John Kettler Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 I think that either TGN is run by an incompetent, or the server's grossly inadequate--or both. The Internet's great...until I try to get on Combat HQ. Seldom does the site come up right away, sometimes never, but usually it takes several minutes (run 28.8 modem on an iMac 350). And all the while the very bandwidth which could be used to load Combat HQ is consumed by an endless, ever changing procession of banners, most of them animated as well. Am I the only one who finds this annoying, or does everyone else have 56K, cable modem or DSL? John Kettler (AKA "Had It") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major LardLad Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 Here at work at the end of an ISDN link I find the site slow. At home with a 56K modem it's painful. The trick I've found is to turn off the automatic loading of images and then use Netscapes "Show Image" menu option to look at individual pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertFox Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 Hi To get rid of all the advertising java crap which loads with all the TGN sites you might want to try this little tool: http://www.webwasher.com/ Best thing since sliced bread Helge ------------------ Sbelling chequed wyth MICROSOFT SPELLCHECKER - vorgs grate! - The DesertFox - Email: desertfox1891@hotmail.com WWW: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Capsule/2930/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCrawler Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 Actually you need to catch up with technology. I have no problem at all getting on any part of TGN FAST with my DSL... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.Tankersley Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 No webwasher yet for MacOS. I've found that you can just stop the page loading and click-and-hold in the main content area, and choose the "New Window With This Frame" option. That will open a new window with the CMHQ page but sans the slower-than-molasses-flowing-uphill-in-winter banner ads. [by the way: check out my 30 seconds of fame in the Games Domain preview article - the selected unit in the screenshot showing off the command menu is Cpt. Tankersley. :: preens ::] ------------------ Leland J. Tankersley [This message has been edited by L.Tankersley (edited 02-23-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howardb Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 At home I'm using ISDN and the site isn't that slow. True it's not among the fastest but we should be glad we got the site not complain about trivial matters like how fast it loads. I'd rather get updates than weeks of site polishing. A little tip. If you think it loads slow open it in another browser and let it load in it's own time while you check out something else in the meantime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 Leland, See, submitting your name to the name list WAS worth it wasn't it ? I've sent a few forum members pics of units bearing their name privately whenever I notice them in play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 It's not the fastest site in the world but it's worth the loading time. I have ADSL so at the most it takes arond 10 seconds though. Also if's your a Mac user try Webfree or use the iCab browser. Webfree is a control panel that can block ads tags, blinking text, animated gifs and cookies. iCab is a browser with all of this builtin. Unfortunetly there is no Javascript support(yet). I'm using iCab right now and it's way faster then Netscape or Internet Explorer(and I'm using the IE5 beta). Actually Java applets work better in iCab then in any Mac browser. ------------------ Visit my webpage! http://cm4mac.tripod.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hakko Ichiu Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DesertFox: Hi To get rid of all the advertising java crap which loads with all the TGN sites you might want to try this little tool: http://www.webwasher.com/ Best thing since sliced bread <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Oh my gawd, my browser is so clean!!! Ancient Chinese secret, huh!! Ethan ------------------ Das also war des Pudels Kern! -- Goethe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Germanboy Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by L.Tankersley: No webwasher yet for MacOS. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Ek - no longer true. They have v2 as beta for Mac. Unfortunately our university proxy server does not seem to work with it (or else I am too stupid). Also like iCab http://www.icab.de Very fast. ------------------ Andreas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.Tankersley Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Germanboy: Ek - no longer true. They have v2 as beta for Mac. Unfortunately our university proxy server does not seem to work with it (or else I am too stupid). Also like iCab http://www.icab.de Very fast. