Let's make it a little easier for the new people...

[ConservGal]

Head shot, I can see the crackin lackin, good old U.T. Russ!

 

[DanC]

auuugh??? UT? ME TOO!

 

[PeterN]

I don't see any harm in it.

The client itself is not changed, only the .ini is adjusted to our purposes.
This is the same as carrying the client on a diskette and spread it around (as I do). Only difference is that now the files are not on diskette but on a website.

Also I think the Dnet staff know the members of TA will not do anything to harm the good name the team has.

Please, let us not start a fight over this and ramble on for days on such a trivial issue.
Also, let nobody be offended by anything some other person says (or writes in this case ).


Just my 2 Dutch guilders (because of inflation. )

 

[SYST3M]

it is a great idea, ignore being politically correct for one moment and detach yourself for a moment. in this moment see what Russ has done, provided his time to help out the newbies to team anandtech. Thanks Russ, we owe you one.

 

[mindless]

Russ, I think what you did was an excellent idea.

However since there are the people who deem it bad how about you simply email Dnet and ask them about it. Odds are they wont reply anyway (like they did to ccalvert) so no harm done. And if they say no to it at least its done before they find out about it through other sources.

 

[JonB]

I must agree with Russ and DanC. The DNet client is not modified by this, only the INI is pre-configured.

No foul. Continue play.

 

[BurntKooshie]

Hey ViRGE - i never said for them to stop, i just said to be careful!

Russ - I love the idea - I still really think that a java scrip set up to ask the user questions about their situation, which would lead to the creation of a .ini. Then, they can copy/paste the information into/over their current .ini.

Any takers here?

 

[TwoFace]

Nice work Russ...

Seems like you've put a good amount of work into this ... THANK YOU!

I'll have to agree with viztech that you should use the time measure... say configure the client for 72 hours ... this would get any machine over the weekend and you don't have to worry about too large or too small buffers!

Oh and that idea about e-mailing DNet and asking didn't sound too bad either...

Anyway GREAT WORK man!

With love and respect your fellow TA member

Two-Face

 

[Train]

<< I REALLY don't get the attitude around here. Do you people want to win, or NOT? >>



Russ for President!!

 

[Russ]

Okay, I changed it to proxy.teamanandtech.com per bphantom's suggestion.
Upped the buffers per a couple guys suggestions.
Added some echoed instruction language (great idea, dkappos!).

I also added some language to the page stressing the importance of getting PERMISSION, since I already had two eMails about how easy it would be to sneak it on to computers. Get PERMISSION.

Tripleshot,

I tried various ways to set it up so the cow icon appeared, but I couldn't get it to start the client automatically when the machine was rebooted. The only way I could find to make sure, was to install it as a service, so it was embedded in the Registry.

I'm going to play around with trying to create an entry in win.ini. I may be able to get it to work that way. If so, I'll have two versions available; one as a service, and one that is visible.

Linux is way out of my league on this stuff. What little I've been able to accomplish in that OS is due mainly to the help I've gotten here.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Engine]

To start a visible client in windows all you have to do is copy a shortcut to the start menu. Just add a shortcut in there, with a line to copy it to the startup folder in the batch file.
You may need to do some experimentation to find the path to the startup folder in multiple machines, but it can certainly be done.

PS: You can also make it so you can take in user input from the batch file, for more configurability on the setup. I had to do this last summer at my internship, but I don't remember exactly how it was done. I think it used some clever manipulation of the date function. Either way, I know I found out how on a web page somewhere. A google search should turn up some results.

PPS: Okay, now I remember how it was done. NT won't let you do the date or COPY CON tricks that most sites say, so you have to generate a quick qbasic program that does this input. Here's a web site that tells you how.
http://www.calweb.com/~webspace/batch/samples/ntinput.bat.txt

 

[Russ]

Engine,

Actually, it's not quite as simple as copying the shortcut to the startup folder. I've tried a variety of ways to do that, using both copy and xcopy. Windows creates a shortcut file when you do one of these, that has specific characteristics and properties. So far, I've been unable to accurately duplicate one, and get it to copy over correctly even when I use an existing Windows created file.

The path is the same, however, on 95, 98, 98SE and Me; windows\start menu\programs\startup. So if I can get it to work, it will work on all.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Engine]

I don't think I'm understanding what your problem is.
If I create a shortcut to dnetc in the same dir as my batch file, then in the batch file have a line that says:
copy dnetc.lnk c:\something
If I go to c:\something and double click on the shortcut everything works fine.
What exactly is happening to you? Is it making a shortcut to the shortcut?

 

[Russ]

I figured it out. In order for it to work, the copy command in the batch file has to use the truncated DOS format name for the file folders.

 

[Engine]

Aaah. Copy dnetc.lnk c:\progra~1\distri~1.net

 

[Russ]

Okay, we now have two different versions of each disk. The original, which sets it up as a service (hidden), and the new version that installs it just like normal. It creates the shortcut in the startup folder, and starts the client cracking so the little cow icon will be on the taskbar.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Engineer]

Thanks for your great work for the TA RC5 team Russ...Your help is appreciated much more than you know

Hey Russ, while I'm thinking about it....Did you pop up some sort of disclaimer that once cracking, the new member would actually have to go to D.net, retrieve his password, and then join the team...If not, that would be a welcome addition as just how many are cracking and not actually joining....A little protection goes a long way

 

[Engineer]

One other point....I see alot of posts for people who are too lazy to join TA...I mean really too lazy to go get the password after cracking for awhile and actually joining the team. Would it be against D.net if we created an &quot;TA&quot; e-mail and used it as default for anyone wanting to join and who wants to do absolutely no work? Just an idea?

Thanks for you comments and suggestions

 

[Russ]

Clarification added to the page.

We already have a cool eMail address that anyone is welcome to use: rc5@tacube.com.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Russ]

PS: If anyone runs in to any problems while using these, please let me know.

Russ, NCNE

 

[JimMc]

I'm not neffing, just want to keep this on top, weekends should be prime time for casual AnandTechers to browse this Forum and possibly sign up.

 

[sciencewhiz]

The libertarian team has a address that they tell people to use if they don't want to release their own e-mail address.

I nominate: rc5crackheads@hotmail.com to be ours

 

[artemedes]

This is way cool Russ. As a TA thing I don't see the Dnet people getting upset. By the way, I would have used this two days ago. But, I will keep it in mind for future assimilations. Thanks.

 

[MWalkden]

sciencewhiz! You the Man!

Actually the phantom flusher addy could be used! LOL!

Be watchin', we's a commein'!

Russ, Just wanted to add that Viz's idea is sound, using the time threshold works for a more universal client (IMO).

Fantastic job BTW!!!!

 

[Elect]

I come from DPC, but that doesn't mean that I can't help others

Russ, I took al look at your client and setup.bat, but there could be some more things changed
I've build about the same clients as you do, but with al little bit more &quot;extras&quot;

Why don't you take a look, the adresses are here:

(For cable
http://people.zeelandnet.nl/dominique/dpc/dpckabel.zip

(The alway's installer)
http://people.zeelandnet.nl/dominique/dpc/dpcalways.zip

Remeber that i've build them for own usage, so it's my e-mail adress there
But my clients check if there aren't any clients running, and tells what it does etc.

Your free to use the code, so go on, download it !