[Techtalk] Chat Server, Take 2

[James]

> > 4.  Kids here are also stupid.
>
> Look on the bright side: it's harder to beat someone up online than IRL :)

The chat server will not be used for general discussion.  It will only be up
when we have certain events goig on, so hopefully that will be limited.

>
> > 5.  Kids here are lazy and it will be another web thing we put so much
> > time into and they don't use.
>
> Always a risk, but I suspect chat would be a popular service for them...
> (Now, WHY otherwise sane people would go to the trouble of accessing a
> chat service to talk to someone living a few hundred yards away is another
> matter, but they seem to like it...)

See above :D

>
> > Now this time, my sysadmin is so obsessed he is willing to pay for it
> > (Since somehow we got state money for software).
>
> Sounds good - I'd use an OSS system and put the money into hardware,
> though...
>
> > The requirements are:
>
> > - Run on Linux and Apache, though NT is a slim possibility, but I sure
> > as hell won't be doing setting it up and maintaining it.
> > - Easy to use, configure and maintain
> > - Be able to support moderation (a la +m in IRC), so we can control
> > the flow of chat
> > - Be able to ban pesky kids
> > - Be able to kill the server when not in use so the dumb kids here
> > won't get seduced by a 45 year old unemployed construction worker at
> > 3am.
>
> An IRC backend plus a Java client will do this from any old *nix box at no
> licensing cost. If you run something like the DrDevil ircd, this gives
> admins (IRCops) total power, which you'd probably want.

I tried the Java backend that JenV showed me, but I could not get it to
connect and I tried setting up IRC servers on 2 or 3 different machines for
it to connect to.  I'll take a whack at it again though.

>
> If the public access clients are NT machines, where each user has their
> own domain logon, you can run an NT identd server on each client; then, if
> user abc23 is being a pain, just add a ban or Gline for abc23@* and he's
> gone.
The students will be doing this from home so no domain logons etc.

- The Other James