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Hmm, must have missed that on their site. Thanks for the tips; I'll check them out! ------------------ Leland J. Tankersley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Madmatt Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 Well as a professional Network Engineer allow me comment on some of the issue brought up. Firstly, I have no direct control over the Ads and what TGN put in them. I do however know that the actual SIZE of these ads is quite SMALL. How small, well the entire ad bar on the lefthand side is on average 10k...TEN K! Thats it! in fact the ENTIRE page with the POTD thumbnail and all the text and ads is less than 70k. Now then, that being said I am constantly looking for ways to improve the overall look and speed of the site. I have a T1 connection at work and Cable modem AND a 56K dial up modem at home and I FREQUENTLY benchmark the site to test its speed. It is unfair with the natural way of the internets structure to blast a specific server or service and say "oh, such and such is slow!". It just doesnt work that way. Some people get right on and for others it can take a while. Why is this? It has to do with many factors and chiefly amongst them is the route that your own ISP (Internet Service Provider) takes in order to get your request TO the TGN servers (by the way they are leased and no TGN personal has DIRECT contact with the hardware however I DO know where they are located and the service and equipment there is usually very GOOD). Many things will contribute why one site will load up quickly and others may drag. I would suggest you download an IP trace program such as Visual Trace RT. It will allow you to dignose WHERE and WHY the site appears slow. It will track all the network HOPS that your data goes to before you actually get into the page you want, AND it will diagnose any problems it finds. Track and Trace programs like this can be very iluminating and can show you where the REAL problem is. It could be a router is misconfigured in North Dakota or a NT server refusing port 80 traffic or a overloaded UB HUB in St. Louis or your own ISP connection to their Internet Backbone or Colorado Telecom and Cable Company using substandard networking cable or a Catalyst Box's Supervisor Card has died or about another MILLION other things that can go wrong (and more importantly STAY wrong unless somebody notices) between you and the page your trying to get to. Some problems are huge in scope and effect continents (for example ALL of the US is running the internet at about 50% performance compared to the level this time last year!) other problems are VERY specific and may just effect one person on a street. These issues can also affect getting to one site and not hundreds of others. It all depends on how your data is routed. By the time my page makes it to your system, it is like that girl down the street, its been all over the place and feeling kinda cheap! I have run several traces to combathq.thegamers.net and our host TGN site while writing this message and traces from HERE show fine, I will do the same when I get home and if I see anything amiss I WILL TAKE ACTION. In the past when I have noticed something wrong either at my end or somewhere in between I have taken action and even gone so far as to let you all know here through updates. I have an advantage that this is what I do for a living and I have the tools and knowledge to make things right. But you cant beat the worth of a good IP tracing program. Get one and test it out (most have like a free 30 day trial) and let me know what you find... Madmatt ------------------ If it's in Combat Mission, it's on Combat Mission HQ! combathq.thegamers.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 *Chuckle* I think Matt just proved the point... FWIW I know Matt has made a LOT of efforts to optimise the loading of CMHQ. He's tweaked with java and other stuff I don't understand to do it. I connect on a 56 Kb modem and I get the full main page downloaded within 30 seconds most times. However, IF you still are having problems give Matt a mail. He has put a lot of time in providing one on one support to people who have had problems accessing the site etc. BTW, Matt, can you post the URL to a route tracker you recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bamse Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DesertFox: To get rid of all the advertising java crap which loads with all the TGN sites you might want to try this little tool: http://www.webwasher.com/ Best thing since sliced bread Helge <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Amen ! That program (760 K) was great and for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertFox Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 Fionn, Matt I don´t think it´s CMHQ that bothers people. The site is great The problem is all this annoying java crab wich loads with every TGN page. Talk to David Heath, AFAIK he is the only one who can change this, if he is willing to do. BTW: Out of obvious reasons I don´t care about these addys and they don´t influence my loading times I still haven´t lost hope that one blessed day someone will invent