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Grex > Coop7 > #70: Let's talk about a GUI for Grex | |
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| Author |
Message |
| 11 new of 60 responses total. |
srw
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response 50 of 60:
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Aug 14 05:48 UTC 1995 |
Authentication is possible without going to a netscape's shttp, which is
not supported by any other browsers. The server can verify the user's
password on the first interaction, and then require a proxy password
for all subsequent interactions. these can be embedded in the
tags, so the user only types in the first one. Anyone know a better way?
I'm really not fond of using Netscape's shttp.
I am definitely not planning on allowing anonymous posting.
Have you tried the conferences at http://www.sfgate.com/ ?
They are like this (except that they repeat the original PW)
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marcvh
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response 51 of 60:
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Aug 15 23:29 UTC 1995 |
Er, Netscape doesn't support SHTTP, they do SSL wrapped around HTTP.
(the collected pair is occasionally called "https".) SSL allows for
authentication in theory, but nobody actually implements that part.
SSL only allows authentication of the server to the client, not vide-
versa (and in practice it doesn't even do that all that well due to
bad UI decisions, but that's something I'll refrain from raving about.)
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srw
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response 52 of 60:
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Aug 19 14:21 UTC 1995 |
Sorry, Marc. I thought that electronic Malls (like branch.com in Ann Arbor)
were offering secure transactions (SHTTP) by encryption, and that this
was a feature of the newest browsers and servers, in particular,
Netscape. I admit a lack of knowledge of the technical details.
I am concerned about security in a web-based confencing system, because
passwords need to be sent on each transaction. That worry can be blunted
by not using the actual account password so often. Don't you think so?
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srw
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response 53 of 60:
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Aug 25 05:44 UTC 1995 |
I have now begun work on a CGI based conferencing solution. My plan is to
make it look as much as possible like the demo pages I did. I called
those "WebSpan" and plan on calling the system that.
I would like to proceed in three phases: (1) Read-Only Anonymous
(2) ReadOnly with authentication and participation files, and
(3) Read write.
As time goes by, after phase 3, I plan on continuing to add features until
it supports most of the picospan features. I would probably skip
"party" items, though.
The first phase is not quite finished, but is very close. I learned a
lot about CGI over the weekend, and I am still ironing out some
picospan file-format issues.
The next obstacle for demoing this on Grex is getting CGI scripts turned
back on in httpd. Another potential problem is httpd performance on
the cyberspace communication network link. This performance can be
abominable at times. I will make some inquiries.
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lilmo
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response 54 of 60:
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Sep 3 19:21 UTC 1995 |
Just a small tho't: put a disclaimer about link speed on the login Webspan
page, so everyone that calls will be reminded.
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steve
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response 55 of 60:
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Sep 3 23:57 UTC 1995 |
Thats a good point. I've had a number of people mail me who've
I've talked into telnetting here, only to have them leave when they
thought Grex was down, and complain at me that Grex is never ip.
(up). People are so used to fast connection that they just don't
think about what it might be like, not having one.
...Such is the state of public access computing facilities for
the next while, unless we get some grant of some kind for a T1
link.
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srw
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response 56 of 60:
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Sep 4 18:59 UTC 1995 |
Good thought, Mark. It ought to be usable in the early morning, at least.
I need CGI to get any farther on Grex. I have suspending work on this
temporarily while I put some time into installing software on Grex's
new computer. I will get CGI turned on after a while, and we can see what the
demo will look like.
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lilmo
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response 57 of 60:
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Sep 5 20:57 UTC 1995 |
Yes, let's not delay implementation of the new computer in order to install
something to slow down the old one !!! :-)
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janc
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response 58 of 60:
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Sep 18 15:39 UTC 1995 |
Steve: I have source to a "bbsread" program that I wrote for M-Net a while
ago. It is a read-only interface to PicoSpan conferences that also maintains
the users' participation files in a manor consistant with PicoSpan. It was
done as a tool to create conferences that are read-only to non-particpants,
and wasn't used for long because M-Net soon switched to YAPP which has that
feature built in. So it may have some bugs, but I think it might be a good
starting point for you and might let you skip over Read-Only Anonymous and
go directly to ReadOnly with Authentication and particpation files.
I plan to get back on the Web-newuser project Real Soon Now, and would be
happy to provide any help I can on WebSpan.
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srw
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response 59 of 60:
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Sep 19 06:13 UTC 1995 |
Thanks, Jan. I have a read-only (anonymous) version of WebSpan that works.
I can't run it on Grex, though, because we don't have CGI support
here. I can't run it anywhere else because there are no other systems
I use that have picospan. I know it works because I "borrowed" a
conference and took it elsewhere to check it out.
WebSpan does a good job of making it easy to generate HTML.
It is weak on Picospan internals, though.
It might be of some interest to see bbsread.
You and Marcus and I should get together and chat about this stuff rsn.
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janc
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response 60 of 60:
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Sep 19 22:20 UTC 1995 |
Good plan.
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