freshbytes

First up: I do apologise for the late blog post. In my defence, I blame Chris

We’ll be having two posts this weekend, the other one will come shortly when I have no other things to work on

Weekend roundup: Meh, the usual suspects:

• Radi8 consisted of a little hangout time (enjoyable), a quasi-Radi8tion/GamesMania (Black team takes out the Radi8tion cup, for the third or the fourth time), a small iTunes workshop (both informative and interesting), some interesting pancakes (ham, pineapple – they belong on pizza, NOT pancakes), some small group time (death and sex – and interesting combination) and then praise and worship.
• -=(NoSpoon)=- group gaming session – we’ve made a couple of changes to this. Times are still the same (from 8pm-12am), but we now also run TeamSpeak (email one of the admins for server details, etc), as well as a couple of new games; Urban Terror (a CS knockoff game, entertaining nonetheless) as well as Trackmania Nations Forever. Battlefield 1942 is also expected to get going, at least once Chris finds some disk space so he can actually install the thing… We haven’t given up entirely on CZ, though, but we’re working on getting a VPN going (via Hamachi) so we can share iTunes libraries and play games over a “local” network. Chris and I have been “experimenting” with this over the last couple of days, and we seem to have got it going, with a little less lag than internet servers. Again, talk to the admins if you want to know the details. I’ve also changed my clan tag to ((NS)) verbos3, because having -=(NoSpoon)=- gamertag isn’t the best look in any game… You guys should all follow!
• Work – work as usual. Relatively quiet, though, and that goes for the entire CBD. Maybe it’s just winter, but people just don’t seem to want to come out of the warmth of their beds – and funnily enough, I don’t blame them..

If there’s anything I’ve missed (I’m not perfect, far from it) please tell me and I’ll endeavour to add it as soon as I get around to it

Oh – happy holidays, you private-school students. You deserve them!

Otherwise, it’s comments as usual. By now, surely you know where to put em

written by Benny Ling \\ tags: games, hamachi, NoSpoon, radi8, vpn

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