text | un: hudie

[bu773rfly]

Three things.

1 -

I have a network-based service for task coordination up and running as of now. It's a BBS-style system hosted on a spare communicator. Project leaders can upload files, maintain contact lists, issue automated alerts to individuals or groups within the project, etc. Project members' permissions are set by the leader, but they can access the main board and receive alerts from the group by default, and have options to use the contact lists to send messages through the service, download and upload certain files, check in to report what they've done, etc.

Send "DOCS" to @bulletin for the manual. If you want to host one, send "NEW" and it'll take you through an automatic setup process. Right now it's set so each account can run one board, to keep traffic low, but if you need more I can manually set them up.

Credit to Haru Okumura for user experience feedback. It was designed for the garden, but should be customizable for any project.

2 -

There's a calendar running on the garden board, but I didn't want to implement calendar functions across the service yet...because we don't know what year or month or weekday it is. The comms don't have dates, but there's a decently reliable timekeeping system based on computer ticks. Should the station reactivation be Day 1 and calendars just count up from that? Seven-day weeks? This is all a UI question, not a system one. I need some input.

3 -

I found a manual for the VR hardware. The sets are still NOT confirmed safe for use. There's a lot to look through before that, probably more than checking over the sets themselves would cover.

But if there's anything from this you're interested in, I can look into it. Checking this against other device standards, salvaging useful parts, etc.

If there's any chance of modifying these so they're sure to fail to safe, and getting into the controlling computer, I'd like to make a zero-G training simulation. That's a lot of ifs, though. And it's a way lower priority than opening more doors and gaining control of the station control systems, so this won't cut into work for that.


[[ooc: if you have any questions about how this thing works, hmu, my technical knowledge is wobbly but i can at least say oh yeah it can/can't do that. It's a network-based system - like, you send a text to @bulletin with your project login info, it sends you a text back with the current project board in full ASCII glory and the keywords for viewing specific info, getting files, etc. Messages sent via the service come from @bulletin with the sender's name and the project name front and center. Alerts can be set up to be automatic but come in as texts. It's a BBS service by way of email groups by way of a massive stack of scripts running on one poor little communicator.

Also the security on it is diamond fucking hard.

If you want to lmk when someone sets up a board, so that I have an OOC tally of IC knowledge, that'd be swell.]]

Comments

@skull

[ryuji]

Been thinkin' about the calendar thing.

What if we just take the date that everyone woke up as 1/1/0 and go from there? At least we'll have some sorta frame of reference to talk about time here.

[Yeah, he's been keeping track of the number of days they've been here, but even then, he can't even tell if it's accurate.]

Also, dude... this is a ton of work. You've been gettin' some time in to do other stuff too, right?

[bu773rfly]

If the Gregorian calendar is common for a lot of us, that could work. Or we might want to key our calendar to a recurring event with significance to us. The growing time of certain plants, for example. The spacefarers might have some ideas.

It's not like there's anything else to do.

[ryuji]

I mean... true, I guess? We don't even really need the 30/31 days stuff, right? It's not like we're on Earth anyway

You're not wrong on that either but also... makin' sure you get to work out a bit is good too? Muscle mass is pretty easy to lose up here, idk

[bu773rfly]

[DISGUSTING]

I go to the gym sometimes. It's not like I had much muscle to worry about losing to begin with.

[it's not like i'm DEFENSIVE about ANYTHING]

text: un: brightness_kholin

[veristitalian]

I was following you initially, but you've lost me. Can I ask you to help guide me through this in person?

[bu773rfly]

Of course, Kholin-san. At the bar?

[veristitalian]

Thank you, yes. At your earliest convenience.

[bu773rfly]

I'm actually in the back room.

[And there she'll be until she's called out, because she's got a manual to pore over and a headset to very cautiously dismantle and this is what living is.]

text; un: burton

[tumang]

everything i've seen around the station is making me think this place is from Earth. If we follow an Earth-based calendar, it might make more sense?

