FunkBuddha
01-21-2016, 06:40 PM
x/84 An experimental python Telnet and SSH server framework (http://x84.readthedocs.org/en/latest/intro.html)
The primary purpose of x/84 is to provide a server framework for building environments that emulate the feeling of an era that predates the world wide web. It may be used for developing a classic bulletin board system (BBS) – one is provided as the ‘default’ scripting layer. It may also be used to develop a MUD, a text-based game, or a game-hosting server such as done by dgamelaunch.
History
In 2002, Jeff Quast, author of x84 ran mystic on Linux which gained popularity due to its association with a pirate channel he managed on efnet, regularly receiving 30-50 daily callers, which exposed numerous bugs and design issues. Frustrated by its closed-source nature and the (intermittent) abandonment of the author, Jeff set out to write his own from-scratch.
He and Johannes Lundberg of Sweden met who had already began writing his own system, initially named just “pybbs”, this was authored in the Python language. Overnight, a 5,000-line patch was returned to Johannes and they agreed to collaborate on a new system, with focus on the new Unix developer traditions and open source.
They grew apart over time with their forks, Johannes providing a new redesign called “The Progressive (PRSV)”, which Jeff re-based and began to contribute to when they re-combined efforts years later. Johannes continually asserted that he would maintain and later release PRSV, but as his involvement wanned, Jeff renamed his fork as x/84, with the intent to merge upstream some day.
x/84 retains only some of the design and basic variables, such as the concept of a session but is otherwise completely rewritten by the work of Jeff alone through 2013, when many contributions over github were received after being released to pypi.
What does x/84 mean?
x/84 is a re-imagination of the early dial-up systems. Targeted for, but not limited to, running a bulletin board over the TCP/IP protocol. The name x/84 is derived from the theme of an “amiexpress-style system for an Orwellian future”.
It was thought of as a small part of a science fiction universe: an alternative future where governments have banned internet anonymity and free speech, and those who wish to have it must gateway to underground systems such as these to communicate.
It was a lot farther on the “science fiction” end of the spectrum 10 years ago...
The primary purpose of x/84 is to provide a server framework for building environments that emulate the feeling of an era that predates the world wide web. It may be used for developing a classic bulletin board system (BBS) – one is provided as the ‘default’ scripting layer. It may also be used to develop a MUD, a text-based game, or a game-hosting server such as done by dgamelaunch.
History
In 2002, Jeff Quast, author of x84 ran mystic on Linux which gained popularity due to its association with a pirate channel he managed on efnet, regularly receiving 30-50 daily callers, which exposed numerous bugs and design issues. Frustrated by its closed-source nature and the (intermittent) abandonment of the author, Jeff set out to write his own from-scratch.
He and Johannes Lundberg of Sweden met who had already began writing his own system, initially named just “pybbs”, this was authored in the Python language. Overnight, a 5,000-line patch was returned to Johannes and they agreed to collaborate on a new system, with focus on the new Unix developer traditions and open source.
They grew apart over time with their forks, Johannes providing a new redesign called “The Progressive (PRSV)”, which Jeff re-based and began to contribute to when they re-combined efforts years later. Johannes continually asserted that he would maintain and later release PRSV, but as his involvement wanned, Jeff renamed his fork as x/84, with the intent to merge upstream some day.
x/84 retains only some of the design and basic variables, such as the concept of a session but is otherwise completely rewritten by the work of Jeff alone through 2013, when many contributions over github were received after being released to pypi.
What does x/84 mean?
x/84 is a re-imagination of the early dial-up systems. Targeted for, but not limited to, running a bulletin board over the TCP/IP protocol. The name x/84 is derived from the theme of an “amiexpress-style system for an Orwellian future”.
It was thought of as a small part of a science fiction universe: an alternative future where governments have banned internet anonymity and free speech, and those who wish to have it must gateway to underground systems such as these to communicate.
It was a lot farther on the “science fiction” end of the spectrum 10 years ago...