Perhaps this is the line that he chooses to cross, in the name of truth and love, that so many others fear to. His best interests are not yours and you should respect his decision.

There is much evil in the world, but when someone threatens those you love, don't ever think that their innocent suffering for your good actions is your fault. It is that of the evil devising and carrying out such terrible threats. This is what true terrorism is all about: Using fear to control others.

Always remember, if you bow to the demands of evil, you bow to your fear, and that evil will never hesitate to feed that fear again.

Hi Slashdot. I've been an avid MUDder for over 10 years now, spent the last several working on my own game that has recently launched. I'd like to weigh in a tick on this 'obsolete language' argument. True, MUDs are not as widespread as a number of other internet games, but they predate them and the lexicon has had a profound influence... on MMO's especially. Mobs, Aggro, Buff, Nerf, Crit, Corpse run, all of these are familiar MUD terms that the MMO'ers of today use as a comfortable (and yes, noob-gateway) language. 30+years and still going on strong. Hep cat, it's the bee's knees like pop in an icebox, dig?

Shameless self-promotion of a dying hobby - if you like MUDs, D&D (2nd edition), or role-playing games, come check us out!
Arantha - The Realms of Valor
www.arantha.net
telnet arantha.net port 4000

My first and current linux server distro is CentOS. You have to know some obvious things about Unix/Linux, and be savvy enough to google what you don't know or otherwise find tech advice.

Also may I add Open Source Software all the way is great for a personal project!

Suggestions.. PHP 5.2 is the 'standard' for many things, but it's usually best to have have the latest version of anything running on your server. You'll find this is true until you actually build software that interacts with these elements and one day suddenly breaks on a software update. After this you are faced with the agony of A) using the deprecated software with possible gaping security holes or new features missing -or- B) Rewriting your software, because if you don't it won't work.

Here's some advice that EVERYONE learns, so don't say I didn't warn you. The #1 rule in all of Server Admindom:

Backup, backup, BACKUP!

If you have important data on the server, back it up to other things! WHENEVER you are going to edit any sort of crucial configuration file (and you won't be a good server admin if you can't face editing a file that could totally -FUCK- your system up, and probably will in fact, so it's a good thing you took those backups that were actually from last tuesday oops) BACK IT UP FIRST!!

You're going to learn that on your own anyways. Everyone does.

If you're an administrator, you're going to need to get proficient in programming languages like PHP and SQL; having a programming language background, or at least passion, is essential. The only time the Administrator wouldn't do this is if someone else on the team does, in which case maybe they should be in charge of the software.

For one box, managing 2500 simultaneous socket connections, like a server for a real-time shooter game, is not an easy thing. Where is this box going to be? If it's in someone's house and hooked up to a slow residential line, that's never gonna happen. Are you renting it from somewhere, how much are you paying, what are the data limits, etc etc etc. Managing 2500 users on a website where you have a load of maybe 50 or 60 at any given time consumes much less in the way or resources.

If you want to rent but not pay a lot and you don't have any particular hosting service in mind, may I humbly suggest http://www.wtfserve.com./

A quick note to performance. You need a system for 2500 users, and a lot of posts here will say 'Users doing what?' which is important because obviously they can't understand what you want server-setup wise, and you don't really know yet either, because you don't know linux servers. Don't be disheartened by this; your mind might be overloaded with a dream that is not easily attainable, but it is also the driving force for what you wish to accomplish.

Tupac, Jesus, and the REAL Michael Jackson.