Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Sprit

Proposing higher ADSL upstream bandwidth to TM

Sprit — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 15:12:52 +0800

As many of us are still stuck on TM's ADSL service, with Unifi not coming in our neighborhood anytime soon, how can we propose to TM to raise the current upstream maximum of 512Kbps to 1Mbps or more?

With Streamyx, even when you are provided with 512Kbps of upstream, you can only use up to around 400kbps effectively because of ADSL overhead. If you are streaming or downloading at around 3Mbps, TCP ACK packets will consume almost 50% of your upstream bandwidth. When your upstream bandwidth gets congested, it harms latency and download speeds.

Today we are using upstream more than ever. We are syncing cloud storage like dropbox and google drive. Your smartphone is synchronizing images and databases along with 10 other phone apps installed that requires syncing to work. Let's not forget uploading images and videos to your favorite social network taking forever. Etc.

Why TM has kept Streamyx's upload limit at maximum 512Kbps for over a decade to today is beyond me.

So how do we let TM know in 2014, we demand more upstream throughput on Streamyx?

Registrar reserved ones domain.

Sprit — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 19:51:45 +0800

I am assisting a friend with his domain issues. I'll just call him Mr.See and the hosting company host-r-us here.

Mr.See was discussing through email with a host-r-us about getting a website and a domain.

Mr.See mentioned the '.com.my' domain name that he'll be interested in. This is the 1st time that Mr.C is getting a website.
Without throughly explaining the details of getting a domain and website, host-r-us replied that they had already "reserved" the '.com.my' domain name for him.

Mr.See was not even sure to host on host-r-us yet as details of the pricing and what he'll be getting wasn't clear yet. Later, after getting the details of the package which was too expensive for Mr.See's budget, he decided to go else where.

Mr.See is planing to go to another host that offer's a free domain together with hosting. Now host-r-us is asking Mr.See to pay rm80 to complete the domain registration.

I checked with whois at MYNIC. It responded with "Domain name is not available for registration"
From the MYNIC help page, it says "Domain name is not available for registration" means "The domain name application is currently under consideration"

So this mean host-r-us had already started with the registration, right? All while Mr.See had not even confirmed with them the domain or started paying for the registration.

Mr.See is afraid that if he choose to go with another host, his chosen domain would be held by host-r-us. Can host-r-us practice this? Isn't this blackmail?
What can Mr.See do to resolve this? I need advice from the experienced seniors here.

Help save BSD Magazine

Sprit — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:44:33 +0800

Polish published BSD Magazine will closed unless sales go up really soon (by Monday) because they're not making the sales figures they need to survive.

The editor sent out an email to the BSD community seeking help for one last chance to increase their retail sales figure so they'll be allowed to continue publishing. Unfortunately it's available at Barnes & Noble and Borders. Not sure if BSD Mag can be found at your local magazine stall or Borders Time Square.

Here is a link to some of their articles in PDF including the full 2nd issue 'OpenBSD in the Limelight':
http://bsdmag.org/prt/view/pdf-articles.html

I am a subscriber since their 1st issue and currently continuing my subscription for the 2nd year. They are the only magazine out there now dedicated to BSD. It'll be sad to see them leave the BSD scene. It's not everyday we have a magazine dedicated and devoted just to BSD users.

Here is the link to the subscriptions page for those interested:
http://bsdmag.org/prt/view/subscribe.html
The editor notified me that subscribing for the print version might not be a viable option now as the future for BSD Mag is not clear at the moment.

Those interested to help can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking the red button on the right side of the main page of bsdmag.org or use this link: http://www.bsdmag.org/prt/view/subscribe-now.html
By collecting a large database of newsletter subscribers, they can justify continuing the electronic version of the magazine.

Datacentres & Co-location for Game Servers

Sprit — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:21:14 +0800

I'm planning to co-locate a FPS game server so am seeking a data centre that offers a better latency for local players which I believe most are on streamyx.

The game server is unreleased ArmA2 which requires 64kbps per client. While an FPS game servers doesn't require dedicated bandwidth the whole day, during peak hours from 8pm-2am, I expect it to consume 1mb for 16 clients and 2mb for 32 clients.

The good thing about such game servers is that the active periods are often the opposite of business servers. Weekends should see the most activities. So based on these features mentioned, I believe co-locating on a shared 100mb bandwidth will be more cost effective than getting dedicated bandwidth.

After reading around, I find Jaring's TPM data centre to be very cost efficient at rm500 per month for 4U. However I'm planning to start out with 1U first as I'm uncertain of the response I'll be getting. Will be looking for people who are also seeking to share a 4U package. Not anytime soon though, will be hosting from home at the beginning. As it's an unreleased game so server requirements aren't 100% sure yet and reception locally is yet to be known. I have another thread here just for that : http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1018397

The latency for Jaring TPM to streamyx users is also uncertain for me. Some say it's bad as Jaring and TM are different companies running on different networks. Forgot where but I've read that Jaring TPM has a 10mb or 155mb link to a exchange gateway for local ISPs. Got a few clients in Sarawak. Recently latency between streamyx users between east and west malaysia has increased based on periodical pinging tests. Last year I observed a latency around 50-70ms, recently it's 80-100ms.

Which data centre does most game host run on? I'll be glad to hear suggestions.

Note01: Not interested in solutions from hosting companies as a game server isn't mission critical to justify the added cost.

Note02: I'm aware there's a co-location thread here but it's located in the Broadband User-2-User sub-forum where most post there are ISP rants and further more the thread is old with recent post left unanswered.

ArmA II (Operation Arrowhead coming, 29th June 10)

Sprit — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:45:47 +0800

ArmA 2 is the next successor to the Operation Flashpoint and ArmA (Armed Assault) series of military simulation games by Bohemia Interactive Studio. ArmA 2 and its predecessors tries to depict a combined warfare of tanks, infantry and helicopters/airplanes in a believable manner. ArmA 2 will bring one of the most authentic battlefield experience of combined arms when released.

Release date is on 19th May for Europe and 26th of June 2009 for Australia, New Zeland and North America.

QUOTE(Wikipedia)

ArmA 2 is a first person shooter (FPS) that endeavours to depict modern warfare in a realistic - not cinematic - manner.

QUOTE(Frederf @ BIS forums)

OFP, ArmA 1 and ArmA 2 is an engaging sandbox tactical simulation game with strong multiplayer abilities. OFP/ArmA is fun because the player is immersed psychologically in a choice of military situations requiring cunning, teamwork, and other abilities to succeed either alone, with or against other humans.

ArmA 2 features streaming map technology with land area of 225 kilometres square, twice the size of the previous ArmA land map area. As a comparison the The Elder Scrolls:Oblivion world is 41km square while Far Cry 2's world is 50km square (I read it's divided to 2 parts).

There are various roles a player can play with variety of over 50 weapons and over 70 vehicles from tank, bombers to mountain bikes.

ArmA 2 has strong replayability as the included map/mission editor is very powerful so we can expect a diverse choice of missions, mods or even radically redesigned gameplay from the mod community.
The mod community had been creating varieties of campaign/mission and mods both for co-op & PvP in the previous ArmA 1 and OFP. Until today many mods for ArmA 1 is still being created.

I hope the provided links below can give a better insight on the game itself.

Upadates:
ArmA II International version released! (19/6/09)
Patch 1.04 had been released. (15/9/09)
ARMA 2 - Windows Dedicated Server 1.04 released (15/9/09)
The official demo for ArmA 2 has been released please check the link provided below.
ARMA 2 - Operation Arrowhead Standalone ARMA 2 Expansion Pack Coming 2010 for PC-DVD.
Complete suite of tools to create all type of content for Arma II releases.
Patch 1.05 had been released new(22/12/09)
Project Reality Studios announced developing of the Project Reality ArmA2 PvP Mod new(12/3/10)
ARMA 2 - Operation Arrowhead release dated on 29th June 2010. Source: Armaholic new(23/4/10)

Random user screenshots from official BIS ArmA 2 photography thread:

Links:
Official ArmA 2 Website
BIS Developer's Blog
ArmA 2 on Facebook
ArmA 2 wikipedia page

Guide:
Dslyecxi's ArmA2 Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Guide new(19/6)

Media:
High detail map of Chernarus PDF warning:large file (43MB)
ArmA 2 Screenshots
ArmA 2 vimeo Channel
ArmA 2 Youtube channel
ArmA 2 GameTrailers Channel
TrackIR5 & ArmA2 demo
ARMA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Alliance forces deploy (teaser)

Order: new
Steam Available
The Software Boutique Available (as of 23rd April 10)
pcgame.com.my Backorder (as of 23rd April 10)
youbeli.com Available (as of 23rd April 10)

Online multiplayer gaming in Malaysia

Sprit — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:26:47 +0800

I was looking up some google app engine created web application and found a web survey app and tried creating a short survey without any real aim. Gaming is a field I kinda know better so I put in online gaming questions.

Care to take some time to fill out the form? The survey form is located at - http://www.cafesurvey.com/?fuw15vem

Results is over here - http://www.cafesurvey.com/viewResults?fuw15vem - but it should be empty at the moment since I created this at 3 in the morning.

Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat

Sprit — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 06:24:19 +0800

Intro copied and paste from wikipedia:

QUOTE

Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat, or INS for short, is a realism-based Half-Life 2 modification, powered by the Source Engine. A public beta was released on July 2nd, 2007 and a patch to beta 1.1 was released 6 days later on July 8th. Soon after it was released, Insurgency became the most-played third-party mod on Steam.

The game has influence from the Rainbow Six series, Operation Flashpoint, Red Orchestra, Americas Army and Day of Defeat as pointed out by lead developer Jeremy Blum, who is also project lead of Red Orchestra, an UnrealTournamet 2003, 2004 mod.

I haven't tried this myself yet as I don't have Half-Life 2 or and other source engine games. Playing this mod requires a Steam engine powered game that comes with Source SDK Base (e.g. CS:S, HL2, HL2:DM, DOD:S, HL2 Ep1..etc) The mod will not work with free games that came with ATI's offer - HL2:DM and HL2:Lost Coast - as both mentioned free game doesn't include to your steam account the Source SDK Base. The Source SDK Base is required to run mods.

The mod is currently in beta 1.1 so expect it to be buggy. I don't go to cyber cafes a lot so I'm not aware of any CCs having Insurgency installed. Please update us if you know of any CCs running Insurgency.

The gameplay videos looks promising. You can find the official trailer on the official site. Bellow are sreenies, youtube posts and review links.

Links:
Insurgency:Modern Infantry Combat Official Site
Official Download Site with trailer
Insurgency Wikipedia page

Review:
CSNation review of Insurgency

Screenshots:

Insurgency Screenshots
Insurgency Screenshots 2

Videos:
[YOUTUBE]ZXgK70u_cuQ[/YOUTUBE][YOUTUBE]gbR3OiEz_kY[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]fxjas1otGC0[/YOUTUBE][YOUTUBE]Y0g3a33MWsI[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]oAg2LC-HBvE[/YOUTUBE]