News:
8/8/2002
Holy smokes!!! This has not been updated for a while. I have been focusing on real life for the last
month and have not been able to do any work on this site. But, I plan to do lots of work very soon!!
Stay Tuned. . .
6/24/2002
I am back from my moving trip! We are working on a first version GUI and I
am working towards implementing chat rooms. Hopefuly the first real release
will attract chatters!
I am working on the user list web script protocol. See it
here.
6/14/2002
The stable prototype seems to be working well (after I fixed a few more bugs).
That was an ordeal :) Anyway, I will be gone until 6/20, but should be able
to check my mail at least once so do not hesitate to email me at the address
below!
6/11/2002
I released the stable prototype. Now lets see if it really is stable! You
can download the file from the link on the top right side of the page!
6/10/2002
I am working on a more stable prototype. Until I get that finished AliceBot
will not be running. If you have problems connecting to the chat room
come back later. . .
6/7/2002
AliceBot has been integrated with CatChat!!!!!!!!!!!
It took me a few hours, but I did it. The process turned out to be
very easy and I had to make zero changes to my networking code!
I will try to keep the bot up so that people can talk to it. To do
so, I will have to eliminate users timing out on the web page cgi
script. So that means that if you have trouble connecting or running
the prototype version, you will have to wait until I clean up the
server to get it working again.
6/4/2002
A version of the CatChat gui requirements has been uploaded in Word 2000
format.
Here it is.
6/3/2002
The current protocol specification has been uploaded.
Here it is.
5/31/2002
- I am thinking about connecting an
Alice Bot
to CatChat. I think it would be cute to chat with when nobody
is around . . .
5/30/2002
- The project has been started! This web site is pretty bare so far!
- I uploaded the current Java source to CVS and released the prototype!
Be warned: the code is not anywhere near production quality.
Help Wanted:
- GUI designer/developer
- TCP/IP networking programmer
- Security "expert" (i.e. a chat hacker)
- Graphic artist
- Alpha Testers
If you are interested in any of these areas (or any other that you can think of) please
email me!
What is this project?
CatChat is a peer-to-peer chat application. This simply means that
there is no central server in charge of hosting a chat room. Instead,
everybody running CatChat would be connected to someone else that is
chatting. This takes away the need for a large single server and
brings the control down to the actual users.
Features planned:
- Full color/style text chatting with support for:
- Images
- Sounds
- Online profiles
- Instant messages
- Actions (predefined and custom)
- Away messages/logging of messages received when away
- User list will support: private messages, ignoring, banning (via voting)
- Bots (pending further exploration--plan to support Alice Chat Bot)
- Future version will support secure connection
If you would like a feature added to the list,
go here and fill out a feature request.
What can CatChat do for me?
- Anybody can set up their own chat rooms without having to
understand how to set up a chat server.
- Do not have to depend on a central server
- More community oriented
- More private/secure (a future version will support secure
connections)
- You have more control
Click Here for a more techincal
explanation
Click Here for the protocol specification
Downloading Information
Download the current release
To install:
- Download CatChat.jar
- If you use Windows 98 or better, double click CatChat.jar
- If you use another platform make sure you have Java runtime version 1.3.1
and that you are in the directory you downloaded CatChat.jar
Type: "java -jar CatChat.jar" at a shell or command prompt.
** you can get JRE 1.3.1 at:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/
- Go to the Login menu, Enter a unique nickname and click Connect.
- Chat away!
Information for developers
This project will have a standard set of rules that must be followed
before a file can be submitted. At the very least I want javadoc styled
comments that follow the bare essential recommendations Sun made for
documenting Java source. (I will provide a link later. . .) To make a
long story short, my source does not meet my standard so if you look at
what I have on CVS right now be warned! :P
Essentially this means:
Since this project is new I need developers!!! If you would like to contribute here is a
list of people that I need:
- somebody that is talented at Swing.
- someone who has ideas for chat rooms that would be willing to work with me to design
the features that CatChat will have.
- an artist to create graphics for the home page and a really cool cat logo.
- someone interested in security to figure out what is insecure about the protocol. I
know several things so far that make CatChat vulnerable to malicious chatters :)
- people willing to chat :)
This site is under construction
Email me for more
info.
Have nice day!
Michael S. King -
mking20@xmission.com
|
Download the current release
See CatChat protocol version 0.1!
See CatChat GUI requirements document version
0.1!
Browse CVS
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