ACCLAIM'S complete file archive rescued

I have 3TB/month bandwidth spare at the moment. If some of that can be used up I'm all for it.

 

If you're doing Windows, I know plenty.

 

We can't sort in a clean hierarchy because real-life source code and data gets shared, transported and updated from project to project, out of sync, synchronized back a year later, etc. It's likely very messy.
I would suggest at first to apply tags on objects (disks? directories? even per files). Tags could be machine names, game names, engine names, "to investigate", etc. People would add tags to everything they encounter, as a first pass, then describe in more details the interesting/specific cases.

Getting a few samples of content indexes (eg: early stuff, later stuff) could help figuring how things are layed out. I like the older stuff better because although they are likely more messy, they will be much smaller to handle. On PS2-days you'll likely to end up with several gigabytes of waves files nobody will want to do anything with.

Kevin: I don't have any hardware to donate but I'd donate a little cash if you need to purchase anything.

 

Well, I'm playing with a blog system as we speak. If Kevin likes the idea, then it is there and able to be used.... shouldn't be a problem bandwidth-wise as I still have a pretty obscene amount free!!!

I'm playing with permissions - basically so contributors could get on with what they're doing, collaborate etc. without being hassled by others (e.g. requests for files). Non-contributing members can see regular(ish!!) updates of what's going on, still... keeping the contributors' anonimity.

Oh yes, it even has a nifty URL (which I won't reveal yet as it is already live!) ;-)

Kevin, I'll contact you on MSN when I've sorted it if you want to have a look... feel free to message me there if you wish. (Oh yeah, as most people regularly forget, I'll be on your list as Mark, assuming you have 'nickname' view on.)

 

Great! Just give it a go when you are ready

 

I've been thinking about all of this for a while and here are all of my thoughts.

Let's go with a Windows server environment (2k or 2k3).

Remote Desktop
--------------
- Give everyone remote desktop access to the server.
- Each user is given a personal directory on the server for scratch space.
- Each user is given access to one CD or one folder or one "chunk" to work on.
- Install a bunch of utilities on the server for viewing/editing files. UltraEdit, Word, an image viewer, Acrobat Reader, WinZip, etc.
- As files are looked at, they can be categorized appropriately (see below). This way, for simple files like Word docs, images, etc. they don't need to be downloaded to the user's machine and then re-uploaded to the final location. They can simply be moved from folder to folder right on the server.

Organization
------------
- Start by creating directories per platform.
- As users start looking at a chunk, they can create a new folder for the game they're looking at
- Under that, they can create a standaard-named set of folders (just off the top of my head):

- Source Code

- Version (if multiples)​

- Images (not part of source)

- Screenshots​

- Print artwork​

- Documentation

- Technical​

- Business​

- As work progresses and we get a better idea of what is there, new standard folders can be created.

Other access
-----------------
- Open up the CDs, personal folders, etc. to the same set of allowed users via FTP and/or WebDAV. This way if files need to be handled with a piece of software unavailable on the server or are too large to view easily online, this can be done.
- I'm thinking stuff like source code here...for those of us with devkits who want to compile and make builds (me!), the required files can be zipped up on the server, downloaded and toyed with. Same goes for things like 3D Studio Max models or things that just aren't going to be viewable in an RD environment.
- And again, even if stuff needs to be viewed/handled locally, it can still be moved and categorized on the server without a re-upload...just move it across.

Future
------
- As things get more and more categorized and we become more familiar with the data, a real database could be built to index/store the files. Maybe even use Sharepoint or some such for indexing.
- Create out-facing site for users to download completed files in an organized fashion. Chunk the data into groups as above, so one can download what they care about.

Additional
----------
- A personal blog per person that is also aggregated into a main feed would help keep everyone in touch with how things are progressing. If people run into issues, the others can help out.
- Perhaps create an out-facing blog that is updated by 1 or 2 people that provides a news outlet to the masses for progression and non-technical topics.

I'm more than willing to admin the server, setup permissions, remote access, etc. etc. etc. if you'd like. Just say the word...

 

Remote desktop... not exactly the most productive way to sift through large amounts of files. I appreciate the concern is moving large amounts of data around through a ~1mbit upstream, but I think remoting would become cripplingly annoying very quickly, and everyone would go for FTP instead. I've done plenty of PC repair work via VNC/Tivoli and in my experience it drives me mad almost immediately. Might just be my impatience, I guess, but I'd rather wait a week for a chunk of files to work on locally than put up with remote over the ocean.

 

I suggest RD because it doesn't work like VNC. VNC/Tivoli send screen scrapes...bitmap data down the client. RD sends "vector" data and makes the client redraw the screen. I've used RD and Terminal Services via 56k dialup links at perfectly usable speeds.

Obviously, the # of simultaneous users is going to be critical no matter what decision is made, but I don't think a true RD link will be as bad as you think as long as the user group is kept to a reasonable size.

 

I'm not sure Remote Desktop is the way to go. It can be slow, and Windows' built-in one only allows one user at a time!

I can envisage scenes much like this

Hehe! :lol: :noooo:

I still think FTP is a quick and easy method of setting up who sees what. Files can then be downloaded and/or moved with minimal strain on the server. Still, a somewhat more advanced RAS than a remote desktop may be a good move, I guess!

 

Windows server allows as many clients to connect as you allow. We'd be running Win2k/2k3, not XP.

I really think you'd all be pleasantly surprised at how quick RD can be with multiple users connecting, even via a 768k upload link. Running a RD/TS session at a reasonable resolution (800x600 or 1024x768) at 256 colors is cheap in terms of bandwidth.

 

I'll take your word for it, if it works quick enough then fine. Does RD allow for multiple connections? Pretty impressive if so.

EDIT: already answered

 

For every rule there is always an exception:

http://sig9.com/articles/concurrent-remote-desktop

Besides, that only applies to WindowsXP, 2k3 will allow for multiple sessions without a problem.

 

Hmm, yes, good point! However, does Remote Desktop not still affect the same desktop? I mean, that's all very well, but as I said above, it'd be like Hackers! One person wants to access their folder, another wants to access theirs.... mouse wars!

Oh, and then (unless you can set RD permissions) there's what else you can do with such a connection, e.g. totally FUBAR the server, go on IE, surf for pr0n at Kev's expense...... LOL!

 

A terminal services/remote desktop session gives each user their own private session on the box. TS is used to run applications for hundreds of people at a time in certain environments.

Obviously, the machine and individual user accounts would need to be locked down so the "bad" people can't go doing things like you're stating...no IE access and whatnot.

I write Windows-based software for a living...have been for over 10 years. I've written apps that are made to run specifically in an TS/RD environment. I know the strengths and limitations, and I think that with what we're trying to accomplish, it would work well. But for the cases where it doesn't, that's why there's FTP/WebDAV for additional access.

 

AD is quite nice for locking accounts down, extremely easy as well. There is always the possibility that someone will do something nefarious but you just carry a big stick and there shouldn't be a problem.

 

AD is great if there will be multiple servers where accounts need to be synchronized. If we will be using a single server, standard Windows permissions should be sufficient.

 

good news

 

I work 5 days-a-week on RD...its obviously slow, but that only on older connection. Newer connections like ADSL with a high upstream hasn't been a problem for us. The alternative is to use SSH, but that would bring advantages on Linux only.

Not actually. You log in with your own account (un/pass). A Linux SSH solution would have been better, but again it wouldnt give you the chance to look at tools designed for Win...

A solution would be to give only read permissions to all by default, while execution would be restricted to certain users. Did anyone here think about Virtual PC's at all? Aka VMAware etc ?