astyanax's Talker SRC Download Page
#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv) { char *code[] = { "nano", // GNU Pico clone "HackerKey", // Sig fodder! "CMatrix", // Console Matrix "GNU/Linux", // Linux info. "Talker SRC", // Text chat! "PG+Patches", // Deprecated "resume", // README.mycareer NULL }; char *personal[] = {   "about asty", // All about me "blog", // My weblog NULL }; float AmyNChris = 2000+10.07; float BabyMonique = 2003+11.01; int links; #define EMAIL "chrisa@asty.org" }
astyanax's Talker SRC Download Page
Welcome to my talker download page. This page has been put up for the benefit of those who wish to know the progression of the Playground source code through time. This page documents the four main codes that Playground either was based on or became the basis for.

Along with each description is a link to download the talker source code and necesary other files. Once you have downloaded a files, use tar and gzip (or compress in the case of EW-too) to etract the file.

How to extract these files

The easiest way to extract these files is to use a modern tar utility (like GNU tar). Try typing the following: tar -zxvf filename

If successful, you should start to see the files beginning to be extracted into your current directory. If your version of tar does not support gzip, you can try: zcat filename | tar xvf -

Please note that if you are new talker administration OR coding, you should probably read ALL included documentation with the talker source you download. PG+ and PG96 have a good deal of documentation you can view, and this is the best place to start for the aspiring talker coder/admin. Nothing annoys a veteran coder more than someone who will ask him/her a question that is answered right in the documentation files. Having said that, without further delay I present the talker source archive...


Playground Plus (PGPlus or PG98) by Silver is the latest incarnation of the Playground source code. It includes many new and innovative features as well as tons of bugfixes left over from PG96 (hey, we never said it was perfect =-). The homepage for PGPlus is http://pgplus.ewtoo.org. It is the best place to look for the most up to date info. You simply have to download this code and have a hand at running it, Silver and co. have put an amazing amount of work into it.

Download PG+ Download PG+ lsm file



Playground '96, written by traP, astyanax, Nogard and vallie, was considered a revolution in its day. Over two years old, it is still the source code used in the majority of talkers at the time of this writing. Based on the talker Playground founded by astyanax and vallie in May of 1995, PG96 introduced a tremendous number of new features and ideas for a public talker source code release.

Unfortunately only one version of PG96 was ever relased, no bug fixes were ever made available (until PGPlus I suppose). Still a great code to download a and take a look at, I find the running commentary thought the source code in the comments particularly humorous in retrospect.

Download PG96



Summink by Athanasius and Grim is the source code that Playground was based on when it was first created. Summink was buggy but had an endearing quality about it that made you love to code new things. It is still probably one of the most addicting programs to hack on that I have ever seen, it ranks right up there with the Linux kernel. A great bit of code to look over when you have some spare time, it's worth the time to dowload.

Download Summink




Elsewhere-too, the program that started it all...well kinda. Ew-too by Simon Marsh was the first source code to be made public (or at least the oldest one, as far as I know), and it is the code on which all modern talker codes (PG9X and SensiSummink) are based on. Due to a dispute about licensing rights and theft of code, many people have tried to start completely over in coming up with a base talker code that does not include any Ew-too or Ew-too-based code. However, even if one does come out, it wont be quite the same as the Ew line....many people have fallen in love with the quirky but fun to play with code that is known as the EW-too line.

Download EW-too