Cypher homepage

[ screenshots | downloads | features | credits & license | more info ]

This program is platform-independent

cypher: the blurb

Cypher is a client for the Xurble server written in Java. All standard client functions are supported, plus one or two extra that you won't find on any other client. Cypher is fully portable, that is, with an installed Java Runtime Environment (JRE) of 1.3.1 or (preferably) later, it will work on any operating system that supports the JRE. This means it will run on Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP, Unix, Linux and MacOS and act in exactly the same way (*cough*mostly*cough*).

There is no other client available with such cross-platform credentials, and it's therefore perfect for all those people who access Xurble from MacOS (for which there is no other client available) or for those who alternate between operating systems frequently, providing a standard method of accessing Xurble with the same functions in each operating system, and being virtually identical in appearance.

Cypher is also the most user-configurable client in both appearance and funtionality, with support for different skins, two different methods of communicating with other users, a customisable toolbar, message history saving (as HTML), multiple-server support, legacy Babel server compatability, and more.

 

some sucky screenshots

(someone please submit some better ones!)

 

Userlist Messages
Examine/update a user Options

 

Downloading

The current available version of Cypher is:

0.7.7

Also available for download are Version 0.1 (text-only) and Version 0.3.5

I've personally tested Cypher 0.7.6 on Windows 98, XP, Mandrake Linux (under KDE, GNOME and Enlightenment), MacOS 9 and X.
If you've successfully used it on another platform, let me know and I'll put it up here.

Cypher needs at least Java 1.3 to run (it may run on lower version, but it's only been tested on 1.3 and above).There are some visual bugs which were introduced with the changes in Java version 1.4 (bugfixes on the way, kids).

Before you download Cypher, do the following:

To run cypher from the comamnd line type:

java -jar cypher.jar

For help, make sure you've read this page, the cypher file in the development section of Babel, and then hassle me to write an FAQ. :)

Features

(This is by no means a complete list!!)
  • All standard Babel features (send, receive, examine etc)
  • BM functions (including public group creation)
  • Private group creation
  • Skinnable interface
  • Access to external browser
  • Message history saving
  • Watch list

Credits & License

CYPHER IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY AS TO MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. THE AUTHOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DATA LOSS, DAMAGES, LOSS OF PROFITS OR ANY OTHER KIND OF LOSS WHILE USING OR MISUSING THIS SOFTWARE.

You may copy this software and documentation as you wish, and give exact copies of the original version to anyone, and distribute the the software and documentation in its unmodified form via electronic means. But you should not charge or requesting donations for any such copies however made and from distributing the software and/or documentation with other products without the author's written permission.

Cypher is copyright Philip Wilson (Dangermouse). Cypher was written by Philip Wilson and Ian Ward (Asmodai), and contains code by Gareth Simpson (G). Image copyrights are detailed here.

Cypher would never have been possible at all without the help of the following people: Jester, Gwendolyn and G.
Thanks must go out to Asuma for the extensive testing under Linux and to Maulkin for the testing under MacOS X when I was being a windoze whore. :)

In addition, the Cypher source code is not currently available, although it probably will be in the future, so stop bugging me about it already. :)

More Info

Cypher was developed because the old Babel Java clients didn't work on anything except Windows.

Towards version 0.8:

  • Totally new options pane
  • Extended userlist colouring (user configurable)
  • In-line help system
  • New layouts on standard send/receive panes
  • Complete the right-click popup menu on the mini-userlist in the messages pane
  • Change toolbar to use CTRL-key combos instead of the current dodgy ALT-key combos.
  • Support saving/viewing/editing different server settings through the GUI instead of command line
Towards version 0.9 (JRE 1.4):
  • Full help system
  • Integrate the XML-RPC support (including local user authentication)
  • Internal tidying to refer all GUI references.
  • Register new users (BM only)
  • Instant-messaging (MS Messenger stylee) interface.
  • Clickable links in the HTML windows
  • Customisable internal browser (user-specified stylesheets)
  • Support saving/viewing/editing different server settings through the GUI instead of command line
  • Save INI file as XML (rewrite options saving)

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