Hi,

I'm gonna do a "weiterbildung" (further education?) and have to move out of here. However, the city where I'm gonna move to is on RΓΌgen, hardly any flats around there, only small holiday appartments. -the one I'm probably going to rent offers me to use the shared DSL line from the renter, vie wlan, but they ask 20 euros a month for that...definitely too much for a shared line IMHO.

Thats why I'm playing with the idea to get an umts pcmci card for my laptop...but there's a jungle of tarifs and options and I'm kind of lost in this jungle.

Has anyone an experiences with this and can cive hints and/or advice me which provider/tarif to use or better not to use?

Any information is helpful, thanks in advancement,

Cebot

I've got a song which I really like, but I've got no clue what language it is in.
It's the song "Prayer" by "Diskonnekted". My guess is that it is an actual prayer and that it is either arabic or hebrew, but I've got no clue.

If anyone could figure out what it is, write it down with latin letters and translate it to english even I'd be really thankful. Here's a snippet of the song from their label (the prayer is on it)
http://media.alfa-matrix.com/diskonnekted/oldschoolpolicies/oldschoolpoliciestrack02.mp3

Cebot

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat and is a standardized RFC protocol for multi user real time chat. To be able to connect to it you need an IRC client. At the end I will list a few of them for different platforms.

All PlaneShift IRC Channels are located on the FreeNode IRC Network. Most IRC Clients will have this network preconfigured, however, for the case it isn't you will have to add the network on your own. For that create a new network entry and add the server irc.freenode.net to it – it is a meta server which will redirect you to the server which is closest to you.

There are different channels for PS, here's a list of them:

• #planeshift – the official fan channel, talk with other players. Developers and GameMaster are also around.
• #planeshift-gmtalk – the public GameMaster channel. No GM ingame and you need help? Go here and poke one of the GM's by saying their name. This is not a channel you are allowed to idle in, when your issue is solved you will have to leave this channel again.
• #planeshift-offtopic – a few players come into the channel to talk about whatever they want, mostly not related to PS.
• #planeshift-build – For public development, for help with building the client or a local server, to contact engine developers, technical support channel.

There are a few other channels, but you are not allowed to join those unless you are part of the team (GM, prospect, developer, tester...), so I won't list those here.

FreeNode also hosts the channel for CrystalSpace3d, the 3d engine behind PS. Their channel is #crystalspace

Some guilds also host their guild channel on FreeNode, even tho FreeNode is not intended for such Consult the guild of your interest to find out their IRC channel and whether they are hosted on FreeNode or on another network.

You need help with general Linux, Windows, Mac issues? No problem, there are dozens of channels for that as well. English is not your native language? Also no problem, most projects have a channel in other languages as well, just add a dash followed by the country code to the end of the channel (e.g. β€œ-de” for Germany, sometimes it's a period instead of a dash)

• #Linux – For general Linux questions.
• #ubuntu – Distribution specific issues for Ubuntu.
• #debian – Same for Debian GNU/Linux.
• #gentoo – Guess what, This channel is for Gentoo Linux.

I could probably list more channels, but this guide is not intended for that, there are channels for most distributions, the above list is just to give  a general idea.

Some IRC Clients:

• Xchat – Opensource, All platforms, Windows binary costs money. – http://www.xchat.org
• KVIRC – Opensource, originally part of the K Desktop Environment. Available for different platforms. - http://www.kvirc.net
• mIRC – Proprietary, Windows only. - http://www.mirc.com
• IRC@Work – Web based client, now called mibbit, free to use – http://www.mibbit.com

There are dozens of other clients available for almost every platform and operating system you could imagine, if the above list doesn't suit you, feel free to look for a client on your own. If you think I am missing an important client here, send me a PM please.

