[MUD-Dev] MUDLinux v0.5

[Malcolm Valentine]

On Fri, Jun 30, 2000, David Wruck wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: J C Lawrence <claw at kanga.nu>
> To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
> Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2000 8:01 PM
> Subject: [MUD-Dev] MUDLinux v0.5
> 
> 
> >
> > I'm not sure why I'm surprised:
> >
> >   http://mujweb.cz/www/vladon/
> >
> > --<cut>--
> > MUDLinux is minidistribution of LINUX containing (a) running Circle
> > MUDServer.
> > --<cut>--
> 
>     When I first opened this, I kinda snickered, and laughed.
> 
>     Then I started to REALLY think about it, and the concept (not slapping a
> CircleMUD over a minimalistic Linux distribution), but rather removing all
> elements that really are not required from the server component of the
> servers.

   I got a chuckle from the original post too. I had however been thinking
for some time that a lot of time is spent by mud coders emulating things
already done by the kernel (or almost done by the kernel). Not only would
I strip the distribution of things not needed for the server, but I would
look at tweaking the kernel to offer additional support on things like
socket handling. Several times I've been tempted to hack the Linux kernel
to make the coding of something easier, but the issue of compatibility has
generally prevented me from doing so (Although I hacked my old sound
module to make it easier to write a sound editing program...).

   The one main drawback would be instead of just coding a mud, you are
now coding a mud and an OS (Well, the one thing maybe, just a lot bigger).

   I must admit too, that this brings back fond memories of playing Wizardy,
where all you needed to run the game was to insert the floppy and reboot
the machine. Not like trying to run a game on Win95 and fighting you way
through the latest installation of directX and d/ling yet another driver
update for your soundcard/left toe/etc. The appeal of just inserting a 
bootable medium and playing away is something sure to draw, it was one
of the reasons I bought a Playstation.

   (Hmm, perhaps this is one of the reasons Circle was chosen. As the
above URL informs, the mud is under a crontab script, so it boots with
the server. Circle sets the first user to login to the highest level
administator, so there is no need to search directories for the player
files and figure how to tweak it so they are the highest level... Plug-
n-play mud admining).

Cheers,
  Malcolm V.



_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev