Computer/keyboard/internet advice

[Shzrei]

Hey guys!

I've been pretty AWOL for a few months - I don't have a PC and since work changed my laptop 1) I can't install anything on it (thus no mud clients) and 2) even playing using other methods on it I died every time I logged in. Which may have been due to the laptop keyboard size and trouble typing but I think was mostly because I've come to rely on clients as a crutch.

I also need to get out of the habit of gaming and reading in bed.

I'm looking for recommendations for PCs and laptops ideal for playing WoTmud, monitors and silent/fast keyboards.

I'd prefer to keep costs down as much as possible - but buying a $400 EePC and not being able to type or pk on it isn't something that would be considered.

As a secondary topic I'd also really like peoples opinions on the best mud clients to use atm (I really loved some of the stuff I was doing with mudlet but it seemed slow, and the lack of a good tick timer was driving me crazy).

I'm in Australia so international options may be a struggle depending on the outlet.

Oh! and if anyone is tech savvy - years ago there was a lot of discussion about trace routes and how to optimise your ping and connection speed for WoTmud - if anyone is able to walk me through how to do this for my home connection I would be.. really grateful.

[Firimei Lang]

Glad you're OK, Was starting to worry! Sadly I can't offer any advice, just \o/ that you're back!

PS. Still got yews in rent..

[Taziar]

You guys have recycle PC places down under? Just get something cheap that has a semi-current OS. Don't need anything special to run any of the mud clients out there. Ask around all your family and friends and see if someone has something sitting in there closet you can have, any machine in the last decade should work just fine. Monitor and keyboard you will want to go shopping for, find something that feels right... I look for certain keypad and F-key setups, I like to use those for all of my macros.

I recommend zMUD, I use it and have been posting all the scripts I have written and remastered over on the wotmudarchives.org zMUD forum: House of Medakan
I'm going back through them all for optimization and bug testing right now, then plan on working on versions optimized for cMUD after the new year.

[Jomin]

We (the Mudlet Makers) are still chugging away trying to get 3.0.0 out the door. If you have been using a version 1.x/2.x you may want to try out a preview (currently working through the Greek alphabet so last I looked Vadim had pushed out iota as a sixth preview {he skipped zeta, eta and theta for some reason } or roll the latest development (as a "release" {smaller, faster, but much hard to debug what happens if/when things go wrong} rather than a "debug" compilation) version from the Github source.

I'm off to nuke (ban) somewhere between a few tens and a couple of hundred SpamBots from Mudlet's Forums before I get back to the code-face .

[Shzrei]

Thanks everyone for the advice,

I honestly hadn't even considered a second hand one as if I'm not going for top gaming specs it seems boxes are sooo cheap now,

But keyboard seems to make a huge difference.

Taziar - I might convert to Zmud - I know I had a lot more luck with triggers and god having a fade script it so much more useful.

Jomin - I wish so hard I could get a tick timer running and fix some lag issues I've been having. Maybe also get the map working a bit better so I can actually search rooms. I've made some really cool animated timers I think you'd like

[Maegon]

Oh! and if anyone is tech savvy - years ago there was a lot of discussion about trace routes and how to optimise your ping and connection speed for WoTmud - if anyone is able to walk me through how to do this for my home connection I would be.. really grateful.

I wouldn't mind hearing about this as well. Someone just told me about this today, and I apparently have quite a few connections despite being in the states.

As for a keyboard, I got a corsair strafe last year which has been a great mechanical keyboard for normal gaming, but I find myself typoing pretty often on the mud. Maybe it's just typing habits from years of mudding on a laptop keyboard where I could brush keys versus going to a mechanical that actually processes every tap.

[Aardvolf]

Aardvolf sends the complicated computers sprawling with a powerful bash.


I'd walk away after that, but I am zerk....


I run zMUD from a thumbdrive on my computers so I can swap from one device to the next.

[Taziar]

Aardvolf sends the complicated computers sprawling with a powerful bash.


I'd walk away after that, but I am zerk....


I run zMUD from a thumbdrive on my computers so I can swap from one device to the next.

Ever notice laggy from that? I do the same right now because I want to keep same version between my PC at home and my Asus ta1000 (or whatever it is called, transformer) while I test some stuff. My PC runs it fine, but the Asus is laggy and noticeably slower.

[Sanguine]

I have done similar in the past with a Dropbox folder or a BitTorrent Sync folder. It took some guesswork which file settings to change but it eventually worked. Rent script got fubared though if I forgot to close out of one location before opening it in the other, I'd have duped rent items stored.

[Aardvolf]

Aardvolf sends the complicated computers sprawling with a powerful bash.


I'd walk away after that, but I am zerk....


I run zMUD from a thumbdrive on my computers so I can swap from one device to the next.

Ever notice laggy from that? I do the same right now because I want to keep same version between my PC at home and my Asus ta1000 (or whatever it is called, transformer) while I test some stuff. My PC runs it fine, but the Asus is laggy and noticeably slower.

Run everything on PCs, but dont see any more lag than most people.