If you guys can use the lowest end hosting solution (99$/month), that is only 5$ per month from 20 people.

Of course I cannot claim to understand why the server has such high demands of the loginserver, but anyway, what bandwidth is needed?


On my home DSL I am getting 6mbit up , 0.75mbit down, and that even can host a handfull of players if I so wanted to run a server. What exactly does the loginserver require for the number of players that use it? - would a 1mbit upload connection work well enough?

I'm downloading Abyss Web Server X1 2.4 now and it supports MySQL and a host of other things for (Mac/Intel/Linux/XP/Vista) etc..

I'm going to set it up tonight on my server and will try to get a message board going - a long and overdue thing for my site.

GeorgeS

The first thing that needs to be done is some form of communication needs to be established between you, the donors and them, the owners.
What you all did this week by donating to this project is becoming a rare thing on the internet - it just goes to show you really care about EqEmu (be it 1.00 or 100.00).
I think the biggest problem with donations at EqEmu is the method that's used via Sourceforge. I still do not fully understand why it all has to be like that.
I don't think I've ever "internet-donated" to anything before. If we "tilted" Doodmans paypal but were supposed to "tilt" FNW too, that's no problem, next month we'll tilt FNW's paypal.
But we (or at least me) would like to know what's going on, or even if this helps.
We are trying, and we hope you are too.
We want to feel like we're part of this too?
Right now I feel like there's a group of us that really like this whole scene , and love browsing the forums, chatting, helping each other out , and fiddling with our servers - but someone in a black cloak is standing by the wall with "the plug" in their hand, counting down the days to pull it out, putting an end to it all.

I think that the paypal via SF was just a easy way to do things. Now that the project is going to be driven more so by donations then before, there may be a need for a better donation system. As long as the money goes where it is supposed to thats fine by me. Well, time to jump over to SF and put in a little bit to help out.

I have been reading all of this, and I know you guys don't know me but I have a few opinions on this subject.

First off, having been around for only a few weeks I can't say I'm any sort of veteran of Eqemulator. However, I played for years on live. What I noticed looking through this last night, was that alot of people are playing blindly. (ie: they don't know this is happening because they never go to the forums) I told my guild (server) last night and a few more people now know that didn't and may just help out because of that fact.

Then another blind fact came up: How much do we need total? What's our donation goal for this time around so we don't lose hosting. I think we need to find that out asap, and make it well known so we can maybe have someone fill in the gap if we're close but failing.

My point with all this is that we need a bit more info, and we need to inform our users and players within the servers themselves. Not just on the forums because I know alot of people don't come back here but alot of people still play.

These are just suggestions. Take them as you will. I plan on donating.

Sorry if this seems harsh or blunt, I just woke up and don't intend it to sound that way.

Just a thought but I don't see a release since 3/15, maybe a new release with a built in default Message of the Day about people needing to donate so that all those people that are too lazy to change it... the players on those servers will see it (ps any server admins that could may want to change their message of the day if they don't mind).... just a thought /shrug

::Edit:: Hmm I bet that's actually in the database isn't it? I dunno maybe someone can think of something, if it's not too difficult to hardcode it in for 1 release /shrug

I donated already but I think it would really help to know a NUMBER, as in how much MORE is needed to make this work? Then maybe some of us can step up and make it happen financially.

So please, can someone give a report on how much is already in the server fund and how much more is needed, and quickly?

I've done what I can my friends, and that is rally us together and pump in some money. Other than that, Im just a mod here and my prime directive is to help stop spam and porn topics.
I can't speak for Dood and FNW, they gotta do that themselves or authorize someone to rep them. In fact, I'm just as freaked out as the rest of you.
The way I see it , even if it doesn't happen after the deadline, they still earned whatever we donated: We should have been "donating" a long time ago.
This project is well worth what ever we send their way.
I can tell you the two people to donate to is FNW and the Doodman - So if you sent money to Doodman, next time you should do FNW. I don't really understand why, I guess bounce from one to another with the donations for now, or maybe just split the money up two ways when you donate.

WOOT GO GO POWER EMU, MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER EMU....... sorry, had to get that off my chest. Anyhow, I dropped a dime in today, kinda all I could do at the moment, with gas crested right at 3.15 a gallon at the moment, it crippled me today to fill my car up and it take a whopping $42.00. I cried as the woman swiped all seven of my credit cards in ecstasy. I think she like it.

Anyhow, If the project does go under, is there anyway to make a login server. Does it have to have the same crypto as what we are not allowed to see, or can we design are own? I suppose that may be a dumb question as it has to work with the client itself. But like a variant of the mini login that can read by user name and password, maybe with no encryption. I dunno, just a way for some of us to keep a server going, ya know?

All,

The reason we are not posting any hard numbers, is that right now, we do not have any hard numbers. We are still working various options to decide what is the best route to take, and each of them has different expenses. This is why we put out a general call for donations: we know there are going to be expenses, but we do not know what exactly. We figured it was less impactful than setting a worst case goal for people to shoot for, possibly making sacrifices they are not 100% comfortable with, and then have people upset if we find a lower cost solution.

We have gotten enough donations to ensure that the project will have hosting for at least a few months, even if we have to go out and rent a new dedicated server. However, we are looking at the combination of several factors in order to choose a long term, sustainable solution. The major pivot points are related to long term overall costs, personal costs incurred by Doodman or I (not just money), and sustainability of community support. We will keep you informed as decisions are made.

Thanks to all who have donated.

The big issue with hard numbers is as soon as you hit that magic # people stop donating, then there has to be a call out in a week for the next month, by not posting it right now people are continuing to donate.


Hard numbers will come, nobody is going to pocket the money and run.