an WEBWASHER for television Helge ------------------ Sbelling chequed wyth MICROSOFT SPELLCHECKER - vorgs grate! - The DesertFox - Email: desertfox1891@hotmail.com WWW: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Capsule/2930/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Madmatt Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 Well, I am in NO mood right now for any one on one consulting, but here is a link for a great trace program...: ftp://ftp.visualroute.com/pub/vr/vr42a.exe Madmatt ------------------ If it's in Combat Mission, it's on Combat Mission HQ! combathq.thegamers.net [This message has been edited by Madmatt (edited 02-23-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tss Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 I haven't been bothered by any Java or JavaScript stuff ever. The reason for this: I disable both by default and turn them on only when some page that I _really_ have to access doesn't work without them and even then I turn them off as soon as possible. There's only one thing that truly annoys me with www-pages: pages that can't be read with lynx. I usually browse from university's machines and they load pretty much everything fast, but when I'm home I have only a slow (14400) modem and I use lynx. - Tommi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 Wow Lynx... Try iCab...fast small..but not as fast as lynx.... ------------------ Visit my webpage! http://cm4mac.tripod.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tss Posted February 23, 2000 Share Posted February 23, 2000 Try iCab...fast small..but not as fast as lynx.... Maybe I should add that my home machine runs normally on Linux and I boot to Windows only when I want to play something. I usually don't even use xwindows unless I'm writing something with LaTeX or debugging a program. - Tommi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted February 24, 2000 Share Posted February 24, 2000 Hmm, the whole U.S. internet is running at only half the speed of last year? Why is that? The backbones not keeping up with user demand? I'm on a cable modem and most sites don't load in the 3 secs you might imagine they would. The problem is that most servers (and the net in general) simply don't have the bandwith to feed me the data as fast as I can take it in. This is just the opposite of the problem I had with my 33.6 modem (usually only could connect at 28.8). I have tested my modem on servers that I know have fast connections and I can dl at over 1 meg every 3 secs if the server's connection can keep up with me. In fact, even faster than that but there are almost no servers out there that have the bandwith to let me go that fast. Such are the troubles of a cable modem user. *sigh* The internet infrastructure needs to be 4 or 5 times as fast as it is now. That would go a long way to help out with this sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwin Posted February 24, 2000 Share Posted February 24, 2000 I see the webwasher has several options two of which are version 1.2.2 and the 2.0 beta. is anyone here using the 2.0 beta? would you recomend it over the 1.2.2 version? Has anyone had any problems with the software? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Madmatt Posted February 24, 2000 Share Posted February 24, 2000 Why is the Internet 50% slower? Well dang, thats a pretty complex question, but here are a few KEY answers... MORE PEOPLE ON AT PEAK TIMES... MORE PEOPLE WITH FAT PIPE CONNECTIONS (DSL, CABLE, T1, OC3 etc) DOWNLOADING AND ACCESSING BIGGER "FOOTPRINT" FILES... THE DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACKS ON MAJOR INTERNET COMPANIES... FAILURE OF MAJOR COMMUNICATION COMPANIES TO PROMOTE OR ACCELERATE LEAP TO GIGA-BIT THROUGHPUT Those topics cover some of the major issues...Check out this url, its pretty handy and gives you an idea why your network of the woods may have a crappy connection... http://www.internettrafficreport.com/index.html Madmatt... ------------------ If it's in Combat Mission, it's on Combat Mission HQ! combathq.thegamers.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted February 24, 2000 Share Posted February 24, 2000 Yep, those are about the reasons I figured, Matt. Like I said, we need to upgrade the net's capacity (the internet 2 standard of system-wide bandwith seems like it might to do the trick). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertFox Posted February 24, 2000 Share Posted February 24, 2000 Darwin I´m using the beta absolutely problemfree. No crashes, no slowdowns, no annoying advertising. Helge ------------------ Sbelling chequed wyth MICROSOFT SPELLCHECKER - vorgs grate! - The DesertFox - Email: desertfox1891@hotmail.com WWW: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Capsule/2930/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard III Posted February 24, 2000 Share Posted February 24, 2000 FWIW I use The Promomitron as my web filter. It's free and works great! [This message has been edited by Richard III (edited 02-23-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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