the Netwinder by hojo · · Score: 2, Interesting · on Netwinder is Back

    Bah. You like low power? Cheap? Quiet?

    Check out my budget server! Cost: $0

    http://medmeta.dyndns.org/silent_server.html

    For less than industrial-strength work, don't neglect the simplicity and incredibly low cost of these old boxes. This thing is a workhorse, made out of free (old) parts.

    The best part? I can sleep with my head a few feet from this thing and never hear it. Period. And with a hard drive, you still get niceties like ftp service and email.

  47. Re:cheating by Shiny+Metal+S. · · Score: 3, Interesting · on The Challenges of Making a Multiplayer Game
    even if games had a 100% solid protocol you'd still have auto-aimers in FPS games.
    Of course, but this is the kind of cheat which will always be possible. That is because of the nature of the problem. Shooting to the target is the kind of problem which is better solved by the machine than by a human.

    I would solve it in a different way: characters could be set to automatically aim to the enemies (as an integral part of the game, not as a cheat) but when he shoots, the decision if the target was hit is made by the server, depending on many factors (like if the character and target are running, if the character is tired, hurt, far from target, etc.). It would not only solve the auto-aim cheat problem, but would also make the game more realistic.

    My point is that when you have online multiplayer game, where people from the whole planet play the game on their own computers, the only sane assumption is that sooner or later (usually sooner than expected) someone will use a hacked client. So if you don't want cheats, you can't depend on strictly manual skills, which would be extremely easy for a machine, like aiming to targets. Otherwise, you'll have big trouble when someone finally learns your protocol or alters the client binary. That could mean the end of fun for many people and an endless fight against cheaters for the game developers.

    I like the idea of WorldForge project, which I think will be introduced with Mason and Werewolf, i.e. to integrate into the game the AI scripting of PCs with identical possibilities as the AI of NPCs. There'll be lots of ready to use scripts and some GUI script builder, as well as a possibility to write the scripts (currently in Python). So you'll be able to program your character to always run away when he's attacked by someone taller than him, or otherwise always instantly hit the offender in the face. But also more general tasks, like eat when he's hungry, buy food when he has no food, find food when he has no money, etc. That way when you don't play the game, your character can still do something useful, unlike most of MMORPGs where the character usually just stands still or disappear. Thanks to that, there's no point in cheating with the client by e.g. setting your character to automatically train his skills for many hours, because everyone can easily program his character to do the same, probably with just few clicks in the GUI.

    Check out the Cyphesis, WorldForge AI/ALife engine. There's still not much of documentation, so the Cyphesis source code is the best reference.

    So that's about the client itself. On the other hand, from the side of network protocol and the clean client-server architecture, the client never gets to much info, and it's never trusted to make any decisions, other than just send to the server what the character wants to do (not even what he actually does, just what he wants). I'll quote part of the Atlas protocol summary, my emphasis:

    Atlas is standard protocol between server and client. It should work with simple/complicated server and simple/complicated client and with all combinations. ASCII version will use XML.

    Server might be thought as body for character and client might be thought as mind for character and protocol is neurons connecting these.

    Features

    • Flexible and transparently extensible
    • Works at the same time with old and new clients
    • Initially XML used for easy debugging and later optimized binary format.
    • Transmits only changed information and server doesn't need reveal any more it wants. Usually assumption is made that clients are hacked and thus are not trustworthy.

    See also the Atlas Tutorial. The standard implementation of Atlas is Atlas-C++, the source code of which can be great for anyone who wants to learn multiplayer games related network programming, and high quality network programming in general. For more about Atlas, check out the Battleplan and protocols at worldforge.org mailing list (see the archives of scripting@ for discussion before 1999, and protocols@ for later and actual discussion).

    So, the point is that not trusting the client is the fundamental aspect of game design, not just a feature to be added later. There are and will be games designed around open protocols (where you can easily read and change the client-server traffic in both ways), free software clients (which you can easily change), and servers (which you can easily read and find out how they work), but those games won't have problems with cheating because of their design, not because of security through obscurity like in most of games today.

    That's why I always talk about WorldForge when there's a discussion about multiplayer games design, security and cheats - these folks do it exactly the way how it should be done.

  48. Re:cheating by Shiny+Metal+S. · · Score: 3, Interesting · on The Challenges of Making a Multiplayer Game
    even if games had a 100% solid protocol you'd still have auto-aimers in FPS games.
    Of course, but this is the kind of cheat which will always be possible. That is because of the nature of the problem. Shooting to the target is the kind of problem which is better solved by the machine than by a human.

    I would solve it in a different way: characters could be set to automatically aim to the enemies (as an integral part of the game, not as a cheat) but when he shoots, the decision if the target was hit is made by the server, depending on many factors (like if the character and target are running, if the character is tired, hurt, far from target, etc.). It would not only solve the auto-aim cheat problem, but would also make the game more realistic.

    My point is that when you have online multiplayer game, where people from the whole planet play the game on their own computers, the only sane assumption is that sooner or later (usually sooner than expected) someone will use a hacked client. So if you don't want cheats, you can't depend on strictly manual skills, which would be extremely easy for a machine, like aiming to targets. Otherwise, you'll have big trouble when someone finally learns your protocol or alters the client binary. That could mean the end of fun for many people and an endless fight against cheaters for the game developers.