[bu773rfly]

I'm thinking the same...2654 sounds like a Gregorian calendar year to me.

What month it is now is an arbitrary decision until we find a better reference point, though.

[tumang]

we can always start at day one being the day the first person woke up, and amend that if we find more information

[bu773rfly]

Which would make today...February 21?

[YIKES]

un:1

[uniqueone]

While evidence suggests this station may have originated from Earth, that is not Earth that it is currently orbiting.

A calendar based on sun cycles would not be helpful. One that charts the revolutions of the station would.

[bu773rfly]

I've been considering that. It's something we can more accurately keep track of if the network goes down. On the other hand, it's not related to human sleep and activity cycles, and it would require a custom system. I'm a bit worried about the station targeting "foreign" code...

[uniqueone]

Is it possible for it to be hosted outside the network? So it would appear to be a person logged in?

[bu773rfly]

That's sort of how I've got the bulletin system working. There's nothing to be done about the scripts on the communicator itself, but using the native network itself to relay content instead of trying to distribute a completely separate application seems like a more resilient method, so far.

I suppose you could use the same kind of scripting to create a timekeeper "bot" on a communicator. Have it reply automatically to requests for the date, or send a text to the bulletin bot prompting calendar updates each time the day turns over.

You would need another spare communicator, though. I've tried making dummy accounts on the network, and they don't verify. There's some identifying piece of hardware in the comms that's required.

@r.asuka

[luciformis]

So, you were the one arranging the scheduling for Okumaru-san. I appreciate your efforts.

As for dating systems while considering the new information presented: we have no frame of reference as to "when" 2654 occurred. Consequently, a dating system following the typical Gregorian calendar with a start year of "0" while treating the first arrivals' collective awakening as the start should be fine. Further complicating the systems already in place creates unnecessary trouble, given we'd then have to adjust our communicator's internal time systems to suit it. As we're already running on military time, I believe it would be easiest to continue running on it.

Of course, there's the potential for multi-functionality. A board that offers typical calendar dates for Earth societies and a numerical equivalent (such as Day 1) might be an adequate compromise.

[ Might as well work with what they got on their communicators already. Trying to sync everyone to a new time (willingly) sounds like a nightmare. ]

i checked the FAQ and edited post so i'm pretending things he said in reply to that are just, whoosh

[bu773rfly]

That's more or less what I was thinking. It just feels weird to say it's January without January weather.

A key part of the design was minimal reliance on custom systems. Using the network instead of a tailored client is clunky, but users don't have to download anything to start using boards. The network was also here when we got here, so it might be resilient to the station's counterattacks.

no worries!

[luciformis]

Yeah. It would have been cooler where I was from.

I thought so. It's more efficient to build on a preexisting framework than build another one from scratch for most users here. The network isn't the most streamlined, but it does what you need it to and the security is reasonable.

I've already taught a fair share already how to use their devices.

[ In other words, he doesn't need to teach more folks how to access anything new this way. ]

un: A2

[a2brutus]

Can you simplify what you said a little more? I don't get any of it.

[A2 YOU'RE A FUCKING COMPUTER....]

[bu773rfly]

[PROBLEM: erika is not the kind of nerd who is in love with their own voice, actually she dislikes having to explain things a lot, and when she got this message she heavily considered just not responding but she really doesn't have enough busywork to justify that.

le sign.]

Maybe. What part?

[a2brutus]

All of it, honestly.

un: apollo2

[solarcharged]

So does that mean we'll have an up to date list of the different projects people are working on? That's really useful.

[bu773rfly]

There's no visible index of boards, but I guess I could maintain one. And add an option for ops to mark their board for publishing to the index.

[increases the amount of work she'd intended to put into this long-term - moderation of any kind is really not her wheelhouse, if there wasn't a need she would never have touched this kind of thing - but c'est la vie.]

I'll never take pen and paper for granted again.

[solarcharged]

That sounds like hard work. Don't worry, we'll find another solution. I mean, we should just talk to each other like grown adults and work it out amongst ourselves, really.