Subject: npds Digest V2 #8

From: Listar <nospam_listar_at_ml.free_dot_fr>
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 03:13:32 +0100 (CET)

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npds Digest	Sun, 18 Feb 2001	Volume: 02  Issue: 008

In This Issue:
		[NPDS] JumpTo URL (was Re: Tracker down again)
		[NPDS] Re: JumpTo URL (was Re: Tracker down again)
		[NPDS] Re: JumpTo URL (was Re: Tracker down again)
		[NPDS] [ANN] 4 Bits GIF Server now posted

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Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 18:45:45 +0100
From: Paul Guyot <nospam_pguyot_at_kallisys_dot_net>
Subject: [NPDS] JumpTo URL (was Re: Tracker down again)

>Yeah, I saw that right after I sent my reply.

Too bad that Matt cannot use your tracker. This means that all cool 
feature we'll add will be reserved to your tracker only and that we 
would never use the share function, unless someone else wants to run 
a tracker. (maybe I'll run a tracker on my mac, though to know 
quickly when my Newton gets unexpectedly offline).

I thought of a new cool feature of the tracker we could implement: 
get a jump to URL. This would send you to a page telling you that the 
Newton is apparently offline if it is, or send you to the URL of the 
Newton. We could use the simple move temporary HTTP code (the server 
won't be used as a proxy).

This requires an ID in the Newton. We could even parse the host 
header if the tracker server has a unique IP, instead of having the 
Newton ID in the query string. NPDS webmasters would just have to 
choose a DNS from a free dynamic DNS server to point to the tracker 
server and the tracker server would send them to the Newton. What do 
you think about it?

Umm. Maybe we could discuss this on the NPDS mailing list. Cc'ed.

>According to the changelog entry I wrote for 0.1.20, I got SHARE
>working...

Indeed, I found your message dated 11/20/00 when you told me about 
this update. I told you I would try to find time to look at it, but 
finally, I haven't. I've been too busy with the ATA support package.

Paul
-- 
http://www.kallisys.com/
                         My Newton is online: http://newt.dyndns.org:8080

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Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 15:48:00 -0500 (EST)
From: Victor Rehorst <nospam_chuma_at_chuma_dot_org>
Subject: [NPDS] Re: JumpTo URL (was Re: Tracker down again)

On Sun, 18 Feb 2001, Paul Guyot wrote:

> Too bad that Matt cannot use your tracker. This means that all cool 
> feature we'll add will be reserved to your tracker only and that we 
> would never use the share function, unless someone else wants to run 
> a tracker. (maybe I'll run a tracker on my mac, though to know 
> quickly when my Newton gets unexpectedly offline).

Or just get everyone to use the Tracker on eddie... the only downside is
that it sort of keeps Matt out of the loop.  And since the eddie tracker
is on port 2110, people behind strict firewalls won't be able to use it.

I'm going to start another tracker on my Cable Modem: it'll be at
npds.unna.org port 80.

> I thought of a new cool feature of the tracker we could implement: 
> get a jump to URL. This would send you to a page telling you that the 
> Newton is apparently offline if it is, or send you to the URL of the 
> Newton. We could use the simple move temporary HTTP code (the server 
> won't be used as a proxy).
> 
> This requires an ID in the Newton. We could even parse the host 
> header if the tracker server has a unique IP, instead of having the 
> Newton ID in the query string. NPDS webmasters would just have to 
> choose a DNS from a free dynamic DNS server to point to the tracker 
> server and the tracker server would send them to the Newton. What do 
> you think about it?

I don't really understand this... so instead of providing a direct link to
the Newt, provide a link that checks it first and if it is up then
redirects to it or serves a page that says that it seems to be down?

-------Victor Rehorst - [email-masked] | [email-masked]
-Secretary, College of Arts and CPES Student Councils, University of Guelph-
-------------- Homepage and Newton Stuff: http://www.chuma.org -------------

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Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 00:50:08 +0100
From: Paul Guyot <nospam_pguyot_at_kallisys_dot_net>
Subject: [NPDS] Re: JumpTo URL (was Re: Tracker down again)

>Or just get everyone to use the Tracker on eddie... the only downside is
>that it sort of keeps Matt out of the loop.  And since the eddie tracker
>is on port 2110, people behind strict firewalls won't be able to use it.

Matt's tracker is very popular. And I preferred Matt's original idea 
of several trackers sharing entries.
(BTW, Matt told me he registered to the list today, but he's not in 
the list. Either the server doesn't update the list that frequently 
or he hasn't confirmed yet)

>I'm going to start another tracker on my Cable Modem: it'll be at
>npds.unna.org port 80.

You're using register.com service? Is it because their price 
(apparently 35 USD) is cheaper than for example Gandi's (12 EUR)? 
Because they offer DNS management as some free service around the web 
offers, too? Or is it because you like the ads they put at the bottom 
of the page as in some UNNA mirror and npds.unna.org?

>I don't really understand this... so instead of providing a direct link to
>the Newt, provide a link that checks it first and if it is up then
>redirects to it or serves a page that says that it seems to be down?

First option:
When you do (for example) eddie.cis.uoguelph.ca:2110/123456789/ it 
jumps either to the address of the Newton ID 123456789 or displays an 
error message.

Second option:
When you do (for example) foo.dyndns.org:2110 where foo.dyndns.org 
points to eddie's address, eddie detects that the host is 
foo.dyndns.org and either redirects to the Newton known to use this 
host or displays an error message.

Paul
-- 
http://www.kallisys.com/
                         My Newton is online: http://newt.dyndns.org:8080

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Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 01:19:44 +0100
From: Paul Guyot <nospam_pguyot_at_kallisys_dot_net>
Subject: [NPDS] [ANN] 4 Bits GIF Server now posted

Hi all,

The 4 bits GIF server has been posted by Matt at http://130.126.50.66/npds/.
It seems rather stable so far.

About the other modules there, there are some bugs I fixed in the old 
version but also some bugs I have introduced. So you may want to stay 
with your old version if it works properly. All modules are 
compatible among versions.

Now, I think I remember that there is a big bug in the old tracker 
client which produces weird results on Matt's tracker in certain 
conditions. I have spent 20 minutes trying to fix it by unregistering 
and registering servers manually. So please update this to the latest 
new version (besides, the latest tracker client is not known to have 
any bug).

I'm working on a new version of NPDS. The new core is already much 
stronger than the previous one which Matt inherited from Ray's sample 
code. I am coding C++ functions to improve the responsiveness of the 
server. Currently I'm working on the query string parser and the POST 
body parser (yes, the new server will support POST requests and 
therefore will accept long notes to be posted). This new release will 
be incompatible with the old modules because the old modules relies 
on shared globals which is incompatible with multiple connections (if 
you really want to know, this is the cause of most problems with the 
latest release).

Once the new version is functionnal here, I'll send it to any thrill 
seeker who wants to try it. Please note that you won't be able to 
revert from the new version to the old (you'll lose your preferences).

Paul
-- 
http://www.kallisys.com/
                         My Newton is online: http://newt.dyndns.org:8080

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End of npds Digest V2 #8
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