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Thanks to GOL Supporter 'Creak' (forum post) we now have our very own Matrix chat room and it has a bridge with our IRC channel so chat goes both ways.

You can join here in the browser. There are plenty of applications that support Matrix like Riot and Pidgin (with a plugin).

It will not replace our IRC channel (#gamingonlinux on Freenode, or weblink), since they work together nicely.

For me, it's handy as now I only need to use one service to get both Matrix/IRC together and I get chat history on my phone with the Riot mobile application too. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Creak Jan 24, 2017
Quoting: tuubiI'll test the mobile client on my Sailfish phone, but seems like Android apps running on the the compat layer tend to drain the battery on this old thing.
When it's not installed from the Google Play Store, the app is actually pulling the data and the default sync delay is quite short (something like 0 second :D), so you can go in the settings and put "Delay between two sync requests" to 120 seconds.

Quoting: Blauer_HungerWhy not a XMPP MUC (eventually bridged with the IRC)?
I think we can say now that XMPP is a failure... It makes 10 years that I'm waiting for it to have something more than just text. The extensions should have been the solution, but in the end it doesn't work and the few that added audio and video chat (Google, etc) have closed their extension because it's impossible to federate. So in the end, I don't see XMPP as a viable solution.

On other front, I've closed the room to the guest because it started to become very difficult to tell which guest was a zombie or not (Matrix needs to improve on that, issue is entered already).
minj Jan 24, 2017
Not convinced. IRC will stay forever, this will go away in a year. I'd rather everyone went tox instead.
Creak Jan 24, 2017
Well use it for a year then ;)
Shmerl Jan 24, 2017
Quoting: CreakI think we can say now that XMPP is a failure... It makes 10 years that I'm waiting for it to have something more than just text.

Anything can be a failure, when no one works on it. Why not improve it? And if not, who is working on nicely designed new protocols? And design has to be seriously good, to make it a better alternative. Which IMHO, implies using a protocol build on top of TCP/IP, instead of plugging HTTP in the middle.

Quoting: CreakThe extensions should have been the solution, but in the end it doesn't work and the few that added audio and video chat (Google, etc) have closed their extension because it's impossible to federate. So in the end, I don't see XMPP as a viable solution.

I don't see how any new protocol will solve this particular problem any better. If Google stopped federating with XMPP, why would they federate with new protocol XYZ? This is not a technical problem, but a sickening political one. Perverted lock-in / walled garden mentality poisoned most of the big instant messaging services today. And unlike e-mail, we all remain in some dark ages when it comes to IM.


Last edited by Shmerl on 24 January 2017 at 5:40 am UTC
Liam Dawe Jan 24, 2017
Quoting: minjNot convinced. IRC will stay forever, this will go away in a year. I'd rather everyone went tox instead.
It's been around since 2014, it has already been here for a few years now.
Creak Jan 24, 2017
Quoting: ShmerlAnything can be a failure, when no one works on it. Why not improve it? And if not, who is working on nicely designed new protocols? And design has to be seriously good, to make it a better alternative. Which IMHO, implies using a protocol build on top of TCP/IP, instead of plugging HTTP in the middle.
I think that was with you that I discussed that. HTTP is the standard now. All the apps are using it and when we talk about text chat or even rich text chat, I don't really think the difference between TCP/IP and HTTP is relevant. But the simplicity of HTTP surpass the performance of TCP/IP. And it has the advantage that you don't have to reinvent a whole new protocol for each and every extension of your app.

Considering that because HTTP is a sub-protocol of TCP/IP, then TCP/IP is a better choice is simply noob talking. It's like saying that a game will be faster if we were writing directly in assembly, it's plain wrong (and I know that very very well, it's my job).

I won't extend more on that, so please write an application in TCP/IP, write another one with HTTP. Compare the network performances between them, and compare the code size as well, and then (and only then) I'll be interested to talk a bit more about it with you.
Shmerl Jan 24, 2017
Quoting: CreakI won't extend more on that, so please write an application in TCP/IP, write another one with HTTP. Compare the network performances between them, and compare the code size as well, and then (and only then) I'll be interested to talk a bit more about it with you.

Easier to make doesn't make it a good design. HTTP is not well suited for many use cases, and looks like a kludge when used for duplex communication especially. I agree of course that designing and making new protocols is not a trivial task, I don't however see it as reinventing the wheel. HTTP wasn't meant to replace TCP/IP, but often used that way.

It's the case of "when you have a hammer (HTTP), everything looks like a nail".


Last edited by Shmerl on 24 January 2017 at 6:05 pm UTC
minj Jan 24, 2017
88.119.151.82
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: minjNot convinced. IRC will stay forever, this will go away in a year. I'd rather everyone went tox instead.
It's been around since 2014, it has already been here for a few years now.

It's not around for anyone until (s)he hears of it. And this is the first time I've heard of it so...

I applaud it for openness but HTTP (and the underlying TCP tbh) are dead weights these days
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