    I like the idea of WorldForge project, which I think will be introduced with Mason and Werewolf, i.e. to integrate into the game the AI scripting of PCs with identical possibilities as the AI of NPCs. There'll be lots of ready to use scripts and some GUI script builder, as well as a possibility to write the scripts (currently in Python). So you'll be able to program your character to always run away when he's attacked by someone taller than him, or otherwise always instantly hit the offender in the face. But also more general tasks, like eat when he's hungry, buy food when he has no food, find food when he has no money, etc. That way when you don't play the game, your character can still do something useful, unlike most of MMORPGs where the character usually just stands still or disappear. Thanks to that, there's no point in cheating with the client by e.g. setting your character to automatically train his skills for many hours, because everyone can easily program his character to do the same, probably with just few clicks in the GUI.

    Check out the Cyphesis, WorldForge AI/ALife engine. There's still not much of documentation, so the Cyphesis source code is the best reference.

    So that's about the client itself. On the other hand, from the side of network protocol and the clean client-server architecture, the client never gets to much info, and it's never trusted to make any decisions, other than just send to the server what the character wants to do (not even what he actually does, just what he wants). I'll quote part of the Atlas protocol summary, my emphasis:

    Atlas is standard protocol between server and client. It should work with simple/complicated server and simple/complicated client and with all combinations. ASCII version will use XML.

    Server might be thought as body for character and client might be thought as mind for character and protocol is neurons connecting these.

    Features

    • Flexible and transparently extensible
    • Works at the same time with old and new clients
    • Initially XML used for easy debugging and later optimized binary format.
    • Transmits only changed information and server doesn't need reveal any more it wants. Usually assumption is made that clients are hacked and thus are not trustworthy.

    See also the Atlas Tutorial. The standard implementation of Atlas is Atlas-C++, the source code of which can be great for anyone who wants to learn multiplayer games related network programming, and high quality network programming in general. For more about Atlas, check out the Battleplan and protocols at worldforge.org mailing list (see the archives of scripting@ for discussion before 1999, and protocols@ for later and actual discussion).

    So, the point is that not trusting the client is the fundamental aspect of game design, not just a feature to be added later. There are and will be games designed around open protocols (where you can easily read and change the client-server traffic in both ways), free software clients (which you can easily change), and servers (which you can easily read and find out how they work), but those games won't have problems with cheating because of their design, not because of security through obscurity like in most of games today.

    That's why I always talk about WorldForge when there's a discussion about multiplayer games design, security and cheats - these folks do it exactly the way how it should be done.

  49. I'm not seeing them here, by Lord+Omlette · · Score: 2 · on Video Game Music Mixes

    so I might as well throw in a few links:

    Everyone - a vg music tribute band.
    Evil Adam - Check out "Zerg Must Die" & "Evil de Chocobo"

  50. Free will take over: example - sdf.lonestar.org by RGRistroph · · Score: 2, Informative · on End of the Free Internet
    Most of the people here are ranting about banner ads, and slashdot subscriptions. That's not the main point I believe.

    The main point is the supposed disappearence of free services on the internet. There are many free services that are stable and around for the long haul. The trick is, to latch on to one that is NOT run by a for-profit corporation.

    The original promise of the internet still exists ! It is possible to publish information to millions of people so cheaply that any noodle can do it ! Of course it doesn't cost exactly nothing, but it is cheap enough that it is conceivable that it will eventually be a commonly available utility like service. (It ain't there yet, but if the cost were to drop 50% every 18 months (seems plausible, especially once the recession finishes flushing out a lot of the dead weight) then in a decade we could be there.)

    What this means is that a lot of companies trying to make business and justify fairly huge capital investments are just going to get blown out of the water by hobbiests doing it for fun. That's ok, in fact it's good. It's good because we need to invest a lot of money in various projects that will never be done by hobbiests -- getting into space, curing various diseases, physical infrastructure, etc. We need to chace a lot of these suits and corporate bureaucrats out of the internet feild and back into the kinds of big capital things they they necessary for -- like putting up multi-million dollar wind farms so we are not so dependant on oil.

    So from the point of view of you, the little guy, the trick is to find the cheap free service that is being run by a non-profit club or other organization. One example is sdf.lonestar.org, non profit organization offering unix shells, web space, virtual hosting, and other services. It's not free, you have to give donations to get various levels of service. (The basic unix shell and email address is free.) These guys have been around since 1987, and I have a feeling that they will be around for a long time, especially as for-profit companies abandon the area and move to business pursuits that require and justify lots of capital.

    Similarly, look at dyndns.org. Those guys are not free, they are running off of your donations. But Dyndns and SDF will be here when Yahoo and Geocities finally kick me off the free email and website, because while it is cheap (not free) to provide those services, there just isn't enough money in it to justify investing people's pensions in the stock to support it. And they are close enough to free that it doesn't matter if you have a job.

    In summary, what I see happening here is exactly the opposite of what everyone else here seems to be observing. There is no "end of free." That's just an illusion you get by counting press announcements of bad businesses in their death throes. In reality, I believe more and more people are using non-business services on the net: the numbers of dyndns and SDF users are going up and up, and those organizations are much more permanent than the catalog of nonsense you see on that endoffree site.

    The long term trend is that connection fees will come down; bandwidth fees will come down, even if more is not available, but that's ok because as people learn how to use the net they use less bandwidth; and in the end the net will be a collection of various non-profit organizations providing services, with a layer of for-profit high-end services still there, of course, but only for a pretty small percentage.

    I think the major strategy on our part is to make sure the net remains a peer-to-peer and not a hierarchical structure. To do this we have two major tools: 1) bind together in organizations like dyndns and sdf to provide what services do need a centralized and large investment, and 2) make sure that cable companies, ISPs, and DSL companies are forced to keep their service symmetrical, i.e., that you can provide services for free from your own machine.