Labatt says: OK, well we should get started.... welcome to the session on system requirements Labatt says: I will be talking about the elements of on-line teaching and learning and the system requirements you need to accomplish this Labatt says: My main focus will be on what is required to run a MAUD, but I will also discuss world wide web sites if necessary Labatt says: However I imagine most of you will already have some experience with the world wide web, so that won't be my major focus Labatt says: So i will begin by talking about the MAUD (and similar technologies, such as MUDs and MOOs) first Labatt says: let me begin by defining what I'm talking about Labatt says: a MAUD is a Multi User Academic Domain Labatt says: You're in one :) Labatt says: a MAUD is a type of MUD - MUD stands for Multi User Domain Labatt says: a MOO - which you may have heard of from time to time - is a type of MUD as well. MOO stands for MUD Object Oriented Labatt says: the main idea of all three types of system - MAUD, MUD and MOO - is to establish a real-time text based virtual environment Labatt says: In other words, each is a form of virtual reality Gailt says: what session topic is this? Labatt says: The environment is arranged as a series of 'rooms' -- for example, this room we're in, the Ridea Room, is a room Labatt says: System Requirements Labatt says: You navigate by walking from room to room Labatt says: hm, a negative review? *chuckle* Labatt says: you communicate by talking using 'tell' or 'say' or 'chat' . Or you can use the bulletin boards or even MUD mail Labatt says: All these environments support a wide range of emotes as well, eg. I could smile by typing: smile Labatt says: The MAUD - and similar environments - therefore need to be very flexible. Labatt says: MAUD (and MUD and MOO) software is typically custom designed Labatt says: there are two major components: a driver, and a mudlib Labatt says: The driver is the part of the software which actually connects to the rest of the internet Mtumpane says: youu mean these are not standard applications? Labatt says: Right. Although there are some standards to start from, a lot of custom work needs to be added. Labatt says: The drivers, by contrast, do tend to be standard. Mtumpane says: So these are programmed for each individual system? Labatt says: There are different types of drivers for different systems, but most are designed for some variant of Unix. However, drivers will work on Windows NT or 95 Mtumpane says: a protocaol question should we save questions til later? Labatt says: The driver code must be configured to match the machine its running on. They make intensive use of the C function libraries in different systems. Labatt says: No, please feel free to ask questions as i proceed, and I'll try to answer them. I may put some off, though, if that's OK. Mtumpane says: ok Labatt says: This MAUD, for example, uses a MudOS 0.9.19 driver. The driver itself is pretty standard. Labatt says: We are running on a Pentium 90 with 32 meg of RAM and Linux installed as the operating system. Labatt says: To install the driver, we downloaded the driver and decompressed it. Then we had to edit a configure file to customize it for our machine. Labatt says: All drivers work that way.. they are standard, but need to be configured. Labatt says: the Mudlib is the part of the MUD which defines the rooms, etc. Labatt says: Different MudLibs are designed for different drivers. Labatt says: For example, for the MudOS driver there are two major types of MudLib, the TMI and the Nightmare Labatt says: The MAUD uses a heavily modified Nightmare Mudlib Paulm says: is the 32meg of RAM minimum, recommended, or just what you have? Labatt says: It's just what we have, but I would say it's pretty well a mimimum Labatt says: However, you can limit the number of users that can log on at one time. I've heard of MUDs running on 8 meg (though slowly) Labatt says: What is interesting and unique about mudlibs is that they are customized from the inside Mtumpane says: I have a question about speed - are these comments coming to us as fast as you are typing them, or is there a delay because of load right now? Labatt says: To construct this MAUD, for example, we used a standard Nightmare mudlib, logged on, then created the rooms, etc. using a variation of C Labatt says: i'm typing them in real time -- experience has shown that it works best if there's a delay so people can read what I say Mtumpane says: So you could be going faster - the dealy is deliberate... Labatt says: yes Labatt says: This is an example of the customization Labatt says: For example, I could have this talk pre-recorded, and have you play it back Labatt says: You can play back the current log, for example, by typing: show log Labatt says: notice how you get a full screen of text Labatt says: So: all this is leading to the following major point Labatt says: The equipment costs for a maud like this are fairly minimal - you can get away with a pentium The sun shines on a brand new day. Labatt says: though for better speed I would recommend a Sparc workstation or a DEC Alpha Labatt says: Software is free and can be downloaded from the internet Labatt says: But there is a significant time investment required to customize your own maud Mtumpane says: Do you mean ALL the MUD software that you have mentioned? Labatt says: First in the configuring of the driver (for an experienced user, that amounts to about a half day) Labatt says: yes, what I am saying now applies to all the MUD software Labatt says: And second in the creation of rooms - each room takes about an hour Labatt says: ... for an experienced designer Labatt says: all MUD software is basically in the public domain, though there are copyright restrictions - ie., you can't charge anyone for a copy of MUD software Mtumpane says: For this purpose, though, do you neded to design anything particularly fancy? Labatt says: well there are some fancy features -- this conference facility is a good example, because of the logging etc Labatt says: It took about 80 hours altogether to design this facility Mtumpane says: the room we are in now, though...how long did it take to set it up? Labatt says: This room itself was about 1 hour - however designing the routine which does the logging and other functions took about 40 hours Labatt says: All the conference rooms use the same routine, though, so now that the routine has been designed, it need not be done again Mtumpane says: what does this room have besides the ability for us to conference in it? Labatt says: i could add rooms at the rate of one an hour indefinitely Labatt says: To see what functions this room has, type: help moderate Mtumpane says: presumeably these are standard functions - hasn't the programming already been done? Labatt says: They are standard functions now :) but not part of any other mudlib, only the maud mudlib Mtumpane says: what I mean is... to add another room like this one, don't you just have to change a few lines of code? Labatt says: correct Mtumpane says: thanks Labatt says: All in all, you need to change about 15 lines of code, plus the room description, then test it Labatt says: practical experience says about an hour Labatt says: (I know, it seems like it should be shorter) Mtumpane says: gotcha Labatt says: On the bright side: many mud drivers also come with built-in world wide web servers Labatt says: in fact, a www server is a minor piece of coding in comparison Labatt says: The maud has a www server, however it is not yet fully functional Labatt says: But basically, this means that you can run your maud and your www server on the same machine Labatt says: the major constraints here are (a) machine speed, and (b) line speed Labatt says: a maud+server really needs a minimum 56K connection to run properly Labatt says: but that is what most places already have, so there is generally no additional internet charges for a maud Labatt says: let me pause here... we're almost done... and see whether there are more questions Labatt says: Ok... Paulm says: Do you have a list of sites for the software posted somewhere Mtumpane says: When can you come to my site and set up a MAUD for us? Labatt says: the major MUD software site is at imaginary.com Labatt says: In the resource list on the WWW pages for this session is a list of all the sites Labatt says: Jeff and I have talked about installing MAUDs elsewhere, but we hesitate because of the time committment Jimz says: In comparison with formats like IRC, Webchat, Netscape Chat etc, what advantages are there to using A MAUD? Mtumpane says: I have a question for the other participants in this session - did you find my questions intrusive? Please be honest - I want to understand the process here... Labatt says: Ah... that is the topic of my next session Labatt says: So I'll postpone an answer to that session Labatt says: shall we wrap up? Labatt says: Thanks all for attending & I hope you found it useful Logging has been disabled. MENU | SEMINARS