I suppose I shouldn't cheer and promise things'll be back 100% now, but it looks like the main hardware problem is now fixed. I must admit that it looked like this was the case -thrice- already. So hold tight!

I also used the chance to upgrade to Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, and in the process updated quite a few packages the server uses, so some things on the site might not fully work yet. (From what I saw, tho, the main stuff runs.)

Please drop me a line (message on here, IRC, email) if you see odd behaviour.

Hey. It's been a bit quiet lately. Unfortunately this update isn't very positive either... the server is experiencing seemingly random reboots, which might mean hardware failure. I'm still trying to find out what the problem is and how to fix it... but until that is done it is likely that the server will disappear now and then. :/

Hallo, hallo. Some severely lacking features in Flash were now added. They've been brought up by several people and probably kept many from using the client regularly.

The update includes:

• No login required anymore. You just click "Connect" and the Flash client logs you in based on the session of your browser. Note: You must be logged into the site for this.


• Table windows are now always resized to fit the browser window, so you can resize them with the browser window or hit F11 for fullscreen playing.


• Popup menus for the nick list with these items (if applicable):
  
  
  • whois (responses aren't handled, tho)
  
  
  • push player off his seat (if sitting and you are host)
  
  
  • kick player off table (if you are host)
  
  


• Nick and money display for sitting users before the game starts, afterwards you can see nick and money if you move your mouse on the avatar.


• The time for the turn is now also displayed digitally in the table options menu, just like in the Java client.


• Added new chairs... give me feedback if you don't like them. Better pictures are also welcome, if you have some. It might be configurable at some point.


• Albeit not being 100% new: sound has been added.

I urge you once more to use it instead of the Java client, because it needs some testing and I still am interested in how fast it is on your machines. The plan WILL be not to continue development for the Java clients anymore at one point.

As it was a bit confusing at times and the forums get a bit more attention these days, I split the bug reports from the "Suggestion box" and made "Bug reports" an own forum now.

So bug reports go there from now on and the suggestion box is only for suggestions, requests, complaints, etc. -- I might even split it further into requests and complaints (albeit there aren't many complaints yet), feel free to comment if you have thoughts on that.

Note: the most recent bug reports were moved to that forum already, older ones might follow.

I finally added better page handling for large lists of threads and posts in the forums. The same system will also be used for private messages, profile lists, game stats lists, themes, avatars, and news (probably some others).

With that change I also changed the reply-to-thread mechanism, which will now have a form at the bottom of the thread, so you can reply directly, which saves a click and has the nice advantage of showing the most recent post(s) while you reply.

It's not perfect, yet.. as it still needs to jump down the page whenever you use "quote" or "preview".. right now you have to scroll manually, but tell me what you think and whether this is more comfortable.

A new generation of Dracis client is in the making! Said client will be coded in Flash, run in your browser, and it will be able to connect to all game servers.

With Flash come vector graphics, animations, a much nicer interface, and many more opportunities.

The Tien Len Flash client should now be mostly functional and you can try it here: Tien Len in Flash and perhaps give me feedback on what's nice and what could be changed.

I will post some screenshots and information soon. If anyone has nice screenshots, then feel free to send them.

PS: if it is slow for you, please comment on this news post and tell me about your CPU/RAM and which bits are slow... it really helps to get some performance statistics from other systems.

update: here's a screenshot of today's work... added were sounds, a new background, the time limit watch, aged cards. (click image for large version)