This message is a request for comments. If you don't want to read it, or just don't care, please feel free to hit the delete key any time. Thanks. Jeremy and I have had a few discussions about an administrative toolkit for CircleMUD, based on an X-Windows environment. Due to the increasing number of new CircleMUD admins, and the time constraints of existing admins, I felt it would be an interesting and quite useful project to develop such a toolkit. Jeremy has offered to make such a toolkit a part of the CircleMUD distribution, or at least make it available alongside the releases. This is what I have envisioned - a fully functional graphical interface, with the ability to maintain and manipulate the CircleMUD 3.0 release. The admin will have the ability to modify player files, manipulate and handle mail, set the data files, security options, etc. All with a hopefully easy-to-use interface. I have also added in a terminal "shell", which the player will be able to connect to the MUD directly from the interface. I have just about prototyped an *offline* Xwindows database creation extensions to the interface. I basically hacked it all together in a few weeks, and now I am ready for the design and coding of the release. The package will be either done in C w/ embedded tcl/tk, or possibly in straight tcl/tk, therefore eliminating most motif compilation problems. The package should run under SunOS, HP, IBM, SGI, and Linux systems. But before I undertake this, I want to submit the project to the subscribers of the list who are administrators, and ask for your suggestions. Let your mind go free - whatever you've ever wanted in the form of utilities or an interface, and an offline creation system, I'd like to hear about it. If you have a great idea but no time to implement it, share it with me and if it fits I'll put it in. However, before you send me comments please let me state that I do not want flame mail. Any "that's stupid", "you suck", "don't help newbie admins", "I don't have Xwindows", and especially "I hate to keep asking but when the hell are you going to release..." messages will be deleted without having read them. I have been fully sponsored for the project, with a final *beta tested* release expected by December 15th, 1995. This is not a "dreamer" message or a whimsical idea, and all constructive comments will be considered. What I would like to hear is "I saw a system that had a cool ...", "I wish it was modeled after ... software", "allowing builders to use the offline creation without account access would be cool", "keep ... separate from ... because", "drag-and-drop ... would be awesome", "a dynamic line graph of the amount of players online would be cool". These comments are exactly the type I would like to hear. If you are interested in such a system, and even if you are not, any helpful comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated, not only by me, but all the administrator who end up using the toolkit. Thank you! ==================================================================== Christopher Herringshaw Networking and Special Projects Division Medical Center Information Technology (MCIT) xxviper@med.umich.edu University of Michigan Medical Center, B1911 CFOB 1414 Catherine Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0704 (313) 747-2778 ====================================================================
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