freshbytes

Hello and welcome to another freshbytes post, where you, dear reader, will be catapulted into a world of total and utter chaos

We’ve had some changes (again) to the website, the most notable being that if you click on an image, you get this cool javascript effect – a little old, but still a cool effect nonetheless! Try it out with any post on here that has a picture and you’ll know what I mean.

You could even try it out on the new -=(NoSpoon)=- page here. This page is constantly updated with all the latest and greatest NoSpoon information, including where to find us on Friday nights, who to contact if you want to be a part of a LAN, and pretty much anything on gaming in CZ. You can check out the page with the photos from DEETS 07 (the LAN before NoSpoon) at Calvin here – why not try out the cool javascript effect there, its as good a place as any to have a go!

One last thing – The Radi8 Report. Since Radi8 (my Youth group, every Friday night [before the weekly NoSpoon LAN]) is a pretty Calvin-related (but not exclusively so), it’ll also by definition get a lot of attention on freshbytes.

So – Wild Animal Safari was a huge heap of fun – for those of you that weren’t there, imagine some people getting dressed in animal suits and running amok in Kingston. Youth in teams of about 5 or 6 then run around, trying to ‘catch’ them and earning a heap of points everytime they do. That’s the Wild Animal Safari in 25 words or less, and man, it was AWESOME!

I was a little disappointed at the teams (you can probably guess why) but pfft – they go broken up anyway. The team I had was still really good – Paul C, Emily L, Daniel P, Nathan dH, Neil O (you guys rock!) and as a result of our excellent intuition and superior animal-tracking skills (it’s called a phone, guys) we managed to take out the 6th Radi8tion Cup, not in a row, but still… I’ve now been on the team that has pretty much won the Radi8tion Cup everytime – even if it’s not with the same people… Lets see…

1. Radi8tion One – “Tribal Wars” – Black Team won.
2. Radi8tion Two – Unknown – No idea what this one was about, but I’m pretty sure we won
3. Radi8tion Three – “Academy Awards” – Yep, we won again.
4. Radi8tion Four – “Beach Olympics” – This one went to either the Blue or Yellow team, unfortunately.
5. Radi8tion Five – “Messive” – No idea who won. It was messy.
6. Radi8tion Six – “Wild Animal Safari” – Blue Team. Ooh yeah!

I’m sure that there have been some others as well – “GamesMania” was where yes, Black Team won, but we played this game that involved basketballs and milk crates, it was one of the Radi8s that started straight after school, before the school holidays. Thank goodness for freshbytes – you can read about GamesMania here. Yeah – Black Team won, I was right!

I think that’s about it for tonight – I’ll catch you all tomorrow. As usual, comments below. Benny, out.

written by Benny Ling \\ tags: NoSpoon, radi8, radi8tion, report

Welcome to the fortnightly ‘Clan Mail’ Status report!

I thought this was an apt time to update everyone. Status reports are nice, aren’t they.
The ‘clan mail’ a status report on WTF is goin’ on around here. You know, as a reminder to what you mighta missed, or forgotten.
Anyway, on towards a Purple Haze….

Pipelined main ideas and statuses:

VPN:
Hasn’t got far off the ground yet. It appears that we are waiting on a server to try this out with. Pilgs was going to sort something out at some stage, but I think it was one of the ‘2+ backburner’ projects (if you don’t know what i’m on about, ADSL2+ is a hint…). Testing will occur sometime, I assume prolly using my server as a testing platform.
Timeframe: Can’t say. Hasn’t been tested yet.
Status: alpha, pre-alpha

Teamspeak server:
Has been strenuously tested in a CZ session with 3 players. Concept is proven. Server is running. However, we need to figure out some permenant arrangement. As was said in another email, I am happy to continue leaving this up on my server. I think that this was another one of the ‘2+ backburner’ projects…correct me if I am wrong.
Timeframe: Working currently, in a quick-and-dirty way.
Status: Release candidate, works, but a permenant arrangement might need to be sorted out (but is not required).

Gmail/Gtalk:
Has been used for a long time now, proven technology. Works 99% of the time. However, client is not cross-platform. Was tested with online games (CZ mostly), and was found to reduce ping times (according to darth), and Just Works (TM). Still works reliably with general voice chat, as TS would prolly overload a personal server at that quality.
Timeframe: Already used.
Status: Full release. Has been made redundant for gaming by TS.

IRC:
Has been used in spurts. For those who haven’t used it, it basically gets around the issue of network requirements (RE: gchat timeout). It is also the only way to get 3+ user chat working. Freenode is worldwide, clients are everywhere (including Pidgin, Xchat and mac clients). Is relatively reliable. Benny Says: Freshbytes IRC to be considered.
Timeframe: Well, some of us have used it, others not. It is a great collaboration tool. Is in use now, just not all the time.
Status: Release candidate. Some are still to test it.

Proxy:
Has had plenty of use at school. Pilg’s proxy works really well, but cannot be used for certain activities. I wouldn’t mind figuring what program he uses on there….might have to do some googling… It is a great way to ‘get out’ at school.
Timeframe: Already in use, just not for all activities. Is not public.
Status: Full release binary, no source. A public version may go on Freshbytes eventually.

Hosting:
4 people have hosting, w00t. You’re all sorted there!
Turkeybrain.com: games,forum, private proxy
freshbytes.com.au: games,forum, proxy (if we can fix it properly), ssh
(Pilcher’s site): ssh, and other stuff
Timeframe: In use. What are you worried about?
Status: Full release, in use. Smoke it.

Internet Access (ISP’s etc.):
gEveryone has proper net now, so we are sorted. There are a few ppl who need Steam accounts, and clan signups. Unfortunately, Internode have been having backhaul issues for a few weeks now, so bling and I have been having net issues. At least, Internode claim it is fixed as of yesterday. Pilgs is waiting for ADSL2+, which way be a while off (Please wait for Internode…FTW!).
Timeframe: Unknown, little things to sort out.
Status: In good standing, patches here and there.

Other little notes:
Torrent client of the day: Deluge.
Site of the day: Pirate Bay
Game of the day: Flash Portal

That’s all i’ve got time for. And i’ve run out of ideas. Post back something relevant to this email.

Chris J (‘z’ weedman)

written by Chris Jacques \\ tags: april, gmail, hosting, irc, isp, proxy, report, status, teamspeak, vpn