Disclaimer:
This guide was written by me, Cebot. No PS Dev is responsible for it, therefore they cannot be blamed for any wrong information in it. However, if you find anything wrong with this guide send me a PM please and I may fix it.
URLs listed in this guide are out of my responsibility, this means neither me, nor any PS member can be blamed for the content of third party websites.
I tried my best to have proper grammar, punctuation and spelling, if you, however, find any mistake you may keep it, it's free (or send my a PM and I may fix it).
Within all PS channels it is not allowed to discuss spoilers. As spoiler count quest solutions, locations of mobs, NPC's or shops. Please avoid those questions. If you are stuck in a quest please check the bugtracker at http://bugs.hydlaa.com if it is already known, if not report it! If you, however, need urgent help, Rizin has offered several times to help out, You may send her a PM on the forums, a Query on IRC or an e-mail. Be patient as she is a busy person – and be kind to her!
Within all IRC channels (not only PS related channels) common sense and good behavior is expected from you. Bad behavior, insults, bad language, floods and so far... will be punished by the channel operators.
If you have to paste more than 3 lines, please use a pastebin like http://pastebin.ca or http://rafb.net/paste and only paste the URL into the channel.

Cebot

The devs plan another stress test on Laanx, because the last one was announced too late on the forums.
So before it gets forgotten again, here's the reminder.

Next Stress Test is on 2008-05-10 at 20:00 GMT - Please everyone log in with as many clients as possible. It is really important to the devs, so take it seriously please.

I've never been the type of guy who wears a tuxedo, but I slowly get comfortable with that (it's a must for my verbal final examination and for the prom).

I have absolutely no idea how to tie a necktie, tried it a few times with the four in hand knot, but ended with a asymmetric thin and ugly knot, tho I'd like a comfortable and thick knot. Thus I find the (double) windsor knot quite cool. Unfortunately I don't really get the "howtos" and am unable to tie it...

HELP!!!

People, seriously I think you ALL should get a cup of tea, re-read your threads, thinking about them, correcting them and then posting them.

the cup of tea: to calm down on your anger about <insert reason here>
re-read your threads: to see where you made mistakes while being angry. I do not mean spelling and grammer, but the way you point out your thoughts
thinking about them: think about better ways of expressing your words. don't be aggressive, or insulting, or disrespectful, etc etc etc
correcting them: once you found a better way, correct your original text, then post them.

Come on guys, most posts in the forum turn out to be flame wars about FOOBAR, some even sound like a little child in the suppermarket crying when it doesn't get the sweets. Come on guys, aren't we all here to have fun, to enjoy the time together, to create a good game (that for devs and contributers is), to learn from eachother and so far.

The complaint department is called that way, because it is meant to be a place for complaints, but do you always have to write down complaints in a whining way? Think about constructive critics instead of whining, think about respect for peoples work instead of calling their work down in a rude way.

You got a problem with one person? Well, sort it out then, there are ways to do so: Talking with that person on irc, or in pm's or whatever, if both parties are willing to solve the issues you surely can solve it, but rudeness and respectlessness doesn't bring you any farther, instead it causes anger. You think devs and gm's are rude to you? think about how you are to them. Be nice to someone and he will be nice to you.
You think noone is listening to you when being the calm and smart guy? You are wrong, people are listening, community and ps team.
You think devs do not care for you? Well, there are tons of people in the community and only a handful of devs. Due to all the ranting some have decided to just do their work on PS instead of being active in the forums or irc channels, some have a thick skin that doesn't allow you to touch them with your words and therefor still are around in the public channels (forum and irc, that is). Don't expect the devs/mods/gm's to reply on EVERY post on the forum or EVERY message on irc, if they'd do that there would be no time left for their work on PS

A little message to the devs too: a little bit more activity on the forums and irc would be nice, but i know your time is limited and you are maybe sick of the ranting.

at the end i can only say: We are all civilized and more or less educated humans, do we really have to flame/rant  eachother? Can't we just complain in a way it is helpful? Can't we just have a great time together instead of p***ing off eachother?

PS: feel free to give me the crap, but remember my first words please, get a cup of tea first