You two are right, we really dont need hard numbers to meet. I'm just wondering how things are going myself, like a host has been found, or we have one that will do everything but loginserver, or one that can only do login server and we have to have the site on another server.... things like that. Anyhow, its good to know that we have done pretty go by donations, I'm going to keepem comin as I can afford at the moment.

Your donation system is not to your best interest; you need to make a simple and straight-forward donation button that can be available anywhere on your sites.
This way, even the casual user/player can donate with little effort.
You should also bring back the forums to accommodate donors.

After being with the project for so many years ive seen alot of devs come and go This Project is the one of the best ones out there We cant let this project die.Doodman and fathernit are the major backbones to the project they should get the most graditude but without the community to make it all work eqemu wont be there So please donate and keep the project going.

What exactly is needed for hosting, I run my own ISP i might be able to help y'all out..

Kicked in $20
 

Hey guys:

I kicked in $20, hope it helps. Any chance we could get a status update?

Also, I run a dedicated P4 3.2Ghz 1GB RAM Linux box with SUSE 10.2 on which I'm running EqEmu (WintersHaven, only up when I'm playing around with the db and testing, or playing with friends) in a Debian text based VM - if you're desperate I'm happy to help, although obviously you don't know sh** about me :) Thought I'd offer tho.

Good luck!

Regards,
Mg

If needed, I can share the project (web, svn and so on) on the shared hosting service I owned for free.

Latency with International are fine and the plateform is far enough to support this kind of project.

Regards,
fnemo.

You're right, Matt. FNW posting "we're ok for now but need to figure out some stuff to be ok long term" is basically what I was after, and all that's really needed to be said at this point.

Wewt!

You guys are back! I was a bit concerned when everything was down last night. Are you guys settled in at the new host, or is this still temporary?

No, the core switch blew up last night and i didnt get a replacement until this morning...

I am working with FN and DM to make sure the site dosent go offline until we have made arrangements for a new host.

Krusher

cool I was a little conserned myself.. thank you krusher for the extra help.. I am sure others thank you as well..

I hope things shape up for every one... I my be silent most of the time but I am here and hoping th ebest for every one..


kc7wzl

Don't forget about FNW! That last donation you see was me (I just forgot to log in sourceforge).
http://sourceforge.net/donate/index.php?user_id=997843
We need to give these guys a reason to stay around!
So lets lay some bucks on him too.

Hello all
I am not playing right now but I am very eager to setup my own server for my friends once the project moves on just a little bit farther. To make sure that this is a possibility I would be glad to do a monthly donation as soon as a good system is in place. I will go ahead and donate something in a few minutes for this month.

As others have stated donating to a single person dose not seem right. I do not know the best way to set it up but I am sure there is a good way that many others have done before that you could copy. Until a better system is in place I will be keeping my donations smaller and will be unlikely to setup a monthly auto pay.

Also as I do not play now I do not check the forms that often. normally once a week some times once every 2 weeks. Not sure if there is anyone that has time to do this but a weekly or monthly newsletter on the progress of the project or problems like this I would be glad to sign up too. just a thought.

Thanks for all the hard work
Starblight

never donated money like this before is this correct sounding

This email confirms that you have paid OSDN / VA Software (staff@sourceforge.net) $10.00 USD using PayPal.

I followed the link posted above just want to make sure it went to the right place.

Thanks
Starblight

Yours went to Doodman , so that's good - thanks!
you can veiw your comment here:
http://sourceforge.net/developer/use...ser_id=1113174

this message seems to be without any interest from your.
My hosting service is a real service. No a simple computer behind an adsl.

This thread is not about donating hosting space, it's about donating money - read the original post.

There was offerers from at least 5 people for Boxes, No offense to you, but its a trust issue, anyone who hosts it would have access to everything, login server, forums, peoples user names and passwords.

This is one of the reasons this type of assistance wasnt taken from people thats aren't well known.

A suggestion
 

Hello,
If I may make a suggestion -

I know this probably isn't something that will probably happen, but its just a suggestion...

Why not sell some sort of premium account for EQEmu, and make there be special features for premium users?

This is pretty common practice - even plain old web sites like Caster's Realm, Allakhazam, have premium membership offers.

This type of "taking it personally" is precisely why the admins do not take just anyone's offer. If you get all bent out of shape because they won't jump at your generous offer, what will you do when someone pisses you off in 6 mos?

No offense, don't take it personally really. My offer was ignored, too, and Mattmeck LOVES me! :D

will give SOE a reason to shut us down if we charge for anything here..... they can then claim were making a profit off there product.

Whats the status on the move? How much cash do you have? How much do you need?

I was thinking that while I was reading his post, haha.
I'm sorry I can't donate, I have no money left in my paypal account at the moment. I will donate as soon as I have some money.

So why hasn't SOE shut down the other sites?
Anyway, I had a "points for donation" system in mind, not really a "pay to play" one.

What other sites?

EQEmu is the only emulator that I know of thats still active, and any individual server that charged, or offered perks for donation to them got shut down

I think he is talking about the specific server sites, that have their own patchers. I could be very wrong.

Some servers have been issued C&Ds, I can think of 4 off the top of my head. They generally had at least 2 of the following against them:

Well advertised (banners over the net, merchandise)
Very large populations (Well over 200)
Patchers/custom client content
Requested donations

I was here for quite a long time here... I worked on the code, added stuff with yodason and participating in introducing non SoE stuff in EQemu with Khan. I helped WC with his tools as I could. I launched the ProjectEQ, donating (as lot of us) to this project, etc etc.

I'm not just an unknown guy and I also can "publish" my personal information if required.

So don't tell me I'm not well known down here ...

There's a few old schoolers left around, most of us don't post much; such as myself. But just because we aren't known doesn't mean we don't exist. This project is dear to my heart and I want to see it continue its development.

So if you have a few extra bones you can spare, donate.

Thats all for now.