gbThreads

[Gary Beene]

With the guidance from the other thread on accessing the forum, I was able to update my gbThreads files through today.

These links contain just the file bigthread.htm. Use it to replace the one you already have.

https://garybeene.com/files/bigthread.zip   140MB

https://garybeene.com/files/bigthread.7z   90MB

I had to manually walk through the forums to get a list of threads that have changed since the last update so please let me know if I missed anything!

[Stuart McLachlan]

With the guidance from the other thread on accessing the forum, I was able to update my gbThreads files through today.

These links contain just the file bigthread.htm. Use it to replace the one you already have.

https://garybeene.com/files/bigthread.zip   140MB

https://garybeene.com/files/bigthreads.7z   90MB

I had to manually walk through the forums to get a list of threads that have changed since the last update so please let me know if I missed anything!

Got it. Seems to be complete. 

[Gary Beene]

Howdy, Stuart!

Thanks - removed the "s" from the link. https://garybeene.com/files/bigthread.7z

[Stuart McLachlan]

Howdy, Stuart!

Thanks - removed the "s" from the link.    https://garybeene.com/files/bigthread.7z

Hmmm, I edited my post because it started working , but now it has the "s"  there and is 404ing again

[Gary Beene]

Howdy, Stuart!

I thought I edited it, but now it is back and there's no option to edit it anymore.

https://garybeene.com/files/bigthread.zip 140MB

https://garybeene.com/files/bigthread.7z 90MB

[Pierre Bellisle]

One more thank to you Albert!

Thank you Gary!
pb wouldn't be the same without you.

[Albert Richheimer]

One more thank to you Albert!

The thanks are deserved by Carlo Pagani for finding the proper IP address of the PB forum! I already have thought of using my personal DNS aka hosts file for getting access, but I didn't know the proper IP of the forum.

The concept of hosts is quite nifty. Before the external DNS servers are addressed, hosts is consulted first by the operating system whether there is a matching entry. So the minimal hosts file (out of the box) consists of just one single entry:

Code:

127.0.0.1 localhost

I am using hosts for redirecting our inhouse work stations to our own news- and e-mail server called Hamster. So I don't need to open the POP- and SMTP-ports at the firewall to the public. The entries at hosts simply point to the fixed IP of the virtual server where Hamster is installed, e.g.

Code:

192.168.1.72 pop.richheimer.de
192.168.1.72 smtp.richheimer.de

Hosts also allows to block access to dangerous and unwanted sites. Here is a lot of information on this concept: Blocking Unwanted Connections with a Hosts File.

[Stuart McLachlan]

So the minimal hosts file (out of the box) consists of just one single entry:

Code:

0.0.0.0 localhost

Bad practice.  ChatGPT explains it well:

Normally, no — you should not have a 0.0.0.0 localhost entry in your hosts file.

Here’s why:

Standard definition of localhost
By convention, localhost maps to 127.0.0.1 (IPv4) and ::1 (IPv6).
These are the loopback addresses that always point to the local machine.

What 0.0.0.0 means
0.0.0.0 is a special IPv4 address. It does not mean "this machine" in the same way as 127.0.0.1.
Instead, it usually means "all IPv4 addresses on this host" when binding a server, or "no valid address" in some contexts.
If you put 0.0.0.0 localhost, some software may fail because it expects localhost to resolve to a real loopback address.

Potential problems if you use it
Some programs (databases, development servers, etc.) check specifically for 127.0.0.1.
Redirecting localhost to 0.0.0.0 can break local connections, or make them listen on the wrong interface.
For example, ping localhost might fail.

[Albert Richheimer]

You are perfectly correct, Stuart. I messed up the "go to nowhere" and "localhost".

BTW, here's the original (unmodified) hosts, as provided by Win8x86:

Code:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
#    127.0.0.1       localhost
#    ::1             localhost

[Dale Yarker]

In post 9 is how my HOSTS was. Empty, not even localhost entry.