DG Extras - Setup


The installation is hopefully very straightforward.

1)  Download this zip file - Dg_Extras [ProxN45j].zip

This is a proxy server program called the Proxomitron which filters HTML coming in off the Internet. It's a very powerful program which can do many very useful things (which I won't go into at this stage). I'm using it to capture the DG web pages before they reach the browser in order to make changes and add scripting code to make even more changes including displaying the new boards. Although the web proxy server program has all sorts of capabilities, I've disabled everything except the DG stuff. (I've got additional filters for doing various tricks at GoldToken and BrainKing if you're interested, for instance, advert removal.)

The Proxomitron was written by someone who doesn't like cluttering up people's system. It will install anywhere and doesn't change any system files or add anything to the registry. It does, however, need to be added to the Start Menu's Startup section and your browser needs to be told to talk to it. Or you can run the program and do the proxy server settings when you come to DG and then undo them at the end. You'll soon discover whether the effort is worth it. ;-)

2)  Although it can go anywhere, it's probably tidiest to add it to the C:\Program Files folder. Make a subfolder there called Proxomitron and unzip the file into it. You should see the Proxomitron.exe there along with default.cfg and various other files and folders. Default.cfg contains the instructions for manipulating the DG web pages.

3)  Create a shortcut to Proxomitron.exe and
  1. Click it. This will run the Proxomitron and you should see its icon (a little green triangle) appear in the system tray down near the clock.
  2. Add the shortcut to your Start Menu's Startup folder so that the Proxomitron runs when you boot your machine. One way to do this is to drag the shortcut icon that you've just created over the Start Menu button and wait a second or two. Don't let go. The Start Menu will then appear and you can continue dragging to the Programs item (that's Win2000, it's something similar on XP). When that opens, find and drag to the Startup folder and when that one opens, drag the icon in and drop it.
4)  Next you need to tell the browser to use the Proxomitron.
Internet Explorer

  1. Go to the Tools/Internet Options menu.
  2. Go to the Connections tab.
  3. If you use a dialup connection click the [Settings] button for that connection. If you connect to the Internet via a LAN then click the [LAN Settings] button
  4. In the Proxy Server section tick the checkbox labelled Use a proxy server for this connection (or for your LAN).
    Important: If the browser can't access any pages, untick this to cancel the proxy server.
  5. Also tick the Bypass proxy server for local addresses checkbox.
  6. Click the [Advanced] button to get a dialogue box with a list of types and addresses and ports.
  7. Ensure that the Use the same proxy server for all protocols checkbox is clear. This will mean that all the boxes above are enabled so that they can have separate values.
    For the HTTP type you want the address to be localhost and the port to be 8080.
    Everything else will probably be blank but in any case it doesn't need to be changed.
  8. Click [Ok] to finish off the server and port settings.
  9. Click [Ok] to finish off the connection settings.
  10. Click [Ok] to close the Internet Options.

Firefox

  1. Go to the Tools/Options menu.
  2. Click the Advanced icon.
  3. Go to the Network page.
  4. In the Connection section click the [Settings] button.
  5. Click the Manual proxy configuration option.
    Important: If the browser can't access any pages, click the Direct connection to the Internet option to cancel the proxy server.
  6. Next to HTTP Proxy enter localhost and set Port to 8080.
  7. In the No Proxy for box enter localhost, 127.0.0.1
    Everything else will probably be blank but in any case it doesn't need to be changed.
  8. Click [Ok] to finish off the server and port settings.
  9. Click [Ok] to close the Options.

From this point on the browser will be asking the Proxomitron to fetch every web page that it wants (that being what a proxy server does) so the Proxomitron must be running when you're browsing the Internet. That's why we ran the program in step 3a) and why the shortcut was added to the Startup menu.
5)  That's almost it. But first you'll need to make sure that you use www.dailygammon.com rather than dailygammon.com in order for Next New thread to work. More importantly, you'll need to be using the Classic Board Scheme in order to see the new boards.

Note that the server which has all the boards and scripts is pretty slow. The boards may therefore take a bit of time downloading, but once the images are cached the boards should be drawn fairly quickly.

6)  If the browser doesn't work for some reason then you'll need to disable the proxy server connection. Make a note of the bit above leading to where it says Important! ;-)

That's All Folks!

Ready? Then let's go to DailyGammon and see if it works!

Please bear in mind that this is the first release and teething troubles are inevitable. Posting to the forum thread "A Christmas Present for DG" is the way to go... ;-)

Back to Boards or up to the top.
 
DG Extras - Setup, Christmas Day 2006.